Zong Hang crouched between a pile of tent frames and generators, massaging his numbing calves while straining his ears to listen for movement outside.

Could he come out now? The vehicles had been stopped for quite a while. If someone came up to unload equipment and ran into him, all his previous efforts would have been wasted.

Indeed, to be a “surprise force,” one had to truly become invisible. Even Ding Yudie shouldn’t “see” his existence, or rather, Ding Yudie needed to witness with his own eyes that he had left, been abandoned, and was no longer following.

After wracking their brains and planning repeatedly, they finally came up with the earlier act. In Zong Hang’s imagination, he would hide under the vehicle like in movies and TV shows, then climb into the supply truck’s cargo bed with great difficulty but stylishly after the vehicle started moving.

However, Ding Yudie’s delay tactics worked too well: Zong Hang had already climbed into the cargo bed with his dry rations, burrowed between items covered by large plastic sheets, found a sheltered and warm spot, wrapped himself in a moisture-proof mat, and curled up waiting for a long time before the vehicle finally started moving.

Then it swayed along, with the sound of snow and wind beating against it. The vehicle stopped several times for bathroom breaks, and only then did Zong Hang realize why the dry rations Ding Yudie gave him were so dry, without a drop of water.

That was quite thoughtful but completely unnecessary: as a man, all you needed was a mineral water bottle to handle everything.

Zong Hang had taken two naps, and by his calculation, he should have been home by now—he took out his phone to send Yi Sa a fake message but found the signal was too weak and getting weaker. Peeking through a gap in the plastic sheet, he saw nothing but wild grass and vast wilderness.

When the vehicle finally stopped, he was very nervous, afraid these people would be too eager, and immediately start unloading equipment. However, that didn’t happen: the voices gradually faded away, then suddenly fell silent as if receiving some command.

Zong Hang was puzzled but didn’t dare show himself. For him, being spotted by any member of the three families would mean mission failure, so he held his breath and waited, but there was no follow-up no matter how long he waited.

…

Zong Hang couldn’t stand it anymore and finally carefully poked his head out.

The snow had stopped, with only sparse snowflakes dancing in the wind, occasionally stinging when they hit his face.

Fortunately, there was no one around. Dozens of meters away stood a cluster of tents with warm, bright lights.

Zong Hang didn’t immediately get down from the vehicle. He knew the three families had a habit of setting up sentries and patrols, but after looking around for a while, something felt off.

No sentries was one thing, but how could there be no movement at all?

Zong Hang had an ominous feeling. He hesitated for a moment, then found a heavy wrench and struck the vehicle body with a loud “clang.”

The surroundings were exceptionally quiet. Such a loud noise startled even Zong Hang himself, yet still, no one emerged from the tent cluster, not even a questioning shout.

Had they all gone down into the underground cave? That couldn’t be possible—surely they’d leave some people on the surface for support?

Zong Hang started to panic. Clutching the wrench, he climbed down from the vehicle and cautiously approached the tent cluster step by step.

At first, he tried to be stealthy, picking up stones to throw at different tents, hoping to provoke some response. Later he gave up on subtlety and called out directly: “Is anyone there? Yi Sa? Ding Yudie?”

The wind whistled, but no one answered.

Zong Hang quickly swept through the tent cluster inside and out with his flashlight. Some tents had no lights on; he turned on all the lights, then brought camp lights from the supply vehicle and set them up at the four corners, turning them all on.

The area was as bright as day, yet as quiet as a ghost realm.

This was bizarre—how could there be no one here? The tents were all here, and the vehicles were all here, where could everyone have gone?

Something must have happened.

Zong Hang’s forehead was sweating, and he mentally told himself not to panic, not to be nervous: he needed to look again, look carefully, observe as Ding Panling and Yi Sa would, and try to discover something.

He went through the tents one by one, carrying a plastic bag for evidence and taking photos with his phone—these were all crime scene photos. If he wasn’t smart enough to figure out what happened, at least he could hand over the first-hand materials to someone capable.

He entered one tent.

This tent was large, with a small winch hoist set up in the center—it was like this the last time they descended into the drift cave, with the hoist set up at the cave entrance for convenience in lowering people down.

But now, the hoist was assembled and ready to operate, yet there was no sign of the cave entrance.

Could it be that a “ground door” had indeed opened here originally, but after the first group arrived, set up tents, and prepared the hoist, the entrance disappeared?

He entered another tent.

This seemed to be a kitchen and dining area, with plastic tables and chairs arranged in order. Zong Hang had only taken a few steps inside when there was a crackling sound under his foot.

In such absolute silence, even the sound of plastic breaking was terrifying. Zong Hang’s heart jumped, and he quickly lifted his foot, only to discover he had stepped on a hair roller.

Hair roller…

He seemed to recall Yi Sa mentioning that her Aunt Yunqiao wore hair rollers as hair accessories.

Zong Hang squatted down, picked up the roller and examined it, puzzled, then put it in his plastic bag. Just as he was about to stand up, he suddenly noticed scrape marks in the loose soil nearby.

He moved over, felt the area with his hand, and his heart skipped a beat. He quickly redirected his flashlight to increase visibility, got down on his hands and knees, and looked at a low angle.

He saw it—there were very short hair tips, densely clustered. Zong Hang’s heart was practically leaping out of his chest. He reached out to touch them again, then withdrew his hand like lightning, half his arm going numb.

Thick and stiff—these must be men’s hair, the kind that stands up in a crew cut.

Could there be someone underneath?

The scraped loose soil here suggested that later arrivals had discovered something and tried to scrape away the soil layer to investigate, but then something happened to them during the scraping process.

Zong Hang looked around, grabbed a sharp knife from the kitchen counter and an iron ladle, and began doing the same thing, using them in combination.

If there was a corpse down there…

He ordered himself not to think too much—thinking too much would make him nauseous and give up in minutes. He kept checking behind him and at his feet, afraid something unexpected might happen.

Before long, he confirmed he had cleared half a head: it was indeed a crew cut, with the upper curve of the ear and protruding brow ridge now visible.

Zong Hang didn’t dare clear any further down, afraid that when he brushed away the soil near the person’s eyelids, the eyes might still be wide open—that would be a lifelong nightmare.

He estimated where the person’s arm would be and continued from a different position. Just as the outline was becoming visible, he suddenly raised his head, furrowing his brow to listen carefully.

He moved back a few steps and pressed his ear to the ground.

He hadn’t heard wrong—there was a vehicle approaching.

This late, in such a remote location, with a vehicle approaching—could it be the three families’ rear guard?

Zong Hang’s heart leaped with joy. He picked up his flashlight and started walking, then stopped after a few steps. After some thought, just to be safe, he took the wrench as well.

Zong Hang jogged out of the tent cluster. Sure enough, a vehicle was approaching from the distance, its headlights blazing bright like huge eyes piercing through the dim darkness.

He faced the direction of the approaching vehicle, lowering his head slightly to avoid the blinding lights, while frantically waving the hand holding the flashlight in the air.

The vehicle screeched to a halt a short distance in front of him.

Opening his eyes to look, it was too bright to see clearly at first. Strangely, though the person in the vehicle could see him, they remained quietly seated, neither getting out nor greeting him.

Zong Hang sensed something was wrong and tentatively took two steps forward.

Finally, the vehicle’s various lights turned off, leaving only the dim yellow interior light, with scattered snowflakes spinning in its glow.

Damn it, sitting in the driver’s seat was Ding Xi!

Zong Hang stopped abruptly, an extremely uncomfortable feeling rising in his chest: although he had seen Ding Xi several times in recent days, it had always been in group settings, never in a one-on-one situation like now—of course, this had happened before, and the result was either his death or his misfortune.

Ding Xi got out of the vehicle and gave him a puzzled look: “Why are you here? Weren’t you sent away?”

He looked around at the vehicles: “Uncle Ling and the others arrived first, right? I’ll go over first.”

He didn’t want to be alone with Zong Hang either and strode quickly toward the tent cluster. Zong Hang gripped the wrench tightly, following unhurriedly behind.

Sure enough, Ding Xi was quite vigilant and stopped after just a few steps. He paused, then turned back to look at Zong Hang suspiciously: “Why is it so quiet?”

Zong Hang said: “Go see for yourself. There’s not a single person here. Everyone who arrived first and later, they’ve all disappeared.”

Despite the evidence before his eyes, Ding Xi still refused to believe Zong Hang’s words, futilely going in and out of each tent. However, there was one tent he entered and didn’t come out of.

Zong Hang slowly walked in.

Ding Xi was standing in front of the person he had just excavated, or more precisely, in front of the half-head and one desperately clawing arm he had uncovered from the soil.

Although they couldn’t even see the person’s face, the posture alone told everything.

Ding Xi felt a chill at the top of his skull and asked: “Buried alive?”

If he had a choice, he wouldn’t want to talk to Zong Hang either, but now, within dozens of miles, Zong Hang was probably the only one left who could answer him.

Zong Hang stood far away from him, still gripping the wrench tightly: “I got out of the vehicle about an hour after Ding Panling and the others, and when I arrived, there was no one there. I found very short hair tips protruding from the soil layer, with scrape marks beside them, so I dug as well, and then you arrived.”

Ding Xi was stunned for a moment: “You mean everyone is like him, pulled underground and buried here?”

Zong Hang remained silent. Initially, he too had suspected that this patch of ground was filled with the bodies of the three families’ members at various depths, all in different poses of desperate struggle for survival. But it didn’t seem quite logical: How were they buried? How did they manage to bury just the people but not the surrounding objects? If the ground had suddenly split open and swallowed people, shouldn’t the entire camp have disappeared?

Moreover, he had been in the vehicle the whole time and hadn’t heard any commotion or hysterical screams.

It felt as if… they had been taken out silently, one after another.

Was Yi Sa among them? And Ding Yudie?

Zong Hang suddenly felt an icy coldness in his chest, as if a hole had opened up.

No, he gritted his teeth: you need to see the person if they’re alive, or the body if they’re dead. Without seeing a body, he absolutely wouldn’t accept it.

The anger building in his chest made his gaze fierce as he glared at Ding Xi: “What about you? Where did you go? Why are you so far behind?”

At this point, there was no need to hide anything. Ding Xi was straightforward: “Uncle Ling ostensibly sent me to buy diving suits and oxygen tanks, but wanted me to disguise flame throwers to look like oxygen tanks, along with two barrels of gasoline. He knows both Xi Rang and Taisu are afraid of fire. He was worried about dangers in the underground cave and thought having these two items would give him peace of mind.”

Zong Hang fell silent.

Ding Yudie had earlier argued with him: “If you thought of it, how could Uncle Panling not have thought of it?”

Ding Panling had indeed thought of it and prepared powerful weapons, but what he hadn’t anticipated was that Taisu would suddenly abandon its previous weak posture and strike boldly, catching them off guard. The battlefield had shifted to the surface, and the scale was so large that no one was spared.

Ding Xi looked down at the person in the soil: “They struggled violently. It looks like the cave suddenly opened, people fell in, and then it sealed so quickly that they suffocated to death in the soil.”

Zong Hang disagreed: “In one of the large tents, the hoist was already set up, which means the drift cave had opened normally as ‘ground door.’ Everyone was busy preparing for this, but then it disappeared.”

At this point, he looked at Ding Xi warily, squatted down to pick up the sharp knife, and roughly drew a shape like a long-necked, big-bellied flask: “You’ve been down in the drift cave too, you should know that this neck is that long passage, and this belly below is the water-filled cave.”

“It seems to have a ground opening every few days, each time first releasing a gust of air, then keeping the entrance open until dawn.”

That’s right, Ding Xi frowned: “So?”

“I feel it’s like opening a beer at home when the beer gas rushes up when you open the bottle. That cave is sealed, with Taisu eating, drinking, and… living inside…”

Zong Hang paused, unsure if “eating, drinking, and living” were the right words, but it didn’t matter anymore.

“It regularly produces stale air and needs to open windows to release it and let fresh air in. This is its activity pattern. Tonight, it pretended to open a door, tricking everyone into moving the camp here like last time, then pretended to close—but if it needs to exchange air, it can’t be closed. It must still be open somewhere nearby.”

Ding Xi made a sound of acknowledgment: “So? Do you want to find it? Continue going down?”

Something was off in his tone. Zong Hang looked at him: “What do you mean?”

Ding Xi smiled: “Don’t get all defensive just because you see me. I don’t mean anything else. Just from the most practical perspective, I want to tell you, if all the people from the three families are like this person…”

His gaze lowered, sweeping over the black hair on top of the person in the soil: “Then they’re all dead. If so many people couldn’t fight it, you going down alone would just be throwing your life away. Why bother? Don’t your parents wait for you at home?”

Zong Hang suppressed his anger: “You mean we just abandoned everything?”

They’d only found one body—who dared conclude that everyone had died like this?

Ding Xi said: “Don’t misunderstand, I mean everyone has already tried their best.”

Yi Sa also saw Yi Yunqiao’s upturned hair.

Coincidentally, her back was slowly growing warm.

This was a water ghost’s natural warning response. Yi Sa quickly turned around.

Nothing seemed amiss, but she was still uneasy: “Aunt Yunqiao, let me dig, you keep watch for me.”

Yi Yunqiao made a sound of agreement, stood up, and took two steps outward, her eyes vigilant, scanning all around, her whole body poised.

Yi Sa sighed and lowered her head to continue scraping the soil layer. She had barely scraped twice when she suddenly heard Yi Yunqiao’s short, low cry. Before she could turn around, the ground beneath her feet gave way, and her body suddenly plunged downward.

Yi Sa instinctively reached up to grab something, and the soil instantly solidified at her fingertips. Her heart jumped, and she quickly withdrew her hand, only managing to shout: “Don’t move…”

The top had already sealed, and her whole body slid rapidly down a narrow cave passage. Just as her head was spinning, she fell into a larger passage. Fortunately, it was vertical, and her body position finally stabilized. Soon after, with a splash, she plunged straight into the water.

Yi Sa pretty much understood what had happened.

Last time in the drift cave, it was a straight vertical passage, like a tree trunk.

But this time was different. This time the trunk didn’t reach the surface. At a certain depth, it suddenly branched out, who knows how many tentacle-like cave passages could twist through the soil, but they couldn’t maintain for long, opening and closing very quickly.

So don’t struggle—if you struggle too hard, you’ll be sealed in the soil, forever frozen at some depth in the ground layer.

The falling force was too great, and Yi Sa rapidly sank into the water. When she finally managed to stabilize her body, she was already near the bottom.

When she looked up, she suddenly shuddered violently.

Above her head, at least a dozen bodies floated at different levels. They looked familiar—all members of the three families’ advance team. They must have died recently, as some bodies hadn’t floated up yet, all suspended in the water in bizarre poses.