The Human History of Those Gods: A Continuous Stream

More and more news came from Secretary Shi, and based on these scattered fragments, it was determined that Liang Song had indeed gone to Ai Mang Mountain.

At 9:40 a.m. the day before yesterday, Liang Song used his ID card to book a flight to Nanping on a travel website. According to data from Hailan Airlines, Liang Song completed check-in at 17:52 that day, boarded the plane at 18:23, and arrived at Nanping Huang'an Airport at 19:24. Airport surveillance showed that he boarded a taxi with license plate number 31003 at 19:43.

That evening, Liang Song registered for a suite at the Shangri-La Hotel in Nanping using his ID card. He checked out at 7 a.m. the next morning and has been missing ever since. He has been out of contact for more than 32 hours.

Secretary Shi's name is Shi He. He is Liang Dangyi's chief private secretary, and Sun Wuliang and Liang Song have never really liked him. It's hard to explain why they dislike him; it might stem from racial differences, since the animosity between academic underachievers and academic high achievers is ingrained in their genes.

Sun Wuliang had read Shi He's resume. Shi He was two years older than Liang Song. Born in autumn, he was a "sword-edge gold" type of person with a "rooster dwelling in a tower" destiny. He ranked 7th in the science stream of Binjiang College Entrance Examination and applied to the Department of Finance at South Sichuan University. After graduating with a bachelor's degree, he was admitted to South Sichuan University of Economics and Law, where he obtained a master's degree in management. A few years later, he obtained a doctoral degree from the University of London.

These things are all understandable; there are excellent people everywhere. Although we all live in the same world, there are naturally different levels. Some are unattainable, while others can be ignored. What's annoying is that Shi He could clearly make a living based on his intelligence, but he happens to have an effeminate and beautiful face that surpasses many singers and actors.

In fact, Liang Song is handsome. People have been folding stars and roses for him since elementary school. However, Liang Song is aloof and easygoing. This aloofness often makes people around him forget his handsomeness. For example, Sun Wuliang, in Sun Wuliang's heart, Liang Song is just an ordinary person like him.

But Shihe's was dense, like a cloud of mist gathered in the mountains, ethereal and gentle. Perhaps to balance this femininity, he deliberately always dressed very formally, in suits, trench coats, and leather shoes, carefully diluting his handsomeness.

Initially, Sun Wuliang and Liang Song didn't think Shi He could stay in the secretary position for long; their annual salary of 200,000 might not be enough to support Shi He's ambitions. But now, more than three years later, Liang Song has changed seven cars, yet Shi He remains Liang Dangyi's secretary.

There is no branch of Zhiguan Group in Nanping. After arriving in Nanping, Shi He and Sun Wuliang were received by a building materials purchaser of Zhiguan Group in Nanping. Shi He simply gave a brief introduction.

"Wang Lantian... President Wang..."

"Sun Wuliang, Liang Song's...personal assistant."

Wang Lantian was a middle-aged man with a shrewd face, probably in his forties. He was short, dark-skinned, stocky, and had thick, round fingers. "An earth-type person," Sun Wuliang thought silently.

Wang Lantian and Shi He were very familiar with each other, so much so that there wasn't a single word of polite conversation or small talk between them.

"How is it?" Shihe asked.

"Mr. Liang..." Wang Lantian hesitated.

"Liang Song... just call him Liang Song..."

"Yes, Liang Song... Liang Song asked the hotel front desk to call a taxi at 7 a.m. yesterday. The license plate number is B7845. This is the text of the clues provided by the taxi driver at the time, and the video taken at the time is also here."

"Just tell us, we probably don't have time to look at these." Shi He raised his eyebrows and rubbed his narrow eyes. It must be said, Shi He has a pair of beautiful hands.

According to the taxi driver's recollection, Liang Song only carried a hiking backpack. He got into the taxi at the Shangri-La Hotel and got off at Cankou. The driver saw him heading in the direction of the mountains.

"He probably only carried a little bit of stuff. Even his sleeping bag was lightweight. I estimate he was carrying a maximum of 15 kilograms." Sun Wuliang stroked his chin and looked up at Shi He.

"Cankou? What's he doing there?" It's obvious that Shi He did his homework before coming to Nanping and is very familiar with the relevant locations.

"Cankou is the starting point of a branch of the Mao'er Line, but most hikers will get off at the end of Nanjing Road when they take the Mao'er Line," Wang Lantian pointed to the 3D topographic map of Nanping on the big screen and drew a circle at the end of Nanjing Road.

"Look here, if you enter the mountain from the left side of Aimangshan Forest Park, and follow the mountain road up for a short distance, you will find a regular Luxi scientific research route. There is no problem with that. There is a supply point at the No. 2 viewing platform at the top of Rabbit Ear Peak. Keep walking along the ridge, turn left at the No. 4 viewing platform, go around Longwang Spring and enter Fanzi Peak, then go down two mountain valleys and follow the stream along the left side of the stone curtain. This section of the road is also very flat. Keep walking and you will reach the end point - the Erwangshan viewing platform."

"This is the main route of the Mao'er Line. It is relatively easy to walk, especially suitable for beginners. Once you reach the viewing platform at Erwang Mountain, you can take a sightseeing bus down the mountain. The entire journey takes about 13 hours at a moderate pace."

Wang Lantian then swiped to the location of Cankou and pointed with the laser pointer at Liang Song's drop-off point on the screen: "But there are very few hikers who enter the mountains from Cankou, because most of this route requires crossing undeveloped areas. Before reaching Fanziding, you have to cross a large mixed forest belt, and the terrain is very complicated, making it easy to get lost."

"You see, even from this location, after crossing the forest belt, you still have to continue walking along the river, climbing up the mountain from the southern foothills of the peak, and going around a lake called Kalamala before you can reach the peak and finally rejoin the main route. Of course, the scenery of Kalamala Lake is very beautiful. Because of the diverse mineral elements, it looks colorful from a distance, so a small number of people are willing to risk getting lost to insist on taking this route."

Sun Wuliang glanced at Shi He, whose brows were furrowed and whose expression was grave.

Liang Dangyi was unaware of Liang Song's disappearance or the search for him. These past few days, Zhiguan Group had been busy planning a large project, and Liang Dangyi had neither the time nor the inclination to concern himself with anything else. After Sun Wuliang called Shi He to tell him about this, Shi He remained silent for over ten seconds: "Don't alarm Chairman Liang about this for now. Wait for me, I'll go to Nanping with you, and we must find Liang Song as soon as possible."

Sun Wuliang was a little uneasy. "After all, this is a very important matter. What if something really happens to Liang Song? How will we explain it?" Shi He's voice on the other end of the phone was very gentle. "Sun Wuliang, don't think too much about it."

"How's the weather been these past few days?" Shi He turned to look at Wang Lantian.

"To be honest, there hasn't been any severe weather in NP city during this period, just that the average temperature is lower than usual. However, the weather conditions above 1500 meters in the mountains are not optimistic. The weather in Aimang Mountain is extremely changeable this season. One second it may be sunny and bright, and the next second a hurricane of level 7 or higher may strike. Rain, snow and hail are very common."

"Besides these, are there any other situations?" Shihe frowned and continued to ask.

"Yes." Wang Lantian pushed over a few sheets of printing paper.

"earthquake."

An earthquake? Sun Wuliang gasped.

"At 1:38 p.m. yesterday, an earthquake of magnitude 5.3 struck 30 kilometers south of Qibei Town, with a focal depth of 8 kilometers. The epicenter was located at 29.48 degrees north latitude and 105.79 degrees east longitude. Because the epicenter is located in a relatively remote area, far from densely populated areas, no casualties have been reported so far."

This location is not far from the middle of the Ma'er Line, and whether it has had a destructive impact on the line is currently unknown. However, it is certain that, based on our estimated itinerary, Liang and Song were likely in this area at this time. If that is the case, he was almost directly involved in this earthquake.

Snowstorm, light equipment, zero experience, and a sudden earthquake.

After Wang Lantian finished speaking, all three of them fell silent. Sun Wuliang twisted the joints of his left hand one by one, subconsciously looking around the room. It was a conference room, decorated in a very traditional and simple style, with old-fashioned tables and chairs, and an old green carpet that made it look like a large card room.

Across from him stood the refined and respectable Shi He and a businessman who was honest yet shrewd. It was like a typical card game where people were waiting for their partners. These three people were connected to Liang Song's life and death. The only thing that reassured Sun Wuliang was that there were a few hiking poles in the corner by the door of the conference room, and several group photos hanging on the wall. The photos included movie stars, political figures, and... Wang Lantian and other rescue team members...

The silence was broken when Sun Wuliang heard Shi He's voice: "Then let's go into the mountains, Sun Wuliang."

------

The sun shines brightly at sunrise, and the evening brings a pleasant clear sky.

The sun shone brightly on Liang Song, warming his grey Taoist robe. The mountains and valleys were vast and still, the water calm and the wind gentle, with hardly any snow remaining. Liang Song sat in the sunlight, beside the mountain spirit Li Jushuang, and next to her, the black cat Nan Dou was curled up asleep.

Liang and Song felt that they were like two defeated soldiers who had been wiped out after a night of fighting, and only they were still carrying their tattered military flags, crawling out from the pile of corpses to live a wretched life in a corner.

He glanced at Li Jushuang, who was holding a withered branch and scratching haphazardly on the gravel ground. At that moment, they looked like two wandering souls relying on each other. This feeling made Liang Song feel that he had already forgiven Li Jushuang and the cat for what they had done yesterday.

"Giant...what?"

"The 'ju' in 'refuse,' and the 'shuang' in 'frost'."

Liang Song cleared his throat, "Li Jushuang..."

Li Jushuang hummed in agreement, staring blankly at the few rooftops visible above the water.

"Li Jushuang, is there anything to eat?"

Li Jushuang reached into her bosom and groped around for a moment, then handed him a potato.

"Where did it come from?"

"In the ancestral hall, for worshipping the ancestral master."

Li Jushuang was also wearing a gray-blue cotton Taoist robe, which was clearly too big for his size. The clothes were his master's old belongings, worn but clean, and had a faint smell of dust.

This is an ancestral hall, a three-bay earthen house. The middle room is locked with a copper lock and has no windows. He and Li Jushuang lived on the left side, which was originally the meditation room where Li Jushuang's master practiced.

If Liang and Song were skilled in feng shui, they would have discovered that this was an excellent place. It had a mountain behind it and a table in front of it, with the Golden Ear and Seal Dipper as facing mountains. The surrounding mountains, near and far, were undulating like waves and were all sand mountains. More than two miles to the east, there was a winding stream. The Taoist temple took advantage of the terrain to welcome the stream.

Of course, how could Liang and Song possibly know these things?