“Why do you say that?” I asked, puzzled, but as soon as I finished the question, I understood the meaning behind the words of the Silent Oil Bottle. In a certain sense, our situation is the same as those shadowy figures trapped in the stones; it’s just that their space is much smaller, confined within the rocks, much like those strange fish living in stone. However, one thing is certain: if we are discovered many years from now, we will definitely not be lively and jumping around.

Thinking of this made me feel a chill in my heart, and I said, “There is still some difference; at least we have this much space to move around in, and we are alive. As long as we are alive, there are infinite possibilities.”

The Silent Oil Bottle replied calmly, “That’s not what I mean.”

I exclaimed in surprise. I had always felt a kind of tacit understanding with him, but here, I was struggling to keep up with his thoughts. It seemed like he was thinking much faster than I was.

I asked, “Do you have something in mind? Just say it directly!”

He looked at me and asked, “Have you ever thought about what our situation would be if this pit had never been excavated?”

I thought for a moment, feeling a bit sluggish in my brain, still not understanding his meaning, but the Fatty’s face immediately turned pale, and he cursed, “Damn it!”

Then I understood, and the skin on the back of my head prickled. If this were not a pit, then what would it be? This is the rock wall, the interior of the mountain. If we had been inexplicably brought here in the same way, then right now, we could very well be embedded in the rock wall, just like those shadows.

I shuddered. What kind of feeling would that be? If I woke up to find myself embedded in the rock wall deep within the mountain, unable to move, having to remain like that until death, that would be terrifying.

The Silent Oil Bottle said, “If we think about this from another angle, perhaps our being alive right now is entirely a coincidence.”

I nodded silently. This strange occurrence might be a mysterious phenomenon of the mountain, and it may not be the first time it has happened here. Even if no one had dug a pit here back then, the same thing could have occurred, and our current situation would be even more bizarre.

The Fatty swallowed hard, looking at those shadowy figures, and said, “So, are these our predecessors? Victims who encountered the same situation in the past?”

“That’s just one possibility,” the Silent Oil Bottle replied. “However, I would rather believe it is so.”

I understood what he meant. If this is a strange natural phenomenon, then his previous inference might be wrong. No matter how unfavorable our situation is, at least we are temporarily safe.

The Fatty then asked, “Tian Zhen, you read a lot of books; can you speculate on what this might be? If what the Little Brother said is true, what could be the situation?”

I chuckled, “In matters like this, reading more books doesn’t help. If you want to use what you’ve learned from books to explain it, it would be the concept of physics. We might have fallen into a crack between two spaces, suddenly shoved from one place into here. But in reality, that’s impossible. Even if you were to enter a naturally occurring spatial crack, the place you reappear would be another universe, and the likelihood of appearing in the same area would be infinitesimally close to zero.”

There are many legends about such occurrences around the world, particularly in very special locations like Bermuda, where people claim to witness this phenomenon. However, I don’t believe that’s the case here; the process of the fat man and the dull oil bottle losing consciousness at the bottom of the lake does not seem to be the result of a “natural phenomenon.” It feels much more like someone used something to set them up. Therefore, I strongly agree with the dull oil bottle’s earlier view: the force that brought us here must have significance and purpose.

The fat man, however, was unconvinced. He said, “The possibility is so close to zero that it might as well be zero.”

I replied, “From a scientific standpoint, there’s only this one explanation. If it weren’t this way, the situation we face would belong to an entirely different category.”

The fat man fell into deep thought and muttered to himself, “Are there any legends left by our ancestors that mention such things?”

I thought for a moment and realized that I had never seen any records of human figures appearing in rocks in any of the novels I had read, though perhaps my reading was not extensive enough.

The fat man continued, “There’s a legend that near Liu Bowen’s tomb, there are mountains where someone walked for only a day but ended up over a hundred kilometers away from where they entered. It seems as if they were instantaneously transported from one place to another. They call this phenomenon ‘Mountain Ghost Carrying,’ thinking they were carried by a mountain ghost, so they had no idea how far they had walked. Others refer to it as ‘Walking the Mountain,’ claiming that the mountain itself is walking. Do you think there might be a similar phenomenon here, albeit in a different direction?”

I shook my head; that explanation didn’t hold up. They were on the surface of the mountain, while we were inside it. This wasn’t about being carried or walking; we were swallowed by the mountain.

Moreover, there was something particularly puzzling about this situation that was hard to understand: this mine was enclosed, with no collapses around it, yet it must have originally had an entrance. Where did it go? Even if we encountered some very rare natural phenomenon like a ‘mountain ghost’ or ‘walking mountain,’ it wouldn’t cause the entrance to vanish.

What was happening here was far more complex and carried a very strange feeling.

Thinking of this, I recalled what Panma had said about the lake having a devil; at that moment, I found myself somewhat believing it. It seemed that only a devil could perform such unbelievable feats. Even if there were no devil, this mountain or lake certainly felt unusual.

As the moisture gradually evaporated, those shadows began to fade, and soon they were indistinguishable. I used my foot to erase the ‘iron statue’ I had previously drawn on the ground. After pondering for a long time, I still found no results.

The rock wall returned to its original state, but our feelings changed; knowing that there was something embedded a few punches behind the rock wall gave me a strong sense of being watched, which made me uneasy. This feeling hadn’t been present earlier; it was clearly a psychological effect, but it was impossible to shake off.

The three of us remained silent, lost in thought, occasionally the fat man would blurt out an idea, but I dismissed it.

I considered many possibilities, but they all seemed unreliable. Finally, I started to rethink everything I had just considered, including all the details, to see if I could draw out anything else.

As the fat man said, the purpose of these iron figures is to seal these shadows. Therefore, the motives of the archaeological team can be explained; what they are looking for is the remnants of these shadows, although it is unclear what use these remnants have for them. When the miners were extracting jade, they encountered these figures. It is certain that the extraction did not stop; their desire for jade drove them to continue digging while also performing rituals for the Thunder King.

Then, one day, someone left a message in front of the statue of the Thunder King. Judging by the content of the message and the situation of the figures in the stone wall, it is clear that his instructions were not followed. It is possible that after he left, the mining was halted. There could be many reasons for the cessation of mining: perhaps due to war, disaster, or even the inexplicable disappearance of the entrance to the mine. It is also possible that the miners encountered a situation similar to ours—there might not just be one mine; they could be trapped in another place. There are countless possibilities, but the only certainty is that the story of jade mining ends here.

After that, it is our story. At first glance, it seems very clear and reasonable, but upon closer inspection, a subtle contradiction emerges. The contradiction arises from reverse thinking: what if none of the mining activities ever occurred? What would happen here? If no one excavated the jade mine, there would be no mine, so would the fat man and the dull oil bottle also encounter something underwater?

If mining activities do not take place, then the position we are in now would be a solid rock wall. If the force that brought us here is a natural phenomenon, then even if this is a rock wall, things would still happen because the force itself is natural; we are merely victims of a strange phenomenon.

However, conversely, what if it is not a natural phenomenon? What if this mine does not exist? Would this event still occur? I feel it probably would not, because both the dull oil bottle and I believe that there is some sort of consciousness behind this event. Its purpose is certainly not to kill us; the actions that brought us here must have an unknown objective, and the prerequisite for achieving that objective is the existence of this pit. Thus, our being trapped to death would be equivalent to being killed, which would hold no meaning for “it.”

Based on the above reasoning, breaking things down, we can first understand that this consciousness knows about the existence of this mine. On the other hand, this mine is not a result of planning; its existence here is coincidental. This also proves one point: the mysterious purpose of that consciousness arose after the formation of this pit. Only after the mine existed did this purpose come into being. Therefore, the situation becomes quite forced and somewhat nonsensical.

Let’s assume this force, which we will call a devil, one day while wandering around, suddenly discovers the appearance of a mine. After contemplating it, it realizes that it can be utilized, thus developing a purpose, and then using some means to capture us and trap us here in order to fulfill that purpose…

If this is the process, then his purpose, no matter how you look at it, cannot possibly be anything serious. Moreover, this behavior, with its clear structure and strong sense of purpose and operation, is simply too consistent with human thinking. I do not dismiss the possibility that certain mysterious forces exist in the world, but I believe that such forces must be transcendent and not so utilitarian and superficial.

However, if this force is not a devil, but a person, then it’s a different story.

There is someone who knows there is a mine here, discovers its potential for exploitation, and then devises a conspiracy. This person uses some means to knock Fatty and the Silent Bottle unconscious at the bottom of the lake, and then cleverly brings them here, in order to execute his plan. This sounds very reasonable; we would not only find this person credible, but also believe that with such calculated intentions, there must be an even larger conspiracy to follow.

A philosopher once said: “When all possibilities have been eliminated, whatever remains, no matter how improbable, must be the truth.” This is precisely why I have always felt something strange about this matter. Being in the midst of it, I can sense a strong “conspiracy” vibe.

In other words, we might just be caught in a conspiracy set up by a “person.” It’s just that this conspiracy is so cleverly designed that it’s hard to understand. I looked at the Silent Bottle; he must have realized this long ago. That’s why he doesn’t participate in our assumptions, but he hasn’t taken any further action, because after all, it’s just a feeling that cannot be verified.