Anchor Points!

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"": "Memories began flashing back, Luo Feng's wary, cautious face lingering before his eyes.

"Don't think your dad's nagging. There won't be anyone here besides our family. If you see anyone before dark, whether they're calling for help or waving you over, don't go near them."

"Even if you see someone you know, that isn't really them. Understand?"

The flashback ended, the images shattering.

Luo Feng was still watching him with a grim, cold expression, his hand refusing to let go.

Right. Listening more closely, the cries for help weren't Gu Ya's at all. They were just an ordinary person's cries.

Luo Bin had only assumed it was Gu Ya because he hadn't considered that anyone else might be here.

"Then who is he? Do Evil Spirits move around during the day too?" Luo Bin asked stiffly.

"He's not an Evil Spirit. Evil Spirits only appear late at night. Don't say too much. Shh..." Luo Feng said cautiously, making a shushing gesture.

From the way Luo Feng scanned their surroundings, he seemed afraid someone might overhear them.

Then Luo Feng said, "Let's go."

He strode onward.

At some point, the arrow markings on the trees had disappeared. The new markings were ones Luo Feng had carved.

Quiet. The woods were far too quiet.

At some point, even the birds had stopped calling.

Was this right?

Although Luo Feng's earlier idea of climbing high to get a better view made sense, Luo Bin kept feeling that something was wrong.

But he couldn't put his finger on it, so he could only keep following Luo Feng.

The summit was so far away. They must have walked another two or three hours, which was definitely far more than half a kilometer. Even climbing uphill, they must have covered at least three or four kilometers-nearly eight li.

Adding the entire day they had already spent climbing, just how high was this mountain?

"Something's wrong, Dad..." Goosebumps rose on Luo Bin's skin.

Because... there was a tree ahead, with a deeply carved arrow pointing straight ahead at an angle.

They hadn't encountered any trail markers for hours. Only now had they found one.

But that didn't mean someone had made it this far!

The wound in the trunk was fresh. The arrow had only just been carved!

Luo Feng stopped before the tree. His face was livid, then slowly turned pale. "We've looped around. Damn it."

With a clunk, he drove the machete hard into the trunk.

"Does that mean we went the wrong way? The whole village has been exploring in the wrong direction all these years?" An indescribable dejection welled up in Luo Bin.

Luo Feng said nothing. His face grew paler, and more blood vessels stood out in his eyes, each one distinct, as though blood might spill from them.

Luo Bin knew this wasn't much of a blow to him. After all, he had only just learned about it. But for Luo Feng, this had been his only hope in recent years. Now even that hope had proved empty, nothing but an illusion.

So many villagers had died exploring, only to discover a bewildering loop.

"We can't keep going. Who knows what we'll run into? We have to go back and chop away these wrong markers." Luo Feng pulled out his machete and, with two quick slashes, stripped away the bark.

They began retracing their steps, removing the arrows along the way.

Nearly another two or three hours passed as they retreated, until the midday heat was at its fiercest.

Once again, a tree appeared before them.

A large patch of bark had been stripped away, and deep blade marks were still visible.

This was where they had first realized they were walking in circles. After all that time retreating, they had come back here again?!

They weren't simply circling around. The two of them were trapped within a certain area near the summit, going around inside that loop. Yes, a better comparison would be that they had entered a maze!

Luo Bin felt as though something had occurred to him.

But it was vague, and he couldn't quite grasp it yet.

"Move!" Luo Feng said again in a low voice.

This time, they walked much faster, retracing their original route down the mountain.

Two hours later, they were back beneath the tree bearing the blade marks.

Luo Feng drove his blade into it again. He said nothing, but his eyes looked murderous!

He stepped forward, ready to keep going.

Luo Bin grabbed him, fine beads of sweat covering his forehead.

Their clothes were already soaked with sweat, front and back. The repeated loops weren't just wearing down their mental defenses. Their bodies were becoming utterly exhausted too.

"We can't keep walking, Dad... We've entered a vicious circle, and you're caught in one yourself... Haven't you noticed? You're starting to act like that Outsider from a few days ago. You keep circling around, refusing to accept it, desperately trying again," Luo Bin said gravely.

Luo Feng's pupils contracted sharply. Large beads of sweat rolled down his face, and his voice grew hoarser.

"Your mom is still in the house. She'll be safe, but if we can't get back before dark, there's nowhere here for us to hide. We'll be completely exposed to the Evil Spirits. We'll die."

Of course Luo Bin understood how serious this was.

More seriously, they were already trapped in a loop. Continuing would achieve nothing except exhaustion and a complete physical and mental collapse.

"I won't end up like that Outsider. I'm looking for subtle differences. Come on!" Luo Feng was about to step forward again.

Luo Bin didn't let go. He kept a firm grip on his shoulder.

"Dad, let me think this through."

Luo Bin spoke gravely. Only when Luo Feng stopped resisting did he crouch down and sweep both hands across the ground, clearing a flat patch.

Before his eyes, the flashback began!

Luo Bin's memories replayed from when they had left the little Wooden House at their fourth stopping point.

He saw the dried corpse hanging from the tree, then heard someone calling for help.

After that, the two of them kept walking and walking...

Under Luo Bin's deliberate control, this flashback became very fast, like a slideshow on fast-forward.

Until it reached one particular point: the tree where they had first discovered they were looping around.

The flashback stopped. Luo Bin turned his head and looked at the tree beside them.

Luo Bin memorized the tree's features, and the flashback began again!

A few minutes later, he drew a knife from his waist and sketched a square on the ground. Then he extended a line from the shape.

It twisted and turned, stretching steadily forward.

After stopping, Luo Bin marked that spot with an asterisk.

"Dad, after we reached this spot, we didn't go any farther. All of a sudden, we started looping around. Take one more step forward, and the point where the loop begins becomes this spot!"

The knife tip touched the beginning of the line, and he drew another asterisk.

Luo Bin raised his eyes and stared at the tree beside him, where the blade had struck!

"This is too strange. There's a gap of nearly three hours' walking between the farthest point we reached and the point where the loop begins. But take one step outward from that farthest point, and we arrive at the looping point..."

"Don't you think this is a little like our village?"

"You said that once you go past that sharp bend outside the village entrance, you end up straight back in the village."

Even the look in Luo Feng's eyes changed as he watched Luo Bin.

Truthfully, this son who wasn't his son had earned his acceptance.

Because the body was his son's.

The same blood flowed through them both.

Luo Feng didn't know the original name of the soul that had taken over his son's body, but its every word and action showed respect toward him and Gu Ya, treating them as its parents.

For all these reasons, along with the bond of blood, he had accepted everything.

The other's meticulous thinking was much like his own, and he was even more protective of Gu Ya. That pleased him all the more.

Before, he had been pleased.

Now, he was shocked.

An extraordinary memory, keen analytical ability-with just a few words, Luo Bin had deduced that the logic behind this loop was similar to Cabinet Mountain Village's.

Was that something a normal person could do?

"Dad? What's wrong? Stay calm. Don't get distracted, and don't rush. We'll definitely be all right. We've run into a problem, so we have to solve it!" Luo Bin said again in a low voice.

"Yes, it is a little like the village," Luo Feng answered, finally coming back to himself.

"Right. We discovered the loop here. That means this place is like the village entrance, right? Like an anchor point? There should be a dried corpse nearby. If we want to get out, we'll need another anchor point, one we haven't seen yet," Luo Bin continued gravely.

"An anchor point?" Luo Feng sounded slightly surprised.

"First, I need to confirm whether the path in front of us is real, or whether we're both hallucinating. I need other evidence proving this place actually exists. That's an anchor point."

Luo Bin stood up and carefully examined their surroundings.

Ever since they had first discovered the loop, neither father nor son had remained calm. They hadn't examined their surroundings in detail at all. They had simply kept walking, walking without stopping.

"Found it!" Luo Bin was overjoyed.

Off at an angle, about fifteen or sixteen meters away, Luo Bin spotted the dried corpse behind the shadows of several trees. It swayed like a wind chime. Its body was covered in wounds, and its head, the only intact part, seemed to have been watching them all along.

"We're actually only half an hour's walk from the Wooden House!"

"This location is real."

"An anchor point... We still need a second anchor point!"

Goosebumps kept rising across Luo Bin's skin, and every hair stood on end.

When emotion reached a certain level of excitement, the body responded.

Fear could bring out goosebumps and make the hair stand on end. Excitement could do the same.

Luo Feng remained completely silent. He understood Luo Bin's explanation, but even though Luo Bin had explained it clearly, he still couldn't immediately grasp the underlying logic.

So he couldn't interrupt Luo Bin.

"If I remember correctly, someone was calling for help over there."

"He isn't an ordinary person. Dad, you said we have to be wary of everyone. But he's outside the loop. If we can get close to him, we'll be able to get past this vicious circle, because he isn't inside it!"

Luo Bin spoke with absolute conviction!

Luo Feng's heart jolted again. He had finally worked through the logic, and his eyelids twitched incessantly.

"Why... can't we see him anymore? Was he... fake? But there's a corpse here. This place is real..."

Luo Bin's expression was grim.

"The corpse stays here, but that thing doesn't. He was only trying to lure us over earlier. When he failed, he naturally left. He might very well be trying to find a way to bewitch your mom right now." Luo Feng let out a heavy breath.

"No... We have to have a second anchor point, and it has to be outside the loop. Otherwise... we won't get out, Dad. If we leave this tree, we'll just be taking the path ahead again. No matter how we walk, we'll still end up back here."

"No... That's not right!"

Luo Bin was still wrestling with his anxiety. Then, staring fixedly at the dried corpse, he murmured, "It took us half an hour to get here from the house at the fourth stopping point. It also takes half an hour to walk from the village to the sharp bend. Dad, would the villagers do anything along the looping mountain path, like farm?"

"How could they?" Luo Feng answered with a frown.

"So you wouldn't set traps in the looping area outside Cabinet Mountain Village either, right?"

Luo Bin asked again!