Following the instructions of the director, the seven guests and four camera operators split into two groups and entered the woods to find the missing person. This was a wilderness where even wild beasts struggled to survive. If an accident occurred, a lone cameraman would find it difficult to handle.
An Rao was grouped with Yin Xueya, Lin Jingxi, and Shen Yi. Chu Guannan, who was worth two people on his own, took the remaining two guests and two cameramen. The division of labor was logical.
Once they entered the woods, everyone immediately lost their sense of direction. The towering trees blotted out the sun, leaving the forest in a gloomy darkness that made it hard to identify the correct path. They began to suspect if the cameraman with them had also lost his way.
“VJ Wang, are you there!”
A sudden shout echoed through the silent woods, making everyone flinch. Seeing the others staring at him, Lin Jingxi lowered his head sheepishly. “I, I am very worried about VJ Wang. I am sorry.”
Shen Yi hurried to comfort his partner. “It is fine. If you had not shouted, I would have.”
An Rao came to a dead stop. With his back to them, he said in a low voice, “There are many wild beasts in the mountains. Shouting so loudly will attract their attention.”
Shen Yi frowned, his tone shifting three hundred and sixty degrees from a moment ago. “We are a team. Jingxi did not do it on purpose. Is it necessary for you to be so aggressive?”
An Rao found it hilarious. “This is aggressive? Is your heart made of glass?”
Lin Jingxi tugged at the hem of the shirt of Shen Yi and glanced toward the camera, seemingly by accident. “Forget it. Rao Rao is just thinking of our safety.”
Truly gentle and magnanimous. An Rao ignored them, unwilling to waste more time.
Finding a person in such a vast forest was no easy task. Blind searching would never work. An Rao looked up at the sky-obscuring canopy, then at the grass nearby. A long trail of flattened greenery stretched into the distance, with stalks crushed every which way.
He estimated the depth of the indentations and calculated the pressure. It was roughly one hundred and thirty to one hundred and forty pounds, consistent with the weight of VJ Wang. But why was it a dragging mark?
“Search this way,” An Rao said, pointing at the traces on the ground.
The woods were overgrown with vegetation. The weeds grew taller than people, making progress grueling. During the trek, no one spoke again. Even the cameraman was as quiet as a mute.
Lin Jingxi looked at the deepening jungle. To his eyes, there was no way to distinguish north from south. He asked worriedly, “I cannot even tell the directions anymore. Can we still get out?”
An Rao pointed at the growth rings on a tree stump. “You can tell the orientation by the rings. We are currently heading north.”
Lin Jingxi blinked. “Rao Rao, you know so much.”
Yin Xueya, who had been silent, looked back and smiled. “Did you not learn middle school geography?”
The remark left Lin Jingxi speechless and rolling his eyes. He stared at the back of Yin Xueya, feeling that she and An Rao were remarkably similar, both equally loathsome.
After crossing the thicket, the dragging marks came to an abrupt halt. Before them lay a large flat clearing. Several strange thatched huts stood on the ground. Upon closer inspection, the huts had large holes that looked like doors. In the center of the settlement was a stone vessel shaped like a large water vat, with a pile of firewood burning beneath it.
“There are actually people here?” the cameraman said in disbelief.
An Rao stared at the huts, a strong sense of unease suddenly flooding his heart. He took several steps back and whispered to the group, “Leave, quickly.”
Lin Jingxi was confused and asked foolishly, “Why do we have to leave? If there are residents here, is that not a good thing?”
As he spoke, a dense, rustling sound suddenly erupted all around them. An Rao lowered his voice and grabbed Yin Xueya, his tone laced with urgency. “Go!”
He had spotted something in the firewood pile beneath the stone vat that looked very much like human bone. In other words, could anyone living in the deep mountains alongside wild beasts be considered a normal person?
Just as they intended to return the way they came, the rustling grew louder, turning into a rapid scurrying sound. In an instant, over a dozen scantily clad men emerged from all directions, surrounding them.
The guests were startled. Li Meiwei let out a scream and covered her eyes. These men were bare-chested, wearing only fur wraps around their waists. Their faces were painted with strange totems, and their skin was dark. They stood barefoot, clutching spears and watching the group warily.
An Rao had not expected that joining a variety show would lead to an encounter with a legendary primitive tribe. The cameraman was so terrified he dropped his equipment, backing away while muttering, “What on earth are those things? Could they be cannibal?”
Before he could finish, the men lunged. Amidst the piercing screams of the guests, the tribesmen paired up, hoisted each person into the air, and carried them back.
An Rao was stunned. He could not believe there were cannibals in this country. Were they really cannibals, or just ordinary primitive villagers?
The group was shoved into the largest thatched hut. There, leaning against a corner, was the man who had been missing for so long: VJ Wang. He was tied up and thrown there. Upon seeing them, he cried out, “They are cannibals! They eat people! I saw them eating human flesh with my own eyes!”
Hearing this, the guests lost their ability to think. After a long daze, someone asked, “Are we going to be eaten too?”
VJ Wang swallowed hard and let his gaze drift to the side. Following his eyes, the group saw a pile of blackened human bones in the dim corner. The scalp of An Rao tingled. The tribesmen behind them let out a series of strange, guttural shouts. They brought ropes, tied the limbs of each guest, and sat them in a row against the wall.
Lin Jingxi was scared out of his wits, shouting at no one in particular, “Go notify the director!”
After the tribesmen finished tying them up, they performed a strange dance in front of them, wiggled their hips, and walked out. The body of Li Meiwei shook with non-stop sobbing as she swallowed her tears. “I said I did not want to join this show. The company forced me. I am never going back.”
“Do not worry. There are so many staff members at the camp. They will come to rescue us soon,” Yin Xueya said, remaining quite calm.
However, they waited until darkness fell, and the director still had not arrived. Perhaps they simply could not find this place. Li Meiwei had cried all afternoon. Exhausted, her eyelids began to droop.
An Rao leaned against a wooden pillar, using the friction to wear down the hemp rope on his hands. He worked from afternoon until night. He had even worn a small groove into the pillar, but the rope was only half-frayed.
“Will it work?” Yin Xueya asked.
An Rao took a deep breath, shifted his aching shoulders, and nodded. “Almost there.”
He had worked as hard as an ox for an entire afternoon, but he could not compete with the protagonist halo of Lin Jingxi.
“My rope is off!” Lin Jingxi shouted excitedly. It was not worn through; it was simply tied loosely.
He ran to Shen Yi first, using his hands and feet to help untie the ropes. Everyone was anxious, urging him to hurry. However, he struggled for a long time, and the knots did not budge.
At that moment, a chaotic sound of footsteps approached from the distance, accompanied by strange howls. Shen Yi said urgently, “They are back! Jingxi, you go first. Get the director to save us.”
Upon hearing he could leave first, Lin Jingxi did not give a second thought to the others. He scrambled to the door, leaving behind the words, “I will get the director,” and vanished into the night. He threaded through the huts like a spy and actually managed to avoid the returning hunting party, plunging into the dark woods.
When the tribesmen entered and saw a person missing, they howled in anger, seemingly saying, “Damn it! One got away!” “No matter, the rest are enough to feed us for a while.”
They performed a strange dance around the campfire and then returned to their huts to sleep soundly.
The camp was not far away, at most a thirty-minute walk. Even accounting for the darkness, an hour should have been enough to bring help. But the group waited until past three in the morning, and Lin Jingxi still had not returned.
“Why is he not back yet? Did he lose his way?” Li Meiwei kept looking toward the door.
At that moment, Lin Jingxi was sitting at the edge of the woods not far from the camp. He could see the camp was brightly lit, but no one was there. His mind was a mess. Were those people really cannibals? Would they really eat people? If they did, they would surely start with the one who looked the most tender first. In that case, Shen Yi should be safe for now. As for the others, was there really a need to save them? Even if there was, did An Rao really deserve to live?
With a snap, An Rao finally freed his hands. Hard work pays off. After seven hours of grinding, the hemp rope finally broke. He quickly untied the knots on his feet and ran to help the others.
“You are wonderful, An Rao!” Li Meiwei gave him a big hug once she was free.
The cameramen picked up their discarded equipment and turned them on, not forgetting to professionally record their near-death experience.
“Let us go,” Shen Yi said. He was worried about Lin Jingxi. If the other man had been caught or lost his way, the consequences were unimaginable.
An Rao rubbed his aching neck and picked up the hemp rope. After a long silence, he suddenly smiled mysteriously. “Does everyone want revenge?”
VJ Wang was stunned and said quickly, “Revenge? Against a group of cannibals? Forget it, let us just go back to the camp.”
Yin Xueya, however, shared the mysterious smile. “A person who does not take revenge is no gentleman. Let us go.”
Each of them took several coils of hemp rope and slipped silently into the thatched huts of the tribesmen. Watching them sleeping peacefully against the walls, An Rao signaled to Yin Xueya. She understood and tied them up with fluid, practiced motions, using slip knots.
The slip knots were tied loosely at first. A sleeping person would not feel them. But the moment they struggled, the knots would tighten.
One tribesman woke up dazed, only to find himself tied up. A slight movement caused the rope to bite harder. He blurted out, “What are you doing! Let me go!”
Yin Xueya and Li Meiwei looked at each other and laughed, then pulled the lucky tribesman from the ground and pushed him outside. Outside, a blazing fire burned beneath the stone vat, and the water was boiling fiercely.
An Rao stirred the scalding water with a stick and made a please gesture to the tribesman, a meaningful smile on his lips. “Welcome to the An Hotel. Does the guest prefer braised or steamed?”
The tribesman was terrified and struggled desperately like a wriggling worm. “No, no! It was a joke! We are background actors hired by the production crew!”
An Rao raised an eyebrow. “Really? With acting skills like yours, it is a pity not to win Best Actor. Sister Xueya, add more firewood.”
The tribesman yelled helplessly toward the huts, “Stop sleeping and get up! I am about to go into the oil pan!”
VJ Wang finally burst out laughing and went into the huts to tell the other actors to get up and collect their wages.
Looking at the disheveled group, An Rao rubbed his aching temples and said with a fake smile, “Was it fun?”
The actors looked at each other and said in unison, “It was fun.”
It turned out they were background actors hired by the production crew to create a dramatic effect. However, they could not understand where their superb acting had gone wrong.
An Rao picked up the hand of one actor and pointed at his pinky. “There is a callus on the inside of the pinky. Long-term phone use.” He then picked up the hand of another actor. “The inside of the middle finger is yellow. Long-term smoking.”
“You knew all along?” the actor asked in shock.
“I saw it when you were tying me up. I was just playing along. Besides, are there cannibals in this country?”
The actors gave a thumbs-up in admiration. “Truly, details determine success.”
The large group trekked through the deep woods and returned to the camp. The director was waiting there. Having watched the entire process, he and the staff applauded warmly. “An Rao, it is a waste of talent for someone with your level of insight not to go into criminal investigation.”
Criminal investigation was not his ambition. He only wanted to go surfing in the Libyan desert, test his wits against brown bears in the Rockies, visit the Kumari goddess in Nepal, and see the Corpse Bride in Mexico.
When would he fulfill his long-cherished wish?
“Is Jingxi not back yet?” Shen Yi looked around and noticed Lin Jingxi was missing.
The director was stunned. “I thought he was with you.”
“He escaped on his own to call for help. Is he not back?” The heart of Shen Yi leaped into his throat.
“This is bad! He is truly missing! Everyone, go find him!” The director slapped his thigh as cold sweat poured down his face.