Having bolted twenty or thirty paces, Niquan shouted for everyone to stop running. The others, hearts seized with terror, paid no mind to his command and continued to scramble outward.

As I passed by him, he reached out, gripping me tightly, and hissed, "Don't run!" His hold was immense; I struggled several times before I could break free. I had no choice but to stop. Consequently, Old Li and Xu Zhiwu couldn't abandon me and were forced to halt as well.

Xu Zhiwu asked Niquan, puzzled, "Niquan, what is it?"

Niquan seemed afraid that if he let go, I would flee, so he held me fast. "We can't go back!"

But hadn't he just said we should go back for the weapon? Catching him off guard, I wrenched myself free and snapped angrily, "You were the one who said we should go back, and now you’re the one saying we shouldn't after running a few steps! You haven't seen the Faceless, you haven't seen a Jiangshi—do you have any idea how dangerous they are?"

Niquan shook his head. "No, that's not what I meant. I'm afraid that if we go back, the Germans will seize the chance to kill the monster guarding the entrance... and all our efforts will have been wasted." His complexion was gradually returning to normal. "I was just stunned by the fright and forgot the skull lantern was still lit. As long as the skull lantern doesn't go out, our safety is guaranteed."

As he spoke, I too gradually collected myself, feeling less panicked than before; Niquan's composure mainly gave me confidence. I looked at Old Li and Xu Zhiwu. Old Li had seen major incidents before and was much calmer than the flustered Xu Zhiwu. Niquan noticed this as well and went on to reassure Xu Zhiwu that everything was fine.

During this time, nothing had pursued us, nor had that door sound echoed again. The cave was silent and peaceful. If not for the German corpse lying motionless not far away, I would have almost immediately agreed to Niquan's proposal.

"I'll lead the way... you follow behind me—if anything happens, I'll be the first one hit. What do you say?" Niquan’s expression was firm; it wasn't a suggestion.

"..." The three of us exchanged glances without speaking. Niquan took charge directly. "Good. Then that’s settled. I lead, and you follow me." With that, he turned and started walking back.

We reluctantly followed him at a slow pace.

Passing the German corpse again, Niquan bent down to close its wide-open eyes, then straightened up and stared at the dried bloodstain on the ground. "Follow the blood trail."

None of us spoke, as we didn't know where to start, so we let Niquan give the orders.

The blood trail left by the German stretched long and thin, pointing deeper into the cave. The depths were dark and indistinct, the situation unclear. We had no idea where that terrifying door sound from earlier had originated.

Niquan led us forward cautiously along the blood trail. I dared not even breathe loudly, terrified that any excessive noise would attract the monster capable of ripping off half a man’s back with a single bite. It seemed its destructive power was far greater than that of the Faceless creatures on Mount Qiangbake. One careless bite and my life would be over.

The cave was dim and hazy; judging the distance with the naked eye was impossible. After following Niquan for what felt like a short while, a wooden door suddenly blocked our path. Before I could react, the door creaked open on its own, swinging wide to the sides.

I froze, immediately intending to bolt, but just as I started to turn, Niquan grabbed me again. "Don't be afraid!" he whispered close to my ear. "The skull lantern is lit." He seemed worried that speaking too loudly might attract some unknown creature.

He had mentioned earlier that the skull lantern was meant to counteract monsters. This must be it, I thought, regaining some composure. I followed him toward the door again.

Unexpectedly, I had assumed the space behind the door would be a room or something similar. Instead, after the door swung wide, it revealed only a dark, bottomless cavern, utterly silent.

We looked at each other, none daring to take a single step inside. Not a single shadow moved—so how had the door opened just now?

"Something feels very strange," Xu Zhiwu murmured.

He didn't need to say it; we all knew it was strange, but... no one dared to step forward to check if there was someone or some hidden mechanism behind the door.

...After a moment, Niquan finally took the lead. He gritted his teeth. "I don't believe this door will open by itself again." He then bravely peered behind the doorway.

I immediately pictured him letting out a scream, followed by a monster extending its bloody maw, licking its lips with lingering satisfaction, while he lay dead on the ground. However, this was just my imagination. Reality had nothing to do with it. The reality was that Niquan looked behind the door, turned back to us with a bewildered expression, and asked, "There’s no one here, so why did it do that?"

Xu Zhiwu suggested uncertainly, "I know about some mechanisms... if you accidentally step on a switch, it can open the door by itself too." Old Li seemed to know a bit about mechanisms, and I looked at him questioningly. He shook his head. "I can't tell."

"Forget it, forget it..." Xu Zhiwu grew impatient. "Let's not study that now. Let's go inside and see what other mechanisms are in there... How did that German end up looking like that!"

Niquan hesitated, glanced back at us, and then stepped inside, taking two steps before looking back toward the skull lantern outside, anxiously asking, "The light is still on, right?" I nodded. Only then did he relax and walk further in.

We filed in silently behind Niquan, no one daring to speak. The cavern was wide and flat, suggesting it served some other purpose—it wasn't just a simple abandoned hole.

Without a light source, we relied on feeling the route, which seemed slightly curved. After walking some distance, Niquan ahead suddenly cried out again, his face ashen, trembling, "There are... more... dead bodies!"

I bent down to look, and indeed, there were three corpses on the ground! Their faces were unrecognizable; we couldn't tell which group they belonged to. This time I was much calmer; when in Rome, do as the Romans do. I had seen dead people before, and I had encountered monsters. I squatted down to examine the first body closely. His facial features were distorted, but it was still discernible that he was of European descent; comparatively, he must have been with the young German fellow. There were no massive bite marks, but rather bullet wounds across his chest—marks from a handgun!

I looked up at Old Li and asked him to confirm whether the bodies only had bullet wounds. After all, only he and I were somewhat familiar with firearms here.

Old Li examined them carefully. "Yes, handguns," he concluded briefly.

At this revelation, everyone was shocked. "How could there be handguns! How could there be handguns!" Niquan cried out first.

I too wanted to ask that question. Wasn't this place supposed to be highly secretive? How had several Germans entered one after another, and how had they been killed by handguns? Why?!

Everyone looked at the almost frantic Niquan, his eyes red, resembling a trapped beast.