Before everything goes out

"This is Ma Zi, this is Ah Ji, and this is Gua Tou."

Walking along the mountain path, Niu Wenbing introduced everything to Li Fei one by one.

Unlike the Niu brothers, these three came from three different families, and Li Fei could tell from their casual conversation that they had a good relationship.

After all, they are all young people from the same village, so they should have known each other since childhood.

The oldest is Ma Zi, around twenty-three or twenty-four years old.

He wore a thick coat so dirty that its original color was unrecognizable, and a machete was tucked into his waistband.

He was the leader of the three. The reason for this was that Li Fei saw that Ma Zi had thrown all the dry food to Gua Tou to carry, and walked in front of him with his arms swinging, looking quite relaxed.

Next up is Ah-Ji.

Thin and cross-eyed.

His cross-eyed look made him appear less intelligent, but Niu Wenbing said it only slightly affected his eyesight; his brain was still normal, at least as sharp as his younger brother Niu San's.

Finally, there's the melon head.

He was burly, about half the size of Niu San, with bald patches on his head, resembling a watermelon rind.

This is also the origin of his nickname.

The man was carrying a large rake in both hands, a canvas crossbody bag, and a snakeskin sack on his back.

As soon as they left the village, the trio's dry rations and water were all handed to him to carry, and the key point is that he didn't complain at all, and still had a happy look on his face.

Li Fei guessed that this must have been how things had been all these years.

"Pockmarked guy is the leader, cross-eyed guy is the follower, and melon head is a bullied good-natured guy."

Before even entering the mountains, Li Fei had already made a judgment in his mind.

Look up.

It was almost completely light by then, but the thick clouds obscured the sun.

He was already used to the weather here. Lin Wen had said that Shuanghe Village was located in the middle of a large basin. It didn't rain, but there was hardly any sunshine either. It was considered good if you could see the sun once a month.

The weather wasn't great, but the roads were alright to walk on.

At least before entering the mountains, this section of the road was just an ordinary country road.

When Li Fei left the village for the first time, he looked around excitedly, only to find that the place was no different from the rural scenery in his memory.

The flowers, plants, and trees are just a bit too lush, some even growing into the middle of the road.

"Hey, your name is Li Fei, right?"

Niu San's voice came from the side.

To Li Fei's surprise, Niu San, who had been walking with Niu Wenbing, slowed down and came to his side.

As the two walked side by side, Li Fei realized more clearly that this guy was not only burly, but also enormous.

He is nearly two meters tall, weighs over 140 kg, and has shoulders as broad as a wall.

Walking next to him, Li Fei felt the light dimmed a bit.

"Um."

"This name is good, better than mine."

Niu San scratched his head.

"What's your name?"

Li Fei didn't know what he wanted to say when he suddenly leaned in, so he could only follow along.

"My name is Niu San."

"Hmm? His name is Niu San?"

This surprised him a bit.

He thought Niu San was just a nickname, meaning that this bald man was the third son of the Niu family, but he didn't expect it to be his real name.

"My eldest brother is called Niu Wenbing, my second brother is called Niu Zhiyuan, and I am called Niu San."

Niu San gave a very serious self-introduction.

Li Fei sensed a hint of dissatisfaction from his expression.

These parents are something else. They named their eldest and second eldest sons quite well, but when it came to their youngest son, they just hastily came up with the name "Niu San" (meaning "Three Ox").

A few seconds of silence.

Niu San didn't continue, and Li Fei didn't respond either.

The more you say, the more mistakes you make.

Considering that the other party was a reckless brute who had personally killed the original owner of this body, Li Fei decided it was best to say as little as possible.

The two walked side by side for a while, the atmosphere becoming slightly awkward.

Seeing that Niu San showed no sign of leaving, his lips twitched, and he could only bite the bullet and try to start a conversation:

"I have a feeling your second brother will be alright."

This was his way of comforting Niu San.

Unexpectedly, Niu San shook his head calmly.

"No, my second brother is already dead."

"What?"

"I said, my second brother is dead. If he were still alive, with his abilities, he would have run back to the village long ago. There would be no need for us to look for him."

"this..."

Li Fei was completely speechless.

What Niu San said makes sense.

The villagers live only a few kilometers away from Shuanghe Village, which should be a half-day walk.

Several days have passed since the incident; he should be able to crawl back to the village by now.

If they didn't come back, they've likely been killed.

"Let me tell you the truth."

Niu San looked at Niu Wenbing's back in front of him, pointed to the bandage on the back of Li Fei's head, and lowered his voice.

"I beat you up a few days ago to avenge my second brother myself."

"Taking revenge yourself? Wait, so when you hit me on the back of the head with a shovel, it wasn't an accident, it was intentional?"

Li Fei's eyes widened once again.

"Of course. I know that the village chief wouldn't dare to touch someone like you, and my eldest brother wouldn't dare to either. If I want to avenge my second brother, I'll have to do it myself. If I release you from that hut, you might never have any more trouble."

"you..."

Li Fei opened his mouth wide, so surprised that he was completely speechless.

Unexpectedly, Niu San was just pretending to be stupid; in reality, he was quite quick-witted.

but.

Disobeying orders is a very serious matter. Even his elder brother, Niu Wenbing, didn't know about it. Why did he tell an outsider like me?

Why are you suddenly telling me this?

"I apologize to you."

Niu San looked sincere.

"Need not..."

Li Fei paused for a moment, then waved his hand.

"I don't hate you. I've said many times that I have amnesia. To put it simply, I'm not the same Huanzi as before, so the person you want to kill isn't me."

"I don't care about that. Anyway, we're all in the same boat now. You have to find my second brother for me."

"Didn't you just say he was dead?"

"The body, I want to take my second brother's body back to give my mother some closure."

Looking into Niu San's clear, foolish eyes, Li Fei remained silent for a moment, then nodded.

I will try my best.

As they were talking.

The group had walked along the country road and stood in front of the vast mountains.

Although it's called a mountain, it's not actually very steep.

At first glance, all you can see are trees.

The dark green, lush, and wildly growing vegetation reminded Li Fei of the mysterious jungles he had seen in tomb raiding movies.

"There are many strange things in these mountains. Be careful once you're inside."

Snake Seven, who was walking at the front, called out to those behind him.

"Wenbing, you've been into the mountains twice before, so go ahead and lead the way. The rest of you follow."

Niu Wenbing responded and drew his sickle from his waist.

Li Fei could tell that, apart from She Qi, the person who had the most influence among this group was Niu Wenbing.

Although this guy is short in stature, he is quite intelligent.

"San'er, come and clear the way."

At Niu Wenbing's call, Niu San and Li Fei exchanged a glance and quickly went to the front of the line.

The roads in the mountains are difficult to travel.

Gravel, mud, weeds, vines.

Or rather, there are almost no roads in the mountains, and you have to use tools to clear a path every now and then.

Sheqi used a small knife, Niu Wenbing used a sickle, and Niu San used an axe.

With the combined efforts of the three, the team's progress was quite smooth.

However, Li Fei clearly felt that the group's speed had slowed down considerably since they entered the mountains.

That's why, even though the mountain road on the map is only 7 kilometers long, they have to set off before dawn. If they took an easier route, the round trip of 7 kilometers would only take less than two hours.

"Change."

After walking a long stretch of mountain road, Snake Seven gave an order.

The three people in front of him, including himself, retreated to the back of the group, and were replaced by three new people, including Ma Zi, A Ji, and Gua Tou, who led the way.

This is a simple rotation mechanism so that everyone can get a rest.

Except for Li Fei.

He didn't need to clear the way, so there was no need for him to rest.

He even felt somewhat excluded.

Not only because of that, but also because the map was on his wrist, and Snake Seven, the leader, hadn't even looked for directions once, except before leaving the village that morning...

This puzzled him.

Even more bizarrely...

The mountain terrain is complex and winding, but whenever he checks the direction, he finds that there is no sign of deviating from the path.

"This old man is no ordinary person; he is indeed someone Liu Yongxiao values."

Li Fei thought to himself.

It's quite easy to not have him do any physical work like clearing the way, just carry some food and drink.

of course.

Even if he wanted to help, his body wouldn't allow it.

His body was recovering from a serious illness and was in poor condition. Walking on mountain paths was already a struggle, let alone using those weapons to cut a path.