We were in the middle of eating and chatting when a group of men and women, all carrying large packs and wearing matching sets of moisture-wicking shirts and pants, trudged in wearily. Their clothes bore the same logo—they seemed to be from a search and rescue team.

　　“Boss, we need dinner!”

　　“Oh, Team Lankong! Come in, come in, have a seat! Food’ll be right out. The usual? Six dishes for the table, 20% off!”

　　“Great, thanks, boss!” The group set down their packs and gathered around two tables by the entrance.

　　“Any news?” Guessing they were likely searching for the hiker who’d gone missing a few days ago, Young Master Feng grabbed two bottles of cold beer and walked over.

　　The team leader shook his head. “Not yet. Only found a shredded tent. No sign of the person.”

　　“I see… You’ve all had a long day. Here, these are on me.” Young Master Feng set the two bottles on their table.

　　“No, no! Really, we can’t. Thank you!” The team members politely refused, explaining they needed to head back out soon and couldn’t drink.

　　Young Master Feng looked surprised. “But it’s dark out. How can you search now? It’s too dangerous!”

　　“No choice. It rained hard today. Without a tent, he’s at high risk of hypothermia. Plus, wild boar activity has been bad in Liangfeng Mountain these past few years. We have to find him fast.” With that, the team leader personally returned the two beer bottles to our table.

　　“Alright, I understand.” Seeing their resolve, Young Master Feng didn’t press further. He just asked for a photo of the missing person, saying he’d contact them if he happened to see anyone.

　　“Here.” The team leader took out his phone and showed Young Master Feng a picture. “This is an old photo. His clothes are probably different, but remember the face.”

　　Out of curiosity, I went over for a look and was startled to see a pair of blue trekking poles in the photo.

　　“This… these trekking poles…”

　　“What about them?” Young Master Feng asked.

　　“I saw this pole today! It was broken in half!” I pointed at the photo, exclaiming in surprise.

　　“Where?” The team leader’s expression instantly sharpened with urgency.

　　“At…” I stumbled, my mind going blank. “I don’t know exactly where. I was lost…”

　　The team leader slammed his hand on the table in frustration. “For heaven’s sake! If you can’t even find your way, what are you doing in the backcountry?”

　　“I… I’m a beginner…”

　　“And you dared to go on Liangfeng Mountain as a beginner?!”

　　I stood there, utterly chastised, not daring to breathe too loudly.

　　Young Master Feng quickly jumped to my defense, lying that I’d been lured there by a misleading online post, and he cursed the poster for their irresponsibility.

　　“Hmph. Anyone who posts that kind of garbage deserves to be banned from the forum,” the leader muttered under his breath, letting the matter drop.

　　“It was probably around here.” I pulled up the track log from my hike and marked a general area on the map.

　　“Huh? But you said you were lost,” the leader said, looking at me quizzically.

　　“That’s because my phone’s GPS was drifting all over! But by looking at the contour lines and terrain features on the map, I can roughly reconstruct the path I took.”

　　“Well, I’ll be. With skills like that, you stillgot lost?”

　　Young Master Feng’s remark shut me down completely. I had no comeback.

　　“The information you’ve provided is very important,” the team leader said with a serious nod. “We’ll search that area tonight.”

　　“Tonight? But that’s far! And there’s a section where the trail is gone because of a landslide.”

　　“Don’t worry about that. There are many routes. We know the safest way to get there.”

　　“Alright…” I pressed my lips together and said no more.

　　After dinner, Team Lankong hurried off again. Young Master Feng and I sat on the guesthouse’s second-floor balcony, a mosquito coil burning between us as we looked at the stars.

　　“Look, Orion,” I said, pointing at the constellation, a slight buzz from the beer finally setting in.

　　“Why look at Orion? We’re outdoorsmen, we should be looking for the… hic… the Big Dipper and the North Star!” Young Master Feng had drunk quite a bit; he was hiccupping mid-sentence.

　　“I see it! Saw it ages ago!” I pointed north, only to find a towering mountain peak blocking the view of Polaris.

　　“Pfft! You see nothing!” Young Master Feng scoffed loudly.

　　“I’ve stayed here loads of times, never onceseen the North Star! What are you even… huh? The North Star?” He suddenly fell silent, his eyes fixed on the northern sky.

　　I followed his gaze. There, on the mountainside, a single point of light was faintly glimmering.

　　“Is that… a star that fell on the mountain?” Young Master Feng, still buzzed, was talking nonsense.

　　“No! That’s a headlamp! A distress signal!” A cool gust of wind hit my face, snapping me to full alertness.

　　“A headlamp?” Young Master Feng sobered up instantly. “Oh damn, we need to call the rescue team!”

　　Cell signal in the mountains was terrible. The guesthouse owner tried calling Team Lankong several times, but couldn’t get through. I ran into the courtyard. The light on the mountain had grown noticeably dimmer; its battery was probably dying.

　　“Let’s go ourselves!” Young Master Feng joined me in the courtyard, ready to drag me along on a rescue.

　　“Okay,” I agreed, but the owner stopped us.

　　According to the owner, the closest route to the headlamp’s location was precisely the treacherous cliffside path I’d taken that afternoon. With poor night visibility and wind, taking that shortcut wasn’t feasible. But taking a longer detour meant we’d likely lose sight of the distress signal while moving, risking getting lost ourselves. The rescue plan was at an impasse.

　　Young Master Feng glanced at the flickering light on the mountain, then scanned the courtyard. His eyes landed on an old, powerful spotlight. The owner immediately understood his intent but was still hesitant, saying he’d try the rescue team one more time.

　　Young Master Feng asked, “Didn’t the rescue team bring a satellite phone?”

　　“They did. I don’t know the number,” the owner replied.

　　“Alright then…” Young Master Feng shrugged helplessly.

　　The call, predictably, failed. Before we set off, the owner repeatedly warned us to be careful of wild boars. He then handed Young Master Feng a coil of rope, just in case.

　　This was my first time hiking a mountain trail at night. As we walked, Young Master Feng taught me the basics.

　　“Remember this: bright is water, dark is mud, grey-white is the trail. Stay away from anything that looks wet! Also, shine your headlamp on every single step. Poke bushes with your pole before passing. Walk with heavy steps to scare off snakes.”

　　“Snakes?” My face fell slightly.

　　“Yeah!” he explained matter-of-factly. “It’s perfectly normal for mountains to have venomous snakes. We’rethe ones trespassing in the wildlife’s territory. It’s like a house dog wandering into the deep woods—gotta tuck your tail and be extra careful, especially at night!”

　　Huh? A house dog in the deep woods?Was this his go-to analogy?

　　“There’s a small clearing up ahead. Time to signal the owner.” The long-legged Young Master Feng strode quickly to the center of the clearing and, as planned, aimed his headlamp at the bright spotlight below and flashed it for a full ten seconds. The owner downstairs responded immediately, using the moving beam of the spotlight to point us in the right direction.