Mu Dai saw Luo Ren look into the well, then step back two paces. With a grave expression, he looked over at her and slowly shook his head.

Yan Hongsha broke into loud sobs.

Despite all his wrongs, even though she felt he deserved to die, when faced with reality, she couldn’t help but break down in tears.

After all, he was her grandfather.

Mu Dai didn’t know how to comfort Yan Hongsha. She simply held her back from approaching. After a while, Yan Hongsha stopped struggling and collapsed onto the ground.

Mu Dai wanted to go look, but as she took a step, Luo Ren stopped her: “Don’t go near either.”

Then he said, “Give me the telescope.”

Mu Dai handed the monocular to Luo Ren. He looked down into the well for a long time, then put it away.

Yan Hongsha raised her head to look at Luo Ren.

Luo Ren hesitated for a moment.

Though cruel, she deserved to know the truth.

He said, “He was hanging upside down. The cause of death was likely exsanguination.”

Yan Hongsha’s face turned deathly pale: “Was his throat cut?”

Indeed, his throat was a bloody mess, but…

“Not just that. There are many wounds.”

Luo Ren had a preliminary theory: the throat-cutting was likely the final, fatal blow, but before that, Old Yan had endured a period of torture through bloodletting.

Perhaps at night, in the pitch-black, bone-chilling darkness, he hung alone, upside down in the well, listening to the sound of his blood dripping.

Only Old Yan himself knew what terror and horror he experienced.

Yan Hongsha murmured: “It’s all my fault. If I hadn’t slept last night, perhaps I could have saved Grandfather.”

Luo Ren removed his gun and backpack: “I’ll go down to take a look.”

Due to angles and lighting issues, some details couldn’t be seen through the telescope. Only by getting close could he observe with the naked eye.

Mu Dai worried: “There’s treasure gas down there.”

“I’ll be quick.”

He had been trying to prevent Mu Dai from seeing the corpse in the well, but if he went down, Mu Dai would look down from the well’s opening. It was somewhat helpless. He reminded her: “Just look at me, alright?”

Mu Dai said, “I’ve watched horror movies. I’m not that scared.”

“A real person is different, especially someone you know.”

Mu Dai felt a bit nervous and stopped arguing with him. Yan Hongsha looked up at Luo Ren: “Are you going down just like that?”

Luo Ren looked down at the well opening: “The well isn’t large. I can brace myself against the walls to descend.”

Yan Hongsha said, “Don’t. My grandfather mentioned that the treasure gas is very toxic, more poisonous the deeper you go. You should use a rope.”

She lowered her head to rummage through her bag and handed a rope to Luo Ren: a brand-new climbing rope with the tags still attached—there had been an incident right after digging open the treasure well that day, and she hadn’t had time to descend.

Luo Ren took the rope, estimated the depth where Old Yan’s body was, tied one end to a nearby tree, tugged to confirm it was secure, and tied the other end around his waist.

Mu Dai stood at the well opening. Even though the rope was already fixed to the tree, she still held it tightly in her hand and instructed Yan Hongsha: “Go watch the tree and make sure the knot doesn’t loosen.”

Yan Hongsha knew she didn’t want her near the treasure well and went silently.

—Just look at me, alright.

Though he said this, it was difficult to do. After all, the well opening was small, and looking down gave a clear view of everything.

The rope suspending Old Yan was a thick cord made of twisted vines, tied to the support pin that had previously held the wooden planks. Thus, Old Yan’s body was close to one side of the well wall. Luo Ren descended from the other side. The estimated length was just right, leaving him suspended near Old Yan’s body.

Luo Ren looked up and made a “K” gesture to Mu Dai, then lowered his head to examine the well walls around him.

There were many scratch marks on the well wall. Luo Ren took one of Old Yan’s hands to examine. Sure enough, his fingernails were filled with moss and mud from the well wall.

His suspicions were correct. When Old Yan was hung upside down in the well, he was still alive. He had struggled desperately until, finally, his throat was cut with a knife…

A knife? No, that wasn’t right. The wild man probably didn’t use knives.

Luo Ren suppressed his discomfort to look closer: Old Yan’s throat was a bloody mess—it had been bitten.

He rolled up Old Yan’s sleeve to examine the wounds: as he had suspected, the bleeding wounds on his body were made by the wild man’s sharp claws, horizontal and vertical gashes covering his entire body, likely numbering a hundred or more.

So, the sequence of events should be: taking advantage of the chaos, the wild man captured Old Yan, clawed him, hung him upside down in the well to bleed, and when the time was right, bit through his throat.

However, something still felt off.

He looked up at the well opening: did that final bite occur above the well or inside it? If above, the wild man would have had to pull Old Yan back up by the rope, which seemed troublesome. But if below, the wild man would have had to climb down. Given the wild man’s size, such a small space seemed rather…

Cramped.

Seeing him look up, Mu Dai leaned over: “What’s wrong?”

Just then, Luo Ren suddenly heard Yan Hongsha’s scream. Simultaneously, the rope around his waist suddenly loosened, his center of gravity dropped, and the opening above darkened as Mu Dai tumbled down.

Luo Ren’s mind roared. He quickly braced his body against the walls and, after sliding five or six meters, finally stabilized himself.

But he was more worried about Mu Dai. Though she knew lightness kung fu, the unexpected fall, head-first, would be dangerous even with him below to break her fall.

Looking up, he felt both heartache and relief.

She was clinging to Old Yan’s corpse.

Of course, falling from above, reaching out desperately to grab something, Old Yan’s body was the only obstacle available.

Hopefully, she wouldn’t be frightened to tears again.

He called out to her tentatively, and she responded with a trembling “mm.”

Luo Ren steadied himself: “Mu Dai, the well wall is right beside you. Don’t panic. Come down to me.”

Mu Dai let go and descended along the well wall. She was still shaking, and her kung fu wasn’t as smooth as before. In the end, she almost fell, landing directly on Luo Ren.

Luo Ren embraced her immediately, pressing her head into his chest, then looked up at the well opening.

From below, the well opening was just a small square of light. But no one peered down, and there wasn’t even any movement.

Luo Ren exhaled: only by reaching the top could they know what had happened, but for now, he dared not risk going up. What if someone was waiting with a knife just as they emerged?

Looking down, there were still nearly twenty meters left, but he couldn’t risk going deeper either. Yan Hongsha had said that the deeper one went, the more toxic the treasure gas became. Luo Ren suspected that treasure gas might be similar to marsh gas. These natural elements, like wasps or black ants, were things he dared not provoke carelessly.

He asked Mu Dai, “Are you hurt?”

Mu Dai shook her head without making a sound, her body still trembling slightly.

Luo Ren whispered in her ear: “You’ve been quite impressive on this journey—fighting with a wild man, falling into a well, embracing a corpse. Mu Dai, if you were a man, these experiences would help you charm quite a few girls.”

Mu Dai looked up at him.

Luo Ren said, “Truly, before, in the Philippines, I could drink at bars for free. I’d just sit there, mention I had crawled through piles of corpses, and plenty of girls would buy me drinks, their eyes glowing with interest.”

Mu Dai glared at him.

“But with Malay people, I still have a psychological barrier in terms of aesthetics. If I could overcome that barrier, Mu Dai, you wouldn’t be an issue now.”

Mu Dai broke into a smile. Luo Ren lowered his head, kissed her face, and asked: “Better now?”

She nodded: “Better.”

In that moment when everything was spinning, she had reached out in panic and grabbed onto something. She knew it was Old Yan’s corpse, but had no choice but to hold on. The coldness of the dead, the proximity of the bloodied corpse with no distance between them—for a moment, her entire body had frozen.

Later, when Luo Ren called her, she fell into his embrace. It felt so good—the warmth of his arms, his unique scent, his strong heartbeat.

She also looked up at the well opening.

At that time, she had been gripping the rope when it suddenly pulled downward, taking her by surprise. She only heard Yan Hongsha’s scream.

Had something happened? How was Hongsha?

Was it… the wild man?

Cao Yanhua felt he could no longer lie still.

He squeezed his legs together, his plump cheeks quivering from the urge to urinate. He mouthed to Yi Wansan: “San-san, Brother, don’t you need to use the bathroom?”

Yi Wansan remained motionless, lying there impeccably.

Cao Yanhua thought to himself: I can’t hold it, I really can’t.

The ancients said that no living person has ever died from holding their urine.

Today, Cao Yanhua finally understood the profound meaning of this saying: either bravely get up to urinate, or wet himself. To be or not to be—one must “be” something.

He really… couldn’t hold it anymore!

Cao Yanhua sprang up from the ground in one motion, grabbed his pants, and ran outside, not even bothering to check where the wild man was. Reaching the cave entrance, he unzipped…

That feeling of ultimate joy—Cao Yanhua’s eyes welled with tears. He wanted to sing, any song that could express the relief in his chest…

Behind him came a hoarse, heavy breathing sound.

The beautiful melody stopped abruptly. Dreams crashed into reality, clouds descended to the ground, and his urine stopped, stopped from fear.

Cao Yanhua pulled up his pants and turned around, trembling.

This was a wild man, yes, and his own plump, stout figure could only be described as petite before it—the creature was covered in yellowish-brown fur, and its nails… or claws, more accurately?

The claws were sharp, seeming capable of scratching stone walls and causing rubble to fall with just a casual swipe.

The chest…

Yes, Zha Ma was right, it was a female wild man.

She had hair, brownish-black, shoulder-length and tangled like grass. A pair of black pupils looked Cao Yanhua up and down.

Cao Yanhua panicked. At this moment, he could only go forward, not backward, as one step back would mean the cliff edge.

Behind the wild woman, Yi Wansan steadfastly… continued lying there.

Cao Yanhua edged sideways along the stone wall, moving inward. The wild woman also turned her body accordingly, her gaze never leaving him.

Cao Yanhua felt he needed to say something.

True feelings… yes, a kind smile transcends race and borders. With sincerity, it can always be felt.

So he squeezed out what he believed to be a kind smile toward the wild woman.

“P-people have urgencies… I came out… to relieve myself… I’m going… going back now…”

The wild woman’s face showed no expression, or perhaps her expressions were hidden by her fur?

Yes, he should look into her eyes. Eyes are the windows to the soul; they must connect spiritually.

Cao Yanhua looked into the wild woman’s eyes and felt as if the top of his head were creaking open.

“Um… we can… talk this out…”

He continued inching his way inside, further and further, almost reaching Yi Wansan’s side, when the wild woman suddenly made a sound from her throat and took a big step forward…

Was she about to pounce? Cao Yanhua’s barely maintained composure snapped like a string. In a moment of extreme tension, he wasn’t even aware of what he was doing…

He grabbed Yi Wansan and shrieked: “Him! It’s him! He’s pretending to sleep! He’s been awake the whole time!”

Chaos ensued.

Suddenly, his hair hurt—Yi Wansan had grabbed it and pulled down: “Fatty Cao, now I see your true colors…”

His feet slipped, and they both fell…

After falling, the cave seemed to grow quiet. The wild woman remained standing at a distance, neither pouncing nor displaying the expected violent outburst.

Something seemed off. Cao Yanhua and Yi Wansan exchanged a glance and slowly looked up.

The wild woman’s face still showed no expression. After a while, she tossed something toward them that rolled on the ground.

Were those… two wild apples?

The wild woman exhaled forcefully through her nostrils twice, then left. This time her footsteps were heavy, as if deliberately stomping. At the cave entrance, her furry arm reached out, swung, and her entire body descended.

Cao Yanhua and Yi Wansan scrambled to the cave entrance and looked down from the edge of the rock. They saw the wild woman’s yellowish-brown figure leaping and jumping among the trees, soon disappearing.

What was going on?

His brain seemed insufficient for processing this. Cao Yanhua nudged Yi Wansan with his arm: “San-san, Brother, she gave us apples. Are they for us to eat?”

“Seems so. She could crush us both with one hand; she wouldn’t go to such lengths to poison us with apples.”

Cao Yanhua found it puzzling but didn’t bother thinking further: “Not dying is good enough. Whatever, let’s eat first. We’ve missed several meals already.”

He ran back into the cave, picked up the two apples, and returned to give one to Yi Wansan. Yi Wansan reached out to accept it, but halfway through, he suddenly remembered something. His expression changed, and when he looked up again, his eyes could kill.

Cao Yanhua was bewildered for a moment, then he too recalled what had happened just minutes ago—something distant and unreal that he hoped had never occurred.

The air pressure around them suddenly dropped.

Cao Yanhua looked into Yi Wansan’s eyes.

They say eyes are the windows to the soul. He hoped San-san Brother could see through his eyes his genuine remorse and heartfelt goodwill.

He offered both apples to Yi Wansan, stammering: “San-san Brother… this was completely… a misunderstanding…”

Perhaps due to oxygen deprivation in the well, Mu Dai began feeling dizzy.

She discussed with Luo Ren: “Let’s slowly go up, get closer to the well opening, but not up. I can enter a meditative state and listen for movements around us. If the wild man is near the well, with his heavy breathing, I’ll sense it. If he’s not there, we can quickly get out…”

“Are you confident?”

Mu Dai smiled. Lying against Luo Ren’s chest, she whispered: “I must be confident. I’m scared too. Otherwise, if I just peek out and he’s up there, one bite and my head would be gone…”

Luo Ren also smiled, but as he was smiling, his body suddenly trembled, and a tiny spark flashed in his mind.

Mu Dai noticed: “What’s wrong?”

Luo Ren looked up, staring at Old Yan’s corpse: “Mu Dai, let’s go up there first.”

He braced himself against the well wall and quickly moved to Old Yan’s body. Holding his breath, he pushed aside the head and carefully examined the throat.

Mu Dai followed closely, her gaze trying to avoid the bloody scene: “What is it?”

“It wasn’t a wild man’s bite. In your words, if a wild man had bitten down, Old Yan’s neck would be severed.”

Mu Dai’s heart skipped a beat: “A human?”

“A human.”