I work as a security guard at a cemetery, and I overhear the dead chatting about getting rich quick.

"Are they in class?"

Tang Zhi stared at the screen for a while.

No one responded to her this time.

Seven or eight grayish-white animal bones were nailed to the rock face, with carvings between them. The soil in the clearing had been repeatedly compacted, leaving more than a dozen pits of varying sizes.

Jiang Yue switched the drone's perspective.

"There are shoe prints and steel cable scratches on the north side; the people who were following us came here yesterday."

"What's behind the rock face?" Cheng Fang asked.

"I can't see it."

Behind the rock face is a narrow crevice, obscured by vines and protruding rocks. The drone could only capture the entrance, not its depth.

Jiang Yue then brought up the thermal imaging screen.

Apart from the animals in the open area, no other heat sources were found.

"They might have left, or they might have hidden themselves well."

After watching the footage, Cheng Fang did not immediately order the departure.

Someone died at the camp last night. Although the relay line has been repaired, we can no longer easily move our defensive forces outwards.

In the end, only seven people were confirmed to go into the mountains.

Group Two consists of five people, plus Jiang Yue and Meng Chuan.

The rest of the advance team members remained at the camp.

Forty minutes later, the team circled around the stream to the rock face.

They did not follow the route on the backpack map.

Two drones maintained high-altitude surveillance at all times, while a tracked reconnaissance vehicle led the way, checking for tripwires, explosives, and unusual spiritual energy fluctuations along the way.

There were no ambushes along the way.

The closer you get to the rock face, the quieter the forest becomes.

Animal footprints can occasionally be seen on the ground.

Wild boar, macaque, felines, and several other types of claw marks that were not identifiable.

All the traces are pointing in the same direction.

"There was no dragging or marks from the cage."

Jiang Yue watched it the whole way.

"These animals came on their own."

Two hundred meters from the rock face, a macaque appeared in the treetops.

It crouched among the branches, stared at the crowd for a few seconds, then turned and jumped toward the rock wall.

Xu Mian looked up.

"He went to deliver the message."

Cheng Fang did not urge the team to speed up.

"Proceed according to the original plan."

Emerging from the woods, the view suddenly opened up.

The rock face is about ten meters high, and a large patch of vines in the middle has been cleared away, revealing the gray-black stone surface.

Seven pieces of animal bone were nailed to the stone.

It has ribs, leg bones, and a scapula that is nearly half a meter long.

Beneath the bones were the animals captured by the drone.

The tracked reconnaissance vehicle drove into the open space first.

The wild boar looked up once, then quickly lay down again.

The macaques and lynxes did not react.

The car circled around, collected data close to the rock face, and then returned the way it came.

Jiang Yue looked at the test results.

"There are no explosives."

"There is residual spiritual energy on the animal bones, but it is not very strong and is not a spiritual artifact."

Cheng Fang stared at the crater in the ground.

He didn't let everyone go in together.

"I, Tang Zhi, Qin Zhao, and Meng Chuan enter."

"Xu Mian is in charge of remote support."

"Lin Ye and Jiang Yue guard the rear and keep an eye on the cracks in the rock wall."

Meng Chuan inspects the restraint net bullets.

Tang Zhi released her silk threads.

Qin Zhao's embers did not ignite, but remained dormant in his palm.

The four people kept their distance and slowly stepped into the open space.

ten meters.

Fifteen meters.

When they were about twenty meters away from the animal bones, the three macaques in the tree stood up at the same time.

The wild boar also raised its head.

A low growl came from the crevice in the rock.

"stop."

Cheng Fang raised his hand.

The group stood still, not moving any further.

The wild boar stared intently at them, but its front hooves did not paw the ground.

Cheng Fang took a step back.

It slowly lowered its body again.

"The cordon is right here," Meng Chuan said in a low voice.

They retreated, and the animals stopped attacking.

As long as they don't get too close to the rock face, they can coexist peacefully.

Tang Zhi asked, "How do we do it?"

"According to the plan, evacuate them."

Cheng Fang took out a decoy missile containing a sample of the mutated beast's scent from his equipment bag and threw it to the side of the open ground.

The spent cartridge case hit the ground, releasing a mist that smelled of blood.

The wild boar twitched its nose, but did not move away.

The macaques in the tree screamed instead.

The first stone was thrown at the decoy missile.

The second piece went straight for Cheng Fang's face.

Cheng Fang turned his head to avoid it.

The wild boars got up at the same time and charged at each other with their heads down.

"Fight while retreating!"

Cheng Fang activated his Iron Body technique and met the attack head-on.

The wild boar crashed into his arms, pushing him back two meters.

Tang Zhi's silk threads entangled the wild boar's right front and hind legs. Instead of pulling it back forcefully, she wrapped it around a nearby tree trunk, using the force to change its direction.

The wild boar was pulled to one side.

Meng Chuan had already raised the launcher.

boom!

The restraint net spread out in mid-air, covering the wild boar's head and forelegs.

The wild boar lost sight of the ropes and its feet got tangled in the net, causing it to crash to the ground.

Stones were still falling from the tree.

Qin Zhao did not burn the trees, but only drew a short line of fire on the ground.

The heatwave forced the three macaques to flee to higher ground.

Xu Mian raised her gun and fired twice.

The bullets didn't hit the macaques; instead, they broke the twigs beneath their feet.

A macaque lost its balance and fell into a bush.

The other two shrieked a few times, then disappeared into the tree canopy.

"The lynx is missing."

Xu Mian suddenly spoke.

Almost at the same time, a tan shadow rushed into the woods from the right side of the rock face.

It did not attack the four people in the open space.

Instead, it bypassed the rocks and lunged at the woods behind it from the side.

Lin Ye kept his eyes on the crack in the rock wall. When he heard the noise, the lynx had already rushed within ten meters.

It is much larger than it appears in drone footage.

Including the tail, it's nearly two meters long.

Jiang Yue raised his gun.

The lynx suddenly changed direction, using a tree to block its firing angle, and continued to pounce into the forest.

Lin Ye stepped aside, grabbing the protective spirit stone at the same time.

The free spiritual energy within the body was rapidly drawn away.

The light-colored membrane had just unfolded when the lynx crashed into it.

boom!

Lin Ye stumbled back several steps, his back slamming heavily against a tree trunk.

The light film shook violently.

The lynx pounced again immediately after landing, its sharp claws scraping against the light membrane, making a sound that made your teeth ache.

The patterns on the protective stone shard quickly darkened.

Lin Ye touched the Spirit-Shocking Nail, but did not use it immediately.

The distance is too close.

Once triggered, he himself will be overturned by the shockwave.

"Lower your head!"

Xu Mian's voice came through the communicator.

Lin Ye immediately shrank his head.

Gunshots rang out.

The bullet entered the lynx's shoulder, causing it to veer to the side.

The second shot followed immediately, hitting the side of the neck.

The lynx landed, rolled twice, and struggled to get up.

Jiang Yue arrived and lowered his gun.

boom!

The third shot ended it.

Tang Zhi and Cheng Fang also retreated from the open space.

The wild boar was secured to the outside by a net and wire, and Meng Chuan administered an additional injection of anesthetic, so it was temporarily out of danger.

Cheng Fang walked up to Lin Ye.

"Where are you hurt?"

"I bumped my back."

"Anything else?"

"That's all."

Cheng Fang looked at Jiang Yue.

Jiang Yue scanned it with his portable device.

"The bones are fine, but there is soft tissue contusion in the shoulder and back."

Cheng Fang then looked away.

"Where are the spirit-protecting stone pieces?"

Lin Ye spread his hands.

The patterns on the stone slab have almost completely darkened.

"It won't be usable in a short time."

"Where are the Spirit-Shocking Nails?"

"It's no use."

Cheng Fang nodded.

"That was the right move. If we had used that distance, the lynx might not have fallen first, but you would have definitely flown away first."

Tang Zhi squatted down next to the lynx's corpse and glanced at the route it had taken.

"It doesn't just pick people randomly."

"Lin Ye and Jiang Yue are closest to the rock wall crevice; it's on Qinghou Road."

Cheng Fang saw it too.

These animals don't simply pounce on the target that's closest to them.

The wild boar is used to harass and control the situation from the front.

The macaques interfered from above.

The lynx flanked and attacked those guarding the retreat route.

It's not necessarily someone directing them from afar.

But they clearly know how to cooperate.

"Clear the area first."

Cheng Fang said, "Xu Mian, expand the scope of the investigation."

"Meng Chuan, keep an eye on the wild boar."

"No one else should touch the animal bones."

Xu Mian's shadow spread along the rock wall, tree roots, and the entrance to the crevice.

After a moment, she shook her head.

There are no other animals nearby.

"The crevice is too narrow; the shadow can't penetrate it deeply."

Jiang Yue released a small crawling probe and sent it into the crevice.

The video feed came back quickly.

Inside is a natural rock crevice. After walking for about ten meters, turn left.

I haven't seen anyone yet.

Only then did the group approach the rock wall.

Animal bones themselves do not exhibit particularly strong spiritual energy fluctuations.

The nails were just ordinary steel nails.

What truly shows a pattern are the markings on the bones.

Each bone has a different pattern.

The wild boar had been lying prone in a position opposite a thick leg bone. The carvings extended upwards from the bottom of the bone, finally stopping at the shoulder and back.

Beside the crevice where the lynx was, a thin, long rib was nailed in place. The lines on it were shorter and had more twists and turns.

The most intricate part is the one on the monkey's head, which, in addition to the vertical lines, is also engraved with rows of short bars.

Tang Zhi stared at it for a long time.

"Isn't that a character?"

"At least not in existing written language."

Jiang Yue took photos while noting the location of the bones.

"It doesn't resemble common array patterns either."

Lin Ye stood on the outermost side and did not touch the animal bones.

He opened his spiritual hearing.

The first sound was the wild boar's heavy panting.

Then came the sounds of macaques calling, claws scratching the ground, and the low breathing of felines.

These lingering sounds were not made on the same day.

One layer on top of another.

The animals repeatedly came to this spot, lay down in the same place, and breathed in the same rhythm.

That familiar voice appeared again.

"A wolf walks along its spine, not its belly."

A moment later, his breathing became even heavier.

"Bear, calm your breath."

"Stabilize your lower abdomen first, don't rush to send your limbs out."

From the other side came the irritable cries of macaques.

"You can't even keep your shoulders and arms steady, yet you want to steal the air?"

"Let's start over."

Lin Ye continued listening.

From the deepest part of the lingering sound, a very light breath suddenly appeared.

Not a beast.

The voice paused for a moment before speaking again.

"To draw in qi, one must first find the pathway."

"Beast fighting techniques cannot be copied blindly."

The sound stopped there.

Lin Ye put away his spiritual hearing.

Cheng Fang asked, "How is it?"

"This place is not for controlling animals."

Lin Ye looked at the animal bones on the rock wall.

"They are being taught how to use spiritual energy."

He repeated what he had heard.

When Jiang Yue recorded "human qi guidance", his pen paused for a moment.

"Has anyone practiced here before?"

Lin Ye said, "I can't tell from the lingering sound."

Tang Zhi looked at the animal bones.

"So each bone corresponds to a different animal?"

"Very likely."

"Wild boars, wolves, and macaques all operate in different ways."

Qin Zhao said, "These bones aren't decorations; they're a route for them to follow."

Lin Ye nodded.

"It's more like a textbook."

Meng Chuan inspected the other side of the rock face, then suddenly raised his hand.

"One piece is missing."

A steel nail remains on the stone surface.

The animal bones had been removed, and the broken edges and nearby scratches were very fresh.

There were also treated shoe prints on the ground, extending all the way to the cracks behind the rock wall.

Cheng Fang walked over and took a look.

"They've already taken some."

Just as Jiang Yue was about to release the second detector, Xu Mian suddenly turned her head to look at the rift.

"Three points of direction."

"Someone is coming out."

The sound of unhurried footsteps came from deep within the crevice of the rock.

One.

two.

more and more.

Jiang Zhaoye was the first to come out.

He had a short black stick slung over his shoulder, and his clothes were stained with dried blood.

Yesterday, the stealth-type ability user from the Seventh Tracking Division followed behind, and his left arm had already been covered by a different jacket.

Then three more people came out.

The last one was an elderly man in gray clothes, who was none other than Master Lai.

The six people had been hiding in the crevices behind the rock wall.

The drone was not visible from above.

The rock strata blocked the thermal imaging.

They clearly knew that the Seventh Division would be coming.

Cheng Fang's eyes immediately darkened when he saw the old man clearly.

Lai Changqing.

Master Lai first glanced at the bound wild boar, then swept his gaze over the lynx carcass on the ground.

"It saved us a lot of trouble."

Meng Chuan picked up his gun.

Tang Zhi's tendrils dangled from between her fingers.

A dark red flame lit up in Qin Zhao's palm.

The members of the Candle Shadow Society slowly dispersed, sealing off the cracks in the rock wall and the woods on the north side.

Lai Changqing looked at the animal bones.

"Where we're from, we call this a 'jinggu' (经骨)."

"You can't figure this out just by taking a few photos."

Cheng Fang said, "Black Locust Ridge is within the jurisdiction of the Seventh Division."

"You illegally entered the suspicious area, took away suspicious items, and attacked and stalked personnel from the Seventh Division."

Lai Changqing chuckled.

"That's a pretty complete statement."

"But we found these things first."

His gaze shifted and landed on Lin Ye.

"Keep the record."

"And him, he has to stay too."

Lai Changqing paused.

"The others can still leave now."