Book Synopsis
Book Tags
Donation Rankings
Comment
0 Comments
You May Also Like
墨書 Inktalez
Zhong Kui's Diary
Old Wang also relaxed a lot. He took a cigarette, used a lighter from the dashboard of the Stage to light it, and said with a smile, "If you drive for another half an hour, you'll reach Yuanlu Town. After getting off in Yuanlu Town, if you follow the mountain road for another three or four hours, you'll arrive at Black Wind Village."
"What? Isn't this car going directly to Black Wind Village?" Fatty asked in surprise.
"Directly? How is that possible? Black Wind Village is located halfway up Wild Boar Mountain, which is the most perilous part of the Great Black Mountain Range. It's called Wild Boar Mountain not because there are many wild boars on it, but because wild boars can't climb up there. If we were to build this road, the manpower and resources required would be astronomical," Old Wang said, holding the cigarette and leaning out of the window to blow away the ash.
"It might also be because Wild Boar Mountain lacks resources. If there were coal or gold mines, it would have been opened up long ago," Fatty chuckled.
"That's one reason, but the main reason is that the Black Guk Tribe in Azure Wind Village is extremely xenophobic and doesn't allow outsiders to build roads," Old Wang said dismissively while holding his cigarette. "They don't consider who benefits from building roads. They don't want others to build them, and others don't want to build them either. They also don't think about how many people died when constructing the Daihei Mountain Road back in the day."
"Hey, there's a beautiful woman," Fatty suddenly pointed ahead. On the road was a woman dressed in black, with a black scarf wrapped around her head and carrying a large basket on her back. Since she was facing away from us, we couldn't see her face clearly, but her figure was quite impressive.
"Don't make a sound!" Old Wang whispered as he slowed down the jeep and drove past the woman slowly. Both Fatty and I instinctively glanced at her and couldn't help but express our admiration.
What a beautiful and elegant woman! Her skin was as white as snow, her features were like a painting, especially those bright eyes that were as clear and pure as mountain spring water and as sparkling as black gemstones. It seemed she sensed our gaze; the woman in black glanced at the jeep lightly before turning her attention back to her path.
"Old Wang, stop! Stop! Give her a ride!" Fatty exclaimed excitedly.
Old Wang pretended not to hear until we were about fifty meters away from the woman. He gradually accelerated and after about ten seconds of driving, he whispered angrily at us, "Damn it! You guys want to get killed? That woman is from the Black Guk Tribe; they are extremely fierce. If you offend them, don’t expect to survive going down the mountain."
Fatty and I were both taken aback and immediately sought Old Wang's advice about the Black Guk Tribe.
The Guk Tribe is divided into three major factions: White Guk, Black Guk, and Red Guk. Relatively speaking, White Guk has a more amicable disposition and is numerous in population. Out of the nineteen peaks in the Great Black Mountain Range, fifteen are under White Guk's influence. The main reason for building the winding road was that it passed through White Guk's territory.
As for the fierce and combative Red Guk and Black Guk tribes, they occupy only two peaks due to their smaller numbers. It is said that on top of Wild Boar Mountain occupied by Black Guk, there are still a few Flower Guk People living there.
"The distinction among Guk Tribes is based on the color of their headscarves: Red Guk wears red headscarves while Black Guk wears black ones," President Wang added. "Black Wind Village is located on Wild Boar Mountain; it's a stronghold of the Black Guk Tribe. You must be cautious when heading there."
"Of course," I replied with a smile.
After walking for a while, a town appeared ahead. The jeep stopped by the roadside outside the town. After dropping us off, Old Wang stretched his hand out of the window and pointed towards the town, saying, "Do you see those three gates?"
Looking up, the town was not large, with a street about a hundred meters long. At the end of the street was a fork in the road, with three mountain paths winding off into the distance. Each path had a red Stockade Gate erected, all built from logs, giving it an ancient charm.
"Above them are written Black Wind Village, White Water Stockade, and Red Cloud Stronghold. You should take the road to Black Wind Village. Call me when you come back, and I'll come pick you up." After finishing, Old Wang quickly reversed the car and sped away, as if fearing that staying here too long would lead to some unforeseen trouble.
Seeing this, Fatty and I felt uneasy and cautiously walked into the town.
The town consisted of about ten to twenty two-story brick houses on either side of the road. The first floor had various shops like barbershops, restaurants, and grocery stores.
"Which one is Black Wind Village?" I asked Fatty.
Fatty shielded his eyes from the sunlight with his hand and looked around before cursing, "Damn, I don't know!"
"What do you mean you don't know?" I asked in surprise. "Can't you see clearly?"
"I can't read those twisted characters written above," Fatty replied with a laugh.
Damn, how did I forget that the Stockade Gate didn't use Chinese characters? Helplessly, I took out my phone to call Old Wang, but to my surprise, there was no signal here.
It seemed we could only ask the shop owners on the street.
We entered a grocery store where the owner was a bald man lounging in a bamboo chair listening to an old recorder. The recorder was quite ancient and used cassette tapes; it played music featuring an erhu that I couldn't recognize.
However, this bald owner wasn't wearing a headscarf and I couldn't tell which ethnic group he belonged to. When he saw us enter, he didn't pay much attention and continued to nod along with the music from the recorder.
"Hello, how do we get to Black Wind Village? Do you know?" Fatty stammered while gesturing vaguely.
The bald owner lazily stood up and pulled out a sign from a drawer. He placed it on the counter where it read: "This store does not serve Koreans or Japanese!"
Fatty immediately burst into laughter and said, "Boss, I'm Chinese!"
The bald boss looked at Fatty with disdain and said, "With your Mandarin, how can you not just hang yourself? Why don't you jump into the river and drown? Why don't you cut your wrists and die?"
Fatty was stunned for a second or two before scratching his head and replying, "I thought you were from the Guk Tribe."
The bald boss nodded noncommittally and then asked, "What do you plan to buy? Instant noodles or gum?"
"I wanted to ask which road leads to Black Wind Village," Fatty said, pointing at the three Stockade Gates with a smile.
"I asked you what you plan to buy," the bald boss rolled his eyes. "Can't you understand what I'm saying?"
Fatty's expression changed, and he was about to get angry when I quickly held him back and smiled at the boss, asking, "How much is the gum?"
"One hundred bucks!" The bald boss pulled out a pack of Green Arrow from behind the counter.
"Damn!" Fatty couldn't hold back anymore and shouted, "Why don't you go rob someone? There are only five pieces of gum in this pack, and you're selling it for one hundred bucks?"
The bald boss reached out, opened the pack, took out one piece, and grinned maliciously. "One hundred bucks for a pack? That’s impossible..."
As he tore off half of the piece and tossed it onto the counter, he said, "One hundred bucks means half a piece. Here’s your gum; now pay up!"
Fatty was furious and ready to make a move. I pulled him back again and took out one hundred bucks to hand to the bald boss, smiling as I asked, "I bought it. By the way, if I want to go to Black Wind Village, which way should I go?"
The bald boss glanced at me sideways. "You're smart enough. However, if you want directions, you have to buy the whole pack of gum; that's called a starting price."
I counted out a thousand bucks and placed it on the table.
The bald boss snorted and pointed towards the Stockade Gate direction. "There, the one on the far right is the Stockade Gate to Black Wind Village."
Just as he was about to collect the money on the counter, I quickly snatched it back and said, "Sorry, I suddenly don't want gum anymore; eating too much of this stuff can lead to impotence."
Fatty burst into laughter, doubling over in amusement. "Are you angry? Come on, bite me!"
The bald boss unexpectedly did not get angry, but instead looked at us with a cold smile: "Don't rush. Just don't come crying to me later."
"Crying to you?" I scoffed, "Dream on." With that, I signaled Fatty and turned towards the three Stockade Gates on the street.
I don't know what was happening, but it seemed like the shops had received some signal, as many people came out from inside. They had headscarves of various colors, red and white, but none wore black headscarves.
The looks these people gave us were all different—some filled with hatred, some with pity, some gleeful, and others excited—as if we were two pigs about to be sent to slaughter.
Not wanting to dwell on it too much, I quickened my pace with Fatty and stepped into the rightmost Stockade Gate. Both of us were highly focused; judging by the expressions of those people earlier, something was likely going to happen ahead. I didn't know if it would be poisonous insects or ferocious beasts, but it certainly wouldn't be anything good.
We followed the mountain path around several bends until we reached a lawn. The grass was already very green, and in the center of the lawn was a round area about ten meters in diameter, even greener than emerald. The mountain path ran straight through the middle of this lawn, making the emerald-like round patch look picturesque.
Exchanging glances with Fatty, we both felt something was strange about this lawn, though we couldn't pinpoint what was odd about it. We quickened our steps, and just as we reached the center of the lawn, we heard several sharp howls coming from around the bend ahead. Then I saw three giants emerge from that turn.
The giants were all similar in appearance, standing about two meters tall. Beneath their messy hair were eyes as big as copper bells, and they had large copper rings hanging from their ears and noses. Each one was muscular and sinewy; their arms were thicker than my thighs, and they each wielded a massive machete. This machete was about one and a half meters long, roughly a foot wide, and five centimeters thick. The iron rings on them clanged together as they moved. If these blades were made of pure iron, they would weigh at least two hundred pounds.
Comment 0 Comment Count