Chapter 24: The Exploration Team

A ghost... a ghost knocking on the door.

In an instant, that scene flashed through my mind.

It was midnight in the deep woods—the old, desolate, and silent wilderness—when suddenly, four eerie knocks echoed at the door.

For a moment, Old Chen and I stood in the center of the cabin like puppets, speechless.

Knock, knock, knock, knock!

The four strange knocks sounded again, as if struck directly against my heart, making it hammer against my ribs.

I swallowed hard, just about to speak, when Old Chen raised a hand to stop me. He signaled for me to step back, then aimed his hunting rifle at the door, his voice cold. "Who is it?"

As his voice faded, the silence outside became absolute.

After about ten seconds, a man's weak voice drifted in.

"Save... save me! Please, save me!"

The voice was faint, but in the stillness of the night, it was crystal clear.

A person?

Old Chen and I both felt a jolt in our hearts.

But that didn't make sense. If it were a person, why would they knock four times?

"Sanqi! Open the door!" Old Chen cocked his rifle and ordered.

I understood his reasoning. If I opened the door and something went wrong, he would be ready to fire.

I nodded heavily, stepped forward, removed the thick wooden bar from the door, and slowly pulled it open.

As the door swung wide, Old Chen stood motionless, rifle leveled, aiming steadily at the threshold.

Because I was standing in the doorway, I couldn't see what was outside. But I could read the shift in Old Chen’s expression.

He froze for a second upon seeing what was out there, but quickly regained his composure, shouting at the doorway, "Dammit! You son of a bitch, how did you end up here?"

I was stunned.

From the shock and the tone of his voice, it was clear he knew this person—but he couldn't believe his eyes.

Driven by curiosity, I leaned to the side and glanced out.

I saw...

A man in his thirties stood at the door, his face deathly pale. He wore a white shirt that had been washed until it was grey.

But for some reason, both of his arms had been severed, and blood dripped continuously onto the ground, quickly pooling into a small stream.

His lips trembled. Upon seeing me, his expression turned incredibly strange.

"Lin... Sanqi?" he asked, his voice shaking.

I nodded. "It's me."

"Seeing that you're alive... I'm really happy."

"What?"

He didn't say anything more.

I stood there, dazed. What did he mean by that? Why would he be happy to see that I was still alive?

...

I wanted to press him for answers, but before I could, the man’s head lolled to the side, and he fainted.

Looking out, I saw the trail of blood he had left behind, which left me speechless. This kind of blood trail was the easiest way to attract large packs of predators. A pack of wolves would be bad enough, but I feared it would draw out bears or wild boars.

Ultimately, with no other choice, Old Chen and I had to clean up his mess.

We carried him to the bed, then left the cabin to scrub the bloodstains within a thousand-meter radius using pungent herbs and animal dung to mask the scent.

However, as we moved him, I was shocked to notice something.

His arms hadn't been cut off; they were withered, looking like desiccated chicken claws. It was as if something had instantly sucked all the flesh and blood out of his limbs.

"Damn, was this the work of a vampire?"

Old Chen shook his head in silence. "No! If I'm not mistaken, he must have encountered a 'blood-grass snare' in the deep woods. If that thing latches onto you, it’ll cost you half your life, at the very least."

"Blood-grass snare?" I narrowed my eyes.

It was the first time I had heard the name, and the first time I realized such a plant existed in the Greater Khingan Range.

Old Chen didn't explain further, instead changing the subject.

"Sanqi," he said, "this friend of mine... he’s not just my childhood friend; he was my college classmate. I became a hunter, and he joined the army."

I fell silent at that.

Old Chen ladled a bowl of the pheasant soup we had been simmering and fed it to the drowsy man.

Once the man finished the soup, Old Chen puffed on his cigarette and said to me, "Sanqi, does this feel unbelievable to you?"

"It does! Old Chen, didn't you always say that in the deep woods, the one thing you can't trust is a person? Why..."

I asked.

People are like that, aren't they? At first, they hold firm to their principles. But later? When a person encounters someone they hold dear, their bottom line suddenly vanishes.

...

Old Chen looked at the man's withered arms, let out a long sigh, and spoke softly, "Sanqi, let me tell you about my friend."

"Alright." I nodded heavily, lit a cigarette for myself, and listened.

He told me that after his friend graduated from college, he couldn't find work. Eventually, Old Chen couldn't stand it anymore and begged our boss for help.

The boss, who had connections in both the underworld and the legitimate world, helped him get into a state exploration team based in Beijing, where he traveled all over the country.

I swallowed hard. "So... you have no idea why he showed up in the Greater Khingan Range?"

"Exactly. He told me a month ago he was in Tibet. I have no idea why he ended up here."

Old Chen fell into a silent, smoky haze.

Suddenly, the howl of wolves drifted from outside, and by the sound of it, they weren't far away.

I knew those bastards were tracking the blood trail.

"That's enough, Sanqi. Get some sleep. I'll take the first watch tonight."

Old Chen spoke abruptly.

I didn't answer. I stripped off my clothes and crawled into the bedding, but on a whim, I spoke to Old Chen, who was sitting beside the unconscious man. "Old Chen... there's something on my mind. I don't know if I should say it."

"Oh? What is it?"

I voiced my thoughts, word by word.

"Old Chen, I've always felt that the boss... he was too mysterious. And yet, a man that mysterious is dead. I just can't believe it."

After I finished, Old Chen narrowed his eyes.

"Sanqi... when did you start feeling this way?"