"What did you hear?" The hearts of the three young men leaped again. My first instinct was, could it be that Hua'er was calling from ahead? Listening closely, I didn't hear Hua'er's cry. Seeing that Ji Ye wasn't just making things up, the rest of us dared not speak, straining our ears to listen.

"Ban Gui?" As soon as I heard that sound, my heart began to pound wildly, every hair on my body stood on end. My mind went blank, my limbs turned weak and useless, and my voice trailed off into a wavering inflection.

The sound was piercingly sharp, like a honed sword slicing through deep darkness, bursting through with unstoppable force straight into the core of the heart.

Qin Bing'er let out a low sound and threw herself heedlessly into my embrace, her hands clutching my waist so tightly that her fingernails were just shy of digging into my flesh through the cloth. Man Niao Niao also scrambled onto my back, wrapping his arms around my neck, and whispered with a trembling voice, "Ying Ying, the Ban Gui is here! What should we do?"

With Qin Bing'er clinging to my waist from the front and Man Niao Niao choking my neck from behind, I was squeezed tightly between these two bodies—one hard, one soft—like a cream-filled biscuit. Man Niao Niao’s legs must have been cramping from fright, making him slip toward the ground, yet he refused to let go of my neck, squeezing until stars danced before my eyes and breathing became difficult. His ragged gasps, mixed with that bizarre sound coming from nowhere, composed a soul-stirring "ghost tune" right next to my ear!

"Man Niao Niao, if you don't loosen your grip on my neck, I'm going to turn into a 'Zhuang Shen Nong'!"

Upon hearing this, Man Niao Niao eased up slightly. I took the opportunity to sit down, finally breaking free from his grasp. Qin Bing'er tumbled down with me, still sheltering in my arms, unwilling to let go.

The reason I described that sound as "bizarre" was precisely because it was a noise that absolutely should not exist in this environment. If I had heard any other sound—the roar of an animal, the strange clatter of hooves, or even the slithering of a python—I would have found it normal and would never have been so terrified and flustered as I was now.

The sound was incredibly immature yet possessed formidable penetration, oscillating between high-pitched intensity and ethereal softness. Aside from the sound of our group’s labored breathing, only that noise echoed back and forth between the cave walls.—That’s right! The sound was the cry of an infant!!

Listening closely, one could realize the infant’s cry wasn't continuous but intermittent, sounding terribly mournful, like a starving child demanding milk, its 'wāh, wāh' ceaseless. What shocked me even more was that when the infant’s cry briefly paused, it was interspersed with indistinct whimpering, much like a child suckling at its mother’s ** but unable to draw any milk.

I forcefully suppressed my heartbeat and searched for Ji Ye with my eyes. When Ji Ye had told us to listen to the infant’s cry, he had subconsciously blown out the bamboo lamp, and I had turned off my flashlight too. Thus, I could only see Ji Ye's vague outline, standing there motionless.

"Ji Ye... how could there be a baby in here?" I noticed my voice was hoarse, unsure if it was from fear or Man Niao Niao's strangulation. My throat burned as if scoured by a scrubbing brush.

"Did... did some woman... abandon her child, tossing him into the... sinkhole, and he just... happened to fall into Anle Cave?" Man Niao Niao struggled to confirm the infant wasn't a Ban Gui, his voice shaking violently, imbued with a desperate hope.

I hadn't expected Man Niao Niao to conjure such a creative possibility in this situation. "Nonsense! These days, young parents only have one child; who would have the heart to toss their baby into a sinkhole?" Although Man Niao Niao’s guess was outlandish, it sparked an idea for me: perhaps a young wife carrying her baby fell into a sinkhole? I knew the terrain around Xiama Kou well; it was riddled with sinkholes, and beneath them lay countless caverns. Although I had never heard of a person falling into a sinkhole before, incidents of pigs, horses, cattle, and sheep accidentally falling in were quite common.

Listening to the infant’s cry, a scene unfolded in my mind: a newborn baby, helpless, lying next to its mother who had been dead for a long time—the mother perhaps already a bloody mess—futility grasping at her icy ** as its small hands and feet scrabbled and kicked.

When Qin Bing'er heard Man Niao Niao speak, her innate maternal instinct immediately surfaced. She sprang up from my embrace, tugging my arm, and said, "Let's go! We have to save him!" I stood up, gathered our things, preparing to rush to save the child.

"It definitely isn't as Man Niao Niao described." Ji Ye, who had been silent for a long time, finally spoke. "Listen, the infant’s cry is so pitiful, as if it’s looking for meme (milk) but can't get any—what does that imply?"

"An Ge, don't scare me. What does it imply?" Man Niao Niao’s voice broke with a sob when Ji Ye negated his guess. "Don't tell me that sound is coming from a Ban Gui!"

"You haven't figured it out yet? If there were truly an infant in this cave, that would imply... it would imply that perhaps its mother is in here too! Could it be the legendary..."

"The legendary what?" I hadn't expected Ji Ye’s words to make our speculation take such a sudden turn, and I was completely perplexed.

"Ghost Mother and Child!" Ji Ye mused for a long moment before heavily uttering those three words.

As soon as these three words dropped, Man Niao Niao's figure immediately shrank. "Ji Ye, didn't you say we shouldn't speak that word? Could it possess you?" Amidst my terror, I actually remembered the need for caution. I thought to myself, if you old man gets possessed by a Ban Gui, the three of us young ones entering Anle Cave would truly be like 'a log carried by water—never returning.'

Ji Ye froze upon hearing this, waved his hand, and slapped himself twice on the cheeks. After a slight hesitation, he said resolutely, "Ying Ying, light the bamboo lamp. We’ll go ahead and take a look. Which living person fears death—or a Ban Gui!" I lit the bamboo lamp and saw Man Niao Niao already slumped on the ground, his face pale, his entire body shaking as if afflicted by chills. I supported Qin Bing'er and reached out to pull Man Niao Niao up, but he clung stubbornly to the ground, muttering, "You all go! I'll wait here for you!"

"That works too! With your cowardly demeanor, you'd just be a meat bun thrown to a dog if you went. Oh right, Ji Ye, I wonder if that old man with the white beard will come to this place!" Provoked by my words and hearing the phrase "old man with the white beard," Man Niao Niao immediately sprang up from the ground like a coiled spring. "Forget it! I'll go with you all. If it really is a Ban Gui, I can lend a hand—Ying Ying, you have good eyesight, so you go first! I'll stay in the middle to protect Bing'er!"

I felt both exasperated and amused, secretly despising Man Niao Niao. When he wanted company, he wanted it; when he was scared, he’d wet himself. My eyesight is good? Didn't he always call me 'Four-Eyes' before? Despite my disdain, knowing his only fear was the Ban Gui, I forced myself to be brave, clutching the bamboo lamp, and took the lead along the narrow stone trough path. Qin Bing'er held my right hand with one hand and steadied herself against the stone wall with the other. I stole a glance and noticed Man Niao Niao gripping the hem of Qin Bing'er’s clothes tightly. I sighed inwardly; this fellow’s courage had likely disintegrated completely!

We proceeded along the stone trough path, treading cautiously with every step. Earlier, without the infant’s cry, we had struggled enough just traversing the narrow path; now, the childish, tragic, intermittent wailing drilled into our eardrums, making us flustered, yet we dared not slacken our footing, inching forward! If anyone had seen us from a distance at this moment, they surely would have mistaken us for two will-o'-the-wisps moving along the sheer cliff.

After walking for an unknown amount of time, the infant's cries grew louder and more miserable, sounding as if they were right next to our ears, yet even then, I couldn't pinpoint the exact direction of the sound. Though the cry was sharp, it was evasive, seeming close one moment and far the next. My feeling was that the infant was beckoning: "Come here, come here! I'm hungry!"

We walked for a long time more, still not reaching the end of the path. The infant's cries remained ahead of us, seeming near yet distant. Fortunately, there were several stone alcoves along the stone trough path meant for resting. We paused in one to catch our breath and calm our nerves before continuing, hoping to reach the end quickly and find a spacious area to avoid the seemingly endless huoma forest below the cliff, and then investigate the source of the crying.

As I walked, I wondered what scene awaited us ahead. Would it be a female Ban Gui in a white dress, with a pale face, sitting on the ground, exposing her chest, nursing a baby that was also entirely white? As we approached, would the female Ban Gui bare her menacing teeth, give us a cold smile, and say, "You finally arrived"?

As I pictured the scene of encountering the female Ban Gui and the infant Ban Gui, I surprisingly found myself no longer afraid, but increasingly curious, filled with an inexplicable sense of anticipation. If I actually saw the legendary Ban Gui, wouldn't that be an event worthy of achieving renown?

I quickened my pace, eventually crawling on all fours. Seeing me do this, Qin Bing'er and Man Niao Niao had no choice but to follow suit. Ji Ye, with his carrying basket on his back, also hunched over and hurried along, the basket scraping against the stone wall, dragging out a series of grating sounds that, to my ears, added a spark of excitement and thrill.

Just as I was experiencing that strange feeling in my heart, my hands suddenly lost purchase, and my body began a freefall, plunging headfirst down the cliff face.

I thought I was done for, but in a mere instant, I landed squarely on the ground. My forehead and nose slammed into a rock, sending a jolt of soreness through my whole body. My knees ached faintly, and my palms were burning—I might have scraped the skin off.

—If that isn't the definition of 'prostrating in worship,' then this is.

Calculating by the laws of physics, I had only fallen about five meters. Ignoring whether my nose was bleeding, I pushed up with my hands and scrambled to my feet. I saw the bamboo lamp thrown to the side, miraculously still lit. I inwardly counted myself lucky, picked up the lamp, held it above my head, and surveyed the surroundings.

The ground was covered in dark, wet, rounded stones, devoid of any vegetation, resembling a damp riverbank. Both sides were sheer cliffs, with cold subterranean water trickling down. The space was confined, creating a sense of oppression. To my right was a low stone ledge, and below it, the huoma forest. When I fell, I was only about a foot away from that ledge; had I veered even slightly, I would certainly be screaming in the huoma forest now. To my left was dimness, seemingly deep, with a few indistinct grayish-white stone pillars faintly visible.

I shivered; this place was unnervingly cold. The bizarre infant’s cry had stopped abruptly when I fell. As far as my eyes could see, there was nothing unusual.

"Ying Ying, Ying Ying, are you alright?" Looking up, I could see Qin Bing'er kneeling on the stone trough path, stretching her neck to call out to me in a voice full of anxiety, illuminated by the bamboo lamp held by Ji Ye.

"I'm fine! Just some minor injuries." I shouted up, "Are you all alright too?"

"We're fine too!"

As we spoke, we realized that the spot where I fell marked a ninety-degree turn in the stone trough path. The corner where the cliff wall turned created a T-junction between the gully overgrown with huoma grass and the cavern hall before us.

"Bing'er, you all can come down the path; it looks like there's a way down ahead!" I called upward. "Niao Niao, you must take good care of Bing'er and Ji Ye. There's no huoma grass down here; it’s quite spacious!" Man Niao Niao agreed from above. I watched them continue to crawl forward around the bend, holding up their bamboo lamp.

I held my bamboo lamp, preparing to investigate the stone pillars, but my heart tightened, so I stood there waiting for Ji Ye and the others.

As soon as Man Niao Niao came down, he lunged and hugged me. "Ying Ying, I thought you were going to 'Xi Pi' (die) this time! I didn't expect you to have such good fortune—you go first?" I was actually touched when he first hugged me, but who knew he had this in mind? I gave a wry smile and walked toward the grayish-white pillars, holding the bamboo lamp high.

I walked, sweeping the light from the bamboo lamp left and right, but saw no infant anywhere. Qin Bing'er held my waist tightly, and Man Niao Niao clutched Ji Ye’s carrying basket, both holding their breath. Ji Ye had his hand tucked inside his basket, his expression tense; I didn't know what weapon he had prepared.

"Niao Niao, did you notice anything strange?" I recalled that Man Niao Niao could see that inexplicable old man with the white beard. If there were truly any so-called Ban Gui here, Man Niao Niao shouldn't have the expression he currently wore.

"N-nothing!" Man Niao Niao seemed very nervous, glancing around quickly, and said in a trembling voice.

I found it strange. Where exactly did that infant cry come from? Was it near these stone pillars?

Approaching the pillars, we discovered they weren't pillars at all, but dozens of colossal stalagmites. These stalagmites towered to the ceiling, entirely grayish-white, with striations on them, much like exposed human veins, clearly formed by hundreds of thousands of years of dripping magma water, depositing minerals from the water. The stalagmites were also damp, and under the light of the bamboo lamp, the trickling magma water shone with a cold, white luminescence.

Some stalagmites stood like pillars holding up the sky, some resembled meditating old monks, some were skeletal and thin, and others were plump and robust. They were crowded together, yet subtly separated, appearing to move as the bamboo light flickered, yet remaining still.

Seeing such a magnificent subterranean marvel, we almost forgot about the infant’s cry. Seeing no movement, Man Niao Niao relaxed his tense expression and pointed at one stalagmite, saying, "Ying Ying, look, doesn't that stalagmite look like a man standing there urinating?" I followed his finger, and indeed, it did resemble that! Though the posture was certainly not elegant. Qin Bing'er saw it too, her face flushing red, and she pointed to another stalagmite, saying, "Doesn't that one look like an elephant drinking water?" Before we could answer, she spotted others shaped like a rhinoceros gazing at the moon, Hou Yi shooting the sun, and a roc spreading its wings. She was momentarily so delighted she hopped around. Clearly, she had never witnessed such a spectacular scene in a cave before.

"Ji Ye, is this not a nitrate cave?" Seeing how damp this place was and the lack of any sign of human excavation, I thought it shouldn't be the nitrate cave Ji Ye mentioned, but these stalagmites blocked our view of any other passage ahead.

"By all rights, it shouldn't be." Ji Ye stepped forward to examine the area, looking perplexed for a long time. "Where's the way out?"

"Wāh—wāh—" A baby’s cry suddenly erupted between two stalagmites. The sudden sound pierced my ears like an unexpected needle, followed immediately by a wave of cold, damp mist that scared me so much the bamboo lamp nearly slipped from my grasp. Man Niao Niao turned and bolted instantly; in his haste, he stumbled and fell. He struggled up, scrambling on all fours, running and crawling frantically toward the exit. Qin Bing'er, seemingly terrified by the cry, forgot to flee, standing frozen, covering her ears, her gaze mesmerized toward the direction the cry came from. Ji Ye didn't run, but as he backed away with the carrying basket on his back, he stepped on a rock and nearly fell flat on his rear. He pushed himself up with both hands, and before regaining his balance, he pulled a gleaming, sharp axe from his basket.

Seeing Qin Bing'er frozen, I leaped to her side and held her tightly. My first sensation was like embracing a block of ice, unsure if it was from fear or the mist. I pulled out my flashlight to look for Man Niao Niao and saw him standing about ten meters away, locked in a sprinter’s pose, twisting his head to look at us, seemingly shouting something.

At that moment, the infant's cry never ceased, and now it was interlaced with the sound of coarse, heavy hoofbeats, the sound reverberating off the cave walls, creating a chaotic din. I patted my ears, about to try and hear what Man Niao Niao was shouting, when a wet, furry paw suddenly wrapped around my neck. My vision went black, and Qin Bing'er's shriek cut through all other sounds, exploding in my mind.

"Woof! Woof woof!" Before Qin Bing'er's scream ended, the sound of a dog barking followed.

"Hua'er?" I was furious, completely exasperated. "You blockhead, you can't just jump out without a greeting!" Seeing I was angry, Hua'er slipped off me, shook the water droplets from his body with a twist of his lean waist, and looked up at me innocently.

Simultaneously, the infant's cry didn't stop; in fact, it grew more tragic, still entangled with the sound of hooves, giving the sensation of a horse dragging an infant while galloping wildly.

Damn it all, if I don't show my true colors, you think I’m a sick cat? I don't care if it's a Ban Gui or not, I'm going to 'pay my respects' to it! I cursed loudly, pushed Qin Bing'er aside, and holding the bamboo lamp, squeezed between the two stalagmites to the back, where I found a strangely shaped monster with its mouth wide open, weeping loudly next to a square well!

The moment I saw the monster, I burst out laughing and shouted to the people outside not to be afraid. As I laughed, the monster immediately stopped crying and opened its two eyes to examine me. "Niao Niao, Niao Niao, it's not a Ban Gui, it's not a Ban Gui!" I shouted a few times, but I didn't hear Man Niao Niao reply. I walked out, dragged the dazed Man Niao Niao over to the well, and pointed at the monster. "This guy scared us."

When Man Niao Niao saw the monster, his abdomen puffed out, and he let out a long breath; his figure immediately looked imposing. He laughed heartily and said with full vigor, "Damn it, the old African man taking a high jump—it scared the hell out of me! I didn't expect it to be this thing. I’m going to ‘violate it first and then’!" Ji Ye slapped his thigh. "Look at my pig-brain! How could I not have thought it was this thing?"