With that in mind, I said to *, "Quick, get this person down. I know him; he holds important clues."

nodded, took out a rope, fashioned a loop, and then, like a real cowboy, swung it a few times, snaring Feng Ze's neck.

Then, with a hard tug, Feng Ze's corpse was pulled down from above.

Next, we began to examine the fellow's body.

We saw that none of his clothing remained intact; it had been ripped to shreds, and his skin was no better, covered in scrapes and abrasions of all sizes.

The most striking thing was that both of his legs were missing from below the knee. Bone showed through, and the flesh was shredded into something resembling cotton fluff, looking utterly horrific.

Feng Ze's fatal injury was to his right shoulder.

The entire shoulder had caved in, the scapula driven directly into his chest cavity.

This indicated he had been killed by blunt force trauma to the shoulder.

Searching his body further, we found his clothing offered no place to conceal anything. Yet, in the end, one item startled me.

It was a silver pendant hanging around Feng Ze's neck. The pendant was a rectangular plaque, meticulously engraved on both sides with the totem of a flame.

That flame totem was all too familiar. It was the same emblem displayed on the SUVs of the people who had been watching me when I was staying at my Second Uncle's house!

This meant Feng Ze was absolutely connected to that organization watching me.

It seemed that Feng Ze’s tale of Grandpa and the others being in danger, which led him to bring me and Da Xiong into the Black Bamboo Valley ruins, had been premeditated all along.

Gaining this clue made me a little excited; it seemed the whole truth was slowly coming into view.

At least, I was no longer a headless fly, aimlessly bumping around.

Feng Ze was someone I knew; obtaining his file wouldn't be difficult. As long as I could get out of here and investigate his background, I could figure out what that organization with the flame totem was all about.

Thinking this, I glanced up at the hole overhead and said to *, "It looks like Feng Ze and his people ascended from here, were attacked by something, and died here. Let's go up and check it out too. Maybe we can find clues about Grandpa and the others."

nodded in agreement, then squatted down, interlocking his palms on his knees, signaling he would form a human ladder to help me jump up first.

So, I stepped back two paces, leaped upward, placed my left foot on *’s clasped hands, and was pushed airborne by him. My hands grasped the edge of the three-meter-high opening in the cavern wall.

I pulled with all my strength, slowly hauling myself up.

Once on the ceiling, I first cautiously swept my flashlight around the perimeter, only to nearly vomit.

Because surrounding me were corpses—arms and legs scattered everywhere. Many were already putrefied, and the ground was stained a deep crimson by dried blood. The scene was absolutely gruesome.

The flashlight beam illuminated the space; I realized this was a sealed, hidden room, only about twenty square meters, shaped like a square.

Moreover, there were numerous murals on the four walls.

I decided not to look at the murals for the moment. After confirming there were no other immediate dangers, I lowered the rope and pulled * up.

The moment * saw the floor littered with dead bodies, his expression mirrored mine—a wave of retching.

However, we were both accustomed to such scenes. Covering our mouths and noses, we managed to stabilize ourselves.

Then, we both drew our knives and began to prod the corpses, discovering that these people, like Feng Ze, had likely been dead for about a month. Many faces were unrecognizable due to decomposition.

Furthermore, every single one of these individuals wore the same pendant bearing the flame totem.

After poking around for a while, * hadn't found much of significance. These people carried no personal belongings, no notebooks or phones—only a walkie-talkie for each person, along with some field expedition gear like medicine, daggers, handguns, ropes, flashlights, and gunpowder.

Counting carefully, there were approximately eight bodies, and I say approximately because many were incomplete remains.

and I shook our heads helplessly, reflecting on how utterly tragic the scene was.

After examining the bodies, we moved toward the walls, preparing to inspect the strange murals.

But after taking a couple of steps, * shone his flashlight into a corner of the secret chamber and said to me, "Look, what is that?"

I followed the direction he pointed. On the wall opposite us, five chains, as thick as human arms, extended from inside the structure.

These chains lay like five black, serpentine monsters winding across the floor, terminating in shackles that had clearly been opened.

Judging by the thickness of the chains, they were certainly not meant for ordinary humans. Chains that heavy, if worn, would surely crush a person to death.

It was immediately clear that these restraints were originally intended to hold some kind of gigantic monster.

Who opened this creature's bonds? Or did the creature break free itself? And where is the monster now?

and I walked towards the chains and quickly discovered that on the wall where the chains emerged, there was a crudely carved mural with exaggerated lines.

It was etched into the stone, a totem-like depiction of a creature resembling a crab, but possessing the upper body of a woman and eight legs below. Its hands were two massive claws, and its fangs nearly touched its nostrils.

In the image, the crab-monster was suspended in the sky, with clouds swirling beneath it, giving it an almost celestial air, as if riding the mists.

However, due to the rough nature of the carving and the inherently eerie quality of the monster itself, the scene appeared deeply unsettling.

Most importantly, carved next to this illustration were a few characters written in standard script: (Dōnghǎi Nǚchǒu Shénjiāng—Divine General Nüchou of the East Sea).

stared at the characters and cursed, "What kind of god is this, a 'Chick God'? If gods looked like this, the ancients had seriously strange tastes."

I covered my nose, spat, and snapped back, "It's not 'Chick God,' it’s Nüchou..."

"Nüchou? What’s that? Why not just call it 'Ugly Woman'..." * looked at me skeptically.

I explained to him, "It’s another tribe mentioned in the Classic of Mountains and Seas (Shanhaijing), just like the Wei people. The Shanhaijing records that the Nüchou people lived by the sea and were skilled at commanding giant crabs. But I suspect the Shanhaijing got it wrong; maybe the Nüchou people are the giant crabs themselves..."

had seen the ancient corpses of the Wei people underground in Black Bamboo Valley—the hairy Wei people existed, so it wasn't strange for the Nüchou people, who resembled giant crabs, to exist too.

I paced around for a moment and said, "It looks like the Wei people waged war against the Nüchou tribe, defeated them, and imprisoned this thing? And kept it here..."

shook his head. "No way. When have you ever seen people draw a portrait of a prisoner, let alone one drawn so ferociously magnificent? ... I guess the Nüchou was being raised here by the Wei people..."

As he was speaking, we suddenly heard two voices from directly above us.

Then, a square section of the ceiling above us shifted, and a sliver of blue light spilled down.

and I reacted with perfect synchronization, rolling instantly into the darkness of the chamber to hide.

A few seconds later, two shadowy figures moved the square hatchway aside and peered down into the hole.

I couldn't make out their features, but one said, "It seems General Crab has gone out foraging. Throw this fat man down first. General Crab will enjoy him when he returns."

The two nodded simultaneously, shoving a large, bulky person down from above.

The man was bound tightly like a dumpling. When he dropped, he let out a muffled grunt, squirming like a pig awaiting slaughter.

After the fat man was thrown down, there was another heavy sound of metal lids being moved from above, and the sliver of blue light gradually vanished.

and I exhaled, turning on our flashlights to examine the person thrown down.

To our shock, we saw that the person was Da Xiong.

His hands and feet were tied with coarse rope, his mouth gagged with a wad of tangled grass, and his eyes covered with a black cloth.