Earlier, I heard a monkey shouting that there was someone in the woods. My original intention was to catch this person and ask him about the ghost wall incident.

The fact that this guy could appear in this disorienting jungle means he must be able to find his way around here.

I knew this guy was our only hope of getting out of this forest, and since he wouldn't cooperate, I had no choice but to shoot.

When I fired, I was aiming for his leg to prevent him from escaping.

But when I got closer and saw what was lying on the ground, sweat instantly broke out on my forehead.

This guy isn't even human.

Or rather, he wasn't even a living being.

It was a paper figure made of paper.

Wearing a bright red Tang suit, her pale face had round, bulging eyes, and round blush on her cheeks.

The monkey stared at the bullet hole in the paper figure's leg, his lips trembling for a long time before finally asking me, "Young Master Duan, is this what I just saw?"

I gripped my pistol tightly and roared hysterically, "Who's playing tricks here! Get out here!"

"Splash!"

The evening breeze rustled through the forest, the treetops swayed, and all was quiet.

"Young Master Duan, I don't think this is some kind of ghost story!"

The monkey swallowed hard: "I saw this 'person' fall with my own eyes when you fired the gun. There were no obstacles between us, and no one else appeared besides this thing, which means it was him who fell!"

"Impossible! This is absolutely impossible!"

Lin Que's body was already trembling: "This thing is just a paper doll, how could it possibly move? Big brother is right, someone must be playing tricks!"

Jiang Man's attention was now focused on my hand: "When did you bring a gun in?"

"The bodyguards you hired are for my self-defense."

My focus wasn't on that matter at the moment. Looking around, I waved my hand warily and said, "Monkey, take this paper figure back to camp. Remember not to touch it! Everyone, retreat!"

After hearing what I said, the monkey took off its belt, wrapped it around the paper figure's leg, and began to drag him backward.

We had only chased them for a little over a hundred meters before quickly returning to camp.

As soon as we got close to the campsite, we discovered that our tent and all our belongings were gone, and someone was dragging one of our bags backwards.

I could clearly see the guy's figure in the light of the campfire.

It's also a little paper figure.

He moved rather stiffly as he dragged his travel bag, and he even turned his neck slightly to look in my direction.

"Bang bang bang!"

I was startled by the paper figure's eerie expression and fired my gun repeatedly.

The paper figure collapsed to the ground instantly after being shot.

I looked at the paper figure lying on the ground and raised my alert level to the maximum: "Something's not right here, everyone be careful!"

Without me saying anything, everyone else grabbed their machetes and surrounded the paper figure.

Apart from the paper figures we didn't have time to take, our travel bag containing a small amount of drinking water and food was also missing.

The light provided by the campfire offered us a pitiful sense of security.

In the firelight, the monkey used a knife to cut open the paper figure's skin and turned it over with a twig: "Young Master Duan, this thing isn't made of paper; the material looks like leather."

I wasn't sure if there was anything on the paper figure's surface that I couldn't touch, so I used a stick to pry open the skin on its body.

The skin of this thing looks like it's made of cowhide or donkey hide, and the inside isn't the usual straw skeleton, but a wooden structure, with gears and mortise and tenon joints at the joints.

I looked at Lin Que, whose face was pale and sickly, and tapped the internal support of the paper figure with a stick: "See? This thing has gears inside, which means it must have been made by man. Where in this world are there so many ghosts!"

"I know the paper figure must have been made by a person, but it's clearly an inanimate object, yet it's moving now. There's no way to explain this! There must be a ghost possessing it and controlling its body!"

Lin Que looked around in alarm: "Big brother, it's too dangerous here, let's run!"

The monkey rolled its eyes: "Are you an idiot? If we could run, we wouldn't be in this forest anymore. The problem now is that we can't get out, isn't it?"

"The theft of our things might not be a bad thing; it just means that someone has been watching us all along!"

I tapped the paper figure on the head with a stick: "It seems that the Ping'an Village we're looking for isn't as simple as we thought. Perhaps the reason we've been wandering in this forest is because a maze has been set up around Ping'an Village using the art of divination!"

"So, the reason we went wrong following the tracks earlier is probably because our original tracks were erased, and the people of Ping'an Village deliberately created a false track to lead us in circles!"

Jiang Man came up with a reasonable explanation, but then frowned: "Even if we can explain the ghost wall phenomenon, why are these paper figures moving?"

I shook my head: "This is indeed quite bizarre. At least to my knowledge, I have never heard of such a thing before."

Upon closer inspection, the paper figure's body was not connected to any strings, indicating that it was not manipulated like a marionette. Furthermore, apart from the supporting skeleton, there were no electronic devices inside, ruling out the possibility of human control.

Could it be that ghosts really exist in this world?

At this point, I couldn't think of any other possibility besides ghosts.

Could it be that the methods of transporting wealth by five ghosts and commanding little ghosts recorded in the Judge's Records are not just folk tales, but actually exist?

Although I was trying to comfort others, when something like this, which was beyond my comprehension, actually happened, I panicked. I was afraid that the paper figures on the ground might jump up and pounce on me at any moment.

After confirming that the paper figures were nothing special, and finding them terrifying, I simply burned them all.

After experiencing this, no one was sleepy anymore. They all stared wide-eyed, warily watching their surroundings.

When our things were stolen before, there were drag marks on the ground. However, after the paper doll attack, I didn't dare to chase after them rashly in this dark forest. I just kept a watchful eye on the surrounding environment to prevent any more inexplicable strange occurrences.

We endured until dawn, when the sunlight streamed into the woods. I mustered my strength and stood up: "Everyone, rest now. We'll resume in three hours, but our objective is no longer to leave this forest, but to continue exploring and find Ping'an Village!"