Yan Zheng examined the skull with a stone; it was brittle, and the part that had hit it when it rolled out would have shattered at the slightest touch.

Yan Jing'an, who was looking at the murals, came over to check when he heard the noise.

Upon seeing the skull on the ground, he was utterly shocked: "Holy crap, how could there be human bones?"

Then, wondering, "Is there someone else here?"

Yan Zheng did not answer immediately. He squatted down and examined the fragments carefully by the light of the lighter. After a few minutes, he pointed to the fragments on the ground and said, "It shouldn't be from recent years. The skull is already brittle."

“Look at these murals, and there’s only a skull here, no other bones from the body, and no clothes. It’s as if someone took his head after he died and covered it with rubble.”

"It's somewhat similar to an ancient sacrificial ceremony."

Yan Jing'an asked curiously, "Who would perform a ritual in this deep mountain forest? Could it be a savage?"

Yan Zheng pondered for a moment and said, "Jiang Xi should be good at this."

She studied archaeology; with just a glance, she might be able to deduce some clues from the skull and these murals.

Yan Jing'an said, "If we decide to move, I'll bring her next time. Looking at these things, I feel uncertain and uneasy."

Yan Zheng glanced outside the cave: "No rush."

The sky outside is overcast; it looks like it's going to snow again.

"We're not familiar with this area yet, and bringing her here rashly might not be safe."

Yan Jing'an thought he was making a mountain out of a molehill: "The bones are almost weathered away, even if there were any people around, they would have died long ago."

This person is just too cautious.

A sharp glint flashed in Yan Zheng's eyes: "How do you know they have no descendants? What if this was the work of a primitive tribe? In 2003, statistics showed that there were more than 5,000 indigenous tribes in the world."

"There's no way to be sure that it's safe here."

This person is sometimes shrewd and sometimes careless, and has no sense of crisis whatsoever.

Yan Zheng said calmly, "Someone once lived here. But there are no traces of anyone living in this cave, which means there was another place they lived nearby."

After he said that, Yan Jing'an felt a chill run down his spine.

If there are other people in the jungle, they might already be being watched.

Then something came to mind.

His scalp tightened, and he suddenly looked at Yan Zheng: "Oh no, Jiang Xi."

The two exchanged a glance, and Yan Zheng's heart tightened instantly. He drew his sword and walked out, with Yan Jing'an quickly following.

After several hours of gloom, snow began to fall, and a cold wind raged. The two braved the wind and snow and hurried toward the cave.

As the temperature dropped, Yan Jing'an coughed more frequently, but Yan Zheng couldn't care less about him at the moment. He could only give him his cloak and keep his down jacket on himself.

He moved nimbly and swiftly through the jungle, constantly praying that heaven would favor them more.

They hurried along, and by evening they finally reached the foot of the mountain.

The melted snow on the hillside had all frozen over. The snowflakes mixed with thin ice made the path unexpectedly difficult to traverse. Yan Jing'an could only rely on his grappling hook to grab onto the sparse tree trunks on the hillside for leverage.

He finally reached the cave entrance and breathed a sigh of relief when he saw that the wooden door was intact.

Jiang Xi was feeding the fawn a sweet potato. The fawn was lying on the ground, its eyes glistening as it stared at Jiang Xi.

Jiang Xi's gloomy mood was instantly healed by Xiao Lu's eyes.

She said in a high-pitched voice, "Oh my, my little deer is such a good baby." As she spoke, she touched the deer's head with her hand.

The wooden door was pushed open.

It was Yan Zheng and Yan Jing'an.

Jiang Xi looked at the person outside the door with delight.

"You're back. How was the cave?" she said, sitting up to pour hot water for the two of them.

Outside the cave, wind and snow raged, but inside, it was warm as spring.

Yan Jing'an, panting heavily, quickly sat down to drink water. Only after taking a sip of hot water did his complexion improve slightly.

Yan Zheng looked around warily, then went to the cabin to check the door. After returning, he asked Jiang Xi, "Has anything unusual happened today?"

Jiang Xi shook her head: "What happened?"

Seeing that everything was normal, Yan Zheng took off his hat, hesitated for a moment, and said, "The location of the cave is fine, but there's something you might have to go and see for yourself."

Yan Zheng gave him a brief description of the cave's condition.

Jiang Xi's eyes lit up when she heard about the human murals and skulls: "I'm going, I definitely have to go see them."

Yan Zheng looked at her and said, "We can't be sure if there are any survivors there. Maybe there are still indigenous tribes nearby."

Jiang Xi smiled and comforted him, "We'll find out soon enough. Even if there's danger, we still have to move. Instead of wasting time on an endless search for a new home, I'd rather go take a look first."

Yan Jing'an, who had been silent until now, said, "That's right. If there really is someone like that, maybe we can make a deal with him and exchange for some tools or something."

His voice was slightly hoarse because of coughing.

Yan Zheng gave him a sharp look: "There are only a few of them and only a few of us. If you don't end up being captured and enslaved, you should thank your ancestors for protecting you."

Yan Jing'an choked on his words. They were harsh, but true.

Running away is even more impossible. In the dead of winter, all their food is here. Where could they possibly run to?

Yan Jing'an said impatiently, "This won't work, that won't work, there has to be a solution."

Finally, as if she had come to a realization, she said, "If she can't go, then the two of us will go. Whether they are savages or natives, we'll find their settlement first."

Hopefully, it's not a cannibal.

Jiang Xi listened helplessly to their back-and-forth, and finally couldn't bear it any longer and said, "If they really exist, and you've already come back, there's no guarantee they won't follow you here. So this place might not be safe now."

Then she looked at Yan Zheng: "You know, I'm not a delicate person, and no one understands these things better than me."

"We might even be able to deduce the map section we are on based on these clues."

Upon hearing this, Yan Jing'an looked up at her, and Yan Zheng paused for a few seconds while tapping the table.

After a long pause, he finally made up his mind and said, "We'll set off tomorrow, but you'll have to walk by yourself. The roads are too steep, and with the snow, the deer can't make it up at all."

Jiang Xi smiled: "Trust me, I can do it."

The next morning, Yan Jing'an packed his backpack, a lighter, a torch, and a small pot.

Yan Zheng prepared lunch. Jiang Xi made soup with wild mushrooms and shredded wood ear fungus, adding pepper and hawthorn vinegar.

A pot of hot and sour soup left the three of them drenched in sweat.

When I went out, the sky had finally cleared. The sun was already peeking through the clouds. It had snowed heavily all night yesterday, and the mountains and forests were exceptionally quiet.

Although the snow was thick, the road was not slippery. Jiang Xi was especially excited at the thought of seeing the murals in the mountains. She would tug at the snow-covered branches and run over to hold Yan Zheng's hand.

My mood, which was gloomy yesterday because of the need to move the cave, suddenly became lively again.