It was obvious that Boss Wu had also noticed something odd, so he walked to the cave wall, pressed his ear against the rock, and tapped the stone with his fingers, checking if there were any hidden cavities inside.

However, when I heard Boss Wu tapping the rock, it didn't produce a hollow thump-thump sound, but rather the dull resonance of solid masonry.

Boss Wu frowned slightly in confusion, then moved to another spot to knock.

The result was the same; the cave wall seemed utterly solid, without any kind of false layer.

Boss Wu looked at me and said, "Try saying a few more words."

I nodded, brought the walkie-talkie to my lips, and called out again, "Hello! Hello!"

This time, the other walkie-talkie crackled to life once more, still echoing my words exactly.

But strangely, the sound seemed to emanate from farther away than before, as if the walkie-talkie inside the wall was still moving.

Boss Wu and I were instantly dumbfounded, thinking, Could the walkie-talkie inside the wall actually be relocating?

So, Boss Wu and I followed the sound again, moving toward where it originated.

Upon arrival, Boss Wu didn't rush to examine the wall but said, "Keep going!"

So I whispered "Hello, hello!" into the walkie-talkie I held.

And this time, the muffled echo shifted from the rock wall to a spot not far beneath our feet.

This left Boss Wu and me completely bewildered, wondering if not just the walls, but the very ground beneath us contained hidden spaces.

I was about to speak into the walkie-talkie again when Boss Wu abruptly grabbed my arm.

He placed a finger in front of his mouth and made a shushing gesture, telling me, "Stop shouting. Your friend * is playing a trick on us."

I broke out in a cold sweat, asking quietly, "How is that possible?"

Boss Wu’s face was etched with tension. "These cave walls and the ground are solid as hell; how could anyone be moving inside them? Unless it’s a ghost."

Wu shook his head frantically, like a clapper in a bell, saying, "* and I are like sworn brothers; why would he mess with me? He must be trying to lead us somewhere."

Boss Wu wiped the sweat from his brow. "Lead us where? To Hell? Look over there—what the hell is that thing?"

I followed where Boss Wu was pointing and saw, at the spot he indicated, a massive stalagmite growing up from the floor.

The stalagmite had a bizarre shape, resembling a gigantic mushroom, but it was thicker at the base, with a disproportionately small cap on top.

Looking closer, I not only understood what Boss Wu meant by "JB thing" but was also struck by a wave of nausea.

Because this stalagmite was a * column, commonly found in solution caves—that itself wasn't the issue. But covering the top of that * column were countless tiny, white orbs.

At first, I thought they were cave fungi growing there, but upon closer inspection, I realized those little flesh-balls were slowly wriggling. They were the larvae of the Ghost Fire!

Beneath this stalagmite was a massive accumulation of animal and human skeletal remains—dark, dense, grotesquely shaped, almost blocking half the cavern, making one’s scalp crawl just to look at it.

Boss Wu looked at me and said, "I don't want to go through there."

I knew Boss Wu was lying, because besides going through that spot, we had no other path. No matter how gruesome or revolting, we had to pass through, unless we wanted to surrender our hope of survival and be trapped here forever.

Still, passing through this place would indeed require a significant psychological struggle.

I remained silent, but Boss Wu continued speaking in a low voice, "The difficulties we’re about to face aren't the only ones. Watch this."

With that, he bent down, picked up what looked like the bone club of some animal from the ground, and tossed it toward the towering pile of skeletons.

The bone club struck an animal skull with a sharp clack.

Then, I was stunned by the sight before me.

As the bone club made its sound, countless ghostly green pinpricks of light suddenly illuminated, as if someone had tripped a sound-activated switch in a hallway.

These lights hung from the cave ceiling, while others glowed from within the bone piles, causing the empty eye sockets of fragmented animal skulls to emit an eerie luminescence that made the hairs on our arms stand on end.

I did a rough count; these light spots illuminated the entire cavern before us—there were thousands of them.

Clearly, we had arrived at the Ghost Fire’s nest; all the skeletons here were the food they had collected.

After my shock subsided, I whispered to Boss Wu, "Are you insane? What if these things fly up again?"

Boss Wu shrugged. "It’s fine. This is their resting period."

I was speechless for a moment before saying, "Then we have to go now, or we’re dead once they start moving."

Boss Wu made a face of disgust, vigorously rubbed his face, and grimaced, "Fine. You go first."

I felt tongue-tied and could only trudge forward with my head down.

Boss Wu called out, stopping me. "Your backpack. How long do you expect me to carry it for you?"

Taking the backpack from Boss Wu, I was slightly surprised. I had assumed that in his haste, Boss Wu might have forgotten all the gear, but it seemed he had maintained a degree of calculation.

The only regret was that retrieving the American-imported mountain tent was now impossible.

Shouldering the backpack, I stepped forward into the heap of remains.

Boss Wu followed closely behind me, igniting a flare of cold flame.

The light from the cold flame was brighter than glow sticks or flashlights, ideal for exploration in complex terrain and vast, open spaces.

Boss Wu couldn't possibly have brought many of these; he hadn't even been willing to use one when we were attacked by that dog-like monster earlier, which showed how deeply concerned he was about this pile of skeletons.

I knew this type of cold flame he was using burned for only about three minutes, so I secretly quickened my pace.

As I passed the repulsive * column and drew very near the pile of remains, the walkie-talkie in my hand suddenly began to hiss and crackle.

Fearing I might alert the Ghost Fires hanging on the cave walls, I quickly covered the transmission port of the device.

Boss Wu frowned, drew closer to me, and bent down to listen to the walkie-talkie in my hand.

I strained to listen too and realized that someone actually seemed to be speaking from it.

Boss Wu and I exchanged a glance, seeing the shared horror in each other's eyes.

But neither of us spoke, as we both wanted to hear exactly what the other party was saying.

“G-g-go… out… G-g-go… out…”

Although the speaker’s voice was indistinct, we recognized it as a woman’s voice, and it seemed to be repeating the word "out."

Her tone was full of sorrow, cold detachment, and even a degree of anger, as if she were driving away us uninvited guests, sending a chill down the spine.

"Out?" Boss Wu muttered the word. "Why is this woman saying the same thing as that other person? What is inside here that forces us to leave?"

I also frowned and said, "What she’s saying might not necessarily be 'out.' I feel this voice is strange. Although it sounds like a person talking, it’s also like the sound of something scraping, or perhaps the wind. The more I listen, the less it sounds like speech."

Boss Wu shook his head and pointed toward the skeletons ahead. "Then tell me, why was there no response earlier, but as soon as we reached the bone pile, there was? That female ghost’s corpse must be one of them."

I was surprised; Boss Wu looked like an intellectual, yet his thinking was so superstitious.

I believed there were monsters in the world—they were just undiscovered species or mutated ordinary creatures—and I believed in UFOs and aliens, but I simply did not believe in ghosts.

So, I didn't take Boss Wu’s words seriously and lifted my foot to move forward again.

Boss Wu pulled me back, saying, "Say something into the walkie-talkie now and see where she is located."

I did as Boss Wu instructed, quietly whispering "Hello" into the device.

This time, the other walkie-talkie responded instantly, crackling right at our feet.

Boss Wu and I both stepped back simultaneously, clearly taken aback.