Old Man Qian glanced at the group hurrying ahead, signaled a few of them to lean in, and whispered close to their ears, "She nags in my ear every day, 'Your life is mine, your life is mine, you'll pay it back later, hehe, you'll pay it back.'"

Lu Zong and Ma Xiong exchanged bewildered glances, unsure what Old Man Qian meant, and asked, "Old Master Qian, what exactly did she mean by that?"

Old Man Qian offered a wry smile. "It's quite obvious. It means that he saved my life, so naturally, it belongs to someone else. I have to return it to them."

Lu Zong asked, bewildered, "I've heard of returning money or paying debts, but never returning a life. How exactly does one return a life?"

Old Man Qian gave another bitter chuckle, glancing helplessly at Fatty. "Let's catch up with them first. It's a long story. We can talk later. I'm afraid if we gather together, Fatty and the others will get suspicious."

Lu Zong and Ma Xiong looked ahead. Indeed, the distance between them and Fatty had already stretched to over thirty meters. The fog inside the tomb was so thick now; if they weren't careful, they could easily get separated. Although Fatty harbored malice toward them, being together now was better than being alone. So, they quickly pulled Ma Xiong and Old Man Qian to hurry after them.

Ma Xiong was also wondering: Had Fatty really not noticed that he and Lu Zong had lagged so far behind him over such a long distance? After all, he and Lu Zong still held some practical value to Fatty's group. However, the situation demanded immediate action; they didn't have time for deep contemplation. They urgently caught up.

Just as the three of them were within three meters of Fatty, Fatty suddenly stopped dead in his tracks. Seeing this, Lu Zong quickly held back Old Man Qian and Ma Xiong. It was clear that Fatty's sudden halt meant he had spotted something unusual, as they distinctly saw Fatty take an involuntary step backward.

Lu Zong called out nervously, "Fatty, what's wrong? Did you see something?"

Fatty, Squad Leader Lian, and the other two suddenly spun around. Seeing Lu Zong and the other two standing behind them, anxiously questioning Fatty, they collapsed onto the ground with a terrified yelp, screaming, "Oh my God!"

Hearing Fatty's cry, Lu Zong instinctively whipped his head around to look behind him. He thought Fatty must have seen something abnormal there that caused the scream, but he found nothing—the space behind him was empty.

Ma Xiong and Old Man Qian also turned to look where Lu Zong was looking. What they saw mirrored Lu Zong's view: nothing at all.

The three stared at Fatty, confused, and asked, "Fatty, what's wrong? What scared you so badly?"

Fatty's face cycled through shades of green and white. Squad Leader Lian and Ge Mei, who had been frozen in place, finally snapped out of it, shrieked, "There's a ghost!" and also crumpled to the ground.

Lu Zong and Ma Xiong grew tense. They turned to look behind them again—still nothing. Then they scanned the surroundings—still nothing. Lu Zong could only rub his head and ask, "Hey, are the three of you okay in the head? What ghost is there in broad daylight!"

As soon as he said this, Ma Xiong felt his face flush with embarrassment. Using the idiom "broad daylight" was entirely inappropriate here; it just proved his Chinese wasn't that good. But since it was out, it didn't matter much. He decided to add another line: "Did you guys run into a pervert?"

Lu Zong tried desperately to stifle his laughter, but a small sound eventually escaped.

Old Man Qian suddenly spoke up. "That's not right, Lu Zong. Look at the way the three of them are staring right at us. They must have noticed something is wrong with us."

Hearing Old Man Qian, Lu Zong quickly looked at Old Man Qian and Ma Xiong, then shook his head helplessly. "No, that can't be it. The ugly ones are still ugly, and the ones who shouldn't be ugly are also ugly. Our appearance hasn't changed at all."

Fatty, who had been trapped in extreme fear, finally spoke. "Who are you? Why are you following us?"

The two were instantly stunned, their gazes locking directly onto Fatty's eyes. They couldn't break contact for a long moment because they simply could not comprehend the meaning behind Fatty's words.

At this moment, only Old Man Qian seemed to understand Fatty's question, as he began muttering to himself, "Yes, who exactly am I? Why do I exist in this world? Did I dream of them, or am I just a dream of theirs? Alas, life is truly too ephemeral. If I had known, I should have just died in the dream long ago."

Lu Zong couldn't suppress his curiosity any longer and finally asked, "Who am I? I'm Lu Zong, Fatty. Don't you remember me?"

Fatty shook his head and replied, "No, you're not my friend Lu Zong. I know him. You aren't him."

Lu Zong looked at the genuine expression on Fatty's face; it didn't seem like an act. Suspicion immediately turned inward. He looked at Ma Xiong, then pointed at him and asked, "Well, since Fatty doesn't recognize me, do you recognize the person next to me?"

Fatty sized Ma Xiong up and said, "Of course, I know him. But I know you people aren't who you claim to be. What are you trying to do?"

Lu Zong looked up and rubbed his forehead, muttering to himself, "I don't have a fever." Then he slapped Ma Xiong across the face. The pain made Ma Xiong wince and curse, "You bastard, why did you hit me? If they don't recognize you, what does it have to do with me?"

Lu Zong asked, "Can you feel pain?"

Ma Xiong grumbled back, "Nonsense, if I slap you, won't you feel it?"

Lu Zong apologized. "Oh, that means we're definitely not dreaming. But why do I keep feeling like we're dreaming? There must be something strange going on." He looked at the three whose faces had turned pale with fright and asked, "What did you mean by what you just said? What do you mean we are not ourselves? If we are not ourselves, are we you?"

Fatty continued stuttering, "Then what proof do you have that you are Lu Zong and Ma Xiong?"

Ma Xiong casually shot back, "Fatty, you heartless bastard, you had a son with no balls."

Only then did Fatty's complexion slowly start to normalize, regaining some color. He said, "It seems you really are yourselves."

Squad Leader Lian and Ge Mei's faces also gradually softened, beginning to resemble human expressions. Recalling the terrifyingly distorted faces they had just seen, Lu Zong felt goosebumps rise all over his body.

Old Man Qian stroked his nearly half-meter-long beard and cheerfully asked, "Tell us, Brother Fatty, why did you suspect we weren't ourselves just now?"

Fatty stood up, brushed the dust off his trousers, but didn't rush to answer Old Man Qian's question. Instead, he first pulled a cigarette from his pocket, dangled it on his hand, and then offered one to everyone. When he presented one to Old Man Qian, the old man seemed delighted, swallowing it down in one gulp. Everyone watched in confusion as he chewed vigorously, finally spitting out the yellow tobacco, which looked starkly out of place on the clean ground.

While clearing the tobacco from his mouth, Old Man Qian cursed, "Damn it, what is this stuff? It tastes horrible! Do you people eat this all the time? People's tastes have certainly changed strangely these days. It's not nearly as good as cracking melon seeds used to be."

Fatty asked strangely, "Old Man Qian, you don't recognize this? This isn't meant to be eaten. Men use this to pass the time."

Old Man Qian kept grumbling, "If it's for passing time, isn't it for eating? I want to see how you people pass time with it."

Lu Zong was even more baffled. "Old Master Qian, what era are you from? How can you not even recognize tobacco?"

Old Man Qian offered a wry smile, then pondered deeply for a moment. "Ah, I genuinely can't recall now. I've forgotten so many things from before. Who knows if I knew this thing back then? Maybe I actually did eat it once. I even thought I smelled something familiar just now."

Fatty lit his cigarette for himself, took a drag, and exhaled a perfect smoke ring, knowingly winking at Old Man Qian. "See, this is how we pass the time."

Old Man Qian rolled his eyes. "I don't care about you. People nowadays are so complicated, why inhale this smoke when there's nothing else to do?"

Ma Xiong seemed to have an idea. He borrowed fire from Fatty, lit a cigarette, took a dramatic drag, and asked, "Fatty, you said earlier that we weren't ourselves. What was going on with you just now? Do you know you looked worse than a ghost?"

Fatty laughed cheerfully. "That must have been a hallucination on my part. Forget it, let's not talk about it. We should keep moving. As long as everyone is fine, that's what matters, hehe."

It was clear Fatty had no intention of explaining what had just happened. Ma Xiong looked at the hesitant Squad Leader Lian, suspecting the leader was also debating whether to reveal the truth of the matter. So he asked, "Squad Leader, what exactly happened just now?"

Squad Leader Lian opened his mouth with excitement and began, "Just now, up ahead..."

But he was cut off abruptly by Fatty, who forced a wide smile and said cheerfully, "What's there to talk about? It's better not to mention what happened just now. I guarantee you, absolutely nothing is wrong. Everyone can relax. Let's get going quickly; I wonder where the next stop is?"

Since Fatty had silenced Squad Leader Lian, openly challenging them now, Lu Zong and the others realized they had few opportunities left to seize the initiative. While he still had a little say, Ma Xiong directed the thrust to force out the truth toward Ge Mei.

Ge Mei looked terribly nervous, gripping the corner of Fatty's clothes tightly, biting her lower lip with her pale teeth. The terror from moments before still clung to her face.

Ma Xiong asked softly, "Ge Mei, tell us, what exactly did you see just now? Why did you doubt our true identities?"

Ge Mei suddenly looked up at Ma Xiong, and her eyes met the sincerity in his gaze. It seemed to trigger an immediate, almost physical reaction in her.

Ge Mei's head dropped low again. Lu Zong noticed a distinct flush rising on her cheeks.