Huang Ying didn’t know when she had fallen asleep. The sound of a door closing woke her up.

“Qi Yue?” She sat up abruptly and saw that the bed beside her was empty.

Oh my god, Huang Ying scrambled up and rushed out without bothering to put on her shoes.

In the autumn morning mist, on the village’s concrete road, a woman’s tall, thin figure was walking slowly.

“Qi Yue,” Huang Ying called out as she caught up.

“I’m fine,” Qi Yue stopped and looked at her. “Don’t worry so much about me.”

Huang Ying looked at her and sighed.

This was the third day since she had rushed here. She had already persuaded Peng Jiahai to return. Qi Yue’s current appearance really couldn’t be called attractive – it was better not to let men see her like this.

After being persuaded to return to this small hotel that day, Qi Yue had first sat motionless for an entire night. The next day her emotions had stabilized considerably, but she still cried and still wanted to go to that tomb chamber. However, she didn’t make a frenzied scene anymore. When they wouldn’t let her in, she wouldn’t force her way in either. She would just sit outside the tomb chamber, sitting there for the entire day.

“I’m going over there,” Qi Yue said again.

Due to not sleeping or eating well these past few days, plus crying too much, her voice had become hoarse and weak.

If anyone familiar with Qi Yue saw her now, they would be startled – she had completely transformed into a different person.

“Yueniang,” Huang Ying carefully took her arm. “What’s really wrong?”

Qi Yue lowered her head slightly.

“Sister Huang, even if I told you, no one would believe me,” she said.

“I would believe you, Yueniang. I would believe you. Don’t you trust me?” Huang Ying said urgently.

No one would believe it, no one would believe it – even she herself dared not believe it…

Qi Yue looked up and smiled slightly.

“Sister Huang, don’t worry. I’ll tell you eventually. For now, just let me do what I want to do,” she said, squeezing Huang Ying’s hand. “I won’t have any accidents – you can be assured of that.”

Huang Ying looked at her and nodded.

“It’s good that you know, Yueniang. You’ve always respected life, and I believe you won’t waste your life,” she said.

Qi Yue nodded with a smile and turned to walk toward the tomb chamber.

Huang Ying hesitated for a moment, then followed.

Seeing Qi Yue approaching, the scenic area staff heightened their vigilance.

“Still won’t let me go in to see?” Qi Yue routinely walked up to the staff and asked. Compared to the previous few days, her attitude was much better.

Being looked at by those eyes that had cried for so long – even when not crying, they still glistened with tears – the staff couldn’t help but feel heartbroken.

That kind of sadness…

“I promise I won’t get close again. I won’t damage anything,” Qi Yue said again.

“I’ll accompany her in. This is my work ID,” Huang Ying said, taking out her work ID, driver’s license, and any other documents she could produce.

The management staff exchanged troubled glances.

This wasn’t working out – this woman sat at the entrance crying every day.

“We need to ask for instructions,” one staff member finally said.

“Good, good, thank you,” Qi Yue said.

Huang Ying thought of something and also took out her phone to make calls.

After some discussion, the higher-ups finally gave their answer.

She could go in to look, but must be accompanied by management staff.

“Thank you, thank you,” Qi Yue bowed repeatedly, tears dripping to the ground.

Walking into this place after four days, Qi Yue felt as if a lifetime had passed.

In the main chamber, the skeleton had been restored, the glass cover had been put back on, and everything had returned to its original state. But some things, Qi Yue knew, would never return to their original state.

Seeing the woman whose emotions had clearly changed again, the four management staff heightened their vigilance. Huang Ying reached out to put her arm around Qi Yue’s shoulders.

Qi Yue took a deep breath and stopped ten steps away from the skeleton. Looking at the skeleton before her, tears once again fell like rain.

“When… when did he die?” she asked in a trembling voice.

The management staff was stunned and didn’t react immediately.

“He… has his age been determined?” Qi Yue asked tremblingly, pointing over there.

The staff member made an acknowledging sound.

“Around twenty-seven or twenty-eight,” he said.

So after she died, Chang Yuncheng…

Fool…

Fool…

Did he take his own life?

Qi Yue felt unable to breathe. She pressed her hand to her chest, the intense pain making her unable to stand, forcing her to bend over.

Everyone immediately became tense, but they saw that this woman wasn’t going crazy. Instead, she slowly sat on the ground, and that kind of wailing cry began again.

The crying echoed in the tomb chamber, making everyone’s skin crawl.

When would this ever end…

Taiyue Ridge was an undeveloped primitive mountain range, located on the Da’an Ridge mountain chain. Although most ecosystems had been damaged nowadays, this place still maintained its natural state.

But it was precisely because of this lack of development that more and more people came here for adventure, and the increasing number of people in distress put growing pressure on the Taiyue Ridge government. They had to increase checkpoints and strict inspections, but the area was too vast and there were always those who slipped through the net.

By the rushing river, a slightly plump elderly man cupped water to wash his face. The mountain forest’s autumn river water was already bone-chillingly cold, and he shook his hands vigorously.

Beside him, four young men in simple shirts and pants vigilantly surveyed their surroundings, as if wild beasts might leap out from the mountain forests on either side at any moment.

“I say, don’t be so nervous. There aren’t any wild beasts in these mountains now, not like when I was young – we’d occasionally hunt bears or wolves and have fresh meat regularly,” the old man said, supporting his waist with his hand and looking at the surrounding wilderness. “Times really are different now.”

The mountain wind rustled. Suddenly someone turned around alertly, instinctively pressing his hand to his waist.

The others also noticed and turned around vigilantly.

A man was emerging from the mountain forest, walking toward the river. Suddenly seeing these people, he also stopped abruptly.

Although this wasn’t the first time he’d directly encountered people from this place, but these people…

In this brief moment of eye contact, the four men around the old man instinctively tensed up, all unconsciously pressing their hands to their waists.

The dangerous aura this strange man emanated in an instant couldn’t escape these people’s senses!

This man’s clothing was very strange – ordinary work pants, but obviously ill-fitting, exposing his ankles and tied tightly around his body, with work boots on his feet that completely didn’t match his clothes. He had no shirt, his hair seemed to have been neglected for a long time, or perhaps he had cut it himself roughly – in any case, it was messy. He had stubble, and in his hands he dragged an animal that looked like a deer or goat, while his other hand held what appeared to be a bow and arrow.

Although no one spoke, years of tacit understanding made them decide in that glance: if this man retreated even one step, they would shoot immediately!

But the man lowered his head at this moment. He didn’t retreat, but continued walking toward the river, no longer paying attention to these people. He threw the animal by the water’s edge and took out a knife to begin gutting it.

The four men didn’t relax their vigilance, slowly gathering around the old man.

The old man’s expression was relaxed. His gaze fell on the prey in the man’s hands, and he made a sound of surprise.

“Hey, young man, did you hunt a roe deer?” he called out loudly.

The man seemed not to have heard.

The old man clicked his tongue.

“Good hunter! Are there still roe deer in the mountains now?” he raised his voice again to ask, while stepping toward them.

The four men blocked his path, preventing him from going over.

The man cleaning the roe deer didn’t move, still busy with his work. His movements were smooth and efficient, clearly very skilled.

“Yes,” he said.

His intonation was somewhat strange, as if it wasn’t the local accent.

“Young man, being able to hunt roe deer shows real skill,” the old man laughed, his gaze falling on the tools the man had set aside.

This was a bow made from tree branches and animal hide.

A bow?

The old man frowned slightly.

“Young man, you didn’t use this to hunt the roe deer, did you?” he asked, pointing.

The man glanced at the tool beside him and grunted affirmatively.

The old man laughed.

“Young man, you’re joking, right?” he laughed. “How could this simple bow hunt a roe deer?”

As he said this, the old man stepped forward.

Before his words had finished, the man grabbed the bow with one hand and a tree branch beside him with the other. He raised his hand, and with a whoosh, the branch flew like an arrow straight toward the old man.

This happened in the blink of an eye. Although the four men surrounding the old man were on guard, the man’s movements were too fast. By the time they reacted, the man had already completed his action in one fluid motion.

“Chief!”

Angry roars rang out in the mountain forest, followed by gunshots.

The gun had fired, but the situation was beyond the four men’s expectations.

The chief hadn’t fallen beside them, nor had the man fallen before them.

The man dusted off his hands and stood up from the side, his eyes unable to hide his shock and gravity.

Looking at the smoke that had not yet dispersed.

What kind of weapon was this…

So powerful…

He knew these people had weapons hidden on them, so the moment he struck, he had rolled aside. But he hadn’t expected the weapon to be so powerful.

Or rather, all weapons here were probably this powerful…

This place was indeed a dangerous world!

Having missed with one strike, the four men raised their guns again.

“Put your hands up!” they shouted.

Those small, dark holes pointed at him – the man could clearly feel the terrifying danger.

His whole body tensed.

He couldn’t have an accident like this.

He had been hiding in these mountains, observing every person he saw, learning their speech and behavior, listening to the customs and rules they revealed, preparing and waiting for the day he could go out, the day he could safely go out.

He couldn’t fail at the crucial moment like this!

He slowly raised his hands.

“Lower your guns!” the old man, who had been silent, suddenly shouted.

Although the four men didn’t want to move, their instinct to obey made them lower their guns instantly.

“Chief!” the man standing closest called out in confusion.

“You idiots, this is my savior!” the old man scolded.

Savior?

The men were stunned. The old man pointed to his feet.

Everyone looked down and couldn’t help but gasp.

Under the old man’s feet, in the crevice between river stones, a green patterned snake had been pierced through its vital point by the tree branch and was firmly pinned in the stone crevice.

The snake’s head was only a foot away from the old man’s foot.

Everyone’s minds conjured the scene of the disturbed poisonous snake in the stone crevice lunging at the old man’s foot with its mouth open, and they broke out in cold sweat.

Even shooting would have been too late…

The tense atmosphere completely disappeared.

“Young man, now I know how you use this thing to hunt roe deer,” the old man laughed.

With the threat removed, the man dropped his guard. Without speaking, he walked to the river and lifted the roe deer with one hand to rinse it in the water.

“Young man, are you a forest warden?” Not angry at the man’s silence, the old man asked with even more interest.

“No,” the man said simply. Soon he lifted the roe deer.

“Young man, you saved my life. I need to repay you,” the old man laughed. “What do you need? Just ask.”

The man, carrying the roe deer, had already turned and was about to leave when he heard this and glanced at the old man.

“If I wanted to find someone,” he said, “only knowing their name and… um, work… how should I go about it?”