My curiosity piqued further, I aimed the flashlight at the markings etched onto the great bronze Ding.

On the side facing me was a stylized, simple tiger motif, and above it, two patterns of Luan birds, possessing an ancient elegance that spoke of profound history.

What truly baffled me, however, was the reverse side of the bronze vessel. Logically, this area should have contained inscriptions detailing the life achievements of the tomb's owner, but instead, I encountered a bizarre illustration.

The drawing was starkly simple: countless figures knelt upon the ground, worshipping an object suspended in the sky.

That object was spherical, orbited by three stylized bird totems.

I didn't grasp the meaning of the image then, but later, a pattern strikingly similar to it would become incredibly famous in Chinese archaeology—the Sun and Immortal Birds gold medallion.

It represented the ancient reverence for the sun, equating it with the divine.

In the primitive, early societies, sun worship was widespread; this itself was not a strange phenomenon.

What differentiated this depiction from the later Sun and Immortal Birds emblem was that within the central ring, there were two smaller circles situated side-by-side along the central axis.

I couldn't decipher the meaning of the overall pattern, but the primary point of contention was not the celestial object, but the supplicants on the ground.

Though the lines depicting these figures were rudimentary, the postures of the people achieved a startling level of vivid realism. I saw hundreds of figures kneeling in various postures.

Most were kneeling, but several lay flat on the ground.

Initially, I hadn't noticed the chaotic lines interspersed among these figures; upon closer inspection, I realized that scattered amongst the hundreds of figures were several overturned Ge halberds, swords, and other weaponry. This was clearly depicting a scene from an ancient battle.

And those figures collapsed on the ground were obviously soldiers slain in combat.

Yet, these fallen soldiers died undignified; they were depicted clawing and struggling, as if attempting to rise again.

Seeing this scene, a cold dread immediately washed over me, sparking a terrifying conjecture.

Could the entity in the sky be resurrecting the corpses on the ground?

If so, it was utterly unbelievable, yet I also considered that perhaps this was merely a symbolic depiction, an exaggerated representation of the sun's power to bring all things back to life.

But as I examined each figure individually, a surge of cold sweat broke out, for among these people stood several figures that were unusually tall. At first, I dismissed them as trees, but a closer look made me gasp sharply.

These were not trees; their necks were disproportionately long…

Suddenly, I recalled those strange individuals we encountered while sheltering in the cave overnight… I wondered if those people were the very same anomalies depicted in the carving.

The thought propelled me to turn and search for Liang Qian, intending to show her the drawings.

After a brief search, I spotted Liang Qian in a corner of the cavern hall, examining the stone walls with her torch. I was about to call out to her.

But just as I opened my mouth, I froze, utterly dumbfounded. The sight before me was so utterly bizarre that I nearly soiled myself from sheer terror!

I saw Liang Qian standing alone before the stone wall, yet the shadow cast upon it was of two people.

If it had merely been two shadows, I wouldn't have been so astonished; perhaps it was just a double exposure caused by the torchlight reflecting off accumulated water on the floor.

But the shadow standing behind Liang Qian had a neck longer than a giraffe's!

The grotesque scene depicted on an ancient bronze vessel from two millennia ago was manifesting right before my eyes.

This reality defied all logic, every attempt to rationalize it failing miserably.

I thought, could the entity in the carving truly exist? And had it survived for over two thousand years, only to cause trouble now?

Yet, as I stared at that shadow, I felt it couldn't be so, because Liang Qian’s torch illuminated a radius of five or six meters around her. If someone were truly beside her, I would absolutely see them.

This realization made the situation far more horrifying: that long-necked figure might be a ghost!

While ghosts were traditionally believed to lack shadows, a ghost could conceivably cast one.

The moment this occurred to me, my entire body turned ice-cold, and my throat began to tremble. I whispered, "Liang Qian… there's something next to you, look at the shadow on the wall."

Everyone was focused on searching for hidden passages and stone doors, so the cavern was unnervingly quiet. My sudden exclamation startled Liang Qian, and several others turned their heads to look.

As Liang Qian spun around, the angle of the torchlight shifted, and I saw the shadow’s neck retract almost instantaneously.

In less than half a second, the shadow dimmed and vanished from the rock face.

But even in that fleeting moment, several people had witnessed the spectral silhouette!

The cave erupted into chaos; everyone panicked, retreating from the walls towards my position.

Not everyone, however, was so timid. Liang Qian, though startled, remained where she was, scanning her surroundings.

Daxiong, conversely, started cursing loudly: "Damn it, what kind of sneaking thing is that! If you have the guts, come out and face me!"

My nerves were already stretched to their absolute limit. Initially, I had hoped the distortion was merely a trick of light caused by uneven ground water, but the way that shadow recoiled confirmed it possessed conscious intent. I felt certain it was watching us from somewhere within the darkness.

However, after a long stretch of silence, the entity did not reappear.

Liang Qian, gripping her shotgun and holding the torch aloft, continued to inspect the perimeter, and Daxiong joined the search, but they found not a single clue.

Gradually, the initial flurry of excited discussion subsided back into quiet tension. Liang Qian and Daxiong were preparing to abandon their search.

But just then, I noticed a small, dark shape slowly emerging near the light cast by their moving silhouettes, gradually growing larger.

This time, screams of terror erupted from the group, and a chill ran down my spine, but I managed to forcefully silence the commotion.

Indeed, in the absolute quiet, the thing began to manifest again, slowly morphing from a small black dot into the silhouette of a person, and finally, from a normal human shape, its neck began its grotesque elongation. The process was incredibly unnatural, suffocating to witness. I saw everyone’s eyes bulge, beads of sweat forming on their foreheads, some trembling uncontrollably.

Unless you witnessed that transformation firsthand, you could never comprehend the depth of my fear. I never dreamed such an event could occur in the world.

Only when the shadow was fully formed did Liang Qian and Daxiong seem to snap out of a trance, stepping cautiously toward the specter.

I saw their faces—they were utterly ashen, paler than death. Daxiong’s back was soaked with sweat, his characteristic brute strength completely sapped; he remained silent.

When their combined shadows overlapped the strange silhouette, I saw the long-necked shadow twitch. Its face, previously turned to the side, slowly rotated until it faced us directly!

In that instant, I felt like I was suffocating; that thing was undeniably looking right at us.

Even with their known bravery, Liang Qian and Daxiong were paralyzed with fright. After a long pause, they began frantically scanning their surroundings.

I too raised my trembling hand, sweeping the flashlight beam around them, yet still found nothing suspicious.

The group barely dared to breathe, everyone’s faces pale with terror. Yet, for a long time, that shadow remained frozen in that position, unmoving.

As I stared intently, someone suddenly clapped me on the shoulder from behind. Startled, I whipped around to see Old Huang.

He didn't look at me, but pointed toward the wall not far from Daxiong and the others, his voice hollow with dread: "There are… many more…"

When I looked, it was as if a bolt of lightning had struck me; my legs nearly gave out beneath me. Because on the wall behind Daxiong, four or five more dark shapes were slowly materializing, all beginning their hideous transformation.