The trap we set was less than a hundred meters away, so it didn't take long for the eight of us to find it beneath a massive tree.

As we slowly gathered around, a strange thump-thump-thump sound drifted up from the pit.

Lao San signaled for us to stay back, then stepped forward alone to investigate.

We stood nervously behind him, every one of us on high alert, as if something in that pit might suddenly leap out and strike.

Lao San cautiously approached the trap, ignited a cold-flame flare, and tossed it into the hole first.

While the enemy's vision was temporarily drawn to the flare's bright light, he pulled out the folding iron shovel he always carried and moved in close.

He took one look, immediately retracted his head, then peered in again, displaying extreme caution.

After his second glance, his eyes filled with confusion, and he turned back to us, saying, "Come take a look, everyone."

Da Xiong, unable to contain his curiosity any longer, acknowledged him and rushed forward first, immediately peering down into the hole.

However, after just one look, he, like Lao San, was filled with bewilderment, letting out an "Eh?" sound.

Wondering what was so strange, I went up to see for myself.

Then, in unison with Da Xiong, I uttered the words: "It's just a big rock."

The trap Lao San dug was narrow at the top and wide at the bottom, shaped like a triangle, about five meters deep. If a person fell in without a rope being lowered, climbing out would be absolutely impossible because the walls were angled—only bats could hang from them by their claws.

We had no idea how Lao San managed to climb out after digging such a pit, but we could all tell it was brilliantly constructed.

Yet, at the bottom of this masterful trap lay a single, quiet, oval-shaped river stone, roughly the size of a human head.

"What was making that thump-thump-thump just now? Could it be this stone?" Lao Si looked at Jie Yuting with suspicion, voicing the question on all our minds.

But before Jie Yuting could answer, the thump-thump-thump sound echoed again from around us.

"Careful, something's in the trees!" Boss Gu Tianle shouted, pushing me down before I could react, causing me to drop into a prone position.

Everyone else mirrored him, shrinking their bodies, half-crouching with their hands over their heads.

Just then, a river stone, almost the same size as the one in the pit, whistled past just above our heads.

The stone hit the ground with a thud, creating a large dent before rolling a considerable distance into the moat ahead.

My heart leaped; I thought that if someone had been hit, their head would have certainly exploded like a watermelon.

At that moment, Boss Gu Tianle, showing no weakness, cursed profanely and produced two throwing knives from who-knows-where, hurling them toward the tree.

With two swift swish sounds, the knives pierced the canopy and flew out over the treetop, but the sharp gale created by the knives severed several thick resinous branches, which tumbled down to the ground with a crash.

As sunlight pierced through the gaps in the canopy, we saw that there was actually nothing in the tree.

We exchanged looks, realizing this thing moved incredibly fast.

Just then, the thump-thump sound started again from a different large tree nearby.

Boss Gu Tianle was about to throw another knife when Jie Yuting stopped him.

Jie Yuting said, "Stop throwing them. The opponent is mocking us. If you run out of throwing knives later, that will be problematic."

"So what do we do now? Just let them mock us?" Da Xiong's nose was practically crooked with anger from the earlier stone incident.

Jie Yuting glanced at the distant canopy and said, "Ignore it. If it dares to engage us head-on, we’ll wipe it out. Lao San, cover the trap again. Let's see how many times it can play tricks."

Lao San nodded, gathered nearby branches and dry leaves, and carefully concealed the trap once more.

Afterward, we tidied up a bit and left the trap site.

As we walked, Da Xiong asked, "Do you think it might be a monkey? Look how dense the forest is; there must be plenty of little monkeys around."

"If it were a monkey, it would be too smart—not only tracking us but also using stones to sabotage the trap. I don't think it's a monkey," Lao Si added from beside him.

"Yes, the trap yesterday also triggered an alert. Maybe this thing did that too," Lao San chimed in.

Jie Yuting frowned slightly and stated, "Stop guessing. Whether it's a monkey or something else, no one is going to delay our main objective."

Hearing that, none of us spoke further.

We continued along the moat, searching for the location of the city gate. In the meantime, Lao San's phone rang several times; clearly, the thing in the tree was continuously sabotaging our traps.

Each time the phone rang, Jie Yuting's brow furrowed a little tighter, and our moods soured slightly.

Fortunately, just as Da Xiong was about to complain for the third time about going back to teach the monkey in the tree a lesson, we found the location of the shrine’s city gate.

The moat here was significantly wider than in other places, but there was a stone slab extending out to the riverbank. A rotten log lying across the slab might have been used previously to counteract the pressure when the gate was lowered.

Across the moat was an open-air staircase deeply carved into the mountainside.

At the very bottom of the steps, right at the river's edge, stood a massive black wooden slab, about seven or eight meters wide and fourteen or fifteen meters long, blocking the passage into the steps.

We saw thick chains, about the size of an infant's arm, anchoring the plank to the mountain walls on both sides. These chains were connected to two winding axle mechanisms.

When the drawbridge needed to be lowered, two people had to operate the mechanisms simultaneously to release the chains, allowing the bridge to descend.

When defense was required, the reverse would happen.

In short, lowering the drawbridge required two people to operate the mechanisms on the opposite side at the same time.

After observing this, Jie Yuting clapped Boss Gu Tianle on the shoulder and said, "Those chains are hundreds of years old; even if they were fine steel, they'd be rusted through. This is up to you."

Boss Gu Tianle nodded, and at some point, two dark, gleaming bronze-handled throwing knives appeared in his hands.

He barely needed to aim; with a surge of power, he casually threw the knives.

We watched two black streaks slice through the air in the sunlight, striking the axle mechanisms opposite them, kicking up a spray of sparks.

Immediately afterward, the chains snapped with a synchronized clink.

Then, the heavy wooden drawbridge began to creak with an unpleasant grinding sound as it slowly lowered toward us.

We all took a step back, and then the bridge hit the ground with a colossal thud, stirring up clouds of dust that settled not far in front of us.

The sheer noise made my ears ring painfully, and the dust choked me into violent coughing spells; I regretted not having retreated further.

It turned out the others felt the same way, fanning the dust away from their faces with wry smiles.

When the dust in front of us settled mostly, Jie Yuting was the first to step onto the drawbridge.

He stomped his feet on the bridge and told us, "It's sturdy enough. Everyone come across, and let's not waste time."

Although Jie Yuting said the bridge was solid, it was still hundreds of years old, so we proceeded with extreme caution.

For safety, we decided not to have Da Xiong cross with us; he would wait until we were safely across before coming over.

Da Xiong protested and complained, but he still complied with the group's decision.

Crossing the drawbridge led to a set of ascending steps. The mountain walls on either side were about two meters high for every ten steps, clearly indicating the massive effort workers put into carving this path centuries ago.

The stairway we walked was straight, about a kilometer long, with no forks.

This design was ideal for defense in ancient times: enemies invading could be attacked with arrows or boiling oil poured from the side walls, and the top could crush them with falling stones.

At the very top of the passage stood a gateway structure, typical of Japanese shrines, called a Torii.

Torii gates are usually bright red and are sometimes adorned with paper talismans by priests to delineate the boundary between the human world and the spirit realm, also serving as a ward against evil spirits.

The Torii above us was mottled and faded, appearing utterly desolate, devoid of any sacred aura.

Passing through the topmost Torii, we entered a vast complex of shrine buildings—a cluster of temple-like structures on the mountaintop platform, large enough to form a small village.

Japanese architecture generally lacks basements, so the shrines would not have subterranean levels either. As long as we found what we were looking for inside those buildings, the mission would be complete.