Cong Cong scrambled onto the stone table and was delighted to see Ying Zi following to examine the sacred artifact resting there with him. He made a series of funny faces into the mirrored surface of the Blood Kin Compass. However, Da Mao, watching from the side, was not amused by Cong Cong's impish behavior. With a swift sizzle, it leaped from the corner of the wall, baring its teeth at Cong Cong in a ferocious snarl. Startled, Cong Cong dove behind Ying Zi.

Ying Zi didn't scold Da Mao for bullying Cong Cong. She simply patted his back lightly, soothing him, “It’s alright, it’s alright. Da Mao thinks you’re just too mischievous. Stay quietly upon Mother’s back now.”

No sooner had the words left her mouth than Da Mao jumped back to the floor, snatched up the dagger that had fallen near the outer wall, and returned to the Blood Kin Compass. It deliberately slashed its own paw deeply, letting a drop of blood fall into the groove on the outer ring of the compass. Ying Zi jumped at Da Mao’s sudden action, wondering what had gotten into the monkey today. Its movements were bizarre, its behavior strangely disagreeable! Why would it stab itself with a dagger for no apparent reason?

As Ying Zi pondered in confusion, the mirror at the center of the compass, which had previously reflected Ying Zi’s delicate face, began to blur, spreading outward in concentric ripples, much like a stone dropped into water. Then, those ripples faded one by one, and a new image materialized in the mirror’s center. This time, it was not Ying Zi’s likeness, but a dense forest where several golden-furred great apes were playing. Ying Zi recognized one very, very old female monkey among them; it looked remarkably like Da Mao’s mother. She glanced questioningly at Da Mao. Da Mao pointed at the female ape in the mirror, then pointed to itself, nodding with certainty, as if answering the unspoken question in Ying Zi’s mind: yes, that ape was its mother.

Da Mao was completely abnormal today, operating far beyond the intelligence expected of a mere monkey. To suggest it was a human being merely shaped like an ape would not be an exaggeration. From the moment it suddenly appeared before Ying Zi, it had been performing actions that were human-like yet distinctly un-ape: first, finding the tunnel entrance; then leading Ying Zi through it; next, picking up the lighter from the ground to ignite the four torches in the corner; and finally, even shaking the weapon rack to trigger the mechanism that opened the stone chamber door. All of this seemed to scream at Ying Zi that this was no ordinary monkey—not only was it extraordinary, but it was also intimately familiar with everything inside the stone chamber.

But when did this suspicious behavior begin? Ying Zi stared blankly at the compass, trying to trace back every memory of her time with Da Mao, yet finding absolutely nothing. When had it become so utterly different from other monkeys?

At that very moment, while Ying Zi was lost in thought, Da Mao committed an act that sent a chill down her spine. It picked up the dagger again and lightly slashed at the finger Ying Zi had resting on the compass. With a single, precise strike, it cut right onto a vein. As Ying Zi recoiled in shock, a single crimson drop of blood sprang away in the opposite direction, landing perfectly and squarely into the groove on the compass’s outer ring.

The inner copper mirror rippled as if disturbed by a slight breeze, wave after wave until it finally stilled, revealing a small farmhouse courtyard nestled by water and backed by mountains. A slender little boy was playing with a little girl dressed in blue patterned cloth. A jade pendant glittered brightly around the boy’s neck.

“Xing’er? Xing’er…” Ying Zi whispered, the name escaping before she could stop it. Xing’er had been an infant when she left. Before, she had heard Xiao Hao mention that Ghost Infants grew quickly by consuming human blood. Though she didn't recognize the slender little boy, she recognized the jade pendant around his neck. If that wasn't her Xing’er, where else could that pendant have come from?