After listening to my explanation, Jiang Man picked up the thin thread in my hand, glanced at it, and nodded, saying, "This is absorbable chemical suture, a special surgical suture, which means that the people of Ping'an Village had it stitched up here."

I looked at the blood-stained gauze and nodded solemnly: "That's exactly what I was worried about. It seems the road ahead is not going to be easy!"

"It might not be that there's a problem with the road ahead."

Jiang Man said, "Don't forget, three people from Ping'an Village died at the ant colony's place! Maybe they're just treating wounds they sustained on the road earlier!"

"I think the possibility is extremely slim!"

I refuted Jiang Man's speculation: "The commander's post where I rested was the safest place we've been on this journey. If those people were injured by the ant swarm attack, they should have had their wounds treated there. Why did they wait until we got here? After leaving the commander's post, there are no traps ahead. The only place where they could have been injured was when crossing the river. However, the terrain around here is very simple and doesn't look dangerous at all. The people sent down by Ping'an Village are not ordinary people either. So the most likely scenario is that they encountered danger while moving forward and had no choice but to retreat."

After I finished analyzing the pros and cons, Jiang Man nodded: "What you said makes sense. If we follow your analysis, the fact that the people of Ping'an Village were able to return here to treat the wounded after encountering danger ahead, and then set off again, means that the danger ahead was still within a tolerable range. It's probably a trap or a mechanism that they fell into."

"That's right, that's what I think too."

I nodded and saw the monkeys climbing over to the other side. I said, "There might be traps in the passage ahead. Be vigilant. If you notice anything unusual while walking, tell me immediately. If you step into a trap or feel the ground sinking, first make sure you are safe, but don't lift your foot easily."

Seeing my serious expression, Lin Que stepped forward and said, "Brother, your body is still very weak. If you really encounter a trap like falling rocks, it will be difficult to guarantee your safety. Why don't I go in first to scout ahead, and you can go in after I confirm it's safe?"

"I'll go. The fact that the people from Ping'an Village were able to avoid the ant swarm and reach this place shows that they are very familiar with this area. If they still fell victim to this under such circumstances, then we must be on guard!"

I wasn't comfortable letting Lin Que go into the passage ahead, so I took the lead and went in anyway.

The terrain on this side of the river is the same as on the other side; the platform in front of us faces a cave.

As soon as I entered the cave, I felt that the temperature around me was much lower than outside, and the walls on both sides had serious cracks. When I pried them open with a dagger, a section of the wall collapsed with a crash.

The monkey picked up a random piece and broke it with its hand: "Young Master Duan, this thing looks like mud. It looks like a decoration used when building a tomb passage. By filling it with mud, this cave is transformed into an arched structure."

"It is indeed mud, but its purpose is definitely not for decoration."

I shook my head: "We've never seen this kind of mud-covered wall technique along the way. It only exists in this section. I think there are two possibilities. The first is that something was added to the mud to seal something. The second is that it was used to cover up the entire cave and hide the mechanism behind it. That way, outsiders won't be able to find out where the mechanism is."

"The designers here are quite cunning."

The monkey broke off a piece of mud and showed it to me: "These mud fragments have honeycomb-like gaps inside. They should contain something like straw to increase toughness. If it weren't for its age and the cracked soil, you wouldn't be able to dig through this mud with a digger!"

Jiang Man interjected, "Hasn't the people of Ping'an Village already fallen for this? If the soil here is indeed a cover, then the location where they were attacked will definitely have collapsed. This is a good warning for us."

“If the people of Ping’an Village were truly familiar with the terrain here, they wouldn’t have fallen into this trap. This place is too dangerous. In a place like this, we can’t trust anyone and can only rely on ourselves.”

After I finished speaking, I turned on my flashlight and continued walking forward.

Our cave appears to have been created by human intervention from a natural cave, and the interior has been refilled with yellow mud, making it look like a domed corridor.

Due to its age, the soil here is severely cracked, and the ground is covered with fragments that make a constant cracking sound as we walk.

Thanks to these fallen soil fragments, we can clearly see the footprints left by the people of Ping'an Village as they moved. Jiang Man picked up a fragment, pointed to the bloodstains on it, and said, "It seems that your previous guess was correct. The people of Ping'an Village were indeed attacked in the cave and then turned back from the front. Otherwise, there would not be bloodstains only on this section of the road."

"Yes, the further we go, the clearer the bloodstains on the ground become, which means we are very close to where the accident happened."

I was on high alert: "Be careful, follow the footprints of those people from Ping'an Village."

We walked for about fifteen meters and then a corner appeared ahead. Unlike the road we had been on before, the road after the corner was paved with mud, like a dried-up riverbed, with the mud curled up at the edges.

In front of us, there was a huge pit in the ground, and there were many stone cones standing at the bottom of the pit.

I shone my flashlight on the blood on the stone cone: "The people from Ping'an Village fell into this trap. They slipped on the mud and fell into the pit, and some of them were stabbed."

"Young Master Duan, there are footprints here."

The monkey shone its flashlight along the edge of the pit: "They must have finished treating the wounded, then returned to this spot and went around the pit."

Lin Que asked curiously, "If someone is injured, why don't they provide first aid here instead of wasting time stitching up their wounds on the platform outside?"

"Their understanding of the Miao Jiang Immortal Palace is far superior to ours. Perhaps there is something here that they are afraid of, like the moths and bullet ants we saw before. These people are worried that the smell of blood or the tremors will attract those things."

I looked at the footprints on the other side and continued, "The fact that they can keep moving forward means that those things haven't appeared."