Atavism

Chapter 2

I wanted to ask who was inside, but the man returned my press pass to me and said with a smile, "Oh, you're a reporter here specifically to interview the expert panel? I'll go in with you."

I won't reveal my tourist status or that I'm part of an expert group; I might as well go in and take a look.

After following that person for a few steps, another person behind me asked, "Teacher, is this person with you too?"

I turned around, and who else was there besides Liu Er, who was always sticking to me?

I chuckled at Liu Er and said, "No, that's not it." Ignoring his shouts, I continued walking towards the top of the mountain.

Then someone behind him said to Liu Er, "You're a reporter too? Where's your press card? Show it to me, don't try to get away with this!"

"Do you have a press release for this?" I asked tentatively, not wanting to be exposed for impersonating someone.

"There's no time to write a press release. These foreign experts came at the last minute, and our county's cultural bureau was in a rush to receive them. We had no idea reporters would be here. You're quite well-informed, though. Oh, you're a reporter from Shanghai. How come you're so quick?"

"Oh, I was on a business trip in Fujian. I came here to take a look after receiving a notice from the company. I don't know if I can write an article." He could lie without batting an eye, and he was able to back out as well, leaving himself a lot of room for maneuver.

Aside from the foreign experts, nothing else was revealed. What kind of experts would be interested in Sun Wukong? Are they scholars of classical Chinese literature?

The Shuangsheng Temple is actually just a small stone house, with the tomb inside. It's certainly not luxurious, but building this temple on the highest peak of Baoshan during the late Yuan and early Ming dynasties must have required a lot of manpower and resources.

The middle-aged man who was with me took me to the temple entrance, greeted Mr. Zhang, the cultural bureau official who was accompanying the foreign experts, and then turned back on his own.

Upon entering the temple, I found two foreigners bent over, examining the small room of less than twenty square meters, as if they were handling a treasure. Officer Zhang gestured for me to be quiet; it seemed the two experts were quite engrossed in their work, and he told me to wait a while before conducting the interview.

It's better to stay silent; I don't even know what to ask yet. This misunderstanding has dragged on for so long, I'm already thinking about how to back down.

I walked to the left and stood behind the expert who was closest to me. He was examining a strangely shaped rock with a magnifying glass. The rock had clearly broken off from somewhere, and it seemed to be part of a stalactite, its thick shape resembling a section of tree trunk.

On the upward-curving, smooth surface of the stone was carved a strange pattern, somewhat resembling three rabbits, but with their ears fused together. The image seemed very familiar, and after much thought, I finally remembered that this "Three Rabbits" image had been mentioned in a news report almost a year ago. This news report is the one I mentioned earlier, "British Scholars Travel to Dunhuang to Solve the Mystery of the Three Rabbits."

Why would the same pattern appear in the East and West, thousands of miles apart? This mystery intrigued me when I saw it on the news, and it left an impression on me. Even a year later, I still remembered it.

These two foreigners were undoubtedly British scholars who had come to China for archaeological research. But I remembered they were supposed to be going to Dunhuang, so how did they end up here? Then I saw the three rabbits image on the stone in front of me, and I understood.

Unexpectedly, there is a Three Rabbits painting not only in Dunhuang, but also in the Shuangsheng Temple.

This picture of three rabbits was about the size of two palms. The British expert practically pressed his face against it, muttering to himself. I listened intently, seemingly wondering what tools were used to carve the image.

I hadn't paid much attention at first, but after hearing what he said, I looked at it again and found it quite strange. The carvings on this three-rabbit painting were smooth and rounded, with no signs of polishing; it looked almost as if they were written by hand.

Another expert circled the two steles. The left stele was inscribed with "The Great Sage Equal to Heaven," and the right stele with "The Great Sage Reaching Heaven." On the sides of the steles, there were also some smaller three-rabbit patterns. These patterns, however, did not have the strange features of the large stone next to them. Like the inscription "The Great Sage Equal to Heaven," they were all carved with stone carving tools.

They probably felt that it was about time, so the two foreigners who had been bent over for a long time straightened up one after the other. One of them pounded his back with his hand and nodded to Officer Zhang.

“What do you want to interview? Let’s talk as we walk,” Officer Zhang said to me.

"Go? Where to?" I quickly told him, "I'll look around here first. Give me your business card, and I'll call you."

I took the business card, stood at the temple gate, waved goodbye to them, and said goodbye. I won't call you again.

After waiting for about an hour, the tourists, covered in sweat, finally arrived in droves. Seeing that the room was about to be full, I quickly slipped out of the room.

Tang Sanzang, along with Pigsy, Sandy, White Bone Demon, and the rest of the group, naturally arrived as well. It was too crowded inside, so Tang Sanzang asked everyone to wait outside. When Six Ears saw me swaggering out of the temple, he pointed at me and muttered, "You're abusing your power."

I spread my hands, as if to say, "What can you do to me?"

Tang Sanzang was not idle either, and he talked at length about the deeds of the Great Sage Equaling Heaven and the Great Sage Reaching Heaven. We all know about the Great Sage Equaling Heaven, but the story of the Great Sage Reaching Heaven was found in various Ming and Qing dynasty miscellaneous books. Tang Sanzang's thin lips kept moving, and he spoke quite eloquently.

However, little is said about the cause and effect of this temple, probably because there were few records to begin with. Even the fact that the Great Sage Tongtian only had one brother, the Great Sage Equaling Heaven, or that he had an elder sister, the Old Mother of Lishan, a second sister, Wuzhizhi, and a third brother, Shuashua Sanlang, as written in Yang Jingxian's zaju play "Journey to the West" at the end of the Yuan Dynasty, is glossed over by Tang Sanzang's excuse that "to leave room for everyone's imagination, we will not draw any conclusions on this matter for now" amidst the commotion.

When it was time to enter the temple, Tang Sanzang stretched out his hand: "Wukong, go first."

Another burst of laughter erupted.

I glared at her: "I already went in and saw it, there's nothing special about it."

"Nothing special?" Tang Seng followed me in, clapped his hands twice to tell everyone to take their photos slowly and listen to what she had to say.

"Here is a stone left behind by the Monkey King. The pattern on it was carved directly with his finger. Try to trace it with your finger, is it right?"

She was referring to the picture of three rabbits on the big rock.

Even though I knew she was making it up, I still ran my finger along the engraving, and sure enough, it looked like it was written with a finger.

In no time, everyone was eager to put their fingers in and move them around.

I'm reminded of a scene from Jin Yong's novel *The Return of the Condor Heroes*, where Huang Yaoshi uses a drug called "fossil powder" to soften the surface of a stone before writing on it with his finger. A real-world chemist could probably do that too, right?

The thought flashed through my mind, and I took out my camera and started taking pictures inside the house. I took pictures of the two stone tablets and the picture of the three rabbits.

"What does this pattern mean?" the Bull Demon King asked Tang Sanzang.

“This pattern…” Tang Sanzang was a little dumbfounded: “This is probably a divine pattern left behind by the Great Sage Equaling Heaven. Looking at this pattern can calm the mind.”

"Calming the nerves?"

After she said that, we seemed to feel quieter inside the house, unlike when we were shouting and laughing outside. Maybe it had some effect, or maybe it was just psychological.

I walked around the two tombstones a few times and asked her, "Is there really something buried underneath?"

This time, Tang Sanzang answered quite frankly: "How would I know if I haven't dug it out? But I heard they're planning to dig it open to take a look."

There wasn't much to see in the temple; we touched some stones, took some photos, and that was about it. Tang Seng led us to the next attraction. As we walked, she counted heads and suddenly stopped: "Where's the Six-Eared Macaque King? Is he still in the temple and hasn't come out yet?"

I looked around and sure enough, the piece of chewing candy was gone: "I'll go call him."

I ran back into the Twin Saints Temple and saw Liu Er squatting next to the "Immortal Stone," still tracing the three rabbits with his finger.

"Six Ears, let's go."

He ignored me.

I walked over and patted him hard on the shoulder, which startled him.

"Are you still engrossed in your gestures? Let's go, let's go." I pulled him out.

"This is amazing! It fits my finger perfectly." Liu Er became excited again after leaving the temple: "Do you think there's a thrilling or even earth-shattering story hidden behind this?"

Oh no, the gluttonous snack is back.

The "Fairy Pattern Stone," also located at the South Heavenly Gate, is nothing special. One has to use their imagination to connect it to the "Peking Man head" mentioned by Tang Sanzang. However, the "Eight Immortals Cave" at the bottom of the cliff below the stone is quite intriguing. Tang Sanzang said that these eight caves, arranged in a line, are of varying depths, some unfathomably deep, and contain underground rivers. Many witnesses have seen stone tables, stone benches, and other relics inside the caves, and there are caves within caves. Years ago, there were iron chains that allowed one to descend, but now it's only for viewing, not for going down.

It would be worth the trip if we could actually go inside and explore. Tourism here is still in its early stages, and if it develops in the future, these eight caves will definitely be developed and utilized. But thinking about it, I guess we came too early.

After looking at a few more strangely shaped rocks, we returned to the car and stopped halfway down the mountain. Tang Sanzang led us along a small path to a very beautiful pool.

Tang Sanzang explained that the water flowed up from the water curtain at the entrance of the Eight Immortals Cave, and was extremely clear. He added that it was "blessed by the magic power of the Great Sage, and drinking a sip would bring unexpected good fortune."

So everyone except me, who never drinks mountain spring water, brought water to drink and said it was refreshing and delicious. Liu Er even emptied his half-finished Coke and filled a bottle with "natural mineral water" to enjoy slowly.

My trip to Shunchang has come to an end. In the afternoon, the car departed for the Yuanyangxi Nature Reserve in Yiyang. When I was sleeping in a cabin in Baishuiyang that night, I asked Liu Er.

"Do you want to hear Shui Sheng's story, or the story of the beautiful Lu Yun?"

"Beautiful lady, beautiful lady." Liu Er immediately sat up straight on the bed, his eyes darting around as he stared at me.

I smiled slightly and began to recount the story of the Human Cave to Liu Er in detail. Even I felt a chill run down my spine when I told the story again, let alone Liu Er. His face turned pale when he spoke of the inscription left on the white bones a hundred years ago.

That night, Liu Er tossed and turned and couldn't fall asleep. When I woke up the next day, the red veins in his eyes were even more pronounced.

"Are you too scared to sleep?" I asked with a laugh.

"No way, there were so many mosquitoes last night, I was bitten so itchy I couldn't sleep well." Liu Er forced himself to stay awake, and even reached down to scratch his waist.

"Mosquitoes? Then why don't they bite me?" I laughed even harder: "What I'm about to say isn't something that should be known to others. If you let it slip, I'll have to ask the beautiful Lu Yun to give you a brainwashing."

"No, absolutely not," Liu Er said repeatedly.

Those who have heard the story of the Human Cave will never have a good impression of Lu Yun, but if they actually meet him, it's a different story.

I returned to Shanghai on June 15th, and on the 16th I received a message from Zhang Ming from afar; the code of God had finally been cracked. After a small gathering at the old Shikumen residence on the 17th, this matter finally came to an end.

From being completely baffled to suddenly having the truth revealed, I felt a sense of relief, but my feelings were also quite complicated. During those days, whatever I saw would be connected to that incident.

I was exhausted after the past few months, and I'm looking forward to a period of relaxation.

My toothache returned after only a few days of relief. For a long time, that tooth couldn't tolerate any sour or sweet foods, and now it was causing me a real commotion. I gritted my teeth and decided to go see the dentist.

Someone like me, whose teeth ache at the thought of the drill "buzzing" in the dental clinic, won't make a decision unless I'm desperate.

That afternoon, I finished my work early and went to the dental clinic at Huashan Hospital. I had already made an appointment with Dr. Zhang Dali, whom I knew. Dr. Zhang Dali always boasted about his muscular physique, claiming he could pull out a molar in one go. But when he heard I had a toothache, he changed his tune, boasting about his superior technique, gentle and graceful movements, and that fillings would be painless. This change in Dr. Zhang Dali's image made me completely distrustful, but at least I knew him at a big hospital; it was better than going to some complete stranger.

Dali Zhang waved the drill in front of my face, and seeing my expression gradually change, he smiled broadly: "Na Duo, you've finally met your match."

"What do you mean?" My face turned even paler.

The drill made a hissing sound and slowly approached me: "Be good, open your mouth..."

After I finished replenishing everything, the muscles that had been pulled to one side hadn't returned to their original positions yet, so I rinsed my mouth hard and spat out the crumbs.

"See, even the bitterness is over now, so we can eat whatever we want from now on," Dali Zhang said with a laugh.

"Alright, alright, we'll meet again someday. See you at the card table." I said sternly, then left, rubbing my cheeks.

As I walked into the outpatient hall, I heard someone call my name.

"That's a lot."

A man with a dark complexion was walking towards me. His name was Yuan Lie, and he had once been my intern. His skin was extremely sensitive to the sun; I watched him get a layer darker after each interview. Later, he joined the Morning Star newspaper and became a reporter covering the health sector in the social affairs department.

"I just got my teeth fixed, and you're here to interview me?" I tried to make myself look less like I was grimacing.

"Yes, we've only finished half of the interview. Now we're going to the ward. How about we come with me to take a look, and then we'll go back to the news agency together? It's a rare case, I guarantee you'll be amazed."

Seeing that I raised my eyebrows dismissively, Yuan Lie leaned closer and lowered his voice slightly: "Atavism, hairy people."

I wasn't actually that interested, but Yuan Lie was so enthusiastic, so I went with him to see for myself. I was thinking to myself, I've seen things like that on TV before, what's so special about it, and it's not exactly something to behold.

On the way to the ward, Yuan Lie told me about the patient's condition. Only then did I understand why not only Yuan Lie, who rushed over to interview as if he'd struck gold, but also health reporters from other local newspapers. According to the attending physician, this was a sudden case of atavism. Since being admitted to the hospital, the patient had been transferred from the dermatology department to the endocrinology department. Fine hairs were growing all over his body, about three times finer than normal body hair, and the growth rate was accelerating; it had now reached a point where it was difficult to draw blood.

"That doctor said that the amount of hair shaved off in a day was several ounces, which is unbelievable, as if every pore had been given hormones."

As they were talking, they had already arrived outside the ward.

The patient was the only one in the ward. It wasn't a special treatment, but rather because the patient's appearance was so terrifying that no one wanted to share a room with him.

Several reporters were already in the ward, conducting interviews. But calling it an interview was more like a one-sided questioning session, because the patient lying in bed remained completely silent.

I followed Yuan Lie into the room. When the others saw Yuan Lie arrive, they greeted him and moved aside, allowing me to see his face.

Even though I was mentally prepared, seeing it still felt like swallowing a rat; I felt incredibly uncomfortable. The exposed parts of the person—face, neck, arms, and hands—were covered in thick, dark brown hair, about two centimeters long. The face, even the nose, was covered in hair; only the eyelids had less hair, revealing dark, hollow eyes.

Reporters from both television stations entered the room and were setting up their camera equipment. One reporter held a microphone to Mao's mouth and said, "Just a few questions. We'll process the footage so your face won't appear. Don't worry."