Strangely, the shadow seemed to have only come to guide them, disappearing after the two took the right fork in the road.
The deeper you go, the denser the brambles become on both sides of the road. Eventually, you can only walk close together with two other people, and even then, you might still get scratched by the brambles if you're not careful.
"Hey, there are other people up ahead."
Jiang Nuo curiously peered over, then after half a second exclaimed, "Oh, it's a corpse, not a person."
Jiang Nuo can always say terrifying things with remarkable calmness...
[Be grateful it's not a ghost apartment upstairs, haha]
He led Si Yan forward, preparing to examine the corpse; gloves were already on.
"Wait!"
A person ran out of the thorn bushes, their coat torn and tattered. They rushed out and tried to grab Jiang Nuo's hand, their expression tense.
Si Yan's eyebrows twitched slightly, and she pulled Jiang Nuo into her arms to prevent that person from touching her.
"Ouch."
Jiang Nuo readily withdrew her hand, raised both hands to examine the newcomer, and asked, "Are you... a tourist?"
Very uncertain.
After all, this person was wearing clothes similar to Da Qiang's, which should be the attire of the Bone Witch Tribe, but there was a small yellow flag stuck on the backpack on his back.
"Yes, yes, I'm a tourist. Please don't touch this corpse; it's an upright corpse."
The man, panting heavily, pointed to the corpse's back and said, "You see, even when the body is stiff after death, it generally can't stand up. This person has clearly been dead for several days, yet he can still stand upright without any support."
"A standing corpse is the most ominous; it's a vengeful spirit!"
He spoke with great logic and conviction.
Jiang Nuo didn't hear a word she said.
"It's nothing, let me take a look."
After saying that, he reached out and started poking and prodding the corpse.
The moment the finger touched it, the corpse fell to the side with a whoosh, without a trace of blood or water.
Jiang Nuo, who had just extended a finger:?
"Wow, he's trying to scam me."
Jiang Nuo pointed at the corpse and complained.
A smile flickered in Si Yan's eyes; she felt that Jiang Nuo was at her most vibrant at this moment.
"It has nothing to do with Nuonuo; the body should be hollow."
It's basically just a piece of skin standing upright here.
"Huh? Hollow?"
The man crouched down to examine it, and was instantly a little embarrassed. "It really is. I was being so careful not to touch it."
"You two seem to know quite a bit too. Are you also here to investigate the secrets of the Bone Witch Tribe?"
Si Yan nodded silently, glanced down at the man a few times, and then said, "Yes, you too."
"Hey, isn't my outfit weird?"
The man spoke with a hint of pride, "My name is Ma Ye, and I'm a member of a paranormal forum. I've always been interested in the Bone Witch Tribe, so I joined a tour group to explore their secrets!"
"But it wasn't easy to sneak in. I staked out for several days, and I even stole a set of their clothes before I dared to sneak into the tribe."
[Huh? Ma Ye isn't my Ma Ye! I've read so many of his adventure stories, each one a personal experience! He's an incredibly awesome person!]
[ Old Ma is so... young? I thought he was a very weathered middle-aged man.]
This expedition team is getting increasingly bizarre.
Jiang Nuo gave up on studying the human skin; the face was no longer recognizable, the features were corroded and blurred, and there were no usable clues.
Hearing this, he stood up, taking off his gloves as he asked, "Did you find anything?"
"Ah! Yes, yes, yes, let me tell you, the people here worship the Bone Deer God. It is said that their ancestors relied on the Deer God to protect the entire tribe and bestow upon them supreme abilities."
"Therefore, sacrifices must be offered to the Bone Deer God every so often, and the best time for the sacrifice is when the fog is thick and the sun sets at midday."
Ma Ye pointed to the west, "Look, it's not even noon yet, and there's already a glow of dawn here."
Jiang Nuo let out a drawn-out "Ah," and took Si Yan's hand, "Brother Ma is amazing! He's only just arrived and he's already found so many clues."
"That's right, I'm hoping to find out the truth as soon as possible so I can submit my resume to the Dao Xuan Association."
Ma Ye's face was full of determination. "I will definitely get into the association."
Si Yan raised an eyebrow slightly, her eyes filled with inquiry, as if she were pondering something. "Very impressive."
"It's better to travel together."
This was the first time Si Yan had invited someone to join her on an adventure.
Ma Ye didn't refuse and continued walking forward alongside them.
This is off-camera.
"What does the young master mean? Does he want to personally assess whether this person is suitable?"
Association members watching the live stream discussed, " Qian Sen too, didn't he notice that the young master and the others came out?"
Wang Ping scratched his head. "Why do I feel like I've met Ma Ye before?"
"I need to check this out. You guys continue reading."
He left the office with his laptop and went to his own office to look up information.
"Where have I seen this name before...?"
During the live stream, the three of them walked together towards the tribe's territory. It took them nearly ten minutes of helping each other before they finally reached the end of the path.
What came into view was a jumble of seemingly perfectly fitted rectangular boulders stuck in the ground, with mounds of earth forming arches, leaving no place to pass through.
"Go this way, I've been here before."
Ma Ye gestured for the two to follow him, and they went around several boulders and went in from behind a moss-covered rock.
Jiang Nuo walked while paying attention to the terrain, carefully leading Si Yan along the flattest path possible.
"Hey, we're here."
After passing Stonehenge, the three finally reached a wide road.
Holy crap, I've been transported to a primitive tribe in a second?!
"It's amazing that houses like this still exist!"
Is it possible that the Bone Witch Tribe is simply too reclusive, which is why many aspects of their civilization haven't kept pace with modern development?
At the end of the wide road were domed bamboo houses built around trees. Each house had many colorful strips of cloth hanging above its entrance, soaked in blood and fluttering in the wind. Various animal bones were also placed in front of the houses as decorations. The road was covered in bloodstains, as if some large-scale massacre had just taken place.
Jiang Nuo sniffed, her nose twitching, "It smells like flowers."
"Yes, yes, I've smelled it too, but it's really strange. It seems like you can only smell it the first time you come in, and you can't smell it anymore after that."
Ma Ye found it strange and sniffed around as well, indicating that there was nothing there.
"My main purpose in coming here today is to study their square."
He pointed to the end of the road, where the houses were not so densely packed, leaving a spacious, open circular area.
Carefully skirting the houses to avoid being discovered by the tribespeople, Jiang Nuo squatted down to examine the items displayed in the center of the square with great interest.
"A row of bones, a row of incense ash and candles, and a black and red flag."
"A soul swap? This is going to happen."
I kept muttering to myself as I watched.
Si Yan recognized the flag and explained, "It's the Big Dipper Spirit-Suppressing Flag."
"The Big Dipper reverses Yin and Yang, allowing the fate of the deceased to be swapped with that of the living."
Jiang Nuo suddenly realized, "A scapegoat!"
"It's a way to avoid death. After the living person is swapped, they won't die immediately. They'll first show symptoms of losing their soul, and only when their last breath is exhausted will they die a gruesome death..."
Si Yan spoke, she suddenly remembered something and exchanged a glance with Jiang Nuo, "Those surviving tourists."