Wu Ren'ai glanced at Sun Baozi with a white eye and said, "Sweeping bone ash is just sweeping bone ash, what else can be done - why are you talking so big?"

  Wu Renyi paused for a moment, his eyes scanning the few people behind him before finally falling on Autumn Beauty. "I know an old path that leads up," he said, "but it's not easy to walk. I'll take that old path myself, and you can follow her. Let's meet again at Crane Mouth Peak."

  After finishing speaking, Wu Renqi turned around and walked towards a small grove of trees on the left without looking back. This made Zhao Mingyuan, Qiu Dimei, and the two young policemen look at Wu Renqi's receding figure in confusion.

  Zhao Mingyuan first asked in a low voice towards Qiu Dami: "How many roads can go up?"

  "Uncle took me on dozens of trips," said Autumn Beauty. "It's just that one road, and I've never heard of any old or new roads."

  After listening to Autumn's words, Zhao Ming blinked his eyes and leaned in close to Sun Baozi, saying: "Sun Juzhang, has this Director Wu been here before? But is he looking down on us a few? What old road did he take that we can't take?"

  Sun Baozi looked at Zhao Mingyuan and smiled, saying: "Not that I'm saying, Old Zhao, whether Director Wu has come or not, I don't know. But this road may be the only one he can take. It's really not me speaking for him, we just pointed out that he is still alive."

  Deputy Director Zhao thought Sun was being evasive, so he chuckled and deliberately changed the subject, saying: "Director Sun, I just heard Director Wu mention something about 'bone ash'. I shouldn't be asking this, but what does 'bone ash' mean?"

  "You mentioned Bone Ash..." Sun Baozi scratched his head, paused for a moment, and continued: "The armed fugitive I told you about earlier, his nickname is Bone Ash. So, our mission this time is called Sweeping Bone Ash."

  After saying that, Sun Baozi was also afraid of leaking the secret. He turned around and looked at Qiu Dami, who was gazing at Wu Renyu's back, and said with a smile: "Dami, Director Wu is going his own way, we'll follow you. Maybe your route will be faster than his."

  Qiu Dami still couldn't figure it out, why would there be any old roads here. But since Director Sun has spoken, this matter can only be put on hold for now, official business is important, wait until there's a chance to see Director Wu again and ask him then.

  This group of people continued to move forward, climbed a slope, and stood at the commanding heights. Only then did they see that the majestic Crane Beak Peak was surrounded by a pool of water. There was only one place in front of them where the terrain was slightly higher, and it seemed that they could walk past with bare feet. Just as Autumn said before, there was no possibility of another road leading to Crane Beak Peak. Moreover, Wu Renyi's direction was opposite to theirs, and he seemed to be getting farther away from Crane Beak Peak as he walked.

  Sun Baozi spoke up, suggesting they take a short rest here. At this point, the two young policemen finally took off their backpacks and Zhao Mingyuan pulled out mineral water, bread, and other snacks to share with everyone. The group sat together, starting to chat while eating.

  "See the pool of water down there? From here, it takes 20 minutes to get to the edge. It's dry season now, and if you follow the higher terrain below, the water just covers your ankles." Da Mei pointed at the pool and said: "But be careful when walking, except for that one high spot, don't step on any other place. My uncle once took a young Taoist priest to pick herbs, after several trips, the young priest thought he knew the way and wasn't paying attention to his feet, as a result, he stepped into thin air and sank straight down without even struggling. My uncle said that the pool water is strange, even a leaf can sink in."

  Sun Baozi listened, stuck out his tongue, looked at the large pool of water, and then looked at Autumn Beauty and said: "Autumn Beauty, in that case, I won't even struggle. With a cry of 'ah', I'll be gone."

  Yang Xiao, who had never spoken much, suddenly became active after Wu Renyu left. Looking at the pool of water below, Yang Xiao said slowly: "Your uncle was right, there is indeed something strange about the water below." Pausing for a moment, he looked up at Autumn Beauty and continued: "You haven't come here many times either, have you? At least during leap months, ghost months, or when someone in your family has passed away, your uncle would never bring you here, right?"

  Qiu Dami was stunned for a moment, then reacted and used the yin-yang calendar in her phone to calculate the leap month and ghost month mentioned by Yang Xiao. After calculating, she stared at Yang Xiao with wide eyes and said: "It's really as you said, how did you know?"

  "He used to be an old Daoist" Sun Baozi said on behalf of Yang Xiao: "Later, he sneaked a peek at his master's wife taking a bath and was kicked out by his master, hahaha"

  Sun Baozi's nonsense diverted the conversation, causing everyone around to burst out laughing. Due to their respect for Yang Xiao's position as department head, Zhao Mingyuan and a few others only chuckled in agreement with Sun Baozi, not daring to be too presumptuous. Seeing that Yang Xiao didn't react, Deputy Director Zhao chimed in with a timely quip: "We have an old saying in Yingtan, which also applies here... if you want to learn something well, you must sleep with the teacher's wife..." This remark sent Sun Baozi into another fit of laughter.

  Yang Xiao endured so many years, and it was not worth making a joke with Sun Baozi. He pretended not to hear and chatted with Yu Fang next to him from time to time. On the other hand, Autumn's face turned slightly red, and she looked a bit embarrassed.

  "Several leaders, if we have rested well, let's continue to move forward." Autumn beauty pointed to the front crane mouth peak and said: "It will take some time to climb up, and if it takes too long, I'm afraid the boat owner outside will leave first. We don't have a plan to spend the night in the wild, what we want is not there, and at night it's hard to get through."

  "Let's continue on our way." Sun Baozi stood up, patted the dust off his buttocks, and suddenly thought of something. He turned around to Yang Xiao and said: "Old Yang, you go ahead. And you, Yu Guo Director, walk behind me. If anything happens, we can take care of it together."

  Autumn beauty led the way, and this group of people continued to move forward. Before long, they arrived at the edge of a pond in front of them. To get past here, the front was all that Crane Mouth Peak. However, looking at this almost crystal-clear pond, Sun Baozi suddenly shuddered, and his mind had an additional familiar feeling, and he couldn't help but think of the scene when I first met him that year, the first time I saw the Dead Man's Pond.

  "Hey, leaders, take a look at that shallow water area over there," said Autumn Beauty, pointing to the shallow water zone. "Be careful where you step, if you want to get past, you can only walk here, don't make a mistake. One wrong step and you'll end up like that little Taoist priest, never to be reborn."

  Qiu Dami suddenly paused, staring at the sandy beach on the other side of the pond, lost in thought. After calling out to Zhao Mingyuan, she came back to her senses and turned to Sun Pangzi, saying: "Director Sun, it's been at least a month since anyone has passed through here. Not only is it impossible for Director Wu to have come here, but also that fugitive you mentioned, Bone Ash."

  "Huh?" Sun Baozi was stunned for a moment, then said: "How did you know? Are there surveillance cameras here?"

  "Look at that patch of ground over there," said Autumn Beauty, pointing to the sandy beach across from them. "If someone had walked through there recently, you'd see footprints. But now there's nothing - it's been at least a month since anyone has passed this way."

  Sun Baozi looked at the sandy beach that Autumn Beauty was pointing at, and after just one glance, he found the flaw in her words: "Not to mention me, but when you and your uncle came here before, where are the footprints you left?"

  "We're here to pick herbs, not climb to the top" explained Autumn Beauty: "From here up is going to the top, my uncle and I went from the edge of the pond and climbed around to that side where it's all vines. If we go up from this side, it's exactly what we want." Sun Baozi followed the direction of Autumn Beauty's pointing hand and looked over, at the foot of the Crane Mouth Peak, there was indeed a large area full of vines. From there to the sandy beach by the pond, it was quite uneven, obviously often walked on by people.

  At this time, Zhao Mingyuan came over. He was originally looking for Sun Baozi to discuss something. He and the two policemen, as well as Qiu Dami, were not wearing any weapons. If they had been, they would have been waiting here to ambush, but instead, when they arrived, they heard Qiu Dami's words, and the little girl was certain that no one had passed by here during this time.

  Then, Deputy Director Zhao's words changed: "Director Sun, shall we make a concerted effort and rush up now? Do you have any spare weapons that we can borrow for the time being? If not, it doesn't matter. We can find a tree branch on the mountain to use as a stick. You don't know, I also started from the grassroots and worked my way up step by step. If I were a few years younger, I would have almost become a special police officer."

  Sun Baozi narrowed his eyes and looked at Zhao Mingyuan, saying: "Honestly, I'm not saying this, but the more I look at you, brother, the more familiar you seem. It's just that I can't remember where I've seen you before."

  As soon as he finished speaking, Hugo, who was talking to Yang Yu, turned his head and looked at him, saying: "Sun, doesn't your family have a mirror?"