I hesitated for a moment, looking at the dark opening of the passage before me.
Behind me was a patch of grass that devoured all it touched, a dead end.
The passage I had come from was also eerily strange; the feeling of being controlled like a puppet was something I couldn't forget.
Damn it!
Caught between a rock and a hard place, to achieve glory, one must gamble with their life! I couldn't go back to the grass, and since I didn't die in the passage before, there shouldn't be a problem now!
With a resolute heart, I stood up and walked into the pitch-black cave.
My torch had long since extinguished, so I had to feel my way forward in the dark. Fortunately, I remembered that there were no other branching paths in the passage, and as long as I kept walking, I would eventually get out.
Fear, humanity's oldest emotion, found its perfect vessel in darkness.
In the empty passage, the only sound was the crisp echo of my footsteps.
My nerves were on edge, and I found myself recalling a very short story.
The last human in the world sat in his house, and suddenly, he heard a knock on the door...
I was like the last human in that story, now yearning to speak to someone, yet fearing the sudden sound of another presence.
One step, two steps...
The atmosphere grew increasingly eerie. I thought I heard someone cough softly beside my ear.
My formerly decisive footsteps became disjointed, as if...
Someone was following me.
Damn it, they're like a shadow, still trailing me!
Suppressing the urge to turn around, I forced myself to keep my head down and walk forward.
Even if this passage was this evil, it could only resort to such underhanded tricks.
If you have the guts, materialize into a person!
I bolstered my spirits internally, starting to think of pleasant things, like braised pork and soy-glazed pork knuckles...
It turned out that while escapism is shameful, it is effective.
As I recited recipes in my mind, I imagined their tastes.
Those vague sensations gradually faded, no longer as terrifying.
In the blink of an eye, I saw a light ahead.
I also realized that it was only in the depths of the passage that these illusions were conjured. Once past that section, the feeling of being watched by a lurking viper completely vanished.
Only when I fully emerged from the cave did I truly relax.
I didn't know how long my trek had taken. The wind and snow had stopped outside, and the sky was filled with starlight, casting a thick layer of salt-like brilliance on the snow.
I looked at the long-extinguished campfire and quickly took out my flint and steel from my backpack to relight it.
Damn, I'm lucky to be alive!
To encounter such an exhilarating experience in the middle of the night, I felt completely exhausted, lacking the strength to even get up from the ground.
As long as I didn't venture deep into the cave, there was no other danger here.
It was late at night, so I used my backpack as a pillow and fell into a deep sleep.
When I woke up, the sun was already high in the sky.
I quickly ate a few pieces of dried meat, slung my backpack over my shoulders, and left the cave that had left me with lingering unease.
Although it hadn't snowed for long yesterday, the depth of the snow on the ground was absurd, almost reaching my calves.
I trudged through the snow, one foot sinking deep after another, and stopped abruptly when I passed a large tree.
There was nothing unusual about the tree itself, but beneath it lay a corpse.
The man appeared to be around thirty, thin and of slight build. Judging by his clothing, he was likely a survivor.
His death was gruesome; a javelin had pierced his chest and was deeply embedded in the tree trunk. I tugged hard before managing to pull it out.
It seemed the man had been dead for some time. The cold weather and snow had preserved his body from decay.
Had he encountered people from the Du'an tribe?
I had now entered the territory of the Du'an tribe. They were at the height of their power, and other tribes dared not provoke them.
I carefully examined the man's body for any further clues.
Hmm?
What's this?
Using my hunting knife, I lifted the man's clothing. A vine tattoo was clearly visible on his chest, seemingly carved with a knife, stroke by painstaking stroke.
Before I set out, Ke Ya had told me that the Du'an tribe worshipped a pastoral god, and their tribal totem was a vine wrapped around a large tree.
This was precisely the mark on the man's chest!
Finding no other clues, I hastily buried the man and resumed my journey towards the Du'an tribe.
As I walked, I pondered why the man had died under the tree.
Was he a slave of the Du'an tribe?
I knew that after capturing slaves, the Du'an tribe would carve their tribal totem onto the slaves' bodies with a small knife, a brutal display of ownership.
This man must have been captured by the Du'an tribe after being stranded on this deserted island. However, the tribes on this island were extremely strict in their management of slaves.
Even the Kasas tribe, which was dwindling in numbers, kept their captured slaves obediently within their enclosures when I visited with Ke Ya.
And this man, with his slender build, didn't seem like someone who could escape from the Du'an tribe.
Could it be that something was amiss with the Du'an tribe?