pdf-ebookys Chapter 35 Doubt
Chapter 35 Doubt
……
Tang Mubai registered his fall into the White Dragon Pool at the front desk of the Mushroom House, and then immediately returned to his room with Li Jiu.
Once Tang Mubai was out of sight, the receptionist immediately dropped her professional smile, quickly pulled out a miniature walkie-talkie, and whispered:
"Guest Tang Mubai, from room 1-406, just fell into the water after his plane crashed at Bailongtan. He has now returned to the Mushroom House and is not showing any obvious abnormalities. He is temporarily placed under pollution monitoring. Please have the medical team ready to intervene at any time..."
"...Repeating, his name is Tang Mubai, and he's a member of Professor He Shougui's summer camp..."
"Received... Understood." A calm response came from the walkie-talkie.
……
On his way back to his room, Tang Mubai used Li Jiu's phone to call his father.
"Hey, Dad, it's me... Oh yeah, what do you mean I'm still alive?! No, Dad, how come you seem to know everything? Did you somehow tamper with the helicopter to try and murder your own child?!"
"Damn it, you old geezer, you don't have any illegitimate kids out there, do you?"
Tang Mubai started spouting nonsense and then immediately launched into a paternalistic tale, which gave Li Jiu a headache.
As the saying goes, every family has its own problems. Is this kind of atmosphere the "original family" of the rich second generation?
"...Oh...so you received a helicopter alert..."
"Hey! Dad, I'm fine. Wait, what do you mean, is the person with me okay?!" Tang Mubai glanced at Li Jiu in surprise. "Wait a minute! Old man, how did you know someone was with me?"
"...Yes, yes, his surname is Li, his name is Li Jiu, but he didn't board the plane, I boarded alone—I'm not asking why I didn't stay with him, damn it, who's your real son anyway—okay, okay, okay, I got it, I'll stay at Fulong Mountain for now, okay, I got it, I got it..."
Tang Mubai and his father addressed each other as "Dad" and "Old Man," truly embodying the ideal of filial piety.
"...It's over!"
"Beep—beep—"
After hanging up, Tang Mubai stared at his phone in a long silence.
After a long silence, he finally looked at Li Jiu, his expression strange, and said, "Old Li... no wonder I felt so close to you the moment I saw you. You're not my half-brother, are you?"
"..." Li Jiu didn't know what Tang's father said, but upon hearing Tang Mubai's words, his forehead was instantly covered in black lines.
Regarding Tang Mubai's suspicions, Li Jiu only uttered one word:
"roll."
"Eh~"
……
the other side.
Tang's father hung up the phone, silently saved Li Jiu's phone number as "Chuanzi'er" in his contacts, and then dialed another number.
"...Hey, Kawako..."
"You were right..."
"...What should I do now?"
……
While Tang Mubai was washing up, Li Jiu, feeling bored, walked to the window of the guest room.
Through their room's window, they could see Bailongtan (White Dragon Pool). Soft sunlight streamed down from the sky, making Bailongtan appear like an emerald embedded in the valley. The surrounding mountains were lush and green, and waterfalls cascaded down from above, creating a small rainbow in the sunlight as the mist rose...
Very normal.
It was so normal that he wondered if he was also experiencing cognitive errors or hallucinations.
A large crowd has gathered at Bailongtan, while the white driver, after being rescued by staff from the Fulongshan Scenic Area, is being helped back towards the Mushroom House.
Looking at the tranquil White Dragon Pool and then at the natural terrain surrounded by mountains on three sides, Li Jiu couldn't help but recall the information about White Dragon Pool for visitors.
You can find a lot of information about the various rules and regulations in Fulong Mountain online, but there may be some new content due to version issues. However, the rules established by the authorities, such as those for Mushroom House and White Dragon Pool, are definitely important points to pay attention to. Therefore, Li Jiu had already learned about them before setting off.
But as strange things happened one after another, Li Jiu gradually realized that these rules, which were already somewhat strange and eerie, might be far more bizarre than they described.
Take, for example, the element of "snake".
The earliest part of Fulong Mountain was Baishe Mountain, then Bailong Mountain, and now it is Fulong Mountain. There should be "snakes" in the mountain. However, the most comprehensive set of tourist rules makes no mention of "snakes" at all.
Moreover, this element is not mentioned at all in the Mushroom House Rules and the White Dragon Pool Visitor Guidelines, seemingly intentionally omitted.
But Professor He compiled the visitor rules. Snakes are such a terrifying and dangerous element, so why didn't he include them?
Is there some hidden story?
Even if there are hidden reasons, shouldn't we at least keep them in the dark for safety reasons?
Moreover, the fact that it wasn't written into the rules wasn't just a cover-up for them, but for everyone who goes to Fulong Mountain.
Li Jiu thought of the posts posted by some explorers online, in which they mentioned seeing snakes. Strangely, despite the large number of posts about seeing snakes, there were almost no photos of snakes taken.
There are a few pictures occasionally, but they don't feel scary at all; they're just like ordinary snakes.
Wait a minute... why did Li Jiu subconsciously feel that those weren't "ordinary" snakes?
He couldn't quite put his finger on it, but he felt something was off.
He couldn't explain the specific reason, but whenever he thought of the snakes, a strange feeling would uncontrollably surge in his heart.
Yes!
The snakes came like a tide, riding the mist, covering the mountains and fields in an instant, only to disappear again in the blink of an eye. They were so elusive, it would be strange if they were normal creatures.
Could this snake be related to the Dragon Servant?
In the document "Dragon Servant.docx" sent by He Rouyi, there is a disease that, once cured, will manifest the characteristics of a dragon servant. Could it be that he was bitten by a snake?
Or perhaps... it's related to the pool?
The sound of running water in the bathroom continued.
Li Jiu stared blankly at Bailongtan, his mind slowly going over the rules for visitors to Bailongtan.
The visitor information states that drinking the water from Bailongtan may cause dizziness, fever, auditory hallucinations, and visual hallucinations. So why is it necessary to specifically mention hearing chanting again?
Could we hear sounds other than chanting?
Moreover, the water from Bailongtan cannot be taken away; if it is secretly taken away, it must be poured into a designated place. This gives the impression that the water in Bailongtan has been irradiated...
The fact that the container emits mist is also completely baffling. And if the pool water turns into mist, why does it take a while for the mist to appear?
Could it be that if it's left out for too long... it will spoil and then start to steam?
If that's the case, then what exactly is the water in White Dragon Pool?
And that rule prohibiting swimming and fishing in White Dragon Pool... Although Tang Mubai saved himself, it's essentially the same as swimming, isn't it?
This is prohibited behavior, but it doesn't seem to cause any problems?
Or is it that the dangers of swimming actually have an incubation period, but haven't manifested yet?
Is it because there are a large number of snakes at the bottom of Bailongtan that swimming and fishing are prohibited?
That's it?
Or rather... whether it's the pool water or swimming, it's essentially all related to water, meaning we've come full circle back to the question of the White Dragon Pool's water...
Li Jiu sighed, rubbed his temples wearily, lay back on the bed, and scrolled through his phone in a daze.
He then realized that the summer camp group chat had exploded again.
The incident stemmed from a video posted by a summer camp member named Lu Yang.
The video of the white driver by Bailongtan.