The sleep was uneasy, perhaps because it was impossible to settle down properly in this sort of place.

Secondly, because every time I fell asleep, some unexpected change occurred, preventing me from sleeping soundly.

After about three or four hours, I woke up from a nightmare, drenched in a cold sweat.

I dreamt I was someone who had been dead for many years, crawling out of a grave deep in the mountains and old forests...

Wiping the cold sweat from my forehead, I sat up, feeling the dream was utterly bizarre.

Was it a premonition of something about to happen? Would I die? The thought then struck me as amusing; I told myself perhaps the previous incident of the dead rising had just made me mentally tense, and now that the situation was resolved, the dead wouldn't rise again.

“You’re awake, Xiao Chuan.

Perfect timing, let’s discuss how to get out.” * was standing right beside me, smiling as he watched me.

I touched my forehead, trying to clear my head, and looked up to ask, “Where’s Grandpa?” gestured toward the campfire behind him, saying, “Professor Nie woke up long ago.

He’s been reading by the fire.” Following the direction of his finger, I indeed saw Grandpa sitting by the fire, diligently reading a notebook, occasionally jotting something down in it.

That must be his personal notebook; Grandpa was probably reviewing his notes.

“What about Da Xiong?” My compulsion dictated that I needed to know everyone was accounted for before I could feel secure.

“Oh, Da Xiong said you’d want to check out that massive hole the Crab God dug when you woke up, so he went ahead to take a look for you…” * replied.

I hummed an acknowledgement, stood up, and walked with * toward Grandpa.

Hearing our footsteps, Grandpa closed the notebook in his hand and silently watched the perpetually flickering flames before him.

and I sat down opposite Grandpa, and all three of us fell into silence.

I noticed that with Grandpa suddenly back by my side, everything felt a bit unnatural.

We used to have endless topics to discuss, whether academic or personal; Grandpa always showed great concern for everything.

But now, it felt as if an unseen barrier had suddenly sprung up between us.

watched our silent exchange and cleared his throat twice, saying, “Um...

are you hungry? Do you want something to eat?” I glanced at Grandpa, sighed, and said, “Not hungry.

I’ll go find Da Xiong, and we’ll discuss getting out together.” With that, I stood up, switched on my flashlight, and walked toward the depths of the darkness.

Following the previous route, I quickly found the large opening where the Crab God had emerged.

And Da Xiong was just then climbing out of the hole.

I rushed over, and Da Xiong greeted me with a wide grin, shouting, “Come look, Xiao Chuan! I found that this shaft leads directly to the Cavern of Dongting on the level below—we don’t have to navigate the maze anymore!” Hearing him say that, I leaned closer.

Da Xiong lit a glow stick and tossed it into the cavern.

The glow stick fell continuously, encountering no visible obstruction.

It tumbled for about fifty or sixty meters before hitting a pale, circular object, bouncing twice, and finally landing on the ground.

I recognized that pale object; it was one of the giant mushrooms growing on the lower level.

“It seems the fight between the girl in white and that crab monster tore a hole right through this floor panel.

How intense must that have been? Do you think the girl is alright after falling from such a height?” Da Xiong asked me.

I shook my head, indicating I didn't know, then told Da Xiong, “Go quickly and call * and Grandpa; we’ll descend from here.” Da Xiong nodded and walked away.

I circled the large hole twice but found no other clues.

It seemed highly probable that the girl in white had indeed fallen through here along with the Crab God.

When I got to the opposite side of the massive opening, I saw the Mantis Monster that the Crab God had stomped to death.

It had been dead for quite some time.

Upon close inspection, I noted that its green spines had not receded with death, and the veins on its wings were still emitting a faint blue light.

Leaning close to its wing, I discovered that the luminescence was caused by some transparent blue fluid flowing within its veins.

Intrigued, I drew my Silver Fish Dagger, cut off a wing specimen, sealed it in a disinfectant bag, intending to study it later.

After finishing this, Da Xiong returned, carrying Grandpa on his back, with * following close behind.

We didn't exchange many words.

We tied all three of our ropes together; it was about sixty meters long—enough to reach the layer below.

Da Xiong then secured one end of the rope to the nearest Tree-Pouch and started climbing down first, with Grandpa on his back.

Then came *, followed by me.

All the way down, I kept urging Da Xiong to be careful not to drop Grandpa.

Da Xiong answered me lazily, a gesture of protest against my nagging.

Watching Da Xiong descend steadily, I thought how fortunate Grandpa was to have him as a steed, allowing them to reach this underground ruin smoothly; otherwise, just climbing down a rope would have been taxing enough for Grandpa.

Climbing down five or six meters, we were already traversing the maze layer, which was about twenty meters thick.

was below me, keeping the wolf smoke wick held in his mouth, observing the surroundings as he descended.

Suddenly, he stopped, holding the rope with one hand and pointing his flashlight—which he took from his mouth—at a spot, saying, “Look, Xiao Chuan, there are several dead bodies here.

They look like they died recently.” I looked closely and indeed saw several corpses huddled in the corner of a passage break.

They were all curled up, wearing matching light-gray assault jackets, equipped with firearms and illumination gear—they were Boss Wu’s men! Seeing this, * and I decided to climb in and take a look.

Da Xiong asked what was wrong, and I told him, “It’s fine.

Take Grandpa down first; we’ll be right behind you.” Da Xiong grumbled, “Hey! Don’t forget to save some of the good loot for me!” I ignored him and entered the passage with *.

After a brief examination of their wounds, we immediately understood these people had been killed by the Crab God; many were missing limbs.

Though I didn't recognize their faces, they looked familiar; I was certain they were the group that had descended with Boss Wu.

After checking them over, we found no survivors.

The passage they were in was quite wide, and at its end, there were three branching paths.

At the intersection, we spotted several bullet holes, clearly indicating a firefight had taken place here.

However, we couldn't possibly check all three tunnels one by one; we’d get lost the moment we entered any of them.

As for what Boss Wu and his crew encountered, or what their true objectives were, I remained ignorant until he personally recounted their ordeal later—and I realized their experience had been far more perilous and intense than ours.

That's a story for another time.

Since none of us had the energy left to search for Boss Wu’s group, we decided to temporarily leave them be, planning to wait for them outside for a couple of days.

This wasn't selfishness; it was just that the underground world was fraught with danger, and we might lose ourselves trying to help.

Besides, Boss Wu was an experienced tomb robber; his gear was better, and he had more men.

If he encountered trouble despite those advantages, we wouldn't be able to save him anyway.

We collected some rations, ropes, ice axes, handguns, and bullets from these dead men, packed them into two backpacks, and each took one.

We piled the bodies together, doused them with gasoline we’d salvaged, and burned them before leaving that passage to continue our descent.