After Fan Jia finished speaking, he turned and walked toward the other end of the tunnel, leaving Wang Jue and Hou Dayong standing behind the barrier made of crystal pillars, staring blankly at each other, unsure what to do. Once he disappeared into the tunnel's end, Wang Jue lowered his voice and asked Hou Dayong, "Hey, hey, what do you think we should do now?"

Hou Dayong glanced up at the three-meter-tall crystal pillars with a look of helplessness. "Look, the tops of these hexagonal columns are all pointed. If they were flat, I might be able to jump over while standing on your shoulders, but in this situation, I'm afraid if I jump up, I'll immediately become a skewer of monkeys, pierced right through the gut by those sharp points."

"Sigh, I thought you were something like Tarzan," Wang Jue said, collapsing onto the ground and covering his face with his hand, a wry humor in his tone.

Hou Dayong bristled at the remark. He stepped down from Wang Jue's shoulders. "Then let's give it a try. See if I can leap over those crystal columns."

"No, no!" Wang Jue waved him off, his voice serious. "If you really slip and end up as monkey kebab, and I have to sit here watching your corpse, how tragic would that be?"

"Oh, come on. At worst, I'll just return to the Sea of the Undead and wait for the monkey tribe to fish out my soul, turning me into a little infant monkey suckling in a mother monkey's arms. Perhaps that life suits me better," Hou Dayong winked at Wang Jue, jesting.

"I thought you loved this job! Working for Li Xiaohao must feel great. That Bai Huajian acts like a puppy spotting its master every time he sees him—wagging his tail, completely obedient," Wang Jue continued to tease Hou Dayong, taking a jab at Bai Huajian as well.

Sensing the barbs in Wang Jue's tone, Hou Dayong clamped his mouth shut, unwilling to prolong the exchange. The two sat there, isolated behind the barrier, like a pair of stranded brothers, utterly helpless against the trap Fan Jia had set.

Just then, Wang Jue vaguely saw a figure running toward them through the crystal pillars. He gently nudged Hou Dayong with his hand, signaling him to look outside. Hou Dayong hopped quickly to the crystal barrier and peered through the ten-centimeter gap. Sure enough, he saw Wen Shu, her face flushed, limping toward them.

By the time she reached the crystal columns, she was breathless. She gasped to Hou Dayong, "I came to save you."

Upon hearing this, Hou Dayong turned and exchanged a look with Wang Jue. Both men were utterly bewildered. Could it truly be that a woman's heart was an unfathomable mystery? She was the one who tried to kill Wang Jue, and now she was the one coming to save him. What exactly did she want? Was it as Zhang Yuqiu had suggested—sometimes controlled by Puppet King A, sometimes by Puppet King B? A cascade of questions hung before them, compelling them to maintain extreme vigilance toward the woman. Even if she let them out, they would have to consider the possibility of a deeper conspiracy lurking behind it.

"Weren't you just trying to kill me? Why are you running over to save me now?" Wang Jue stood up, walked to the crystal barrier, and demanded of her.

At Wang Jue's words, Wen Shu's already rosy cheeks deepened in color. Her large, watery eyes glistened with unshed tears. "If I could control myself, I would know. But in this very moment, no one can know what the next second will bring."