Chapter 180： man-eating mountain

There may be many reasons why someone goes missing while traveling.

For example, you encounter a trafficker and are trafficked to an unfamiliar place, or you are not familiar with the local area and take the wrong route; or you have an accident, such as losing your footing, falling off a cliff, falling into the water, car accident, etc...

At the beginning, the police also investigated based on these common reasonings -

The terrain of Ruyi Mountain is very steep. Except for the tourist area planned by the Tourism Bureau, other places are basically deep mountains and dense forests.

It is normal if a tourist accidentally takes the wrong path and loses his way in the forest, and the communication equipment is damaged or has no power and cannot get out.

So the police sent a large number of people to look for him.

But it took more than a month and a lot of manpower and material resources were deployed. The search and rescue team worked in three shifts around the clock, searching several hills within a hundred miles, but found nothing.

Later, everyone speculated that the tourists accidentally fell to the bottom of the cliff, so no traces were left.

So the search and rescue team went to the bottom of the cliff again and searched all over the cliff of Ruyi Mountain.

Still, no one is seen alive, and no body is seen after death.

Later on, some irresponsible media tabloids fabricated a bizarre and twisted story, saying that Ruyi Mountain was a cannibal.

The story is so magical that there are spirits in Ruyi Mountain, mandrills and ghosts on the mountain, and they will specially select those lone tourists to catch and eat them.

The mandrill ghost will tear people whole, chew every bone, and drink every drop of blood, so those who disappear leave no trace behind.

Because they all became the meal of mandrill ghosts.

The case of Ruyishan's disappearance was already full of doubts. The police spent a long time but never came up with a reasonable and credible explanation.

At this time, fabricated stories came out, and many people believed them to be true and spread rumors, making the Ruyishan disappearance case cast a layer of mystery.

As more and more people disappeared, tourists became more and more frightened. Gradually, no one liked to go there, and the popular tourist attractions became deserted.

Tao Xingyun waited for Pei Anzhu to finish reading the news before he said:

"This Ruyi Mountain has been deserted for more than twenty years. It is said that there is only one dilapidated temple on the mountain now. The plank road is in disrepair and is fragile; the stone steps are covered with moss, making it difficult to walk."

“If we want to go to Ruyi Mountain to find my grandfather’s bones this time, I’m afraid we have to clear the road first, otherwise we won’t be able to climb up at all.”

This is a big project.

Ruyi Mountain is not ownerless, but belongs to the local tourism department.

Even though it was deserted later, the relevant departments still sent people to guard the foot of the mountain to remind people not to go up the mountain as it was not safe.

The Tao family had to bring a **** and shovel when they wanted to find the bones. It would be difficult to avoid alerting the relevant departments with such a big movement.

Unless the Tao family opens another road to avoid people's eyes and ears.

"This is easy to handle. I'll call Officer Du and ask him to contact the relevant local departments to make it easier for us." Pei Anzhu said, "But the way up the mountain may have to be solved by the Tao family themselves."

Tao Xingyun nodded: "No problem, I'll tell my dad right now."

I had never thought that finding the bones would be so troublesome, but now it seemed that just a few people were not enough, so Tao Wangshan rented an outdoor expedition search and rescue team overnight, with a total of twenty people.

 Pei Anzhu didn't care that it was midnight and sent a WeChat message to tell Officer Du about the matter.

Unexpectedly, Officer Du was not asleep yet, and his phone call came immediately:

“Master Pei, are you going to Ruyi Mountain?”

“Yes, I have to ask your department to come forward and communicate with the relevant local departments.” Pei Anzhu said.

Police Officer Du was silent for a moment and said:

“To be honest, the situation in Ruyi Mountain was already on record as early as the day when the Foreign Affairs Bureau was established. That was the place our Foreign Affairs Bureau wanted to explore.”

“The disappearance case back then was very strange. The police didn’t have any clues. I didn’t know the reason before, and I just thought it was troublesome. But now that I have seen the world with Master Pei, I thought that abnormal means might be at work.”

"Well, I'm still in the Zhou family's mountain manor, collecting the bones of the children who were killed in vain. Let's make an appointment to meet tomorrow, and I'll go to Ruyi Mountain with you."

After hearing this, Pei Anzhu did not refuse. With the intervention of the state, things would be much easier:

“Okay, I’ll go and tell the Tao family.”

In this way, Pei Anzhu acted as an intermediary and communicated with the Tao family and the Yi Tiao Bureau. The two parties agreed to meet at the highway intersection to Mocheng at nine o'clock the next morning.

Even though they stayed up all night, when it was time to set off, no one was left behind.

At 5:30 in the morning, all those who were going to Ruyi Mountain gathered at the entrance of the Tao family ancestral hall. Patriarch Tao had people steam steamed buns and boil fragrant soy milk overnight. Everyone had a simple breakfast and then set off.

There are eight people who set out from Taojiacun, namely:

 Pei Anzhu, Shen Yueran, Tao Wangshan, Tao Xingyun, and four young and strong Tao family members. They are the four brothers. Their names are arranged in order from brother to uncle, namely Tao Boxun, Tao Zhongxia, Tao Shuqiu, and Tao Jidong.

Since Pei Anzhu and the four of them had stayed up all night and it was inconvenient to drive, the four Tao brothers drove two cars to the highway intersection.

At the same time, the 20-person search and rescue team hired by Tao Wangshan and the comrades from the Special Investigation Bureau headed by Police Officer Du also rushed to the highway intersection at about the same time to meet.

At about nine o'clock, the three groups of people met and after getting to know each other, they headed towards Ruyi Mountain. Another thing happened during the process.

The outdoor adventure search and rescue team heard that they were going to Ruyi Mountain, so they raised the price and asked the Tao family to triple their commission.

The Tao family didn’t say much and happily raised the price.

After all, everyone knows that there is something fishy on Ruyi Mountain. They might encounter danger this time. The outdoor search and rescue team is also risking their lives to work, so they should be given more money.

Ruyi Mountain is at the junction of Pingcheng and Mocheng, located in the southeast of Longguo.

The car drove on the highway for three hours before arriving in Mocheng. Everyone found a place to have lunch and continued on their way, finally arriving at the foot of Ruyi Mountain at two o'clock in the afternoon.

On the way over, Officer Du had already greeted the Foreign Affairs Bureau, and a dedicated person had already communicated with the tourism department here.

So when everyone arrived at the foot of the mountain, there were already many people waiting here.

The leader was a person in charge of the tourism department, whose surname was Sun. People around him called him Director Sun. He came over to say hello and handed over a thick document bag:

“These are all the information we collected after the incident in Ruyi Mountain twenty years ago.”

“It includes the list of missing persons, the scope of exploration by the police station and the search and rescue team, as well as a part of the map in the dense forest, as well as some dangerous location markings, etc. I hope it can be helpful to you.”

“Thank you.” Officer Du took the information and said.

Director Sun endured it again and again, but finally couldn't hold it in any longer and spoke to persuade:

"Actually, according to my opinion, if you can't climb this mountain, don't climb it. It's too weird. After the accident that year, not only the tourist attractions could not be opened, but even the residents at the foot of the mountain moved away one after another."

“Look now, the entire mountain is surrounded by desolation and there is no human habitation.”

“But if you insist on going up, bring more supplies, not only food and drink, but also safety equipment to maximize your survival rate on the mountain.”

Everyone knew that Director Sun had good intentions and thanked him one after another, but no one changed their mind about going up the mountain.

Including the outdoor adventure search and rescue team.

They also knew the danger, but in order to make money, they decided to give it a try. After all, the commission from the Tao family was really impressive, and it tripled. This order was worth their income in the past three years.

Even if something happens, with this money, the family will not be unable to survive.

"Okay, now that you have made up your mind, I won't say anything more." Director Sun said, "If you have any questions, you can call me. We will also send people at the foot of the mountain to assist you."

After the explanation, Director Sun left.

However, not all the people he brought with him left. Instead, they set up camp at the foot of the mountain, which served as a rear liaison station for Pei Anzhu and his group.

Police Officer Du came over and asked Pei Anzhu:

“What’s next?”

Pei Anzhu thought for a while and said:

“Many people didn’t sleep last night. In addition, everyone is tired from traveling and traveling during the day. In addition, it is the afternoon and there is not much time before dark. It is not a good time to go up the mountain.”

“Let’s do this. We will divide into two groups. Some of us will look for any abandoned houses nearby and clean them a little. We will set up tents and sleep in them at night.”

“The other group of people drove to the city to buy enough supplies as Director Sun said.”

“How about I take a look at the information that Director Sun gave us, get familiar with the situation on the mountain, and prepare for going up the mountain tomorrow?”

Police Officer Du nodded and agreed with this arrangement.

Soon, everyone received their tasks and got busy.

Shen Yueran couldn't sleep, so she ran to get close to the group of people left by Director Sun, hoping to learn more stories about Ruyi Mountain from them.

Those people were also friendly, and they quickly started chatting with Shen Yueran.

They told Shen Yueran all the information they had heard, experienced by people around them, and read on the Internet, whether it was true or false, it was a hodgepodge.

Anyway, there’s nothing wrong with listening to these stories more than once. Maybe there’s important information in them?

Everyone is preparing in an orderly manner.

After nightfall, everyone had dinner, drank fragrant and hot vegetable soup, and fell asleep warmly to recharge for going up the mountain tomorrow.

Not long after, a series of snoring sounds could be heard all around.

Pei Anzhu finished his meditation, opened his eyes, glanced at Shen Yueran, who was sleeping beside him, got up and walked out.

At this time, the voice of the little fox came from behind:

“What are you going to do?”

"I'll go up the mountain to take a look in advance." Pei Anzhu said, "With so many lives, I don't want anything to go wrong. You should protect Little Moon here. Also, I will give you a talisman. If there is any emergency, you can Tear the talisman and notify me."

The little fox took Pei Anzhu's talisman and waved his little paw: "Go."

Pei Anzhu didn't say anything more, turned around and walked out. When she came to a quiet place where no one was around, she used her skills, jumped into the air, jumped up, and arrived at the entrance of the plank road.

She has already reached the foundation building level and can fly in the air. Plus she has talismans such as the divine walking talisman. She thinks the mountain is just a blink of an eye.

But in order to check whether there was any danger on the way up the mountain, she still followed the path she would take tomorrow, climbed the plank road and climbed the stone steps.