?

  I shook my head and said, "Alright, let's not talk about this nonsense. First, go find Mr. Qi, something must have happened on his side." Li Lao Da and the other two were clearly very concerned about the movements of Passerby A, looking restless. Seeing me finally stand up, Li Lao Da didn't say a word, and carried the German beauty on his back.

  They had relatively complete equipment on them, we lit two flashlights, and the long corridor suddenly became bright. With more people, our courage grew, and the previous eerie feeling disappeared instantly.

  After walking for over 20 minutes, we finally arrived at the fork in the road. At that moment, we were on the left-hand path, while passerby A had gone down the right-hand path. Logically speaking, we should have continued straight ahead, but right at the junction of the paths, there was a large patch of dark red bloodstains that didn't seem like human blood, as it was extremely viscous and gave off a strong stench.

  There was a string of white footprints on the path, with steady and firm steps, running forward. In this passage, there were only our team and lone traveler A, plus these footprints and bloodstains. I immediately judged: "He probably encountered some danger ahead, so he ran back. Let's follow the footprints to chase after him."

  Next, our group of people followed the footprints in the passage and moved quickly. After running for a short while, I suddenly felt that something was wrong. The footsteps behind me, which had been following closely all along, had disappeared at some point without my knowledge.

  I suddenly stopped in my tracks, turned around and shone my flashlight back, only to find that Li Lao Da, the three others, and the German beauty had vanished into thin air. At this moment, Fatso said, "Damn it, we've lost our way again." I quickly turned my head back, and at the end of the flashlight beam, I saw another steep cliff.

  At this time, Fatty also found that Li Lao Da and the other three had disappeared. He looked surprised and said: "Huh? Where did everyone go?"

  I must have looked terrible at that moment, I knew it myself. Just as I and Fatso were leading the charge, rushing to catch up with Pedestrian A in a hurry, Li Lao Da and his two companions behind us suddenly came up with some idea and directly dropped out of the team. And most importantly, where did they go?

  Now, with no way forward, the only thing I haven't tried yet is that passage that Passerby A went to before. I gritted my teeth and said, "We've been calculated again, let's go back and take a look."

  Fatso chuckled and patted my shoulder, saying: "Your awareness is too low. Where you lose face, you have to find it back. As soon as I met these three people, I felt they had a problem. They seem to be quite righteous, but do you know why I fell behind with you later?"

  "Damn it, I haven't even settled the score with you yet, how did you learn that trick from Little Brother so thoroughly? You suddenly fell behind me, I was worried sick about you, but you're actually jumping around like a madman. Let me tell you, if you don't explain this clearly to me, I'll smash your head today."

  "Ah, my brother, I'm not that kind of person who would casually betray the organization! Who told you to run so fast? As soon as I discovered the situation, I hadn't even opened my mouth yet, and you didn't leave a single shadow behind. I was worried about missing clues, so I had no choice but to swallow my pride, bear the burden, and take risks to move forward."

  I looked at him like that and felt unreliable, so I asked: "What situation did you find?"

  Fat boy panted, following me and said: "At that time, you guys moved too fast, rushing forward in a flash. Fat brother was hindered by his physical condition, running very hard inside, slowing down naturally noticed more. There are many forks in the alleys, fat brother originally followed your footprints all the way, but guess what? When I walked to one of the fork roads, I suddenly found someone's shadow turned from there. You think, people in this city, only a few, I pondered, thinking, could it be Mr. Zhang?"

  "At that time, you ran too fast and disappeared in no time. I had to chase after you first, but guess what? The figure actually led me around in circles inside, circling around until we returned to the place where we ate beef, then it vanished."

  I thought to myself, no way, I was following Fatso's footprints at the time, and they were circling around quite a bit, but in the end, they extended all the way to the square, so how did this become what Fatso said?

  I shared my discovery with Fatty, and he was stunned too. "I've had doubts about this for a long time," he said. "Let me analyze it with you." After finishing speaking, he didn't move his mouth for half a day. I got anxious and poked him with my elbow, scolding: "Damn it, it's not like you're giving an award acceptance speech, what are you brewing?"

  "Fat Brother wasn't hesitating, it's just that this thing is too damn weird. You know, around the beef pot area, there are passageways everywhere, and when we searched there before, we left a lot of footprints, so if someone chases after us, they'll get lost. Fat Brother was anxious and flustered at the time, sat on the ground, grabbed the nearby beef packaging and tore it apart while thinking of a solution. In the end, I decided to meet up with you guys first, letting that innocent-looking guy follow those people, but I really didn't feel at ease. As a result, you guess what happened? Just as I was about to leave, I noticed something wrong with the words on the beef packaging - firstly, they weren't Chinese characters; secondly, there's a place similar to an expiration date, and the numbers printed there... damn, it turns out that beef was stewed sixty years ago."

  I suddenly felt a chill run down my spine, and asked if Fatso had made a mistake. He said: "Fatso's two pairs of fiery eyes are sharp enough to spot any fake goods from the West, how could I possibly misread a few numbers?"

  "I also felt that something was off, so I wanted to chase after you. At this time, the figure appeared again and disappeared around the corner. I felt that something wasn't right, it seemed like he was monitoring me. I shot a gun into the corner, determined to catch him. I chased him all the way and found out that it shouldn't be Zhang, because although his clothes were the same color, there was some difference in height. There was an unknown person following us, of course, we couldn't let it go on, so I chased after him, and... damn it, I ended up back at that well again."

  I was shocked and asked, "Did that person go down the well?" The fat man's face was full of indignation, and he patted my shoulder, saying, "Of course! I searched around and found that there were many places to hide, but then I discovered that the purple moss on the wellhead had been slid over, so I suspected that the person might have gone down the well."

  I was shocked and exclaimed: "Could it be that the figure you've been following is...the corpse's..."

  I hadn't finished speaking when Fatso slapped me on the back of my head, saying: "Don't have such a rich imagination, where did this ghost come from in broad daylight?"

  "I was thinking at the time, I guessed that there was a passage in the well, so I followed him down. That well really connected to an underground river, with rapid currents below. As soon as I went down, I regretted it, because I didn't know how long the underground river was or where the exit was. The currents swept me away and I couldn't break free at all. At that time, I thought: It's over, this time I'm going to die here in glory. What about my innocent comrade? He's too naive, without me, he'll be bullied everywhere... thinking of this, I..."

  I immediately kicked him and said: "I beat you up so that you can't take care of yourself, shut your damn mouth."

  The fatty covered his butt, his face twisted in a scowl, and let out a loud shout: "Tian Zhen, when did you become so powerful? Even my little brother didn't lay such a heavy hand on me!" As soon as the fatty spoke, the joy of our reunion instantly vanished. Thinking about the German beauty and passerby A's appearance earlier, my heart was racing with anxiety. They had been drugged, at least they could still breathe a few mouthfuls of air. I had been injected with such a large dose, the effect hadn't worn off yet. Heaven knows what would happen when the effect wore off - would I collapse and die on the spot?

  Chubby saw that I looked unhappy and gritted his teeth in pain: "I said it was a mistake, I was the one who got kicked, why are you making such a sad face?"

  I'm too lazy to argue with fatty, and I don't want him to worry. Now this matter, saying it out loud will only make people uneasy, so I weakly waved my hand and said: "Alright, focus on the key points, now the situation is urgent, if you continue to be so unprofessional, just shut up."

  "Alright, alright, your temper is getting better, but my midlife crisis hasn't arrived yet, how did you... Don't hit me, I'm talking."

  "At that time, I really thought I was done for, but fortunately, the luck wasn't bad. The undercurrent swept me away in an unknown direction, and when I still had a breath left, I managed to get ashore. Following the underground river, I eventually found many holes carved on the stone wall, so I chose one and drilled through it, which led me to a stone chamber. Later, Li Lao Da and his three companions somehow provoked a group of strange monkey creatures, and when they met me, they thought I was their accomplice. We were chased all the way, shitting and pissing our pants, but at first, we had enough firepower and didn't suffer any losses. As bullets became scarce, we could only flee in panic. When the road was cut off, Li suddenly threw a bead to me while fighting off the monkeys with his gun, telling me to insert the bead into the Qilin's eye socket. I thought for a moment and realized it was a mechanism."

  I interrupted Fatso's words and said, "No need to say anything more." Fatso knew I understood, so he shut his mouth.

  We hadn't walked far in the corridor when Fatso, seeing that I still hadn't spoken up, casually said: "Don't bottle it up, if there's something on your mind, let's discuss it with the brothers. How come I feel like you're getting weirder and weirder?" Fatso's careless words suddenly made me realize that things had indeed been too chaotic lately, my life and death hanging in the balance, my heart never at peace. Now thinking about it, what's done is done, no matter how much I worry, it won't do any good, things still have to unfold step by step.

  I shook my head and threw off the miscellaneous thoughts in my heart, saying: "Who do you suspect that person is?"

  Fatso said mysteriously: "I suspect it's Li Lao Da and his men."

  "Shunzi?"

  The fatty looked at me and didn't make a sound. I suddenly came to my senses, and my whole body felt as if it had been splashed with a layer of cold water.

  Shunzi suddenly disappeared, and neither I nor Baozi had time to react before Lao Da and his two men chased after him. Next thing I knew, I was led to the square. Looking back now, everything seemed to have been carefully planned, and the ghostly figure mentioned by Lao Da probably did exist, but it was used by Lao Da and his men to deceive me and Baozi into falling for their trick.

  But if that's the case, then whose was the fresh skeleton I saw at first? What did Junji, who was injured, want to do if he didn't die?

  Passerby A struggled to get rid of us, deceiving his subordinates by saying we were going to meet the reception team. However, Li Lao Da and others deliberately led me and Fatzi to the square, now we are trapped in this place. Suddenly, Li Lao Da and three others started playing hide-and-seek, could it be...

  I suddenly understood, the confused thoughts suddenly cleared up like a thread, and I immediately pulled Baozi's arm and scolded: "Damn it, things are bad, let's go quickly."

  "What?"

  I didn't have time to explain to Fatso, and hastily said: "Save the one with the surname Qi."

  "Save him? You must be kidding, you've taken the wrong medicine!"

  I ignored the fatty, dragging him to sprint in the corridor. All along, I always thought that I and the fatty were outnumbered and outmatched, being played around by people like Lao San. But now, putting everything together, I suddenly realized that it wasn't me who was outnumbered and outmatched, but rather Lao San.

  I've always thought that even if Dr. Zhang and his gang had a falling out with passerby A, they still had Li Lao Da's group left, but now thinking about it, it's clear that not even Li Lao Da is on their side.

  No wonder Lao Li said that passerby A suddenly disappeared, it seems that Mr. Qi did it on purpose.

  According to the German beauty, at first, this group of people was a team led by Passerby A and Mr. Zhang. However, things took a turn after Passerby A received a phone call, which changed many things and made Passerby A become an opposing force against everyone else. When he opposed Li Lao Da and Dr. Zhang, he had already chosen to betray 'it'.

  I suddenly understood the crazy behavior of passerby A, those injections in his body, because he never intended to leave here alive. If I'm not mistaken, at this moment, Li Lao Da and the other two should have gone to settle accounts with Passerby A.