Cao Yanhua ran wildly, feeling as light as a feather.

The wind whistled past his ears—he had to thank Little Master for always making him run laps with iron weights strapped to him during training.

But things weren’t looking good. The heavy panting was growing closer again. The wild person reached out to grab him, catching his shoulder on the first attempt, but her grip slipped. Cao Yanhua, as if his backside had been set on fire, let out a dry howl and somehow found the strength to sprint even faster despite his exhaustion.

Meanwhile, that cry for “Help!” that had been rolling in his throat was about to burst forth again…

“Cao Yanhua, get down!”

It was Luo Ren’s voice.

Cao Yanhua dropped to the ground immediately. Following Luo Ren’s instructions was always the right choice. At this moment, even if Luo Ren had told him to turn around and hug the wild person, he would have obeyed without question.

In the darkness, a machete spun through the air, slashing directly toward the female wild person’s face with a force that reminded him of the spinning clam-cutting in Five Pearl Village.

The female wild person roared angrily as she staggered backward. Luo Ren leaped past Cao Yanhua, using a tree trunk as leverage to flip and deliver a side kick that knocked the wild person down, then smoothly withdrew the machete embedded in her shoulder.

Cao Yanhua’s legs went weak, and he suddenly couldn’t stand. He trembled as he crawled forward. After a few meters, he saw flickering firelight ahead, accompanied by hurried footsteps.

“Cao Fatty, what happened? Are you hurt?”

Yan Hongsha quickly came over to help him up. Cao Yanhua gripped her arm, tears nearly streaming down his face, thinking: Finally, I’ve found the main group.

A dull thud sounded as branches and leaves shook violently—the wild person had slammed her palm against a tree trunk.

Cao Yanhua instantly came to his senses and said: “Sister Hongsha, quick, go help my Little Brother Luo!”

Yan Hongsha thrust the torch into his hands: “Light our way.”

She drew her machete and charged forward in a few quick steps.

With Yan Hongsha joining the fight, Luo Ren’s situation improved considerably. Previously, he had focused on evading and stalling, unable to mount an attack against the wild person. With two people coordinating, the situation quickly reversed. The wild person’s advantage was her great strength, but both Luo Ren and Yan Hongsha had martial arts skills and agile movements. While one feigned, the other would assist; when one confronted directly, the other would find ways to ambush. Plus, not far away, Cao Fatty seized every opportunity to throw stones at the wild person.

The wild person was overwhelmed and probably realized she was at a disadvantage. Suddenly, with a shrill howl, she darted into the adjacent woods. After a brief rustling of leaves, all was quiet.

In the dead of night, pursuing her would be disadvantageous. Luo Ren crouched down, leaning on his machete, and lowered his head to catch his breath. Yan Hongsha leaned against a tree trunk, gasping for air in big gulps while looking at Cao Yanhua. Suddenly, she exclaimed in surprise and asked: “Where’s Yi Wansan?”

Brother Sansan?

Cao Yanhua’s mouth fell open—he had completely forgotten about Yi Wansan, whom he had been determined to protect just minutes ago.

Luo Ren asked him: “Do you remember the way to the wild person’s lair?”

Cao Yanhua didn’t quite remember: “But it’s not far, it’s at a high place, very high. Without the wild person’s help, we couldn’t get down.”

He briefly explained the situation.

Luo Ren frowned. If the location was high up, only Mu Dai could reach it.

Yan Hongsha was concerned: “Luo Ren, why did the wild person only bring Cao Fatty? After being defeated by us, will she take out her frustration on Yi Wansan? If she hides him away, the forest is so vast, it would be very difficult for us to find him.”

Luo Ren nodded: “Let’s go back and join with Mu Dai first, then search for Yi Wansan.”

On the way back, Cao Yanhua learned about the situation on Luo Ren’s side.

So Old Yan was already dead. He glanced surreptitiously at Yan Hongsha, who pressed her lips together, her face solemn. When Luo Ren mentioned this part, her eyes briefly reddened.

And no wonder, earlier in the cave, the wild person’s gaze had shifted back and forth between him and Yi Wansan. Was she deciding which one to bring as an exchange for that woman?

Cao Yanhua felt somewhat uncomfortable, even experiencing a hint of jealousy, so she had left Brother Sansan behind because he could draw. Hmph.

Luo Ren pointed ahead: “We’re almost there. When I spoke with that woman, I specifically mentioned two friends, but the wild person only brought you. I don’t know the reason. But it doesn’t matter, as long as that woman is still in our hands…”

His expression suddenly changed.

Cao Yanhua also saw it and was puzzled: in the fire pile, burning in the center of the flames, what was that thing?

Luo Ren rushed forward: “Mu Dai?”

Yan Hongsha felt a chill in her heart and quickly followed. Cao Yanhua, not understanding, jogged along behind them. As they entered, they saw Luo Ren helping Mu Dai up from the ground.

Glancing aside, he saw a withered corpse beside her, giving him a terrible shock.

Luo Ren asked Mu Dai, “What happened?”

Mu Dai seemed dazed. After a pause, she said, “After you left, this woman seemed to want to go outside, continuously rolling toward the exit. I went to pull her back, and then…”

Her gaze was blank, as if she couldn’t remember. Luo Ren smiled slightly, patted her head, and said: “Blanked out again.”

After speaking, he walked to the fire pile to look at the evil talisman.

Cao Yanhua also guessed: “Is this… the third one?”

Luo Ren nodded and crouched down to remove his backpack: “Fire can temporarily contain the evil talisman, but once burned out, it won’t work. Water is more stable.”

He took out a bottle of water from his backpack, with a narrow piece of rouge-amber suspended inside.

Yan Hongsha walked over to Mu Dai, glanced at Luo Ren, and lowered her voice: “Was it, again?”

Mu Dai seemed somewhat listless, feeling very tired: “I think so.”

Yan Hongsha said, “Luo Ren doesn’t ask.”

“Mm.”

Mu Dai pressed her lips together with complex emotions.

Luo Ren brought the water over and instructed Cao Yanhua to shine the torch for better light. He first examined the woman’s corpse, noticing the cut at the back of her neck, and asked Mu Dai, “The knife?”

After asking, he saw the dagger hanging at Mu Dai’s side and asked: “You tore it off?”

It seemed so. Mu Dai nodded.

Luo Ren said, “Give me your hand.”

He took her hand to examine it. Sure enough, just like his previous experience, one fingertip had traces of rouge-colored amber.

Luo Ren unscrewed the bottle cap, tilted the bottle halfway, allowing water to spill into the opening, and gestured for Mu Dai to extend her fingertip to touch the water. As soon as it contacted the water, the amber on her fingertip traced a line through the water, quickly merging with the piece that had settled at the bottom.

Luo Ren closed the bottle cap, shook it slightly, and mused: “The large absorbs the small.”

He added: “It was probably originally one piece with the amber on that woman’s neck.”

Cao Yanhua leaned his head in. He was missing a lot of information and found everything confusing: “What does that mean?”

Luo Ren explained: “That piece of rouge-amber, possibly because it was attached to the evil talisman and needed to conform to that woman’s neck, wasn’t hard but soft. Both Mu Dai and I have confronted this woman and gotten some amber on our hands. This amber can be absorbed by the piece hanging around the wild person’s neck. So I suspect that the wild person’s piece also came from this woman.”

He paused: “That wild person might indeed be this woman’s child.”

Yan Hongsha asked: “Just because of this amber?”

Luo Ren said, “This woman wasn’t completely a monster; she had remnants of consciousness. I speculate that when she thought she was certain to die, but later found she hadn’t, she must have regarded this piece of amber encircling her neck as a protective talisman.”

“Whatever the circumstances, she probably discovered the properties of this amber. She couldn’t possibly understand what the evil talisman was, but out of maternal instinct, she would want her child to have something similar.”

Indeed, why would a wild person wear a piece of amber on a woven silk cord around her neck? Of course, it was that woman who put it there.

Cao Yanhua suddenly thought of something: “If the evil talisman is on this amber, and a piece of amber was separated from it, does that mean part of the evil talisman was transferred to the piece the wild person wears?”

Luo Ren nodded: “It’s possible.”

Cao Yanhua couldn’t understand: “But the wild person doesn’t seem to be possessed by the evil talisman.”

Yan Hongsha found it not difficult to comprehend: “This evil talisman can’t possibly have a duplication technique. Otherwise, one could split into countless pieces, all capable of possession, and we’d never find them all.”

Luo Ren agreed: “The vast majority of the talisman’s power was with that woman. Small deficiencies might not have much impact.”

Cao Yanhua wasn’t convinced: “But what if there was? What if there was an impact?”

He thought of something: “You don’t know, but before, when I saw that wild person, she was very fierce. But after she captured me and Brother Sansan, she didn’t seem so fierce anymore. She even gave us apples to eat…”

As he spoke, he suddenly raised his head: “Do you think it might be because Little Master pulled off the amber she was wearing?”

He grew increasingly excited, stuttering as he explained: “What I mean is, the amber the wild person wore was like a receiver. When she wore it, she would especially obey that woman’s words, and her actions would tend toward cruelty. But when not wearing it, she would be a little better. Although due to blood ties, she would still listen to that woman, but to some extent, she would…”

Cao Yanhua scratched his head and ears, not knowing what word to use.

Mu Dai said, “I get it.”

“If we use the receiver analogy, the closer she is to this woman, the stronger the influence of the evil talisman. The farther away she is, or if the amber is removed, the less influence it has.”

Luo Ren had doubts: “But both you and I have had amber on our hands before, and there was no noticeable effect.”

Mu Dai thought for a moment: “Two possibilities. First, the amount of amber on us was too small. Second… the wild person has a blood relationship with that woman, but we don’t.”

Yan Hongsha found this reasonable: “All along, the evil talisman has only controlled one person at a time. If it had the extra capacity to influence others, then these other people should have a very close relationship with the possessed person.”

Well, let’s assume that for now. Luo Ren looked at the evil talisman suspended in the fire: “Regardless, they’re finally about to become one. Let’s extinguish the fire. After it’s completely out, we’ll put that piece in here too, then go find Yi Wansan. Once we find him, we’ll withdraw.”

These words suddenly reminded Yan Hongsha. She glanced at the corpse on the ground and hesitantly said: “If the wild person learns that her mother is dead…”

Mu Dai remained silent. Deep in her heart, she truly sympathized with this woman, but she hadn’t expected that she would be the one to snuff out her last breath.

Luo Ren said, “Then let’s not let the wild person know.”

A moment of silence fell over them. After a while, Yan Hongsha stuttered: “Do you mean…”

“Bury her.”

Yan Hongsha looked up at Luo Ren, but he had already walked out, stopping beside the fire pile, leaving them only with his silent back.

Cao Yanhua felt a numbness in his heart and didn’t know whether he was speaking to Mu Dai or Yan Hongsha: “To just bury her like this… it doesn’t seem right, does it?”

If one set aside her frightening appearance and eerie behavior, she was, in fact, just an unfortunate woman with a daughter who was different from normal humans.

Now, they were going to bury her quietly, not even letting the wild person know.

Yan Hongsha looked at Cao Yanhua: “If burying her isn’t right, then what would be?”

Indeed, what would be right? To announce it with gongs and drums, let the wild person know, allow her to go berserk, and pursue them relentlessly?

Cao Yanhua felt somewhat lost. After a pause, Yan Hongsha stood up, took a machete, and began digging a hole in the ground with her head lowered. Cao Yanhua watched for a moment, then picked up another tool from nearby and helped her dig.

No one spoke throughout the process. Even when they were confronting the wild person, morale hadn’t been this low.

Luo Ren compared the size of the mineral water bottle and felt the evil talisman probably wouldn’t fit. After a moment’s thought, he took out a collapsible water bag from his backpack and instructed Mu Dai to watch the fire while he went out to find water.

Cao Yanhua looked toward the cave entrance at the sound, his expression complex. After a pause, he called out to Yan Hongsha.

“Sister Hongsha?”

Yan Hongsha didn’t look up: “Hmm?”

“Don’t you think…”

He stopped halfway through his sentence and muttered: “Let’s just dig.”

He couldn’t help feeling that Luo Ren was too cold-hearted, casually saying “bury her” without showing any emotional fluctuation.

When Luo Ren returned, the hole was almost finished. Cao Yanhua and Yan Hongsha lifted the woman and placed her in it.

After the soil was covered, Luo Ren came over and asked Mu Dai, “Are you okay?”

Mu Dai looked down at her hands: “I feel like I’ve killed someone.”

Luo Ren said, “First, she was already dead long ago. Second, although you can’t remember the circumstances, if she hadn’t tried to kill you, you probably wouldn’t have developed the intent to kill her. It was self-defense; there’s nothing to feel guilty about.”

Perhaps so.

Yan Hongsha and Cao Yanhua were trampling on the soil. After Luo Ren had extinguished the fire and secured the evil talisman, they kicked and moved the scattered burning embers to the burial site, covering any traces of digging.

Mu Dai’s heart felt heavy, as if a stone was lodged inside. She picked up a torch and walked outside, only realizing after a few steps that she was going in the wrong direction, then turned to head out.

In the moment of turning, she suddenly saw something and froze, directing her torch toward the interior of the cave.

It was the dolls she had carelessly put back earlier. The smaller one was lying face down, the larger one leaning diagonally against it, with jagged eyes that eerily seemed to be watching her.

Mu Dai couldn’t help but shudder.