After hearing Old Li’s words, I couldn't help but laugh; Master Banqin’s will was truly peculiar. He neither told Old Li where the entrance to Hell was nor explained why Old Li had to guard this place—it was utterly contradictory. Moreover, most people would automatically recoil at the mere mention of "Hell"; why would Old Li even need to stop them? But then I reconsidered: Master Banqin was an enlightened monk; he must have his reasons for acting this way.

Old Li finished speaking and didn't elaborate further. After a moment of silence, he stood up to sort through his pack. I had been rambling through my own thoughts and started to get up to help, but when I lifted a foot, my whole body felt strangely light, as if I weighed nothing. I inwardly groaned—how could I fight those beasts with such little strength? Wait, where was my pack? Had Old Li tossed it out? I quickly asked him, "Old Li, where's my pack?"

Old Li replied slowly, "I’m checking if yours is dry yet. Your ragged clothes are drying too. If they’re done, I’ll bring them over as well…"

Since Old Li said they were drying, let them dry, I thought. I didn't press the matter. The most pressing thing right now was to conserve my energy and wait for my strength to return.

A moment later, Old Li returned carrying a pile of darkly stained clothes, a blackened sleeping bag, and a crumpled pack, which he unceremoniously dropped at my feet. "All your stuff…"

"My stuff?" I touched the clothes by my feet, feeling somewhat disbelieving, and asked nervously, "How did they dry so fast? Are these things soaked in that blood spring water… still usable?"

"They are. I treated them for you. Other than looking filthy, there shouldn't be any major issues," Old Li said while crouching down to help me organize the pack. He then told me to quickly put the clothes on, saying we needed to leave the cave immediately because it would definitely be cold outside.

I also knew we couldn't delay any longer. After this long, who knew what monstrous things those beasts had done in our absence. So, I didn't fuss about it and quickly pulled on my coat and everything else.

As soon as I put the clothes on, the smell of sulfur filled my nostrils. Old Li said he had treated them—did that mean he fumigated them with sulfur? Thinking this, I quickly asked him to confirm. Indeed, Old Li nodded. "That blood spring water is incredibly potent. If it’s not completely sterilized with sulfur, the moment you put those clothes on, before the next second even hits, you, Luo, might not be in control of yourself anymore. Remember that spring, blocked by stones, at the communications station on the mountainside? And that corpse eaten by strange insects? Remember? That spring water was the same kind of blood spring water, and that corpse died from mistakenly drinking it when they were alive."

Hearing this, I instantly felt discomfort all over. My hands started to itch, my feet started to itch, and my entire body felt a strange, crawling, numb sensation, as if tiny insects were crawling over my skin. "Old Li, something's wrong. I feel like there are little bugs crawling on me… I… I…" I wanted to say I needed to take the clothes off, that I didn't care about the pack or anything else…

Unexpectedly, Old Li glanced at me and continued stuffing the sleeping bag and other items into the pack, saying calmly, "That’s just psychological. I personally fumigated every single piece of your clothing thoroughly with sulfur. Sulfur is definitely effective against those things. Besides, your undershirt and things like that—those are my spares I lent you. How could you possibly feel uncomfortable or feel bugs crawling on you so quickly?"

My clothes? I was wearing his clothes? How did I not realize this for so long? I immediately lifted my jacket and pulled out my shirt to check. Sure enough, it wasn't mine. Relieved, I thought that even if there were traces of blood spring water residue on the outer coat, it wouldn't penetrate my skin that easily. Thinking this, the tingling, itchy sensation on my body actually subsided. It seemed it truly was psychological. I gave an embarrassed laugh, about to speak, when Old Li suddenly made a sound of surprise ("Yi"), fumbling for something inside the pack, and looked at me questioningly.

"What is it?" I quickly asked.

Old Li slowly withdrew his hand from the pack, holding out a clump of dark yellow material in front of me. "What is this thing? It’s hard as a brick."

I looked closely and saw the object resembled solidified paper pulp, old and dark yellow in color. I immediately understood about eight-tenths of it, but I felt immense pity. This was, after all, the relic of the faceless Wang Weicheng, and it had been soaked into this state. "It’s a sutra. It must have been dissolved by the water and then baked by your fire to become this, right?" I then told Old Li the complete history of this sutra.

After finishing, I figured since the thing was ruined into a lump of pulp anyway, it was useless, so I might as well throw it away to avoid clutter. "What a shame for a sutra; it must have some age to it," I said, preparing to toss it out. But Old Li snatched it away, stuffing it into the outer pocket of my pack. "If what you say is true, and the Faceless one carried this sutra until death, there must be something strange about it. Even if it's a lump of pulp now, I think we should take this pulp down the mountain and see if it can be restored."

"Are you serious? What can be restored from a lump of pulp? I already looked at it; it was just an ordinary handwritten sutra. Maybe Wang Weicheng was a devout Buddhist in life; what's so strange about carrying a sutra…" I looked at Old Li, dissatisfied. "I’m exhausted right now. Carrying an extra book will drain so much of my strength!"

Old Li ignored me. After a while, as if suddenly remembering something, he said, "Oh, right, I didn't use fire to dry these things. I just laid them flat against the cave wall, and they dried themselves. If you walk a bit further in, those cave walls are extremely hot, as if they’ve been burned by fire."

Such a strange phenomenon? So hot? My curiosity was instantly piqued, and I started to get up, wanting to see for myself. But Old Li shoved the organized pack into my arms. "Hurry up and move out to chase those Japanese people. You were unconscious for half a day, and I just wasted so much time talking nonsense and telling you so many stories. Who knows how much those Japanese devils have done during this time!"

I had wanted to just take a quick look to satisfy my curiosity and then leave, but hearing Old Li say that made me feel ashamed, as if I were an immature child who didn't understand the situation. So, I suppressed my intense curiosity, obediently slung the pack over my shoulders, and followed Old Li. The pack felt much lighter this time; presumably, some miscellaneous items had been ruined by the blood spring water, and Old Li had conveniently discarded them.

Old Li patted my shoulder and turned to walk toward the exit. I quickly followed. The further we walked out, the lower the temperature became. Now I figured it out: the further inside the cave you went, the hotter it got, which is why Old Li could dry my clothes and pack so quickly. Such strangeness truly resembled the legendary conditions of Hell.

After walking for about half an hour, just as I was growing impatient, I suddenly heard a muffled gunshot from outside. It slowly, slowly drifted into my ears, and then slowly, slowly echoed backward, the low gunshot reverberating throughout the entire cave. Startled, I immediately stopped walking and looked at Old Li. "Could it be… the Japanese devils are attacking and breaking in?" I asked, my voice trembling.