Meng Jinsong found the old man’s words too exaggerated and didn’t take them seriously. He instructed Liu Guanguo to continue questioning the villagers while he ducked into the cave.
Inside, people were everywhere, along with equipment and cables. Meng Jinsong couldn’t immediately identify what to focus on or where to go. As he hesitated, Qiu Dong hurried over to report: “Assistant Meng, we’ve checked every corner. Some brothers even climbed to the upper areas to explore. There are no abnormal readings anywhere.”
Meng Jinsong listened absent-mindedly, making vague sounds of acknowledgment while his eyes scanned the surroundings. Suddenly, he spotted Shen Gun.
Among the busy crowd, he was truly conspicuous, like a crane among chickens. He sat cross-legged on a large rock, hands resting on his knees, eyes closed, sometimes shaking his head, sometimes muttering to himself. Shen Bang and Shen Wangu stood on either side of him like the two guardian generals Ha and Heng, occasionally helping others by passing equipment or pulling cables.
Could he possess some extraordinary ability? Meng Jinsong wondered, beckoning Shen Bang over.
Shen Bang ran over with monkey-like agility.
Meng Jinsong pointed at Shen Gun: “What’s he muttering about?”
“Oh, he says everyone might have been deceived. Bai Shuixiao lied to the villagers—she probably didn’t fall into the cave here.”
Meng Jinsong was startled: “On what basis? Is there any evidence?”
Shen Bang looked embarrassed, finding it difficult to say, which was why he hadn’t reported it immediately: “He says… he used his inner sense to feel the place, and his heart didn’t react, so there’s nothing special about this cave.”
What ridiculous reasoning, thought Meng Jinsong irritably. Yet strangely, after sending Shen Bang away, this explanation kept circling in his mind. Combined with what Qiu Dong had said earlier, he increasingly found merit in the idea: Bai Shuixiao was full of lies, her outside and inside completely different. Any information about her should be verified multiple times and not easily trusted.
He left the cave and beckoned to the half-bald old man, who felt greatly honored, approaching with proud, hurried steps.
Meng Jinsong asked him: “When Bai Shuixiao encountered the wind and fell into the cave, did anyone else witness it?”
The old man waved his hands repeatedly: “No, no. The cave spirit did it secretly. How could anyone see it?”
“Then how do you know it was this cave?”
“A shoe was found at the entrance, and later, Bai girl said so herself.”
No witnesses, only her account, and the shoe—could she have placed it there herself?
Meng Jinsong pondered for a moment: “Before that, was she normal? Was it only after that day that she changed from how she was before?”
The old man nodded vigorously: “Yes, yes.”
After a pause, he added: “Her grandmother also said she was fine when she sent her off.”
Sent her off? Where? Meng Jinsong didn’t understand.
The old man explained enthusiastically: “Her grandmother lived in Laoshanling. She went to visit her grandmother as a relative. She was perfectly fine when she went, and still fine when her grandmother sent her off. It was only when she returned to the village that she was ruined.”
Meng Jinsong felt he was getting somewhere. He looked back at the cave entrance: “This cave is so close to your village. Before Bai Shuixiao, had any other girls fallen into the cave?”
“No,” the old man said, growing excited again. “We had never heard of ‘cave-falling’ before. It was only when her grandmother invited an old shaman to fight the cave spirit and retrieve her soul that she learned about it. Everyone gathered to see this curiosity. Later, when the soul wasn’t retrieved, her grandmother collapsed in tears.”
“And now, where is her grandmother?”
“Dead. Died last winter. Cold, old age, couldn’t make it through.”
An elderly person who collapsed in tears—it seemed genuine, with little possibility of conspiring with Bai Shuixiao in an act. It appeared that Bai Shuixiao’s incident occurred somewhere on the road from Laoshanling back to Wakuo Village.
“Where is Laoshanling?”
This tested the old man’s geographical knowledge. He stood with his mouth open, not knowing where to begin. Fortunately, there was a clever mountain dweller nearby who quickly brought maps, two versions: one in the standard style and one created by the Mountain Ghosts themselves.
The old man couldn’t understand scale or read much, so he naturally preferred the Mountain Ghost map, which showed mountains as mountains and trees as trees—easier to recognize.
Squinting, he ran his rough finger with dirt under the nail back and forth across the map, occasionally exclaiming: “Oh, isn’t this the karst sinkhole? Oh my, this river gets big when it rains! Last year I went to the market and almost got swept away by the water…”
Meng Jinsong was extremely impatient but didn’t want to rush him. Just as his frustration peaked, the old man’s finger forcefully poked a spot twice: “Here, here, it should be around this area.”
Meng Jinsong looked where he pointed and felt a strange sensation rising in his chest: “Are you sure?”
The old man was confident: “I’ve lived in these mountains for decades. It’s right here.”
Meng Jinsong’s heart pounded like a drum.
He wasn’t sure if he was overthinking: the location the old man pointed to had already crossed the legendary small and large boundary walls of the Miao people, and was close to… very close to the position of Hanging Gall Peak Forest in the mountain chart.
Meng Qianzi’s claim that ordinary doses couldn’t affect her wasn’t an exaggeration.
Since childhood, she had undergone rigorous training from her seven aunts, consuming countless mountain herbs and medicines. She could withstand injuries better than ordinary people, healed faster, and had greater resistance to certain poisons, miasma, and smoke, as long as it wasn’t like last night, with large amounts of refined powder suddenly blown directly at her.
The “tall incense” was made from an extremely rare Gu wood found in the mountains. According to legend, while most Miao Gu utilized Gu worms, only love Gu required Gu wood, because this plant had hallucinogenic properties that could confuse and control people’s minds.
However, as Bai Shuixiao had said, the dosage was difficult to control and varied from person to person. One mistake could render someone foolish, so they had to use it in its most primitive form, burning it slowly. The nine tall incense sticks looked intimidating, but they were actually very thin and burned slowly. By noon, the first round had barely finished burning, which for Meng Qianzi was like a drizzle that wet her surface without penetrating her skin, flesh, or lungs. Although her eyes appeared moist and hazy, and she seemed somewhat dazed, when Bai Shuixiao probed by asking, “Who are you?” she still precisely answered, “Your grandmother.”
This infuriated Bai Shuixiao, who ordered Jin Zhu and Yin Zhu to add two more sticks.
The village was remote, with no households within more than ten miles. Meng Qianzi had first been drugged with the mist, then bound tightly, and now the “tall incense” was burning—a triple insurance policy. Bai Shuixiao wasn’t worried about her escaping. Based on the reaction to the first round, the incense wouldn’t have much effect until dusk. Bai Shuixiao didn’t have the patience to stand guard, so after locking the door, she took Jin Zhu and Yin Zhu to attend to her own business.
Meng Qianzi was outwardly defiant but inwardly conflicted: if the burning continued, her muscles and bones would suffer. She was already experiencing mild hallucinations, constantly feeling as if a line of tiny ants was climbing the wall from the base, sometimes forming a straight line, sometimes a human-shaped pattern.
But she was extremely reluctant to use her powers and leave: she hadn’t even discovered who the mastermind was, and causing chaos now would be disgraceful. Besides, this deep infiltration into enemy territory would be completely wasted, like being dragged around as a kidnapping victim.
After thinking it through, optimism prevailed: she would hold out a bit longer and wait. Perhaps the mastermind would get impatient and come to see her. Or maybe Meng Jinsong was already on his way—if he acted, why should she bother?
…
Around four in the afternoon, the sun slanted westward, shining through the window and enveloping Meng Qianzi. In her groggy state, she opened her eyes to see her body covered in dense flames.
The tall incense was truly potent. She vaguely knew these were hallucinations, but couldn’t help finding the flames on her body disturbing. She couldn’t resist reaching out to pat them away. After a few attempts, she became fixated on this task, and people under the influence of hallucinogens fear fixation the most. The human mind is like a seedling that should be rooted in reality. If focused on illusions, it’s like being uprooted from reality. If one’s mind isn’t firm, it can easily be led astray by those with ulterior motives.
As she patted frantically, someone pushed her shoulder, and a familiar male voice called: “Miss Meng! Miss Meng?”
Meng Qianzi turned her head curiously.