When the female wild person entered the cave, this was the scene she saw.

Cao Yanhua faced her with hands hanging at his sides, smiling gently and kindly, his eyes curved into crescents. Yi Wansan had his back completely turned, holding a stone in his hand, drawing on the rock wall.

He was drawing her.

To be precise, he was drawing her offering an apple. Though there weren’t many strokes, the few lines captured her likeness vividly. Though she had never looked in a mirror, she had seen her reflection in water before—yes, it looked just like this.

It felt so fresh.

The female wild person stared at the drawing on the wall, her eyes bright.

Though Yi Wansan was trying hard to appear detached and composed, his hands, feet, and legs were all trembling.

He whispered, shakily: “Brother Cao, what’s the situation?”

“Hey!” Cao Yanhua maintained his smile, trying not to draw attention as he muttered quietly, “Stick your neck out or pull it in, it’s still going to be chopped off. Just keep going.”

He suddenly exclaimed softly, as if discovering something, passing on important intelligence: “She’s walking unsteadily, there’s blood on her leg—must be Little Brother Luo’s work!”

His voice betrayed excitement.

Yi Wansan thought to himself, What’s there to be excited about? Those two shots might have been fired by Luo Ren, but the wild person still returned—who knows if something happened to Luo Ren?

Despite his concerns, he couldn’t dwell on them. He could only continue, finishing the drawing of the wild person, then adding Cao Yanhua and himself.

The wild person approached, her footsteps heavy. Cao Yanhua deferentially made way, inconspicuously moving behind her.

The wild person reached for Yi Wansan’s hand.

Good heavens! Was she displeased with how he’d spoiled the drawing surface and about to break his hand?

Yi Wansan’s scalp tingled with fear as he trembled, eyes tightly shut.

Several seconds passed without the expected pain. Yi Wansan squinted his eyes open.

The wild person was examining his hand, turning it over repeatedly, sometimes squeezing his fingertips with her large, furry hands, as if curious how such hands could create drawings.

Behind the wild person, Cao Yanhua was making exaggerated gestures and facial expressions, silently mouthing: Very good, just like that, keep it up.

It seemed their enemy-luring plan was working, so on to the next step.

Yi Wansan picked up another stone from the ground and offered it to the female wild person. She didn’t accept it, so Yi Wansan tapped the stone against the rock wall, made a drawing gesture, and offered it again.

This time, she took it.

After taking it, she paused for a moment, seemingly pondering what to draw. Then she sat cross-legged and began drawing with great energy.

The drawing was crude, but Yi Wansan immediately recognized what she was depicting.

She had drawn two people—one tall, much larger than normal humans, with a few strands of hair, obviously herself. The other figure, though drawn oddly, held something horizontal, like a branch.

That must be a long-barreled hunting rifle.

Yi Wansan and Cao Yanhua exchanged glances. Cao Yanhua looked unsure, visibly nervous. A thought flashed through Yi Wansan’s mind, and he forced himself to stay calm as he quickly drew another picture.

His hand trembled slightly as stone dust scattered from the friction between the stone and the wall.

He drew Luo Ren lying on the ground, with the female wild person delivering a powerful punch to his head, depicting the annihilation of an enemy and a great victory.

The female wild person looked at it for a long time, then hesitantly began drawing again.

Yi Wansan’s heart pounded. In her drawing, the female wild person sat dejectedly on the ground while Luo Ren ran like the wind toward… somewhere distant.

Brilliant! Yi Wansan was extremely excited and exchanged a knowing glance with Cao Yanhua: Luo Ren had escaped!

Amid his excitement, Cao Yanhua marveled inwardly: My Brother, Sansan, is truly a born intelligence agent, immediately extracting such important information.

Of course, they should be grateful that this female wild person was straightforward and single-minded, not prone to overthinking…

Wait, that’s not right!

Cao Yanhua suddenly realized something. How could someone supposedly lacking intelligence think of carving marks on trees to make them get lost, and attack them with a hornet’s nest?

The female wild person hadn’t stopped. To her self-portrait in the drawing, she added another figure—a small woman with disheveled hair.

Damn! What was going on?

Cao Yanhua moved closer to Yi Wansan: “Find a way to figure out if this is my little Master or Hongsha?”

Yi Wansan thought it was Yan Hongsha: “How could he abandon his girlfriend and flee by himself? That doesn’t seem right. But that rich woman… I would have left her behind.”

Despite saying this, they still needed confirmation.

Yi Wansan pointed at the female figure with a questioning expression. The wild person seemed to understand, her gaze moving across the rock wall before suddenly pointing to another spot.

It was a drawing she had made earlier—what appeared to be a cross-section of a well with its top sealed. A woman hung upside down in the middle of the well, not touching the ground, like the pendulum of a clock.

The wild person was pointing at that upside-down hanging woman.

Cao Yanhua felt dizzy: “What does she mean? Is she going to hang my Sister, Hongsha? Or has she already done it?”

Yi Wansan felt a chill down his spine. After a long while, he turned to look at Cao Yanhua and said in a low voice: “I think it might be that woman from years ago. She’s not dead.”

Luo Ren, Mu Dai, and Yan Hongsha discussed their plans. The most urgent matter was determining whether Yi Wansan and Cao Yanhua were alive.

“The wild person’s lair and that woman’s dwelling are in two different locations. If Cao Yanhua and Yi Wansan aren’t lost in the mountains, there’s an eighty or ninety percent chance they’re with the wild person. But the wild person is elusive; we can’t search recklessly. Let’s start with that woman’s dwelling.”

Luo Ren’s plan was: first, capture that woman. Based on yesterday’s experience, that woman had ways to communicate with the wild person using sounds. After luring the wild person, they could ask about Cao Yanhua and Yi Wansan’s whereabouts.

Yan Hongsha was somewhat concerned: “The wild person wouldn’t understand what we say, right?”

“We’ll take an indirect approach. That woman certainly understands what we say; she can be our translator.”

Mu Dai also had reservations: “But yesterday, you caused a disturbance in her cave. What if she’s fled?”

Luo Ren smiled: “Whether she runs or not, each scenario serves a purpose. If she’s fled, it shows she fears me, further proving she’s not as frightening as we thought. If she hasn’t, that plays into our hands—saves us from searching the entire mountain.”

After thinking, he added, “She probably won’t run. After all, yesterday I was the one who fled in panic under their joint attack.”

Yan Hongsha looked at Luo Ren: “Then what?”

“What do you mean, ‘then what’?”

“Suppose everything goes smoothly—we capture that woman, lure the wild person, rescue Cao Yanhua and Yi Wansan. What do you plan to do with that woman?”

Luo Ren asked in return: “What do you plan to do?”

Yan Hongsha fell silent.

Though morally she felt her grandfather got what he deserved, from a familial perspective, he was still her grandfather.

To be honest, deep inside, she did harbor thoughts of revenge.

Luo Ren looked at Yan Hongsha, smiled slightly, then looked at Mu Dai: “I know you both may feel she’s pitiful to some extent. I also think she’s had a miserable fate. But the evil talisman on her—I have to take it.”

Mu Dai sighed softly: “Once taken, she’ll die, won’t she?”

“In her current state, you can hardly say she’s alive.”

“The wild person won’t just stand by, will she?”

Luo Ren said, “Indeed, so there will be a fierce battle.”

Mu Dai fell silent.

That woman wanted revenge, the wild person wanted to protect her, and they needed to recover the evil talisman for the greater good. None could be called right or wrong.

But the actions and their consequences were far from simple.

She asked Luo Ren, “Will we have to kill the wild person?”

Luo Ren replied: “We might not be able to, and I don’t want to kill her, but there could be future trouble.”

Mu Dai said, “Couldn’t we just never enter this mountain again for the rest of our lives?”

“Mu Dai, often the consequences don’t affect us, but others. I don’t know if it’s under that woman’s instigation, but I feel the female wild person harbors some hatred toward humans. If we indirectly cause that woman’s death…”

If that woman died, the female wild person would likely seek crazed revenge. Even if she couldn’t reach them, there were always people from surrounding villages entering the mountain. Then perhaps someone else would suffer an undeserved calamity, like the old man who became Old Yan’s scapegoat.

They inspected their weapons: two machetes.

They would also carve more throwing darts—ineffective against the wild person, but should work against that woman.

Using a machete to carve darts was somewhat awkward. Mu Dai casually asked: “Where’s your knife?”

“When I confronted that woman, I think it got stuck in her body.”

Mu Dai paused, lowering her head without speaking. Luo Ren came over, took her hand, and said softly: “It’s alright. You gave it to me; I’ll get it back.”

“If it’s dangerous, don’t bother. It’s just a knife.”

Despite her words, she felt a bit disappointed, muttering, “It was bought with my first paycheck.”

So that’s where the money went. Luo Ren smiled: “Then I’m even more determined to retrieve it. If I lose this, I shouldn’t expect any more gifts from you in the future.”

Mu Dai sighed: “I don’t understand why you people use throwing knives.”

Knives weren’t cheap. Once thrown—whoosh—they were gone, mostly unretrievable. If the target was injured, they’d run away with the knife embedded—a one-time transaction, gone forever.

Luo Ren said, “Probably because they look cool when wielded.”

Mu Dai glared at him: “Next time, I’ll go to a street vendor, buy eighty or a hundred watermelon knives for two yuan each. Throw them around all you want, but don’t carelessly throw away my gift.”

Luo Ren reached out and embraced her: “That knife saved my life.”

Mu Dai’s eyes widened.

Luo Ren pulled her into his arms: “When I told you about the situation, I tried to keep it brief. It was very dangerous. I was reluctant to throw your knife, but seeing her claw reaching for my head, with nowhere to dodge, my forehead about to get five holes in it, I had no choice but to throw the knife. Fortunately, it hit her…”

Mu Dai was alarmed in retrospect: “Really? Why didn’t you say so earlier? It’s just a knife, not expensive at all. I’ll get you another one next time.”

Luo Ren laughed heartily, and as he laughed, he felt touched.

He lowered his head against her soft cheek and said: “Mu Dai, you’re the easiest girl to appease in the world.”

Mu Dai snorted: “I’m just falling for your tricks, that’s all.”