Huang Ying didn't know when she had drifted off, but the sound of the door closing jolted her awake. "Qi Yue?" She shot upright, seeing the space beside her was now empty.

Oh my heavens, Huang Ying scrambled out of bed in a panic, not even bothering to put on her shoes as she bolted after her. In the autumn morning mist, on the cement road of the mountain village, the woman's tall, slender figure walked slowly ahead.

"Qi Yue." Huang Ying called out, chasing after her. "I'm fine." Qi Yue stopped, looking at her.

"You don't need to worry so much." Huang Ying sighed as she looked at her. This was her third day here.

She had already persuaded Peng Jiahai to go back; the way Qi Yue looked now was hardly fit for any man to see. After being persuaded to return to this small inn that day, Qi Yue had first sat in stunned silence for one night.

Her mood stabilized a bit the next day, but she still cried, and she still insisted on going to that tomb chamber. However, she no longer threw the kind of frantic tantrums; if they wouldn't let her in, she wouldn't force it, but she would just sit outside the chamber entrance for an entire day.

"I'm going over there," Qi Yue said again. Because of the lack of proper sleep or food these past few days, her voice was already hoarse, and her tone lacked any strength.

If someone familiar saw Qi Yue now, they would certainly be shocked; she seemed like an entirely different person. "Yueliang," Huang Ying carefully took her arm.

"What is truly wrong?" Qi Yue lowered her head slightly. "Sister Huang, I told you, no one would believe it even if I did," she murmured.

"I believe you, Yueliang, I believe you! Don't you believe me?" Huang Ying urged anxiously.

No one would believe it, no one would believe it, not even she dared to believe it herself... Qi Yue lifted her head and gave a slight, weary smile.

"Sister Huang, don't worry. I will tell you in the future.

For now, just let me do what I need to do," she said, squeezing Huang Ying's hand. "I won't have an accident; you can rest assured of that." Huang Ying nodded as she watched her.

"It's good that you know. Yueliang, you have always respected life.

I trust you won't treat life recklessly," she said. Qi Yue nodded with a faint smile, turned, and began walking back toward the tomb chamber.

Huang Ying hesitated for a moment, then followed her. Seeing Qi Yue approach, the scenic area staff immediately heightened their vigilance.

"They still won't let me go in and see?" Qi Yue routinely walked up to the staff members and asked. Compared to the preceding days, her demeanor was much calmer.

Looking at her eyes, which held the lingering sheen of tears even when she wasn't actively crying from having wept for so long, the staff member couldn't help but feel a pang of sorrow. That level of grief...

"I promise I won't go near it again. I won't damage anything," Qi Yue reiterated.

"I will accompany her inside. This is my work ID," Huang Ying announced, presenting her work permit, ID card, driver's license, and any other documentation she could muster.

The management exchanged troubled glances. This situation couldn't go on; the woman was sitting at the entrance crying every day.

"We need to seek instruction." Finally, one manager spoke. "All right, all right, thank you so much," Qi Yue said gratefully.

Huang Ying, thinking of something, also took out her phone to make a call. After a period of discussion, the higher-ups finally responded.

She could go in to view the site, but a staff member must accompany her at all times. "Thank you, thank you," Qi Yue bowed repeatedly and deeply; tears splashed onto the ground.

Stepping inside after four days away, Qi Yue felt as if a lifetime had passed. In the main chamber, the skeleton had been reassembled, the glass casing restored, everything returned to how it was.

But there were some things Qi Yue knew. Nothing would ever truly return to how it was.

Observing the woman whose mood had clearly shifted again, the four accompanying staff members raised their guard. Huang Ying reached out and put an arm around Qi Yue's shoulder.

Qi Yue took a deep breath, stopped ten paces from the skeleton, and looked at the remains before her. Tears streamed down her face once more, falling like rain.

"When... when did he die?" she asked, her voice trembling.

The staff members were momentarily stunned and didn't react immediately. "Did they...

did they manage to test his age?" Qi Yue managed to ask, pointing toward a section. The staff member let out an "Oh." "Around twenty-seven or twenty-eight," he replied.

So, after she had died, Chang Yunjian... Fool, fool...

had he committed suicide? Qi Yue felt a sudden inability to breathe.

She clutched at her chest, the sharp pain making it impossible to stand, forcing her to bend over. Everyone instantly tensed, but they saw that the woman wasn't losing control; she slowly sank to the floor, and the sound of heart-wrenching sobs began anew.

Her cries echoed in the tomb chamber, sending chills down everyone's spines. When would this end...

Taiyueling was an undeveloped, primitive mountain range situated in the Da'anling mountain system. Although much of its ecosystem had been ravaged over time, this area retained a natural state.

However, it was precisely this lack of development that attracted an increasing number of adventurers, and the resulting emergencies placed growing pressure on the Taiyueling government, forcing them to tighten security and scrutiny at checkpoints. Yet, due to the sheer size of the area, some always slipped through the net.

Beside the rushing river, a slightly stout elderly man cupped water to wash his face. The autumn river water in the mountains was already painfully cold.

He shook his hands roughly. The four young men beside him, dressed simply in shirts and trousers, scanned their surroundings vigilantly, as if a fierce beast might leap out from the surrounding woods at any second.

"Stop being so tense, you lads. There aren't any real beasts in these mountains anymore.

Not like in my day when we could occasionally hunt a bear or a wolf to spice up the meal," the old man said, steadying his lower back as he surveyed the wilderness. "Times have certainly changed." The mountain wind hissed.

Suddenly, someone turned sharply, their hand instinctively moving toward their waist. The others noticed and also turned alertly to look.

A man was emerging from the woods, making his way toward the riverbank. He stopped abruptly when he saw the group.

Although this wasn't the first time they had encountered people out here, these specific people... In that brief moment of eye contact, the four men surrounding the old man unconsciously tensed their bodies, all gripping their waists.

The palpable sense of danger that this strange man instantly emitted did not escape their honed senses! The man's attire was bizarre: a pair of plain work pants, clearly ill-fitting, exposing his ankles, bound tightly around his legs, and large work boots on his feet.

It clashed completely with his lack of a shirt; his hair looked uncut for a long time, or perhaps self-mutilated, but in any case, it was a tangled mess. He was unshaven and rugged, dragging an animal that looked somewhere between a deer and a goat in one hand, and clutching something that resembled a bow and arrow in the other.

Though no words were exchanged, years of unspoken understanding allowed them to make a decision instantly. If this man took a single step back, they would open fire immediately!

But the man lowered his head instead of retreating. He continued toward the river, ignoring the group, and dumped the carcass by the water's edge.

He pulled out a dagger and began to clean and eviscerate it. The four men did not relax their guard and slowly converged closer to the old man.

The elder, however, appeared quite relaxed. His gaze fell upon the game the man was handling, and he let out a small sound of surprise.

"Hey, young man, did you shoot a roe deer?" he called out. The man seemed not to hear.

The elder tutted. "Good shot, there are still roe deer in these mountains?" he asked, raising his voice again.

As he spoke, he began to walk toward them. The four men moved to block him.

The man washing the deer did not stop, continuing his work with fluid, practiced movements. Clearly, he was very skilled.

"There are," he replied. His tone was slightly odd, perhaps not a local accent.

"Little brother, for you to bring down a roe deer, you have great skill," the old man chuckled, his eyes resting on the tools the man had set aside. It was a bow made of branches and hide.

A bow? The elder frowned slightly.

"Little brother, you didn't use this thing to shoot the roe deer, did you?" he inquired, pointing. The man glanced at the implements beside him and nodded.

The elder laughed. "Little brother, you must be joking?" he chuckled.

"How could this empty bow possibly take down a roe deer?" As he finished speaking, the elder took a step forward. Before his words had fully landed, the man snatched up the bow, grabbed a nearby branch with his other hand, raised it, and whoosh—the branch shot out like a released arrow, flying directly toward the old man.

This happened in the blink of an eye. Although the four men surrounding the elder were alert, the man’s movement was too fast.

By the time they reacted, the man had completed the action in one seamless motion. "Chief!" a furious shout erupted from the dense woods, immediately followed by the sound of gunfire.

The gunshots rang out, but the outcome was unexpected for the four men. The Chief did not fall beside them, nor did the man in front of them collapse.

The man dusted off his hands and rose from the side, his eyes wide with undisguised shock and gravity. He looked at the dissipating smoke.

What kind of weapon was that... incredibly powerful...

He knew these men carried weapons, which was why he had rolled sideways the instant he launched his attack, but he hadn't anticipated a weapon this potent. Or perhaps, all the weapons here were this formidable...

This place truly was a dangerous realm! His first strike having failed, the four men raised their guns again.

"Hands up!" they commanded. That small, dark muzzle pointed at him—the man could clearly sense a terrifying danger radiating from it.

His entire body tensed. He couldn't just end up like this.

He had hidden himself in these mountains, observing everyone he saw, studying their speech and mannerisms, listening to the habits and rules they let slip, preparing for the day he could safely walk out. He could not let all his efforts come to nothing now!

He slowly raised his hands. "Put the guns down!" The old man, who had remained silent, suddenly shouted.

Although the four men were reluctant, their ingrained obedience made them lower their weapons instantly. "Chief!" the nearest man cried out in confusion.

"You fools! That man is our savior!" the elder scolded.

Savior? The men froze.

The elder pointed to his own foot. They looked down and collectively gasped.

Nestled among the river stones near the elder’s foot, a venomous green-patterned snake had been pierced clean through its vital spot (the seven inches) by the branch, pinning it firmly in the crevice of the rock. The snake's head was only a hand's breadth away from the elder's foot.

The scene of the disturbed viper lunging from the stone crevice, mouth open, flashed before their eyes, and they all broke out in a cold sweat. Even firing a gun would have been too late...

The tense atmosphere vanished instantly. "Little brother, now I understand how you managed to shoot a roe deer with that thing," the old man said with a smile.

With the threat removed, the man relaxed his guard. He didn't speak but walked to the river to rinse the deer with one hand.

"Little brother, are you a mountain watchman?" The elder wasn't angry at the man's silence; instead, he grew more intrigued. "No." The man replied briefly, then quickly hoisted the deer onto his shoulder.

"Little brother, you saved my life. I must repay you," the elder said cheerfully.

"What do you need? Just ask." The man, holding the deer, had already turned to leave but paused, glancing back at the elder at the words.

"If... if I were looking for someone," he began, "I only know their name and...

well, their occupation... how would I go about finding them?" Everyone can rest assured now; I'll put up one more update here.

Everyone has been emotionally charged for several days; take a rest and calm down for a bit.