Hearing that the fat man said that we found the entrance of the Worm Valley, Shirley Yang and I also raised our binoculars and looked in the direction the fat man said. We saw a large field of yellow and white wild flowers and trees on the hillside in the distance, and there were groups of them among the flowers. The golden phoenix-tailed butterflies shuttled among them. These butterflies are not small in size, and they fly around in groups, never leaving the flower tree.
Shirley Yang exclaimed: "Those flowers should be Phalaenopsis. I didn't expect to attract so many golden phoenix butterflies… and golden sash butterflies… there are even rare golden thread big colorful butterflies. It's like ancient Greek myths and legends." Among them, in the Garden of the Gods of the Aegean Sea, those golden tree leaves blown by the sea wind."
I don't know anything about butterflies, so I looked with a telescope for a long time, but apart from butterflies and wildflower trees, I didn't see any valleys or valleys. The vegetation layer here is too thick, and all the topography and landforms are covered tightly. It is impossible to distinguish where is the valley and where is the stream. From above, the ups and downs are the unique dense vegetation near the Tropic of Cancer. The plants are very different from the virgin forests of Daxing'an Mountains that we are familiar with.
As the saying goes: If a tree is more beautiful than a forest, the wind will destroy it. The heights of the canopies of the trees in the Daxingan Mountains are all about the same, and the trees can work together to resist strong winds. And here is located in a land surrounded by two rivers and three mountains. The basin valley in the middle is low-lying. In addition, Yunnan has the same four seasons. There is no monsoon season. The lower the terrain, the more humid it is. There is not necessarily a wind blowing, so all kinds of plants grow to their heart's content. In the forest, the thick-stemmed vines, woody and herbaceous epiphytes grow in different heights according to their own characteristics. , but the environment in this valley is unique, and there are actually many towering Wangtian trees growing.
Only a few relatively large pools are not covered by plants, and many places in the deep and secluded areas are shrouded in clouds and mist, making it difficult to see what is going on from a distance.
You can't rush into the forest with a few groups of golden butterflies. The environment here is so complicated that it's hard to figure it out with common sense.
The human-skin map was drawn in the Han Dynasty, and it has been two thousand years since it was handed down to today. The topographic features marked on the map have long been changed beyond recognition. Except for some specific markers and locations, it is no longer possible to use the human-skin map for more accurate reference.
According to the blind man, decades ago, their group of unloading warriors brought earthy explosives into the worm valley, and saw a large group of butterflies in the worm valley, which is the section in front of the valley formed by the Snake River.
But who can guarantee that there will be no butterflies in other places outside the worm valley, so it is not yet possible to conclude that there is the entrance of the worm valley, and we must find the feature that the blind man said-there is a section of the wall in the worm valley. It is a relic of an ancient wall built by manpower on the Snake River. It seems to be a dam. The water flow was cut off when the tomb of King Xian was built.
Only by finding the remnant wall can it be used as a basis for confirming the location of the Insect Valley. The safest way is to go out of Zhelong Mountain like the group of warriors who dismounted the mountain back then, instead of going into the forest first, but follow the direction of the mountain range to Look for the Snake River in the north, and then follow the Snake River into the valley to ensure that you don't go astray.
The fat man said that there is another way, which is to find the artificial canal in Zhelong Mountain again, and follow the ancient river channel to find the Snake River. However, due to the heavy rain in the upper reaches of the Lancang River, the various waterways connected to each other have become intricate, and may even divert to flow underground. The old river channels have already been completely covered by plant soil, so the method mentioned by the fat man is not feasible.
The three of them discussed for a while and checked the time. It was three thirty in the afternoon. We entered Zhelong Mountain on a bamboo raft at around 9:00 in the morning. We have not rested until now, so we decided to take a rest on the spot for 20 minutes, and then head north, trying to find the entrance of the insect valley before sunset. Camp there, and enter the valley early tomorrow morning.
We sat down on a slightly flat hillside and took out some bait and beef to satisfy our hunger. The fat man talked about those piranhas, and thought of the pool in the mountain, full of bright red blood, similar to the blood pool in the legendary hell, which made me lose my appetite. I suddenly felt a chill in my heart, what if those schools of fish whose teeth are faster than sawing knives also swim into the Snake River along the way? With those guys in the water, it's impossible for us to get into the King's Tomb from the water.
Shirley Yang said: "Don't worry, I used to be a photojournalist for a geographical magazine, and I have seen a lot of related materials about animals and plants. The saber-toothed viper fish is close to the Tropic of Cancer in Asia, India, Myitkyina, Laos, and America at 20 degrees. There are water bodies in the region."
Among them, ancient India has the most. According to Buddhist scriptures, during the period of King Ashoka of India, there was a year when saber-toothed viper fish caused a catastrophe. At that time, when the Ganges flood happened once in a hundred years, an underground river in the Eastern Ghats poured into a nearby city, killing countless people and animals in the city.
The ancestor of the saber-toothed viper fish can be traced back to the post-glacial aquatic tiger-toothed anchovy. That kind of fish lives in the ocean and has a light emitter on its body. A large group of tiger-toothed anchovy can kill the overlord whale in the ocean in an instant. Later, due to the huge famine in the sub-glacial age, these creatures were gradually eliminated by nature, and their descendants, saber-toothed vipers, also evolved into freshwater fish.
Although the sabertooth viper fish are very powerful, they have a huge weakness. These fish can only live in water with a relatively low temperature. Only the cold waters in caves near the Tropic of Cancer are suitable for them to survive. There is a kind of hard-shell shrimp without eyes in those waters. There are a lot of them, but it is still not enough for them to eat, so it often happens A state of cannibalism. After September of each year, only one percent of the huge number of saber-toothed vipers will survive to the final spawning period.
Every year when the moon is full in mid-autumn, it is the spawning period of saber-toothed vipers. They cannot survive in too hot areas, but the reason why they live near the hotter Tropic of Cancer is to spawn in areas with high water temperatures. After laying eggs, the saber-toothed viper will die immediately, and the eggs will hatch in higher temperature water currents, and then migrate to cold waters to continue to survive.
The unique living environment of saber-toothed viper fish makes their numbers rare and their living space is small.
This season is not the spawning period, so there is no need to worry about them swimming out of the cave, but you need to be careful when going back. Due to the heavy rainfall, the waterways of Zhelong Mountain have all become interconnected water networks. If you return by the same route, you may encounter them in a certain section of the cave.
After listening to Shirley Yang's detailed explanation of the saber-toothed viper, the fat man and I were a little relieved. The fat man felt that he was a little timid just now, and hoped to save face, so he said to Shirley Yang and me: "These stinky fish and rotten shrimps can make a lot of noise. The reason why I think they are a little… that is because the chairman and his old man We were taught to pay attention to the enemy tactically."
Shirley Yang said: "These fish are nothing to worry about. I just kept thinking that the figurines hanging upside down in the river might not be as simple as feeding the pythons… But the tricks are so weird that I can't figure it out. There are swarms of saber-toothed vipers that come out by mistake, otherwise, it’s really hard to say what will happen. We have already encountered so many troubles before entering the valley of insects, we must be careful at every step.”
Everyone looked solemn, this time the fight was a matter of life and death, there was no retreat for horse racing on the cliff, only success and not failure.
We rested for a while and took out the map with the contour line of Zhelong Mountain. This map is extremely simple, and the error is very large. We cleared the compass, re-determined the altitude and orientation, corrected the map, and marked the orientation of the exit. The three of them continued to set off to search for Snake River.
The smallest branch of the Lancang River is the Snake River we are looking for. It bypasses Zhelong Mountain for a section. One waterfall after another, the river is full of huge whirlpools, and all kinds of boats cannot pass through it. Because of its extreme twists and turns, it is named Snake River, and the local Bai people call it "Jie Laluo". , which means "the dragon suppressed by Daxue Mountain".
It is not difficult to find this Snake River according to common sense, but the plan cannot keep up with the changes. The vegetation at the foot of the mountain is too thick, and the river course cannot be seen at all, so we have to walk slowly along the edge of Zhelong Mountain.
It was only then that I discovered that the "Sixteen-Character Yin-Yang Fengshui Secret Art" is completely useless in such a ghostly place. In order to distinguish the rationality of the situation, one needs to see clearly the composition of the mountains and rivers. In this area, the top of the mountain is full of clouds and mist, and the bottom of the mountain is full of trees and vines, just like the surface of the mountains and rivers is covered with a thick layer of green mud. The top was covered with a cotton cover, and there was nowhere to start.
The jungle under the cliff is even more difficult to walk. After walking in, I didn’t see a single butterfly. It was full of mosquitoes, poisonous ants, and there was no road. I looked at a piece of green from a high place, and when I went in, I found that the vines were too long. It was so dense that it was almost impossible to stand on it, so we had to use engineer shovels and machetes to forcibly open a road, and at the same time carefully avoid those poisonous snakes and insects. The hardship was really unbearable.
Seeing that the sun has set behind the mountain, the earth is gradually engulfed by darkness, and the primeval forest is covered with a veil of darkness, but we have not gone far. It seems that it is impossible to find the Snake River before dark, so we have to go first. Find a relatively safe place to spend the night temporarily. The night in the forest is full of dangers, and here is between mountains and rivers, and the air pressure changes greatly, so we have to find a dry place without too many mosquitoes and light a campfire before we can spend the night.
Finally, I found a very flat large bluestone under two big trees, and took a photo with a flashlight. There were no snakes and scorpions nearby. The three of them were very tired, so they hurriedly took out fuel and built a fire, surrounded by small stones. Because the air is too humid, it is necessary to take a fire to dry the bluestone, dry the moss and moisture in the crevices of the stone, and then spread the sleeping bag, so as to prevent the moisture from entering the bone and causing the root of the disease when sleeping.
Shirley Yang went to a nearby spring to fetch some water, which was filtered and ready to drink. I set up a small camping pot, boiled some boiling water, and cooked the vermicelli bought from Caiyun Inn in a camping pot without any seasoning, so as not to let the aroma of the food attract any animals, and soak them randomly in the cooked vermicelli Serve a few bait cakes for dinner. I don't know how long it will take to walk in the valley, so I am not willing to take out the canned food to eat.
The fat man couldn't help complaining about the poor food, and the bird was almost out of his mouth. Speaking of the bird, he grabbed the "Jianwei" and prepared to buy some game, but it was already dark, so he had to give up and sat down to eat again. While blaming me for the unpalatable and tasteless cooking, I ate three big bowls.
After the meal, we decided to take turns to sleep, and leave some people to watch. After all, this primeval forest is full of dangers. Who knows what kind of poisonous insects and beasts will come out at night.
I was on duty for the first shift. I held the "Jianwei", filled the bullets of the June 4th type, pressed the fire into a dark fire, and then sat not far from the fire, humming the current A popular ditty kills sleepiness while keeping an eye on the dark jungle around.
The two big banyan trees in front of me are quite magnificent. Their bodies are as thick as stone pillars. A rare husband and wife tree grew on the tree, and many unnamed huge flowers and parasitic plants grew on the tree, just like a big colorful flower basket in the forest.
I was watching intently, but I heard Shirley Yang, who was lying in the sleeping bag, suddenly said to me: "These two trees will not live long, there are too many plants parasitic on the bodies of the two banyan trees, and the nutrients absorbed by the old banyan trees are beyond their means. Now The middle part of this tree is probably already empty, and in three to five years at most, this tree will die. Some things have reached the most beautiful stage, but they are not far from destruction."
I heard that there was something in her words, and on the surface she was talking about trees, as if she was talking about the curse on our backs from the ghost cave. I didn't want to mention these disappointing things, so I said to Shirley Yang: "It's late at night, why don't you go to sleep? Do you think of my stalwart figure when you close your eyes, so you toss and turn, and can't fall asleep?"
Shirley Yang said: "If only I could close my eyes and think about you. Now when I close my eyes, I can only see the figurines in Zhelongshan cave in my mind. The more I think about it, the more disgusting I feel. I don't even want to eat. Until now Can't sleep either."
I yawned and said to Shirley Yang: "Since you can't fall asleep, carry forward the spirit of internationalism and replace my post, and wake me up when you are sleepy."
Shirley Yang smiled and said, "It's a beautiful idea. Once you and Fatty fall asleep, you won't be able to wake up when thunder strikes. I can't sleep, and I won't take turns with you, so that you won't pretend to be dead in the middle of the night and refuse to stand guard."
I shook my head and sighed: "You have disappointed me so much. I thought you came all the way from the United States to support our country's four modernizations. I originally worshiped you as Bethune, from the bottom of my heart. I think you are a moral person, a noble person, a person who is beneficial to the people, and a person who has given up vulgar interests. I didn't expect you to be so selfish and don't care about the feelings of your comrades. The usual approachable attitude is a disguise."
Shirley Yang said to me: "You have a good eloquence, but you like talking big things too much. It's not good to always brag. You can't sleep anyway, why don't you talk to me, but you are not allowed to say anything about the content in the quotations. "
The forest is quiet, there is no wind, all the animals and plants seem to be asleep, only occasionally a few strange bird calls come from a distance. I was so sleepy that my eyelids were twitching, and I looked at the fat man sleeping beside him. This guy got his head into his sleeping bag and slept soundly, not to mention Duoxiang. But Shirley Yang refused to be on duty for me, so I had to talk nonsense with her without saying a word.
For some reason, while chatting, I started talking about the boa constrictor in the forest. I mentioned that I met a company comrade in Beijing before, and I heard him tell some rumors about squatting on the front line with cat ear piercings. At that time, the war had temporarily entered a stalemate, and the fronts of both sides were densely covered with cat-ear holes, which were actually infantry counter-shock bunkers. When digging cat-ear holes, they often dug out the big pythons in the mountains. They told me that the biggest python was as thick as the legendary dragon. I didn't believe it at the time, but now I met it in Zhelong Mountain and realized that it wasn't built randomly.
However, most pythons do not take the initiative to attack people. They are lazy and sleep all day long. Some soldiers couldn't bear the heat in the cat's ear hole, and they still felt hot with their bare buttocks, so they had to find a big python sleeping on a tree and drag it into the hole. Several people slept on the cool big python, let alone pretending An air conditioner will work.
Later, the python simply settled down in the cat's ear hole. Every day, someone fed it canned braised pork and went to sleep when it was full. Then one day the fighting suddenly became fierce, and the continuous bombardment blocked the passage for our army to deliver supplies. For the cannonballs, sometimes the bunkers are not in the right position, and if one cannon group is covered, the entire squad inside will be gone. After firing artillery for a whole week, there were no more ants around the camp. The canned braised pork in the cat’s ear hole is gone. People can persist in a short time, but the boa constrictor can’t help it when he’s hungry. He’s used to living in the cat’s ear hole. He smells the soldiers smoking every day. He also became addicted to cigarettes, and couldn't get rid of it no matter how hard he tried. His eyes were red with hunger, and he wanted to swallow someone, so he had to shoot him to death. Peel off the python skin and put it in the cat's ear hole, so that mosquitoes and mice dare not enter the hole. One day the enemy came to dig a hole in the dark, and the sentry soldiers dozed off at that time and did not find the enemy. The enemy was about to throw explosives into the hole, but he suddenly felt as if he was entangled in a python, unable to move, his bones were about to be crushed by the huge force, but his body was empty, nothing was there. The next day, the soldiers in the cat's ear hole found the python skin…
Shirley Yang Kan and I didn't even know what we were talking about, and we were so tired that we couldn't support it anymore, so we fell asleep holding "Jianwei" without knowing it.