Hogar de los espíritus

Capítulo 25

Unexpectedly, the skeletal corpse flipped over and limped to its knees, howling as it stretched out its bony claws, grabbed the Komodo dragon's right foreleg, and suddenly stood up, forcefully swinging the massive Komodo dragon. The Komodo dragon's long, whip-like tail dragged across the ground, violently sweeping the bodies of Haman and the others into a corner against the wall. They remained in their original cross-legged positions, swaying back and forth comically like roly-poly toys, and even falling face-first into the mud like dogs.

Fatty and I were already guarding the lotus seat. I handed the pistol to Fatty, bent down and picked up the unconscious Shirley Yang, and we both retreated to Susa's side, who was chanting incantations.

The Komodo dragon was slammed hard against the coffin by the withered corpse, leaving it dizzy and disoriented. It stood up with a low growl, spun around a few times, but still couldn't find its way.

The skeleton corpse spun around a few times, then suddenly noticed us. It leaped into the air and, damn it, flew over at us, lunging at us menacingly.

Damn it, I was already furious. Seeing this, I gripped my entrenching tool and swung it at the old skeleton. The sharp tip sliced through the bone with a screeching sound, but it didn't even break a single rib. Before I could even back down, I felt a sharp pain in my shoulder. The ghostly skeleton had grabbed me by the shoulder, and a bloody, stinging pain made me almost faint.

The skeleton seemed to get excited at the sight of blood. It opened its mouth and, damn it, lunged for my throat. In a panic, Fatty rushed in from the side, raised his hand, and fired three shots in quick succession, directly into the skeleton's mouth. The bullets exited through the back of its head.

Just as the fat man was about to pull the trigger again, the ghost skeleton swung its hand, sending the fat man's hundred-kilogram body flying. He crashed into the wall and landed with a thud. Then, blood trickled from the corner of the fat man's mouth.

I gritted my teeth and shook off the skeleton's bony claws gripping my shoulder, then swung my shovel at the skeleton as it lunged at me again, blocking its mouth. The creature grinned sinisterly, and with a few snapping bites, it actually managed to bite off most of the sharp, sturdy steel blade of the entrenching tool, making my eyes nearly pop out of my head.

Fortunately, the Komodo dragon's gu body arrived just in time. Under Susa's incantation control, it bravely pounced from behind the ghost skeleton, resisting the ghost skeleton's attack on me. The two monsters were once again locked in a chaotic struggle, unable to separate.

This prolonged chaos can't go on. I suddenly asked Susa if it was possible to remove the five souls of Haman from the ghost skeleton, so that the ghost skeleton would collapse without a fight.

Susa shook his head and pointed at the Komodo dragon. He was afraid that if Haman woke up and regained control of the Komodo dragon, they would still be unable to escape.

Damn it, I thought, my eyes flashing with malice. Since I'd already gone this far, I might as well go all the way and make them my five brothers-in-law. I snatched the Type 84 pistol from the staggering fat man, crept around behind the coffin, and glared at the five men. I shoved a lotus seed paste into each of their temples. The five men, who had been in ridiculous poses, immediately cowered on the ground, their bodies withered and emaciated, their soulless forms turning into charred, dried corpses.

The ghostly skeleton became even more excited, spinning rapidly and fighting with increasing ferocity, forcing the Komodo dragon to retreat step by step, screaming incessantly.

Susa tried several times, but still couldn't drive away the five spirits on the ghost skeleton. Realizing that disaster was imminent, he anxiously gestured to me repeatedly.

Damn it, it seems this Ghost Skull High Priest has become so skilled at controlling the five souls that he's about to merge with them. Even without absorbing the essence of "Holy Maiden" Shirley Yang, he might still leave us all doomed.

I turned and ran back, flashlight in hand, searching through the coffin, hoping to find some useful clues. I figured that since this monster hadn't mutated for thousands of years, something extraordinary must be suppressing it. My efforts paid off; after searching countless times, I finally managed to pry out a large piece of purple crystal from the broken bottom of the coffin, near the head. Under the flashlight beam, it shone with a dazzling purple light, almost blinding me.

Holding the purple crystal, I was about to stand up and run back to Susa when the skeleton high priest seemed to awaken and charged at me frantically. The Komodo dragon seized the opportunity to bite its arm bone and refused to let go.

This monstrous skeleton was actually dragging its massive Komodo dragon body slowly towards me. I knew I was in trouble, so I fired several shots into its eye sockets, sending sparks flying, and then turned and ran towards Susa.

Seeing that it couldn't catch up with him, the Skeleton High Priest angrily turned around and beat the head of the Komodo dragon. The Komodo dragon became ferocious and, with a sudden jerk of its head, bit off the High Priest's arm bone.

The skeletal high priest screamed repeatedly, leaped up, and plunged headfirst down, using his only arm and bone claws to plunge into the Komodo dragon's green eyeballs. He plunging his hand into the Komodo dragon's massive brain, twisting and turning it violently, trying to grab a lump of brain matter. With a whoosh, he pulled out his bone claws and slurped up the fleshy green brain matter that was stuck in his claws, swallowing it all into his mouth. It dripped out down his throat and into his chest cavity, a horrifying and disgusting sight.

The poor Komodo dragon finally spewed out a thick cloud of pink flames, died on the ground, and its body gradually turned into a foul-smelling green liquid and disappeared.

Before the one-armed skeleton high priest could rush towards us, Susa slapped the purple crystal in my hand into the Five Elements Powder Array on the ground, then suddenly waved out a handful of pink mist, chanted a spell, and ignited the purple crystal in the Five Elements Array into a raging flame—the True Flame of Burning Spirit.

Suddenly, the high priest's body burst into flames, hissing and screaming as he was burned. He flailing his arms, staggered toward us, but before he could get far, he collapsed to the ground, engulfed in flames. His head was still struggling and howling in the fire, clenching his jaw in resentment, when it gradually went still.

After the fire, only a pile of ashes remained on the ground, with faint traces of skeletal remains visible. The five souls that originally belonged to Haman and the others were still wandering in the air, screaming everywhere. Fatty and I chased after them and swatted them away, leaving only chaotic shadows before they vanished into thin air.

Susa could no longer hold on and collapsed to the ground, panting heavily with sweat streaming down her face. Fatty and I ran over, I picked up Shirley Yang, and Fatty helped Susa up. We then put the purple crystal from the Five Elements Array into our pockets and headed towards the exit.

Volume Two, Chapter Fifty-Three: The Battle of Outer Mongolia

I first climbed up to the cave entrance, then had Fatty tie Shirley Yang to the rope and drag her out of the cave. Next, I tied Susa up, and finally, despite the pain, Susa and I worked together to pull Fatty back up into the cave.

Susa said that Shirley Yang was under a spell of bewitching magic, and that he could be awakened once he regained his strength. Even if he was unconscious for now, it wouldn't be a big problem.

The fat man glanced around, secretly grabbed two golden apples from the offering bowl on the altar and stuffed them into his pocket. Then, as if nothing had happened, he followed us out of the bronze gate of the tomb of Ananda and the Mother Goddess, around the heavy gate, and prepared to leave.

Actually, I was certain that the five of us, including Haman, had entered the tomb of Ananda and his mother without any hindrance through another secret passage. However, it was already close to 9 a.m., and the Temple of Dawn would soon be open to the public for tourists. We, the elderly and infirm, did not have time to find the secret passage again, so it was safer and more reliable to return by the original route.

To our surprise, just after turning the heavy gate, we saw a half-human figure standing on one leg at the intersection of two Pixiu statues. I held Shirley Yang Dingqing and saw that it was our guide, Agan, who had sneaked out earlier.

Agan's left half of his body was still there, but his right half had disappeared. There was a pile of charred powder on the ground, and the area around the severed part of his body was covered with burn marks, which showed that he had just encountered the mechanism inside the two Pixiu divine beasts—the Burning Spirit True Flame—when he came out.

I felt a pang of sadness, but thinking about how well Agan had been behaving lately, I secretly decided that after we left the temple, I would make sure Shirley Yang paid a large sum of compensation and send it to Agan's family in secret.

We carefully bypassed the mythical Pixiu beast, climbed up the sloping tunnel to the second floor of the Ba Rang Pagoda, closed the hidden entrance door, and sat down to rest inside.

A cool breeze rustled through the windows, and the thought of Ananda near the tomb of the Mother Goddess underground felt like a nightmare. It's a pity that Shirley Yang will be very disappointed when she wakes up, having failed to find her biological father, Yang Xuanwei.

Once Susa regained some strength, she hurriedly began to perform rituals and chant incantations to break the spell on Shirley Yang. After some effort, Shirley Yang indeed woke up from her dream and asked us what happened.

At that moment, the fat man handed over a note, written in Thai. After reading it, Susa angrily cursed, "That traitor!"

The fat man explained that the note was taken from the pocket of half of the guide Agan's body.

Susa said that the letter contained Haman's order for Agan to bring Shirley Yang to the underground palace of Ananda near the Mother Goddess at all costs. Susa then added, somewhat inexplicably, that the letter also contained nonsense about Haman instructing Agan, who was fluent in English, to immediately travel to some secret tomb of Genghis Khan, lest someone else get there first.

I made my own calculations in my mind, but it wasn't convenient to say it out loud at the moment.

We quickly tidied our clothes to make ourselves look more like first-time visitors. The temple bells outside the tower rang melodiously, and we heard the sound of the temple gates opening. Some tourists had already made their way to Phra Rang Pagoda that morning to see the Bangkok morning view across the Chao Phraya River.

We slowly shouldered our bags and climbed to the top of the Grand Bahama. Leaning on the railing, the brisk wind was refreshing. Facing Bangkok, we calmly watched the sunrise for a while. In the distance, white sails dotted the water, and the shimmering blue waves of the Chao Phraya River, like a jade belt, encircled the towering buildings of Bangkok, flowing ceaselessly into the distance day and night—truly, "time flows like a river, never ceasing day or night."

We smiled and offered a prayer of folds to the tourists who came up after us, then climbed down the tower and returned to our hotel in Bangkok.

We slept until mid-afternoon when someone politely knocked on our door. When we opened it, we were startled to find a military policeman. But upon closer inspection, it turned out to be Susa, the man we had parted ways with on our return trip.

Seeing our puzzled expressions, Susa smiled politely, pulled out an ID card bearing the national emblem, and handed it to us. He explained that he was actually a senior agent of the Secret Service of His Majesty the King of Thailand, and that he had infiltrated our tomb-raiding team to take down the criminal gang led by Haman, a Brahmanic sorcery cult member, who had infiltrated Bangkok.

Susa demanded that we return the purple crystal from the tomb of Ananda near the Mother Goddess, as it was an ancient Thai treasure, a legendary spirit-gathering jade lost by the indigenous black magic religion. This item was said to suppress evil spirits, preserve vital energy, and solidify the indestructible bodies of ancestral masters and high monks after their Nirvana.

Legend has it that King Zheng Zhao relied on the crucial role of this spirit-gathering purple jade to command a group of otherworldly monsters, who fought several times in the darkness to defeat the enemy leader, fundamentally crushing the invading army, and ultimately leading the people of all ethnic groups in Thailand to successfully defend the territory of Thailand.

Susa said that if we return the Sacred Treasure Gathering Purple Jade, the Military Affairs Department can secretly guarantee the international criminal immunity of me, Shirley Yang, and Fatty, exempting us from prosecution for the crimes committed in the Ananda's Mother's Tomb, allowing us to smoothly embark on our journey to Outer Mongolia.

I said, "Wait, who said we were going all the way to Outer Mongolia?"

Susa smiled and said, "Actually, our military intelligence already knows your purpose for coming here. You've been misled into searching for Mr. Yang Xuanwei, Miss Shirley Yang's biological father. However, you've fallen for a trap. According to our intelligence, the CIA has specifically sold out a favor to Haman, the spiritual leader of a Brahmanic sorcery cult in Chiang Rai, claiming that the cult's long-sought-after 'holy woman' is none other than Miss Shirley Yang. The CIA's true objective, however, is this Spirit-Gathering Purple Jade hidden in the underground palace of the Ananda's Mother's Tomb. They want to use you to extract this treasure. If you carry this treasure out, I predict you'll be robbed on the road, and you might not even live to see tomorrow." Haman even betrayed his drug kingpin, Saten, to the CIA, leading to Saten's arrest on American soil.

As for why I knew you were going to Outer Mongolia, it was because of the note Haman gave to his subordinate Agan. Haman received a secret report and ordered Agan, who was fluent in English and Chinese, to rush to Genghis Khan's secret tomb on the Outer Mongolian grasslands before the CIA could, to find something that concerned the life and death of your father, Shirley Yang. As for what that thing was, we have no idea.

Before she could finish speaking, two gunshots rang out from the next room. Shirley Yang hurriedly stood up and exclaimed, "Oh no! That's Wang Kaixuan's room!"

I jumped out of bed and ran over with Susa and Shirley Yang. Susa hid outside the door, drew her pistol, and I kicked the door open. Susa rushed in with her gun, only to see a large black man choking Fatty Wang by the window, pointing a gun at his temple with his right hand, facing us.

As I rushed in, I glimpsed a window being flipped open; someone had already escaped through the window. Fatty Wang was bleeding from his thigh and unsteady on his feet, clearly having been shot.

Susa ordered the black man to surrender his gun in both English and Thai, but the big black man didn't respond at all. He just coldly pointed the gun at the fat man's temple, his right hand almost choking the fat man so hard that his tongue was sticking out.

I called out, "Fatty, are you alright?"

The fat man rolled his eyes and said, "Damn it, they stole that purple crystal."

Upon hearing this, Susa hurriedly shouted, "Put down your gun and release the hostages!" He was clearly in a panic.

Suddenly, the sound of a propeller spinning rapidly came from outside the window, and a rope ladder swayed gently down. Damn it, this black devil is trying to escape by helicopter.

The burly black man ordered us to retreat, backing up to the doorway. Suddenly, he slammed the fat man on the head with the butt of his rifle, shoving him to the ground. He then turned and leaped onto the window, grabbing the rope ladder, seemingly about to escape.

At the crucial moment, the fat man's brute strength came out again. He roared, got up from the ground, grabbed the big black man's military boot, and pulled down hard.

Seeing that he was about to be overwhelmed, the burly black man raised his gun to shoot the fat man in the head. Susa dove down, swiftly firing a shot that struck the black man's wrist. The fat man pulled hard, dragging the black man down the rope ladder, leaving him hanging upside down outside the window. The helicopter then flew away.

We rushed to the window and yanked the black man inside. Susa pulled out handcuffs and tightly bound the guy around his neck.

The fat man limped over, swung his right hand, and slapped the black man's mouth twice with both hands, cursing viciously, "You son of a bitch, you dare to shoot your fat grandpa twice?"

I held the fat man down and bandaged his wound. I found that it was okay; the bullet had only passed through his flesh and hadn't damaged any blood vessels or bones.

The fat man was asleep when the door was suddenly kicked open. Two black men, armed with pistols, rushed in and fired two shots, one hitting the bed. The unarmed fat man was captured, and one of the shorter black men pulled an amethyst from under his pillow and jumped out the window to escape.

After Susa took the dark-skinned man away, we discussed that we should not delay and should head to the secret mausoleum of Genghis Khan in Outer Mongolia as soon as possible to find something of value as bargaining chips with Robert and other behind-the-scenes manipulators to find Yang Xuanwei, Yang's father.

After quickly packing our supplies, we boarded a direct flight to Ulaanbaatar Airport in Mongolia. Upon arrival, Susa, out of personal friendship, sent a confidential fax from Bangkok to the Thai military intelligence department. The fax stated that, according to intelligence, there were indications that the CIA might be planning to seize the five great secret treasures of various esoteric sects in the near future to construct a massive Five Elements Yin Yang Star Array on American soil, the purpose of which was unknown. Furthermore, the theft of the Spirit Gathering Jade in Bangkok the day before yesterday might have been orchestrated by them. In addition, the Evil Blood Mandarin Duck Swords we had given to the Ganan Village's Ganan Black Magic Sect had just been secretly purchased by an American tycoon for an exorbitant price.

I'd heard long ago that the US high command had spent billions of dollars to secretly build a space communication base in the Los Angeles area, attempting to establish relations with extraterrestrial life and do some absurd things like providing extraterrestrial support. Unexpectedly, I've heard something new today.

The Five Elements Yin-Yang Star Array, also known as the Yin-Yang Five Elements Matrix, is something I've heard of. It's mentioned in the "Sixteen-Character Yin-Yang Feng Shui Secret Techniques" as a common feng shui secret array used to reverse Yin and Yang, turning inauspicious sites into auspicious ones, using the character "化" (hua). But to use it to reverse ocean currents and thus alter the relationship between the map of the United States and Earth's wind-echoing star array is a bit too exaggerated and far-fetched. I almost burst out laughing; this is simply the most shocking joke of this century.

However, after discussing it with Shiley Yang and Fatty, we felt that things were far more complicated than that. Just from Robert's repeated attempts to plot against us, we knew this wasn't just a horrifying joke. What's even more frightening is that someone might invest a huge amount of manpower and resources in this hollow joke, attempting to carry out this insane plan by any means necessary. That's terrifying. In the end, it won't just be a few scapegoats suffering the consequences of this plan.

Unfortunately, so far, we have only blindly come to Outer Mongolia without knowing where to start or what treasures we are looking for.

There was only one crucial clue: the secret tomb of Genghis Khan. Unfortunately, a review of all modern records showed no trace of this place. The Yuan Dynasty of China had ten emperors, yet no imperial tombs have ever been discovered, and even the burial sites of Mongol royal families and nobles from the Yuan Dynasty are rarely found.

According to Mongolian custom, Genghis Khan, the great conqueror, was likely buried secretly. This method involved digging a hole somewhere in the vast grasslands, burying Genghis Khan's body, filling the hole with earth, trampling it flat with thousands of horses, and then surrounding the area with a long, continuous encampment of tents. Only when the vegetation had fully grown and blended seamlessly with the surrounding grasslands were the encampments removed. At that time, it was impossible for people to pinpoint the exact burial site.

Another theory suggests that during the secret burial, a young camel was slaughtered on the spot at the burial site. The mother camel, grieving for her calf, would use her innate sense of smell and memory to firmly remember this grassland burial site. The following year, during the sacrificial ceremony, the mother camel would be released from a distance, and she would gallop to the burial site she had instinctively remembered, guiding people to pay homage to Genghis Khan's ancestor. After a decade or so, when the mother camel eventually died of old age, the exact location of Genghis Khan's secret tomb was completely lost and could no longer be found.

Another widely circulated account states that Genghis Khan was secretly buried in Baoertolegai (located in the present-day Hetao region of China) on the Ordos Grassland after his death. In 1227 AD, Genghis Khan died of illness during a campaign in the Liupan Mountains area of present-day Ningxia Hui Autonomous Region, China. When he passed through the Ordos Grassland on his way to conquer the Western Xia, Genghis Khan was captivated by the beautiful scenery of green mountains, clear waters, and vibrant flowers. He praised it greatly and even composed a poem: "The place where golden deer with flower-antlers roost, the land where hoopoes raise their young, the place where declining dynasties are revived, the land where white-haired old men enjoy themselves." He then pointed out the landscape with his horsewhip and declared that he wished to be buried there after his death. When his body was transported back after his death, the hearse became stuck in the mud and could not proceed. Remembering Genghis Khan's words, people buried him there.

An even more bizarre claim is that Genghis Khan was buried in the sky according to Mongolian custom after his death, and there was no secret mausoleum to speak of.

Faced with so many legends, Shirlay Yang, Fatty Wang, and I were momentarily dumbfounded, feeling at a loss for where to begin. In recent years, numerous countries, including Hungary, the United States, Japan, Poland, Germany, France, Canada, Russia, South Korea, and Turkey, have flocked to China and Mongolia in search of treasure. This is because the rumors about Genghis Khan plundering vast amounts of rare and precious artifacts during his conquest of Eurasia and being buried with him have become increasingly widespread, with multiple versions circulating. These countries are all there to search for these jewels.

In a hotel in Ulaanbaatar, Shirlay Yang, Fatty, and I compiled information about the various treasure hunts that these countries have been involved in in recent years, analyzing and speculating on each one.

In summary, the achievements of these countries' treasure hunting teams are listed below:

In the 1990s, the Japanese spent over a billion yen, using state-of-the-art detection equipment and assembling a team of archaeologists and geographers. Over two years and six months, they excavated more than 300 ancient tombs near the Khentii Mountains in Mongolia. These tombs contained few artifacts, mostly horse bones and ironware. One night, the archaeological team was attacked by goblins and rats, ultimately ending the excavation hastily at the cost of seven lives. These tombs are likely unrelated to the mausoleum complex of Genghis Khan from the Yuan Dynasty.

Subsequently, American billionaire John Witz collaborated with Mongolian archaeologists. With funding from Witz, they used advanced instruments capable of probing depths of up to ten meters underground. The Mongolian archaeological team conducted the expedition, which lasted three months. They discovered a large tomb surrounded by a stone wall within Mongolia, containing a small number of sacrificial soldiers and armor. Analysis suggests it was a Xiongnu tomb.

Recently, the "Japan-Mongolia Joint Archaeological Team" discovered a large mausoleum area near Ulaanbaatar and announced that they had discovered the Mausoleum of Genghis Khan.

Based on the above comprehensive analysis and comparison and elimination, we have decided to first explore the excavation area of the "Japan-Mongolia Joint Archaeological Team" near Ulaanbaatar tomorrow.

To our surprise, that very evening, as the three of us were strolling through the streets of Ulaanbaatar, we suddenly spotted Jack, one of Robert's men, a black-haired foreigner.

This is truly a case of finding something you've been searching for without success. It seems the source is reliable; that old scoundrel Robert has indeed sent men to carry out some small-scale operations within Mongolia.

At the time, Black Jack was disguised as a tourist, dressed casually and carrying a travel bag as he walked through the streets. Shirlay Yang spotted him immediately. We took the opportunity to get into a small motorized taxi covered with black cloth on all sides and followed him, stopping and starting at a distance. Finally, we watched as he walked to the door of the small inn in the alley where he was staying, went inside, and never came out again.

Volume Two, Chapter Fifty-Four: Night Raid on Ordo

Shirlay Yang immediately commissioned a local guide to find a family-run room across the street from the small inn where Black Jack was staying. She said it was for business travelers to sketch and rented it at a high price. She had Fatty take the guide to our hotel to pick up our luggage and keep an eye on Black Jack day and night.

Sure enough, within an hour, seven or eight foreign tourists, all Americans, checked into the small inn where Blackjack was staying. Clearly, they were the same group, and judging from their bags, they must have been carrying a full set of tomb-raiding supplies.

Shirlay Yang decided that we didn't need to go to the "Japan-Mongolia Joint Archaeological Team's" camp. For now, the easiest and most effective way was to just go with Guan Hei Jack's group.

At midnight, I saw Black Jack and two or three others sneaking out of the inn and driving a small van toward the countryside. I woke Fatty up, and Shirlay Yang and I slipped out of the room, started the caravan we had hired earlier, and quietly followed them.

At midnight, Ulaanbaatar was quiet. The daytime hustle and bustle had faded into the background, leaving only the city's neon lights flickering under the night sky. There were very few pedestrians on the streets, with only the occasional car passing by. The entire city had fallen asleep.

Under these circumstances, tracking was extremely difficult. With nowhere to hide, we followed the van's headlights from a distance, keeping a distance of about a mile. Fortunately, after leaving Ulaanbaatar, the vast, boundless grasslands appeared desolate and refreshing. A sky full of stars surrounded the moon, like jewels set against a velvet blue curtain, hanging low and shimmering overhead, creating a feeling of warmth and intimacy.

The caravan traveled across the vast grasslands, and apart from a few low hills, the headlights of the van that Black Jack was riding in could be clearly seen from a distance.

After driving for about an hour, the van's lights suddenly disappeared ahead. We couldn't continue, so we turned off our headlights and continued driving in the dark for a short distance. Estimating we were about half a mile from where the van's lights had gone out, Shirlay Yang stopped the car. We discussed it and decided that Fatty would stay behind with the vehicle. Fatty was very reluctant, but Shirlay Yang explained that if we encountered local armed personnel, she spoke English and could communicate with them to avoid any potential firefights or injuries.

We agreed that if we needed support in case of any emergency, we would use a signal flare as a code, and Fatty would immediately drive to pick up Shirlay Yang and me.

After packing our backpacks, Shirlay Yang and I quietly jumped out of the car and followed the uneven grass ahead. From a distance, we spotted the outline of Black Jack's van parked in the darkness. By the starlight, we could see a flickering light inside the driver's seat, indicating that someone was on guard inside.

After whispering to each other, Shirlay Yang and I decided to sneak over under cover of darkness, take care of this guy first, and capture their mode of transportation.

Donning infrared night vision goggles, I stealthily crept to the car door and peeked inside. I was certain there was only one large, fat man lying on his back in the driver's seat, smoking. Shirlay Yang, lying prone in the grass, tossed a small stone, which landed loudly on the hood of the car. The fat man sat up with a start, peering ahead by starlight, but couldn't see anything. He had just relaxed and lay back down when another small stone hit the hood of the car with a soft thud.