"You're not dead, are you?" I still had no fondness for Gao Liang. "And wasn't it you who kept winking at me to throw grenades at that thing?"
"Who said anything about grenades? I was trying to tell you the bag down there had a flare gun. You were supposed to fire it outside to draw Big Guy and the others over! But no—you went and dumped a whole bag of four grenades. Not a single one spared. How the hell am I supposed to explain this when we get back?"
Now that he mentioned it, I vaguely remembered—there was a bag down there. Judging by the dent in the pack, it probably did have a pistol or something similar inside.
"Forget it, forget it," the Heshang stayed level-headed—thankfully he still saw me as a friend. "Gao Liang, we're all still alive, aren't we? Sanduo's fever still hasn't gone down. He doesn't even remember who he is—how's he supposed to tell which one's the grenade and which one's the flare gun? Let's leave it at that. The Bloodshade Fiend's taken care of. Let's regroup with Big Guy and the others. I don't want to stay in this cave another second."
As he spoke, he tugged Gao Liang along, stepping over the rubble toward the exit. I followed behind. But just as I reached the pile of rocks formed by the cave-in, I froze. There was something—something important—we hadn't dealt with. Something unfinished, and if we didn't take care of it, it would come back to bite us.
What was it?
I was bowing my head, lost in thought, when suddenly a blood-red hand shot out from the rubble and grabbed my ankle. My heart lurched. I struggled hard, but couldn't shake it off. Once I regained my senses, I pulled the handgun from the back of my waist and fired five or six shots at that hand.
Gao Liang and the bald Heshang were just about to exit the cave when they heard the gunshots and spun around. They bolted toward me. Gao Liang drew his gun and opened fire. The Heshang, whose gun was apparently gone, resorted to lifting a heavy rock and smashing it against the red arm.
But nothing worked. That red arm wouldn't let go—it just clenched tighter. Suddenly, Gao Liang shouted, "Heshang, move!"
Then, from somewhere—I had no idea where—he pulled out a steel needle. It looked old, mottled with rust. Gao Liang raised the needle high and stabbed it deep into the arm. This time, it worked. The Bloodshade Fiend shrieked and loosened its grip.
"Run!" Gao Liang yelled, but it was too late.
The rocks in the rubble began to shift. Moments later, a Bloodshade Fiend crawled out from under them.
Run—there was no other option. The exit was right in front of us. The three of us—Gao Liang, the Heshang, and I—turned and sprinted toward it. But the Bloodshade Fiend was faster. To me, it was like a red blur—just a flash, and it was already behind us. One swipe and it could've grabbed us by the neck.
All three of us couldn't die here. Someone had to stay back.
Fine. If this is how it ends, so be it.
I clenched my teeth, turned around, and threw myself onto the Bloodshade Fiend. "Go! Get out of here!" I yelled.
Both Gao Liang and the Heshang turned around.
The Heshang's face drained of color. He tried to come back for me, but Gao Liang grabbed him. "Sanduo doesn't want us all to die together! Go! He won't last long!"
The Heshang hesitated, but Gao Liang dragged him toward the exit.
Strangely, the Bloodshade Fiend didn't seem that interested in me. Its real target was the Heshang. (What exactly was drawing it to him?) I was giving it everything I had to hold it back. Even so, I couldn't stop its advance completely—just slowed it a little. But that was enough. It gave Gao Liang and the Heshang time to escape the cave.
Only after they were gone did the Bloodshade Fiend turn its attention to me. It grabbed my shoulders, lifted me off the ground, and hurled me straight into the cave wall.
Thud! I slammed hard into the rock face. Pain exploded through my body as if every joint had popped loose. Stars danced in front of my eyes. The Bloodshade Fiend didn't give me a second—its hulking form lunged again. I rolled to the side and scrambled up, trying to flee—
Too late.
It grabbed me from behind by the neck. I heard the crackling sound of joints popping. It only needed to squeeze a bit harder, and my neck would snap.
But it didn't kill me—not right away.
It spun me around to face it, leaned in, and opened its mouth.
Then it started to inhale—directly at my face.
As it breathed in, my vision began to blur. The world around me twisted, grew faint. My soul—or whatever it was—felt like it was being sucked out of my body and drawn toward its gaping mouth.
Just as I was about to be swallowed—
A shout rang out nearby: "Shut that mouth, you freak!"
Even in my dazed state, the words jolted me.
The Bloodshade Fiend's mouth was still open when a gleaming blade pierced through the back of its skull. The sword point thrust out inside its mouth, less than a foot from my face. A few inches more and it would've taken mine off.
But even then, it didn't die.
Blood poured from its mouth in a straight line, but the creature still let out a ghastly gargle.
The man behind it twisted the sword, then sliced horizontally through the inside of its mouth. The blade split the Fiend's head clean in half. Blood fountained out, and it collapsed backward with a thud.
Dead—finally.
I looked up. A giant of a man, well over two meters tall, stood there holding a gleaming longsword, staring at me with deep concern.
Now that Hongren was dead, I had lost my anchor. With a fever soaring over 40 degrees Celsius (approx. 104°F), the tossing and pummeling, and nearly being strangled to death, I simply couldn't hold on anymore. My vision went black, and I collapsed to the ground.
I had no idea how much time had passed when someone called out to me: "Wake up, we're about to land."
I opened my eyes to see a chubby guy in front of me. I blinked in a daze and asked, "Who... am I?"
He touched my forehead and frowned. "You okay? Huh, you're burning up. The fever fried your brain? You can't even remember who you are?" Seeing how confused I looked, he straightened up and said seriously, "You're Sun La. I'm Sun Desheng. You're my—"
Before he could finish, I recognized this shifty-eyed fatty and cut him off, "I'm your damn uncle."
Ever since crawling out of that cave beneath the riverbed, I'd felt off, though I hadn't paid it much mind at the time. After we wrapped up all the chaos, I dozed off on the flight back to the capital and had a nightmare that felt too real.
Side note: Once we got out, the county officials showed up. Leading them was none other than the top county official himself—County Chief Gan Daye.
When Chief Gan heard that six people had gone missing—and that their spirits had been summoned by Heshang Xiao—he panicked. (That came straight from an eyewitness, who swore every word was true.)
The River Opera had been Chief Gan's personal project. But the moment the show began, disaster struck. People kept dying—one after another. Although these deaths were officially labeled as accidents, Chief Gan had been on edge every single day. His right eyelid had been twitching non-stop, and he was terrified that something even worse might happen in our village.
Later, word got out that the opera troupe had run into trouble too. The troupe master suddenly suffered a stroke, and the performers rushed him back to the provincial capital overnight. The whole troupe disbanded.
Chief Gan finally let out a breath of relief. Using the incident as a pretext, he officially canceled the River Opera.
But before the dust could settle, people died again—this time in Xiaoqinghe Village. And not just one or two—six of them. That was the last straw. Chief Gan couldn't afford any more mess. He rushed to the scene with both the director and deputy director of the county police bureau.
Unfortunately for him, by the time he arrived, the exit had already been sealed off by the folks from the Bureau of Paranormal Investigation.
Chief Gan's secretary tried negotiating a few times, but was firmly rebuffed. No explanations, just a quick flash of a National Security Bureau badge: "This matter concerns national security. No unauthorized personnel allowed."
The county's top aide wanted to keep arguing, but Chief Gan yanked him back. "Are you stupid? The National Security Bureau is involved—you think this is your turf? Besides, their presence means I'm in the clear. Best outcome we could hope for. Time to go!"
He didn't stay a second longer, and left with his team.
Later, Investigator Ximen Lian from the Second Division pulled me and Fatty Sun aside for a detailed statement.
Afterward, one of Ouyang Pianzuo's subordinates—Investigator Yun Feiyang—set up a tent on-site and gave us both a physical exam.
Once they confirmed we weren't possessed by any evil entities, they stopped paying attention to us and let us move around freely.
I called my grandpa. The moment he heard my voice, he was too emotional to speak for a long time. Once he calmed down, I realized the village had already spread several versions of what had happened.
Some said we'd been down there so long, we were probably all dead. Others said we'd found treasure more valuable than gold, fought over it, and killed each other on the spot. That version was surprisingly detailed: Heshang Xiao was supposedly killed by Xiong Ba, whom I then killed, and finally, Fatty Sun and I perished together in the end.
Now that they knew I'd made it out safely, Grandpa asked about the others. I made up a story: we had found the six treasure hunters underground, but a cave-in happened just as we were trying to get out. The six were crushed instantly.
Director Xiong died protecting Fatty Sun. In the end, only me, Fatty Sun, and Heshang Xiao made it out through another exit—just as agents from the National Security Bureau arrived on the scene.
When Grandpa heard about Director Xiong's death, his tone turned mournful. He tried to ask for more details, but I didn't want to mess up my story, so I claimed the Bureau needed to question me and hung up.
By that time, Gao Liang had already finished cleaning up the cave. Aside from a few people staying behind, the remaining investigators boarded the first flight back to the capital (the Bureau's private plane was still under maintenance).
Surprisingly, Heshang Xiao had been persuaded by Gao Liang. He would return to the Bureau with us as a consultant.
I was already half-unconscious when the plane took off—I didn't even know when I fell asleep. When I opened my eyes again, the first thing I saw was a time-travel version of Heshang Xiao.
I was drenched in sweat, my underwear completely soaked. I asked the flight attendant for a glass of ice water, and only after drinking it did I feel a bit better.
The cabin was full of Bureau people. Seeing them helped settle my nerves.
When I noticed Heshang Xiao sitting one row behind me, I swapped seats with a colleague.
That rascal might be pushing seventy, but he was still flirting with the flight attendant, handing her his business card as "President of Lingyun Temple Film & Entertainment Co."
"Miss, you'd be perfect as the female lead in my next film. Want to set up an audition? Our director is the international master Kurosawa himself—this is a rare opportunity... Hey, don't walk away! Let's talk this out..."
Everyone from the Bureau was thoroughly embarrassed. They glanced around, pretending not to know him. I started to regret switching seats.
"Old Xiao, Kurosawa's been dead for over twenty years. Sit your butt down. What you're doing counts as sexual harassment. Keep it up and the pilot will strap you to the wing like a weather balloon."
Heshang Xiao gave me a sideways glance. "You think I've never flown before? Strap me to the wing? Go on then, have the pilot open the emergency door!"
After some banter, I cut to the chase.
"Old Xiao, in that cave, Xiao Sanda mentioned something about Chixiao—and even brought up Director Gao. What exactly was that about?"
Heshang Xiao glanced at me warily. "Kid, don't stick your nose where it doesn't belong. Knowing too much is dangerous."
I changed my tone, lowered my voice, and asked,
"Did Xiao Sanda warn you when he threw that grenade?"
Heshang Xiao sprang from his seat, pointing at me.
"Who told you that?!"
Everyone around us jumped. The same flight attendant he'd been pestering hesitated, then came over and politely said,
"Sir, please take your seat and fasten your seatbelt. We're about to land. Standing now is extremely unsafe."
Heshang Xiao ignored his would-be leading lady and turned to me, voice trembling.
"How do you know that? Was it Gao Liang?"
Director Gao, sitting in the front row, turned at the mention of his name. "Heshang, whatever you need to say, say it sitting down. Don't give the flight attendant a hard time."
Heshang Xiao glared at him, but finally sat back down. Gao Liang looked confused, but didn't press the issue.
"What else did Fatty Gao tell you?" Heshang Xiao was clearly annoyed now.
I smiled bitterly. "You think I wanted to know? Hell no."
He squinted at me. "Wait a sec—Little Spicy (Xiao La), are you calling me a bastard?"
"Quit playing semantics." My tone sharpened.
He noticed something off. "It really wasn't Gao who told you? Then how do you know?"
"Let's just say Xiao Sanda visited me in a dream."
I told Heshang Xiao everything I saw and heard in the dream, holding nothing back. The more he heard, the more shocked he looked.
When I got to the part where a big guy split Chixiao's head open with a sword, Heshang Xiao's jaw dropped wide enough to fit five eggs.
"You saw Big Puh?!"
"Yeah." I nodded. "I didn't even know his surname was Pu. I just heard you guys calling him 'Big Guy' this and that. After I saw him, I passed out. Next thing I knew, I woke up."
"Let me think..." Heshang Xiao blinked rapidly. A few minutes later, he exhaled hard.
"I remember now. After Pu the Giant took down Chixiao, Xiao Sanda fainted. We carried him down the mountain. He stayed in the county hospital for half a month before recovering.
And you're saying you dreamed all that?"
"No kidding." I snorted. "Old Xiao, you practically raised me—you know what kind of person I am. Ever known me to lie to you? Be honest, is there any way to insert your thoughts or memories into someone else's dream?"
"You watch too many movies. What do you think this is, Inception? Or Harry Potter?" Then a thought hit him.
"Well, it's not entirely impossible... There's at least one person who might be able to pull it off."
"Who?!" I stared at him, wide-eyed.
"Him." Heshang Xiao pointed toward a white-haired man sitting ahead of us.