Due to being tied up with coordination work for the college entrance exams these past two days, updates have been infrequent and light. Please forgive me. Updates will accelerate after June 8th.

My right hand moved in rapid succession, batting away the head of that thick snake, while my left hand wasn't idle; I managed to cradle Hua'er’s groin and forcefully thrust upward. Seizing the momentum, Hua'er pushed off with its hind legs and sprang onto the stone lion’s head. A rush of air passed my ears, followed by a dull thud. Opening my eyes, I saw Hua'er clinging securely to the stone wall. My heart immediately eased. Without hesitation, I wrapped my arms around the stone lion’s head, pushed off with my legs, braced with my arms, and hauled myself onto its crown.

The excessive force caused me to wobble precariously atop the stone lion, nearly sending me tumbling headfirst. Thankfully, I managed to extend one leg just in time to regain balance. After retracting it, I stomped down once on the lion’s head, stretched my arms out as far as possible, and lunged toward the wall. In that desperate lunge, I poured in the cultivation of over two decades, and, perhaps aided by some luck, I finally managed to grip the edge of the wall and sprawl onto it successfully. At that moment, a vivid and apt phrase popped into my head: a cornered dog jumps the wall!

Still shaken, I twisted my head around to see that the stone lion was now entirely coiled with black snakes, large and small. Several of them reared up, their tails flicking off the lion's head like sharp arrows aimed squarely at Hua'er’s and my rear ends. Fortunately, they were just snakes; even a strong crossbow couldn't pierce fine silk, let alone our rather ample posteriors. Despite this, my legs cramped with fright. I hurriedly hoisted Hua'er up onto the wall, while simultaneously kicking off with my legs and straightening my elbows, steadying myself atop the narrow, foot-wide parapet.

“Ping'er… Ping'er… shine the flashlight right down at Hua'er and me! Ignore those damned black snakes…” The top of the wall was pitch dark, and I dared not take another step. Yet, Tan Ping'er’s flashlight beam remained fixed rigidly on the stone lion and the snakes writhing upon it. I called out anxiously, reminding her.

After shouting a couple of times, I received no reply from Tan Ping'er. Suspicion instantly bloomed. Ping'er’s courage had grown immensely lately; her performance just now had been braver than mine, a proper Tujia man. Why the silence now? Was she paralyzed with fear? Stunned by the sheer terror of watching me rescue Hua’er?

“Ping’er… Ping’er…” I called out twice more, still no response. A sense of dreadful foreboding surged from the bottom of my heart. Anxiously, I gave the motionless Hua'er a slight kick. “Let’s go, partner!” Hua’er snapped back to reality and cautiously took a few steps forward. Worried for Tan Ping'er’s safety and seeing Hua'er moving so hesitantly, I dared not rush it. Instead, I crouched low against the inner wall, bit down on that foul-smelling embroidered shoe, and used my feet and alternating grips with my hands along the edge to scramble toward where Ping'er was stationed.

As I neared the light source, the first thing I did was reach out into the darkness to grope for Tan Ping'er, but I unexpectedly met only empty air!

This shock was profound. “Ping’er… Ping’er…” My hair stood on end with panic. My left hand gripped the wall’s edge while my right arm stretched further, sweeping frantically behind the stone archway again. Where was Tan Ping’er’s warm, soft body? There was only endless void and cold, hard stone…

Sweating profusely with anxiety, I reached to retrieve the flashlight. But in my haste, I clumsily knocked the flashlight, which was resting on the archway’s shoulder, outward! It instantly fell among the densely packed black snakes, jostled by their movements, and disappeared into the eave trough teeming with black coils. Boundless darkness instantly flooded the entire space like a deluge.

“Ping’er… Ping’er…” I shrieked hoarsely, answered only by the sound of the snakes scraping against each other outside the wall and Hua’er’s ragged panting.

My head felt enormous, bigger than a washbasin.

I grabbed the edge of a plaque with one hand, straining my eyes against the blackness to find any sign of Tan Ping'er, my mouth ceaselessly calling her name. My heart was being twisted like a knife, and the tears streamed down… As this continued, my throat began to ache, and my voice grew weaker until I was merely shouting out of habit, a futile exercise.

“Woof~” Hua’er, silent for a long time, suddenly barked fiercely.

A jolt of joy hit me. Had Hua’er spotted where Ping'er was? The moment that thought struck, I cursed myself as being dumber than a pig’s skull, worse than Man Niao Niao. Having just lost Ping'er—these eyes—wasn't I still left with Hua'er? Its nose was incredibly sensitive; it must have scented Ping'er!

“Hua’er, did you see where she is?” I rasped to the dog.

“Woof~!”

“Do you know or not? Say something!”

“Woof~! Woof woof~!! Woof woof woof~~!!!!”

It seemed Hua’er understood my words, but its answer was a long string of barks…

Hearing Hua’er’s barks explode near my ear, I finally regained a sliver of rationality. Though the dog couldn't speak plainly, those barks seemed to be reminding me not to panic yet—to calm down, and then calm down again. Calmness was what I needed most at this moment.

Calm my ass. In this environment, after this event, how could I possibly stay calm? Back in Anle Cave, when Tan Ping'er was snatched by the Monkey-Head Eagle, I felt it was a brutal assault on the softest part of my soul. Now, after making such substantial, almost tangible progress with her… Ugh, I won't elaborate. You can imagine how that felt for yourselves!

But what good was refusing to calm down? So, I forced myself to recall and deduce Ping’er’s whereabouts. Logically, Tan Ping'er would never have left Hua'er and me without a word. Nor could she have accidentally fallen outside the wall; I would have noticed that. So, did she perhaps fall below the wall and hit her head, knocking herself unconscious?

The more I thought about it, the more likely this possibility seemed. Maybe she had cried out, but my entire focus had been on rescuing Hua’er from its predicament. My mind had already been shattered—like the Seven Fairies marrying off alone—leaving me utterly panicked. Being outside the wall, it was entirely possible I wouldn't have heard her.

I subconsciously patted my waist for the flashlight, finding only my belt. The leather pouch for my phone was still there, but sadly, my phone had been lost long ago in Anle Cave. What about the lighter? I thought of the lighter and reached into my upper pocket, only to be hit by a bucket of ice water—my ever-present lighter was gone too!

What the hell… What the hell am I supposed to do now?

“Hua’er, my dear Hua’er, big brother begs you, tell me if Ping'er is down there?” My voice was thick with tears.

“Woof…!”

All my pent-up frustration, anxiety, dejection, and sorrow were suddenly pierced by Hua'er’s monotonous “Woof,” instantly transforming into a fit of violent rage. I began cursing Man Niao Niao, completely forgetting he was my elder, relentlessly insulting his dead mother using common, colloquial curses—don't ask me why I cursed him, but in that moment, I just had to! That unlucky, block-headed fool—annoying when he’s around, agonizing when he’s gone.

After cursing Man Niao Niao, I cursed Ji Ye next, with language so foul… well, let’s just put a censorship bar over that part!

The continuous stream of curses did nothing to alleviate the pain in my heart. I closed my eyes, braced my hands, and jumped straight down toward the dark ground. During the fall, a sudden thought struck me: what if Tan Ping'er was just lying there stiffly below?

Before I could process that question, my feet hit the ground, and a surge of pain enveloped me. Thankfully, I managed to roll with the impact, avoiding a complete fracture of my leg bones. Hua’er jumped down right after me, using its sense of smell to find my side, leaning gently against my thigh, shivering uncontrollably…

I knelt on the ground and frantically searched, still unable to find Tan Ping'er.

A small consolation was that the terrifying and detestable ‘smoked sausage’ was nowhere on the ground.

After searching for a long time to no avail, I gave up fumbling around and hugged Hua'er close, weeping uncontrollably. As I cried, I inadvertently touched Hua’er’s tear duct and discovered it was coated with cool liquid—had Hua'er also shed tears from grief?

If that were the case, Tan Ping'er must be in mortal danger!

The cool liquid around Hua’er’s eyes increased. I wiped a drop with my fingertip and brought it to my nose, smelling nothing. I did this to ascertain if the moisture was the grime from the black snakes or Hua'er’s own tears.

I tested it several times, even licking my finger, and determined the liquid wasn't bloody. Touching Hua'er’s eyes again, the sheer amount could only be described as ‘streaming.’

That cool liquid had to be Hua'er’s tears!

Once this conclusion was certain, I immediately recalled something my grandfather had told me when he was alive, and an idea took hold!