Beipai Tomb Raiders Notes

Chapter 590 "Crying"

"Xiao Liu, how long will it take?"

"It's not far. The path leading to the Qingxi Brick and Tile Factory should be ahead."

The road was getting further and further away, and I couldn't help but ask, "Isn't this area far from Shigushan?"

"It's not far, maybe four or five kilometers."

Xiao Liu was surprised that I knew about Shigushan. Qiandao Lake is not large in area, but because there are many islands, the terrain between villages is complex. I passed by here before when my aunt took me to look for the Xiaojinshan ruins.

I took out my cell phone and checked the time. It was late at night, 2:40.

At this moment, there was no road ahead.

The cars were turned off one after another and people got out.

"Ten people stay here to watch the car, and the rest of you grab your stuff and follow me." Adong said loudly.

After the team had walked for a while, they saw a few low houses emerging from the darkness in the distance.

These houses don't even have doors, and most of the outer walls have collapsed. If you hold up a flashlight to illuminate them, you can still see propaganda slogans from long ago left on the walls.

This is the "Qingxi Brick and Tile Factory". In Qiandao Lake, most factories named Qingxi have a history of decades or even hundreds of years.

When I walked into the brick factory, I saw a dilapidated scene. There were dense spider webs on the beams in front of the door, and rotten wood and broken bricks were scattered all over the ground.

A man was not paying attention and tripped over a rotten piece of wood. He stood up and cursed. The watermelon-head looked at him and he immediately shut up.

A Dong whispered, "Boss, there's not a single trace of human activity here. Could it be that person has deceived us? We've received false intelligence."

"Where is the woods you're talking about?" Watermelon Head turned and asked Xiao Liu.

"Still in the north."

"Ah!"

It was very dusty here and someone in the team couldn't help but sneeze.

There is a dirt slope right opposite the brick factory. I climbed over the slope and walked north along the gravel road. After about ten minutes, I saw a forest.

I stopped and stared for a few seconds.

The watermelon-headed guy asked me what I was looking at, and I said I wasn’t looking at anything.

After just a few glances, I sensed a "ground energy" in this area. It's invisible, intangible, and intangible; it's a feeling I get from my profession. There's a difference between ground energy and yin energy, and I can't quite describe it. (Xiao Liu was right; this forest didn't have a name back then. It's now called Laoshan Forest Farm or Laoshan Forest Farm. If you look down from above, you'll see a narrow, long "dark zone" in the center of the forest, its outline resembling a human eye.)

Suddenly, a strange sound was heard around.

Woohoo....

It sounded like the wind, but upon closer listening, it sounded like low sobbing.

Xiao Liu looked uneasy. He said nervously, "There should be nothing wrong with my ears. Did you all hear that?"

"I heard someone crying."

"I heard it too! It sounded like a woman crying." someone echoed.

"What did I say! This place is really haunted! Everyone heard it! It might be the woman who hanged herself in the brick factory before!" Xiao Liu said nervously.

Watermelon Head frowned slightly. He took the powerful flashlight and shone it deep into the woods. Then he told A-Dong beside him, "Send two brothers to check it out."

Adong immediately called out the names of the two people.

The two men said nothing and walked deeper into the woods with flashlights in hand.

"Maybe the other party knew we were coming and was deliberately playing tricks to scare us. If so, this method is too low-level." Adong said.

The man with the watermelon head had a serious expression on his face. He touched the stubble on his chin and did not respond.

About five minutes later, the two men came running back. Before Watermelon Head could ask, one of them said in a panic, "Boss! There are a lot of dead animals ahead!"

"What did you say? Dead animals?"

"Boss, you'll know if you go over and take a look! There's something wrong with this place!"

Everyone present was considered a member of society, and many had even committed murder. However, encountering such a thing in the middle of the night in this desolate mountain area would inevitably scare anyone. You could tell from the expressions on their faces that several of them had their guns drawn.

Soon, everyone saw an even more bizarre scene.

There were dead sheep and quite a few dead chickens, as if they had been eaten by some kind of wild beast. Especially the dead sheep, only fur and bones were left, and even their internal organs had been taken out.

"Look up there! What's that?"

I looked up immediately.

I saw something hanging on the tree. It had a metallic luster, was oval in shape, and was as big as a volleyball. There was a piece of rope hanging down from it. The rope was not thick and was black. It could not be seen at all without careful observation. When a strong flashlight was shone on it, it reflected light.

After staring at it for two seconds, I said in confusion, "This...this is a bell."

"Bell? What bell?"

I frowned and said, "It has a semi-circular button, an oval body, a flat top, and a side waist drum. This is a bell from the early Qing Dynasty."

"Qing Dynasty? Qing Dynasty? Then...so it's an antique?" Adong said with wide eyes.

I nodded and said yes.

The watermelon-headed man frowned and said, "This looks like a Buddhist bell? The kind they used to hang on the eaves of temples?"

I shook my head. "No, a Buddha bell is usually made of brass, but this one is made of white copper with a high tin content. And the Buddha bell is even smaller than this one. Look carefully there."

"Do you see it?"

"There's a faint engraving of flying birds. This is called a white copper mountain bell. It was once a possession of some ethnic minorities in western Hunan, perhaps the Miao or Yi people. Legend has it that white copper mountain bells could be used to find lost cattle and sheep. These days, they're almost gone. The few that have survived are mostly used in folk rituals for blessings."

At this moment, a woman's "crying" was heard again from the depths of the woods.

This time the crying was a little sharper, as if the person had suffered a great injustice. The listeners felt their hands and feet go cold and their hair went numb.

The eerie sound kept echoing in the forest, and Xiao Liu, the young man who led us, was completely frightened. He collapsed, his hands supporting the ground, and said with fear in his eyes, "I think I saw a dark shadow in the tree. We shouldn't have come here."

I was also nervous and sweating. The earth's energy was leaking out of this area, so there must be a big problem.

White copper mountain bells, crying...

No! I seem to have heard this cry somewhere before...

"Don't touch it!"

I shouted loudly, but it was too late. A guy pulled the rope hanging under the bell.

"clang!!"

A short and low bell rang instantly. The guy, still holding the rope in his hand, asked me what was wrong.

I didn't answer him. I breathed quickly and looked around nervously.

Looking at the night sky, I gradually saw a "black shadow" in my sight.

As the shadow got closer, I finally knew where the crying came from.

Without a second's hesitation, I grabbed the guy with the watermelon head beside me and ran.

Watermelon Head didn't react.

The next second, a huge, strange bird swooped down at high speed! It flew right before my eyes in the blink of an eye, and scratched a man's face with one claw.

Then a second one appeared... a third one! A fourth one!

The scene is like hungry eagles sharing food!

For a moment, strange bird calls, people's angry curses, screams, and gunshots all mixed together.

The man with the watermelon head suddenly shook off my hand, fired two shots into the sky, then turned and ran towards his brothers.