Chapter 23:
Nursery rhyme in a village

When the two sides finally met face to face, before Jing Qizhen and the others had time to say anything, the elites who were holding various electronic devices put everything down and stood up in unison, giving a military salute to them.

Jing Qizhen and others who were shocked all of a sudden: …!!!

Tang Song waved his hands toward the group of elites.

In an instant, everyone sat back on their chairs again. Even though they were immersed in playing games, their postures and backs were straight.

The Earth, who went to the Western Hemisphere last night to attend a geology lecture, now came back satisfied.

It suddenly popped up, and when it saw the sight, it said, “Oooh,” and asked Jing Qizhen, “Who are these people?”

Jing Qizhen slowly said, “…another group of volunteers arranged by Tang Song. They are the general talents selected from the military that you mentioned before.”

The Earth suddenly remembered, “Yes, yes, I remember! They are all new members of Saving the Earth Volunteer Organization?”

Jing Qizhen: “That’s right!”

The Earth: “The volunteers are awesome!”

Jing Qizhen: “Yeah…”

After all, the elites who were good at it started to stay up late to study horror games.

The eight of them have encountered the erosion problem before, so they only want to do their part.

For the new volunteers, they knew that the road ahead was dangerous, but they still worked hard regardless of their own safety.

The Earth: “Tang Song is so cute! He is so responsible! I like him so much!” 0v0

Jing Qizhen: “Hmph.” →_→

The Earth: “What’s wrong with you?”

Jing Qizhen: “Nothing.”

As he spoke, Tang Song came over. Jing Qizhen gestured to the Earth, “Look, the responsible Tang Song that you like.”

Tang Song smiled and said, “What happened? Your expression face is so vivid.”

Jing Qizhen said straightforwardly, “The ball said you are so cute, it likes you so much.”

Tang Song was a little flattered for a moment, “Thank you, thank you?”

Grandma Fang came over, gestured to the new volunteers and smiled at Tang Song before she asked, “You won’t introduce us?”

Tang Song smiled and shook his head, “There are too many of them. After arriving at the coordinate point of the erosion area, not many of them may be able to enter. If they are lucky enough to enter the erosion area together with you, let them introduce themselves to you!”

Manman thought for a while and suddenly realized something, “From what you said, they all seem to know us?”

Tang Song said with a smile, “You are the only eight experienced volunteers after all! I will definitely order them to look at your photos and remember each person clearly. If we really get to the erosion area, you are the expert.”

Jing Qizhen and the others: …

So that’s what the sudden salute just now meant…

Then, Jing Qizhen and his party, together with the elites selected by Tang Song from all over the military, took a bus to the airport.

When sitting on the bus, Tang Song turned around and said, “If you need anything, please tell me at any time. The supplies will not fly with us. Those things have almost landed at Shennongjia. There are also some common daily necessities, as it will be too late to prepare them directly.”

Jing Qizhen shook his head. Shaking the Nanny-level Survival Guide that he was still reading carefully in his hand, he said sincerely, “I think you are more prepared than us.”

After arriving at the airport, Tang Song led the way, and they went through the VIP passage smoothly throughout.

Jin Guijuan was a little nervous and a little excited, “This is my first time flying.”

Old Xiao joked, “This is my first time getting on a plane without going through a security check!”

Tang Song turned around unexpectedly, “Hey, if you want to experience it, there will be many opportunities like this in the future.”

Jing Qizhen was amused. For a moment, he didn’t know whether he was grateful to Tang Song for being so firm in believing that all of them would return safely, or whether he was worried that the complete solution to the erosion area was still far away…

After getting on the plane, the elite troops still did not put down the electronic devices in their hands. Although many of them wore headphones or reduced the sound very low, Jing Qizhen still heard the game over the notification sound of a character’s tragic death from time to time.

The young couple Si Jiayang and Manman looked at the young man sitting behind them at the same time, and couldn’t help but remind him, “Open door killing! This terrain is a classic door-to-door killing, don’t open the door directly!” ORZ

The young man with huge panda eyes, who was usually as sharp as an eagle, now looked as blank as an uneducated child. His eyes were as innocent as Bambi’s. He raised his head in confusion and asked, “What is the open door killing?”

Si Jiayang: “A common joke in horror games. If you see a door that can be opened directly without any obstacles in the game, then there are usually many dangers behind the door. Generally speaking, players have to find enough props to protect themselves before they push the door open.”

Manman reminded, “Similarly, there are also back-and-forth kills, corner kills, staircase kills, evil spirits possessing you, companions becoming bosses, props being broken…please use your imagination. You must view the game production team with the greatest malice to try to figure out their thinking.”

The elite cadet with Bambi’s eyes: QAQ!!!

After a few hours of flight, the plane landed smoothly at a city airport near Shennongjia.

Another bus that Tang Song had prepared came directly to pick them up and drove all the way towards the energy fluctuation coordinate point given by the earthquake monitoring center.

While riding the bus, Tang Song also distributed basic information about Shennongjia to everyone.

Jing Qizhen opened it and flipped through it. The information roughly explained the characteristics of the complex landform units and climate characteristics and summarized some of the unique customs and folk customs of the local people.

Turning to the last page, Jing Qizhen was shocked to see there was a summary of the local grudges and resentments in their respective villages summarized by several nearby village chiefs written in the appendix.

Who in the East Village snatched whose wife in the West Village, who in the South Village slept with whose husband in the North Village, whose family had never interacted with each other since the older generation but the younger generation became Romeo and Juliet, whose parents threatened to break their legs if they dared to be together or never come back to their home, and whose family was disrespectful to the elders and later had particularly unfilial children while the whole village was watching the drama…

These melodramatic gossips were quite exciting to the melon-eating audience…

The Earth also followed Jing Qizhen’s vision and saw the complete entanglement from the east to the west, the family, and the shortcomings, and was amazed.

The Earth: “Human’s lives are really complicated!”

Jing Qizhen joked to it, “Shouldn’t you be used to it by now?”

The Earth: “I’ve heard of this kind of gossip, but this is the first time I’ve seen it written in a document format! Don’t you think it’s amazing?”

Jing Qizhen: …of course, I find it amazing!

After pondering for a while, Jing Qizhen even compared it to the Earth and said, “I feel like someone who lives in a large melon (gossip) field and becomes full without realization. With a few appendices of the investigation report around the erosion area, I nearly choked to death in the melon field, and all it took was a shovel to bury me away.”

The Earth couldn’t help but sigh a little, “…Your comparison today is really euphemistic.”

Jing Qizhen: “It’s okay. As long as you understand the spirit.” 0.0

After everyone had almost finished reading the basic information about Shennongjia, Tang Song finally concluded, “Concerning the erosion area formed here in Shennongjia, combined with the example of Yunhai Wancheng Department Store, there are roughly three predictions given by experts.

“The first one is it has the same situation as in Yunhai Wancheng Department Store. The erosion area is related to the grievances and resentments of local villagers. The background information has been provided to you.”

As he spoke, Tang Song motioned to the booklet with the appendix of basic information on Shennongjia.

Everyone who was a little full after eating the melon: …

“The second prediction is simple survival in the wild. This is a mountainous forest area with rich natural resources. We may encounter some unexpected creatures in the erosion area. Everyone’s safety comes first, protect yourself, and remember that you cannot completely follow common sense in real life to face any creature found in the erosion area.”

Everyone nodded.

“The third prediction is a special situation that completely exceeds our expectations.”

Tang Song smiled and sighed, “We still know too little about the erosion area. When the time comes, we will have to take advantage of the situation and follow the trend. No matter what, please remember one principle; protect your own safety and do your best to support your companions. Work together and put safety first. Everyone must-”

After a brief pause, Tang Song laughed again, “No, I won’t plant a flag! Let’s work hard together!”

As they approached the forest area of Shennongjia, the road outside became more and more bumpy.

The cold sweat beaded Old Xiao’s forehead again. He weakly leaned back on his seat, covered his mouth, closed his eyes, and fell in a daze.

The Bambi-eyed man who happened to be sitting next to Old Xiao blinked and said in a low voice, “Mister Xiao seems to be a little carsick.”

A few hands from the side stretched out– Jing Qizhen handed over an orange, Grandma Fang handed over the motion sickness medicine, the Bambi-eyed man actually took out a piece of fresh ginger, and Tang Song pulled two clean plastic bags directly from the front pocket.

The sickly old man barely opened one eye and looked at these various things, “…Thank you!”

Finally, with Old Xiao retching into the plastic bag, the bus finally stopped at the entrance of the village with difficulty.

After getting out of the car, Jing Qizhen and Yan Hong reached out to give Old Xiao a hand, and Grandma Fang asked with concern, “I didn’t notice before that you can get motion sickness.”

Jin Guijuan stepped on the familiar soil. On the way, she glanced at the unfamiliar distant mountains and forests that evoked countless memories for her. She looked back and said, “It’s because the road here is too uneven, and Xiao-ge must not be used to it! He should eat motion sickness medicine earlier.”

Tang Song answered at the same time, “If I had known, I would have arranged a helicopter for you, but the helicopter shook badly when it took off. I don’t know if you can handle it.”

Old Xiao wanted to shake his head, but afraid of vomiting out, he could only wave his hands desperately, “No, no, no!”

Tang Song had already arranged for people to prepare accommodation in the village, and the elites with military backgrounds had already taken off their military uniforms and training uniforms and changed into ordinary casual clothes.

Yan Hong even returned to Gold Chain Brother’s appearance which he used when he was undercover.

As a result, a group of seemingly nondescript, strange but well-disciplined people stayed in the village for one night. The surrounding villagers who couldn’t figure out what was going on and those who always came out to play cards at night, all stayed away.

Early the next morning, a large group of people entered the forest area directly.

Tang Song: “According to mathematical modeling, the formation time of the erosion area is predicted to be 9:30 tonight. We don’t know if it will be earlier.”

Jing Qizhen watched as the group of military elites brought by Tang Song started moving quickly. After setting up camp, he thought of something and asked, “So, we will recharge our energy during the day?”

Tang Song: “Yes, but you can also read a book or play games if you want!”

After hearing about playing games, several people in the tent who were busy chatting with each other froze.

Tang Song also said, “Hey, yesterday I actually gave the list of horror decryption games and novels to the staff members and asked them to stay up overnight. If they come up with a summary of their experience, I will send it to you at any time.”

Si Jiayang: “Yes, as expected of a military think tank!”

Jing Qizhen was also a little impressed, “Their efficiency is good!”

In the evening, the sky gradually darkened.

After having dinner together, everyone was quietly waiting for the final formation of the erosion area.

There was still no warning when the change happened.

In the dark night, Jing Qizhen opened his eyes and saw the crowded camp around him disappear.

Everyone present was not sitting far apart, and they soon gathered together in one circle carrying their hiking bags.

Looking at each other with the flashlights, they suddenly discovered that there were only seven of them left this time – without Si Jiayang and the foreigner Wilcox, and with the addition of the little brother Bambi who looked confused at the horror game earlier.

Manman breathed a sigh of relief and said nothing. Her mood seemed to be very stable.

Jin Guijuan walked over, “Manman-jie…”

Manman smiled and shook her head, “It’s okay.”

Old Xiao continued to wipe the sweat off his forehead and said with a wry smile, “It seems that the erosion area still favors us people.”

Jing Qizhen said to the Earth, “Tang Song couldn’t come in either.”

The Earth sighed with emotion, “We formed a group with so many elites, but only Bambi came in!”

After that, the Earth suddenly said in surprise, “Eh? Hey, hey? Tang Song and Si Jiayang are desperately shaking each other outside!”

Jing Qizhen was startled, “What happened?”

The Earth was very excited when eating melons, and gossiped with Jing Qizhen, “Hey, they were grasping each other’s heads! Si Jiayang cried that his wife went in but he didn’t. Tang Song wanted to collect first-hand information, but now he could only look at the almost full group of elites. Oh, they looked so miserable. There was that foreigner who was standing by and persuading them both in his Sichuan hotpot-flavored Mandarin, but it seemed to have little effect.”

Jing Qizhen: …those two were quite into the act.

The military cadet with innocent eyes like Bambi reminded softly, “We are on the mountain now. There are lights below. It should be a village there. Should we go down and have a look?”

Jing Qizhen nodded, “Be careful on the road. There is likely to be a space crack at the edge of the erosion area.”

At this moment, a hazy nursery rhyme suddenly came from the village not far away.

“Jingle bells, jingle bells, jingle bells, jingle bells…”

The girl’s voice singing the song was very vague, but the melody was extremely familiar.

The more they heard, the more they felt nervous and a chill ran down their backs.

Jing Qizhen frowned, “That weird midnight singing in a remote mountain village is not a local folk song. Why did a foreign nursery rhyme suddenly appear?”