Uncle Three and his group had been lurking behind An Ning’s team. According to Panzi, there should be a distance of one to two days’ journey between them. At this point in the plan, their position should be on the outskirts of this basin. Even if they discovered this oasis, they wouldn’t enter immediately; they had to wait for Panzi’s signal.

However, to our astonishment, the smoke responding to our signal from Uncle Three actually rose from the opposite direction, from behind us, in the middle of the swamp. This meant they were already in the swamp.

Panzi could hardly believe his eyes: “What the hell is going on? How did they get in there?”

I thought there might be a misunderstanding, so I quickly picked up the binoculars to take a look. It was unmistakable; the smoke definitely wasn’t from a fire because its color was an abnormal red.

“Big Pan, it seems your Uncle Three is much quicker than you,” the fat guy mumbled.

“Impossible! Did Uncle Three and the others advance through another canyon? But according to the plan, that’s not how it was supposed to go. They should be waiting for my signal, and damn it, they are too fast…” Panzi couldn’t figure it out.

“Could it be that it’s not your Uncle Three’s group but that kid’s smoke?” the fat guy suggested.

“He didn’t bring anything last night; it can’t be him,” Panzi said. “I only brought smoke balls, and they are all right here.”

“Then that’s strange. It seems there was a miscommunication between your Uncle Three and you.”

“What does that smoke mean?” I suddenly remembered that color could represent information and asked.

Panzi took the binoculars from my hand and looked in the direction of the smoke. After thinking for a moment, his expression suddenly changed, and he said sternly, “Not good, they’re in trouble.”

“In trouble?” I saw Panzi’s face change but didn’t understand what he meant, so I urged him to explain further.

He said that the color of the smoke had simple meanings: yellow smoke indicated that there was danger ahead and to proceed with caution; orange smoke signaled to stop and wait for confirmation; while red smoke was even more serious, indicating that one must not approach at all, usually a warning issued in extremely dangerous situations. In normal activities, red smoke was rarely used.

However, he hesitated a bit because, after all, they weren’t conducting an investigation, and this method was something they came up with on the spot. He wasn’t sure if he had remembered the use of the smoke correctly, and perhaps the other party had made a mistake as well.

Nevertheless, this was not good news. I asked Panzi if he could send up another smoke signal to find out what was going on.

Panzi shook his head, and after a pause, clearly anxious, he said to me, “No, Little Third Master, you stay here. I need to go take a look. I can’t let anything happen to Uncle Three.”

I was worried about Uncle Three as well, but knowing the gravity of the situation, I quickly grabbed him, thinking this can’t be right. That kid has already not returned; if you go, it will just leave us with two people here. Moreover, it was too dangerous for you to go in alone. We should wait for the silent oil bottle to come back before making any decisions.

Panzi shook his head and said, “There are more than thirty of them, strong and sturdy. Under normal circumstances, they wouldn’t send up red smoke. Something must have gone wrong over there. Damn that black bear, he’s still too inexperienced. Little Third Master, don’t worry. I’ve navigated through this kind of forest plenty of times in Vietnam. I can get through it. You guys wait here for that little brother to come back before making any plans.” With that, he began to pack his gear.

Seeing that I couldn’t stop him, I hurriedly glanced at the fat guy. To my surprise, he immediately started packing his gear as well. I felt overwhelmed and thought, “Why is the fat guy also so concerned about my third uncle?” Just as I was about to speak, the fat guy said to me, “Don’t give me those looks. Not only does Da Pan have to go, but I’m telling you, we have to go in too. The gear we have isn’t enough to cross the Gobi, so we must meet up with your third uncle. At the very least, we need to get their supplies; otherwise, even if we make it out of the canyon, we’ll die of thirst on the way.”

I thought about it and felt a pang of realization, thinking, “Damn, he’s right.” I felt a bit at a loss. The fat guy continued, “It’s possible for Da Pan to go in alone, but what if something happens to him? If we go in later, it would be a hassle. It’s better for the three of us to go in together, so we can advance and retreat together, which increases our chances of success. Otherwise, if we stay here, we’re just waiting to die.”

“But what about that little brother?” I asked. “If we leave, he won’t be able to find us when he comes back. How about I wait for you guys here?”

“Are you trying to get yourself killed? With your small frame, you’ll just be a target for those snakes. Look, once we go in, we’ll need hands to carry things out. Just the two of us with Da Pan won’t be enough. We’ll leave a marker for him to show the way, and at most, we can light a smoke signal for him. However,” the fat guy glanced at the jungle, “I doubt that little brother will come back.”

Although this situation was very dire, it became clearer. I felt it was inappropriate, but I knew the fat guy was right. After thinking for a moment, I had no choice but to nod in agreement.

When we entered the canyon, there were five of us, but now only three remained: one dead and one fled. The original supplies clearly needed to be redistributed. However, the fat guy said to leave the portion for the mute oil bottle behind. After wrapping it in waterproof cloth and weighing it down with a large stone, he used a marker to write our destination on the inner layer of the waterproof cloth. Then, next to the bundle, he adjusted the smokeless stove to its lowest setting, allowing it to burn for three days, so that if the mute oil bottle returned at night, he wouldn’t have trouble finding it.

Once we finished, our supplies felt significantly lighter. Panzi said the signal smoke could burn for at most three hours. This time, we couldn’t afford to rest, so we had to travel as light as possible. After all, if we were to return, we would inevitably pass through here, so we should leave behind anything we didn’t need.

Afterward, we went through our gear and left behind some heavy items like gas masks and Luoyang shovels. Then, Panzi transferred some of the heavier items I was carrying into his backpack. His military pack was designed for heavy loads, so carrying a bit more wouldn’t affect his speed, but I couldn’t handle it. He said that marching through the jungle consumes a lot of energy, and the main goal was to ensure I could make it to the destination.

He said that in a way that embarrassed me, and I really wanted to retort that I’ve actually built some muscle over the past six months. However, he didn’t give me a chance; after saying that, he just focused on tidying up, clearly not thinking about me at all. Once everything was in order and we were about to set off, the fat guy suddenly stopped us again and asked us to look up at the smoke in the distance.