The two of us quickly moved our hands and feet and started to climb the tree. The trees here are relatively easy to climb, with plenty of footholds, but we need to be extra careful. The trunks are covered with moss and other plants, and if we don’t have a stable foothold, it’s easy to slip. Once you slip the first time, you might fall all the way down.

We climbed cautiously, taking one step at a time, as if we were climbing a tree buried with landmines. After much effort, we finally reached Panzi’s side.

Panzi was located just below the top of the tree canopy, where the branches were relatively sparse and the mist was lighter. This tree was very tall, and above us, the fuzzy moonlight filtered through the mist. Perhaps because we were on the plateau, the moon was particularly bright, managing to shine down so much light through the thin fog. However, the blend of moonlight and mist still gave a fuzzy feeling. Under the obscure white light, we could see the surrounding trees, but everything was still unclear; everything in the fog was ambiguous.

We approached and quietly asked Panzi what was going on. He lowered his voice to an extremely quiet level and said, “There seems to be a person on that tree over there.”

“Which way?” Fatty asked softly. Panzi pointed in a direction and gestured, “About 20 meters away, on the branches.”

“How can you see anything in this darkness? Is it that guy?”

“I couldn’t see at first; I only noticed when he moved just now,” Panzi frowned and gestured for Fatty to be quieter. “There are leaves blocking the view, so it’s not very clear, but it shouldn’t be that guy.”

“Are you sure you’re not mistaken? Are you just eager to see your third uncle and getting dizzy?”

Panzi didn’t have time to respond to Fatty’s teasing and waved his hand, “I’m not sure; you take a look for yourself!” Saying this, he pushed aside the dense branches and pointed to the distant tree canopy for us to see.

At first glance, I only saw a vast expanse of dense tree canopy. My eyesight is slightly nearsighted, and while it’s usually fine, in such ambiguous light, it’s easy for my vision to blur. So after searching for a while, I couldn’t make out anything. Fatty, with his sharp eyes, spotted it immediately and whispered, “Damn, there really is a person.”

Panzi handed me the binoculars. Following Fatty’s direction, I indeed saw a shape that resembled a person peeking through the gaps in the tree canopy. It seemed to be hiding within the canopy, making it hard to see clearly, but I could distinctly see that person’s hands, covered in mud, which under the dim moonlight looked like animal claws.

Who could it be?

I asked, “Could it be that ‘Wen Jin’ we saw in the swamp last night? Did that guy fail to catch her yesterday?”

Panzi nodded, “It’s possible, which is why I told you to be quiet. If it really is her and she hears us, she might run away again.”

I handed the binoculars to Fatty, who was clamoring to see, and said to Panzi, “What should we do? If she really is Wen Jin, we need to catch her.”

Panzi looked at the terrain around us and nodded, “But it’s a bit difficult. It’s over 20 meters from here to there, and if she runs away like she did last night upon hearing any noise, we won’t be able to catch up in this environment. She’ll be out of sight after a few steps. The best way is to sneak under the tree and corner her on the tree. Also, we need to hurry—” he glanced at the sea of trees nearby. “The fog is dissipating quickly now, and we can’t afford to waste too much time. After we catch her, we need to rush to Third Uncle’s place.”

I thought about it and decided to go for it; there was no time to hesitate, so I figured I might as well just do it. I reached out to tap the fat guy, wanting to pull him down from the tree.

The fat guy hurriedly waved his hand, “Wait, wait, wait.”

“Stop looking! Once we catch her, you’ll have plenty of time to see,” Panzi said softly.

The fat guy kept looking, moving as he did. Panzi got anxious and lost his temper, going up to snatch the fat guy’s binoculars, but he was pushed away. “Wait a minute! Something’s not right!”

We were taken aback for a moment. We all knew the fat guy had sharp eyes, and when he suddenly said that, we couldn’t ignore it. I exchanged glances with Panzi. Just then, we heard the fat guy gasp and curse as he put down the binoculars, immediately handing them to me. “Sure enough, look closely at that hand.”

I quickly took them and focused intently, while the fat guy said, “Look at the wrist, behind the leaves, look closely.”

I squinted my eyes and looked at the person’s wrist, straining my eyesight, and sure enough, I saw something. The moment I realized what it was, my heart skipped a beat as if I had understood something. In the next second, it all made sense.

That was Anning’s copper coin bracelet!

Because of my previous experiences in the Devil’s City and that strange dream, I had an extremely deep impression of that bracelet, so even in this light, I was certain I couldn’t be mistaken.

“Son of a b****.” I gasped as well.

So, it turns out that this “person” in the tree in the distance was actually Anning’s corpse. Did those snakes carry her body here?

Seeing my expression change, Panzi immediately took the binoculars. He didn’t have a strong impression of Anning, but after I reminded him, he frowned and tilted his head in thought.

“Dragged through the dense forest and swamp from the entrance, then moved up to such a high tree—this is practically a snake pulling competition. These snakes really have some strength.” The fat guy leaned against a nearby branch, chewing thoughtfully. “These snakes seem to be like ants. Do you think they are social animals like ants? Their snake nest might have a queen snake, and these corpses are being transported to the queen for food.”

“What queen snake?” I didn’t quite understand.

The fat guy said, “Haven’t you ever dug into an ant nest? The queen ant lays eggs, and the worker ants take care of her. I’m not wrong; it must be like this. The chicken crown snakes here might have a similar social structure to ants and bees. There must be a queen snake in this forest, and these little snakes are all her offspring.”

I was increasingly puzzled. “Indeed, the behavior of these snakes is incomprehensible, but your guess is definitely unreasonable. Snakes and insects are completely different species; the likelihood of that is very low.”

“I think this is a pretty good hypothesis,” the fat guy said.

I didn’t want to continue discussing this issue, especially after seeing Anning’s corpse again in such a scene, which was quite uncomfortable. I couldn’t even imagine what the hidden parts among the tree crowns looked like now. Although the fat guy had expressed his attitude toward life and death, his words at this moment still made me feel a bit gloomy.

After a moment of silence among the three of us, the fat guy said, “Damn it, no matter what they want to do, it’s obvious the corpses are here, and there are definitely many snakes nearby. We should leave here as soon as possible.”

“Are we just going to ignore her?” I felt a bit uncomfortable inside. “Since we’ve found the body, we should either—”

The fat guy shook his head. I thought for a moment and decided not to say anything further; it really wasn’t a good idea. We couldn’t handle any of the snakes around here, and besides, maybe Aning didn’t want us to see her like this. So, I sighed, stopped looking in that direction, and muttered, “Amitabha, fine, I’ll keep my mouth shut.”

At that moment, I noticed that Panzi hadn’t put down the binoculars. I thought it was strange that he had been looking for so long without getting a clear view. Upon closer inspection, I found that his hands were covered in sweat, and his face had turned pale.

I was startled and leaned in to ask, “What’s wrong?”

Panzi lowered the binoculars, looking a bit odd, and shook his head at me, saying, “It’s nothing.”

But that expression was definitely not one that conveyed “nothing.” I took the binoculars from him and looked in that direction again, but I really didn’t see anything unusual. I had my suspicions, but the fat guy was already climbing down the tree. I didn’t have time to think about it anymore, so I took one last look into the distance and followed the fat guy down.

By the time Panzi reached the ground, his face had completely returned to normal. I didn’t know what had just happened, but I noticed he kept glancing in that direction.

He didn’t say anything, and I didn’t want to ask. I figured he might not be sure himself; rather than ask and make himself uneasy, it was better to just let it go. The three of us quickly packed our things, strapped on our backpacks, and Panzi corrected our course, preparing to leave.

Just as we were about to set off, Panzi looked in that direction again and suddenly stopped. The fat guy noticed his odd behavior and asked what was wrong. Panzi raised his hand, pointed in that direction, and gestured for silence.

We all halted, and in that moment, we heard faint voices coming from the woods nearby, as if someone was speaking. Uncle Xixi, it sounded like someone was talking.

The forest was so quiet that the sudden voices felt extremely jarring. We were all puzzled. I was sweating profusely, straining to listen, and it seemed like the intermittent sounds were a woman speaking softly.

We listened quietly, the voice fluctuating in pitch, uncertain and elusive, almost like the sound of the wind rustling through the bushes. However, the branches around us were still, with not a hint of wind. What sent chills down our spines was that the direction the voice was coming from was precisely where Aning’s body lay.

The fat guy cursed softly, “Damn it, what kind of play is this? Could it be that the stinky woman really came back to life and is haunting us?”

I said it was impossible, but looking around, with the mist swirling and shadows moving, it would be a waste if this place wasn’t haunted.

The fat guy said, “It’s not a ghost; then who is talking?”

I recalled the “Wen Jin” I had seen last night and thought it might not necessarily be a haunting; it could be that this woman was nearby. However, she hadn’t made any sound last night, so I really didn’t know if she was male or female.

Another possibility was that my uncle or his people were close by, and that would be quite fortunate. But the situation was indeed strange; my uncle wouldn’t make such sounds. I had encountered too many bizarre things before, and at this point, I naturally felt a sense of foreboding.

I don’t like this feeling. I said to them, “The moonlight here is dim, the ghostly mist is thick, and the aura of evil is overwhelming. I can tell something is going to happen. We should leave quickly; staying here might bring us trouble.”

After saying that, I asked Panzi, “You’ve been calculating for so long; where should we go now?”

Panzi’s face turned pale, and he pointed in the direction from which the sound was coming: “The problem is, the direction we need to go is towards that tree.”

I was taken aback. “That way? Are you sure you’re not mistaken?”

Panzi pulled back the gun’s bolt and nodded, “If I’m wrong, then I’m a fool. The last time we saw the smoke before the fog rolled in was over there.”

I felt deflated and didn’t know what else to say. At that moment, the fat guy stood up and cursed, “Damn it, if it’s a blessing, it’s not a curse. If it’s a curse, we can’t avoid it. They’re blocking our way on purpose, making it hard for us. But we’re not easy to mess with either. Let’s go and figure out what’s going on.” With that, he stood up and started to move forward.

I cursed my bad luck under my breath, and Panzi immediately grabbed him, shaking his head and saying, “You absolutely must not go over there. Listen carefully to what she is saying.”