Hearing from Jiang Xiaomi that two senior guides had recently been to the forest, Gu Chen's interest was suddenly piqued, so he hurriedly asked Jiang Xiaomi:
"Xiaomi, do you know the specific identities of those two people?"
"I know a little bit about it." Seeing Gu Chen's anxious look, Jiang Xiaomi stopped joking with Gu Chen and quickly told him what he knew:
"Those two people seem to be independent guides. They have been to many places before, all in the deep mountains and old forests."
"And they only bring some experienced outdoor players. I heard that the fees are quite high."
"Can you be more specific?" Seeing that Jiang Xiaomi knew something, Gu Chen quickly asked again.
"Uh." Jiang Xiaomi hesitated for a moment and then continued:
"The specific situation is that those two people only accept customers with customized routes, as long as the customers want to go anywhere and it is within the capabilities of those two people."
"Then these two people will take the order, and the price will be several times that of ordinary guides, because these two guides will accompany you throughout the process."
"Compared with those who take mature outdoor routes, where one or two guides can lead dozens of people, they can only accept two customers at most."
"Because no matter where you go, the two guides are working together, and the location you go to often has certain risks, so one-on-one assistance is relatively easy for them."
"So, they only accept one or two customers like this."
After thinking for a while, Jiang Xiaomi added: "According to what you just told me, if these two people have been here recently, then it is very likely that the person you are looking for has found these two people."
"Then let these two people take her into the mountains. Other than that, there should be no other possibility."
"Because without the help of a guide, it would be impossible to go there."
"But the villagers here told us that only one person was found at that time." Gu Chen also reminded.
"Uh..." Jiang Xiaomi hesitated for a moment and then said slowly:
"Then I'm not sure. If those two people were dispatched, they must have taken the clients into the mountains."
"Because they do this job and charge very high fees, they receive very few orders, but they can make a lot of money after receiving one order."
"It's like hiring two senior outdoor bodyguards to protect you all the way outdoors. It's probably like this."
Jiang Xiaomi also briefly told Gu Chen and others about the situation he knew.
After Gu Chen thought briefly, he asked Jiang Xiaomi: "Then do they usually bubble in the outdoor circle?"
"Yes, but rarely." Jiang Xiaomi said.
"In other words, they are unlikely to disclose their whereabouts?" Gu Chen asked again.
Jiang Xiaomi quickly explained: "That's not the case. It's probably that when placing an order, they will post some photos or short videos of themselves outdoors, and then attract the attention of friends in the outdoor group."
"Then we will guide everyone to chat, and many interested people will ask them and chat with them privately."
"Then they will choose the right customers, customize hiking routes for them, and earn high-priced guide fees. That's about it."
"And I remember that I also chatted with them casually in the group. Just because I posted a few outdoor photos of myself, they complimented me on how beautiful I was and how I had a good figure."
"I know they want to do my business, but their charges are too high. With my meager salary, I really can't afford my outdoor dream."
"I just walk on mature outdoor hiking routes, the kind of routes that only experienced people would take. I don't even dare to think about it. It's too expensive."
Xiaomi also spoke out about his plight, and felt that he just occasionally put a cross in the circle of friends, making some outdoor novices envious.
But in fact, I am also short of money.
And outdoor is a particularly expensive sport, and you really can’t play it without some financial resources.
Gu Chen recorded the information based on the information provided by Jiang Xiaomi, and then asked Jiang Xiaomi:
"Then how do you know that these two people will appear in our area recently?"
"Because they said before, they are in the group." Jiang Xiaomi said.
"Can you be more specific?" Gu Chen said.
"Well, specifically, they said in the group that they were going there recently, and it feels like they have received an order."
"So you happened to ask me this question today, and I thought of the previous speech, so I feel that they should still be in the area where you are."
"Moreover, there are very few people going there because the route is not developed. Many experienced travel enthusiasts who have been there say that the road is really difficult to walk."
"If you are not careful, you may get lost, and the conditions in the mountains are complex and changeable. It is said that people who have been there before have encountered poisonous snakes. I feel that if I can come back, I have saved my life."
"Okay, then if you have the latest situation, remember to inform me as soon as possible." Gu Chen said.
"Yes, yes, as long as you, Director Gu, can use me as a little reporter, then I will definitely do my best..."
Jiang Xiaomi talked a lot more, and Gu Chen only hung up the phone after confirming with Jiang Xiaomi repeatedly.
Lu Weiwei quickly asked: "How is it?"
"Xiaomi said that there are two senior guides who may be active in this area recently, and these two charge very high fees. They usually only receive one or two guests."
"I estimate that Xu Yaxuan may be the guest of these two people. There should be at least three to four of them at present."
"But that grandma said she only met one person who looked like Xu Yaxuan." Lu Weiwei also reminded her.
"I know." Gu Chen nodded silently and said thoughtfully:
"So, there may be some problems here. Either a few of them got separated, or Xu Yaxuan was deliberately alone."
"But no matter what the situation is, looking at it now, at least we should find those two guides first."
"But how can we find this?" Ding Liang asked curiously after listening for a long time.
Gu Chen sighed and said thoughtfully: "Jiang Xiaomi said that these two people are both locals from Jiangnan City and members of the Outdoor Association. She doesn't know their specific names, but she can help find out."
"In addition, these two people definitely did not take the mountain road from this village."
"Because some travel friends who have been to the mountains before have said that walking into the mountains through another road can save a lot of distance and the scenery is better."
"But there are no supplies along the way, but if you take this road into the mountains, you will pass by this village, and you can make supplies in the village. Generally, these two routes are used."
"But now it seems that they are taking another wild road, but what I need to know now is how to take that wild road?"
"You can ask the villagers about this," said Huang Zunlong on the side.
Ji Zhe, who was standing on the side, saw this and quickly reminded: "Senior Brother Wang has asked people in the village before that there is an old man in the village who is familiar with the roads in the mountains."
"So that old man has now become their guide. When they go into the mountains, that old man is leading the group."
"Does anyone else know the way?" Gu Chen asked again.
Ji Zhe shook his head: "Because some of the wild roads into the mountains used to be the roads used by villagers to collect herbs. Generally, few people know about them. Even the villagers themselves are not familiar with them. They all rely on their own feelings."
"I just heard that some outdoor teams wanted to develop the roads here, but they were afraid of getting lost."
"So they will tie some colorful ribbons on the road along the way, that is, colorful ribbons with the names and QR codes of their outdoor teams, which can help them identify the direction."
"But even so, the roads are difficult to walk on, so the development of outdoor hiking routes here has been progressing very slowly."
"Although there were many outdoor teams who wanted to come here to try to explore the path, they all chose to give up in the end."
"Okay." From Ji Zhe's words, Gu Chen could roughly understand what the outdoor hiking route here was like.
Generally speaking, development is difficult and risk is the main factor here.
Lu Weiwei looked at the dark forest in the distance and couldn't help but sigh: "Old Wang and the others have been in the mountains for so long and haven't come back. It feels quite dangerous."
"After all, the villagers here don't dare to go into the mountains at night. They are really anxious."
"Senior Sister Lu, don't worry, what's going on over there?" Lu Weiwei was still complaining, but on the other side, Ji Zhe was pointing in a direction in the forest.
Lu Weiwei squinted her eyes, quickly stepped forward and took a few steps, and said ecstatically:
"There are some lights there, could it be Lao Wang and the others?"
"I guess it is?" Ding Liang was not sure, so he hurriedly asked the uncle in the village: "Uncle, do you think those people are the same people who entered the mountain before?"
"Uh... it seems so." The uncle also followed everyone's gaze, squinted his eyes, and after observing for a long time, he said slowly:
"Judging from the number of people who entered the mountain before, that group of people should have returned, because it is very dangerous to enter the mountain at night."
"It should be the old man in our village who brought everyone back."
"That's good." Seeing that everyone was rushing, Gu Chen finally let go of his worries.
Not long after, everyone saw the people led by Officer Wang at the side of the village entrance.
When seeing Gu Chen, Yuan Shasha also said excitedly: "Brother Gu, Senior Sister Lu, are you finally back?"
"Xiao Yuan? Why did you follow them into the mountains? How dangerous is this?" Seeing Yuan Shasha also mixed in with the team, Lu Weiwei said distressedly.
But Yuan Shasha said indifferently: "It's okay, with the village guide leading the team, everything went smoothly for us, but we were a little tired from climbing up."
It can be seen that Yuan Shasha's physical strength is getting better and better, and everyone is somewhat relieved.
Gu Chen quickly found Officer Wang and asked, "Brother Wang, have you gained anything from this trip to the mountain?"
"I'll drink some water first..." After Gu Chen finished speaking, Officer Wang was not in a hurry to answer, but instead asked everyone to give him some water.
It can be seen that everyone’s physical exertion is quite high.
Coupled with the hot weather, Officer Wang looked exhausted.
Ji Zhe quickly used a water scooping tool to scoop some cool well water from the water tank at the old lady's house and handed it to Officer Wang.
Officer Wang, on the other hand, said nothing and quickly drank it all in one gulp. Then he let out a long sigh and finally regained his composure.
"How?" Lu Weiwei stepped forward and asked.
"This well water is so sweet." Officer Wang couldn't help but sigh.
Lu Weiwei said "tsk" and said, "That's not what I'm talking about. I'm asking you, have you gained anything from going into the mountains?"
"No." Officer Wang shook his head and answered quite simply.
Lu Weiwei's face suddenly darkened, and she continued to ask: "Is there no gain at all?"
"You can't say that." Officer Wang replied coldly.
Lu Weiwei was a little confused and continued to ask Officer Wang: "Old Wang, can you speak more clearly?"
"Oh, don't worry. The general situation is that we went into the mountains to look for people, but we couldn't find them. But along the way, we found some guiding ribbons left by the outdoor team."
"It seems that people have walked through those places and left road signs."
"We discussed this just now." Seeing that Officer Wang also noticed the ribbon sign on the road, Gu Chen quickly replied:
"I asked Jiang Xiaomi from Jiangnan Daily to help investigate. She has been in the outdoor circle recently."
"And according to the clues provided by Xiaomi, there may have been two senior outdoor guides taking guests to the mountains recently."
"Two senior outdoor guides?" After hearing what Gu Chen said, Yuan Shasha on the side quickly replied:
"Could it be that those ribbons on the road were left behind by them?"
"Did you take pictures of the webbing?" Gu Chen asked.
"Yes." The thoughtful Yuan Shasha nodded silently, then quickly took out her mobile phone and showed Gu Chen the photos she took on the road:
"Senior Brother Gu, look, this is left behind by the outdoor hiking team. Judging from the colors of the webbing, there are red, yellow, and blue."
"Each color represents the name of an outdoor team. There are three outdoor teams that have left footprints."
While Yuan Shasha was explaining, Gu Chen was also checking the names of the three outdoor teams.
But soon Gu Chen became slightly disappointed, shook his head and explained:
"Although these three outdoor teams are relatively senior, they are not the two people we are looking for."
"According to Jiang Xiaomi's explanation, the two senior guides are relatively independent and alternative entities."
"Independent, alternative existence? What do you mean?" Officer Wang was also curious and threw the drinking spoon aside.
Gu Chen continued to explain: "They only deal with high-end customers. The outdoor teams you recorded are all relatively large and experienced teams."
"But these two people are special. They have not joined any outdoor teams and are relatively independent existences."
"Moreover, they also belong to the high-end guide group in the outdoor circle. They only take a few business orders and earn more per unit price."
"And I suspect that Xu Yaxuan is their only customer in recent days."
