I caught Qin Ping'er’s soft gasp and was startled. I reached for where Man Niao Niao had been standing, but my hand met empty air—Man Niao Niao was gone!

My heart seized up, and I shot upright, only to find Qin Ping’er looking down at me on the ground. My head met hers with perfect, unwelcome precision, bonking her squarely on the chin. With a sharp cry of pain, she jerked her head back, slamming it against the stone wall with a solid thunk. Even more frantic now, I quickly reached out to rub the back of her head, whispering, “Sorry!”

Before Qin Ping’er could react, I leaned down toward Ji Ye, who stood beside her, and urgently hissed, “Did you see where Man Niao Niao went?”

Ji Ye turned his head, leaning close to my ear to reply, “Wasn't he standing right next to Miss Qin? How could he vanish?”

My anxiety deepened. I whispered, “Ji Ye, Ping’er’s ankle is swollen. Can you take a look? I’m going to search for Man Niao Niao!”

Ji Ye nodded and bent down to examine Qin Ping’er’s foot.

Seeing Qin Ping’er in Ji Ye’s care eased my worry momentarily, so I reached to pat Hua’er, who was hiding near my legs, but again, I found nothing. Hua’er was gone too. My heart lurched with fresh panic, and I muttered a string of curses under my breath.

By then, the white mist in the cavern hall was gradually dissipating, though I couldn't tell where it had gone. The kicked-up dust was slowly settling, marginally improving visibility. But that fog and dust wouldn't vanish quickly, so I could only see perhaps ten feet ahead. Fearing the return of those savage Earth Bulls, I had no choice but to trace the cave wall, moving forward slowly in my search.

Thinking of those terrifying Earth Bulls, I internally puzzled over the strangeness of it all. Normally, these creatures wouldn't attack people proactively, so why were they swarming over Qin Ping’er today? And why were those Earth Bulls so enormous? Then there was Man Niao Niao—where on earth had that fellow gone? I distinctly remembered him walking with me to the stone wall; he was right beside me, yet in the blink of an eye, he vanished. Did he slip away quietly, or did he meet with some mishap? Deep down, I wished he’d left quietly rather than suffered an accident. However, knowing his personality and his relationship with me, he wouldn't abandon us. Besides, after seeing the so-called White-Bearded Old Man for the second time in the Kamen, he’d been terrified out of his wits; he wouldn't dare leave alone.

Recalling the White-Bearded Old Man brought fresh confusion. Was there really a White-Bearded Old Man? What did he look like? Who was he? And why hadn’t I seen him either time? Up to this point, my only impression of this supposed figure came from Man Niao Niao’s description, and I simply couldn't visualize or concretize this White-Bearded Old Man.

Lost in these chaotic thoughts, I shuffled forward, keeping my hand pressed against the rock wall. I tried to comfort myself as I walked: Qin Ping’er was with Ji Ye, so she should be fine; Man Niao Niao prided himself on being fearless and immensely strong, so he should be fine too; and Hua’er was nimble, so that was likely fine as well.

What I most hoped for was to hear the voice of Man Niao Niao or Hua’er. In this murky cavern, seeing where they were was impossible; sound was the only thing I could rely on. I wanted to shout, but I feared calling the white mist back, so I lowered my voice and called out anxiously, “Niao Niao... Hua’er... Where are you? Say something!” But the entire cave echoed only with my low calls and my own heavy breathing, with no answering sound whatsoever.

I felt along the stone wall, my feet probing the ground, noticing that the sandy floor was uneven, sometimes rising slightly, sometimes sloping down, utterly irregular. I carefully recalled the echoes from the battle with the Earth Bulls; the cavern shouldn't be vast, and the Kamen should be on the wall. Yet, I had been tracing the wall for perhaps twenty minutes and hadn't found the Kamen. This was seriously messed up!

I stopped and called out softly, “Ji Ye, can you hear me?” I listened intently for a long moment, but no reply came from Ji Ye. I called again, softly, “Ping’er, can you hear me?” Still no response from Qin Ping’er.

I figured my voice was too low for them to hear, but I dared not shout. Burning with anxiety, I resumed tracing the stone wall, moving slowly forward. My plan was: since I couldn't find Man Niao Niao or Hua’er, I would first return to Ji Ye and Qin Ping’er by following the wall, then discuss matters. Just as I was about to turn back, I paused, unwilling to give up, and kept moving forward. My new plan was to find the Kamen first, establish my bearings, and then proceed.

While walking, I silently cursed the Bliss Cave. Damn it all, from the Kamen entrance to this hall, perhaps less than a thousand feet total, and so many bizarre things had happened. This Bliss Cave was truly cursed!

As I was lost in thought and internal curses, I suddenly heard Hua’er barking furiously ahead. The sudden sound made me jump, immediately followed by immense relief—finally, I heard Hua’er’s voice. At that moment, I felt an indescribable mix of emotions, like a long-blind person suddenly regaining sight. But the relief was fleeting, replaced by intense worry on two fronts: first, that Hua’er had discovered something wrong with Man Niao Niao, and second, that Hua’er’s barking might call the white mist back out.

There was no time to think. I abandoned tracing the wall and, ignoring where my feet landed, lunged toward the direction of Hua’er’s frantic barks.

Hua’er, mid-bark, was startled when it saw me burst out of the dense fog. Once it recognized me, it rushed over, grabbed my trouser leg, and began pulling me forward insistently. Seeing this, my first thought was that Man Niao Niao was in trouble! Alarmed and urgent, I let out a cry and bolted toward the direction Hua’er indicated.

After running about ten steps, my vision suddenly cleared. I had emerged from the swirling white mist and was standing at the edge of a precipice.

I looked up and saw a tiny skylight in the cavern ceiling. A small shaft of sunlight pierced through, greatly increasing visibility near the cliff edge. I bowed emotionally toward that beam of light.

I turned back to look behind me; the mass of white mist was already thickening again. I thought, It must be Hua’er’s barking that ‘called’ the fog out again, and sighed inwardly—the very thing I feared was happening. But strangely, the mist did not advance toward the cliff edge. It stopped about two feet away, creating what looked like a massive, white fog wall.

I looked down over the cliff. My gaze followed a winding, narrow stone staircase that descended straight to the bottom. Amidst a pile of rubble at the base, I faintly saw a prone figure. I cried out in fright, “Niao Niao?” and immediately prepared to scramble down the stone steps.

As I cautiously squatted down, ready to use all fours to descend the first step, Hua’er suddenly barked furiously at me and lunged forward, only to immediately retreat, its eyes blazing with fierce hostility. With its massive jaws gaping wide, it looked ready to fight me to the death, relentless.

I was utterly bewildered by Hua’er’s behavior. What was wrong with the dog? Had it been stimulated and lost recognition of me?

I snapped a few angry words at Hua’er, but seeing it wasn't posing an immediate, fatal threat, I ignored it. I placed my foot on the first step of the stone staircase, preparing to go down. Before my foot was steady, Hua’er sprang at me with lightning speed. Startled, I looked up and saw its blood-red jaws and sharp teeth just inches from my head. In my panic, my grip slipped, and I leaned back, feeling myself about to fall straight to the bottom of the cliff.

In a flash, Hua’er twisted its head, opened its jaws, and bit down hard on my collar. It pulled upward with all its strength, and I instinctively flung my hands out, clinging tightly to the rocky ledge.

Shaken to my core, nearly beside myself, I clung there. Hua’er, seeing me braced on the ledge, started barking wildly at me again. I was furious at its actions, unsure of its motive. Seeing that it wasn’t attacking directly, and worried about Man Niao Niao’s fate, I left Hua’er behind and hurried down the stone steps to the bottom, looking down at the person lying in the rubble.

The person was indeed Man Niao Niao.

Man Niao Niao lay motionless in the pile of stones, his eyes rolled back.

Seeing this, I assumed Man Niao Niao had passed on and was almost in tears. I couldn’t believe that after such a short distance into the Bliss Cave, Man Niao Niao was dead. What was the point of staying together, then?

Hua’er scrambled down the steps after me, ignoring Man Niao Niao on the ground, and renewed its furious barking at me. Its demeanor suggested it wanted to tear me limb from limb. My heart sank, filled with overwhelming grief, and I thought, If you want to tear me, then tear me!

Seeing Man Niao Niao’s dreadful state, I finally broke down and sobbed uncontrollably.

“Ying Ying, why are you crying like a girl? I’m not dead yet! Are you already planning on having three bowls of soup?” Just as I was crying my heart out, tears streaming down my face, Man Niao Niao sat up.

Overjoyed, I was about to help him up when his eyes suddenly widened in terror, and he screamed at me, “The White-Bearded Old Man... The White-Bearded Old Man...” I froze, turned my head, and saw no White-Bearded Old Man behind me—only Hua’er still barking fiercely.

I turned back to Man Niao Niao and said irritably, “I’m Man Ying Ying, has your pig brain been scrambled? There’s no White-Bearded Old Man!” I started to reach for him again, but he awkwardly shuffled back on the stones, his face deathly pale, waving his hands at me wildly: “Don’t come closer... The White-Bearded Old Man... Don’t come closer... The White-Bearded Old Man!” I suspiciously turned my head to look behind me again, even glancing up, but found nothing. I thought, Surely Man Niao Niao hasn't actually damaged his brain?

With that thought, I stopped worrying about his reaction and reached out to pull him up. Seeing me approach, his eyes rolled back, and he fainted, startling me. As I stood there cluelessly, I felt a dull thud against the back of my head, followed by numbness spreading through my brain. My vision went black, and I pitched forward straight toward Man Niao Niao on the stone pile.

As I fell, the surrounding scenery grew increasingly blurry, Hua’er’s frantic barking faded into the distance, and then... I knew nothing more.

“Ying Ying! Ying Ying! Wake up!” In my groggy state, I thought I heard my mother calling me. My first thought was, Ah, I had another nightmare. So all those scenes were just a dream! Relief washed over me, and I opened my eyes, wrapping my arms around the person next to me, murmuring lazily, “Mom, I had a terrible nightmare again!” The person in my embrace stiffened and shoved me away. Then, I heard Man Niao Niao’s sinister chuckle: “Ping’er just gained a generation; she’s on equal footing with me now, hehe! And look at the big son you have!”

The realization hit me instantly: I hadn't been dreaming; I had been knocked unconscious from behind! The person I was hugging was naturally Qin Ping’er, not my mother. Recognizing this, I gasped in mortified shame and rolled over to sit up.

Once my senses cleared, I saw I was sitting on a large, flat stone. Ji Ye held up a bamboo lantern, his eyes gleaming sharply as he watched me. Qin Ping’er sat beside me, her face flushed crimson. Man Niao Niao sat opposite me, chuckling smugly with a look of blatant mockery. My own face felt hot, unsure if it was from shame or the light of the bamboo lantern.

Hua’er, seeing I was awake, approached and licked my face once.

The sight of Hua’er instantly enraged me. I raised my hand and smacked it lightly on the head. Hua’er let out a small yelp, scurried behind Ji Ye, and looked at me timidly.

“Why are you hitting Hua’er? It saved your life, and you treat it like that!” Qin Ping’er, having somewhat recovered her composure, pushed me with a blushing face.

“It saved me? It was trying to tear me apart!” I retorted angrily.

“You...!”

“Ying Ying, you can’t blame Hua’er; it truly saved your life!” Ji Ye spoke up.

“What’s going on?” Hearing Ji Ye speak made me realize the situation was likely not as simple as I imagined.

“Do you know why Hua’er was biting you?” Ji Ye asked. “It was because there was something on the back of your head!”

“Something? What?” I asked, puzzled.

“The White-Bearded Old Man!” Ji Ye said solemnly.

“The White-Bearded Old Man? The one Man Niao Niao saw?”

“Yes.”

“Then why didn’t I see him?”

“Neither did I! Only Niao Niao, Miss Qin, and Hua’er saw him!”

“Only they saw him?” My confusion deepened.

“That’s right! We faintly heard Hua’er’s barking in the thick fog and tracked the sound over here. Did you know? This stone staircase was right by Miss Qin’s and my feet. That means when you came down that path, you were less than three feet away from us. After I bandaged Miss Qin’s foot, I helped her take two steps to the left, and we walked right out of the fog range to the cliff edge!”

“Did Man Niao Niao perhaps fall from there?”

Man Niao Niao inhaled sharply beside me and said, “That’s right! When we were standing by the stone wall, I saw Brother An arrive, so I wanted to give him space. When I took a step to the left, my foot slipped, and I tumbled from above! I wanted to shout for you all, but I found my voice was gone, unable to speak or shout!”

“Voice gone?” I remembered. I had experienced something similar as a child when I was reaching for bird eggs in the crevices of the roof tiles at my grandmother’s house. The ladder suddenly collapsed, I fell heavily onto the ground, and for a long time, I couldn't utter a word. This “voice gone” phenomenon is a temporary loss of speech following a heavy fall or blow.

“So that’s how it was. Later, when I found you, you saw the White-Bearded Old Man behind my head?”

“Yes!”

“How come I couldn’t see him?”

“He was behind your head! As your head turned, he turned too; how could you see him?”

“Then why couldn’t Ji Ye see him? He could see the back of my head!”

“That, I don’t know; you’ll have to ask Brother An!”

“Ji Ye, you truly didn't see him?”

“I definitely didn’t see him. That blow I delivered was exactly where Miss Qin directed me, right to the back of your head!”

So, Ji Ye was the one who hit the back of my head. He certainly hit hard enough. I rubbed the back of my skull; a large lump had formed there, throbbing faintly. I shot Ji Ye a look, and he chuckled sheepishly, saying, “Misfire! Misfire! I was too rushed! Don't blame me!”

Damn it all, it was already done!

“What did you use to hit me?” I asked Ji Ye, still touching the lump.

“This!” Ji Ye handed me an object. I took it and saw it resembled a slimmed-down bowling pin, carved from hard tea wood and polished smooth. “Is this... a mallet?” I asked doubtfully. “Yes. When Miss Qin and I walked out of the dense fog, we happened to see you trying to pull Niao Niao. Miss Qin said she saw a shadow behind you, and we saw Hua’er barking madly at you, while Man Niao Niao kept backing away. I thought you were being controlled and were about to harm Niao Niao. In desperation, I threw the mallet down from above, and it landed right on the back of your head. I never expected it to knock you out so completely. How are you so fragile?”

Good heavens, a mallet that thick, thrown from that height, hitting my flesh-and-blood head—it was a miracle I didn’t instantly die, let alone just pass out.

Everything was clear now. Man Niao Niao had accidentally fallen off the cliff but was too stunned to speak. I went looking for him, eventually heard Hua’er’s barking, found the cliff edge, and discovered Man Niao Niao. Hua’er barked at me because it saw the White-Bearded Old Man behind my head; it wasn't targeting me. When it saw me about to fall, it saved me. When I got to the bottom, the White-Bearded Old Man was still behind my head, so Hua’er barked at me again. When Man Niao Niao woke up, he saw the White-Bearded Old Man behind my head and fainted from fright. When I went to help him, Ji Ye, thinking I was possessed, followed Qin Ping’er’s directions and threw the mallet down onto the back of my head, knocking me out.

“Ping’er, did you see the White-Bearded Old Man? What did he look like?” I asked Qin Ping’er.

“I didn't see him clearly either, just a vague shadow.”

I shook my head, truly unable to conjure an image of the White-Bearded Old Man, so I asked Ji Ye, “Why couldn’t you see him?”

“Perhaps my Huoyan is too high; I can’t see things like that!”

“Huoyan is too high? You mean the White-Bearded Old Man isn't a person at all?”

“...Maybe! I didn't see him.”

“Then what happened after you and Man Niao Niao retreated from the Amorphophallus tree? Did you see the White-Bearded Old Man?”

“I saw Niao Niao rushing toward the Echoing Cloud Cave in a panic, trying to stop him, but he ran back and told me there was a White-Bearded Old Man ahead and that we couldn’t go back. Remembering you and Miss Qin were still inside, I worried you were scared, so I quickly urged you to run, which is how we ended up in the Earth Bull Cave! Seeing you were temporarily safe, I tried to find the Kamen again, but I couldn't locate it no matter how hard I looked. When I came back, I noticed you were in danger. In a panic, I pulled out a gong and struck it hard. My intention was only to scare the Earth Bulls away, but it had a strange effect and broke you out of your encirclement!”

Damn it, did the Earth Bulls understand the principle of "sounding the gong to recall the troops"?

“Niao Niao, are you alright?” I asked Man Niao Niao.

“I’m fine. I slid down the slope, so all my components are intact.”

“Ji Ye, after you knocked me out, did the White-Bearded Old Man disappear?”

“Yes. After you fainted, Miss Qin said the White-Bearded Old Man was gone!”

My head felt a mess; there were so many questions, but I didn't know where to start. After reeling for a moment, I asked the simplest question: “Where are we?”