At Jin Hanshan's behest, a dozen villagers who considered themselves brave and were related gathered together to go to the experimental base to "collect the bodies of their ancestors."

The police officers guarding the entrance to Guoshan Cave, having received instructions from Director Yu, did not stop them, only telling them to be careful, before letting them into the tunnel.

A dozen or so villagers from Jin Village, carrying flashlights, crawled into the Guoshan Cave. Upon seeing the layers upon layers of white bones inside the tunnel, they all gasped in horror, cursing the beasts of yesteryear, before carefully beginning to gather their belongings.

Nearly an hour later, only a small portion of the skeletons inside the first large tunnel had been barely cleared out.

Just as the villagers were preparing to climb the rusty iron ladder to the lower tunnel, Zhang Cheng rode a borrowed bicycle and rushed to the Jin Village office, where he found Director Yu.

After listening to Zhang Cheng's analysis and suggestions about police dogs, Director Yu was stunned for a moment, then slapped his thigh hard, his face full of regret: "Police dogs! How could I forget about that! How idiotic!" He turned sharply to Liu Zhongren and Sun Li and shouted urgently, "Quick! Go to the experimental base and call all the villagers who went in out! Leave no one alive!"

Zhang Cheng was also speechless. Normally, the arrival of the police dogs would have greatly increased the chances of the truth coming to light. Now… it's hard to say. Of course, there's also the possibility that the traitors hiding there never actually went into the deepest part of the experimental base. But that possibility is too small.

The lower level of the experimental base.

Village chief Jin Hanshan looked at the desiccated corpses on the torture instruments, his old eyes filled with grief and indignation: "Be careful, don't disturb them..."

Zhong Te, who was also venturing into this area for the first time, turned ashen-faced upon seeing the horrific scene, wishing he could tear the traitors hiding there to pieces immediately. Besides them and the villagers, there were also two technicians sent from the province and four police officers responsible for protection.

"Brother!" Suddenly, a heart-wrenching cry came from a side tunnel.

Tears streaming down his face, Jin Hanshan stumbled towards a mummified corpse bound to an iron chair. The corpse's clothes were rotten, its skin a strange grayish-brown, and its face unrecognizable.

“Uncle, this…” Zhong Te followed over and asked in a low voice.

Jin Hanshan pointed his trembling finger at the mummified corpse's left shoulder: "My brother went up the mountain to do a short trip back then and was slapped by a black bear. Look, here, here are three scars, aren't there?"

Zhong Ding looked closely and, sure enough, three parallel indentations were faintly visible on the withered skin.

"Uncle, please accept my condolences!"

Jin Hanshan trembled all over, picked up the mummified corpse, and staggered as he tried to walk out.

Zhong Te opened his mouth, wanting to say "I'll help you," but seeing Jin Hanshan's grief-stricken and resolute eyes, he swallowed his words back.

"Clang!"

Jin Hanshan hadn't walked far when, perhaps overwhelmed by grief, his legs gave way, and he collapsed onto a metal lab bench about half a person's height, still clutching the mummified corpse.

The various glasswares, notebooks, and several metal boxes marked with Japanese characters on the table were all knocked over and smashed to pieces on the floor.

Zhong Te was dumbfounded.