admin5. The Only Possibility
The group helped Wu Xie check all the remnants of the cameras to see if there were any intact memory cards. The professors seemed completely out of their depth in this matter, merely standing by and watching.
In the end, they managed to extract six SD cards that might still be usable. After inserting them into a computer, the first few cards had issues, and only two could be recognized by the computer.
Li Cu thought to himself: If these people wanted to destroy the cameras, they must have been in a particularly panicked state. Because if they were calm and just wanted to destroy the photos inside, they could have simply burned the SD cards.
But he quickly realized he was mistaken.
Both of these SD cards contained a vast number of photos, the sheer quantity was staggering. Most of them were landscape photos, with very few portraits. It was clear that the owners of these two SD cards were professional photographers, not ordinary travelers taking pictures for memories. If all these photos were to be presented, it would be a significant waste of time; only one type of photo warranted introduction. The accompanying soldiers looked at the photos and informed them that all the landscapes depicted were from Gulongjing.
Indeed, the owners of these SD cards had all been to Gulongjing.
Li Cu then asked, “What exactly is Gulongjing?”
As soon as he finished asking, everyone turned to look at him. A student-like person said, “Haven’t you seen the materials? You don’t even know where we’re going?”
Wu Xie looked at Li Cu and said teasingly, “Yeah, I can’t believe you would ask such a question.”
Li Cu felt a bit embarrassed for a moment before thinking of a way to defuse the situation. He said, “I didn’t say I didn’t know what it was; I was just expressing my surprise.” Then he pretended to be serious and asked again, “What exactly is Gulongjing?”
Wu Xie patted him on the back and said, “Not having done your homework is just not having done your homework. Don’t pretend. The professors are all here; let them explain it to you.”
As Wu Xie spoke, he looked at a middle-aged man who appeared to be in his fifties but had a very muscular build, looking nothing like an academic. Li Cu recalled that the materials indicated this person seemed to be the team leader, named Wang Daming.
Wang Daming’s name sounded like someone from Hong Kong or Taiwan, but he was actually from Shandong and appeared to be an expert in remote sensing. Hearing what Wu Xie said, he replied, “Actually, the definition of that place is quite vague. I only know that Gulongjing is an area surrounded by three lakes, which are arranged in a triangular shape. And those three lakes are elusive; even in this day and age, they are often hard to find using satellites. It’s as if they have a life of their own. It’s said that during the Qing Dynasty, someone saw them once and dropped a signal flag, but when they went to look for it later, they only found a desert and didn’t see the three lakes.”
“Are those the kind of lakes that are said to move on their own?” Li Cu asked.
Wang Daming nodded, “Many people think so. Perhaps the three lakes don’t actually move but only appear at certain times. After that time passes, they sink beneath the desert.”
“In that case, why is the place we’re going called Gulongjing?”
“That’s where the plane dropped the signal flag at that time,” said someone next to Wang Daming. “Haven’t you looked at any information at all?”
For the first time, Li Cu felt a bit embarrassed in this group and stammered, “I… my memory isn’t very good.”
“Let’s not discuss this anymore; we should know to go back and continue reviewing the materials,” someone in the team said, clearly displeased. Li Cu glanced over; he remembered that person, but he had felt during his research that this person was not easy to get along with. He was quite unremarkable, with no distinctive features to describe him. If he had to point out a characteristic, it would be that his hair was naturally curly. He was probably under thirty and was one of the few students, but he was said to have achieved some success. Therefore, he held an equal status with the professors in their daily interactions.
Li Cu couldn’t remember this person’s name, so he decided to refer to him as “Curly Hair.”
Curly Hair continued, “These photos are perfectly normal, just ordinary landscape pictures. There’s no way they would burn the camera because of these photos. And why would they bury them?”
“If what they wanted to destroy wasn’t the photos in the camera, could it be the camera itself?”
“Are you saying they suddenly developed a collective aversion to cameras?”
“Is there such a thing as camera phobia in this world? I haven’t heard of it.”
“I’m telling you, anything can happen in this world. There are even people who fear hair; Hitler had a fear of body hair. Aside from his mustache and hair, he had all his other body hair shaved off.”
“But it wouldn’t be possible for so many people to develop a fear at the same time.”
The group was discussing animatedly, and Li Cu felt a bit awkward; his knowledge clearly couldn’t contribute to this kind of discussion. After all, he was still a student, and despite trying to act like he was 27, his past habits made him hesitant to engage in discussions with adults.
Wu Xie ignored him and kept flipping through the photos. Finally, he clicked his tongue, bringing silence to the group. “There’s only one possibility for this situation,” he said.
“What is it?” Curly Hair asked.
“All the cameras buried in this pit are the only things here. There’s nothing else, which indicates that this has nothing to do with weight, robbery, or discarding goods. This matter must only concern the cameras themselves. However, there are so many cameras here. If each camera owner simultaneously had the idea to destroy their camera, or if someone instigated the destruction of the cameras, the likelihood of that happening is very small. In other words, it’s impossible for everyone to simultaneously believe that the cameras must be destroyed. Moreover, a travel group is unlikely to have a leader who would insist on destroying all the cameras, as surely not everyone would obey such an order.”
“What’s your conclusion?” Professor Wang asked.
“The conclusion is that it wasn’t the entire tour group that destroyed these cameras, but rather a small group of two or three individuals who took all the cameras, checked them, and destroyed them,” Wu Xie said. “We can reconstruct what happened at that time. There was a team or several pairs of tour groups that, while stationed at a certain location, had someone steal or use some means to take away their cameras, and then checked the contents here before destroying them.”
“This is also a conclusion. If that’s the case, then they might have thought that among so many cameras, one of them likely captured the images they wanted,” Professor Wang said. “So, did they find the photos they were looking for?”
“When we were rummaging through the cameras just now, did we find any cameras without memory cards?” Wu Xie asked.
Li Cu and Wang Meng both shook their heads. Li Cu mustered his courage and said, “I think, since they chose to burn all the cameras instead of just the memory cards, even if they found the photos they were looking for, they would have taken the entire camera that contained the pictures.”
“That makes sense.” Wu Xie took a few puffs of his cigarette, fiddled with the wreckage for a moment, and said to Wang Meng, “Check again to see if there’s anything we missed.” Then he turned to the others and said, “Everyone else should get back to work. Those who are interested can stay to help, but don’t just sit around doing nothing. It’ll cool down soon.”
