In that moment, I couldn’t understand how he could be so sure that person was Wen Jin. When I looked over, the person’s face was covered in mud, and I couldn’t even tell if it was a man or a woman. But there was no time to think too much; Panzi shouted for help! Several people immediately followed the silent oil bottle and rushed into the water.

Just a few steps in, I was met with mud, and beneath the swamp was a layer of water plants. I wasn’t wearing shoes, and the greasy mud and the feeling of the water plants scraping against my feet were akin to countless strands of hair entangling around them, which was truly nerve-wracking. After a few splashes, we found ourselves in deeper water, and we spread our arms and began to swim.

The silent oil bottle swam incredibly fast, and in the blink of an eye, he was near that person. It seemed that the water level there wasn’t too high, and the person was struggling to stand up in the water. Soon, Panzi climbed up as well, followed by me and Fatty. When my feet touched the bottom again, I realized that this area was a shallow bank, and I couldn’t discern what was beneath the water; it felt like some huge stones protruding from the muddy swamp.

At this point, we were only six or seven meters away from that person, and as I looked closely, my heart raced, feeling unusually tense. Wen Jin was a key figure; she had always seemed like a concept from legends and photographs. Now that she appeared before me, I couldn’t be sure if it was really her. However, only Fatty had the mining lamp, and as he just steadied himself, the light flickered and swayed, making it impossible for me to see what was ahead clearly.

The silent oil bottle had already rushed over, looking particularly anxious, which was unlike his usual demeanor. I watched as he almost reached that person, and just at that moment, the person suddenly turned and ducked back into the water, fleeing into the deeper swamp.

We all panicked and shouted, but that person swam incredibly fast, splashing a few times before disappearing into the darkness beyond the swamp. The silent oil bottle lunged forward, trying to grab hold, but he was still a beat too slow.

It looked like he was only an arm’s length away, but moving in the swamp was incredibly inconvenient; sometimes, even when you felt you could reach something, you just couldn’t touch it. However, the silent oil bottle was no ordinary person. Seeing that he had missed his grab, he immediately jumped into the water, following the ripples on the surface that hadn’t yet settled, and vanished into the darkness.

Seeing this, I thought I couldn’t just stand by. I tried to follow, but was suddenly pulled back by Panzi in front of me. The bottom of the water was uneven, and I stumbled and fell, swallowing several mouthfuls of water. When I got back up, Panzi immediately said to me, “Don’t chase anymore; we can’t catch up.”

After coughing a few times, I calmed down and steadied myself, looking back to see the swamp behind us was pitch black. We had slowed down just a beat; once we went in, we would see nothing at all, and there would be no way to continue the pursuit. Often, being a beat too slow meant losing all chances. Now, all we could do was hope the silent oil bottle could catch her.

We were exhausted, panting and exchanging glances. Fatty curiously asked, “What the hell, why did she run? Didn’t you recognize her? Were we that scary?”

I recalled the person’s appearance and thought to myself, I don’t know who scared whom. Panzi then asked me, “Was that person really Wen Jin?”

How could I see clearly? I shook my head and said I didn’t know. In that situation, I also had no idea how the mute oil bottle made his judgment. From the moment we saw that person to when he called out was just a split second; his eyes were too quick. However, speaking of which, there shouldn’t be anyone else in this place. The appearance of this one person easily made one think of Wen Jin, but if it really was her, why would she run? Wasn’t she the one who led us here?

“What should we do now?” the fat guy asked us. “That young man didn’t even take a mining lamp. It’s almost pitch black in that jungle; will he get into trouble chasing after him? Should we go back to get our gear and support him?”

I thought to myself that it was really hard to say. Panzi said, “It should be fine. That young man is not one of us; I believe he knows what he’s doing. Besides, going in now might not help. He might even have to come and save us later.”

I recalled how the mute oil bottle rushed towards that person; it didn’t seem like he was being careful. I always felt that after entering this rainforest, the mute oil bottle seemed to have undergone some changes, but I really couldn’t pinpoint what was different.

We waited there for a while, but the mute oil bottle didn’t come back. My body had just dried off, and now it was all wrinkled again. We had hardly dried off on the way in, and now I felt uncomfortable all over again.

The fat guy said, “Let’s not wait in the water anymore; let’s go to the shore. There are snakes in this water. Although snakes don’t usually attack people in the water, those snakes are too strange, and staying here is still dangerous.”

I almost forgot about the snakes until he mentioned it. Our lower bodies were in the water, which was black, and we couldn’t see what was underneath. Hearing this made me feel uneasy, so I nodded and turned to swim back to the starting point.

Once we reached the shore, the fat guy shook his chest, rubbing off the mud while looking at the snake marks around our backpacks. I sat down by the campfire, feeling a bit better. At this moment, my mind was in disarray. On one hand, I was a bit worried about the mute oil bottle; he just rushed into the swamp, and thinking about it really felt reckless. I didn’t know if he could come out. On the other hand, this series of events made me very uneasy.

A Ning’s death was actually a beginning, but at the time, I was more shocked. Now that I think about it, why did the wild chicken sneak up on us while we were sleeping? Almost at the same time, a person appeared in the swamp. So many things happened before we even entered the swamp, which was truly ominous. This place hadn’t even been entered, yet it gave a sense of extreme danger. This feeling was even different from what I had felt before when encountering danger. I felt that this time, something big might happen.

This might also relate to the mute oil bottle’s abnormal behavior. Although I didn’t want to think this way, I didn’t know why, but this time, being next to the mute oil bottle didn’t give me the sense of stability I used to have; instead, I felt even more restless.

At this moment, recalling the decision to come here, I really regretted it to the core.

Panzi finished dealing with the clothes and came to remind me. I took off my clothes to dry them by the fire. We increased the flames so that when the “Dun Youping” returned, he could see our location. The fat guy made a nasty remark, saying, “This little flame looks a bit like a soul-calling lantern; don’t let any lost souls from the swamp come over.” Panzi immediately cursed at him.

However, the fat guy had a point; it really did look a bit like that. I felt uncomfortable, so I turned on the miner’s lamp and lined them up on the stone, which made it a bit clearer. I walked over to Anning’s body, intending to place the lamp by her head. But as I approached, I suddenly realized something was off. Looking again, my mind went “buzz.”

Anning’s body was actually gone, leaving only an empty sleeping bag. (Page turn prompt: 5 centimeters below, there is a link “Next Chapter: The Serpent Swamp Ghost City (Part 2) Chapter: Disappeared,” that’s it. Other chapters are similar.)