Everyone’s hearts lurched. They spun around instinctively, half-expecting the group of criminals to have somehow caught on to the hallucination incident and come back by some unknown means — but thankfully, there was no movement. Then, one after another, they asked Diao Zhuo whether he’d spotted something unusual again.

Diao Zhuo pulled out his entrenching tool. “Let’s dig up those grave-cap mushrooms.”

“Good idea.” Ge Mingliang nodded, fully in agreement. “After all, they’re not some rare plant. To prevent the gas masks from losing effectiveness on the way back and failing to stop the toxic fumes from spreading, we should chop them up and bury the whole lot.”

“That’s not what I meant.” Diao Zhuo explained, “The grave-cap mushrooms here are a bit too dense. I’m wondering — could Long Ge be… buried underneath?”

Ba Yunye was horrified. He drew a sharp breath. “Quick — move! Now!”

There was no time to waste. Everyone dropped their packs, grabbed their shovels, and charged into the cluster of grave-cap mushrooms, getting to work almost the instant they arrived, swinging their arms and digging with all their strength. The grave-cap mushrooms grew layer upon layer, far denser than any of them had imagined — from a patch barely a foot square, they could dig up an enormous pile of them. If they were edible, there would be more than enough to fill everyone to bursting. This made it clear that the nutrients here were exceptionally rich, and there might very well be something beneath the surface.

If Long Ge was really down there… Ba Yunye dug with all her strength, her heart hammering with dread. She both hoped they would be able to dig him out and feared that the Long Ge they unearthed would no longer be among the living. And so her every stroke was trembling, earnest, and timid all at once.

Raindrops fell on everyone. Every person’s jacket was soaked through, yet no one dared stop.

Diao Zhuo dug apart a cluster of grave-cap mushrooms about the size of a palm, and beneath it he found a thick, waxy-yellow hand. He eased his movements and dug a little more away, then reached out to feel it — the hand was ice-cold. He hesitated a moment, steadied himself, and looked up to call out to the others. “Found something — over here!”

“Long Ge!!” The moment Ba Yunye’s eyes landed on that hand, she cried out involuntarily.

Everyone dug faster. The grave-cap mushrooms piled up on one side, forming a new little mountain. Gradually, Long Ge’s pale face emerged. His eyes were tightly shut, and whether he was alive or dead was unclear. The others continued clearing the grave-cap mushrooms growing across his body and discovered that the roots of the mushrooms had sent fine, thread-like filaments into his skin — most likely the manner in which the grave-cap mushrooms drew their nourishment. Ba Yunye slapped his face and called his name over and over, but he showed no response whatsoever.

Diao Zhuo could not find a pulse. Seeing that Long Ge’s body was completely cold, his heart sank. He pressed his fingers to the side of Long Ge’s neck and probed there, his brow furrowed deeply — there seemed to be the faintest flutter of a pulse, or perhaps there wasn’t.

“Turn him over and move him somewhere else,” he directed.

“I’ll do it!” Ba Yunye pushed through the crowd and squeezed in.

Diao Zhuo swiftly fitted an oxygen mask over Long Ge’s face and pressed the button to supply oxygen.

Everyone worked together to carry Long Ge to a spot free of grave-cap mushrooms and lay him flat. Ba Yunye saw that he was covered head to toe in filth and had more scrapes and abrasions than she could count; her heart ached, and her eyes grew a little wet. Diao Zhuo continued to supply him with oxygen, and at last, at the side of Long Ge’s neck, he clearly detected the rhythm of a beating pulse.

“Old squad leader… is he… is he still alive?” Ge Mingliang asked carefully.

Diao Zhuo nodded. Everyone exhaled at the same time.

“He must have arrived here a good half-day before us. Once he collapsed, the grave-cap mushrooms started growing wildly all over him. Fortunately for him…” Diao Zhuo gave a gentle pat to Long Ge’s slightly rounded beer belly, “…his body fat protected him. For now, the grave-cap mushrooms can only draw nourishment from his subcutaneous fat. Had we found him a few hours later, the mushroom mycelium would have penetrated deep into his muscles and internal organs, and he would have been done for.”

Xiang’an put his hands on his hips and laughed. “So being overweight can actually save your life?”

Tan Lin’s imagination ran wild. “What if we brought some grave-cap mushrooms back, then opened a ‘grave-cap mushroom weight-loss center’? Ladies everywhere could pick whichever part of their body they want slimmed down and grow a grave-cap mushroom right there — effortlessly transform into a dainty little princess?”

Ba Yunye noticed that Long Ge had indeed lost a considerable amount of weight compared to before, and immediately raised her hand. “I’m in as an investor.”

“Why isn’t the squad leader waking up?” Ge Mingliang waited anxiously.

“He was poisoned much more deeply than the rest of us, and he had grave-cap mushrooms growing all over his body. His recovery will probably be several times slower than ours.” With Long Ge safely found and another search-and-rescue mission brought to a successful conclusion, the pressure on Diao Zhuo’s mind eased considerably, and his speech slowed a little.

A’Shui still hadn’t regained consciousness; Long Ge would probably take even longer. Ba Yunye raised an eyebrow and, in rare patience, crouched on the ground to examine the grave-cap mushrooms that had been stripped from Long Ge’s body.

“Ah, I just hope he wakes up soon and tells us what on earth happened!” Ge Mingliang rubbed his hands together and, refusing to give up, shook Long Ge’s body repeatedly. “Hey! Wake up! Come on, wake up!”

“We can’t just stay here indefinitely. What if we take turns carrying the two of them on the way back?” Qi Zi proposed.

“That works.” Ge Mingliang said. “Besides Master Ba, Da Qin, and Pang Hou, the rest of us will take turns carrying the squad leader and A’Shui. A’Shui is on the lighter side — we can take turns carrying him on our backs. The squad leader is heavier, so two people will need to work together.”

“I can’t just sit idle either. How about… I sort out the gear.” Pang Hou offered helpfully, limping off to collect the items and backpacks that had been dropped.

“I’ll help too.” Ba Yunye hated being given special treatment on account of being a woman. She patted her chest. “Sharing hardship together — that’s what real comrades do.”

“Master Ba is a true hero — in ancient times you’d probably have been a famous woman warrior known throughout the land.” Ge Mingliang praised her. “In that case, Master Ba, you’re with us!”

After dividing up the workload, Diao Zhuo took A’Shui on his back first, while Tan Lin and Ge Mingliang carried Long Ge between them, one at the front and one at the rear, heading back the way they came.

Because of the enormous physical exertion, combined with the lack of food and water, they moved much more slowly than they had on the way in — but there was talking and laughter among them, and the atmosphere was quite relaxed.

Without noticing, the sky had grown dark. With everyone’s strength spent, they decided to make camp. Ba Yunye led part of the group to forage for food, while Diao Zhuo, Ge Mingliang, Da Qin, and Pang Hou stayed behind to pitch the tents and start a fire. Everything seemed to be going smoothly enough — except that Long Ge and A’Shui had still not regained consciousness.

When one oxygen canister ran dry and Diao Zhuo went into the tent to find a replacement, he discovered that two canisters were missing. Could they have been left behind in the rush when everyone was gathering their things hastily? He made a mental note, then went to check the remaining filtration masks — and found that every single mask had vanished without a trace.

Something was wrong.

He had just started to rise when a cold, dark object was pressed against his temple. In his peripheral vision he could see it was a gun, its barrel fitted with a silencer. He caught a glimpse of the person’s clothing, and a chill ran down his spine — it was Pang Hou.

Pang Hou tore off Diao Zhuo’s mask in one rough motion, then pressed the gun barrel against his back, forcing him outside. Once out, Diao Zhuo saw the full picture: Da Qin had apparently been the first to be attacked, and lay on the ground unresponsive, unknown whether dead or alive; Ge Mingliang had his hands bound behind him against a tree with several plastic zip-ties, his mask taken away and his mouth sealed shut with clear tape, his eyes bright red as he let out a continuous string of muffled cries. Pang Hou’s betrayal left Ge Mingliang both frantic and furious — his gun had likely fallen into Pang Hou’s hands as well, leaving him helpless.

Diao Zhuo complied with Pang Hou’s commands and walked, deliberately slowing his breathing, thinking: what on earth is going on? Aren’t Pang Hou and Ge Mingliang colleagues? At that moment, Diao Zhuo faintly recalled what Ge Mingliang had said when he formally introduced Pang Hou back then — “…whenever the old squad leader asked me to look into something, I’d often trouble him for help… Originally I was coming alone this time, but he worried about me and took leave to come along and help with the search.”

Evidently, Pang Hou knew something about Long Ge’s affairs, and through Ge Mingliang had a rough idea of what Long Ge was investigating. Could it be that the traitor Officer Ran Jinxian had previously suspected was hiding in their group was none other than Pang Hou?

Diao Zhuo glanced at Pang Hou’s leg injury and noticed the wound was nowhere near serious enough to impede his movement. Earlier, he had deliberately feigned difficulty walking — on the one hand to convince everyone he was incapacitated, and on the other to avoid exertion and conserve his strength. And now here they were: everyone else was completely exhausted from carrying A’Shui and Long Ge, while only Pang Hou still had energy to spare. Assuming Pang Hou had malicious intentions, how would he deal with Ba Yunye and the others when they returned? He had to think of some way to disrupt Pang Hou’s plan, buy time — or send some kind of signal to warn Ba Yunye.

“Diao Zhuo, I know you’ve got a lot of tricks up your sleeve — don’t try anything.” Seeing him being this cooperative, Pang Hou had already grown suspicious. “You’re in a dead end right now. There’s no way out.”

“While the rest of us were discussing how to carry the injured, you stayed behind and hid the masks and oxygen canisters — to give to that group of criminals, right?” Diao Zhuo said. “You’re working with them.”

Pang Hou said nothing, his expression turning especially dark and sinister.

“When the others were caught in the hallucinations, the enemies they imagined were nothing more than Japanese soldiers or faceless monsters. But you…” Diao Zhuo paused. “Your hallucination of fear — if I remember correctly — was your own colleagues. A group of police officers. You’re a police officer yourself, yet you’re afraid of police officers. Why? A guilty conscience?”

“Shut your mouth! Shut up! You’re about to die, and you still won’t stop talking! Say one more word and I’ll put a bullet right between your eyes!” Pang Hou roared, pressing the gun barrel hard against Diao Zhuo’s brow, ferociously menacing.

“I can die — but spare Master Ba’s life,” Diao Zhuo said, neither cowed nor arrogant.

“Dream on… your Master Ba goes with you, to keep you company on the road to the afterlife.” Pang Hou sneered coldly. Another figure stepped out from behind a tree trunk — it was the disheveled Li Haozhang, who seemed even more unhinged than before. The two of them worked together to bind Diao Zhuo’s hands behind him against a tree trunk, then tore off a strip of clear tape. It should have been used to seal only Diao Zhuo’s mouth, but Li Haozhang must have hatched some cruel idea, for he plastered both Diao Zhuo’s mouth and nose shut, deliberately intending for him to suffocate in agony.

“What’s the situation on Ba Yunye’s side?” Pang Hou asked.

“Already dealt with,” Li Haozhang said. “Let’s go search Renlong Duoji now.”

The two of them headed into Long Ge’s tent together. Unable to breathe, and having just heard the words “Ba Yunye’s side is already dealt with,” Diao Zhuo was seized with fear and alarm and began to struggle with all his strength. Thin as those plastic zip-ties looked, once they had your hands bound, there was no breaking free with sheer force alone.

Could this truly be a dead end with no way out?

Pang Hou lifted the tent flap to find Long Ge lying on his back. He nudged him with the toe of his boot, and the man did not react at all. He and Li Haozhang exchanged a glance, then crouched down, ripped off Long Ge’s oxygen supply, and began searching him.

“This fat man isn’t simple,” Li Haozhang rummaged through Long Ge’s pockets, looking extremely agitated. “He stole old He’s things, realized that going back the way they came or following old He’s original route would both lead to a dead end, and actually dared to flee into this forest — put us through enormous trouble. Old He’s no pushover either, planning to do one last big job all by himself and then sail off to America to enjoy the good life. So much for being a high-ranking man so long — he has no idea how hard it is for those below. If trading were that simple, why would anyone bother working for someone else?”

“Keep your voice down,” Pang Hou reminded him with displeasure, then suddenly seemed to remember something. “Hold on — did you check on the people in the other tent?”

Li Haozhang looked up, a blank expression on his face. “If you want it checked, go check it yourself!”

Pang Hou’s face fell. He hurried out of the tent, saw Diao Zhuo and Ge Mingliang still firmly bound, the clear tape still sealing Diao Zhuo’s mouth and nose, his head drooping as though he had already suffocated, and breathed a sigh of relief. He ran to the other tent and looked inside — A’Shui was long gone.