The Strange Wooden Carving
Team Leader Li, panting heavily, kept running, checking his equipment every now and then.
The surrounding scenery changed constantly like a slideshow, with jungles, cities, and ruins. As the scenery gradually settled, it became clear that he was running on a country dirt road, with many other people dressed similarly to him running alongside him, though their faces were not clearly visible.
I don't know how long we ran, but then a building appeared ahead, which must be our destination. There was a person whose face I couldn't see, distributing food to those who had arrived.
Team Leader Li took the lunchbox, opened it, and found it was full of meat. Without even tasting it, he inexplicably knew it was rabbit meat, braised. But he didn't find it strange, and even the person distributing the food wearing rabbit ears of different lengths seemed perfectly normal to him.
He quickly finished the rabbit meat in the lunchbox and then focused on preparing for the next training session.
When Team Leader Li woke up, it was still late at night. He had to get up and relieve his deputy to take over the second half of the night.
Normally, with the equipment they set up around their campsite, wild animals and poisonous insects wouldn't approach, so there wouldn't be any danger.
But now that they had discovered the footprints and the cave, and given the previous mysterious deaths of the dead wild boar and the three Host Xue, they naturally wouldn't let their guard down and remained on high alert.
He got up and handed over the duties to his deputy, then confirmed the location and status of all team members on night duty, checked the equipment, and patrolled the area around the camp. Only then did Team Leader Li find a corner, lean against a tree, and look down at the map on his tablet, seemingly still checking the surrounding area.
But in reality, he was still thinking about the dream he had when he went to sleep.
The content of the dream wasn't particularly special; it was just ordinary training. Many of these things were ingrained in him, and he had had similar dreams many times before.
But what struck him as strangely unsettling was the frequent appearance of "rabbit meat" in his dreams.
Sometimes after training, we eat rabbit meat, and there are all sorts of flavors. Other times, piles of freshly processed raw rabbit meat suddenly appear by the roadside.
Moreover, even with just a glance, he could immediately recognize that the meat was rabbit meat, even though it didn't have any rabbit-like characteristics.
The presence of rabbit ear ornaments of varying lengths worn by the person distributing the food, along with the occasional appearance of rabbit-related elements in the surroundings, further amplified the absurd and eerie atmosphere.
In the dream, he didn't feel anything was wrong or strange, but after waking up, recalling this unusually vivid dream, he felt something strange about it, like feeling an itch somewhere on his body, but he couldn't find the exact spot, and he couldn't scratch it.
Why rabbit meat?
Team Leader Li couldn't help but think of the incredibly rough Rabbit Woodcarving they'd found in the cave during the day. Could it be that his thoughts were wandering during the day, causing him to dream about it? Had he been pondering why the carving was shaped like a rabbit, and that rabbit-related element had somehow made its way into his dream?
The person who brought them food in the dream wore rabbit ears on their head, one side longer than the other, exactly like the wooden carving.
Team Leader Li tried to tell himself that it was just a normal dream, but for some reason, the more he thought about it, the more the images from the dream, including the Rabbit Woodcarving, kept appearing in his mind.
That wooden carving... could it be haunted by something? The thought had barely crossed his mind when Team Leader Li abruptly banished it.
"Don't scare yourself," he told himself silently.
As dawn approached, Team Leader Li saw that Dr. Fang had also woken up, but looked preoccupied as he checked the various samples they had collected and packaged earlier.
"What's wrong?" Team Leader Li asked as he went over.
Then he saw Dr. Fang staring blankly at the wooden carving that was placed in a transparent plastic bag.
Team Leader Li suddenly felt a chill run down his spine, and a vague sense of foreboding crept into his heart, especially when Dr. Fang turned around and asked him, "How did you sleep last night?"
Team Leader Li looked at her and replied, seemingly unrelated, "You wouldn't... be dreaming too, would you?"
Dr. Fang narrowed his eyes slightly, glanced at the wooden carving in his hand, and looked up at Team Leader Li, saying, "I dreamt I was doing some experiments in the lab, but my experimental target was a pile of rabbit meat, and after finishing the experiments, I cooked and ate the rabbit meat. What about you? What did you dream about?"
Team Leader Li was dumbfounded. In terms of sheer absurdity, Dr. Fang's dream was far more bizarre than his.
He briefly described his dream, and Dr. Fang listened with a solemn expression. Then, when the two of them looked at the Rabbit Woodcarving in her hand, their expressions changed.
Clearly, the element of "rabbit meat" is the most common theme in the dreams of the two people. Although the overall content of the dreams was fine, consisting of doing things they used to do most often, the appearance of "rabbit meat" made everything seem strange—especially since they both inexplicably felt that "rabbit meat" might be related to the wood carving.
After everyone else in the team woke up, Team Leader Li and Dr. Fang each chatted with their subordinates and learned that five people, including the two of them, had dreamed last night, and the element of "rabbit meat" was present in all of their dreams.
They also had another thing in common: their sleeping bags were all very close to the "wooden carving".
Team Leader Li and Dr. Fang immediately determined that this was not a simple isolated incident or a coincidence, but that the "wood carving" was indeed strange!
He immediately contacted Mr. Liang and reported the situation in detail.
After Team Leader Li finished speaking, Dr. Fang added some details and then waited for Mr. Liang's instructions. However, to their surprise, Mr. Liang remained silent for several minutes without responding. But judging from the indicator lights on the equipment, the network was working and communication was still in progress.
The two exchanged a glance, and just as Team Leader Li was about to ask if Mr. Liang was still there, that highly recognizable voice, laced with a harsh, screeching sound, rang out. "Besides dreaming, is there anything else unusual?"
After receiving a negative answer, Mr. Liang asked a few more questions and examined the wood carving again through the camera before saying, "Bring it back."
Wasn't the point to take it back anyway...?
Hearing these three seemingly pointless words, Team Leader Li felt increasingly uneasy.
Judging from Mr. Liang's attitude and behavior just now, he seems to be quite surprised by this situation and completely unaware of it.
What exactly are they tracking?
Who exactly owns that footprint?
What kind of creatures used to live in the cliffside caves?
What exactly is this wood carving?
Why is it rabbit meat, and not rabbits or something else, that influences them in their dreams?
Team Leader Li's doubts grew, and so did his strange thoughts and speculations. He didn't usually watch many supernatural or suspenseful movies or TV series, but living in this era, he had inevitably come into contact with some.
So I can't help but think of those things, similar scenarios, especially in these remote mountains and forests far from human society.
He looked at Dr. Fang beside him. This female doctor, who had always been decisive and meticulous, now had an unprecedentedly solemn expression, looking somewhat worried, even more so than him.
Clearly, for Dr. Fang, the "rabbit meat" that inexplicably appeared in his dream was a far more complex and incomprehensible problem than the corroded tree, footprints, cave, dead birds, and Rabbit Woodcarving he had found before.
Team Leader Li looked up at the drones providing communication support high above them, and a thought suddenly popped into his mind:
Will these people be able to get back safely?
That evening, after discussing it, Team Leader Li and Dr. Fang decided that when they camped out that night, they would gather all the samples they had obtained in the mountains and place them in a safe distance from the areas where people slept and rested. Then, the people who were awake on night duty would take turns watching over those things—of course, the main thing they would watch over was the Rabbit Woodcarving. Although Team Leader Li and Dr. Fang had not specifically instructed them to do so, everyone knew it.
When Team Leader Li and Dr. Fang inquired about the sleep patterns and dreams of others, although they asked separately and in a rather tactful manner, their team consisted of only about twenty people, all of whom were colleagues who spent a lot of time together. They had either gone on numerous field missions together or worked in the same lab every day, and had a very good relationship. Therefore, any unusual occurrences would quickly become known and noticed by everyone, even without any special communication efforts.
So, as the night passed, although no one had any more strange dreams or dreamt of "rabbit meat," the atmosphere in the group became increasingly eerie and heavy.
Although no one said it aloud, everyone knew that the "Rabbit Woodcarving" found in the cave was suspicious; it would cause people to have strange dreams about "rabbit meat."
The wood carving was clearly a rabbit, but the dream was about rabbit meat. What about the person? Many people in the group felt a chill run down their spines whenever they thought about this.
Therefore, on the return journey, everyone had to be more careful and vigilant than on the way there. The team members responsible for guard duty were even a little paranoid, and would jump at the slightest noise. Moreover, many people even suffered from insomnia at night, so the situation became even more serious when traveling during the day.
This situation greatly worried Team Leader Li and Dr. Fang. They feared that the team's morale would deteriorate and that the eerie wooden carving and the possible entity behind it might take advantage of their vulnerability.
Team Leader Li even considered leaving the wooden carving in the forest with the locator if anything strange happened again, and having Mr. Liang send someone to retrieve it later. He was willing to accept the punishment from Mr. Liang and the company, including a large deduction from his bonus.
He had to be responsible for the safety of these team members.
However, in the following days, although the atmosphere within the team remained tense and the team was in a state of depression, nothing unexpected or strange happened.
On January 14, more than 20 days after they entered the Qinling Uninhabited Zone, they finally returned safely to the main road outside, met up with the support personnel who had stayed behind, and left by means of transportation.
In the back seat of an SUV, Team Leader Li glanced back at the wooden carving, which had been placed in a sealed container in the trunk. He breathed a sigh of relief, but also felt a strange sense of excitement and anticipation.
He hoped the company could find something from what he brought back this time, and then send him here again to explore, or to other places to pursue clues related to the wood carving, the footprints, and the existence of the cave.
Although he knew there would be danger, and he might even face situations he had never seen or even imagined before, he found that the exploration and pursuit of the unknown was the feeling he truly wanted to pursue, an impulse that could overcome his desire for money and his fear of danger.
He looked up, peering through the rear window of the trunk at the distant mountains shrouded in white mist, and muttered something to himself.
Rewinding to the morning of December 26th, Xiang Kun got into Chang Bin's Magotan at the entrance of the residential area, preparing to go to the airport to pick up Zicheng together.
Upon seeing Chang Bin, Xiang Kun quickly updated his cognitive model and arrived at a judgment:
He looked a little tired, but his spirits were still high. It was clear that preparing for the wedding was very tiring, but the arrival of Zicheng and the reunion of the three brothers made him very excited and looking forward to it.
Xiang Kun was about to chat a bit and ask about Chang Bin's wedding preparations, his phone suddenly rang.
Upon seeing the caller ID, which read "Shiling's Mother," he roughly knew what it was about and answered the call.
"Mr. Xiang. Xiang? Good morning. Are you busy? Am I bothering you?" Shiling's Mother greeted him politely.
"Nothing much, I'm just in a friend's car heading to the airport to pick someone up," Xiang Kun said with a smile.
"Mr. Xiang, we received the gift you sent to Liu Shiling yesterday. She likes it very much and thanks you very much." Shiling's Mother said, seemingly handing the phone to her daughter beside her. "Here, you thank your Uncle Xiang yourself."
Then Liu Shiling's voice rang out, sounding almost like she was about to cry, "Uncle Baldy, my mom is so hard to teach, I can't teach her!!"
"Hey? What are you saying, girl? Didn't I tell you to say thank you..." Shiling's Mother's reproachful voice faintly drifted over.
Xiang Kun couldn't help but grin. He naturally knew what the Little Chubby Girl. When he went to Star City before, he left her another Coin that had established a "Super-Sensory Link," asking her to teach her mother how to flip Coin, hoping to see if Shiling's Mother could also obtain some special connection from the Coin.
The Little Chubby Girl was clearly taking the task seriously, but it seems to be proving quite difficult.
Xiang Kun smiled and said, "It's alright. Your mother might not be good at this kind of magic. Uncle Baldy will think of another one later. By the way, how's the gift I gave you? Is it useful?"
He had previously sent a gift to the Little Chubby Girl via express delivery: a pair of wooden chopsticks he had made. Of course, these chopsticks were also Emotional Injection."
Of all the people he knew, the one who ate with the most relish and focus was the Little Chubby Girl. So, after learning how to "collect" and "transform" other people's emotions, Xiang Kun thought of getting the satisfaction and joy he felt while eating from the Little Chubby Girl.
The Little Chubby Girl's voice immediately brightened. "It works great! I don't use a spoon anymore, I use those chopsticks all the time! I'm really good with chopsticks now!"
I chatted with the Little Chubby Girl for a few more minutes, and after learning that she and her mother had arrived at the kindergarten, I ended the call.
Xiang Kun sensed the two Coin and the A4 paper on the Little Chubby Girl's body, and then sensed the pair of chopsticks.
The sensitivity of the three "Super-Sensory Link" items continued to steadily decline, clearly indicating that the Little Chubby Girl was still receiving something from them. The chopsticks, which were "Emotional Injection," also successfully sensed a faint, happy emotion, which should belong to the Little Chubby Girl, as she had just mentioned that she would bring these chopsticks to kindergarten for meals.
Next, Xiang Kun quickly sensed all the items he had established "Super-Sensory Link" and "Emotional Injection" with, including several items he had deliberately left behind when he left the Qinling Uninhabited Zone.
Besides leaving a sphere with Super-Sensory Link near the mutated spider's cave wall to help with location in case he needed to return, he also found a small piece of wild animal bone before leaving, established Super-Sensory Link, and deliberately left it in the cave next to the dead birds—most of the vines in the cave had disappeared after the mutated spider died.
In addition, he spent a lot of time finding a piece of wood and carving a very rough Rabbit Woodcarving with an arrow. Although it looked quite crude, at least he completed the process of "Emotional Injection." The emotion he created during the carving process was the focused emotion he had when making and researching rabbit meat recipes.
He also threw the wooden carving into the cave.
He believed that if the people from "Shenxing Technology" went into the mountains later, given their previous modus operandi, and found the cave, then both the bones and the wood carvings would definitely be taken back.
At that time, he will be able to obtain a lot of information safely through these two items.
However, for the time being, there was no sign that the bone had been moved, and the wooden carving showed no emotional response, indicating that it had not yet been discovered.
--
I recommend a very special new book, <Zhenwu Division>, which tells the story from the perspective of law enforcement officers.
[Some book friends may not have noticed the date mentioned in it. Let me mention it a little: the time of Team Leader Li and Dr. Fang's line is a little later than the timeline of the protagonist]. Thanks to the new helmsman "Yuanmengdie", thanks to the book friends kasimking, the unarmed uncle Fang, book friends 20190219223439406, shepherd rua, Qidian Reading iOS, The Unarmed Uncle Yifang, The Wind and Rain Talk About the Setting Sun, Adding insult to injury 123, Zhang Kanglong, Beiming Youju, Xingming Scholar Reward.