Thank heaven, Luo Ren didn’t say anything more about this almost absurd treasure hunting expedition, but only asked her about the events of the past few days.

Yan Hongsha was completely honest, not daring to conceal anything—initially she had wanted to save some face for Old Man Yan, but firstly, Luo Ren’s questions were detailed, and secondly, Old Man Yan’s actions were a pivotal connection between past and present, impossible to cover up.

She essentially made a full confession.

Luo Ren listened carefully, then retrieved the discarded Sweeping Fine Weather Lady to examine it. Seeing that she was no longer needed, Yan Hongsha quickly slipped back into the room. Once inside, she heaved a long sigh, nearly bursting into tears.

She had truly been blind to have liked Luo Ren before. After speaking with him for just a few minutes, half her soul had fled in terror. She couldn’t help but shudder with fear: fortunately, Mu Dai hadn’t been strangled to death by the wild man, otherwise Luo Ren would have flayed her alive.

After a while, Luo Ren and Yi Wansan both came in.

The small room suddenly had half as many people, and daylight had fully broken. Mu Dai felt much more secure.

A sense of rebirth.

Luo Ren first asked Cao Yanhua and Yi Wansan, “You two, if we need to travel for another day, can you manage it?”

Cao Yanhua turned pale, looking down at his plump legs: “Brother Luo, we’ve just walked for a day and a night… if we continue, I’ll have to crawl out.”

He dragged Yi Wansan down with him: “I at least have some strength, but look at my Brother San’s thin arms and legs…”

Having his physique slandered like this…

Usually, Yi Wansan would have jumped up in protest, but this time, he endured the humiliation—after all, he truly was exhausted enough, and walking for another day would certainly ruin him.

Luo Ren fell silent in contemplation. They had initially taken the wrong path, wasting a considerable amount of time, so they had been forced to travel through the night. He was fine, but Cao Yanhua and Yi Wansan had pushed well beyond their physical limits—once they stopped, they were practically half-crippled.

Mu Dai asked Luo Ren: “Are you thinking of… retreating?”

Luo Ren nodded: “I don’t think the situation in the mountains is very promising. We’re too poorly prepared, with insufficient weapons, medicine, and food. I was thinking…”

He stopped halfway, as objective conditions wouldn’t allow it. Further words would be wasted breath. Moreover, the wild man had the advantage in the forest. Dragging a team of weak, injured members through the forest for another entire day—this risk he truly didn’t dare take lightly.

He instructed Yi Wansan: “Gather all our food and water. Calculate for one day of rest here, one day to get out, that’s two days, six meals, six people. Distribute it evenly to avoid starvation.”

As he spoke, his gaze fell on Old Man Yan, asking rather rudely: “Mr. Yan, the person you killed to conceal the treasure aura, she was from the village, wasn’t she?”

This question startled everyone. Yan Hongsha stammered, trying to defend her grandfather: “No, Luo Ren, it was my grandfather’s fellow treasure hunter who fell ill and died…”

She hoped almost wishfully: even if the throat was cut, perhaps it was done after the person had already died from illness? Killing a dead person would be a lesser crime, wouldn’t it?

Luo Ren said, “First, even if treasure hunters can’t see treasure aura, they would still be cautious upon finding a treasure well. If he wanted to claim it exclusively, he would certainly act away from his companions’ eyes and ears. Even if someone did die from illness, he wouldn’t bury them in the treasure well he had his eye on.”

“Second, although I’ve never hunted for treasure, I know that in such teams, everyone who participates gets a share. One more person means splitting the money one more way, so teams are kept as small as possible. They wouldn’t bring useless deadweight—anyone selected would be skilled.”

He pointed at Old Man Yan: “His value in treasure hunting lies solely in his eyes, which can see treasure aura. His weakness in other areas doesn’t matter much. But the other team members, climbing mountains, dealing with wild beasts, and treating injuries, must all be exceptionally strong. In other words, in the entire team, Mr. Yan was probably physically the weakest. To use blood energy to conceal treasure aura, he wouldn’t risk using one of his companions.”

“So, he targeted someone from the village. And the fact that it was a woman made it even easier, right?”

Old Man Yan didn’t speak. After a while, he gave a dry chuckle, ultimately having nothing to say in his defense.

Yan Hongsha was overwhelmed with shame, but still desperately grasped at the last straw: “Luo Ren, we dug open the well yesterday, but there was no corpse inside. Could it be that the woman didn’t die?”

Luo Ren gave Old Man Yan a cold look: “Your grandfather said her throat was cut, with blood spraying everywhere—that kind of blood spray likely means the carotid artery was severed. After throwing her into the well, placing a wooden board, filling it with earth, packing it down, and making the ground look undisturbed, after such a long time, she would certainly be dead.”

Mu Dai felt a small tremor run through her body. Imagining the scene, she couldn’t help but shudder, realizing that this Old Man Yan, with whom she had spent so many days, was truly ruthless and vicious.

“Dead people don’t walk by themselves. The only possibility is that someone secretly witnessed the entire process. After Mr. Yan left, someone dug open the well, removed the body, and restored the well to its original state.”

Yi Wansan felt a chill run down his spine. He looked at Old Man Yan, then at Luo Ren: “Could it be that wild man? As the saying goes, every grievance has its source, every debt has its debtor. The wild man attacked Old Man Yan twice—it seems there’s a reason.”

Old Man Yan spoke coldly with his hoarse voice: “It might also have been my fellow treasure hunter at the time, who secretly followed me and dug up the treasure well after I left.”

Luo Ren said, “Whether it was your companion or other treasure hunters, after digging up the treasure well and extracting the treasure, they would simply leave. There would be no need to restore it to its original state. Besides, the Yan family is wealthy and influential. If someone had discovered your secret, they could have blackmailed you for enough money to live on for half a lifetime. But clearly, Mr. Yan has lived peacefully for decades—so, the person who was watching secretly was either someone from the village or the wild man.”

Mu Dai interjected: “If it were someone from the village, Grandfather… Yan wouldn’t have been able to leave at all.”

Out of consideration for Hongsha’s feelings, Mu Dai still addressed Old Man Yan as “Grandfather” when speaking directly.

Luo Ren nodded: “Mountain folk are typically fierce. If someone from the village had caught Mr. Yan doing such a thing, even if they hadn’t confronted him immediately, they would have gathered people to prevent the treasure hunters from leaving. So the secret observer wasn’t a fellow treasure hunter, wasn’t another treasure hunter, and wasn’t someone from the village.”

Yan Hongsha mumbled: “So that only leaves… the wild man?”

At this point, she had abandoned all attempts to defend her grandfather, murmuring to herself: “It does make sense. Otherwise, why would the wild man attack my grandfather twice?”

Cao Yanhua suddenly remembered something: “Do you recall the rumor Zha Ma told about the female wild creature? That wild creature had also attacked a man in his fifties over twenty years ago. Wasn’t Old Man Yan in his fifties back then? Could it be…”

Could it be that the poor old man became Old Man Yan’s scapegoat?

How truly unfortunate, Cao Yanhua shuddered.

Luo Ren said, “It’s possible. Today, we all witnessed and confirmed that wild men do exist in these mountains—they’ve been here for quite some time, but encounters with humans are extremely rare. The only case of fatal injury was that one time…”

He paused: “The claim of sexual assault might be an exaggeration or embellishment by the mountain folk. Think about it—a wild man seeking revenge would attack without method, like a wild beast, scratching and biting. The old man’s clothes were torn, his lower body bloody and mangled—this fits such an attack method, but outsiders could easily misinterpret it as a wild creature in heat, sexually assaulting and killing the man. Moreover…”

Luo Ren looked toward the door: “The abandonment of this village near the mountains might also be related to the appearance of the wild man. I’m wondering if, after news of the wild man’s attack spread, people from the nearby village all moved away, with only hunters daring to venture into the mountains in groups.”

Yi Wansan found this reasonable: “Then we still have one question left: what was the relationship between this wild man and the murdered woman that makes him so determined to avenge her?”

The room fell silent for a moment. Mu Dai raised her hand to touch the gauze-covered wound, feeling a strange melancholy: “When you put it that way, I feel that this wild man… is quite loyal and righteous…”

Cao Yanhua said, “I’ve thought of a possibility.”

“Could the woman and the wild man have known each other?”

Luo Ren was struck by a thought and asked Mu Dai, “When you fought with the wild man, did he seem old to you?”

Fearing Mu Dai might not understand, he explained further: “Because wild creatures generally have shorter lifespans than humans. A wild man from twenty years ago would now be elderly.”

Mu Dai understood: “Not old. His movements were very swift…”

Yan Hongsha also hesitated: “With one swing of his arm, he threw me and the shovel several meters away. I felt he was quite powerful.”

Luo Ren nodded: “If he’s in his prime now, twenty years ago, he would have been a young wild creature…”

Cao Yanhua burst into laughter: “If he were a young wild creature then, he must have been born to a human. Who gave birth to him…”

He suddenly fell silent.

The atmosphere in the room immediately became tense.

Luo Ren looked at Old Man Yan: “According to what Hongsha just said, the location of that treasure well was quite remote. How did you encounter that woman at the time?”

Old Man Yan was silent for a moment, his voice beginning to show signs of panic: “She… passed by, I saw her, I…”

He didn’t know how to describe it. At that time, with no one around, suddenly a lone woman passed by—like a hungry wolf suddenly glimpsing bloody meat, he just…

Luo Ren said, “Think carefully. At that time, was she empty-handed, or was she carrying something?”

Old Man Yan’s throat went dry: “She… had a basket on her arm, inside… There was food…”

Yi Wansan felt a chill down his spine: “There are wild beasts in the mountains. A lone woman wouldn’t come into the mountains just to visit relatives or friends. Was she coming to… bring food? Could she have been the… mother of that wild man?”

Mu Dai paused, looking down at the vermilion amber in her hand.

Indeed, how would a wild man, born and raised in the mountains, eating raw meat and drinking blood, come to wear a vermilion amber pendant?

A thunderclap sounded overhead. The sky instantly darkened as thick clouds began to gather—another day of heavy rain was coming.

Luo Ren said, “If that’s the case, we won’t be able to leave these mountains so easily this time.”