Found in the Forest

"What the hell are you talking nonsense? Don't have clothes on? -fifteen degrees? Lao Zhang grabbed the walkie-talkie, and the sound was like sandpaper rubbing against iron sheets.

"I swear, Lao Zhang! West Slope! Two figures! Naked! Xiao Liu's voice on the walkie-talkie trembled and almost changed his tune, "I don't dare to approach... They... They look like dead people! "

At the forest ranger station at three o'clock in the morning, the snowflakes on the monitoring screen flickered, and the wind and snow raged outside the window. Lao Zhang took a puff of smoke foam and turned to the half-asleep young apprentice: "Li Qiang, lift your stupid face off the table!" Drive! Bring a first aid kit! "

"Master... Could it be a couple? This winter..."Li Qiang rubbed his sleepy eyes.

Lao Zhang slapped him on the back of the head: "Nonsense! -fifteen degrees, who stripped naked and fell in love? Got your brain in the snow? "

Three minutes later, the buggy was jolting along the forest trail, snow particles hitting the windshield like bullets. Lao Zhang clenched the shotgun tightly and frowned. In his thirty years as a forest ranger, he had seen frozen poachers, drunken mountaineers, and even hikers torn apart by bears, but he had never heard of anyone showing up naked in the mountains in such ghostly weather.

"Master, you said... Could it be murder and throwing corpses? Li Qiang asked in a low voice, his fingers tapping uneasily on the steering wheel.

Lao Zhang didn't answer, his gaze penetrated the wind and snow, and landed on the ridgeline in the distance. In this forest, even wild boars have learned how to do it—living people are more difficult to deal with than animals.

The headlights illuminated the snow ahead, and patrolman Xiao Liu was waving frantically on the side of the road, his face as white as paper.

"Where?" Lao Zhang jumped out of the car, and the cold wind blew on his face like a blade.

"Over there! In the pile of pine needles! Xiao Liu pointed to a pine forest, his voice trembling, "I... I don't dare get too close... On the man's feet... There are chains..."

"Chains?" Lao Zhang narrowed his eyes, "What do you mean?" "

"It's just... It's like a prisoner—" Xiao Liu swallowed, "And that woman... There are words on the back... It's like I've been burned..."

Lao Zhang raised his flashlight and strode towards the pine forest. Li Qiang and Xiao Wang followed closely behind, the light of the flashlight swaying on the snow. Walking through a thicket, Lao Zhang suddenly stopped, his breath frozen in the cold air.

"Oh my God..."Li Qiang gasped.

The beam of the flashlight illuminates a scene in the pile of pine needles—two pale bodies curled up together like two abandoned marble statues. The woman's black hair was scattered on the pine needles, and a bunch of bruises on her arms took on an eerie blue-purple color in the light of the flashlight, like a string of moldy Buddhist beads that stretched from her wrist to her shoulder. The man was in an even worse situation, with a half-rusted iron chain tied to his ankle and a strange symbol engraved on the lock: 🜏.

"What kind of cult ritual is this?" Li Qiang's voice trembled.

Lao Zhang squatted down and checked the condition of the two. The woman's skin was cold, but there was still a faint breath. The man seemed to be in a worse condition, with purple lips and a stiff body.

"Alive!" Lao Zhang quickly took off his padded jacket and covered the woman, "Xiao Wang, blanket!" Li Qiang, call an ambulance! Fast! "

At this moment, the woman suddenly opened her eyes, her pupils dilated, full of fear. Her fingers grabbed Lao Zhang's wrist with incredible force.

"Don't... Take us back," her voice seemed to come from far away, "they... will find us..."

"Who will find you?" Lao Zhang leaned over and asked, "Who made you like this?" "

The woman's eyes suddenly became clear, and she looked directly into Lao Zhang's eyes: "It's not anyone... What is it..."

She struggled to roll over, revealing her back. Lao Zhang's flashlight illuminated the scar on her back, which was a twisted line of text: "Thou shalt not tempt thy God." "

"What do you mean?" Lao Zhang asked, feeling an inexplicable chill.

The woman didn't answer, but pointed her trembling fingers at the chain lock on the man's ankle: "🜏... It marks us... Day 7... Stars in line... Revelation..."

Her voice grew weaker and weaker, and her eyes closed again.

"Master, what is she talking about?" Li Qiang asked in confusion.

Lao Zhang didn't answer, his gaze fell on the chain lock on the man's ankle. The symbol 🜏 seemed to be wriggling in the light of the flashlight, like a living thing. He had worked on the forest farm for thirty years and had never seen anything like it.

In the distance, the sound of ambulance horns pierced through the silent forest. Lao Zhang stood up and took out the walkie-talkie: "Inform the police, this is not an ordinary accident." "

When the ambulance crew lifted the two onto the stretcher, Lao Zhang noticed that the woman's fingers were clutching something tightly. He carefully snapped her finger open and found that it was a blood-soaked photograph with the same symbol faintly visible on it: 🜏.

"Master, what the hell is going on?" Li Qiang asked in a low voice, his face pale.

Lao Zhang put the photo in his evidence bag and looked at the ridge in the distance. In the pre-dawn darkness, a crow landed on a pine branch and chirped piercingly.

"What is hidden in this forest," Lao Zhang's voice was low and hoarse, "it is far darker than we imagined." "

He didn't tell Li Qiang, just now, when he leaned over to look at the woman, he seemed to see the reflection of that symbol in the depths of her pupils, and what made him even more uneasy was that when he inadvertently looked in the rearview mirror of the SUV, the same symbol seemed to flash in his own eyes.

"Let's go," Lao Zhang turned and walked towards the car, "This case has just begun." "