Chapter 297 Feed You to A Pack of WolvesThey had already discovered the wreckage of the helicopter. That was how they were sure that Ah Sha and Depp were somewhere inside this forest. Now, Wan Qingsi was leading a team of men to start combing the forest area. What surprised him was that Lin Musheng had tagged along.
“This wouldn’t have happened if I’d been stricter with my people. Their lack of discipline is negligence on my part. Helping with the search is the least I can do. As for Ding Quan, I won’t have any problems with whatever it is that you do to him after this.” Lin Musheng left after he threw out those words and headed straight into the forest to start the search. The search went on until midnight before everyone set up camp to rest.
Wan Qingsi still wanted to keep searching even if everyone else was resting. “Young master,” Xiao Hua said, stopping Wan Qingsi from leaving the camp. “It’s already very late now. It’s too dark to see anything. Besides, if you don’t rest now, you won’t be able to carry on with the search tomorrow.”
Wan Qingsi stood in the dark without moving an inch as he pondered Xiao Hua’s advice. Then, just when Wan Yi and Wan Er were standing up to join him in the search, Wan Qingsi suddenly turned around and walked back into his tent. “Go to sleep,” he ordered. “We’ll head out at first light tomorrow.”
Ah Sha woke up not long after dawn due to the cold; the fire had extinguished some time during the night. She glanced at Depp, who was salivating in his sleep and smacking his lips in his sleep. The guy was probably having a dream.
“Depp! Wake up!” Ah Sha shoved him a few times. “We have to leave now. We have to get out of this forest before it’s dark again.”
Ah Sha and Depp climbed out of the cave. The temperature was very low in the forest that morning. Depp stomped his foot on the ground to keep warm. Shuddering, Ah Sha said, “Let’s get going. We’ll feel warmer once we move around for a bit.”
Ah Sha glanced up at the rising sun to get a rough estimate of their location. After a.s.sessing their current situation, she decided that finding a water source should be their top priority. They headed off in the direction with the densest undergrowth, hoping that it would lead them to a water source. Ah Sha knew they were close to a water source when she saw the moss under her feet.
Sure enough, they heard the sound of running water after they trekked on for another short distance. Depp yelled and ran towards the water source. A second later, he shouted, “There’s someone here!”
“Someone?” Ah Sha’s eyes gleamed. She ran towards Depp’s voice. Then again, her face fell the moment she saw who this “someone” was.
“What are you doing here?”
Lin Musheng stood up from the side of the brook the moment he saw Depp and Ah Sha. He had been filling up his water bottle with the water of the brook. “Looks like I’m luckier than the others,” Lin Musheng said. “I found you guys first!”
“You? Looking for us?” Ah Sha frowned in thought. “An Ru’s behind this, isn’t she?”
Lin Musheng nodded. An Ru had seduced Ding Quan and manipulated him into planning this abduction. “What happened on the helicopter?” he asked. “How did it crash?”
“Ah! It’s all thanks to Depp!” Ah Sha said. “He took out the kidnapper. But we didn’t know how to fly the helicopter, so he helped me into a parachute. Then we jumped!” By the end of her explanation, Ah Sha had a traumatized look on her face. Then, she scuttled towards the water. “Oh! Water! Finally! G.o.d, I’m so thirsty I think I could die!”
The look that Depp was giving Ah Sha right then was, for the lack of a better term, weird. Ah Sha got down to her knees beside the water and gave him a few eye signals. Depp got the message. He splashed water on his face several times and turned to Lin Musheng. “Pleasure to meet you, mister…”
“Lin,” Lin Musheng answered quickly, giving Depp a once over. “So even a movie star knows about wilderness survival? That’s interesting.”
Other than the fact that they looked grimy and dusty, Depp and Ah Sha both looked fine; clearly, last night hadn’t been too rough on them.
Depp chuckled. “We’re counting on you to get us out of here,” Depp said. “There’s food here in this mountain. We’ve already finished all the berries we collected.”
“Will you please get in touch with Qingsi? Please?” Ah Sha begged. “I miss him so much.”
Lin Musheng stared at her for a while. “Sure,” he said, reaching into his pocket. His face fell. “Sh*t! I lost my comm device!”
Ah Sha’s heart sank to the bottom of her stomach. “This idiot…”
Ah Sha burst into tears. “Depp! What do we do now?” she cried. “We won’t be able to get out. We’re going to die here, aren’t we? I’m so hungry! I want to eat!” Then, Ah Sha kept sobbing and sobbing.
Sure, Depp was pretty b.u.mmed about the loss of the comm device. Still, that feeling of disappointment was nothing compared to the utter shock roused by Ah Sha’s outburst. After a while, he finally got it. Ah Sha didn’t want Lin Musheng to know about her other side.
Depp cleared his throat and pulled himself together. “What should we do, then? Keep walking?” Then, Depp shot a furtive glance at Ah Sha.
“I still got some food supply with me,” Lin Musheng said, patting the backpack he was carrying. “No. We won’t be walking anywhere. We’ll stay where we are and wait. I believe Wan Qingsi will be here very soon.”
What Lin Musheng had left unsaid was that he and Wan Qingsi had been traveling in opposite directions.
“Depp, what do you say?” Ah Sha stared at Depp, her eyes red and teary. “But there’s water here for us to drink. There might also be small animals coming here to drink water, right? I wonder if there’re any chickens in this mountain. Do you think we can catch some to eat if we see one?”
Again, Depp got the message. He nodded at Lin Musheng. “I say we stay here,” he said. “At least we have access to water here.” Depp glanced at Ah Sha furtively and saw the hand gesture she was making at him. Depp turned to look at Lin Musheng again. “Mr. Lin, do you have tents, or anything we can use as shelter? Otherwise, we better start looking for a cave.”
“I have tents and some tools. It’s possible for us to set up camp for the night if Wan Qingsi doesn’t make it in time.” Lin Musheng opened his backpack and started taking out the items inside.
Ah Sha ran to the backpack and began ruffling through its contents curiously.
Lin Musheng and Depp raised the tent. After that, they found a dry spot on the ground where they dug a hole; then, they started a fire in the hole and hung a small metal pot above it to boil water.
“You stay and watch the camp. We’re going to look for food,” Lin Musheng said. He handed Ah Sha a chocolate bar. “Eat this first if you’re hungry.”
Ah Sha took the chocolate and thanked him. Beside them, Depp was glaring at her in envy. “And you got nothing for me?!”
After the two men left, Ah Sha stood up and examined the area. Once she was satisfied that there weren’t any threats lurking around in the area, she sat down beside the brook again and let her mind wander.
“Something fishy is going on here,” Ah Sha thought. “I don’t buy it for a second that Lin Musheng had lost his comm device? But if he didn’t lose it, then why didn’t he use it?” It was then that a terrifying thought occurred to Ah Sha. Had Lin Musheng begun to suspect her?
Ah Sha touched the necklace on her neck; concealed inside the locket was a small bag of powdered drugs. Right now, it was the only drug she had. Then again, it was likely that Lin Musheng was armed. No. She couldn’t afford to blow her cover right now.
A voice interrupted Ah Sha’s thoughts. “What are you thinking about?” Lin Musheng appeared carrying a dead rabbit.
Ah Sha’s heart sank when she saw the bloodied rabbit. “d.a.m.n. He’s armed, just like I thought.”
“Ah! Is that a rabbit?” Ah Sha covered her face. “But why is it covered in blood?”
Lin Musheng gave her a cryptic smile. “Because I shot it,” he said, hurling the rabbit towards the brook. There was a loud splat; the blood-soaked carca.s.s landed inches away from the water’s edge. ”
“But I didn’t hear any gunshots!” Ah Sha blinked.
“Because I used a silencer.” Lin Musheng took out a knife from the pouch around his waist. Then, he started working on the rabbit. Ah Sha released two dry heaves. “Eww! That’s so disgusting!” She ran back to the tent.
“Where’s Depp?” Ah Sha asked, poking her head out.
Lin Musheng’s back was to her when he answered. “I sent him away to collect more firewood.”
Just then, Depp returned with a huge bundle of wood.
“I’ll help you start a fire!” Ah Sha said, running over. With the help of Lin Musheng’s tools and Ah Sha’s guidance, it didn’t take long for Depp to start the fire this time. Once he was done with the rabbit, Lin Musheng skewered it onto a stick and placed the stick over the fire.
The only condiment they had was a pack of sea salt. But that was good enough for Depp, who hadn’t had anything to eat for two days straight; he finished half of the rabbit on his own. After filling his stomach, Depp lay down on a large rock beside and slept under the sun.
“Aren’t you tired?” Lin Musheng asked Ah Sha. “You can sleep for a while. We still have to take turns for night watch tonight.”
Ah Sha cursed him inwardly. This son of a b.i.t.c.h did this on purpose, she was d.a.m.n sure of it. There was a very good chance that her cover had indeed been broken. He didn’t buy her acting just now. He wouldn’t have asked her to take part in the night watch if he did.
“I’m not sleepy. I think I saw a lot of mushrooms on the way here. I’ll go pick some!” Ah Sha stood up and headed further into the forest. She had to do everything she could to avoid any contact with Lin Musheng. That guy wasn’t an ordinary person. One tiny mistake, and he’d be able to see through her cover.
Ah Sha took a long stroll in the surrounding woods. She had left signs everywhere, signs that only Xunxun would understand. After that, she went to pick out the mushrooms she’d mentioned earlier. “Looks like soup’s on the menu tonight,” she thought.
When she returned, Depp was awake and was having a conversation with Lin Musheng. Ah Sha listened in on their conversation as she she made her approach. She realized that Depp only talked about the movie and the filming process instead of anything too personal; Depp had probably noticed Ah Sha’s wariness towards Lin Musheng. When Ah Sha got close enough for Depp to see her, Depp stopped talking and removed the mushrooms from her cap.
“Are these edible?” Depp asked. “I heard that most mushrooms in the mountains are edible.”
Ah Sha pouted. “Probably? I don’t know.” She looked at Lin Musheng. “Mr. Lin, can you tell?”
“Let me see,” Lin Musheng said. He took the mushrooms and examined them a few times. “Hah! You’re really lucky, aren’t you? None of these are poisonous.” He paused to give Ah Sha a pointed look. “Am I right?”
“Really?” Ah Sha grinned. “I’ve always had good luck.”
After a while, Lin Musheng and Depp left Ah Sha to deal with the mushrooms. She washed the mushrooms and then boiled them in a pot of water. She cast a worried glance towards the woods. She had seen skeletons from dead animals just now during her stroll. This meant that there might be dangerous predators in this area.
The three of them finished their mushroom soup before the sky went dark. Lin Musheng took the only sleeping bag he’d brought and ripped it into three pieces. Then, he handed a piece to each of them to be used as blankets. Slowly, darkness seeped into the air. Soon, it was completely dark. Depp had had a long nap this afternoon, so he decided to stay up and take the first watch so that Lin Musheng could rest.
Spending time alone with Lin Musheng was the last thing on Ah Sha’s mind. Claiming insomnia, Ah Sha climbed out of the tent and sat down beside Depp. Depp had a lot of questions that he’d been dying to ask Ah Sha. But Ah Sha merely wrote a few words on the ground:
“Don’t ask. Talk when we get back.”
Lin Musheng emerged from the tent at midnight. “You two should get some rest,” he said. “I’ll keep watch for the rest of the night.”
Ah Sha got up and went into the tent. “I’ll take a quick nap,” Depp said politely. “You can wake me up if you feel sleepy later. I’ll sit and chat with you.”
“Sounds good,” Lin Musheng said, glancing at Ah Sha who had already laid down.
Some time later, Ah Sha woke up suddenly. Something was wrong; she could feel it in her bones. She ran out of the tent and saw dozens of green dots nearby. Those scary-looking dots gleamed in the darkness of the night.
“Wha… What’s that?” Deep down, however, Ah Sha was cursing their luck. “d.a.m.n it! That’s a pack of wolves!”
Lin Musheng drew his gun. “A few wolves,” Lin Musheng answered her question.
The corners of Ah Sha’s lips twitched incredulously. “Does that look like ‘a few wolves’ to you, douchebag? There has to be at least ten of them!”
“Ah!” Ah Sha screamed. “What do we do? What do we do? We’re going to get eaten alive!”
Lin Musheng stared at her. “I’ve got twelve bullets left. I can toss you, and also the one like a pig sleeping in the tent, over to the wolves. While they were feasting on your flesh, I have enough bullets to kill them all.”
Ah Sha stared at him in shock. Deep down, she felt an urge to toss Lin Musheng out to the wolves first. Yeah, that was probably a good idea; because this b.a.s.t.a.r.d was definitely capable of doing something like this to her and Depp.
“You… You can’t do that… Wan… Wan Qingsi will kill you.”
Lin Musheng gave her a mocking glance. “How’s he going to know? By the time they get here, I would’ve been long gone. There’ll be nothing here other than the carca.s.ses of wolves. I’ll throw your clothes as well as any torn body parts into the river.”