Did I get it wrong? The memories in my mind suddenly sprang to life. I understood now why Hu Bugui said these were all failed experiments. Hadn't everything I, Luo Lian, seen been something I myself could never quite grasp at the crucial moments?

Eighty-Seven seized the opportune moment to ask me, "What experiment were you conducting back then? Where did he go wrong?"

My mind swam again. I glanced at Tang Minghao; he shook his head innocently, signaling he didn't know. So, I could only answer truthfully, "I don't know. For years, I never figured out why the King wanted us to run those experiments. Though I did overhear some unrelated serfs mentioning it was preparation for everyone's eventual immortality..."

Saying that, I desperately wanted to jump out and question the 'person' currently controlling my mouth: Aren't you immortal now? How could you not know? And preparation for everyone's immortality? What does 'everyone' even mean?

The cursed part was that I couldn't actually break free to ask. My brain was working in two halves—one part thinking for itself, while another was simultaneously recalling old events. Heavens! I was on the verge of a mental breakdown!

Eighty-Seven asked again, "Is what the serfs said true?"

I let out two cold laughs, retorting in disbelief, "You actually believe the words of those low-caste serfs?" I immediately realized how wrong that sounded and quickly corrected myself, "Of course, now everyone is equal."

Everyone understood my current state; nobody chose to dwell on my slip-up. Eighty-Seven lowered his head in thought. After a moment, he turned to Forty-Three and Thirty-Eight and asked, "Is that really how it is? Surely not, over a hundred thousand people—that’s no small number."

Forty-Three and Thirty-Eight also looked disbelieving. Their words struck me as peculiar, as if they knew some secret. I pressed them for details, but those damned three insisted there was nothing to it.

I started to ask Zhuomayangjin again, but Wangmu cut me off first, saying, "Luo Lian, why are you being so wishy-washy? Didn't Eighty-Seven already explain? We just need to figure out what these Shangri-La creatures are, and why those foreigners are fighting tooth and nail to find them. We're curious where these things originated... Aren't those reasons enough?"

Naturally, I knew those things, but a faint feeling persisted that something was still amiss. Those animals used for the experiments must be connected to the Guge subjects who vanished overnight. Yes, they must be connected. No wonder my heart had been fluttering nervously—the tension of a huge secret about to be unveiled.

Thinking this, I grew somewhat agitated. Perhaps I could finally find out why the 'person' inhabiting my body could exist in a purely conscious state. Wait, no, how could it be a conscious state? Wasn't it parasitic? It first infested the head of a sheep submerged in the Blood Spring water at the bottom of Fuxian Lake. If my hand hadn't been injured and I hadn't jumped into the spring to save Geng Wei, it never would have invaded my body.

Zhuomayangjin looked at me with concern, her voice soft. "What's wrong? Your complexion keeps changing, from red to pale... Have you been alright?"

I shook my head. "It's nothing. Let's go... We still have a long way to go..." My mind was growing chaotic, struggling to analyze the identity of the memory lodged within my brain.

What followed was indeed an incredibly long journey—rugged and winding. I had completely lost my sense of direction, having no idea of our current bearing or how far we’d traveled. The cave remained dimly lit, neither pitch-black nor bright. Beneath our feet were still animal carcasses, but thankfully, no living things, and since they hadn't decomposed, there was no toxic gas.

The atmosphere inside the cave was silent and oppressive. Aside from our footsteps, there was only the sound of everyone breathing. Involuntarily, I tightened every pore on my body in readiness.

After walking a bit further, we suddenly heard the faint sound of running water. It seemed we had reached the belly of the mountain—an underground current. Following the sound, an intensely familiar odor drifted over, triggering instincts of both disgust and fear.

Blood Spring Water! My mind exploded with a deafening sound, and it took me a long moment to recover. How could Blood Spring Water be here! No wonder it felt so familiar; the 'person' inside me had been soaked in it for hundreds of years.

Simultaneously, Old Li cried out in alarm, "Blood Spring Water!"

The moment his voice fell, the sound of a bolt being cycled echoed from the back of the group, followed by a beam of white light from a flashlight. Then came Eighty-Seven's voice, "What's wrong? Are you okay?"

Li and I exchanged glances. His face was pale, and I was likely the same. Strange worms, the man-faced monsters, and the giant kingfish—all of them appeared alongside the Blood Spring Water. Who knew what monstrous things awaited us here?

Aided by the flashlight beams from Eighty-Seven and the others, we saw clearly that the Blood Spring Water wasn't a pool but a narrow channel, about a foot wide, flowing steadily ahead. Its source was unknown.

Eighty-Seven, surprisingly, grew excited and loudly declared that following the water would surely lead us out.

I could only offer a wry smile; the old man had no idea of the danger. When we expressed our alarm, Eighty-Seven instead chided us for overreacting. "This is water with abnormal mineral content. The microorganisms within are extremely active, which causes the strange color and smell. It has no direct link to the so-called Shangri-La creatures. Seventy-Two discovered this back at Qiangbake Mountain and even brought samples back for research." He finished by suggesting we must simply be too frightened, seeing phantoms everywhere.

I figured further explanation would be useless; he wouldn't believe me no matter how much I said. Besides, no matter how scared we were, we couldn't turn back.

Walking along the Blood Spring channel, the air was thick with that uniquely pungent odor of the spring water. Eighty-Seven might call it 'water with abnormal mineral content,' but he was perhaps too naive.

I secretly heightened my guard. Tang Minghao seemed unusually excited, constantly asking me if I had been here before and what it was like. Since my memories of this place were hazy, he eventually quieted down after getting no satisfactory answers.

At this point, the cave began to darken. The diffuse light of unknown origin vanished. Eighty-Seven and the others behind us turned on their powerful flashlights. He once again mentioned someone we didn't know—Seventy-Two. "Why didn't Seventy-Two report anything about this place? Hmm..." he murmured thoughtfully. "Those foreign devils must not know the mechanism here either." Then he turned to his two subordinates, "What do you think?"

Next came Forty-Three's voice: "The Japanese and Germans haven't caught up yet, so they probably can't find the right path... Didn't we get in here by sheer chance, too?"

Eighty-Seven murmured "Mmm-hmm" noncommittally and turned to me again, "Luo Lian, do you have any idea where this Blood Spring Water leads?"

To be honest, I didn't remember clearly either. This damned alien memory was fond of failing me at critical moments; it was thoroughly annoying. So, I could only say I didn't know.

No one asked further. Everyone followed carefully behind me.

My palms began to sweat. In this pitch-black environment, even the flashlight beams wouldn't protect everyone; rather, they would only expose us to the eyes of the enemy (?). If another reanimated corpse showed up, guns would be useless, and Eighty-Seven’s group hadn't brought anything like the flamethrowers used by the men on Ghost Mountain... If that happened, we'd be wiped out like vegetables being chopped, not a single survivor.

Soon, everyone noticed the atmosphere had grown tense. Eighty-Seven tossed me a powerful flashlight and ordered the usually silent Thirty-Eight to guard me. "No one can afford to be lost," were his exact words.

Having a flashlight didn't help much. The beam cut through the darkness, revealing nothing but a stark white glare on scattered, ghastly white bones. Worse yet, I accidentally caught sight of a bare human leg bone lying next to a sheep skull...

Beyond the cone of light lay an absolute, silent darkness.

Taking a couple more steps, a complete human corpse lay not far ahead, sprawled by the edge of the water channel, blocking most of our path. It was frozen in the posture of bending down to drink from the channel, apparently having died from accidentally swallowing the Blood Spring Water.

Although startled, I composed myself, thinking I had seen dead people before, and calmly instructed everyone to be careful.

But as I took two more steps closer, a chill shot up my spine. This wasn't a human corpse at all; it was a human shape formed by countless strange worms densely piled atop one another.

It was clearly a person who had been bitten to death by these grotesque insects while drinking! If we inadvertently disturbed them, given their numbers and speed, there would be no escape, and our fate would surely mirror this body's.

Instantly, I felt countless worms crawling over my entire body, burrowing out from my bones and into my flesh. Zhuomayangjin had already lunged forward, gripping my hand tightly, not daring to even breathe.

Even the usually knowledgeable Eighty-Seven and his men were stunned. After a long silence, Zhuomayangjin stammered out, "Wh-wh-what is going on...?"

My palms felt cold, my throat dry. I swallowed hard with great effort and managed, "The... worms. All of them..."

Eighty-Seven asked, "Guns? Fire? Or something else?"

I shook my head; neither would be effective. We had only managed to escape back then by using the medicated incense Old Li had prepared, but we didn't have that thing now.

Tang Minghao gasped softly beside me, "Heavens, these Shangri-La creatures again..."

Someone quietly tugged my sleeve. I turned to see Old Li. He seemed calmer than I was and asked, "Technician Luo, do you remember how we repelled the reanimated corpses? They were all Shangri-La creatures... Could these strange worms also be afraid of smoke?"

When we fought the zombies, we had accidentally set fire to a tattered, hand-copied sutra, and the resulting smoke had suffocated them.

But we had no sutra now. It was eerie; these things weren't afraid of fire, but smoke? Could that be it? More importantly, I was afraid of them, because the foreign memory in my head seemed connected to them.

Never mind; it was best not to disturb them yet.

I waved my hand at everyone, quietly instructing them to keep as much skin covered as possible, and those with any wounds needed to be extra cautious.