It took less than ten minutes to open a passageway; destruction is always more efficient than construction. Zhang Haike and his companions filed in, lighting torches. Once they entered the brick wall, they found the situation was completely different from what they had imagined.

First, there was the mud. Behind the brick wall was a huge stone hall. Except for the side they were on, which was made of bricks, the rest was all large stone slabs, but it was unclear what material the stones were made of. The entire hall was filled with mud, and there was a very steep stone ledge around the perimeter that could be walked on, where a corpse was sitting.

As they entered and pushed the corpse, it fell into the mud. Zhang Haike helped it up and discovered that the joints of the corpse were still movable. It was dressed in early Republic of China clothing and had its legs bound. He intended to take a good look at the corpse, but quickly dismissed the thought when he realized that this huge mud pool was filled with similar corpses.

From the state of the corpses, it was hard to tell how deep the mud was; some corpses were submerged, while others were at waist height. The mud was green and very viscous, making one feel nauseous.

They walked along the edge of the stone, and after a round, they found that there were no more passages leading to other places in this stone hall.

“Is this all there is?” one person muttered to himself.

Zhang Haike said, “The submerged parts of the people on the edges are higher, while the ones in the middle are lower. This mud pool is shaped like a funnel; there should be openings leading to other places beneath the mud.”

“Damn it.”

“The corpses in the mud are all wearing goggles and protective masks, so even if there are no openings, they were still fishing for things inside. But I tend to believe there is a passage,” Zhang Haike continued. “Because everyone is connected by ropes, and our earlier judgment was wrong; this opening wasn’t sealed off by people from the outside, but by those inside. Look, the sealing marks are all on the inside. These people sealed themselves in.”

“Are you saying there might be something suspicious in this mud? They didn’t want it to surface and harm others, so they sacrificed themselves?”

“I never think of those in our line of work as being that noble. The ground outside has bricks, which means the people inside have been continuously blocking it, while people outside are trying to dig in. The specifics are unknown, but we need to send someone to watch the opening. It should be safe inside.”

“No one would dig a brick wall like the Zhang family does; they hammer the bricks into the wall while we dig outwards. Stop talking nonsense.”

“I’m not talking nonsense.” Zhang Haike suddenly inhaled sharply, took out the pocket watch again, and opened it to show them the photo. “Do you know who this person is?”

Several people looked but shook their heads. Zhang Haike glanced at the hole they had come in through and said, “This man is Zhang Qiling’s father; I saw him when I was a child.”

Supporting a corpse, Zhang Haike brought the torch close to the corpse’s grotesque face and said, “Take a good look at the faces and hands of these corpses; they all belong to the Zhang family and share their characteristics.”

“Huh?” The others rushed to look, and upon seeing the fingers of the corpse, they were indeed abnormally long, instantly turning pale.

“What is going on here?”

“Zhang Qiling’s father is dead, and I know that, but the family keeps these deaths a deep secret. This time, we might have been deceived; someone arranged for us to come here.”
“Who?”
Zhang Haike turned around: “It’s that little ghost, Zhang Qiling. We were led here all the way; think back, it seems all the information came from him.” He paused and continued, “This kid brought us all here; could it be for his father’s corpse?”
“Damn it, I’m going to go up and snap his neck.” One of them was furious. Zhang Haike immediately waved his hand: “Wait a minute. The deaths of these Zhang family members are too suspicious. Zhang Qiling probably doesn’t want to harm us; he wants us to see how these people died. He might just want to figure out how his father died.”
“That’s not it.” Another person said, “Come look over here.”
A few people turned around and saw that the person had jumped into the mud and was carrying another corpse. He twisted the head of the corpse with force, and in an instant, the head came off easily.
“The neck is broken; these corpses have many injuries.” He said, “There has been a lot of fighting here, and the killing method used is typical of the Zhang family. Some of these people were murdered, and the ones who killed them are also from the Zhang family. This is a scene of internal strife within our family.”
The group exchanged glances; everyone knew a little about the internal strife, but seeing this scene was still hard for these kids to digest.
“Zhang Qiling’s father was murdered by our own family?” One person said in fear, “Damn it, his father is dead, and our fathers are still alive. Could it be that our fathers are the killers, and this little brat lured us here for revenge?”
They exchanged glances again, paused for a moment, and immediately rushed towards the exit. As they reached the entrance, they suddenly saw the muffled bottle squatting behind the brick wall at the entrance, silently watching them.
The group came to a screeching halt; the last person fell into the mud, and the others stood there shivering. One of them said, “Little ghost, why did you come down here?”
The muffled bottle looked left and right, then at them. Zhang Haike was relatively calm; after a few minutes of stalemate, he reacted and asked, “You heard our discussion just now, right?”
The muffled bottle nodded.
“Is it just as we speculated?”
The muffled bottle looked at him and said, “It’s not speculation; I was there when all this happened.”
The group exchanged glances again: “Did our father really kill your father?”
“I don’t even know who your father is.” The muffled bottle said, “The person you think is my father is not actually my father.”
“Then why did you bring us here?”
The muffled bottle looked at Zhang Haike and said, “I needed to come to this place; I am too young, and there are many things I cannot do.”
“What do you want to do here?”

“Has nothing to do with you,” said the muffled oil bottle. “Beneath this mire, there are passageways like spider webs, all filled with sludge. However, each passageway connects to its own room where one can rest and breathe. Some of these rooms contain many things you need. With the gear from these dead people, if you advance four or five rooms, you can complete the trial.”
“What about you?”
“I have to go much deeper,” replied the muffled oil bottle.