Old Li took the rear guard, and just as I was about to scramble out of the opening, Maatis even offered me a hand. I stood up, dusting off my clothes, when Maatis, grinning brilliantly, pointed behind him and motioned for me to look.

I looked, and was instantly dumbfounded. Lying scattered on the ground were more than ten corpses. There were men in the uniforms of Nazi officers, the same kind we’d seen outside the cave entrance from the Second World War, and there was also one wearing a traditional Chinese changshan. They were all sprawled in a messy heap. Beyond these dead bodies, there wasn't a shadow of an exit in sight! No wonder Maatis had been smiling so brightly and maliciously—it was a trap, a deliberate lure to retaliate for us forcing him to take the lead.

I glared at Maatis through clenched teeth, my fists knocking together, wishing I could punch him so hard his face would bloom. Just then, Old Li emerged. Seeing my furious expression, he quickly grabbed me, asking what was going on.

“What’s going on? Look at the corpses on the ground, this is clearly a dead end,” I spat out. “And this thing—Maatis didn’t even give us a heads-up, just acted so happy about it. He clearly did this for revenge!”

Old Li waved his hand, urging me not to be rash. He added that we were wrong first, that we shouldn't have made Maatis go in ahead, since he was, after all, just a weak scholar with no strength to even truss a chicken—or so he said. It was clear he was saying this for Maatis’s benefit.

I immediately understood Old Li’s point: we couldn't afford to fall out with Maatis right now, just as he wouldn't fall out with us; we still had mutual use for each other. So, I gave Maatis a few hard stares, expressing my anger.

Maatis remained cheerful, his face utterly innocent. He displayed no other emotion. I knew this was his true nature, so I warned myself to be extremely wary of him. But there was no other way; right now, we couldn't afford to offend anyone, as everyone was still useful.

“Fine, let’s examine these dead bodies first,” I gritted out. Speaking of dead bodies, in any confined space with nearly ten corpses lying around, no matter how many years had passed, there should be the smell of decay. Yet, here, there seemed to be none. Not seemed—I was absolutely certain there was no scent of rot, only an incredibly thick smell of gunpowder choking the air, making it hard to draw a breath.

“Old Li, why is the gunpowder smell so strong?” I asked, covering my nose. “It’s like the place was just blown open.”

Old Li swept his lamp back and forth over the corpses. I had to admit that the ordeal on Mount Qiangba Keshang had provided Old Li and me with significant psychological training. Faced with so many fallen bodies, after Maatis’s initial laughter, when I told him to look closer at the bodies, he turned pale after just a few glances, whereas Old Li and I remained completely unfazed.

Old Li held the lamp steady. I thought some of the bodies weren't clear enough, so I directed him: “Wait... shine it on that old Chinese man again, yes, right there.” Old Li, without changing expression, aimed the light at the corpse of an old man in a changshan and asked, “Is this him?”

“Yes, yes, that’s him…” I didn’t dare approach for a closer look, but I pointed with my finger, “Look at his glasses, and the clothes he’s wearing, don’t they look a lot like the person in the image we saw?”

Old Li nodded repeatedly, covering his nose with one hand, while mumbling in a muffled voice, “Yes, yes, I see it too, but didn’t that old man’s body suddenly shrivel up when he died later? Here... we can’t see if his body is withered, he’s been dead for nearly a hundred years!”

Maatis staggered over, looking unsteady. “That’s Xu Zhiwu’s grandfather… Didn’t you know?”

I suddenly recalled the intuition that flashed through my mind when this old man appeared in the air—an inexplicable feeling that this was indeed Xu Zhiwu’s grandfather. So, when Maatis said it, I believed him.

Maatis continued, mournfully, “You must understand, everyone lying on this ground is a martyr sacrificed for the Third Reich… warriors loyal to the Führer…”

“Stop, stop!” I quickly cut off Maatis’s eulogy. “Just tell us who they are. As for them being martyrs and warriors, that has nothing to do with us.”

Maatis ignored me, staring at the Nazi officer corpses on the ground, his eyes welling up with tears. “My own grandfather is among them. I’ve only ever seen his photograph in pictures of my father when he was young. I never thought I’d see him in my lifetime only to find him reduced to a pile of white bones… My father told me his story since I was small, I must have heard it countless times… I never imagined the grandfather I admired since childhood would end up as a pile of indistinct white bones in such a terrible underground place in China…”

I was certain Maatis’s Chinese was better than average. Within a few sentences, his voice thick with tears actually made me feel a bit desolate and inexplicably sad.

Fortunately, Old Li broke the atmosphere with a rather comical remark. He said, “It’s alright, it’s alright, at least their clothes are still intact, they didn’t turn to ash.” It was certainly true, but set against Maatis’s lamentation, it was hysterically funny, and I couldn't help but let out a soft laugh. “Old Li, you…”

Old Li looked at me innocently. “What is it, Technician Luo?”

Figuring he wouldn’t understand anyway, I shook my head and said it was nothing. Maatis, finished with his moment of sorrow, excitedly moved to inspect the breastplates of the Nazi officers, saying his grandfather’s plate number was HBJ76089. He insisted he had to take some small memento of his grandfather back to Germany for his descendants to pay respects.

Not knowing the situation, I heard him rattle off the breastplate number with such conviction that I didn't suspect a trick and let him go ahead.

However, Maatis was perhaps unaware of the dangers. If he had experienced the various 'corpse transformations' on Mount Qiangba Keshang, he probably wouldn't have had the nerve to start rummaging through the bodies. What if one of the corpses suddenly sat up, transforming into something impervious to blades and immune to all poisons, and attacked them? Thus, when he insisted on examining the bodies one by one, Old Li and I stood far back, ready at any moment to bolt for the exit.

Initially, Maatis diligently covered his nose while checking each Nazi corpse. But later, he kept glancing towards Xu Zhiwu’s grandfather. Old Li and I stared at him without even batting an eye. He seemed intimidated, taking a few looks before burying his head in examining the other bodies. Strangely, none of the corpses had decayed. Maatis was not a gentle person, yet he managed to examine every uniform without damaging them at all.

Staring at Maatis was tedious, so I took the opportunity to count—there were a total of nine corpses, including Xu Zhiwu’s grandfather.

After a while, every Nazi body had been searched, but his grandfather’s breastplate was nowhere to be found. Furthermore, none of the uniforms had any breastplates at all, yet he meticulously searched everywhere. This seemed odd. I suddenly recalled that in all the pictures of Nazi uniforms I had seen before, there was never any mention of serial numbers.

“Maatis, did you find anything?” I asked deliberately.

Maatis stood up, wiping the sweat from his face, looking somewhat disappointed. “No, but… but what my father said, I think… perhaps it might be on Xu Jishu.” With that, he turned to move toward Xu Jishu’s corpse.

“Wait a moment…” Old Li spoke up. “Xu Jishu is one of us Chinese. Since Master Luo and I, as younger generations of Chinese, have encountered his remains here today, it should be up to us to handle his repose and ensure he rests in peace. This matter absolutely cannot be left to an outsider. Otherwise… if Xu Zhiwu hears later that we allowed a foreigner to examine his grandfather’s remains, he will surely fight us to the death.” At this point, he turned to me. “Don’t you agree, Technician Luo?”

I immediately understood that Old Li had also sensed something amiss. Maatis had likely fabricated an excuse to search the bodies for something, failed to find it on the German corpses, and naturally turned his attention to Xu Jishu.

So, I quickly put on a face of deep distress. “Exactly, exactly. If Big Brother Zhiwu knew his grandfather was lying exposed in the wilderness and we two stood idly by, we wouldn't be able to show our faces in public.”

Old Li looked at me approvingly, gave me a meaningful glance, and then said, “Then let’s tidy up Mr. Xu’s appearance before we attend to the burial rites.”

Maatis was rendered speechless by Old Li and my synchronized performance. He wanted to strike first, but Old Li and I were already striding over with an aggressive air. He was a sensible man and didn't dare openly oppose us, standing there hesitantly, wanting to flee but unable to tear his gaze away from Xu Jishu’s body, reluctant to leave.

When Old Li and I approached, he handed me the lamp to hold as a light source, ignoring Maatis standing beside us, and immediately reached for Xu Jishu’s clothes. I had no idea what we were looking for and watched blankly as Old Li reached into the old man’s bosom, feeling a surge of nausea.

But just as I was feeling sick, Old Li’s expression brightened, and he exclaimed, “Technician Luo, quickly take this…” He pulled out a thick, thread-bound volume from Xu Jishu’s embrace. As he extended his hand, Maatis’s eyes lit up with greedy desire, and he too reached out to grab it. Seeing the shift in his expression, I knew what scheme he was plotting. I quickly snatched the book first, giving him a few hard glares as a final measure.

Maatis licked his lips, still resentful, then turned his full attention back to watching Old Li.

Having received the thread-bound book, I dared not flip through it. I wasn't sure where to safely put it, so I just held it, waiting for Old Li to finish his search.

Perhaps Maatis was making Old Li uncomfortable by staring, as Old Li looked up at him and asked, “What? Are you very interested in handling the deceased?”

Maatis replied smoothly and without hesitation, “I know you are a Daoist disciple, and handling the corpses must involve some unique rituals. I am very interested in traditional Chinese culture, so I thought I’d… watch.”

Old Li said coldly, “Don’t you know that the greatest taboo in Daoist practice is having outsiders cluttering things up? Technician Luo isn’t even standing as close as you are.”

Maatis’s face immediately soured, but he refused to move, shamelessly lingering near Old Li. Moreover, I saw clearly that a murderous glint was beginning to appear in his eyes!