This is a sharp question. After all, distinguishing friend from foe has always been a fundamental, principled issue; if a battle is fought without distinguishing between friend and enemy, how can it even proceed?

Little Shu seemed unable to answer immediately. After a long silence, she finally said, "In reality, we have no idea why the Monkey Tribe took those two children away. From our perspective, we assume they were kidnapped; from theirs, the truth might be entirely different. We can only make an accurate judgment once we understand their true intentions and objectives. Before we uncover the truth, we can only say we are going to find two children, not that we are going to rescue them. What if they don't need our help, and we needlessly treat the Monkey Tribe as enemies? Wouldn't that invite disaster?"

It must be admitted that Little Shu is an absolute first-rate analyst. Since I first met her, aside from being momentarily fooled by Xing'er, having her blood drawn and yet claiming a deep father-son bond, overall, Little Shu has proven herself wise and alert, analyzing problems with great rationality and approaching tasks with clear methodology.

I wholeheartedly agreed with her analysis. The current situation certainly didn't qualify as a rescue mission, because the prerequisite for rescue is that the person being saved is in mortal danger. We don't even know if the two children are doing well or poorly right now. To rashly assume the Monkey Tribe has harmed them and requires us to save them seems illogical. Moreover, from the perspective of the Ghost Infant, he never truly belonged to the human world; bringing him from the human realm to the Sea of the Dead should be considered a 'return to his roots.' If he is unwilling to return to Miao Village, Little Shu and I have no right to stop him from staying. It might turn out exactly as the old woman warned us when we left: we can bring A'li back, but not Xing'er.

I stared at the sky where the monkeys had vanished, filled with infinite melancholy. I thought back to when we brought the Ghost Infant out from the Sea of the Dead with Wang Jue and Hou Dayong. Less than a month has passed, and Hou Dayong's soul has scattered, Wang Jue's whereabouts are unknown, and the Ghost Infant has run off with a troop of monkeys. Everything that happened then feels like a world away now.

"Let's go," Little Shu said, sensing my mood, placing her arm over my shoulder as we walked forward. "Finding the Ghost Infant is fulfilling our desire; finding A'li is fulfilling our duty. Regardless, A'li must be brought back; her relatives are still waiting for her in Miao Village."

I let out a low sound, turned back, and resolutely stepped onto the path we had taken before.

Before long, the glittering surface of the Sea of the Dead appeared on the horizon. Seeing our objective once more, we quickened our pace, determined to reach the Sea of the Dead before sunset.

It turned out the world of the Sea of the Dead also experienced sunrises and sunsets. The first time we arrived, we moved underwater and paid no attention to the rising or setting of the sun; we only encountered the Blood Rain, which, whenever it fell, would cause the Sea of the Dead to become limitless, transforming from a small lake into a true, vast ocean. Now, standing on the plains, the rising and setting of the sun were completely visible. In the time it took us to walk from the Cat's Den back to the Sea of the Dead, a deep crimson sun was slowly sinking toward the western horizon. The entire sky was twice as red as when we first arrived, the twilight hues dyeing it like shimmering brocade. At this rate, the sun would soon dip below the horizon.

"What happens after dark? We won't have to travel through the night, will we?" Little Shu asked, hugging her arms, feeling a slight chill in the air.

It wasn't just her who felt cold. Ever since I burned my shirt, I had been bare-chested. Now, as the sun set and the temperature dropped, the cold prairie wind whistled across my skin, and goosebumps erupted uncontrollably.