Tomb raiding live stream: Starting as the mute Zhang

We rested by the stream for half an hour before continuing our journey.

The afternoon path was indeed more difficult. There was no clear path anymore, and Old Qin had to lead the way with his cane, trying to discern extremely faint traces covered by fallen leaves and vines. Sometimes they had to crawl on their hands and feet over fallen, rotten trees, and sometimes they had to squeeze sideways through narrow crevices in the rocks.

The forest grew increasingly dense, blocking out the sun. The towering canopies of the trees intertwined, allowing almost no sunlight to penetrate. The air was damp and stifling, filled with the smells of decaying leaves and moss. The chirping of insects and birds buzzed around, but this only served to accentuate the profound and deathly stillness of the deep forest.

Wang Pangzi's breathing grew heavier, his clothes on the back were soaked through and clung tightly to his body. Wu Xie wasn't in much better shape; his glasses were fogged up and he had to take them off to wipe them from time to time.

"Uncle Qin, how much further?" the fat man couldn't help but ask, his voice weary.

Old Qin didn't even turn his head, using his cane to push aside a clump of thorny bushes blocking his path: "It's still a long way off. We've barely gotten there. Save your energy and talk less."

Black Bear walked with ease, even having time to observe his surroundings. "This forest is eerily quiet."

"Hmm," Ah Ning, who was walking beside him, said softly, "the birdsong and insect chirps are all on the outside; it's too quiet inside."

Indeed, the deeper one ventures, the more the noisy chirping of insects and birds gradually fades away, until only the rustling of the wind through the treetops, the sound of one's own footsteps, and the sound of one's own breathing remain. An invisible pressure slowly descends as the light dims and the silence deepens.

The levitating livestream sphere silently followed the procession, its camera sometimes panning across the eerie forest, sometimes panning down at the silently advancing crowd. The livestream chat seemed to be affected by the atmosphere, becoming somewhat sparse.

The prophet said: "This forest looks terrifying."

This is a perfect excuse for so-called experts to disagree: The ecology is so good, it feels like no one has been here for hundreds of years.

Brother's fan club: Husbands, watch your step!

Zhang Qiling and "Zhang Qiling" walked in the middle to the back of the group, their steps still steady. Both of them had their heads slightly tilted, as if listening to something, or as if sensing changes in the surrounding environment.

Zhang Qiling suddenly stopped, bent down and picked up a small piece of something from the ground. It was half a dried, dark brown scale, about the size of a palm, with irregular edges, as if it had fallen off naturally.

"A snake?" Jiang Xun Gu, who was walking behind him, glanced at it.

Zhang Qiling didn't speak, but handed the scale to Zhang Qiling. Zhang Qiling took it, rubbed it between his fingers, and then brought it close to smell it, his brow furrowing almost imperceptibly.

"It's not a snake," he whispered.

Zhang Qiling nodded, pointing to an extremely fine dent on the scale, which looked like some kind of corrosion or biting.

"Alive."

"Um."

The two exchanged a glance, threw away the scales, and continued forward, but were noticeably more vigilant.

After walking for about an hour, the view ahead suddenly opened up. We hadn't left the forest, but rather entered a relatively sparse woodland. The trees weren't as dense, but they were taller and thicker, many requiring several people to encircle them. The bark was dark brown, riddled with grooves and covered with epiphytic vines. The ground was covered with a thick layer of humus, accumulated over countless years, soft and yielding to the touch.

"Let's camp here tonight." Old Qin stopped and looked at the sky. The forest was already dimly lit, and now it seemed even more secluded. "We can't go any further; it's dangerous to travel at night."

The group unloaded their equipment, found a relatively dry and flat spot, and began setting up their tents. Aning and Jiang Xun Gu were responsible for guarding the surroundings. Xie Yuchen and Huo Xiuxiu helped secure the tents. Hei Xiazi gathered dry branches nearby to start a fire.

Fatty Wang plopped down on his backpack, rubbing his legs: "My God, I can finally rest... My legs don't even feel like my own anymore."

Wu Xie was exhausted, but he still forced himself to help pass the ground spikes. "Fatty, say less and save your energy for tomorrow."

"Do we have to leave again tomorrow?" the fat man wailed.

"What else? Fly over there?" Wu Xie said irritably.

Zhang Qiling and "Zhang Qiling" did not rest immediately. The two slowly walked around the campsite, carefully examining the ground, tree trunks, and the canopy overhead. Occasionally, they would stop to touch a piece of bark or squat down to brush away the layer of fallen leaves on the ground.

"What are you looking for?" Black Bear asked casually as he came over carrying a bundle of firewood.

"Traces," Zhang Qiling said.

"Any discoveries?"

"Zhang Qiling" pointed to the base of a particularly thick ancient tree not far away. A large patch of moss had been rubbed away, revealing the lighter-colored bark underneath; the marks were very fresh. Moreover, about a person's height from the ground, there were several deep, parallel scratches on the trunk, and the wood had been turned upside down.

"Wow, those claws are sharp." Black Bear leaned closer for a look. "It's not a bear. Bear claw marks aren't this... long and thin."

"It wasn't an ordinary wild beast either." Zhang Qiling looked at the direction and depth of the claw marks. "It was very fast and very powerful."

"Looks like this place isn't very peaceful." Black Bear shrugged, not seeming particularly nervous.

Soon, several makeshift tents were set up. Hei Xiazi used the collected firewood and his own solid fuel to start a small campfire. The flickering flames brought some light and warmth, and also dispelled some of the chill and dampness of the forest.

The group sat around the fire, eating compressed food and dried meat for dinner. The firelight cast flickering shadows on everyone's faces.

Old Qin sat a little distance from the fire, munching on his dry biscuit, his eyes occasionally scanning the dark woods around him, his ears twitching slightly as if trying to catch some sound.

"Uncle Qin," Xie Yuchen handed him a can of heated meat, "Do you often come into this forest?"

Old Qin glanced at the canned food, didn't take it, and continued munching on his biscuit. "Not often. This area is deep in the old forest; who would come in for no reason?" He paused, "In my grandfather's generation, a hunter chasing an injured leopard wandered in once. Of the three, only one returned, and he went mad, constantly muttering, 'Trees move, trees eat people.'"

"The tree moves?" Huo Xiuxiu repeated softly.

"It's an old saying, don't take it too seriously," Old Qin said, but the fear in his eyes was unmistakable. "Anyway, this place is eerie. Be alert at night, take turns keeping watch. If you hear any noise, don't look around, don't make a sound, just keep it to yourself."

These words sent a chill down everyone's spine. Fatty Wang moved closer to the fire and muttered, "The tree can move... could it be that the tree has come to life?"

"Whether it's become a spirit or not, I don't know," Black Bear poked the fire with a branch, "but in such a big and old forest, it's not surprising to find some strange things. What do you guys say, Dumb Zhang?"

Zhang Qiling was watching the leaping flames when he heard this. He looked up and gazed into the darkness beyond the firelight. "Something is watching us."

Zhang Qiling nodded and added two words: "A lot."

The atmosphere froze instantly. Even the crackling of the fire seemed particularly jarring.

"Where?" Wu Xie instinctively gripped the water bottle in his hand.

"Around us," Zhang Qiling said calmly, as naturally as if he were saying "It's getting dark."

Old Qin suddenly stood up, grabbed his cane, and looked around warily. "I knew it... I shouldn't have been here at night..."

"Quiet." Zhang Qiling interrupted him and stood up. He didn't look in any particular direction, but just stood quietly, listening intently, his gaze slowly sweeping across every shadow on the perimeter of the camp.

Zhang Qiling also stood up, back to back with him, and entered a state of extreme concentration.

Everyone else held their breath, and even Fatty Wang didn't dare to speak, nervously gripping his entrenching tool.

The levitating live-streaming sphere lowered its altitude, the camera switching between Zhang Qiling's solemn profile and the surrounding dark forest. The comments section froze; not a single one appeared.

Time ticked by. The only sounds in the woods were the wind and the crackling of the fire.

The feeling of being watched was like the tide, sometimes strong, sometimes weak, but nothing concrete ever appeared.

About ten minutes later, Zhang Qiling's body relaxed slightly. "Let's go."

Zhang Qiling also turned around and nodded.

"What is it?" Xie Yuchen asked.

"I don't know." Zhang Qiling walked back to the fire and sat down. "I didn't go near it."

"They might just be curious," Black Bear tried to ease the tension. "These are mountain animals; they've never seen so many people before."

Old Qin's expression darkened further. He sat down again, but placed his cane across his lap. "Curious? The things in this forest aren't just curious. They're weighing things up."

He looked at Zhang Qiling and "Zhang Qiling" with a complicated expression: "You two... you're quite something. If it weren't for you, those things might have already gotten close."

Zhang Qiling didn't reply, closing his eyes to rest. "Zhang Qiling" simply shook his head.

The night watch was arranged with extra care. Zhang Qiling and "Zhang Qiling" took the first shift, A Ning and Jiang Xun Gu took the second, and Hei Xiazi and Xie Yuchen took the third. Old Qin said he was too old to keep watch, but he didn't sleep soundly either, keeping his ears perked up the whole time.

Nothing unusual happened that night, except for the occasional low growl that was hard to distinguish, sounding like a beast but not quite, coming from deep in the forest.

As dawn approached, fog rolled into the woods.

It wasn't the usual morning fog, but a thick, grayish-white mist that silently seeped out from the depths of the forest, quickly enveloping the campsite. Visibility rapidly dropped to less than ten meters, and even the nearby tree trunks became indistinct shadows.

"This fog..." Wu Xie crawled out of the tent, looking at the white expanse around him, feeling somewhat uneasy.

Old Qin's face was grim: "Miasma? It doesn't seem like it... This fog is strange."

Zhang Qiling and "Zhang Qiling" were already standing at the edge of the camp, looking in the direction from which the thick fog was coming.

Zhang Qiling stretched out his hand, and the mist seemed to come alive as it circled around his palm. "Not poisonous."

"But there's a problem," Zhang Qiling said. He vaguely sensed that there seemed to be some extremely faint, elusive "field," or rather, a frequency, mixed in with the mist. This caused the old, dormant mark on his wrist, representing his identity as "Zhang Qiling," to warm slightly.

"The road is hard to find." Zhang Qiling looked at the road he came from and the road he was going to, which were completely obscured by the thick fog.

Old Qin cursed in a foul, local dialect, and pulled out an old, worn-out compass. The needle spun wildly across the dial, refusing to stop. "Damn it, the compass's malfunctioning too!"

The levitating live-streaming sphere traversed the thick fog, blurring the image and revealing only a few figures in the distance. Anxious comments flooded the screen:

Prophet: Fog is coming! A huge fog!

A solution to dissuade so-called experts: Compass malfunction, abnormal magnetic field?

Brother's fan club: Husbands, please don't get separated!

Zhang Qiling took out the unified jade eye from his bosom. In the thick fog, the jade eye seemed even more radiant than usual, and the swirling symbol in the center seemed to be covered with a very faint glow.

He glanced at "Zhang Qiling".

Zhang Qiling understood and also took out the black bone fragment. The bone fragment was cold to the touch in the mist, but the symbols of the door and the little man seemed to become a little clearer.

The two stood side by side, facing the direction from which the fog was thickest and seemed to be surging.

"Follow me." Zhang Qiling said to the people behind him, then took the lead and stepped into the all-consuming gray-white fog.

"Zhang Qiling" followed closely behind, his figure instantly swallowed by the mist.