I shook my head, crouched down to examine the straw figure closely, then pointed to its waist, saying, "Look, there's a flashlight hanging on its belt. Clearly, whatever came here with a light is represented by this thing." I could no longer trust my own eyes and squatted down to investigate as well. The straw figure was unclothed; its entire body was woven from branches and weeds that hadn't fully dried, emitting a strong, earthy scent. Just as I leaned in for a closer look, the straw figure's head seemed to twitch! The sudden movement of the straw figure startled * so badly that he fumbled, and the Type 54 pistol in his hand discharged with a sharp pop, hitting the figure squarely on the head. Anyone familiar with the Type 54 pistol knows that while its effective range is relatively short, its stopping power at close quarters is considerable. The straw figure’s head burst open with a crack, sending wood shavings and dried grass flying, revealing what lay inside. Seeing the contents of the straw figure's head shocked me even more profoundly. Inside, resting against the skull of twigs, was a rusty copper disc, about the size of my palm. My surprise stemmed from the fact that the design on this copper disc was precisely that of the Candle God from the Wei King's ruins, only much more ancient. Furthermore, the bullet from the Type 54 had shattered a section of the disc, exposing what was inside: a dead toad! Upon closer inspection, I was even more astonished, as I recognized this toad—it was the Kulong from the Wei King's ruins! Tiger was clearly taken aback too. He tore off two lengths of vine from the straw figure and cautiously used them to clamp the copper disc out, but when he tried to pull it free, he found it wouldn't budge. Shining the flashlight on it, we saw that thin, thread-like structures, resembling animal meridians, had grown out of two dark spots on the disc, connecting it to the rest of the body. At that moment, pulled by the tension exerted by 's grip, the straw figure’s entire body began to convulse, flailing its limbs, trying to rise. Watching the scene unfold, I felt a profound sense of the bizarre; this thing made of vines was behaving like a living creature. Tiger, fearing the figure might pose a threat, yanked hard, severing all the meridian-like connections and finally extracting the copper disc. The action was brutal, and the straw figure’s limbs immediately went limp. Clamping the object, Tiger looked at me and asked, "Did you bring a sterile bag? Take this thing and study it later." I quickly nodded, retrieved a pre-packed sterilization pouch from my backpack, and carefully sealed the damaged copper disc inside. Having secured the item, * stood up, gesturing around him, and said, "There are several more of these things nearby, but they don't seem to move unless touched. I suspect the one who fled was manipulating these straw figures, and that person must have a significant connection to the Wei King's ruins." I readily agreed, putting the disc away, and said to *, "We need to hurry and follow them now, or we’ll never catch up with Grandpa and the others."

remained characteristically cold, saying little more, clicked on his flashlight, and strode purposefully toward the gap in the long corridor. I followed closely behind, and soon we arrived at the makeshift camp Grandpa and the others had set up.

moved ahead, sweeping his flashlight beam over the several figures lying on the ground, then turned back to me and said, "They just seem to have passed out." I walked over and knelt beside one of the men, flipping his eyelid open. His pupils were alternately constricting and dilating, and there were many dark bloodshot lines in the whites of his eyes; his condition did not look good. So, I said to *, "It might be more than simple unconsciousness; they might be poisoned." As soon as I finished speaking, blood began to flow from the man's nostrils, and his face started turning a faint blue. I sighed, looking at the man’s face—he couldn't have been more than twenty. It was a shame if he died just like this. But now that we were here, everything was up to fate; there was nothing I could do to help him. Then * spoke up, "I don't think it’s poison. This is Gu affliction. Someone placed a Gu curse on these people beforehand. When that fellow played his flute just now, the Gu poison activated, causing this reaction." I nodded, conceding *’s assessment. Moreover, I figured the straw figures we just saw were also a manifestation of Gu sorcery. It seemed the person who fled was a master of Gu arts, which was quite rare. However, this wasn't totally surprising, as I had witnessed my second aunt's skill with Gu before. There really were such uncanny individuals in this world. We couldn't afford to worry about these fallen people; in fact, their incapacitation saved us a lot of trouble. Although Boss Wu and the others were still missing, tracking Grandpa was the priority right now. Thus, * and I proceeded, one after the other, toward the massive stone gate. I glanced sideways at the half-burnt corpse from earlier; it had been buried with earth now, without even a makeshift tombstone, leaving only sporadic bloodstains on the ground to testify to the recent bloody scene. Much of the blood had spattered onto the stone gate, appearing particularly eerie in the faint light. I frowned, slightly nauseated by the smell of fresh human blood, and covered my nose.

also frowned, surveyed the surroundings, and then entered the stone gate first. I followed close behind, and a wave of stagnant, blood-tinged air, trapped inside the tree cavity, rushed out to meet us, thick enough to feel suffocating. * and I both coughed softly and quickly covered our noses. The world inside was pitch black. We couldn't see the glow of Grandpa's flashlight ahead. Listening closely, we seemed to catch faint human voices from a great distance; clearly, they were no longer nearby. I took the lead, shining my flashlight, but found nothing save for some wood shavings and gravel on the floor. What was peculiar, however, was that a faint, howling wind sound echoed within this enclosed space… We walked forward about ten meters like this, and the sound of the wind ahead seemed to grow stronger. As I wondered at the strangeness, * suddenly grabbed me, shouting, "Careful!" I immediately stopped, and a powerful gust of wind surged up from beneath my feet, blowing the hair on my forehead straight up.

yanked me down into a seated position and shone his flashlight a few inches ahead of me. There, a sheer precipice gaped open—one more step and I would have plummeted into an abyss thousands of feet deep. I knew * had night vision; thankfully, that saved my life.

didn't say much more, patted my shoulder, then pulled a glow stick from his pocket, twisted it to activate, and threw it forcefully toward the front. The glow stick traced an arc through the air, flying about twenty meters before striking something, bouncing back slightly, and then starting its descent. Looking closely, I initially thought there was a wall opposite the chasm, but after a moment, I was so astonished my jaw nearly dropped: the object the glow stick hit was the bark of a massive tree. The tree was so enormous that we couldn't even discern its curved shape; it simply looked like a flat wall. Between our cliff edge and the tree lay a chasm twenty meters wide, of unknown depth.

pointed to a spot not far to our side and said, "There’s a suspension bridge over there." He helped me up, and we walked toward the bridge. Arriving at the structure, I saw it was a suspension bridge constructed of copper chains and stone slabs. Though ancient, it appeared quite sturdy. As we crossed, we shone our flashlights toward the opposite side, where a black stone door was nestled. We walked straight through that stone door and entered the interior of the great tree. I then realized the tree cavity spanned at least two to three hundred square meters. Grandpa and the others must have ventured quite deep already. Since they were far ahead, * and I decided against pressing on blindly, so we switched on our flashlights.