I don't know how we got back to Banai but we were rescued by Qiu Dekao's team after returning to the lake. Several people were rescued separately, and I was put on a respirator.

My exhaustion was beyond my body's endurance and they gave me so many sedatives to relax my muscles that almost all of my ma.s.seter muscles were numb. After a long period of lung lavage and treatment to neutralize the poisonous alkaline gas, they mixed a gas into the oxygen I was hooked up to and I inhaled it as if it were vinegar. (TN note: ma.s.seter muscles are your primary chewing muscles around your jaw. Lung lavage is a procedure that uses saline solution to "wash out" the lungs).

I finally fell asleep that night. I slept for more than ten hours before I woke up from the pain of acupuncture and found that Qiu Dekao's team was sending us out of the mountain. I immediately remembered what happened to Xiao Hua and told them. They promised to send someone to look for him.

I don't have much memory of the scattered treatment afterwards. There was no denying the fact that the ecstasy of escaping the Zhang family's ancient building had diluted the sadness of Pan Zi's death. When I recovered and thought of Pan Zi, however, I still felt that it wasn't true.

Xiao Hua was found the next day and Qiu Dekao's people got in touch with the Xie family who took him away immediately. I didn't see Xiuxiu, but Granny Huo's head was missing. I didn't know what the specific situation was, but people said that Xiuxiu had completely collapsed.

I didn't know what Fatty said, but the problem this time was that with so many of us going in, only Poker-Face and Granny Huo's head came out. But because of this matter, the Huo and Xie families' reconciliation had developed smoothly. I figured there would certainly be many people who hated me, but I didn't have any energy to think about it at the moment.

The local people also brought us a lot of herbs, which seemed to have some effect after we ate them.

About five days later, I was able to get out of bed and walk. When I was out in the sun, I suddenly saw a scene that surprised me. Poker-Face was all dressed up.

“What's he doing?” I asked the person next to me.

“He's leaving.”

Leaving? Leaving where?

I was startled, thinking "It wasn't easy to save you, where are you going?"

“Help me over.” I said to the guy standing by me. The other party lifted me up and brought me to Poker-Face. I asked him, “What are you doing?”

Poker-Face looked at me and said indifferently, “There's no time. It's the end.”

“What the h.e.l.l do you mean?” I asked.

“I'm going to finish the last step of this thing.” Poker-Face said, “I don't have time.” He packed his things and put them into his backpack.

I looked at the man beside me: “You're just going to let him go? As a doctor, you can't let the patient leave so quickly. Where's your boss? This guy knows a lot of things. Tell your boss to tie him up and torture him! “

“He's fine. His health is much better than yours.” The humanitarian beside me said, “Moreover, our boss, has—”

I looked at him and he sighed, “He's getting old, after all, and time is running out.”

“Qiu Dekao already got what he wanted.” Poker-Face tightened his backpack. "He can finally leave quietly.”

“What was it?” I asked.

Poker-Face said: “Two rings. People sometimes not only seek immortality but also death.

I didn't understand, and Poker-Face didn't want to explain. I yelled, “Fatty, where the h.e.l.l are you? Little Brother wants to run."

“It's no use. He's already been here once and come to a compromise.” The man beside me said.

“I can only go by myself on the road ahead. There's no way you can go with me. It's too dangerous, and it has nothing to do with you.” Poker-Face picked up his backpack and headed outside.

This was the result?

I froze, an unknown rage rising up as suddenly all the expectations and worries in my heart disappeared. I turned around and shook my head, thinking "b.a.s.t.a.r.d, do whatever you like."

I walked back just in time to see Fatty coming out of the house. I guess he heard my shout. Looking at my appearance, and the silent Little Brother beside me, he probably knew what had happened.

I walked up to him and he patted me and said, “A twisted melon isn't sweet. How to say it… we're outsiders. We have no right to force Little Brother to live the way we want."

“How can we be outsiders?” I asked. “If we're considered outsiders, then who's an insider? Do I have to lie down and die in there to be an insider?"

“Your situation isn't necessarily Brother's situation.” Fatty said.

I looked at his expression and it seemed that he didn't feel any disappointment at all. I asked, “Did he say anything to you?”

Fatty shook his head and said, “If he didn't say anything to you, why would he say anything to me? But we know Little Brother. He has his reasons once he's made a decision. This reason is beyond our reach and there's nothing we can do to stop him."

I sighed. The two of us sat in the corridor of the tall wooden building, watching Poker-Face go further and further away. My heart slowly quieted down.

“Will he come back?” I asked.

Fatty said, “Did you ever worry before when he suddenly disappeared?”

I shook my head: “At that time, we just found that he was gone so there was no difference. This time, he refused our help for the first time. I think things are different."

Fatty said, “It's not different. Just act like you didn't see him leave.”

I turned around and asked him, “What are your plans?”

Fatty tsked, “I have a lot of plans. Maybe I'll go back to Beijing and live a safe and stable life. I don't know if the Crescent Hotel affair has been settled, though. If I can't go back, I'd like to stay here and see my little wife. Anyway, the scenery here is good, the air is good, and the girl is beautiful. With my little savings, I can be a big uncle here for many years. How about you?"

I was silent. I didn't know, but I felt that once I stopped searching for the answers to these mysteries, my life would be meaningless.

In fact, my life really was meaningless. I sat there in a daze, thinking about the utilities next month, and then thinking about the meaning of my life. I smiled bitterly. I had nothing to say when my life was like this.

“I don't know. I have to think about it.” I said to Fatty, “But not until this is all over. I probably learned some things about these mysteries, and can speculate on others. I think this matter will soon have a result. I'll wait until things calm down and see what the reefs that finally emerge from the water will look like."

I was telling the truth. I did have a hunch that this matter was almost over.

Fatty patted me: “Anyway, you'd better change your face first.”

I touched my mask and thought of Pan Zi again, all my worries sinking down: “I don't care anymore, this face was still useful in the end.”

After talking with Fatty, I went back to my room, thinking this was the end. I couldn't remember the whole process of escaping Zhang Jialou but I felt that, like usual at this step, everything should have calmed down.

But I was wrong, and then another thing happened. Although this matter has nothing to do with the development of the story, I still have to write it down.

On the third day after Poker-Face left, Yunyun died.

At that time, I vaguely heard the commotion outside, and when I got up, I heard someone say that a girl was dead.

I didn't realize it was Yunyun at all. I already felt that no one else would die since everything had been so stable under these circ.u.mstances. We were all out, but people were still dying.

After she died, they found her body in the stream. She had been shot, and the bullet pa.s.sed through her lungs. At that time, she certainly didn't die immediately, but fled to the stream and was washed away.

All the villagers believed that Qiu Dekao's people did it and they had a fierce conflict. I didn't really react, though. So much sadness made me simply stare at the pale body without any expression.

I knew who did it. It was Ghost, the man with the collapsed shoulder. I suddenly remembered the figure I saw on the second floor of Agui's house.

Ghost had been watching us from the beginning. Who opened the door on the second floor for him?

I couldn't ask Agui at this time, but I knew that apart from Father Pan Ma, Ghost and Agui must've had other contacts. Agui probably didn't know who he was, but he must've had interactions with him.

Perhaps Yunyun was the person Agui sent to connect with Ghost. Maybe she wasn't really so interested in us, but pretended to be naive and mingle with us so as to spy for him.

And now, Ghost had to erase a lot of things, and Yunyun knew too much so she was taken care of. I bet if I went to that cave again, I definitely wouldn't see him again.

It didn't make sense to me, though. Why would anyone continue to kill such a lovely life?

When Fatty pushed the crowd away, I chose to withdraw. I had no strength to face the grief of my companions. I heard a wail resounding through the valley and knew it was Fatty's roar: “Who? Who did it?" He was so carried away by this sudden incident that he didn't think what I thought. I found an inconspicuous corner and sat down, feeling very tired.

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