The Nujiang River Valley has steep cliffs, fast-flowing water and no human traces.
Lu Taiguan breathed a sigh of relief and shouted: "Sergeants, can you eat dead crabs ? Look, the other side is your motherland that you long for."
Second Lieutenant Dai Bingguo, with his arms folded and his lower body wrapped in a piece of animal skin, and five other Chinese Expeditionary Force soldiers threw away their guns, knelt on the ground with a plop, and sobbed with tears streaming down their faces.
"It's been thirty-four years. My two elders, my unfilial son has finally returned…" The second lieutenant beat his chest and stamped his feet, crying loudly, with snot and tears streaming down his face.
"Fuck you, are you still waiting for me…" The soldier from Shaoyang, Hunan, dug his hands into the soil, his gray hair fluttering in the wind, and let out a heart-wrenching cry.
"Build a raft and prepare to cross the river!" Lu Taiguan gave the order.
Everyone worked quickly, and soon they had built a large raft and pushed it into the river. They carried the bald old woman's body aboard. The kappa had recovered and simply jumped into the Nujiang River, pushing the raft forward.
"Second Lieutenant Dai Bingguo." Lu Taiguan called out with a serious expression.
"Yes, sir." Dai Bingguo replied.
"Second Lieutenant, you can no longer return home with carbines. It will be extremely dangerous. The war ended twenty-six years ago. Therefore, I order you to lay down your weapons." Lu Taiguan said seriously.
"Yes, sir, we don't want to fight anymore." Second Lieutenant Dai Bingguo shouted loudly, then raised his carbine and threw it into the Nujiang River.
Several other expeditionary soldiers also untied their belts and threw their guns, ammunition and some grenades into the river.
Once we got ashore, we were already in Tengchong, Yunnan Province.
After crossing the Gaoligong Mountains, they saw a small town in the distance in the mist. Lu Taiguan's bodyguards were ordered to go to the town and buy some clothes, cloth shoes, razors and other things.
"Boss, the SUV we hid in the woods is still there and no one has found it," a bodyguard reported.
"Very good, we will go our separate ways." Lu Taiguan said with satisfaction.
Second Lieutenant Dai Bingguo and five others were about to cut their long hair and shave their beards.
"Wait, put on new clothes first. Keep your hair and beard for now, they will still be useful." said Lu Taiguan.
"Yes, sir," Second Lieutenant Dai Bingguo responded.
Those new clothes were nothing more than blue-gray clothes and pants, which were worn by a billion people in that era.
"Sir, we can't wait to return home." Second Lieutenant Dai Bingguo said with his head down.
"No, you need to be patient for a while. Don't worry, I will make sure you get home safely." After saying this, Lu Taiguan ordered his two bodyguards to take the five people of the Chinese Expeditionary Force and travel at night and hide during the day, heading directly to the southeast direction of Lincang and Honghe, crossing Guangxi and heading straight to Guangdong, and then going to sea in the Dapeng Bay area to sneak into Hong Kong, hiding in the Lu Mansion villa in Mid-Levels of Hong Kong Island, waiting for Lu Taiguan to come back.
Looking at their receding backs, Lu Taiguan and another bodyguard carried the bald old woman, the kappa and the white-browed gibbon to the place where the car was hidden, stuffed the old woman's body into the trunk, and then drove all the way to Hunan.
Soon, they finally saw Taohua River in the distance.
"Two clear springs, a wisp of green smoke, sharp wolf teeth, and a cave hidden in between." Lu Taiguan stood on the Bald Stone Man Mountain, with misty mountains and deep ravines under his feet. He thought of the verse his aunt left for him, then looked down at her thin and shriveled corpse, and sighed with emotion.
"Boss, how can we get down to such a deep ravine?" The bodyguard asked fearfully, looking at the misty cliffs below.
"Go back to the car by the river and wait for me. The Kappa can climb down carrying my aunt's body." Lu Taiguan ordered.
"Yes, boss." The bodyguard replied and hurried back the way he came.
Kappa is indeed much more flexible than humans. It was still very easy for him to climb down the cliff carrying the body of the bald old woman. The gibbon was even more free and easy. He even grabbed the vines with his arms alternately and started swinging.
Lu Taiguan took a deep breath, grabbed the long vine and slowly fell down the cliff.
After lighting the torch, they walked along the corridor in the cave and soon arrived at the "hiding cave".
"I fencing and chanting, thinking of Jia Sheng's strategies; I drop the sails and take a rest, leisurely looking for Qu Yuan's desk. Heaven is silent, but Qu Yuan left stone drums in those days; I am lucky to be on the boat trip, as Yu Sheng visits the fishing pier today… Hey, is the visitor the son of Wu family who is returning home? This admiral has been waiting for you here for too long." A trembling voice suddenly came from inside the stone gate.
A huge bald head was exposed in the sarcophagus in the stone hall. The gray pupils looked over here, and the wrinkles on the face seemed to have more. The wide mouth was grinning, revealing a bunch of uneven yellow teeth.
"Grandpa, I'm Taiguan. The souls of the 64 Wu family members from Xiushan have been brought back." Taiguan Lu hurriedly stepped forward and knelt in front of the sarcophagus.
"Oh, sir, is the bald old woman who is the daughter-in-law of our Wu family dead? This admiral has already smelled it." Old Master Wu's nose twitched a few times, then he sighed and said.
"My aunt has unfortunately passed away, sir." Lu Taiguan said sadly.
"Tell me how she died?" Old Master Wu asked.
Lu Taiguan said bitterly: "Auntie died during the petrification period when a sinister and cunning villain sucked away all her vitality."
"Ah! I'm so angry… Where did that evil guy come from?" Old Master Wu screamed angrily.
"The villain's name is Huang Jianguo, a native of Wuyuan, Jiangxi Province, and now he has defected to the Japanese." Lu Taiguan roughly recounted what happened at the time.
"He actually knows how to suck corpses?" Old Master Wu murmured in surprise.
The kappa gently put down the shriveled body of the bald old woman, then took the arm of the white-browed gibbon, and both knelt in front of the sarcophagus.
"Master, Kappa finally found a satisfactory wife." He sent a thought to the sarcophagus.
"Well, I think this female gibbon is gentle and virtuous, and she is a good match for the kappa. Well, I will officiate your wedding tonight, but where is the girl from last time?" Old Master Wu rolled his gray-white pupils, stared at the gibbon and nodded.
"Miss Mingyue was kidnapped by a Ramapithecus in the rainforest." Lu Taiguan answered respectfully.
"My aunt, before she died, asked the eunuch to split open her head and take out the Zhuyou relics that contained the souls of 64 Wu family members. The eunuch could not bear it, so he brought her body back from afar. Please make the decision, old man." said Eunuch Lu.
"Okay, Your Excellency. The children of the Wu family should be so filial. Now that I have accomplished my mission, it is time for me to get out of the coffin." Old Master Wu said as he slowly stood up from the sarcophagus.
Under the bright orange torchlight, Wu Jiabang, a high-ranking official during the Xianfeng reign and the admiral of the Yangtze River Navy, stepped out of the stone coffin naked. No skin could be seen from his neck down, as it was all covered with green, hairy moss…
Lu Taiguan was so surprised that he couldn't close his mouth.
"This sarcophagus is an excellent place to raise corpses. Now, I have practiced for a hundred years and have become the number one 'flying zombie' in the world. Hahaha…" Old Master Wu laughed wildly and the piercing whistle echoed in the stone hall.
"Old man, then you are the 'Ba' with eyes on the top of its head in the legend?" Lu Taiguan exclaimed. When they were in the rain forest, Han Sheng once said that flying zombies are also 'Ba', with eyes on the top of their heads and they walk like flying. Government officials and the public in all dynasties have called them great pests, and they searched for their traces everywhere in the countryside. After capturing them, they would burn them with fire and turn them into ashes.
"Not bad, the boy has some knowledge." Old Master Wu lowered his head in admiration. Sure enough, on the top of his bald head, there were two big eyes with single eyelids, yellow eyeballs, and exposed whites.
The old man walked to the side of the bald old woman, stretched out his hand and gently stroked her bald head, muttering: "You are the good daughter-in-law of the Wu family for a hundred years. I don't have the heart to split your head. How about this, I will take you to the top of the Shame Mountain tonight and release the children of the Wu family to go home."
"My aunt left a last will before she died, asking you to bury her body next to her master in the Poyang Lake Valley in Jiangxi," said Taiguan Lu.
"Okay, let her do as she pleases." Mr. Wu agreed.
In preparation for the wedding that night, Kappa first jumped into the pool in the stone hall to bathe. Not only did he clean all the brown hair on his body, he even peeled off his three breasts and rubbed them repeatedly to remove the old dirt. He immediately felt refreshed. After the bath, he reached out and grabbed a fish basket hanging on the wall, dived to the bottom of the pool and swam to the Taohua River. Soon he caught some river fish, crabs and prawns as a feast for the wedding dinner.
"I will go get some food for you." As Mr. Wu said this, he flashed and rushed out of the stone gate of the "hiding place" like a gust of wind and disappeared in an instant.
"He really is walking very fast." Lu Taiguan exclaimed in admiration.
When Mr. Wu came back, he was carrying a large bag on his shoulder. After unpacking it, it was found that there were not only cooked food such as roast chicken, salted duck and braised pig's head, but also several bottles of liquor.
"Old man, where did you get this? Can you still eat these greasy foods?" Lu Taiguan asked in confusion.
"Of course I can. I just robbed a small shop. Although I haven't eaten for a hundred years, I am so greedy just by looking at the food. I can't help it. Tonight, you and I, grandparents, are going to have a big drink." Grandpa Wu answered confidently.
Halfway through the dinner, Mr. Wu could no longer hold it in, and hurriedly squatted outside the stone door of the "hiding cave", and started to poop…