Andrei replied, "That sphere of light that rose from the lake. This thing showed up last year too, and all the fish in the lake died afterward. It terrified the villagers."

Daxiong heard this, gestured to the fish in his hand, and said, "What do you mean they all died? There are clearly still plenty of fish; we caught several today."

Andrei nodded and said, "Indeed, this lake is very strange. Perhaps it connects to an underground river. No matter how much they overfish, there is always a continuous supply of fish. Even though all the fish died last year, many have regenerated this year."

Even with his explanation, I still found Andrei's reasoning odd. The biggest puzzle was that Andrei wasn't even in his hometown last year, yet he seemed to know far too much.

Seeing that we were all silent, Andrei managed an awkward smile and said, "Well, it's good that you are all unharmed. It's time to cook now; put the fish down."

Daxiong nodded and handed the fish over to Mrs. Rabinovich.

At this point, I spoke to the lady in Russian: "I apologize, we lost all our fishing gear."

Mrs. Rabinovich smiled and replied, "It's nothing, it’s just good that you brought the fish back."

With that, she carried the fish into the kitchen, and Liang Qian hurried after her to help, leaving Daxiong and me alone in the main hall.

I looked at Andrei and said, "Mr. Andrei, are you hiding something from me? You certainly know what that white sphere of light is, don't you? It has something to do with those murals in the back, right?"

The murals I referred to were those in the western suburbs cemetery in Chengdu. Andrei hadn't let me see them then, but they mentioned Unidentified Flying Objects.

Andrei froze for a moment, then shook his head: "How could that be? There's nothing."

I narrowed my eyes, staring hard at him, and he seemed guiltily to light a cigarette and began to smoke.

I thought to myself that despite his age, this fellow seemed incapable of hiding his true feelings, yet prying anything out of him would still prove difficult. There is a type of lie you cannot blame the speaker for—the one told under the assumption that lying is for your own good.

I glanced at Andrei, feeling disappointed, and returned to my room by myself.

The fireplace in the room had been burning continuously. Clearly, Mrs. Rabinovich had been tending the fire for us while we were away.

As soon as I entered the room, a wave of warmth enveloped me, and I couldn't help but feel grateful. In truth, I often felt Mrs. Rabinovich treated me better than my own mother. I truly didn't know how I could ever thank her enough.

Although today’s experience hadn't been physically strenuous, it had left me mentally exhausted, so I immediately collapsed onto the ** and rested for a while.

Daxiong, just like me, lay down as soon as he got into the room, staring at the ceiling alongside me.

After a stretch of silence, I said to Daxiong, "Have we been living too comfortably these past few days? I feel like time is passing so slowly."

Daxiong nodded and agreed, "Yeah, without setting traps or finding treasures, I feel like my hands are going to rust. I think we’ve become like Lord Liu being trapped in the State of Wu back then—a little too content to leave. I say, let's stop worrying about everything else. I'm still uneasy about **, so why don't we just go to Relic Island ourselves tomorrow? Whatever happens, happens!"

I cursed him, "Damn it, why didn't you say so earlier? Now that ** is out there, we have to respect the price he paid. It's too late to disrupt the plan now."

Daxiong sat up from the ** and retorted, "Weren't you the one complaining just now? Now you’re saying something convenient."

Seeing that he was displeased, I didn't say anything more, because he was, in fact, right. Perhaps overthinking things isn't always beneficial. If I could act as decisively as Daxiong, that wouldn't be a bad thing either.

As we were talking, there was a knock at the door.

Liang Qian called from outside, "Dinner is ready."

Daxiong and I came to the table to sit down, but he had a sour expression and ignored me.

Liang Qian looked at the two of us and asked, "What's wrong with you two? Did you fight?"

Daxiong turned his head away, clearly unhappy, and said indignantly, "Ask him!"

I managed an embarrassed smile and spread my hands, saying, "Nothing, just a small thing."

Andrei watched us from across the table. Seemingly trying to change the subject, he asked, "You have another friend, that **—where did he go? We haven't seen him all afternoon."

I hadn't expected Andrei to have such a clear impression of ** and paused, unsure how to answer.

Liang Qian explained at that moment, "Oh, him? He said he wanted to stroll around the nearby villages to buy some clothes for a change. You see, we came in such a hurry, we didn't bring many outfits."

Andrei looked at Liang Qian suspiciously and said, "Buy clothes? Don't the villages have shops? Do you expect to find Adidas, Nike, or perhaps Jinba menswear in this poor backwater?"

Liang Qian was clearly ill-suited for lying; her face instantly flushed red, and she started stammering.

At that point, I interrupted Liang Qian and asked directly, "Mr. Andrei, when are we going to Relic Island?"

Andrei was drawn in by my question and replied, "Oh, since winter has arrived early, I thought we'd wait another half a month until the sea freezes over; the fog should dissipate then."

I considered it for a moment and suggested, "Why don't we take the boat out in the next few days to take a look first? If the dense fog has already cleared, wouldn't that be even better?"

Hearing this, Daxiong became energized and quickly chimed in, "Yes, yes! I bet those Haenyeo are afraid of the cold and have already retreated to the seabed to sleep by now."

Andrei stroked his beard, looking thoughtful. "But I have to go to Moscow in a few days. I was hoping to be back by then. Why are you suddenly in such a rush?"

Daxiong cut in front of me, exclaiming, "Because these past few days have been too boring!"

I shot Daxiong a look, telling him to stop talking nonsense.

Andrei, however, burst out laughing. "Yes, I suppose I hadn't considered that. You have indeed been cooped up here too long. How about this: before I leave, I'll take you to look. If the fog has lifted, we can move ahead of schedule. As for BEY, solving that will probably take longer, so going later is fine. After all, the reason I kept you here was to investigate the ruins."

Daxiong slammed his hand on the table and laughed heartily, "That's wonderful! I've been itching for action!"

"Itching for action?" Andrei frowned and asked, "Itching for what? Aren't you researchers from the Academy of Sciences? I would think you have plenty of research to keep you busy when you’re idle?"

Daxiong chuckled slyly, "Oh, nothing much. I mean I’m eager to find some artifacts to study."

I was speechless, thinking this guy was truly unreliable.

We all enjoyed the meal immensely because the news that we could depart soon lifted everyone's spirits. Mrs. Rabinovich’s skill in cooking fish was excellent, and combined with the inherent tenderness of the Taimen, it truly satisfied our appetites.

During the meal, Andrei never brought up ** again, which was a great relief to us.

Regarding the stakes in the lake, I asked the village head. He said that a tsunami decades ago had washed away the village’s ritual stake, causing it to fall into the lake. They had replaced it with a new one modeled after the original, never imagining that this particular one would have such fate to be seen by us.

None of us doubted the village head's explanation. I figured it was the only plausible story, as the villagers would never intentionally discard a sacred stake into the lake.

After dinner, we returned to our rooms to prepare our adventure gear. Since we were heading to ruins on the surface this time, we wouldn't need excessive ropes, and the lighting requirements weren't stringent, but fire-starting tools and food were essential.

We borrowed some dried, cured meat from Mrs. Rabinovich to take along, packed some rye bread, and even included that strong liquor Andrei favored most. This liquor had a flashpoint similar to gasoline and served to ward off the cold—a valuable item.

Having done all this, we settled onto our beds and slept soundly.

The wind picked up again outside in the night. I heard the violent rustling sounds, wondering how many more tree branches the storm had broken.