Little Hong picked up a long, thin branch, crouched down, and carefully poked it into the dark, shadowy hole.
"What are you doing? Don't stir up a big snake!" Mo Wen's voice suddenly rose, tinged with barely concealed tension.
"What's there to be afraid of? These holes are really deep!" Little Hong waved dismissively. However, just as he looked up, Mo Wen's gaze froze on another hole behind him. A blurry red shadow flashed by like lightning, vanishing in an instant. Mo Wen blinked and looked again, but the hole had returned to its eerie silence.
"Little Hong, don't move!" Mo Wen's voice dropped, but his eyes remained locked on the hole as if glued to it."Something's wrong here. Let's back away slowly."
Little Hong immediately tensed, the casualness in his expression replaced by urgency."What did you see?" he asked, his voice tight as he began to step back cautiously. But the uneven ground betrayed him, and with a sudden slip, he fell."Thud!" One of his feet plunged into the hole.
"Damn it!" Mo Wen dashed forward, reaching out to grab Little Hong, but a strange sound emanated from the hole's edges. The air grew thick with an indescribable heaviness, as if something ancient and powerful had been awakened beneath them. Then, in quick succession, flashes of red light streaked past the entrances of several nearby holes, darting and vanishing too fast to see clearly.
"Stay still, Little Hong!" Mo Wen shouted, his gaze fixed intently on the holes. At that moment, a massive, flat creature nearly two meters long shot out from the hole beside Little Hong's foot. It streaked toward a nearby thicket, the sharp wind cutting through the air like a blade. Its body, no wider than a human palm, was shockingly elongated, resembling a crimson whip glistening with menace.
"What is that?!" Sora's startled voice came from a short distance away. She quickly set down her medicine basket, gripping a straight branch in one hand while the other fumbled for a packet of insect-repelling powder tucked in her pouch. Her expression hardened as she called out,"Come to me, quickly!"
Little Hong scrambled to his feet but stumbled again, falling to the ground. Before he could recover, Mo Wen let out a sharp cry and collapsed near two crumbling holes. From these, a swarm of bright red, flat-bodied creatures began to emerge, their movements like liquid streams of light. They resembled oversized ribbons of pasta, yet their grotesque heads mirrored those of oversized centipedes, their wickedly sharp mandibles gleaming. Along their sides, rows of delicate, wing-like legs trembled and swayed, moving in perfect unison.
These creatures moved with a surreal smoothness, sliding across Mo Wen's body as if they were floating. Mo Wen dared not move, his heart pounding in his chest. Frozen, he watched as the creatures glided from his arm to his knee, then leapt into the air, effortlessly gliding several meters before vanishing into the surrounding bushes.
"My god..." Little Hong murmured, eyes wide as saucers. He had forgotten to get up, his body covered in the same crimson monsters. The creatures whipped through the air around him, their movements accompanied by an acrid, metallic smell, like blood and rust. They vanished almost as quickly as they had appeared, leaving an eerie silence behind.
At a distance, Sora's face was pale. Her trembling hand scattered a burst of insect-repellent powder into the air, creating a faint cloud of white smoke that enveloped Mo Wen and Little Hong. The red creatures seemed to sense danger and quickly retreated, flitting away from the two before disappearing completely into the underbrush.
A few moments later, Mo Wen and Little Hong were back on a safer path, dragged there by Sora. Their legs felt as heavy as lead, and they moved stiffly, gripping Sora's hand as if it were their lifeline.
Finally, they emerged from the shadowy area, the oppressive tension fading with every step. Mo Wen suddenly realized that he had been holding onto Sora's hand the entire time. It was warm and soft. Embarrassed, he quickly let go, his cheeks flushing red. He scratched the back of his head awkwardly and avoided meeting her gaze.
Little Hong, still pale, stammered,"Mo... you were scared to death, weren't you? I could tell—you were definitely scared!"
Mo Wen said nothing, glancing at Sora. To his dismay, she wasn't the least bit sympathetic. Instead, her eyes sparkled with barely concealed amusement, her lips curling in a faint smile that she struggled to suppress.
"That girl…" Mo Wen muttered, feeling his face heat up even more. He hastened his pace, overtaking them to walk at the front, leaving Little Hong to continue mumbling to himself and Sora to follow behind, still holding back her laughter as she occasionally checked their direction.
They slowed their steps as they passed a large mound by the roadside. Curious, Mo Wen crouched down and realized it was a termite nest, its intricate sandy structure rising like a miniature fortress. Sunlight played across the tiny granules, creating a soft golden sheen. Termites scurried in and out of the narrow tunnels, their movements precise and methodical, like diligent craftsmen.
"What is it?" Sora crouched beside him, her eyes bright with curiosity as she examined the nest. Though she had grown up in the mountains, she had never ventured this far, and every new discovery filled her with wonder.
"Probably a termite home," Mo Wen said, prodding at the nest lightly. Trying to lighten the mood, he added,"Hey, do you know how to tell if an ant is male or female?"
"How would you even tell?" Sora looked up, genuinely puzzled.
With a mischievous grin, Mo Wen explained,"You put them in water. The ones that sink are female ants, and the ones that float are male ants."
He burst out laughing, his shoulders shaking, but his amusement quickly died when he noticed Sora and Little Hong staring at him blankly. Their confused expressions asked,"What's so funny?"
Realizing his mistake, Mo Wen cursed himself inwardly. Of course, a modern joke like that wouldn't make sense here. What was he thinking? Feeling increasingly awkward, he stood up abruptly and decided to follow the line of termites marching away from the nest, curious to see where they were headed.
Sora and Little Hong exchanged a glance before quietly trailing after him. Before long, the three of them found themselves enveloped in a thick fog. The mist seemed to rise out of nowhere, encasing them in an impenetrable shroud. The once-visible trail faded into obscurity, and the world around them became a swirling white void.
"Are we lost?" Sora's voice was laced with unease as she clung to a nearby tree for balance. The disorientation was growing worse; even standing still made her feel as if the earth were spinning beneath her.
"Sora, did I get poisoned? I can't even stand up!" Mo Wen gasped, sweat beading on his forehead as he clung to a tree trunk for support.
"Don't talk nonsense!" Sora handed him a fragrant sachet."Smell this—it's for clearing your mind. But I feel it too. It's like the world is upside down, but it doesn't feel like poison."
Mo Wen gritted his teeth and looked down at the termites still moving in an orderly line."Let's follow them," he said."They seem to know where they're going."
The three dropped to their hands and knees, using roots and stones to drag themselves forward. Time blurred in the oppressive fog, and they had no idea how long they crawled before the mist finally began to lift. The dizziness subsided, and they shakily got back on their feet.
When they looked up, the sight before them took their breath away. They had unknowingly climbed to the summit of a mountain. Spread out before them were waves of mist-covered peaks, stretching endlessly into the horizon like an ocean of mountains.
The mountaintop was flat and serene, as though nature itself had carved out this sacred space. The wind roared, sharp as a blade, sending chills through their bodies. The trees here bent low under the force of the wind, their gnarled branches resembling figures bowing in reverence to the towering peak across the valley.
The swirling clouds broke apart for brief moments, revealing patches of brilliant blue sky, only to reform and shroud the landscape once more. The interplay of light and shadow made it feel as if they had stepped into a realm of gods.
"It's… beautiful," Sora whispered, her voice barely audible over the wind.
Mo Wen took a deep breath of the icy air, exhaustion melting into quiet awe. For the first time, he felt that even getting lost in these treacherous mountains had been worth it.