Chapter 9

That night, they were arranged to stay in the staff dormitory. After assigning the rooms, the tall and thin man specially instructed them not to run around randomly on the mountain.

Xu Mo had something on his mind. Thinking of the frozen river, he asked Liu Qian, "You've been here before. Do you know where there's a river nearby?"

"River? What do you need a river for?" Liu Qian asked casually, not waiting for Xu Mo to answer. He pointed in the direction of the thatched cottages, "There is a river over there. Beyond the thatched cottages we cleaned up this afternoon, if you walk a bit further, you'll find it."

"I'll go take a look."

Seeing that it wasn't completely dark yet, Xu Mo hesitated for a moment and then made up his mind. He walked alone along the mountain path, heading towards the thatched cottages. After passing the cottages and walking for about two or three li, he indeed saw a small river.

The river originated from the mountain top, flowed into the valley, formed a spring, and then continued down the mountain. The weather was cold, and the river had already frozen.

Xu Mo tried to find the section of the river mentioned in the Book of Revelation and followed the river downstream.

By the river, he saw several large golden scorpions and the black toads and palm-sized white spiders that the others had mentioned during dinner. In addition, there were silver-white centipedes over ten centimeters long, with intricate patterns, and mantises about seven or eight centimeters long.

Xu Mo felt a chill: Could this place really be a poisonous mountain? What is that living thing in the river in the Book of Revelation? Could it be a poisonous insect? But what does this poisonous insect have to do with me? Could I accidentally be bitten by it?

He guessed wildly, moving cautiously forward, his eyes fixed on the river. The river looked similar everywhere, and every place seemed to match the section in the Book of Revelation. He didn't have the book with him, so he couldn't compare, and he continued walking.

As it grew darker, he saw a large compound by the river, surrounded by iron fences. There were streetlights on the top of the fence and inside the compound, and every few steps, there was a rotating surveillance camera monitoring the area outside the fence. Through the fence, he could clearly see rows of canvas tents.

"Is this... also a mountain lodge? Strange, why is it surrounded by a fence and has cameras?"

Xu Mo was puzzled and was about to move forward when he suddenly heard some barking. Five large dogs rushed out from somewhere, surrounding him and growling at him, ready to pounce at any moment.

In the midst of his panic, he heard someone shout, "Don't bite him!"

The dogs immediately stopped, and a person emerged from the shadows, shining a flashlight on Xu Mo and scanning his face. He coldly demanded, "What are you doing here?"

Blinded by the flashlight, Xu Mo could only see a dark blur. With the five dogs surrounding him, he felt uneasy and replied, "I'm just taking a walk."

"Just taking a walk?" the man repeated coldly, then asked, "What do you do?"

"I do part-time work, cleaning rooms at the mountain lodge," Xu Mo answered honestly.

"Part-time work?" The man's tone softened slightly. "Why are you wandering around if you do part-time work?" Without waiting for Xu Mo to answer, he added, "Didn't Xiao Chen warn you?"

Xu Mo, unsure how to respond, saw the man impatiently wave his hand. "Leave quickly. You can't come here again."

He moved the flashlight away from Xu Mo's face, but the five dogs didn't back off, still staring at him. The man who came out of the tent didn't stop them.

Xu Mo rubbed his eyes and glanced at the dogs. When their eyes met, the dogs bared their teeth and growled, ready to pounce. The man didn't intervene.

Xu Mo had no choice but to retreat and return the way he came.

When he got back, he found that Liu Qian and the others had gathered some firewood from the mountain and made a bonfire in the courtyard of the staff dormitory. They were roasting potatoes, yams, and sweet potatoes they had found somewhere.

Beside the fire, there were two more men.

The staff dormitory had three-tier bunk beds, with six people per room. Therefore, in Xu Mo's room, besides him, Liu Qian, Zhao Hongzhe, and Xu Tao, two more people were assigned, who were the two men by the fire.

They were all men, so they got to know each other quickly. One was named Hou Gui, in his early thirties, a simple-looking villager. The other was named Ma Wu, in his early twenties, who looked very sharp and seemed to have some martial arts training.

Seeing Xu Mo return, everyone smiled and called him over.

Xu Mo, having walked for half a day in thin clothes, was already very cold. Squatting by the fire, he felt warm immediately. He picked up a stick and poked the fire, smiling and asked, "Where did you find these yams and potatoes?"

Su Yan answered first, "Big Brother Hou took us to dig them up in the mountains."

Xu Mo said, "Oh," and looked at Hou Gui.

Hou Gui rubbed his hands and smiled honestly, "They are all wild things, not much to speak of. I'm from the countryside, and my home is near the mountain, so I have more experience finding these things. If it weren't late, we could set some traps to catch mountain chickens and doves to roast."

Su Yan was very interested and said, "We don't have time tonight, but we can try tomorrow."

Ma Wu took out a pack of cigarettes, Silver Sand, which cost ten yuan, and offered one to Xu Mo, "Have a smoke."

Xu Mo shook his head, "No, thank you." He didn't have the habit of smoking and was currently sick, so he naturally wouldn't smoke.

Ma Wu was taken aback, then chuckled, "Not smoking is a good thing. I rarely smoke too. I carry them mainly to offer to others."

He threw one to Hou Gui, and then offered one to Zhao Hongzhe and Xu Tao, who also didn't smoke. Guo Xia took one, and when he offered to Liu Qian, he waved his hand, "No, thanks."

He then took out a pack of cigarettes, the same Silver Sand as Ma Wu.

Ma Wu smiled, "Try mine first," and threw a cigarette to Liu Qian, who caught it, took a stick from the fire to light it, and started smoking.

The group then chatted and joked, saying some random things. After eating, as the night grew late and the firewood burned out, they dispersed and went to bed.

The dormitory had heating, so Xu Mo slept very soundly that night, completely forgetting about the breathing exercise.

The next morning, after breakfast, they repeated yesterday's task, cleaning the thatched cottages.

Around ten o'clock, after cleaning another room, they were about to push a cart to the square to get beds and furniture when they heard an engine. A red car drove into the square.

Xu Mo couldn't help but turn to look.

The driver's door opened, and a man in a black suit got out, pointing at them and ordered, "You guys, come over here."

A young woman's voice came from the car, "Two people are enough." Her voice was pleasant but carried a lazy, commanding tone, indicating she was used to giving orders.

The man in the suit immediately changed his words, "Two people."

He walked to the other side of the car, opened the back door, and held his arm over the door frame to prevent the person inside from bumping their head.

A young girl in a red dress walked out, handed her red handbag to the man in the suit, and looked at the distant mountains, nodding approvingly, "The environment here is quite nice!"

The girl was only eighteen or nineteen but had a slender waist and long legs, making her appear nearly 1.8 meters tall in her high heels.

She was extremely beautiful. Even from a distance, Xu Mo could see her exquisite features. Her luxurious red dress made her look like a cloud of white wrapped in a cloud of red.

The man in the suit took the handbag, flatteringly saying, "Sir knew Miss was coming for a holiday and had it specially renovated."

"Ha ha!" The girl glanced at him, "You know how to talk."

The man in the suit looked at Xu Mo and the others, displeased, "Why aren't you coming over? Are you deaf? Didn't you hear me?"

His tone was clearly scolding.

The girl in red looked up the mountain and said to the man in the suit, "I'll go up first. Have someone bring my luggage up."

She didn't even look at Xu Mo and the others, walking up the mountain, leaving a trail of fragrance as she passed by Xu Mo.

As she got closer, Xu Mo could see her profile. Her beauty was so striking that he couldn't clearly see her features, only her long lashes fluttering, making his heart skip a beat.

Su Yan stared at the girl, infatuated, "So beautiful!"

The girl heard and smiled, glancing at her, then immediately turned away, her expression more haughty, and walked forward with her head held high.

The man in the suit followed the girl, passing by them and pointing at Liu Qian, coldly saying, "You, take the luggage from the trunk to the villa on the mountain."

Liu Qian glanced at the girl's back, turned around reluctantly, and whispered to Xu Mo, "That's Shen Bancheng's daughter and her bodyguard. Let's go take a look."

"Okay," Xu Mo nodded.

Zhao Hongzhe and Xu Tao were still staring, and Guo Xia, angry, pinched their arms, "What are you looking at, you two perverts?"

"Of course, we look at beautiful girls," Zhao Hongzhe said nonchalantly.

Xu Tao added, "Didn't you see that even Brother Qian, Brother Mo, and Sister Su were looking? If you looked like that, no one would even bother to look."

"Ha!" Guo Xia glared, "Am I ugly? If I'm ugly, why do you two flies still come near?"

Xu Tao muttered, "Isn't it because we can't find better?"

Guo Xia sneered, "Better? Why don't you take a look at yourself in the mirror? Someone like that would even look at you two turtles?"

This also included Xu Mo and Liu Qian in her insult.