Chapter 64: 64, Satellite

When everyone saw those two lines of words, the atmosphere in the entire cave plummeted to freezing point.

After entering the forest today, they actually encountered no danger; aside from being extremely exhausted from a sleepless night, nothing strange had occurred.

This gave everyone a delusion: as if this place were safer than the canyon and the previous journey, they had almost forgotten the warning outside the canyon—“No living person enters.”

But now, they all remembered.

The missing Xu Xia’s corpse, the terrifying human-faced worms, and those four characters: “No living person enters.”

“Has anyone gone missing on our way here?” Xu Xianchu’s first reaction was to count the numbers, and indeed, no one was missing.

“Could this be someone’s prank carved here?” Liu Bu wondered: “There’s no sign of a struggle in this cave, and we haven’t even seen a single wild animal or human bone on the way.”

Wait, Liu Bu’s words only awakened Ren Xiaosu, for the strangest thing was here: in ordinary forests, there are always animal bones—birds, snakes, or larger beasts.

Yet this forest’s most eerie aspect was that Ren Xiaosu had not seen a single bone, except for the rat he had just discarded.

At this moment, Ren Xiaosu wanted to turn back to confirm whether that rat’s bones had also vanished, since the time since discarding was too short—it might have been just white bones in the morning, now already gone.

Just like Xu Xia and the fish meat and fish bones.

This vast forest harbored a chilling secret. A veteran asked: “It seems a group of people came here within a year, and quite a few at that. But Outpost 113 hasn’t had anyone passing through the Jing Mountain.”

“Perhaps the people from Outpost 112 wanted to come to our outpost, but something went wrong,” Xu Xianchu recalled carefully: “But we’re all bottom-tier private troops, so we can’t know who’s been here.”

Xu Xianchu was right—they were the most marginalized figures in the private troops. How would the upper ranks inform them of any intelligence?

Someone said: “Maybe we were sent this time because something happened to this group here. If the higher-ups knew, they’d send us to investigate. If they had satellite phones, they could’ve communicated with the outpost.”

This was the first time Ren Xiaosu heard the term “satellite phone.” Even Mr. Zhang from the academy had never mentioned it.

He had wondered before whether the outposts were connected, but he didn’t know how. Now it seemed it was through satellite phones.

Ren Xiaosu quietly asked Yang Xiaoju: “What’s a satellite phone? I heard Mr. Zhang say there are phones in the outposts, but what’s a satellite phone?”

Yang Xiaoju glanced at him and said: “Humans took over several satellites before the catastrophe, allowing communication between outposts.”

Someone muttered indignantly: “If the higher-ups knew they were missing, sending us here is clearly a death sentence. Are they using our lives to confirm the truth? If we die here, it means there’s real danger. No wonder they didn’t even equip us with satellite phones this time—trying to minimize losses. Do our lives cost less than satellite phones?”

Xu Xianchu looked at him: “Don’t jump to conclusions just because you got some information. Your guess isn’t logical either.”

In truth, the soldier’s words lacked logic due to fear, so Xu Xianchu didn’t agree. Meanwhile, Ren Xiaosu studied those two lines: “What did he use to carve these words into the cave? Probably a military dagger. Normal people don’t carry tools that could leave such deep marks.”

Xu Xianchu nodded: “It must be the private troops from Outpost 112.” He turned to everyone: “Rest well tonight. If you need to go out for physiological needs, at least three must go together.”

This arrangement was to prevent mysterious disappearances—even if danger struck, three people wouldn’t be unable to cry for help.

Xu Xianchu continued: “And someone must take turns keeping watch tonight. I’ll take the first shift, others follow. Girls don’t need to.”

Ren Xiaosu approved, though the watch’s significance was limited—he had to guard against both external and internal threats.

After all, he and Yang Xiaoju had just seized a private troop’s gun. A midnight ambush was possible.

At this moment, Yang Xiaoju said to Ren Xiaosu: “You keep the first half of the night, I’ll take the second.”

“Okay,” Ren Xiaosu nodded. Their temporary alliance rested on the basis that neither had reason to harm the other.

“I’ll go out for a bit,” Yang Xiaoju said.

Ren Xiaosu thought, *You’re not afraid of accidents?* “Shall I come with you?”

Yang Xiaoju paused long and whispered: “No need.”

Ren Xiaosu was puzzled—this girl had too much nerve. What was her reliance?

Luo Xinyu stood up beside him: “I’ll go with you.” She glanced at Ren Xiaosu: “You really know nothing.”

Ren Xiaosu felt his face burn. Only now did he realize what was going on!

The two girls went out in the rain. Xu Xianchu glanced at them but said nothing.

Someone from the private troops muttered: “What a pity if these two girls went missing.”

But within five minutes, Yang Xiaoju and Luo Xinyu returned to the cave as if nothing had happened.

What was going on? Did the so-called “strange shadows” in the forest not target their team?

Two private soldiers stood up: “We’ll go out too, we’re about to burst.”

These big men let two girls scout the path first before venturing out. And because of fear, they were almost wetting themselves, too afraid to urinate.

They had originally planned to pee inside the cave, but since Yang Xiaoju and Luo Xinyu were fine, they had to muster courage to go out.

Xu Xianchu nodded: “Go quickly and come back fast. Don’t linger outside smoking.”

“Relax, relax,” the two soldiers wrapped in clothes and left.

Ren Xiaosu ate chocolate while watching Yang Xiaoju wipe the rain off her body in the cave. He asked curiously: “Did you encounter any accidents?”

“No,” Yang Xiaoju replied briefly.

Someone lit a bonfire in the cave. After tossing pine cones into it, everyone began squeezing pine needles to lick the sap for thirst.

The pine cones crackled in the fire, the heat spreading to each person, making them feel as if they had come back to life.

But at this moment, Xu Xianchu suddenly looked outside the cave: “Those two… why haven’t they returned yet?!”

…

Today I need to catch the high-speed train to attend the Hangzhou Online Literature Week, so I’m updating early.

Thanks to Tear’s classmate for becoming the new book’s ally.