On the trail behind the Xinxin Hotel, when Gu Chen led Lu Weiwei and Officer Wang into the woods, the sky gradually darkened.
Since this place itself is located at the junction of urban and rural areas, it is not considered prosperous.
And the forest in the back mountain is even more quiet and a bit scary.
Fortunately, on the way into the mountain, there are some stone steps built by people, but they can only reach a certain area.
Walking further in from the end of the stone steps, you will reach the depths of the forest at the back of the mountain.
Before Gu Chen entered the forest, he repeatedly studied the specific route with the staff of Xinxin Hotel.
Generally speaking, as long as you enter from the back hill of Xinxin Hotel, you must first go to the end of the stone steps and then continue along a winding path.
This will be the case no matter which branch path is taken in the future, so Gu Chen needs to take everyone and continue walking deeper into the jungle.
Seeing that the sky is getting darker, and in the woods, because the trees are too dense, it is difficult for the light source to shine in.
Everyone can only use the strong flashlight prepared in advance to explore the path ahead.
In order to save power, everyone chooses running water lighting.
The first person to walk in front was Officer Wang. The flashlight light was constantly shining in front of him, and he muttered:
"Hey, tell me, if Zhou Xiaotong goes to the back mountain here at night, how far can he go with the power of a flashlight?"
"Won't she prepare a few more?" Lu Weiwei retorted directly with one sentence.
Officer Wang frowned: "Okay, maybe she prepared a few flashlights, but what do you think she is doing here at this late hour?"
"There aren't many treasures in the back mountain. At most, there are just some tombs."
"From the moment we walked to the end of the stone steps, I have noticed that there are indeed many tombs around."
"I've seen it a long time ago, do you still need to tell me?" Lu Weiwei followed closely beside Gu Chen, observing from left to right, and couldn't help but say:
"But in order to take care of our junior brother, we are taking advantage of the night to go to the forest in the back mountain to simulate Zhou Xiaotong's footsteps that night and see where she can go?"
"That's right." Gu Chen observed carefully and thought at the same time: "Logically speaking, Zhou Xiaotong is a weak woman, and she came here alone at night, and late at night."
"This can fully prove that Zhou Xiaotong must have something important to do here, otherwise she would not take the risk of being alone and choosing to visit late at night."
"I agree with Junior Brother Gu. Maybe Zhou Xiaotong is here to rob the tomb this time." Lu Weiwei also said jokingly.
Officer Wang, who was walking in front to explore the road, also glanced at Gu Chen and Lu Weiwei behind him, and couldn't help but said with a smile: "Grave robbery? Then you have to prepare a Luoyang shovel anyway? If you don't have this thing, tomb robbery? Dig it with your hands."
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"Maybe she has some accomplices waiting for her in the back mountain." Lu Weiwei expressed her opinion directly.
Officer Wang chuckled, shook his head, and continued walking up the mountain, muttering:
"I have to say that Zhou Xiaotong is really good this time and can be quite tossing, but living like this is quite hard."
"In order to pay off my father's gambling debt, I ended up breaking up with my boyfriend. However, in my opinion, this Zhou Xiaotong is also a very scheming person."
"Everything she does seems to be for her own benefit and she never puts herself at a disadvantage."
"Especially these operations, how to make your boyfriend max out his credit card to pay off his father's debt, I really admire this Zhou Xiaotong, he is so ruthless."
"I actually want to gamble my future. It's a pity that my boyfriend's mother is not a fool. She has long seen how powerful Zhou Xiaotong is."
Having said this, Officer Wang sighed and said helplessly: "It's really ridiculous. At that time, when we were in the restaurant in Haidong City, we saw Zhou Xiaotong's weak appearance and really believed that she was a weak woman."
"But who would have thought that she was taking the initiative to show her softness and act for her boyfriend's mother to see. It's a pity that her boyfriend's mother refuses to accept softness and is also a powerful character."
"When this powerful character meets a powerful character, hehe, there will be a good show. It's just that Zhou Xiaotong didn't get together with her boyfriend in the end. I feel sorry for her."
"What are you regretting? Everyone has his own destiny. Destiny is in his own hands. Since you choose a certain way to survive, you must lose something. You can't have your cake and eat it too. You can't have it both ways.
Lao Wang should understand, right?"
Lu Weiwei's view of Zhou Xiaotong seemed to have changed since she took the high-speed train back to Jiangnan City with her.
I feel like I can't understand this Zhou Xiaotong, or maybe Zhou Xiaotong is very scheming and I seem to be too shallow in front of her.
Especially after listening to Zhou Xiaotong's father explain the situation, Lu Weiwei felt even more that what Zhou Xiaotong did here seemed to be completely beyond what a young woman should be like.
With just an invitation letter from a stranger, I came from Haidong City to Jiangnan City, to the Xinxin Hotel in the urban-rural fringe in the west of the city, and then went up the mountain alone late at night.
Lu Weiwei couldn't understand this kind of operation at all.
Gu Chen saw how fiercely Lu Weiwei and Officer Wang were bickering, and couldn't help but said jokingly:
"Zhou Xiaotong may be participating in some collective action, but this action may be quite secretive."
"Now I even have some suspicions that she may have entered an illegal organization and was controlled by the people of this organization, restricting her freedom in life."
"Junior Brother Gu, do you think this Zhou Xiaotong is still alive?" Lu Weiwei suddenly became nervous after hearing Gu Chen's explanation.
Gu Chen frowned slightly and said thoughtfully: "At the moment, I'm not sure."
"Haha." When Officer Wang heard this, he also laughed dryly, led Gu Chen and others towards a curve, and said involuntarily:
"As I see it, the end of this life is death, and death is nothingness. There is no meaning at the end."
"So, we have to say that the meaning lies in the process. However, when the process betrays us, we turn our eyes to the end."
"Then I comfort myself by saying, since the ending is the same, why should we care about the process?"
Glancing at Gu Chen and Lu Weiwei behind him, Officer Wang added: "In my opinion, this Zhou Xiaotong just can't find the goal in life for the time being."
"In addition, I just broke up with my boyfriend, so I am a little confused in life. Later, I may have been bewitched by others, so I came here and did some strange things."
"Is that so?" Listening to Officer Wang's story, Lu Weiwei also fell into thinking.
But Officer Wang laughed and said: "Lu Weiwei, let me tell you, no matter which level you go to in life, there are people below the steps looking up to you, and there are people above the steps looking down on you."
"You look up and feel inferior, and you look down and feel complacent. Only by looking straight can you see your true self."
"Perhaps Zhou Xiaotong has been looked down upon for too long, resulting in excessive low self-esteem and some psychological problems are inevitable."
"Just like Zhou Xiaotong and her boyfriend Ah Hao, in fact, the two may not be suitable from the beginning."
"But is suitability really important? Nowadays, people are pursuing perfection, partners of the same frequency, sweet love, and a small life of mutual support, but the reality is often the opposite."
"The expectation of love is often accompanied by some irrational and incompatible souls, which can turn couples living together into roommates. This is not surprising at all."
"It can also turn what should be a sincere love into a cold stalemate where you don't tell me and I don't ask."
Taking a deep breath, Officer Wang also sighed and said: "When I was as old as Zhou Xiaotong, I often asked myself, what is a truly suitable love?"
"Actually, there is no standard answer to this question for everyone. This love requires not only love, but also responsibility and trust."
"But I think this Zhou Xiaotong just suffered too many blows from life, so she developed depression." Lu Weiwei said.
Gu Chen glanced at her and explained with a slight smile: "Sister Lu, what you said makes sense. In my opinion, this Zhou Xiaotong does have some depressed emotions."
"So Junior Brother Gu also noticed it?" Seeing that Gu Chen also agreed with her statement, Lu Weiwei quickly agreed.
Gu Chen nodded silently and couldn't help but said: "Depressed patients need to be alone. Loneliness is also a necessity in our lives."
"Just like... we are not proud of loneliness, but we make a living from it. The darkness in the house is like sunshine to us."
"But in fact, Zhou Xiaotong can also choose other lifestyles. Her social experience is definitely richer than that of her boyfriend Ahao."
"Isn't that right?" When Gu Chen said this, Officer Wang, who was scouting the road ahead, couldn't help but said jokingly:
"The truth of a happy life is actually very simple. When you love, you don't let the person down, and when you sleep, you don't let the bed down."
“When you play, don’t let down the scenery; when you’re alone, don’t let yourself down.”
"Just like when I was young, I always dreamed of changing the world, but when I grew up, I found that I couldn't change the world."
"So, I shortened my vision and just changed my country."
"But now, I find that I have no ability to change my country."
"So, my last wish was just to change my family, but it was too late. I was already past the age of struggle."
"So now I suddenly realize that if I had just started by changing myself, maybe all of this later could be achieved."
"Fortunately, you met Junior Brother Gu, and you turned around," Lu Weiwei said.
Officer Wang nodded silently and said with a sneer: "You can understand it this way. The words you said before are like farts. You can't see or touch them, but sometimes you have to be responsible for the farts."
"We are always eager to express ourselves, regardless of whether the other person really wants to hear it."
“It takes two years to learn to speak, but it takes a lifetime to learn to shut up.”
"Old Wang, it seems you have had an epiphany." Listening to Officer Wang's heartfelt words, Lu Weiwei couldn't help but give a thumbs up.
At this moment, Gu Chen suddenly froze on the spot and quickly reminded Officer Wang: "Senior Brother Wang."
"Ah?" Officer Wang, who was belatedly aware of the situation, suddenly froze on the spot and quickly glanced in the direction of Gu Chen.
When he saw Gu Chen looking at a certain location in the woods, Officer Wang quickly shined his flashlight there.
With the help of the super strong beam of the police's bright flashlight, Officer Wang shook the target in front of him, and soon discovered that the object Gu Chen saw was a place similar to a hut.
"Why is there a house in this place?" Officer Wang couldn't help but be stunned.
Lu Weiwei squinted her eyes and immediately shrank her neck: "Why does it feel so eerie?"
"The house is covered with all kinds of plants, how can it not be spooky?" Officer Wang also said jokingly.
But before Officer Wang and Lu Weiwei could react, Gu Chen turned on his bright flashlight and took the lead and walked over: "Let's go over and have a look."
Seeing that Gu Chen had already taken the lead towards the house, Officer Wang and Lu Weiwei looked at each other and hurriedly followed Gu Chen.
Since this forest cabin is not built on the main road in the mountain forest, it needs to pass through a tall cedar forest.
It was precisely because the plants under the fir forest were a little low and the distribution of fir trees was relatively scattered that it gave Gu Chen enough visual space to discover this mysterious cabin in the forest.
While Gu Chen was moving forward, he did not relax his vigilance.
Then he took out the mechanical baton from the nine-piece suit and held it in his hand in a warning posture.
The left hand holds a strong flashlight, while the right hand holds the mechanical baton tightly, leaning the baton on the right shoulder, ready to attack at any time.
Officer Wang and Lu Weiwei also followed Gu Chen's example and made similar search actions.
The three of them formed a Zigzag formation and kept shuttling through the fir forest, and soon arrived at the outskirts of the hut.
This is a small building. Judging from its appearance and structure, it seems to be relatively old in its construction year.
In addition, the ivy and other vegetation in the woods have firmly wrapped around the outside of the house, giving it an eerie atmosphere.
Gu Chen came to the hut, but couldn't find the entrance, so he started to go around to another angle, and then he discovered that there was a spacious courtyard in front of the hut.
Due to line of sight problems, no one can spot it from the direction we just came from.
At this moment, the small courtyard has already been wrapped in green by the vegetation in the mountain forest.
You can even smell the rotting smell of plants in the air.
"Junior Brother Gu, is there anyone in this place? It feels like it is a place where debris is piled up. No one has been here for a long time." Lu Weiwei covered her mouth and nose, feeling that the small house in front of her was too weird.
As the rear support for the two of them, Officer Wang checked the rear of Gu Chen and Lu Weiwei before returning to Gu Chen and reminded: "There is nothing abnormal elsewhere."
"Let's go in and take a look." After hearing Officer Wang's report, Gu Chen directly lifted up a few branches in front of him and got into the courtyard of the forest cabin.
Lu Weiwei and Officer Wang looked at each other, and although they were a little reluctant, they still chose to get into the yard.
Several crows were awakened by the silence and kept calling on the treetops.
