I could hardly believe my eyes. I slapped my forehead and said, “So you’ve been following us all along! That message, what Zhuoma said to us—could it be—”

“That’s right, I had her relay that message to you on the spur of the moment. In a moment of desperation, I had no other choice. It’s a long story,” Wen Jin said as she crawled into the gap, clasped her hands in a gesture, and brought them to her mouth, making a series of “gaga” sounds.

I was puzzled by what she was doing. Was she greeting those snakes? Soon, I heard echoes of “gaga” coming from deep within the gap. Before long, someone squeezed out from inside, and to my surprise, it was the Muffled Oil Bottle.

He squeezed in beside us, glancing at Wen Jin and then at me. I stared at the two of them, dumbfounded. “What’s going on here?” Suddenly, I felt a sense of foreboding. “Damn it, is this a trap? You two aren’t in cahoots, are you?”

These two, who also didn’t age and belonged to the same archaeological team, were equally entangled in this matter. I suddenly recalled what a friend had said: Muffled Oil Bottle must not be alone—could he have been right?

Muffled Oil Bottle shook his head in silence. I turned to Wen Jin, who said, “It’s not as complicated as you think. When Zhuoma was looking for you in that village, he recognized me, but he didn’t expose me. When I found you at the canyon entrance, he followed me, and we had already encountered each other. What happened next was indeed a conspiracy, but it was also a precaution.”

I looked at Muffled Oil Bottle, and he nodded slightly.

I got angry. “This is too much! Why didn’t you say anything?”

He looked at me and said, “I already hinted at it; I thought you knew.”

“That’s nonsense! I looked clueless!” I nearly jumped up, suddenly realizing why Muffled Oil Bottle had been so uneasy—he had been worried about Wen Jin’s safety.

Muffled Oil Bottle immediately gestured for me to be quiet, and I realized I needed to lower my voice. “You’re so lacking in loyalty!”

“No, what he did was right. Otherwise, I would have fallen into the hands of your female team leader, and she’s not someone to be trifled with,” Wen Jin replied. “Besides, at that time, I didn’t know which of you had a problem. I needed someone to help me check.”

This probably explained why Muffled Oil Bottle had started checking whether we were wearing masks after he returned. Damn it, everything had a reason.

“What about those videotapes?” I asked. “What’s the whole story behind this?”

As soon as I finished speaking, a scream and several gunshots echoed from outside.

Muffled Oil Bottle clicked his tongue and said, “They’re shooting like that; they’ll attract all the snakes.”

Wen Jin listened to the sounds outside for a moment, then turned to pat my head, speaking to me like an older sister: “This is a plan, and it’s a long story—longer than you can imagine. I will tell you everything, but now is not the time. We need to leave here first.” With that, she pointed in a direction.

I sighed, knowing she was right, and nodded. The few of us stood up and quickly retreated deeper into the muddy path.

As we walked, I asked her, “What are your plans? Aren’t you going to meet my third uncle?”

“We don’t have time,” Wen Jin replied. “Haven’t you noticed that the sound of water around us is decreasing?”

I hadn’t paid attention to that; in a place like this, who had the energy to notice such things? Wen Jin continued, “The underground water routes here are extremely complex. However, when there is water, it isn’t really a maze. You at least know whether you’re going upwards towards the surface. As long as you go against any water flow upwards, you can definitely find a water inlet on the surface. And if you follow the water flow, you can surely reach the endpoint of the underground waterway—the largest underground reservoir. But once the water disappears, you will never be able to get out. Now that the rain has stopped, the water level in the marsh will gradually decrease. In a day or two, the water will completely dry up, and we will be trapped here. That’s why I had Ding Zhuo Ma tell you that if you don’t arrive in time, you’ll have to wait another decade or so. However, you guys are lucky this time; the rainfall this year has been particularly heavy, flooding the entire marsh. Otherwise, it would already be too late. As for your third uncle, Wu Sanxing has the same destination as us. As long as he hasn’t encountered any accidents, we will definitely run into him.”

Upon hearing this, it made sense, and I nodded immediately. “So, are we going up or down now?”

Wen Jin pointed downwards. “The biggest secret is just within reach. Are you planning to give up now?”

Just within reach? I thought to myself that I didn’t believe it. Wen Jin glanced at her watch and said, “It’s almost dawn. Most of those snakes will be active on the surface at night, and when dawn breaks, they will all come down, making our movement much more difficult. We need to find a place to hide before it gets light. You can ask me anything then; I will tell you everything, but for now, let’s focus on walking.”

When Wen Jin said this, she didn’t use any harsh words, but her gaze and the tone in which she analyzed the situation made me feel naturally submissive, as if she possessed an innate leadership quality. No wonder she was the team leader in Xisha back then; even my third uncle had to be cautious around her.

I decided not to bother her anymore, and the three of us quickened our pace, heading down the tunnel. Soon, we arrived at another shaft.

This place was already quite deep, and the tunnel was clearly less intricate than above, with few branches. Coupled with the mud on us, our progress was very smooth. By around six or seven in the morning, we had covered a considerable distance. Here, the wells had no mud; only natural rock caves remained, showing few signs of human excavation. Clearly, this place was hardly visited by anyone.

We could hear the sound of water splashing within the rocks, indicating that all the water from the wells was gathering around us. The endpoint of the entire water storage system of Xiwangmu City should be very close.

At this point, the morning light on the ground should have faded away. Although there were no sounds of snakes nearby, we all knew that the number of these snakes was staggering, and once they returned to their nests, they could appear anywhere. According to Wen Jin’s experience, it was better to hide at this time.

How to hide was a matter of experience. She instructed the mute oil bottle to take off his clothes, use water from the kettle to smear mud, pile up stones at both ends of the passage, and then tear the clothes into pieces to stuff into the gaps.

“This way, to the snakes, it will look like the passage is blocked,” Wen Jin said. “I’ve been doing this for the past few days.”

I took a few sips of water, feeling that such a flimsy barrier wouldn’t be of much use. If we encountered one of those giant snakes, wouldn’t it just take a fart to bring it down?

We lit a very small campfire, just enough to warm ourselves a little. The place was damp and chilling, and without fire, it was impossible to rest.

After a moment, I gradually relaxed, though I felt a bit anxious. Wen Jin handed me some food, and seeing my expression, she knew I couldn’t help but want to ask questions, urging me to ask whatever I wanted.

I had been pondering this for a long time, and I immediately felt energized to ask her questions, but I suddenly realized my mind was a jumble. There were simply too many questions to ask, and instead, I found myself unable to articulate them.

“It’s okay, you can ask one by one. I expected this situation,” Wen Jin said with a smile.

I organized the questions in my mind, trying to figure out which one was the most important. After a moment of thought, I realized that no matter where I started or what I asked, it could lead to confusion. There were too many puzzles in my mind, both big and small, countless in number. I needed a systematic way to ask questions, so I said, “Let’s go by chronological order, how about that?”

She nodded, “No problem.”

I then asked her, “The first question, which I really want to know, and it might be a bit greedy: can you tell me what happened in Xisha?”

Wen Jin looked at me, her expression surprised. “That’s a huge question. A lot has happened in Xisha; which event are you referring to?”

I replied, “I mean, what exactly happened after you went missing in the ancient tomb?”

Wen Jin paused, as if she hadn’t expected me to start with that. After thinking for a moment, she suddenly sighed and said, “You actually want to know about this… It seems you already know quite a bit. It’s hard to explain. How did your third uncle tell you about it?”

I recounted what my third uncle had told me in the hospital, then said to her, “He said he didn’t enter that mechanism with you, so he doesn’t know what happened afterward. After you went missing in the ancient tomb, he has been looking for you, but after so many years, he hasn’t found anything. He also said he must find you.”

After listening, Wen Jin smiled strangely, paused for a moment, and then said, “I originally wanted to tell you this at the end because there’s a crucial premise you must understand. However, if I just say it, you won’t believe it. I don’t know if you’re ready to know the truth.”

I replied, “The sooner the better. Even if you tell me my third uncle is actually a woman and I’m his child, I can believe it. Just go ahead; after these two years, I feel like I can believe anything.”

Wen Jin still seemed a bit hesitant. After thinking for a moment, she asked, “Do you have any judgment about this matter?”
I shook my head, “I have no judgment at all.”
Wen Jin looked at the dull oil bottle, seemingly communicating with him, but he showed no reaction. She gathered her thoughts, fiddled with her hair, as if she had made a decision, and took out a notebook from her backpack.
It was a new notebook, a modern style, likely bought recently. As expected, she still maintained the habit of taking notes. She opened the notebook and pulled out a yellowed old photograph. The moment I saw it, I recognized it immediately; it was the group photo taken before Uncle San and the others went out to sea. I didn’t know how many times I had seen this photo. I could recite the position of each person in it, so I just took a glance and handed it back, saying, “I’ve seen this photo before.”
Wen Jin said, “Actually, all the secrets are in this photo. But it’s hard for ordinary people to discover this secret. Everything in Xisha originates from it. The secret isn’t complicated, but if I tell you directly, you definitely won’t be able to accept it. Let me first tell you what is hidden in this photo.”
At that moment, a concept suddenly flashed through my mind. Could it be that when I was drinking with that group of friends earlier, the talk about the eleventh person was true? Was there a mysterious person hidden in this photo besides the ten people? Was Wen Jin trying to tell me this?
Looking at her, it didn’t seem that simple, and I wasn’t sure what she intended.
Wen Jin handed the photo back to me and asked me to point out the names and positions of the people in the photo that I could read.
I glanced at it and said, “I only recognize a few people who are more related to this matter. I know the names of the others, but I don’t know which one is which.”
Wen Jin said, “That’s okay, just read them out.”
The first person who caught my attention was the dull oil bottle. I said, “This is Xiao Ge.” Wen Jin nodded and then pointed to a girl on the side, saying, “This is you.” Wen Jin nodded again. “And this is Uncle San,” I pointed at Uncle San. I looked at Wen Jin, waiting for her to nod before continuing, but this time she didn’t move at all; instead, she stared straight at me.
I was taken aback. What did she mean by that? Wen Jin took the photo back and asked, “Why do you think this person is your Uncle San?”