Boss Wu stared intently at the small flame, and after a good ten seconds, he finally asked me, "Did you see it?" I thought to myself what was there to see; the flame was burning steadily, and apart from being a bit greenish, there was nothing unusual, nor was there any sign of a 'ghost blowing out the lamp' phenomenon. So I shook my head and said, "I didn't see anything.

What's wrong?" Boss Wu seemed a bit impatient. After making me watch for a long time and realizing I still didn't understand, he began counting: "One, two, three, four." He stopped counting at four.

At that moment, I noticed the flame seemed to tremble slightly. It couldn't be explained by the airflow caused by Boss Wu speaking, as that would have made the flame flicker.

Firstly, Boss Wu held the flame quite far from himself, and the wind guard was oriented inward. Secondly, even if the air could reach the flame, it would sway outward, away from the person, not inward.

Clearly, there was some kind of air current moving within the cave, and this movement was remarkably regular, occurring almost exactly every three seconds, like a person’s breath. With that thought, I extended my hand to feel the air.

Sure enough, gusts of cold wind occasionally blew into the cave, feeling icy against the skin, though not intensely so. The cause of this phenomenon might be wind blowing in from the other side of the cavern, causing the air inside to circulate.

However, if that were the case, the flame wouldn't move with such precision. Therefore, there was another possibility: something nearby was breathing, yet we couldn't see it.

If it was the second possibility, then whatever was opposite us was certainly not human—it was an entity beyond natural explanation. Boss Wu evidently shared my thought; cold sweat was already trickling down his temples.

Then, his other hand moved, reaching toward his waist. I saw his movements were extremely cautious, as if afraid of startling something.

"What are you doing?" My neck stiffened, daring not to move rashly, still staring straight ahead, but I couldn't help asking him. Boss Wu didn't speak.

His hand moved slowly toward his waist, then suddenly sped up, drawing out a handgun and aiming it at the empty space directly in front of us. I thought to myself that surmising an invisible creature was ahead was just speculation—it seemed almost impossible—so why was Boss Wu so convinced?

Later I would learn that Boss Wu had indeed encountered such things before, which explained his extreme vigilance. That’s a story for another time, which I will set aside for now.

As Boss Wu rapidly drew his gun and pointed forward, almost simultaneously, the lighter in front of us hissed and seemed to be blown out by someone, and the wolf-eye flashlight resting on the ground abruptly sparked with a flash of white light and instantly went dark. I jumped, nearly stumbling backward onto the ground.

Luckily, Boss Wu grabbed me and whispered in my ear, "Down!" He pulled me down, and we both lunged forward onto the ground, just as I felt a cold whoosh streak past just over our heads. I was instantly stunned, thinking, Are there really invisible monsters in this world?

Boss Wu said nothing, gripping my arm tightly, preventing me from moving. We lay there motionless in the darkness.

Crunch… crunch… While we dared not speak, a strange sound suddenly arose around us, like the crisp noise someone makes while biting into an apple. With the faint light filtering in from the cave entrance, although neither Boss Wu nor I could see the other, I could sense him turn his head to look at me.

And I looked back at him, signaling the same astonishment. Astonished as we were, whoever could destroy the flashlight with such lightning speed while we were completely unaware must be an incredibly powerful being; neither of us stood a chance against it.

So, Boss Wu and I remained prone, not daring to breathe, trying to make the entity believe we were dead. After about five minutes of this, the crunching sound stopped, and then we clearly heard the bronze alchemy furnace emit a clang, as if struck by something heavy.

About two minutes later, there was no further sound around us. Boss Wu was the first to ask softly, "It seems to have left." After Boss Wu said this, we remained silent for a while longer before he took out his lighter and reignited it.

We cautiously surveyed our surroundings and found nothing out of the ordinary, except for the shattered remains of the flashlight on the ground, which served as evidence of what had just transpired. Boss Wu carefully examined the flame in his hand; it was no longer shaking.

"What exactly was that thing? Why didn't it harm us?" I asked Boss Wu.

Boss Wu looked at his hand and replied, "I don't know. Perhaps it was afraid of the blood on my hand." Saying that, Boss Wu used the light of the lighter to move forward and inspect the apple.

Then both of us gasped in shock. The apple had been gnawed down to nothing but the core by something.

On the apple core, some black fragments remained, slightly resembling bronze rust. Boss Wu and I exchanged a look, speechless.

Picking up the apple core for a closer look, I realized it was indeed bronze rust. What kind of thing was it, and why would there be bronze rust on an eaten apple?

Could it be a part of the bronze furnace itself? Staring at the bronze furnace before us, we instantly felt it was becoming more and more incredible.

Boss Wu remained silent for a long time, checked his watch, and then said, "Forget it, let's go. We can't afford to provoke whatever is inside here." Honestly, I didn't want to invite more trouble either.

Although this bronze censer was strange, in the depths beneath this complex of Western architecture, finding something with such a strong Chinese aesthetic probably wouldn't lead me to what I was investigating. However, I sensed a hint of reluctance in Boss Wu’s expression, so I said, "I think if we have to come back, and there's no other path, we will pass through here again.

We can investigate then; it’s not too late." Boss Wu merely nodded, saying nothing, and bypassed the bronze furnace, walking deeper into the darkness on his own. I hadn't expected Boss Wu to be so decisive and quickly followed suit.

After walking some distance further, Boss Wu remained silent until we were well past the bronze alchemy furnace. He then spoke to me, "Actually, I wasn't intending to give up.

It’s just that I calculated those Nether Flames will be flying back soon, which would make things much trickier. However, I think since that thing ate our apple, it won't let us off so easily."