“Buried.” The taciturn Old Brooks said to me in his usual brief manner. Only after I pressed him repeatedly did I learn that Big Brooks had been carrying supplies; his pack was irregularly shaped and got stuck in the tunnel as he fell, then was immediately buried by the collapsing earth and rocks.

I didn’t know how to comfort him, so I said, “Let’s call for rescue right away—maybe there’s still hope.”

The two of us walked over to the slowly moving David Clark. I said, “You’re a doctor, quickly get your stethoscope and check everyone’s condition.” I turned to Brian Cooper and said, “Physics teacher, use the GPS to get our location and call for help.” “You can’t just stand around either,” I said to William Bennett, “You’ve worked in mechanical engineering—fix the damaged solar silicon panels right away, combine the two sets into one usable set, and set up the stove to boil water. Big Brooks can’t be found, and we have no food left. I’m going hunting—give me a crossbow.” I strapped on my katana, took the crossbow, and headed down the slope. Where there’s water, there’s prey, I thought.

At that moment, Brian Cooper let out a loud shout, so piercing that it startled the roosting birds into flight. “It’s all moving meat!” Watching the startled birds, I decided that next time I went hunting, I definitely wouldn’t bring Brian Cooper along.

“Boss, come look at this—something’s really wrong.” What’s the fuss? A demon’s appeared? The end of the world? No! Annoyed, I turned and started back up the slope. “Boss, look, what’s going on here?” Brian Cooper was waving the sextant excitedly. One look and I broke out in a cold sweat: “Where’s the GPS? Bring it over and check.”

“All the GPS devices aren’t working.”

“There’s still a sextant—bring it over and check.”

After repeated verification, we all calmed down. We had actually arrived at Mount Tai. There was no mistake. The simpler and more primitive the instrument, the less likely it is to fail. GPS might malfunction, but a sextant wouldn’t. We really, truly, had arrived at Mount Tai.

No wonder I’d felt a strange sense of unease since waking up. These mountains, these rocks, these ancient pines—none of them were unique to Shennongjia. Old Brooks, with his mountain man’s intuition, had sensed it all, which was why he’d remained silent. Ironically, I’d thought he was just grieving for Big Brooks.

As for how we ended up at Mount Tai, it was clearly beyond our understanding. Maybe we’d fallen into a cave that connected Shennongjia and Mount Tai—meaning we’d passed through the mountains from Shennongjia and emerged at Mount Tai. But we all knew that was a joke. Thousands of kilometers—could there really be a cave that long?

Our aching bodies reminded us that what we needed to do now was get out of the mountains and contact someone. I checked my watch: August 21st, our fortieth day in Shennongjia. After hastily drinking a few sips of spring water, we set off toward the edge of the mountains.

The mountain path was quiet. August is peak tourist season, with students’ summer vacation ending soon—there should have been crowds of people climbing the mountain. Why was it so quiet? Once we reached the summit, we’d be at Jinshiyu. I’d been here before. Leading the way to the top, I was stunned. Where were the scriptures covering the mountains and valleys? Where was the giant Buddha character? No mistake, I still recognized this scenery—it was here.

My Jinshiyu—where had they hidden it?

Brian Cooper, David Clark, Old Brooks, and William Bennett all came up one after another, staring in shock at everything before them. Some of them had been here before; those who hadn’t could read the reason from our faces.

We sat silently on the mountaintop as the sun set, the whole mountain glowing red…

“Boss, what’s going on?” To my surprise, it was the usually quiet Old Brooks who spoke first. “If you’re asking me, who am I supposed to ask?” I replied irritably. “I want to go home,” Old Brooks said, his voice choked with tears. “Now’s not the time to think about that,” I said. “The sun’s about to set—let’s set up the tents first. Once the sun’s down, it’ll be hard to get anything done. We’ll discuss this after dinner.” “What are we going to eat?” Old Brooks muttered as he got up to work, and the others also started building our camp. Only I sat on the hillside, silently pondering everything.

It seemed something really had happened to us. Maybe we’d touched some mysterious string in Shennongjia and been transported thousands of miles to Mount Tai. Maybe there had been an earthquake on Mount Tai recently, which could partly explain the lack of people. As for the other mysteries, we’d just have to get out of the mountains and meet someone to find out the truth. After some discussion, we went to sleep hungry.

That night was dreamless. The next day, luck was on our side—a young deer came to the stream for water and ran into us. A deer? There are still deer wandering the mountains these days? Poor little thing—come here, uncle’s really hungry. Even if you’re someone’s pet, it’s just your bad luck to meet us. At worst, I’ll pay your owner later.

We finally had a full meal. During the meal, the others kept glancing around like thieves, which made me laugh. After eating our fill, we happily shouldered our packs and walked along the valley toward the mountain pass. We crossed one mountain after another, gradually approaching the exit.