The sigh carried a strange tone—it didn't sound like it came from any of us. There was no time to analyze it further; reaching a safe spot was the top priority. Just as I was about to dash into the cave, Ruan Liang, who was a step ahead of me and already had one foot inside the entrance, suddenly let out a scream. Before I could even react, I saw his feet leave the ground, and his body twisted into a strange angle—as if an invisible hook had snagged him and yanked him into the air—flipping him upside down as he was pulled backward.
Ruan Liang flailed wildly in the air, but the struggle was useless. As he twisted, his waist was exposed, revealing a faint bluish wet stain. At the center of the stain was a bizarre bulge, and from it extended a nearly invisible, transparent thread leading down toward the spring at the bottom.
It was that thread that caused all this! I instinctively reached for my gun—but my hand grasped empty air where my holster should have been. Only then did I remember that Zhang Zhiyan had relieved me of all my weapons earlier. At that moment, the other three who still had guns—Huang Ran, Zhang Zhiyan, and Meng Qiqi—also realized what was happening. Zhang Zhiyan and Meng Qiqi simultaneously raised their rifles and fired at the thread behind Ruan Liang's waist. Unfortunately, neither of them had particularly good aim, and they were afraid of hitting Ruan Liang by mistake. After seven or eight shots, the thread was still intact, and Ruan Liang continued to be pulled toward the spring.
"Give me the gun! I can save him!" I shouted at Huang Ran. He glanced at me but said nothing, just gave a subtle shake of the head.
Hao Wenming was closest to Ruan Liang. He jumped up and grabbed Ruan Liang's legs. Po Jun followed, leaping up and grabbing hold as well. Together, the two of them just barely managed to drag Ruan Liang back to the ground. Seizing the chance, Hao Wenming reached toward the thread behind Ruan Liang's waist.
Everyone's attention was focused on Ruan Liang when another hefty figure rose into the air—it was Sun Fatty. The black cat he'd been holding had already slipped from his arms. Flailing helplessly in midair, he shouted, "What the hell is going on?!"
The same thread had appeared on Sun Fatty's waist. But luckily for him, his weight—over 260 pounds—worked to his advantage. The thread seemed unable to fully support his bulk, and he was being dragged toward the spring much more slowly than Ruan Liang had been.
There was no time to think. I sprinted beneath him, leapt up, and grabbed his legs, pulling with all my strength. The thread couldn't handle both our weights. Sun Fatty dropped from midair but still hadn't shaken off the thread's control. Even on the ground, he continued being dragged toward the spring. Only with Po Jun and me holding him back were we able to slow the process.
I tried pulling the thread apart, but it was like some kind of supernatural fishing line—unbreakable by hand or teeth. Even the bluish stain on his waist, which looked like a birthmark, wouldn't come off no matter how we rubbed it. Watching helplessly as Sun Fatty was dragged inch by inch, Zhang Zhiyan ran over and pressed his assault rifle's barrel directly against the thread and fired a shot. To our surprise, the thread snapped—but in the blink of an eye, it reattached itself to the broken ends. It was so quick that unless you were paying close attention, you'd never notice. Zhang Zhiyan's face turned pale. He pointed at the thread, mouth agape, but no words came out. The more anxious he became, the more he couldn't speak. Finally, he stomped his foot and emptied the rest of the magazine at the thread.
We watched as the thread broke, reformed, broke, and reformed—over and over. I wanted to take advantage of the moment to pull Sun Fatty free, but I couldn't. When the gunfire stopped, the thread was still firmly attached to his waist.
Just as Zhang Zhiyan was about to reload, the black cat suddenly leapt over to Sun Fatty's feet. It raised a paw and pressed it down on the thread. Though the thread was still there, the force pulling Sun Fatty disappeared.
Despite all my strength, I'd only been able to slow the dragging slightly. Now this little cat, with a single paw, had done more than I could. With the thread pinned, it bared its black pearl-like teeth and bit down hard, yanking back in one powerful motion. The thread snapped cleanly. The broken piece dropped to the ground, and this time it didn't repair itself.
From deep within the spring came a shriek, and the thing connected to the thread thrashed like it had been electrocuted, coiling into a grotesque shape on the ground.
The cat pounced forward again, landed behind Sun Fatty, and began licking the bluish stain on his back. After a few strokes, the patch was completely gone. As Sun Fatty and I got to our feet, still shaken, we stared at the black cat.
"Nyeh…" it let out a soft meow and leapt upward. Instinctively, Sun Fatty raised his arm, and the cat landed gracefully back into his arms.
"You two, get over here and help!" Hao Wenming shouted. He and Po Jun were still struggling to hold down Ruan Liang. By now, Meng Qiqi had rushed over as well, using the same approach as Zhang Zhiyan—though with more aggression. She opened fire with a full burst, then pulled out a dagger covered in runes and began hacking at the thread. Still, it kept breaking and rejoining. Huang Ran stood to the side, watching the whole scene with unfocused eyes, as if lost deep in thought.
Sun Fatty and I ran to Ruan Liang's side. Together with Director Hao and Po Jun, we held him down firmly. Sun Fatty gently placed the black cat on the ground. The cat glanced back at him but did nothing. It clearly didn't care unless it directly involved Sun Fatty.
He nudged the cat toward Ruan Liang and coaxed it softly, "Just like before. Bite the string again, one more time." The black cat gave Sun Fatty a reluctant look before slowly sauntering over. Just as before, it pinned the thread with one paw, bit down, and snapped it in two.
Then it moved behind Ruan Liang. This time, things changed. Instead of licking the stain clean like it had done for Sun Fatty, the cat lifted a paw and began clawing violently at the bluish mark. The stain came off—but so did a patch of Ruan Liang's flesh, leaving his lower back a bloody mess.
Amid Ruan Liang's blood-curdling screams, the black cat slowly ambled back to Sun Fatty, leapt onto his shoulder in a single bound, and lazily sprawled out across it. Po Jun and I went to either side of Ruan Liang and helped him up off the ground. Hao Wenming and Huang Ran exchanged glances, both expressionless. Neither spoke, and their eyes quickly slid past each other. It was clear they both had something to say, but neither was willing to speak first.
Once again, we headed toward the mouth of the Tomb of the Transcendent Beast. Huang Ran's group of three walked ahead of us, maintaining some distance. Huang Ran and Meng Qiqi were whispering nonstop, and Zhang Zhiyan would occasionally chime in. We couldn't hear exactly what they were discussing, but it was easy enough to guess that it was about the strange scene that had just unfolded.
We had barely taken a few steps when the spring vent let out another shrill, whistling screech. Meng Qiqi suddenly seemed to realize something. She glanced at her watch and shouted, "Seven minutes and fifty-five seconds!" This time it was real. Gritting our teeth, we pushed our bodies to the limit and sprinted toward the entrance of the cave. Despite the mess of blood and torn flesh at his waist, Ruan Liang—after all, a soldier still in active service—brushed off both Po Jun and me and charged ahead. Within a few strides, he had overtaken us and was now leading the group.
The sound from the spring vent grew sharper and more urgent. The geyser was about to erupt, and we were still over fifty meters from the cave. At that point, nothing else mattered. Even if it cost us our lives, we had to make it into the cave before the eruption. When we were only twenty or thirty meters away, something horrifying happened: Ruan Liang's head suddenly snapped back at an unnatural angle. Then, a slender filament appeared at his neck. And that wasn't all—another one, then a third... In the blink of an eye, strands had coiled around his neck and limbs.
Ruan Liang was hoisted into the air once more and began flying, upside down, straight toward the spring vent.
I spun around, trying to grab hold of him, but five Wyrmvine Threads had already taken control, dragging him away much faster than before. My hands came up empty. I was just about to rush after him when Hao Wenming yanked me back. Without even turning his head, Director Hao continued running toward the cave and said only four words: "There's no time."
By the time he said this, Hao Wenming had already dragged me inside the cave. Right then, a sound like a cannon blast erupted from the spring vent. I turned to look—Ruan Liang had just plummeted headfirst into the geyser. Two more deafening booms followed, and a stream of glowing blue spring water, mixed with blood, burst from the vent. Along with it came Ruan Liang's final, agonized screams. There was no saving him now.
The blue, fluorescent water sprayed in all directions. We immediately retreated thirty to forty meters to avoid being splashed. Once the torrent died down, Po Jun, Sun Fatty, and I returned to the cave mouth. All of us were visibly shaken. Just ten hours earlier, Ruan Liang had been at the airport, holding a ragged sign to pick us up. He had taken us to the mountaintop outpost and fought alongside us against the wolves. We didn't share any deep bond, but still—one moment he was a living, breathing man, and the next, he was gone. I couldn't help but think of Old Wang and the others who had died in the Water Curtain Cave. It felt like something was stuck in my chest—neither going up nor down.
Sun Fatty patted me on the shoulder. "Lazi, forget it. Don't dwell on it. This was just Ruan Liang's fate…" He trailed off, suddenly struck by a thought. Spinning around, he glared at Huang Ran and barked, "Wait a minute! Huang Ran, why the hell didn't you tell us there were things like that in there? If you'd warned us ahead of time, we might've had a shot—Ruan Liang didn't have to die!"
As Sun Fatty spoke, all of us from the Bureau turned our eyes toward Huang Ran.
The question clearly caught Huang Ran off guard. He looked a little uncomfortable, glanced at Sun Fatty, and said with a sigh, "Ruan Liulang's Observations never mentioned anything like what we just saw. All he said was that once the spring receded, there would be a short window—about the time it takes to drink a cup of tea—to cross the area and enter the passage ahead. As for the Wyrmvine Threads, there wasn't a single word about them in his account."
"Wyrmvine Threads…" I repeated the term. I had never seen that in the Bureau archives. It must have been part of the materials Huang Ran had secretly taken back then. But when Hao Wenming heard the name, there was no change in his expression. Clearly, the Director knew what they were.
Sun Fatty rolled his eyes toward Huang Ran. "No use talking around it. Be honest, Old Huang—why don't you let us take a look at Ruan Liulang's Observations? Maybe you misread something. You might've misunderstood the meaning."
Before Huang Ran could respond, Meng Qiqi and Zhang Zhiyan stepped forward. Meng, now seemingly Zhang's spokesperson, said, "Fatty, what are you trying to do—interrogate him or something?" She was about to continue when Huang Ran stopped her with a gesture. He turned to us and smiled. "Now's not the time to show you Ruan Liulang's Observations. Let me preserve a little mystery. When the time is right, I promise I'll hand them over."
"Forget the Observations for now," said Hao Wenming, staring straight at Huang Ran. "Not to point fingers, but what's the next move? You planning to lead, or not?"
Sun Fatty still had words ready, but now that the Director had spoken, he had to keep quiet and stepped aside. Huang Ran nodded and pointed toward the far end of the passage. "Just keep heading forward. No forks in the road. If nothing goes wrong, we should reach the center of the Tomb of the Transcendent Beast."
No one said anything after that. The air was still, and everyone's gaze followed the direction of his pointing finger.
A dense mist cloaked our surroundings. Under normal vision, even with a flashlight, we couldn't see more than ten meters ahead. Luckily, we were now beyond the crystal stone mine, and the fog here posed no real obstacle for people like us. About fifty or sixty meters in, the passage curved. Whether it truly was a straight shot with no forks, as Huang Ran claimed, we'd find out soon enough.
This tunnel was nothing like the one we'd traversed earlier. Every surface—the walls, the ceiling, even the floor beneath our feet—was covered in a translucent, pale yellow material that resembled glazed ceramic. Though smooth to the touch, it was not see-through, and the whole tunnel looked as if it had been crafted using the same techniques used to make Tang dynasty sancai pottery. Because of the heavy moisture, the ground was slick. When we had rushed in earlier, both Zhang Zhiyan and Sun Fatty had stumbled and nearly taken a spill.
Once we had a clear view of our surroundings, someone finally spoke. "Old Huang, are there any more of those thread things up ahead?" Sun Fatty looked at Huang Ran. "If there are, give us a heads-up. I don't care if I get spooked, but if you scare my cat and it starts screeching again, none of us are going to survive."
It was hard to tell if it was coincidence or something more, but as Sun Fatty spoke, the black cat lifted its head and gave Huang Ran a cold, unreadable look before burying its face back into Sun Fatty's arm.
Huang Ran gave a helpless smile. In theory, the lot of us from the Bureau were his prisoners, but the black cat on Sun Fatty's shoulder made that theory very shaky. Huang Ran clearly didn't want any more trouble on the way to the tomb's core. He said, "Before we passed the hot spring, I actually believed this whole route was safe. But now, I can't say that for sure. According to Ruan Liulang's Observations, aside from the tricky parts at the spring and the mechanism to open the tomb, there shouldn't be any other danger."
He paused, glanced at Hao Wenming, then shifted his eyes to Sun Fatty and continued, "But the Wyrmvine Threads that just emerged from the spring weren't mentioned in his Observations at all. I don't know if it's because Ruan Liulang didn't encounter them back then—or if something else is at play. As for whether we'll face more surprises ahead… that's up to fate."
Sun Fatty was about to reply, but Hao Wenming cut him off. "Dasheng, save your breath. Not to be blunt, but we've come this far and there's no turning back. We keep going. Besides, the Bureau's own data on this Tomb of the Transcendent Beast is basically a blank page. I want to see for myself what exactly is buried in here."