Chapter 27 I Saw Myself

I couldn’t believe my eyes. If Fatty wasn’t around, I would probably think I was dreaming. I looked carefully again, but the man had already gone far and couldn’t be found in the crowd.

Maybe I had reacted too much since Fatty pushed me further into the bushes. I handed him the scope and let him take a look.

I had felt strange before, but now I felt surprisingly calm after my momentary panic.

This wasn’t a calm that came from confidence, but a calm that was completely incomprehensible. For an instant, I was in a trance and couldn’t seem to remember what I saw just now. The scene was so strange that it seemed it shouldn’t be written down.

Who was that guy?

How much did a person really know about his face? It was a valid question. When we looked in the mirror, was the face we saw a complete impression? Was that really my own face? I wasn’t sure yet.

My heart was calm as I waited for Fatty’s observation. But when he finished looking, there wasn’t any surprise on his face. He lay down and said, “There aren’t many Chinese, but it’s too dark to see clearly. What did you see?”

“I think there are some acquaintances on that team,” I said, feeling that the voice and face I saw just now were both very familiar.

“Do you have acquaintances? I wish I had acquaintances. It’s a bit creepy if you have acquaintances,” Fatty said. “Is it the tea egg seller at your door?”

“I don’t have time to argue with you. Did you see anything strange?” I asked him softly. 

He shook his head, “This team isn’t large-scale, but it’s equipped with all kinds of equipment that’s typical of the old American style. Everything depends on the equipment, after all. But they’re going in the wrong direction. It looks like they’re going back. It seems that they came from the mountain and should be heading back to the camp. It shouldn’t conflict with us.”

“Are you sure?” I asked him. “Why do you think so?”

“I’m sure. From the direction they came from, there’s a stream to the west that you can follow until you reach the village at the next set of cliffs. Qiu Dekao set up ropes over there. If you have time to check it out, it’s quite the sight. Moreover, you can see that their packs have shrunk and their supplies are gone. It must be the team returning to the village. Qiu Dekao didn’t lie to us and certainly didn’t send a new team.”

I nodded but was still hesitant. It appeared that Fatty didn’t see the “me” in the team. Was I wrong? Or did Fatty miss the chance to see him? Did I need to follow up and confirm? If I wasn’t mistaken, the whole thing could start to develop in a direction I wouldn’t be able to understand.

“Mr. Naïve, what’s the matter with you? Did you see something just now that has you so distracted?” Fatty asked.

“Have you seen… a person who looks like me?” I asked him.

Fatty looked at me, “Do you mean like you now, or like you before?”

“Before.” 

When I told him what I saw, he frowned, “Mr. Naïve, did you knock your head on the way here?”

I became a little angry, “Fuck you! How long have we been together and yet you still doubt my judgment?”

“It’s because I’ve been with you for a long time that I don’t trust your judgment. It’s not like I haven’t suffered a lot before,” Fatty said. “You must be wrong. Let’s go back.”

I was a little hesitant, but when I heard Fatty say this, I knew I had to get up and verify it before I would let it go. While we were wrangling, the sudden sound of bushes shaking came from behind us. We looked back and saw Leather Bag crawling up, “Master Three, Elder Brother, I’m here too.”

“What are you doing here?” Fatty asked. “Don’t interrupt the two of us. I’m here making out with your Master Three.”

“I came to learn from you. Didn’t you say you want me to follow you more?” He answered.

“When did this kid start worshiping you as the boss?” I asked Fatty. 

“Charming personality,” Fatty said. He then turned his head and shooed at Leather Bag. “Get out of here. Don’t worry, it’s useless for you to learn the things here.”

“Actually, Sister Xiu was afraid that you were short-staffed and told me to come up and help you,” he said.

Fatty gave me a meaningful look, as if to say, “He’s here, but I agree that we should follow up and take another look.”

“Why? One more person won’t change anything.”

“Master Three, entering tombs requires tracking and stealth, which are all skills I’ve acquired from my ancestors. When I was young, I climbed through a dozen dog holes without losing my breath in order to chase a chicken. If you don’t want to get caught in these woods, you have to listen to me.”

Uncle Three was also a mischievous guy when I was a child, I thought to myself. Although those things might not have been worse than this, I really couldn’t. Besides, if Fatty could also fit into a dog hole with his size, how big was that dog where he was staying? But this kind of complaint was something Wu Xie would say and I was currently wearing Uncle Three’s human skin mask. In front of the younger generation, Uncle Three couldn’t be so heartless under such circumstances, so I refrained from speaking again.

Fatty said to Leather Bag, “Follow up from the left and watch out for the sentry.” Then he turned to me and said, “Master Three is old. Follow me.”

I nodded to Fatty and he pointed in one direction. The three of us sank into the grass that was half a person high and slowly moved forward.

After Leather Bag separated from us, I wanted to ask for more clarification, but Fatty made a motion to stay silent and pulled me to slow down.

I didn’t know what he meant, but it always made sense to listen to Fatty’s ideas. I followed his rhythm and slowly shrank back, watching Leather Bag gradually leave us behind and run to the front. He obviously hadn’t noticed that we’d been left behind.

“What help? He must’ve been sent by that smelly girl to spy on us,” Fatty muttered softly. “Well, let me show you what this Fat Master can do.”

I knew Fatty didn’t trust Xiao Hua’s group, but I didn’t want to pester him at this time, so I didn’t say anything.

The bushes in the woods were very lush and the smell of urine on my body attracted many small insects. I was a little distracted at first, but I was soon influenced by Fatty after seeing his focused expression. All his attention was drawn to Leather Bag and his expression was completely different from the one he usually wore when he was talking and laughing.

At this moment, I felt a twinge of doubt in my heart.

Fatty’s expression was too solemn. He used to be superficially somber, but when I looked at his eyes now, I felt that it was completely different from the occasional seriousness he revealed in the tombs before.

But when he talked to me just now, he obviously didn’t care that much.

This expression of his made me feel that he was very nervous about the present situation. Did he only pretend to not see anything just now, but really did see something? Did he do this so as not to worry me?

No way. When did Fatty become such a character? He would normally be happy to see me so nervous.

We followed Leather Bag for ten minutes, at which time we were already more than ten meters behind. Fatty still maintained the same expression but refused to shorten the distance between us.

I finally couldn’t help asking him, “What do you really want to do? If we continue to follow like this, we’ll lose sight of him and miss everything.”

Fatty immediately hissed, drew me closer, and said, “Following is not the goal here; getting a clear look is.”

I whispered, “Can you see clearly from this distance?”

Fatty was about to speak when we heard a warning whistle ring out ahead.

Leather Bag suddenly stopped moving and then a gun suddenly went off from the tree. A flash of light hit the area where Leather Bag was.

Fatty and I immediately looked up and saw a commotion in the direction of the team in front of us. All the torches had turned back and were shining in his direction. Fatty nodded to me, “Alright, now everyone has turned back and we can see clearly.”

Fuck, you’re using him as bait, I said to myself. I immediately picked up the scope and saw a light coming straight down from a distant tree, moving back and forth in the grass. It was the sentry’s laser sight. No matter how Leather Bag ran in the grass, the laser continued to land on him. This sentry appeared to be a real expert.

“This boy’s an opportunist, but he’s too subservient to observe the situation by himself. He doesn’t have enough experience in chaotic scenes. This time around, the sentries Qiu Dekao brought are especially fierce,” Fatty said. “The direction I just pointed him in was in the sentry’s key line of sight.”

“Are you trying to kill him?” I asked.

“No, foreigners are very environmentally friendly. The gun is full of rubber bullets so it won’t shoot easily. That one shot just now was to remind the people in front to pay attention, while also testing Leather Bag to see whether it was a man or an animal. If they were using real bullets, they wouldn’t have delayed their best defensive time by changing their ammo when the camp was attacked by the lynx.”

I looked at Fatty. I had no idea he had those kinds of thoughts. “You’ve never seen this version of your fat man, have you?” He suddenly asked me.

I shook my head, “You’ve been a little too fucking smart lately. I’ve never seen you like this before.”

“In this business, it’s not that I haven’t been ruthless, it just didn’t make sense to live like this,” Fatty said. “Now I’m the only one you can trust, so how can I live up to our relationship if I don’t help you be smarter?” He then pointed to the front, “Come on! Since Leather Bag caught their attention, let’s get closer.”

I looked at the poor kid surrounded by all the people who rushed over and sighed darkly in my heart, but Fatty was already quickly pulling me over.

People always seemed to do this, often ignoring the real danger when there was something to focus on. Fatty chose a circuitous route and tried to move forward bit by bit, sticking to the places where the light from the torches couldn’t reach. Since Qiu Dekao’s big troops were gathering in one place and Leather Bag was running everywhere, we didn’t need to worry about making noise and could move very fast in the dark.

By the time Fatty pulled me to a stop, we were very close to them. I looked up, startled to find that we were so close to them that we were almost beside them.

“Even if we go out now, they may not find anything unusual,” Fatty said softly. “Ok, find him. Where’s the man you mentioned?”

I picked up the scope and looked for the person I wanted to see in the crowd, but the torches caused some reflection, which made it difficult. I scanned the faces one by one and suddenly saw him.

This time, I had enough time to observe him. Despite the torches reflecting the light, I was coldly aware that I was not wrong just now.

I really saw a face extremely similar to mine.

<Chapter 26> <Table of Contents><Chapter 28>

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Updated 2/8/2021