One of the men, dark-skinned with a thin mustache, spoke up, "Cut the charming act. You're friends with someone named Xie. You think you don't know who we are?"

I played dumb and asked, "Xie? Which Xie? The only people with me are a fatty and the innkeeper, Azhuo."

Before I could finish, the man raised his handgun and snapped, "Shut your mouth, or I'll blow your brains out!"

I managed a self-deprecating pout and muttered, "What's with all the shouting..."

Honestly, under normal circumstances, being kidnapped would have me wetting myself with fear. But after all the bizarre, life-and-death escapades I’ve been through, I actually had the presence of mind to crack a joke while abducted—even I hadn't expected that.

Just then, a few crackling, chaotic sounds echoed from the surrounding darkness, like static from a radio losing signal.

Because the silence here was deathly, the noise sounded particularly unsettling.

The man with the mustache pulled a mud-caked walkie-talkie from his pocket and held it to his ear.

I hadn't seen modern electronic equipment in ages; these last few days felt like living like a savage. Seeing that walkie-talkie gave me a strange sense of familiarity, a feeling that I was actually still part of the modern world.

I surveyed the environment and realized I was no longer in that secret room. This was a vast, open area. Although the ground was still uneven ice sheets, I could make out towering shadows in the distance—judging by their shapes, they must have been small glaciers.

The air here was intensely cold. Despite wearing a ragged leather coat, I couldn't stop shivering. There was no wind, only intermittent cold mist swirling unpredictably, making the scene look utterly eerie.

I watched the mustached man hold the walkie-talkie to his ear for a long time, hearing only that abrasive noise. Curiosity piqued, I wondered what he could make of it.

After listening for a moment, the static abruptly cut off. The mustached man frowned and said to the others, "The Boss found some clues up ahead. We're moving to check it out now. But remember, the instant you see firelight, drop flat. Don't make a sound."

Then he gave me a hard glare and warned, "If you don't want to die, you better follow suit."

I nodded helplessly, wondering how he managed to decipher that string of noise. Was it some kind of Morse code? And if their leader was that Old Huang, did that mean I wasn't dreaming last night? Was Old Huang really still alive? The memory of that terrifying face still made me shudder, but if he was alive, I could accept it. I’d seen every kind of corpse these past few days; a rotten-faced living person wouldn't be much more frightening to me.

After saying his piece, the mustached man used his entrenching tool to shovel away some ice fragments, extinguishing the campfire on the ground. Then he pulled a glow stick from his pack, twisted it hard, and a cold, eerie blue light bloomed.

The sudden contrast in light intensity made me momentarily disoriented; the surroundings seemed to plunge into absolute blackness, with only that bobbing blue orb ahead. A jolt went through me—this was a perfect chance to escape.

However, the moment I lifted one foot, I felt something cold and hard press against the back of my skull. A chilling voice commanded, "Don't try any tricks. Move!"

I cursed inwardly. I could run now, but I was afraid they’d start firing randomly and kill me. So, I obediently followed the blue light forward.

After a while, my eyes gradually adjusted to the light change. The cold blue glow illuminated the mustached man’s face and the shadows of the men around him.

I saw their expressions were taut; they held their guns ready, seemingly prepared to fire at any second. They clearly understood the danger here, and I couldn't help but feel tense.

We walked on for a while, and the surrounding cold mist thickened. Visibility dropped to only a few meters. The shadowy glaciers occasionally materialized around us, most standing five or six meters high, reflecting the blue light of the glow stick. They were crystalline and translucent, like jagged wolf fangs pointing skyward, possessing an ineffable, piercing beauty.

I marveled inwardly; to think such wonders existed in this underground world. It was breathtaking—places like Yunnan’s Dragon Pool Cave or Beijing’s Shihuadong were completely incomparable. As I was pondering this, the mustached man ahead suddenly crouched down and made a stopping gesture.

The others followed suit, squatting tensely and staring ahead without daring to breathe.

Not wanting to die, I crouched down too. Ahead of the mustached man was a strangely shaped glacier. The side facing us was perfectly smooth, like a mirror.

Through this large block of ice, we could vaguely see the scene on the other side.

I saw a faint, shimmering blue light dancing behind the ice. At first, I thought it was just the reflection of our glow stick off the ice surface.

But when the mustached man tucked the glow stick into his backpack, we realized the light was coming from a person behind the ice. The figure was extremely tall, perhaps over two meters, clad in a coarse cloak, holding a long-handled weapon resembling a steel trident. He looked incredibly imposing, like a giant bear. And from the mouth area of this blurred silhouette emanated a faint blue glow, as if some four-legged bioluminescent creature was crouched inside.

Under our gaze, the unknown creature seemed to shift, searching for something.

We held our breath and waited for about five minutes. The ethereal blue flame slowly dimmed, and the shadow of the creature blurred. At the last moment, I saw the giant’s mouth slowly close.

After another moment, the mustached man wiped the sweat from his brow, took out a small notebook, and scribbled a few large characters with his highlighter pen: "No talking. They are especially ** to sound!"

The others nodded, adjusted their gear, and stood up to continue moving forward.

I rubbed my numb knees from crouching and, being coerced, followed them.

Rounding the glacier, the mustached man raised his glow stick again and approached the giant figure.

I finally saw the thing clearly. It wasn't wearing a cloak; its entire body was covered in coarse, dark hair, resembling a magnificent lion, the fur coated in ice shards, suggesting it had been frozen here for an unknown duration.

I knew this had to be the corpse of a Wei person. I had expected Wei people to look terrifying, but seeing his strong build, flowing hair, and rugged outline, I found him magnificent—even more handsome than many ordinary humans, possessing a kind of wild beauty.

This Wei warrior had a deep laceration across his neck, frozen dark blue now; clearly, this was his fatal wound.

I had seen rock carvings depicting blood sacrifices in the Tibetan region. Common folk often died brutally by the blade, but only true warriors, when required for sacrifice, would end their own lives, holding a large bowl to catch the blood, bracing themselves with their weapons so they wouldn't fall at the final moment.

The blood in the bowl would then be collected and poured entirely into the blood pool. Shamans would then dance and pray around the pool before burning the sacrificial texts to complete the rite.

I noticed the Wei warrior’s left hand was indeed shaped like a claw, held against his chest—perhaps it had once held the bowl—and I felt a surge of respect for the warrior before me.

The mustached man searched the Wei warrior’s body anxiously for a moment. He seemed not to find anything useful, so he shook the glow stick slightly, signaling us to move on.

I thought how daring the mustached man was. What if the creature in the warrior’s mouth suddenly opened its jaws while he was examining it? It seemed they were wary of the creature hidden in the corpse’s mouth, yet they appeared to know a great deal about its habits.

We continued forward, and I noticed the glaciers around us gradually thinning out, replaced by more warrior corpses.

Some had already fallen to the ground, while only a few still stood, silent in the deep mist, seemingly watching us.