When Fan Debiao heard Scholar Jia call him stupid, before Young Master Liu could even speak, he immediately flew into a rage, pointing at Scholar Jia and sputtering, "Who are you calling a dummy, old man?"

Scholar Jia chuckled dryly. "You're the only portly idiot on this whole trip, asking endless questions like some primary school kid. If that isn't stupidity, what is?"

Fan Debiao, his face flushed crimson, lunged forward, wanting to argue the point with Scholar Jia. At that moment, Young Master Liu stepped up and positioned himself between the two, saying, "Stop the arguing! Look around at where we are and the situation we’re in. Elder Jia, everyone has their own strengths. Debiao does ask a lot of questions, but that’s also a sign of a desire to learn. As for you, Elder, you are indeed a master of your time; try not to stoop to the level of a junior."

Suddenly, a strange, noisy "squeaking" sound came from overhead. They heard Cai Qingchong yell out, "Damn it! Look at all those Yin Monkeys!"

Everyone looked up and gasped in shock. A vast, dense swarm of Yin Monkeys, varying in size, was surging toward them like a tidal wave from the stone walls.

Scholar Jia cursed, "Damn their mothers, these things aren't powerful individually, but their sheer numbers are overwhelming. Once they fixate on you, they're a real nuisance, clinging on like shadows." He shouted to the group, "What are you gawking at? Run!"

Hearing this, everyone bolted forward in a sudden rush.

The vanguard of the Yin Monkeys had already reached the valley floor, chasing after them with high-pitched "squeaks." Young Master Liu was running right behind Scholar Jia when Scholar Jia abruptly stopped dead in his tracks and shouted, "Bad news! There's a whole troop of Yin Monkeys ahead too!"

Fan Debiao whimpered shrilly, "What the heck! Looks like that little monkey earlier was a scout. They've set an ambush to wipe us all out."

Scholar Jia surveyed the surroundings urgently. "There’s nowhere to hide here. We have no choice but to fight them head-on."

By this time, the monkey swarm was closing in from both front and back. The group finally got a clear look at their faces. These Yin Monkeys were roughly the same size as the ordinary monkeys seen in zoos, and their fur color was mostly indistinguishable. The main difference was in their faces. Due to adapting to prolonged darkness, their entire eye sockets protruded forward, bulging out significantly, almost matching the size of their noses. Their ears were long and slender, standing straight up on either side of their heads, making them look as if rabbit ears had been attached to their skulls.

Young Master Liu immediately displayed his characteristic calmness and decisiveness. He stated crisply, "Brothers with guns, stand back-to-back in two lines. Shoot at the Yin Monkeys coming at the front. If they retreat, we won't waste any more ammo. If they keep attacking, we'll just have to fight them hand-to-hand."

The others agreed. Then, Fan Debiao and Yang Weidong, both armed, took positions on the flanks, shielding the others in the middle, and aimed at the charging Yin Monkeys.

As several sharp "rat-a-tat-tat" cracks of gunfire sliced through the silence of the underground canyon, the leading Yin Monkeys were knocked down.

The pursuing monkeys behind them squeaked nervously. Likely surprised that this group was so difficult to handle, they immediately ceased their pursuit and scrambled back the way they came.

Fan Debiao roared with laughter. "I didn't realize these little bastards were as cowardly as monkeys in the human world."

Scholar Jia snorted coldly. "Just wait and see. Monkeys are inherently extremely intelligent creatures. They'll give you hell yet."

Fan Debiao glared furiously at Scholar Jia, clearly ready to square off against him.

Just then, everyone heard a sudden barrage of crashing sounds, followed by a downpour of rocks, large and small, raining from above. Then came a few muffled yelps—it seemed a rock had struck someone in the middle of the group.

They all looked up to see the troop of Yin Monkeys throwing stones down from the cliff face. Instinctively, everyone covered their heads and started running forward again.

Scholar Jia, running along, smugly remarked, "Didn't I tell you? Monkeys are the smartest animals, and they are also the most troublesome."

The others disdained arguing with him further, focusing only on dodging the multitude of incoming stones and sprinting ahead as fast as they could.

While running, everyone suddenly felt the path begin to incline steeply upward. The massive dark shadow they had spotted ahead was now drawing closer.

The rocks thrown by the Yin Monkeys grew sparser. Suddenly, the cliffs on both sides ahead fractured, signaling that they seemed to have reached the exit of this underground canyon.

Scholar Jia, who was in the lead, stopped abruptly. His body stood frozen, rigid, as if something ahead had struck him with profound shock.

Everyone quickly rushed up to join him. When they finally stood beside Scholar Jia, an absolute, colossal sense of awe assaulted their visual perception.

Their position was on a sudden fault line where the underground canyon abruptly ended. Below them, that huge shadow they had seen earlier turned out to be an underground city! Circling the city in a vast arc, much like a massive impact crater from a meteorite on the surface, was the boundary surrounding this mysterious, immense, and magnificent ancient subterranean metropolis.

They stood there silently, gazing at this ancient city that seemed to have fallen from the heavens, and for a long time, not a single word was spoken.

Under the beams of their flashlights, the city occasionally emitted dazzling flashes of yellow light. From their vantage point, roughly a hundred meters away, the city appeared dark yellow within the shadowed depression of the arc. Arranged neatly on the city walls seemed to be black skull banners fluttering in the air. Furthermore, although they couldn't see any active figures, Young Master Liu had a vague, unsettling sensation that living things were still moving upon the ramparts—a palpable, chilling aura of dread emanated from it.

The feeling itself was profoundly eerie and absurd.

Fan Debiao was the first to break the heavy silence, uttering the first words the group had about the sight before them: "My God, are we dreaming? A massive underground city?"