I went west to look for someone, Yang. March 9, 5:15.
"One trip, no return."
"Judging from the way he left the note, he had at least one companion. But there was only one backpack, one water bottle, and one sleeping bag in the tent—all meant for one person."
"Which means his companion left."
"And not to look for him, but to pack up and leave for good."
He checked the note over and over.
A similar message he had once seen online suddenly flashed through Jiang Qiao's mind—[I went east to look for a well, Peng. June 17, 10:30.]
"Damn!"
His gaze sharpened.
Comparing the two notes, he discovered that they seemed to be connected somehow.
Go east to look for a well.
Go west to look for someone.
Peng.
Yang.
June 17.
March 9.
10:30.
5:15.
The two messages looked like a pair of seemingly matching lines.
Then there was that old ballpoint pen...
"That's eerie."
Jiang Qiao frowned.
"Could they be connected?"
"But that person couldn't possibly have used this style of ballpoint pen either. These were mostly used by students. Besides, had this style even started being produced when he disappeared?"
He was not sure.
After all, that person had disappeared in 1980, twenty years before he was born.
But that person...
He really did have many rumors surrounding him.
All kinds of urban legends.
Some said aliens had abducted him.
Others said he had traveled through time.
Some people even claimed, with seemingly convincing details, that he had traveled to the late Western Han Dynasty and become the famed Wang Mang of the Xin dynasty.
Besides that,
there were also conspiracy theories claiming that his teammates had harmed him.
Of course,
there were also some more mainstream guesses. Perhaps he had gotten lost while looking