“What’s a wandering soul or a ghost supposed to say? Isn’t it just about asking for my life?” the fat man said. Panzi told him to stop talking nonsense and listen carefully; he wasn’t joking.

I didn’t really pay attention to what the voice was saying. When the sound first emerged, it scared the three of us so much that our scalps went numb. We had no time to focus on the specifics of what was being said. Moreover, the voice wasn’t loud; if it weren’t for the unusual silence in the forest, we might have overlooked it. Now, if we didn’t listen closely, we couldn’t make it out at all. It just felt like a woman was speaking in a very strange tone, muttering something to herself.

When Panzi mentioned it, we finally focused on that aspect. He signaled us to hold our breath and listen carefully. The distance seemed too far; the voice was sticky and intermittent. Even when listening closely, it felt like crying, yet it also seemed like she was reciting something. We couldn’t figure it out, but the only overwhelming feeling was the ambiguous tone.

“Could it be calling for spring?” the fat man frowned and asked. Panzi tapped him with the butt of his gun, telling him not to talk nonsense. At that moment, I had a slight feeling, “Wait, how come this voice… seems to be calling my name?”

“Calling your name? I can’t hear it,” he replied.

“It’s not my real name; it’s calling ‘Little Third Master.’ Listen closely.”

The fat man listened but shook his head, unable to hear it. I listened more carefully, but I couldn’t make it out either. However, the voice did seem a bit strange, almost like a ghost trying to lure souls. “It is indeed calling my name, but not exactly; it sounds like it’s calling my name,” I asserted confidently.

Panzi nodded, “Exactly. How many women here know your name? I think this really is a haunting. A-Ning’s wife might be seeking revenge for her death, not wanting to rot here alone, wanting us to accompany her in the grave.”

I shook my head, thinking of another possibility: “Oh no, could it be that she’s still alive?”

“Alive? How is that possible? Boss, didn’t you see? By the time you carried her to the canyon, she was already decayed,” the fat man replied.

I thought about it and felt a chill. Indeed, A-Ning’s death was very certain; there was no room for doubt. We had checked thoroughly back then.

Panzi said, “I think this dead woman is trying to lure us over. We absolutely cannot fall for it. Follow me; we’ll find a way to go around. The situation over there is unclear, and there could be many poisonous snakes. Plus, this situation is extremely strange; going there won’t bring any good.”

I looked at the fat man and asked for his opinion. One side had uncertain factors, while the other was about life and death. The fat man hesitated, thought for a moment, and then reined in his curiosity, saying, “Your fat uncle isn’t going back on his word, but what Da Pan said makes sense. We have too few weapons on hand; we should be cautious this time. When dealing with ghosts, we need to know who the ghost is. If it really is A-Ning, I wouldn’t be able to bring myself to do it!”

I felt a sense of relief. I didn’t want to see any ghost woman anyway, and I didn’t know what the fat man was thinking. If there was nothing, it would be fine, but if there was something, how would we escape? I thought about it and immediately replied.

Three people turned around and set off, no longer paying attention to the strange sound. Panzi set a direction, and we cautiously continued on our way, trying to bypass the area from which the sound was coming. We could also get closer to listen and find out what was happening. If it really was someone from Uncle Three talking, we would have enough distance to react.

We didn’t dare to make the mine lamp too bright, so we covered the lamp head with cloth, relying on the dim light to navigate through the gaps in the trees. Although we said we were going around the trees, we weren’t very far from them. The eerie sound lingered around us, and as we walked, we were sweating, not daring to say a word.

As we got closer, the sound became more distinct. The more I listened, the less it sounded like speech; it was very crisp and kept repeating a rhythm, making it impossible to tell what was producing it. However, I was sure that the source of the sound was in a nearby direction, and my mind played tricks on me, making that direction seem ominously haunted.

While walking and paying attention to the sound, I became entranced. As I listened, I felt like I had heard this sound before; it struck a chord in my memory, and it felt fresh. I immediately asked them to stop and listen. Suddenly, I realized what it was: “Oh no, could it be that Aning’s walkie-talkie is going off?”

“Walkie-talkie?”

I explained that Aning’s standard gear included a walkie-talkie, and I hadn’t seen her take it out of her pocket. This type of walkie-talkie is waterproof, fireproof, and shockproof. Unless you really try to break it, it’s not that easy to damage, and it can be used continuously for three weeks without needing to be charged. Aning probably had it turned on.

“Cover the microphone of the walkie-talkie with a damp cloth, and if there’s static noise, do you think it might sound like this?”

The fat guy had no experience, but Panzi clearly understood and nodded vigorously: “What Little Three said is right, it really sounds like it.”

“Then who is calling her now?” the fat guy asked. “The radio signals in the jungle are weak and can’t travel long distances.”

“But she’s in the treetops. If the other party is also in the treetops, or on the outskirts of the canyon, then it’s very likely they can receive the signal. And look, the sound is intermittent, which indicates that the walkie-talkie is set to automatic search frequency mode. It’s cycling through all the frequencies for sounds. Clearly, there’s a radio frequency being used here. Panzi, did Uncle Three bring something like a walkie-talkie this time?” Since I had a deep impression of walkie-talkies from our time in Devil City, I knew all these functions by heart.

“Uncle Three definitely wouldn’t use something like that, because when going down to pan for gold, there wouldn’t be several groups acting independently. Usually, there’s just one group; it’s good enough to have that. Damn it, but there’s a radio in the car. Could it be that the person left behind to guard the vehicle in the Gobi is using this frequency to communicate? I…” Panzi suddenly thought of something: “I get it! They must have seen the red smoke too. Maybe Uncle Three has some agreement with them, and they are coordinating.”

I said, “We need to get that walkie-talkie so we can communicate with the people in the Gobi. Then we can know their movement plans and why Uncle San got to the center of the swamp before us. Plus, when we leave, we can have them pick us up; maybe we can go straight up the cliff.”

The胖子 got excited; it seemed he was really tired of walking in the forest. He said, “So what are we waiting for? Since they aren’t ghosts, we don’t need to hold back.”

Panzi shook his head and said, “We need to think this through. There are no ghosts, but there are snakes. The area is surrounded by branches, and if a snake suddenly comes out of the darkness and bites you, then you really will become a ghost.”

Those snakes are actually more troublesome than ghosts. The胖子 was anxious, scratching his head and wishing he had a flamethrower: “If only we had snake repellent. It seems we really need to be fully prepared in the future; who could have known the ancient city in the Gobi would be like this?”

“These snakes are afraid of snake repellent; I’m very suspicious,” Panzi said. “In my opinion, these things might not even be snakes.”

“What else could they be? Eels?”

“In our place, we say that things that live long enough can become spirits. These might be snake spirits, luring people in. This ancient city could have been built by these things, specifically to draw people in and devour them. This might just be a trap; we shouldn’t go in.”

The胖子 patted him and said, “You’ve read too many superstitious books, and you’ve been poisoned too deeply. A snake is just a snake; even if it has a higher IQ, it’s still just a snake. How can it compare to us, the spirits of all things? Damn it, can it even crawl without hands or feet?”

At this point, he suddenly had a thought and said, “Hey, how about this: animals are afraid of fire. You all take off your clothes, and I’ll wrap myself up in your clothes. Once they’re wet, I’ll pour some liquor on them, light it up, and charge in. Those snakes definitely won’t dare bite a fire person. I’ll grab the walkie-talkie and then jump back into the swamp. It won’t take more than two minutes.”

“And then what? Are we supposed to run around here naked with the walkie-talkie?” I shouted angrily. “Can you use your brain for once? Plus, this is way too hard to control. The alcohol we use is extremely flammable; what if you end up burning to death? We still need you to carry the gear!”

“It’s not that easy to burn to death,” the胖子 replied. Panzi then added, “We’re all wearing waterproof, breathable fiber clothes. They dry out quickly when heated, and they ignite easily. You could catch yourself on fire without even using alcohol. This absolutely won’t work.”

The胖子 cursed and suddenly remembered something: “Hey, what if we just start a fire under the tree, pile up some wet wood, and create smoke to drive all those snakes away?”

When I heard this plan, it seemed feasible. We shouldn’t confront these things head-on; we should definitely take this approach. Back in the countryside, we often used smoke to drive away rats.

So I nodded in agreement and immediately started to gather wet wood. The胖子 asked Panzi to help, but Panzi suddenly grabbed us, not letting us move. His expression was quite bad, almost as if he was feeling guilty.

Seeing Panzi’s expression and recalling his look in the tree, I suddenly realized something and asked, “Panzi, did you see something just now?”

Panzi nodded, looking a bit hesitant to speak. After a moment, he said, “I didn’t want to say anything at first, afraid it might scare you, but I guess I should just say it now. That corpse is definitely problematic; we absolutely cannot go over there, no matter what.”

“No wonder I felt like you were acting scared,” the fat guy said. “What the hell did you see?”

“I saw… damn it, I don’t know how to explain it—just now, I saw it in the tree, I saw—”

Panzi’s speaking skills were poor; what he could express in his local dialect was hard to convey in Mandarin, and after a long time, he still couldn’t find the right words.

“Did you see An Ning peeking out from the treetops like a snake?” the fat guy suddenly asked.

Panzi quickly nodded, “Yeah, that’s it! Huh? How do you know that?”

The fat guy’s face turned ashen as he pointed behind us. Seeing his expression, I suddenly felt a chill run down my spine and immediately turned back with Panzi.

Right away, we saw a shadow behind the bushes at the base of the tree next to us, something that looked both like a snake and a person. It was quietly crouching there, only five or six meters away from us, and the faint sound from the walkie-talkie was coming from this thing.