Chapter Fifty-Four: The Choice of Destiny

The night passed swiftly, and dawn quietly crept over the horizon.

“These deer are really tireless walkers. Luckily, they haven’t started running, and their path has been relatively flat, or else we might not have kept up.”

“Exactly! But why are they doing this? They’ve been walking all night and still haven’t stopped. Don’t they rest at all?” The man beside Xu Hui was panting as he spoke.

“Well, since we’ve kept up so far, there’s no way we’re giving up now. Save your breath and keep moving. If we fall behind, we might miss something spectacular ahead.”

“Alright, then.”

The group fell silent.

After their all-night trek, the eight of them were already running on empty. If they could avoid talking, they would, since it only made breathing harder.

An hour later, exhaustion weighed heavily on them, and the endless forest showed no sign of ending. Along the way, one of them suggested giving up.

But, to their relief, when they checked the map, they discovered, to their astonishment, that the herd of deer was heading in the very same direction as their own destination.

This gave the group new motivation to follow the deer.

At this point, they all agreed: if the herd didn’t stop at the Jishui Mountain Gorge, they would give up the chase. After all, they were completely spent.

At Zhang Shuping’s direction, they ate a little bread and drank some water from their packs, then pressed on after the deer.

Half an hour later, after rounding the foot of a not-so-tall mountain, a scene unfolded before them that left all eight stunned in amazement.

They all looked up.

Less than a kilometer ahead, there appeared a vast forest, shaped like the figure eight. At its highest point, it reached nearly a hundred meters tall. The sprawling, figure-eight-shaped woods stretched so far to the side that the end was nowhere in sight.

Beholding this natural marvel, their leader, Zhang Shuping, couldn’t help but sigh in wonder.

“Incredible. Who would have thought we’d find such a magnificent forest corridor here? This journey is truly worth it!”

“Amazing. Aren’t a lot of those trees ginkgoes? But can ginkgoes really grow that tall?” Li Dong exclaimed, then noticed something odd.

Li Dong had seen ginkgo trees before, but never ones approaching a hundred meters. Even ninety meters would be the height of a thirty-story building!

“Ginkgoes? If I recall correctly, the tallest recorded in history is just over forty meters,” a bespectacled young man in the group said with a frown.

“Over forty meters? Are you sure? Then how do you explain these towering ginkgoes?”

As soon as he spoke, the group’s amazement faded into silence.

No one was a fool—especially after encountering soldiers cordoning off parts of the forest earlier.

The awe and exhilaration they’d felt on arrival gave way to a heavy sense of unease.

In the midst of the tension, Li Dong, already a bit flustered, suddenly voiced another observation.

“Guys, have you noticed how unnervingly quiet it is here?”

Quiet?

In an instant, everyone’s eyes widened as they glanced around the forest, a chill running down their spines.

Yes—it was indeed far too quiet.

Aside from the sound of the deer moving through the undergrowth ahead, there was not a single birdcall or insect’s chirp.

And this was supposed to be primeval forest.

With morning just beginning, common sense dictated that birds should be most active at this hour.

Yet now?

All around was silence—not just a lack of birdsong, but not a single living bird in sight.

“Zhang, maybe we should turn back?” someone suggested nervously.

“Yeah, Zhang, let’s get out of here. I have a bad feeling about this. What if there’s something dangerous up ahead? Maybe those rumors of mutated creatures from the hiking forums aren’t so far-fetched after all.”

“Not just rumors—there’s a good chance they’re real!”

“Otherwise, how do you explain those enormous trees ahead?”

Their voices overlapped, but instead of comfort, their words only intensified the fear taking hold.

But Zhang Shuping said nothing. He merely frowned and stared ahead, in the direction the deer had disappeared.

A few minutes later, the group fell quiet.

Zhang Shuping had suddenly signaled for silence, gesturing for them to listen carefully to the surrounding sounds.

Listen?

They didn’t quite understand, but out of respect for Zhang Shuping, who had led them this far, they complied. Now was not the time for infighting.

So, they crouched down, straining to hear any sound in the forest.

But as the deer grew more distant, the forest became even quieter.

Their fear deepened.

Just when terror seemed to swallow them whole, Zhang Shuping suddenly stood up.

A smile had appeared on his face.

“My friends, I think we can keep going.”

“Keep going?” Most of the group looked at Zhang Shuping as if he’d lost his mind.

“Did you discover something?” Xu Hui, who was closest to Zhang, spoke first, hoping to dispel the tense mood.

“Heh, it’s not exactly a great discovery, but I do have a thought.”

The others fell silent, curious.

Zhang Shuping smiled. “Maybe something unknown has changed these trees, but that herd of deer ahead is the perfect vanguard.”

“Maybe you didn’t notice, but I lay down and listened carefully.”

“For more than ten minutes, the deer kept moving forward without a hitch. If there were any large predators here, do you think the deer wouldn’t panic? Wouldn’t they bolt?”

“And yet, they’re still moving on calmly. From the sound of their hooves, I can tell there’s been no chaos among them from start to finish.”

“If the deer haven’t run into danger, what are the chances we will? Is that likely?”

“Besides, look at those ginkgo trees—do they look menacing or frightening to you?”

“It’s daytime, everyone! Visibility is great, and we have the chance to avoid or fight back against anything. Is everything in our backpacks just for show?”

“We can keep listening to the deer at intervals and decide whether we should go on.”

His tone grew impassioned.

“Look ahead! This is a treasure—an undiscovered wonder! If this landscape only formed recently, who knows what rare plants or other marvels might be here? Even the trees have changed.”

“If we bring something unique back from here, we’ll make a name for ourselves—and redeem our reputation in the hiking community online.”

“Danger and opportunity go hand in hand, but I know one thing: fortune favors the bold.”

“In short, you need to decide—go or stay!”

“Anyone who wants to turn back can leave now, and those who choose to stay, stay. That’s all I have to say—so make your choice!”

With that, Zhang Shuping said no more, fixing his gaze on the group.

Now, they found themselves at a crossroads.

Unlike Zhang Shuping, who was swept up by the promise of glory, some among them remained cautious and clear-headed. So inevitably, some would turn back, and others press on.

At this moment, the fate of each would change from this very point onward.