Chongyun Village: Clear Waters and Green Mountains

The next morning, after waking up, Zhang Hongpu sat on the bed for a while, his brows slightly furrowed, as if he was thinking about something.

He seemed to have a strange dream, vaguely dreaming of a very strange-looking person asking him about some things from his early years related to "Shenxing Technology".

Just as Xiang Kun and Lao Xia had speculated, Zhang Hongpu himself didn't remember this part of the dream clearly; it was a bit blurry. Moreover, they had just talked about "Shenxing Technology" during dinner the night before, so he didn't find it strange.

But the "strange person" who asked him those questions bothered him a little—because it was so strange, he couldn't remember where he had seen such a "strange person" before.

Around 7 a. m., Zhang Qian came over to have breakfast with her grandfather. She has her own residence in Peng City and does not live here.

While eating breakfast, Zhang Qian continued to talk about the meeting with Xiang Kun yesterday, subtly praising Xiang Kun because she was worried that Xiang Kun's comments at dinner last night about "thinking Shenxing Technology is a role model for technology companies" might have angered her grandfather.

She knew very well how much her grandfather loathed "Shenxing Technology".

But after chatting briefly and testing the waters with her grandfather, Zhang Qian discovered that he didn't seem to care much about what Xiang Kun had said about "Shenxing Technology" the night before. In fact, he thought Xiang Kun was quite decent and even considered him to be a rather honest person.

Indeed, recalling the conversation between Xiang Kun and her grandfather last night, Zhang Qian suddenly realized, somewhat belatedly, that their communication seemed particularly harmonious, even after Xiang Kun mentioned "Shenxing Technology," they remained on the same wavelength.

To put it simply, Xiang Kun's speaking style suited Grandpa's taste.

However, in her opinion, Xiang Kun was indeed trustworthy in terms of ability, but he was never an "honest" person in his words and deeds. In fact, he was the most unpredictable and unfathomable person she had ever met. The reason why her grandfather had this "wrong" impression of Xiang Kun was probably related to all the nice things she had said and all the groundwork she had laid before. Last night, Xiang Kun "verified" almost everything she had said to her grandfather.

Of course, for now, the fact that Grandpa has a better impression of Xiang Kun is good for both her and the development of "Soaring Dragon Interactive Entertainment".

Slightly relieved, Zhang Qian, seeing that she had almost finished breakfast, prepared to get up and say goodbye, "Grandpa, I'm leaving now. Mr. Xiang and Ms. Tang are returning to Haixi Province this morning, and I'd like to take them to the airport and chat on the way."

Zhang Hongpu nodded, but after his granddaughter got up from the table, he remembered something and couldn't help but call her back, asking, "Qianqian, there's an animated character... its outline, ears, limbs, and body look like a panda, but its face is human, and its expression... how should I put it, its expression is... hard to describe."

Zhang Hongpu frowned as he spoke, seemingly unsure how to describe it in a way his granddaughter could understand, as he tried to organize his thoughts. Zhang Qian, however, paused, then instinctively asked, "Grandpa, are you sure it's an animated character?"

"I'm not sure either, there's just that image, it looks like something from an animation," Zhang Hongpu said. "But I don't know exactly which work it's from."

"Grandpa, take a look, is this the one?" Zhang Qian took out her phone, opened WeChat, entered the family group, clicked on her grandfather's profile picture, and sent an emoji.

Looking at the panda paper cutout on his granddaughter's phone, Zhang Hongpu immediately said, "Yes! That's it! Although the pose is different, the overall feel is right, and the expression is the same too. Qianqian, what anime character is this?"

Zhang Qian said, half-laughing and half-crying, "Grandpa, this isn't an animated character, it's an emoticon, uh... you know, when you use WeChat, you see those animated pictures that other people post, right? In the family group chat, my aunt loves to post those, they're the same as smiley faces and sad faces. The face on this panda is photoshopped on, photoshopped means... added with software, oh, Grandpa knows Photoshop?"

Zhang Hongpu has WeChat, but he doesn't use it much. Whether contacting subordinates, friends, or family, he either calls directly or uses video communication. Others know his habits, so in groups where he is present, people generally don't send messages unless necessary, and they don't send emojis randomly.

Zhang Qian didn't ask any further questions, assuming her grandfather had simply seen the panda-bodied, Jacky Cheung- face meme by chance and was just curious. So, she downloaded a few of these memes onto his phone, said goodbye, and left.

Flipping through the panda face emojis, Zhang Hongpu was still puzzled and confused. He couldn't remember where he had seen these emojis before, and why he was dreaming about them.

However, Zhang Hongpu didn't notice that every time he viewed the large images of those emoticons, he directly clicked "send."

So, everyone in the Zhang family group chat watched in horror early in the morning as the usually quiet old man and chairman kept spamming the chat with panda head emojis.

One minute it's "Eat shit, you!", the next it's "Go study!", "Aren't you going to thank Brother Fly!", "Kneel down, all of you!", "How can anyone else live with me being so handsome?", "If you don't come out, I'll kick you all out!"...

Seeing the panda head emojis popping up one after another, everyone was bewildered, their first thought being that the old man's WeChat had been hacked.

But they immediately thought of the possibility that the old man's WeChat or phone had been stolen, and the likelihood of him sending these pictures after his phone was stolen.

So some people started paying attention to the words on these emojis—could the old man be implying something?

Especially for those who already harbor ulterior motives, they can't help but identify with the description, pondering its deeper meaning, and feeling a chill in their hearts.

When Xiang Kun, Tang Baona, and Yang Zhen'er arrived in Jianzhou by plane, Fang Pingfang, along with members of the investigation team, went to the "Youlong Restaurant" in Tongshi Town for the third time this week.

Normally, if they weren't going anywhere else and were staying in the villa area next to Wushu Mountain, they would come once or twice a week on average. But this week, it's only Wednesday, and they've already come three times—in other words, they come every day, either for lunch or dinner.

On the one hand, their recent investigations have all passed a certain stage, and they need to wait for the test reports from Research Base in other cities. Only after obtaining the test reports can they determine the next investigation plan. Currently, they have much less to do, and therefore more free time.

While waiting for the food to be served, Zhou Rui scrolled through his phone and said to Ye Chong beside him, "Little Ye, could you ask the logistics department if we could just stay in Tongshi Town, preferably right next door? That way, whenever we want rabbit meat, we can just walk over. Anyway, we're often traveling around here now, not just going to Wushu Mountain, so we don't necessarily have to stay nearby."

"We don't have a logistics department, I'm your logistics person." Ye Chong rolled his eyes helplessly. When he first started working with Dr. Fang and the others, he was quite cautious in his words and actions, but after spending a lot of time with Zhou Rui, Mi Qiao and the other two clowns, it was impossible for him to remain calm and composed for long.

"Then let's change it! Let's move to Tongshi Town!" Zhou Rui said happily. "I saw you were quite happy eating meat, for the sake of everyone's stomachs. You see... Dr. Fang didn't say anything, which means he agreed. We must follow the leader's will!"

Ye Chong smiled wryly and lowered his voice, saying, "We're not here for tourism, are we? We can't just stay anywhere. Different teams have different mission objectives, so our accommodation requirements are different. There are no suitable accommodations in Tongshi Town, or if there are, they're not within our capabilities."

Zhou Rui, thinking about all the equipment they would need, immediately understood the meaning of "meets the requirements," and chuckled, "Looks like you'd already considered this, Xiao Yezi!"

Mi Qiao looked at the packed lobby and squinted, saying, "Don't you guys think that besides their signature rabbit meat, the other seemingly ordinary home-style dishes taste different from other places? They're especially delicious. But you can't quite put your finger on why they're so good."

Zhou Rui nodded repeatedly. "Yes, we're almost addicted to it. Sigh, could it be related to the layout of the store here? Next time we come, let's bring some airtight containers to pack up and take them to the lab to analyze the ingredients, to see if there's any special 'ingredient' in them?"

"Didn't the taste change quite a bit when we took the leftovers home last time?"

"So we need to use sealed containers to prevent any key substances from evaporating. And we can't let the waiter pack it up; we have to order dine-in food, then secretly pack it up ourselves and drive it directly to the lab. We'll get the results within 10 hours," Zhou Rui said, stroking his chin thoughtfully.

Fang Pingfang couldn't help but laugh and said, "You guys are going too far. The company isn't paying us to research food."

"We're just killing time anyway, and it won't interfere with our business. We still need to eat, right?" Zhou Rui said with a chuckle.

Their table was located in a corner of the lobby on the first floor. While Zhou Rui, Mi Qiao, and others were chatting, Li Shiping stood and observed the wooden carvings displayed on the protruding wooden platform on the wall.

After looking at them for a while, he called Fang Pingfang over, then pointed to the wooden carvings of Minions and fat cats, and said, "Dr. Fang, do these wooden carvings remind you of anything?"

Fang Pingfang immediately understood what he meant. "You mean the Rabbit Woodcarving we brought back from the Qinling Mountains?"

Li Shiping nodded. "I don't know why, but seeing these wood carvings gives me a vague feeling similar to when I found them in that cave. It's not about the appearance, but a kind of intuition... it's hard to describe."

Fang Pingfang shook her head and said, "I observed these wood carvings when I first came here, and they have absolutely no relation to the Rabbit Woodcarving we brought back. I know that Rabbit Woodcarving intimately; I've done a comprehensive study of every detail and every aspect of its characteristics, and produced a very detailed report. Moreover, since then, I've developed a habit of unconsciously observing any wood carvings of similar size and comparing them to the Rabbit Woodcarving. So I can tell you with certainty that, apart from both being wood carvings, these wood carvings have absolutely no resemblance to the Rabbit Woodcarving we brought back."

Hearing Fang Pingfang say this, Li Shiping nodded and accepted her point of view. Anyway, it was just a sudden intuition that he wasn't quite sure about. If it was in a dense forest, in a dangerous situation, and it was within his area of expertise, then he might stick to his intuition.

But in these matters... Dr. Fang clearly far more professional than him.

When it's time to trust science, trust science.

Not long after, their food was served, and everyone at the table began to enjoy their meal. Suddenly, Zhou Rui's attention was drawn to the conversation of the young people next to him who had just sat down at an empty table, ordered their food, and were chatting.

"Last night I was listening to an audiobook and getting sleepy, almost falling asleep, when I was suddenly woken up by a clap of thunder. Then the whole village lost power, and not only that, but cell phones didn't work either. When I went outside, good heavens, I almost thought I had traveled to another world. Everything was white, all fog! And guess what, the fog actually smelled pretty good!" A young man said in Mandarin with a local accent, in a storytelling style.

"What's this? A fragrant breeze wafts in when you open the door? Did a seductive female ghost come knocking on your door in the middle of the night to bring you warmth?" one of his companions laughed.

"Bullshit, it's not that smell, it's the smell of meat, the smell of roasted meat!" The young man punched his companion and said, "And there were weird noises too, really weird ones, that scared me so much that I immediately closed the door and hid inside."

The companion who had been joking earlier couldn't help but laugh again, "What kind of strange noise is that? What's so strange about it? Could it be... 'Little sir, come play~'?"

"Hey, I'm not kidding, it's true! That voice was absolutely unlike anything I'd ever heard before. My phone wasn't working either, otherwise I would have recorded it for you guys," the young man said.

As he said this, another companion sitting at the same table added, "You guys really should know, what A Lin said wasn't made up. I went back to the village this morning, and my sixth uncle told me that he wanted to get up to pee in the middle of the night last night, but the house was pitch black, there was fog outside, and all sorts of strange noises, thunder in the sky, and a bunch of weird rustling sounds. He was so scared that he didn't dare to pee and just held it in and went back to bed."

"Yes, yes, yes, a bunch of strange noises, and a rustling sound. I think I even saw will-o'-the-wisps going into the mountains! I got up early this morning, opened the door, and wow, there were dead birds everywhere, a huge swarm, probably tens of thousands!" The young man who started the story quickly chimed in.

"Tens of thousands my ass! Only one or two of them crashed into the wall and died, okay? If there were really tens of thousands, our village would be trending on social media by now! If you're going to make up a story, at least use some logic!" A fellow villager from Chongyun Village said, both amused and exasperated.

"Sigh, is there another ghost story in our Chongyun Village? I heard last time that Pig Tail and Liu Two Dots went to steal from Uncle Nineteen's construction site, saw something, and got so scared that they called the police themselves."

"Yes, yes, they said they saw a little girl, dressed in white, carrying a blood-stained knife."

"Actually, those two idiots were mistaken. It was just a flock of birds that pooped all over their car, which terrified them so much that they didn't dare to run away."

"You never know. I've played cards with Pig Tail before; he's incredibly shrewd. It's unlikely he'd be scared by a bird and call the police himself. Something probably really happened that night."

"Who knows... But my grandpa said that our village is protected by mountain spirits, and those spirits must be good to us. Remember back in March, two fugitives came to our village, stole things from Liu Gaoshang's family, and ran into the mountains, only to be struck by lightning? My grandpa said that the mountain spirits protect us and are good at eliminating evil spirits. Once the evil spirits are eliminated, they will bring good fortune to our village. Haven't you seen how well our village is developing now? The streetlights are on all night, and there are so many surveillance cameras in the village. Which other village in the entire Tongshi Town can have that?"

Hearing the chatter of the young people from Chongyun Village at the table behind him, Zhou Rui became interested, turned around to greet them, and then asked, "Brothers, is the Chongyun Village 're talking about the one on the edge of Tongshi Town? Something strange happened last night? There were strange noises? What exactly happened?"

The five young people at the next table turned to look at him, their discussion immediately ceasing. After two seconds, the young man who had started the story asked, "Are you... tourists?"

Zhou Rui had actually been to Chongyun Village many times, but most of the time he had only passed through before entering Chongyun Mountain. It was normal that this young man hadn't seen him before, and he didn't intend to introduce himself further, so he simply said, "Yes, we're looking for a place to play around around here."

The young man immediately switched to standard Mandarin without an accent, enthusiastically saying, "Then you've come to the right place in Chongyun Village! Oh, it's a bit early now. If you come in two months, our village will have huge farmhouses and guesthouses and such. You're welcome to come and visit then! I was just teasing them. Our Chongyun Village has beautiful mountains and clear waters, and the people are simple and honest. It's just not very famous, but in terms of scenery and fun, it's definitely no worse than Wushu Mountain! They're a 5A-level scenic spot, and we're at least a 5B-level!"

His companion chimed in, "Yeah, yeah, do you know why the rabbit meat at 'Youlong Restaurant' is so delicious? Because the rabbit meat they use comes from a farm in our Chongyun Village! Young man, the scenery in our Chongyun Village is truly amazing; it's not only great for raising rabbits, but it's also great for people! I wouldn't dare say it's the best in the world, but it's definitely in the top three in Haixi Province! Come visit! I'll treat you to a room at my house, no charge!"

"Not only is the scenery beautiful, but the people are even better. There will absolutely be no random charges, overcharging, or extortion on the road. If you encounter anything like that, just call 110 or our village committee and have them hung up and beaten."

"Our Chongyun Village doesn't engage in any 'monster tourism'. Don't believe the rumors. Chongyun Village absolutely has beautiful mountains, clear waters, and stunning scenery, hospitable people, and delicious food—all made with the finest ingredients, no gimmicks!"

"That's right! Our power supply is very stable, and there are no power outages. The streetlights are on all night! There's also Wi-Fi, covering the entire village, including all the small lakes and fishponds. You can play Honor of Kings while you're fishing. I heard they're going to build 5G base stations in the future!"

"Our village is going to develop internet-based aquaculture and build a huge Research Base —the only one of its kind in the country, no, the first in the world! Many of those top students from 996 and 233 universities will come here. My sixth uncle said that America has 'Turtle Valley,' which specializes in high-tech; we also want to build an 'Insect Valley' to develop high-tech aquaculture..."

"Stop talking nonsense, those are 985 and 211 universities, what the hell is this '233'?! 233 my ass! It's embarrassing..."

Faced with the sudden shift in enthusiasm from these five young people who had just been telling fantastical stories to enthusiastically "recommending" his ideas, Zhou Rui was momentarily at a loss for words.