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墨書 Inktalez
It was Monday again.
Fatty perked up, his round eyes widening at the sound.
"What’s wrong with me? I'm just concerned about Miss Ren. Can you stop thinking so lowly?"
Seriously, he was the one being crude, and somehow I ended up being the target.
I knew this guy was trouble. If I kept arguing with him, who knows what embarrassing stories he would come up with. Especially after our recent trip to Myanmar and Laos, where I had made quite a fool of myself. I really didn’t want him to bring those up and humiliate me further.
I raised my hands in surrender. "You're great, you're noble, fine! But stuffing your face won’t shut you up."
Finally satisfied, Fatty chuckled and shoved a big piece of meat into his mouth.
I shot a disdainful glance at the smug Fatty and took the opportunity to eat something myself, of course sharing some food with Jack as well. He could sit up and eat now; it seemed that sleep had done wonders for his injuries, especially his spirits. However, he still regarded Fatty with disdain, watching his antics with cold eyes.
Suddenly, Vietnamese leaned in closer to me, turning his back to Fatty. "Hey, Mr. Zhang, I don’t have any bullets in my gun. What’s the difference between that and just starting a fire? I looked through my backpack; aside from explosives, there isn’t a single bullet. Mr. Zhang, I'm on your side; you need to help me out here."
Hearing this made me angry. I was already worried about him carrying around a Grenade, and now he wanted bullets? Who would dare walk in front of him?
"You want bullets, huh?" Fatty perked up at that. He had overheard everything despite being turned away. "Here, I was just thinking this many bullets were weighing me down."
With that, Fatty grabbed a bag of bullets and tossed it to Vietnamese. The poor guy nearly got knocked out by the flying bag.
However, I felt that his heart was already dead, looking at me as if he had lost his father. "Mr. Zhang, you see... this... you have to make a decision for me."
I swallowed a piece of jerky. "If I give it to you, just take it."
The Vietnamese walked away in tears. He must have regretted it deeply; that bullet bag weighed dozens of pounds. The key point was that it was a bag for 16 bullets.
Each of us had to maintain our weight, like me and Buasong, or reduce it, like the two Hakka People, because we needed to keep eating and drinking water, as well as gather firewood. Only A San's burden was increasing.
I looked at his mournful face and teased, "How about we switch?"
The Vietnamese turned pale, shaking his head like a rattle. However, he seemed inspired; he glanced at Fumi lying on the ground and turned to say something to Buasong. It seemed he was plotting against Fumi. The Lao People were very thin and wouldn’t weigh more than his backpack, especially not when considering the bullet bag he had before.
Buasong no longer feared him and firmly rejected the Vietnamese. The Vietnamese continued to say something to Buasong; I couldn't understand what he was saying, but from his tone, I could tell he was definitely threatening the Lao People.
Suddenly, Fatty kicked the Vietnamese in the butt with his foot. "You can't give your backpack to anyone. You're mine now; keep an eye on that backpack and don’t leave my sight."
Fatty winked at me.
No wonder A San hadn’t followed closely behind me and Buasong but kept a closer distance with the three people behind. It turned out Fatty was pulling strings, insisting that A San not stray too far from him.
At the same time, I noticed the Vietnamese's eyes moved as well—not towards me but rolling upward; it seemed this guy almost made Fatty faint with anger.
This road was tougher than I had imagined. Fatty seemed determined to make things difficult for me; he hadn’t taken over carrying Jack at all during the journey. As for the others, including the two Hakka People who were shorter in stature, they couldn’t possibly carry Jack either. If they were to carry him, Jack's feet would surely drag on the ground, and after a while, they would be worn down to nothing.
We walked without incident for over two hours. In front of a steep stone staircase barely wide enough for one person, one of the Hakka People said, "We’ve arrived."
I approached the staircase and shone my One-Eyed Beast Flashlight upward. This was a staircase carved almost straight up along the Cave Wall; it was very high, and the flashlight couldn't reach its end. In many places, only shallow indentations were carved into the rock wall for footholds, while where conditions allowed for carving stairs, they were less than three fingers wide—barely enough to hold a foot securely. There were no safety measures on either side of the staircase; it seemed we could only climb up like rock climbers using our hands and feet.
"Am I here for extreme sports?" I muttered.
Jack sighed behind me, "Looks like all your strength has been wasted on this journey."
It seemed Jack was feeling discouraged, so I deliberately nodded. Of course, I knew it was impossible to climb this stone ladder while carrying someone. But I believed Fatty wouldn't bring us this far without a way to get up.
Sure enough, Fatty patted a Hakka person's shoulder. "You go up alone."
The Hakka person glanced expressionlessly at Fatty, then at Tang Yumo, tossed aside his backpack, and squeezed past me. With one hand holding a torch, he climbed up effortlessly like a Big Monkey, quickly disappearing into the light of the One-Eyed Beast Flashlight.
The torchlight flickered in the air, helplessly suspended as if it could fall at any moment.
Suddenly, the torchlight went out. I felt an urge to cover my head or jump away and lie flat on the ground; I thought someone singing about conquest would fall down any second. However, seeing Jack behind me looking up without a care in the world made me suppress that impulse. If someone fell, they would probably land on Jack first.
Sure enough, something fell from above. It was a rope.
Fatty grabbed the rope and pulled it down forcefully a few times before tying one end around his waist and climbing up the stone ladder. After a few rungs, he turned to me and said, "You come up last."
If I weren't carrying Jack, I would have jumped up to curse him out. "I'm carrying an injured person! You want me to go up last on purpose? Are you trying to kill me or Jack?!"
"You're such a pig," Fatty shot back with wide eyes. "First, get him up here, then there's Fumi."
"How can we lift Jack with this injury? There's no way to secure him; tying him anywhere will hit the wound."
"Right." Fatty's eyes darted around. "Tie him by the feet and hoist him up upside down."
Jack extended his middle finger at Fatty from behind me.
"Smack!" Fatty swatted Jack's hand away. "This rope is sturdy enough to lift two people at once. You figure out how to arrange it."
With that, Fatty began to climb up.
Once Fatty left, many decisions fell to me. I lowered Jack down and took a look around. When the rope came down again, I signaled to Lao People, "You two go up first."
The rope was secured to Buasong, and as soon as I gave the signal, the two of them were quickly hoisted into the air.
Next were all the backpacks, with A San and Jack going up simultaneously. After everyone had left, I was the last one to ascend.
However, I did not see Ground. (To Be Continued...)
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