"All dead?" Hu Ba Yi's voice came from behind.
Old Hu had just finished eating. At this moment, he stepped out with a pair of binoculars, intending to carefully observe the terrain of Zhelong Mountain.
Kongque nodded.
"Everyone from our place who ever went up Zhelong Mountain is already dead. They say there are man-eating evil spirits on the mountain. Now no one dares to go up anymore."
Soon, Xu Lang brought Kongque back inside the inn and called Wang Pangzi and Shirley Yang over as well.
According to the innkeeper and Kongque, the hauntings on Zhelong Mountain were extremely severe. No one dared to go up anymore, and no one knew the way.
Everyone who had once climbed the mountain had either died of old age or met with accidents.
Not a single one remained.
Trying to cross the mountain directly was basically impossible.
After hearing this, Hu Ba Yi, Shirley Yang, and Wang Pangzi all frowned deeply.
Before coming to Yunnan, they had already carefully studied Chen Xiazi's human-skin map.
According to the markings on the map, there were only two routes into Worm Valley.
One was to follow a river called Snake River and circle around Zhelong Mountain.
The biggest problem with this route was that it was far too long—and extremely difficult.
As the saying goes, "a mountain that looks near can exhaust a horse before you reach it."
Zhelong Mountain was no small hill.
To go around it would take at least one or two hundred kilometers.
And the entire region was filled with deep mountains, steep gorges, and primeval forests.
To make that detour would take at least one or two months.
That route was clearly impossible. Just the supplies alone would be more than their small team of four could handle.
Originally, Hu Ba Yi and the others had planned to cross directly over Zhelong Mountain, which stood at nearly four thousand meters above sea level.
According to the human-skin map, there was a wind passage on the mountain.
As long as they passed through it, they could directly reach Worm Valley.
But now, it seemed that route was no longer viable either.
Without a guide, crossing a mountain that spanned from tropical rainforest to snowy peaks was nearly impossible.
Whether there were ghosts or not was no longer the main issue.
Hu Ba Yi and Shirley Yang both looked troubled.
Wang Pangzi noticed that Xu Lang didn't seem particularly anxious.
A thought stirred in his mind, and he leaned closer.
"Lord Lang, tell me—there's another way, right?"
Xu Lang curled his lips into a smile.
"Hmm… let me think. This one depends on Kongque."
As soon as Xu Lang said that, everyone's gaze fell on Kongque.
She blinked in surprise.
Xu Lang immediately handed her a piece of chocolate he had already unwrapped.
"Kongque, think carefully. Is there any other shortcut?"
Kongque took the chocolate and nibbled on it.
Her eyes suddenly lit up.
"Oh! There really is another shortcut. You can go through the tunnel."
"The tunnel?" Hu Ba Yi and Shirley Yang asked curiously.
Kongque nodded, her big eyes sparkling.
"Yes! There's a tunnel beneath Zhelong Mountain. There's a waterway inside—you can float bamboo rafts through it and pass under the mountain."
The moment Hu Ba Yi heard this, he burst into laughter.
"That's perfect! If it's a water route, we won't have to worry about getting lost. And we won't need to climb the mountain—it'll save a lot of time."
Shirley Yang also nodded.
Traveling by bamboo raft would mean they wouldn't even have to carry most of their gear.
It was far easier than trekking through mountains and jungles.
But as Kongque continued eating, her expression suddenly turned uneasy again.
"However… there are a lot of dead people inside the tunnel. They say it's haunted."
"It's fine. Don't rush. Tell us everything you know about the tunnel," Xu Lang said patiently.
Kongque nodded.
It turned out that beneath Zhelong Mountain, there had originally been a vast network of tunnels, dense like a spider's web.
They were likely natural karst caves at first.
Later, people from some unknown era had further excavated and connected them, forming a massive underground tunnel system.
At some point, bandits had occupied these tunnels beneath the mountain.
The government troops sent to suppress them had no way to deal with them.
The tunnels and caves beneath the mountain were far too complex.
Anyone unfamiliar with them who entered wouldn't just fail to eliminate the bandits—they might never come out at all.
In the end, the troops resorted to a ruthless strategy.
They sealed all the entrances and exits of the tunnels with stone.
Everyone inside was trapped alive.
It was said that even after hundreds of years, people could still hear the wails of restless souls echoing from within the sealed tunnels.
Originally, with all entrances blocked, the tunnels had become completely inaccessible.
But in recent years, people had begun quarrying stone in the area.
At some point, floods had washed open a new entrance.
River water flowed into this opening, forming an underground river.
This underground river passed through the mountain and eventually flowed into Snake River on the other side.
The water was deep enough to travel by bamboo raft.
And because there was a waterway, as long as one followed the current, there was no risk of getting lost in the maze-like tunnels.
There was only one problem—
On both sides of the underground river cave were countless strange and grotesque skeletons.
There were so many bones, in all kinds of unnatural death poses.
No one knew who they were, when they had died, or how they had ended up there.
The cave itself was pitch black.
With corpses lining both sides, anyone faint-hearted who entered would be driven mad with fear.
And on the other side of the mountain lay only valleys and dense jungle—no human habitation, heavy with miasma.
So after the initial curiosity seekers, no one dared to use the tunnel anymore.
"That's perfect. We're not afraid of corpses or ghosts. Tomorrow, we'll go take a look," Hu Ba Yi said excitedly.