Stumbling along the way, suspicious of every sound, the sky had completely darkened. Old Man Yan struggled to find his way at night, taking wrong turns several times. Twice, Mu Dai even thought they were going in circles through the forest, feeling hopelessly lost. She wanted to cry, but forced herself not to.

She felt she was the bodyguard—with an old man and a young woman beside her, she absolutely couldn’t show fear. Even if she had to pretend, she needed to appear completely confident.

They wandered disoriented through the forest for a long time. Only by midnight did they finally find their way back to the stone house.

Throughout the journey, no one spoke beyond urging each other to find the path. Only when they caught sight of the stone house’s silhouette in the distance did they finally release their held breath.

Yan Hongsha asked her: “Mu Dai, that was a wild man, wasn’t it? With such great strength, one person dragging both of us—normal people aren’t like that.”

Mu Dai thought so too. The skin was thick—even the wooden hand arrows she’d sharpened couldn’t wound it.

However, this sudden incident had considerably diminished her suspicions about the Sweeping Fine Weather Lady.

She called Yan Hongsha over and, lowering her voice, told her about the Sweeping Fine Weather Lady.

The idea of a cloth doll walking was ultimately absurd. From the beginning, Mu Dai had been more inclined to believe there might be others around. Today’s events in the forest seemed to support her theory.

Yan Hongsha felt a chill down her spine: “So that means we’re not safe even back at our lodging?”

“It’s still better than the forest.”

Yes, still better than the forest.

Back at the stone house, they lit torches. The bright light dispelled much of the darkness’s terror. Mu Dai and Yan Hongsha drew water from the well, boiled a pot, washed their faces, and then poured water to soak their feet.

While walking, they hadn’t noticed, but now they discovered several blisters on their feet.

Warmth rushed from the soles of their feet throughout their bodies. Even the dry bread wasn’t so hard to chew anymore. Soothing their bodies and stomachs, their dejected spirits finally lifted.

Old Man Yan sat in the corner, muttering: “How could there be no corpse in the well?”

Yan Hongsha grew angry hearing this, feeling that even if she had to sell everything and beg on the streets, she never wanted to hunt for treasure again.

Mu Dai hesitated, then asked him: “Grandfather, the… friend you buried in the well back then, was it a man or woman?”

Old Man Yan was silent for a long time, then answered hoarsely: “A woman.”

“How long ago was this?”

“Over ten… maybe twenty years ago.”

“Was she really… dead?”

Old Man Yan’s body tensed as he looked up at her: “What do you mean?”

Mu Dai chose her words carefully: “Since there’s no corpse in the well, I was wondering if perhaps she escaped…”

Old Man Yan said harshly: “How could that be possible! Her throat was cut, blood spraying all over the well…”

He suddenly realized he had let something slip and abruptly stopped.

The room fell deathly silent.

Yan Hongsha felt cold all over and suddenly spoke with a tearful voice: “Grandfather, didn’t you say the person died from illness?”

When Old Man Yan told Mu Dai the person had died from illness, Yan Hongsha had her doubts, but she forced herself to believe it. After all, he was family, and she didn’t want to think her grandfather had killed someone.

Now she knew. Throat cut, blood spraying everywhere.

This was murder.

In the silence, Yan Hongsha suddenly hugged her knees and began crying softly.

That night, no matter what, Mu Dai couldn’t sleep soundly. Of course, she wasn’t alone—she could hear Yan Hongsha tossing and turning on her bed as well. Only Old Man Yan’s breathing could be heard.

He seemed to sleep peacefully.

Drip, drip.

Was it raining again?

Mu Dai listened quietly for a moment, then suddenly sat up and whispered: “Hongsha?”

Yan Hongsha also sat up: “What is it?”

She crawled over from her bedside.

This wasn’t the sound of rain; it was the sound of dripping water.

It sounded very close, as if right at the door. Why would water be dripping? Was it accumulated water from yesterday’s leaky roof suddenly dripping again?

The sound was unsettling.

Yan Hongsha grew nervous, hugging Mu Dai’s arm and lowering her voice: “Mu Dai, let’s stay inside. We’ll go out when it’s light.”

Stay inside? Mu Dai looked at the wooden door, so thin with gaps showing through—a kick would open it.

But still, she felt staying inside would be safer.

She and Yan Hongsha huddled together. After a while, Old Man Yan suddenly turned over and got up.

Yan Hongsha was startled: “Grandfather, where are you going?”

Old Man Yan answered in a muffled voice: “Need to relieve myself.”

Yan Hongsha’s scalp tightened. She instinctively wanted to say “just go here,” but then realized there were both men and women present—where could he possibly go inside?

Old Man Yan put on his shoes. With his poor eyesight, he didn’t need a light. He felt his way to the door, opened it, and went outside.

Mu Dai hesitated, then asked Yan Hongsha: “Should I follow him out?”

Yan Hongsha said, “That wouldn’t be appropriate. My grandfather is relieving himself…”

She didn’t continue as the sound of urination came from outside. Old Man Yan hadn’t gone downstairs but was standing on the upper floor.

Men and women are different. Despite the generation gap, hearing this sound made Mu Dai feel embarrassed. Yan Hongsha was also uncomfortable, her head half-lowered, fidgeting awkwardly.

At that moment, Mu Dai suddenly grabbed her hand.

Mu Dai’s hand was a bit cold. Yan Hongsha looked at her strangely.

Mu Dai was staring at the doorway. Yan Hongsha followed her gaze.

In the night, the room was darker than outside. The door was open, framing a slightly lighter background. Above the door hung a…

A pitch-black silhouette—it was the Sweeping Fine Weather Lady cloth doll, wasn’t it? It must be the one retrieved from the well, because it was still dripping water.

Yan Hongsha was shocked and speechless. At that moment, Old Man Yan returned.

He walked to the doorway with the Sweeping Fine Weather Lady doll hanging just above his head. Water seemed to drip into his neck, causing Old Man Yan to instinctively look up.

Without warning, a pair of long arms suddenly extended down from above, grabbing his head and lifting him entirely.

From Mu Dai’s perspective, Old Man Yan truly looked like a radish being pulled from dry land—his body left the ground and suddenly disappeared.

Yan Hongsha screamed. Mu Dai came to her senses, grabbed her saber, and gave chase. At the doorway, she grabbed the door frame, flipped her body upward, and instantly reached the roof.

Dawn was breaking slightly. A wild man nearly two meters tall had Old Man Yan tucked under his arm and was striding toward the mountains.

Mu Dai’s mind went blank. She gathered her breath and pursued. Though her lightness kung fu was good, the wild man was accustomed to traversing the mountains, taking high and low ground with ease. He increased the distance between them. Mu Dai gritted her teeth, using all her strength to hurl her saber fiercely at the wild man’s back.

A knife is a knife, not wood. Although it didn’t deeply pierce the wild man’s back as she had hoped, it struck hard enough to make his whole body shudder. He threw Old Man Yan aside and roared, lunging toward Mu Dai.

Mu Dai executed a ground roll, avoiding the first pounce. Her nose caught the wild man’s smell—a mixture of gamey and foul odors.

Over there, Yan Hongsha had already rushed out, dragging the shovel. Truly facing such a large creature, she trembled all over, but there was no time for fear now. With a loud cry, she swung the shovel to strike.

However, the shovel wasn’t handy. The wild man grabbed the shovel handle and threw Yan Hongsha, along with the shovel, about two meters away.

Mu Dai spotted her saber’s position and rolled over to retrieve it. Unexpectedly, the wild man was faster. He stepped on the saber and swung a palm toward her face. Mu Dai lowered her body, trying to duck under the wild man’s armpit. Suddenly, she felt a tightness at the back of her head, and a thought flashed: It’s over.

The wild man had grabbed her hair.

He seized a large handful, pulling her back by her hair and slamming her to the ground. Mu Dai was dazed by the impact. Before she could get up, her throat tightened—her neck was being strangled.

The force was incredibly strong, nearly breaking her neck. Mu Dai’s eyes immediately rolled back, her mouth unable to close.

A thought flashed through her mind: No wonder they said I disappeared—I died so quickly.

She futilely reached out to grab something, clutching whatever she caught hold of.

At that moment, two gunshots rang out.

Bang! Bang!

She felt the wild man’s body jerk once, then again. After that, the pressure on her body and neck suddenly disappeared. The wild man howled in pain and instantly vanished into the forest.

Mu Dai lay on the ground, coughing violently. She opened her eyes and vaguely saw a familiar figure standing higher up.

Luo Ren was putting away his gun. Cao Yanhua and Yi Wansan ran down one after another. Cao Yanhua shouted: “My sister Mu Dai!”

Mu Dai couldn’t get up. Suddenly, overwhelming distress flooded her entire being. She lay on the ground, tears flowing. Cao Yanhua rushed to her side, at a loss, frantically asking: “Sister Mu Dai, are you hurt?”

Mu Dai cried: “I want to go home.”

She cried so hard she couldn’t breathe, coughing violently again. Luo Ren came over, picked her up, and said softly: “It’s alright, let’s go home.”

Chaos ensued.

However, the stone house became crowded and lively with the sudden addition of these people.

The Sweeping Fine Weather Lady hanging at the door was torn down and thrown aside. Yi Wansan and Cao Yanhua boiled water. Their bottled water was still sufficient—they boiled a large pot, ladled some into a basin for Luo Ren, and used the rest for noodles.

The aroma of instant noodles wafted through the air, surpassing all the world’s delicacies. The bundle of eggs finally found its use. Mu Dai heard Cao Yanhua urging Yi Wansan: “Crack two more, add two more, to nourish my Little Master.”

Luo Ren soaked gauze in the hot water and wiped Mu Dai’s neck. The bruises from the strangling marks on her neck looked alarming. On the side were several scratch marks that had drawn blood.

Perhaps when the wild man was shot, his body jerked, causing his nails to scratch her.

Luo Ren opened a small bottle of alcohol and used cotton balls to clean the blood. As the alcohol seeped into the wounds, there was a stinging pain that made Mu Dai hiss.

Luo Ren said, “We don’t know what bacteria might be on a wild man’s claws. I’ll give you an injection.”

After applying gauze and tape, he took out a medicine box, retrieved a cloth-wrapped package from the bottom, and opened it. Inside were glass vials of medication and a small syringe.

Luo Ren broke the glass top of a vial and drew the medicine into the syringe.

Yan Hongsha had been watching from the side and softly said, “You even brought these things?”

Luo Ren didn’t look at her, saying coldly: “What else? You go deep into the mountains, even if there are no wild beasts, you might fall or get scratched—you should think about the risk of tetanus. What did you all bring? I just checked—no medicine, no weapons for protection, just a bunch of food. What did you come here for? A vacation?”

Luo Ren had never spoken in such a tone before. Yan Hongsha didn’t dare respond. Cao Yanhua was just bringing in a large bowl of cooked noodles and, judging it inappropriate to interject, quickly set it down.

Mu Dai felt somewhat embarrassed. Luo Ren took her left hand, pushed up her sleeve, wiped her arm with an alcohol cotton ball, located the vein, slowly inserted the needle, pushed the plunger, then withdrew it. He gave Mu Dai a dry cotton ball to press on the spot herself.

The entire process wasn’t painful. Luo Ren’s movements were precise and efficient—from his time living in the jungle, he was accustomed to giving himself injections.

Mu Dai signaled to Cao Yanhua with her eyes, asking him to quickly take Yan Hongsha out—Yan Hongsha had been standing nearby, head lowered like a criminal, a sight that made one feel terrible.

Cao Yanhua understood and was about to call Yan Hongsha when Luo Ren suddenly turned to look at Old Man Yan in the corner.

“You’ve never actually led a treasure-hunting team before, have you?”

“I heard from Hongsha that you trained your eyes to see treasure aura. In a team, someone who can see the treasure aura is like a technical expert. Other team members would normally treat you with great respect, so you wouldn’t need to worry about all the arrangements. You thought just bringing two people and a shovel would be enough to extract the treasure, right?”

Cao Yanhua felt extremely awkward. Yan Hongsha couldn’t speak, and neither could Mu Dai. Naturally, it fell to him to smooth things over: “Brother Luo, after all, Hongsha’s grandfather is… an elder…”

Luo Ren smiled slightly and said, “An elder.”

“Not caring about his own life is one thing, but to drag along his granddaughter and involve an outsider…”

He held back from saying more, paused, and walked out.

Yan Hongsha let out a long sigh. Before she could fully relax, Yi Wansan suddenly poked his head in and said, “Hongsha, come out for a moment. Luo Ren wants to talk to you.”

Yan Hongsha’s face changed instantly. With a tearful voice, she looked at Mu Dai and said, “I’m done for. I knew it wouldn’t be over so quickly. Luo Ren will scold me to death.”

Extremely reluctant, she still went out.

Cao Yanhua then picked up the bowl for Mu Dai and said, “Little Master, eat.”

Mu Dai took it, instinctively glancing at Old Man Yan. Cao Yanhua guessed her thoughts and said softly: “There’s more in the pot.”

Mu Dai raised her hand to take the bowl and only then realized she was still clutching something.

She remembered—this was what she had grabbed from the wild man during the fight. Too afraid and tense, her right hand had been clenched the whole time, and she had completely forgotten.

She opened her hand.

It was a piece of vermilion amber, narrow and long, with varying depths of color inside and out, like… an eye lying in her palm.