It was late autumn, and the chill in Xishan District, Henan Province had quietly penetrated the bone marrow. The continuous rain for several days had made the sky low and gray, like a huge piece of dirty cotton wool soaked in water, covering the rolling mountains heavily. Although the rain had stopped, the saturated water vapor in the air condensed into a thick white fog, which slowly rolled and diffused between the gullies and the forests, blurring everything in sight into a chaotic ink painting. This fog not only obscured the distant view, but also seemed to have life, silently swallowing up the sound, making everything around fall into a palpitating, almost solidified silence. Occasionally, water drops dripped from the leaves that were full of fog, hitting the slippery layer of rotten leaves, making a light "click" sound, which instead highlighted the emptiness and dead silence of this mountain.

  A small search and rescue team was trudging along this muddy and slippery hillside with almost no path to follow. The team consisted of five people, led by Wei Guoqiang, deputy captain of the Criminal Investigation Brigade of the Municipal Bureau, a man in his forties with a resolute face. He was wearing a heavy waterproof jacket, his face was mixed with rain, sweat and mud spots, his brows were furrowed, and his eyes were sharply scanning the dense forest in front of him, which was covered by thick fog. He took every step very steadily, although the reddish-brown clay under his feet was as slippery as if it was greased, and he almost lost his balance several times. Following closely behind him was the young policeman Xiao Liu. The young man looked a little pale and his breathing was a little rapid. Obviously, this difficult environment and the purpose of the team's trip made him feel stressed, but he still pursed his lips tightly, trying to keep up with the captain's pace, holding tightly in his hand a machete for clearing the way.

  On the flank of the team was a local old man in his sixties, surnamed Qian, who was the guide they had invited from the nearest village at the foot of the mountain. Uncle Qian had a hunched back, and wore a washed-out blue homespun jacket and trousers. He walked more steadily than anyone else in a pair of muddy Liberation rubber shoes. He seemed to have an almost instinctive familiarity with this forest, and could always find a gap to settle down in places that seemed to have no roads. However, his face was always shrouded in an indescribable gloom and uneasiness. His cloudy eyes would occasionally glance vigilantly into the depths of the fog around him, and he would occasionally mumble a few words in the local dialect. Wei Guoqiang couldn't understand, but he could feel that it was definitely not auspicious. Uncle Qian was extremely reluctant to take on this job from the beginning. It was only after Wei Guoqiang and his team's soft and hard persuasion, plus a high reward, that he reluctantly agreed to lead the way to this place, and he repeatedly stated that he must leave before the sun sets, and would never spend the night in the mountains regardless of whether he found anyone or not.

  The other two individuals were also experienced search and rescue team members, responsible for carrying communication equipment, first aid kits and supplies. They followed the team silently, also looking tired and solemn. The target of this search and rescue was Li Xue, a female reporter who went into the mountains alone three months ago and claimed to visit the "Fengmen Village" and then completely lost contact. The city issued instructions to find the person alive or dead, but as time passed, everyone knew that the hope of finding survivors was slim. What they are doing now is more like fulfilling their duties, giving an explanation to the anxious family members, and putting an end to this missing incident that has attracted much media attention, no matter how heavy that end will be.

  "Captain Wei, how far do we have to go?" Xiao Liu took a breath, wiped the moisture off his face, and asked in a low voice. The fog seemed to be getting thicker and thicker, with visibility less than ten meters. The surrounding trees poked out of the fog in strange shapes, with dead branches and leaves covered with crystal water droplets, as if covered with a layer of strange bead curtains. The road under our feet became more and more difficult to walk, and we often had to use our hands and feet to climb a steep slope, or carefully bypass a bottomless collapse.

  Wei Guoqiang stopped, took out a military compass wrapped tightly in a plastic bag, looked at it, and then looked back at Grandpa Qian. Grandpa Qian shook his head, his old voice trembling: "This fog. is very strange. I tell you, it's hard to get out of that place. once you enter it. I'm afraid that the girl of the Li family. Alas." He didn't say anything else, but just sighed heavily, his eyes full of awe and fear.

  Wei Guoqiang frowned even more. He was not a superstitious person. Years of criminal investigation made him believe in evidence and logic, but he had to admit that this forest, especially near the legendary "Fengmen Village" area, was indeed indescribably weird. The silence was so frightening, the fog was as thick as substance, and the compass needle seemed to be slightly swaying unsteadily. He patted Xiao Liu on the shoulder and said in a deep voice: "Go forward another 500 meters and search both sides carefully. If there is still no discovery, we will prepare to evacuate. Safety first."

  The team continued to move forward, and the atmosphere was more depressing than before. The sound of the machete chopping the thorns seemed dull and weak in the fog. They began to fan out, carefully checking every place where there might be traces - broken branches, unusual footprints, lost items. However, except for thick fallen leaves, slippery mud and ubiquitous fog, they found nothing. Li Xue seemed to have evaporated into thin air, leaving no clues.

  Time passed by, and the sky did not seem to get brighter as time went by. Instead, it became darker and gloomier because of the increasing fog. Wei Guoqiang glanced at his watch. It was just after three o'clock in the afternoon, but it felt like five or six o'clock in the evening. The feeling of uneasiness in his heart became stronger and stronger.

  Just as he was about to order the formation to shrink and prepare to return, Xiao Liu suddenly shouted in a short and suppressed voice from the side and rear: "Captain Wei! Here! Come and see!"

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  Wei Guoqiang's heart tightened, and he and other team members immediately rushed to the place where the sound came from. They saw Xiao Liu squatting beside a shallow ditch washed out by rainwater. The slope at the edge of the ditch was covered with dense ferns and unknown vines. Xiao Liu pointed to a muddy area covered by vines, with a look of doubt on his face.

  Wei Guoqiang pushed aside the wet vines and looked closely. He saw a black, rectangular object half buried between the dark brown soil and rotten leaves. The object was covered with mud and had many scratches on the surface, but the general outline could still be recognized - it was a small digital recorder. It was a very ordinary style, the kind commonly used by many journalists.

  "Is. is it Li Xue's?" a member of the search and rescue team asked in a somewhat dry voice.

  Wei Guoqiang did not answer. He carefully put on gloves and gently pushed away the dirt around the recorder, trying to take it out intact. It was cold and heavy, obviously soaked in water. He carefully checked it and found a very tiny "Xue" mark scratched with a fingernail in an inconspicuous corner on the side of the recorder - this was Li Xue's personal habit, she always liked to leave such a small mark on her belongings.

  "It's hers." Wei Guoqiang's voice was low and certain. He held the recorder in his palm, feeling mixed emotions. Finding the missing person's belongings should have been a breakthrough in the search and rescue work, but for some reason, holding this cold, heavy recorder from a dead place, he felt a chill spreading from the bottom of his heart.

  "Can.can it still be used?" Xiao Liu asked nervously.

  Wei Guoqiang flipped through the recorder. Fortunately, the recorder seemed to have a certain waterproof design. Although it had been soaked for a long time, the main buttons and interfaces were not completely blocked by mud and water. He tried to press the power button.

  No response.

  He frowned and pressed the button a few more times. Just when he was about to give up, a tiny indicator light on the side of the recorder flickered twice, then lit up with a faint red light.

  "There is electricity!" Xiao Liu said in surprise.

  Wei Guoqiang took a deep breath, and his eyes swept over the team members who had gathered around him, and finally fell on Uncle Qian's worried face. He could feel that everyone's eyes were focused on the small recorder in his hand, and the air seemed to freeze. He pressed the play button.

  A sharp "sizzle" sound came from the speaker of the recorder, like the noise caused by unstable current. Everyone subconsciously held their breath, even Uncle Qian moved forward, his cloudy eyes full of tension.

  After a few seconds of suffocating silence, the noise gradually subsided, and a woman's voice came out intermittently. They had all heard that voice before, it was Li Xue's voice, but at this moment her voice was filled with incredible fear and extreme fatigue, her speech was rapid, and the background noise was extremely noisy.

  ".(panting).can't find the way.I'm back again.something's wrong here." Li Xue's voice was trembling, as if she was trying her best to control her emotions, "The fog is too thick.I can't see anything clearly.(more rapid panting)."

  In the background, in addition to her heavy breathing, there was a strange sound, like the sound of the wind, or like. many people chanting something in a low voice in the distance. The tune was monotonous and weird, and it made people's scalps tingle.

  ".the walls.those walls.seem.seem to be moving." Li Xue's voice suddenly rose, with a hint of tears in her voice, "I clearly remember.the road I just walked on.is gone.(gasping sound).there is a sound behind.behind."

  The background noise in the recording seemed to be louder. In addition to the faint chanting, there was also a dull friction sound like something being dragged on the ground, which was sometimes far away and sometimes near, making people shudder.

  "It.it has been following me.(suppressed sobbing).I saw.the symbols.the eyes.on the tree.on the door." Li Xue's speech was incoherent, and it was obvious that she was in extreme panic, ".Uncle Chen.he is right.we can't come here.(violent coughing)."

  "Hurry up. We must. We must leave here." Her voice suddenly became sharp and full of despair, "Ah——!"

  A short and shrill scream suddenly pierced the speaker of the recorder. The sound was so fierce that everyone present was shocked. Xiao Liu even subconsciously took a step back.

  After the scream, there was a violent crash, like a body falling to the ground, or like the recorder was smashed hard on something. Then there was a series of chaotic, unrecognizable noises and Li Xue's weaker, more desperate gasps and sobs.

  “…Help…Help…”

  The last word was drawn out very long and breathless, and then the recording stopped abruptly, leaving only a rustling, hollow noise like the end of a tape.

  The surroundings fell into a deathly silence.

  The fog seemed to be getting thicker, and the damp and cold air seemed to have frozen into ice. Everyone's face turned pale, and their eyes were filled with shock and unbelievable fear. Wei Guoqiang tightly grasped the cold recording pen, and his palms were full of cold sweat. The content of the recording was worse than anything he had imagined. The despair and fear contained in it almost overflowed through the small speaker and swallowed them up.

  "Ghost.there really is a ghost." Xiao Liu muttered to himself, his lips trembling.

  "Go! Go quickly!" Uncle Qian reacted suddenly, his voice was sharp and rapid, full of unprecedented panic, "It's getting dark! If we don't go, we won't be able to get out! Hurry!" He turned around and stumbled and ran in the direction he came from, rolling and crawling, as if something terrible was chasing him from behind.

  Wei Guoqiang glanced at the recorder that was still flashing a faint red light, then looked at the panicked figure of Mr. Qian, and the fear on the faces of the other team members. He knew that the search and rescue was over. Li Xue's fate might have been revealed by this desperate recording. And this place, this Fengmen Village shrouded in thick fog and legends, was far more terrifying than they expected.

  "Collect! Evacuate!" Wei Guoqiang gave the order decisively, his voice a little hoarse due to the impact of the recording just now. He carefully wrapped the recorder in a plastic bag again and put it close to his body in the inner pocket of his jacket, as if what was recorded in it was not a sound, but a hot, man-eating curse.

  The team began to retreat at a much faster speed than when they came, almost in a panic. No one spoke anymore, only the heavy breathing and the sound of footsteps on the muddy ground echoed in the dead silence of the fog. Wei Guoqiang was the last one to leave, and he looked back from time to time at the white fog behind him, which seemed to hide endless malice, as if he could see the female reporter named Li Xue, still trapped there, shouting silently.

  Thick fog rolled, and the forest was silent. Only the cold recording pen lay quietly in Wei Guoqiang's arms, recording a terrifying echo that had just begun but was already full of despair and death. The secret of Fengmen Village seemed to have just revealed its bloody and hideous corner.