Long River Eternity

Lin Ding was a little confused. He was clearly in the car, so how did he end up in the forest?

At this moment, his body suddenly sat up uncontrollably, he held his head with one hand, shook his head, and whispered: "What's going on?"

Lin Ding wanted to speak, wanted to stand up, wanted to turn his head to look at his surroundings, but he found that he could not control this body at all. This made Lin Ding feel panic.

At this moment, there was a burst of hurried footsteps beside him, accompanied by a man's voice: "Yang An, how are you, are you okay?"

Hearing the sound, he turned his head to look in the direction of the sound, and a dark-skinned, burly man appeared in his sight.

Lin Ding knew this person. He was one of the seven people who entered the time channel in his last dream. Combined with the fact that he called himself Yang An, Lin Ding guessed that he might have entered the dream again, and from Yang An's perspective.

Thinking of this, Lin Ding was no longer as panicked as he was at the beginning, and even felt a little expectant.

"Shi Gang? I'm fine, just a little dizzy. Where are the others?" Yang An saw that it was Shi Gang, and then looked around and asked.

"Look, Haofei is still lying there. He can't be woken up for the time being, but he seems to be fine. Your sister Yang Nian and Professor Qin have woken up. They haven't found Ye Tingxue and Han Dong yet. They went to look for them nearby. I stayed here to watch over you." Shi Gang helped Yang An up and told him the general situation after he woke up.

After listening to Shi Gang's narration, Yang An first came to "Hao Fei" and pinched his philtrum while calling out, "Hao Fei! Hao Fei! Wake up!"

"It's no use. I've already pinched her. Try something harder."

After saying that, Shi Gang pushed Yang An away, took out the water bottle from his backpack, opened the lid, and splashed it directly on Hao Fei's face.

"Oh my god, what happened?" This immediately woke Hao Fei up, and he sat up dancing with joy.

"Where is this?" Hao Fei looked around, then looked at Yang An and the others and asked.

"I don't know. We just woke up..."

"what!!!"

Just as Yang An was about to ask Hao Fei about his condition, a scream was heard from the nearby forest.

"It sounds like Tingxue, hurry over there." Yang An immediately stood up and ran towards the direction of the voice. Hao Fei and Shi Gang followed closely behind.

After running for more than 50 meters, I saw a cute girl with a high ponytail and a petite figure huddled under a tree with a look of fear on her face. It must be Ye Tingxue. A beautiful short-haired lady was squatting next to her, trying to comfort her.

This should be Yang An’s sister Yang Nian.

There were two people standing a little further away, one was a gentle middle-aged man in his 50s, and the other was a young man in his 30s with slightly pale skin and a somewhat introverted demeanor.

These two should be Professor Qin and Han Dong mentioned by Shi Gang.

"What happened?" Yang An walked over and asked.

"I don't know, we just arrived. There is nothing suspicious nearby. It seems that he was frightened," Professor Qin replied.

Yang An walked over to Ye Tingxue and squatted down, asking with concern: "Are you hurt? What happened?"

Ye Tingxue, comforted by Yang Nian, had calmed down. Hearing Yang An's question, she raised her head and tremblingly replied, "I'm fine. I just saw a three-legged bird and wanted to go up and observe it, but when it turned around, it had a human face. I screamed in fright, and the bird flew away."

"What? A three-legged bird with a human face? What kind of monster is this?" Hao Fei, who was standing by, said in panic after hearing this.

"No matter what, it's good that everyone is fine. Since the strange bird didn't attack Tingxue but ran away instead, it should not be aggressive. Let's first find a way to leave this forest and figure out where we are." Yang An helped Ye Tingxue up and said to everyone.

"Yes, yes, let's set off quickly. Who knows what other strange things there are here." Hao Fei echoed.

"I said you're so fat. You're the biggest but the bravest. Tingxue is a girl so it's understandable, but how could a grown man like you be scared like this by a strange bird?" Shi Gang laughed and mocked.

"It's more than just a strange bird. Haven't you noticed that this forest is full of weirdness? I always feel like something is wrong." Hao Fei said, looking around.

"What's so strange about the forest? I've been to the primeval forest before." Shi Gang said unconvinced.

"Hao Fei is right. This forest is indeed a bit weird. Professor Qin and I walked around it, and I found that there are many plants here that even I, a PhD in botany, have never seen before. It's too unreasonable," said Yang Nian.

Yang Nian squatted down and pointed at a blade of grass at his feet. "Look at this grass," he said. "Have you ever seen leeks with green flowers? I just saw a tree with red veins. I've never seen that before. Also, many of the trees here are larger and more lush than you'd normally see."

"That's right, I guess what's weird about it. This forest gives people a feeling of being both familiar and strange. At first glance, it seems to be no different from the forests I've seen before, but when you look closely, you feel that everything is different." Hao Fei agreed.

Professor Qin, who was standing by, looked at the green flower and fell into deep thought.

Suddenly, there was a sound of dog barking not far away, and then an animal with chicken claws and shaped like a wild boar jumped out of the grass, scaring everyone. Then it ran away in panic while barking, as if something was chasing it. Not long after, a wild beast with a tiger-like body but a cow's tail ran out of the grass, looked at everyone from a distance, then also barked, and continued to chase in the direction the wild boar had escaped.

Shi Gang and Hao Fei exchanged a glance, one rubbed his eyes, the other scratched his ears, and said in unison, "What did you just see (hear)?"

"A tiger that barks like a dog?!"

"A pig with chicken claws?!"

The others looked at each other in disbelief.

"I remember now!" Professor Qin shouted, and everyone looked at him. He then said excitedly, "There's a grass that looks like a leek but has green flowers. It's called Zhuyu, and eating it will not make you feel hungry. There's a bird that looks like a pig but has a white head, three legs, and a human face. It's called Quru, and its cry is its own cry. There's a tree that looks like a grain but has red grains. Its sweat is like lacquer, and its taste is like honey. Those who eat it will not feel hungry. There's a beast that looks like a pig with spurs, and its sound is like a dog barking. It's called Lili. There's a beast that looks like a tiger with an ox tail, and its sound is like a dog barking. It's called Zhui. What we see is exactly the same as the creatures described in the Classic of Mountains and Seas!"

When everyone heard what Professor Qin said, their minds went blank. This news was too outrageous for them and they didn't know what to say.

Hao Fei was the first to break the silence. His legs gave way and he sat down on the ground, saying in despair, "Oh my God! What is Dr. Wang doing to us?"

At this moment, Yang An, the team leader, had to suppress his inner shock and reassure everyone, "No matter where this is, we must get out of this forest first. There are too many unknown things here, and it's too dangerous. In three hours, Dr. Wang will open the time tunnel again, and we must ensure our safety during this time."

"That's right, let's go quickly. I don't want to stay in this damn place for even a second. Let's go, let's go." After hearing what Yang An said, Hao Fei stood up, walked to Yang An, pulled Yang An up and was about to leave.

"Wait, we have to have a direction to go." Yang An smiled and said to Shi Gang, "Gangzi, you have experience in forest exploration, you can lead the way."

"When I just woke up, I checked the electronic equipment and navigation instruments we carried with us, and they all failed. The best way now is to find a water source and then move in the direction of the water flow, maybe we can find a way out. Professor Qin, did you find a stream or something just now?" Shi Gang asked.

"I did hear the sound of flowing water just now. It's in that direction. Follow me." Professor Qin pointed in a direction and replied.

Soon, everyone found a stream and walked downstream along the stream.

After walking for about half an hour, the surrounding forest gradually became sparse, and the view ahead gradually became wider. It seemed that we were about to get out of the forest.

We walked for about ten more minutes.

"Look, there seems to be a small village ahead." Shi Gang, who was walking in front, excitedly shouted to everyone

Everyone looked forward and saw a dozen thatched houses scattered about a hundred meters away.

"Great, we're finally safe." Hao Fei breathed a sigh of relief and walked quickly towards the village with everyone else.

When they arrived at the village and looked inside, they could vaguely see many villagers walking around and children playing. However, the villagers seemed to be wearing ancient clothes, which made everyone feel a little confused.

But now, seeing a living person was too much of a joy to think about it. Yang An led the group towards a woman who was sitting at the door of her house, washing clothes.

Soon he came to the woman and asked politely, "Hello, where is this place?"

The woman heard the voice, raised her head, and looked at everyone in confusion: "@&*..."

"?"

Everyone was confused when they heard what the woman said.

"Is this a dialect from somewhere?" Ye Tingxue asked Yang An in a low voice.

"I haven't heard of it, but the dialects in the south are indeed varied. This place seems so remote, so it's normal to have dialects that I can't understand." Yang An scratched his head.

"This... this seems to be an ancient saying." Professor Qin said.

Hao Fei's eyes widened, his face filled with disbelief: "Ancient language? You can actually understand it?

Shi Gang, who was standing by, chuckled and patted Hao Fei on the shoulder: "Professor Qin is an authority in the field of history. What's so strange about him being proficient in ancient languages?"

Professor Qin smiled slightly and shook his head. "I can't say I'm proficient in it. The ancient language has long been lost. After all, there were no tape recorders in ancient times. Most of what we know now is based on speculation and reconstruction from historical books." He paused and turned his gaze to Yang An. "She seemed to be asking, 'Who are you?'"

Yang An frowned, a hint of doubt flashing in his eyes: "Have we really arrived in ancient times? Don't reveal our identities yet." He looked at the mountains in the distance, "Just say we came from the other side of the mountain and are now lost."

Professor Qin nodded, took a deep breath, and slowly said to the woman in ancient language: "&￥%**@"

After hearing this, the woman's face suddenly changed, and she knelt on the ground excitedly, saying repeatedly: "￥%￥"

Professor Qin's pupils suddenly dilated when he heard the woman's words, his face filled with disbelief. His lips trembled slightly, as if he was digesting the information he had just heard.

Seeing this, Ye Tingxue couldn't help but ask, "What did you say to her? Why is she so excited?"

Professor Qin took a deep breath and said slowly, "I told her we came from the other side of the northern mountains and were lost. Then she said...she said we were...immortals?"