SES Chapter 88 Part 1

Chapter 88

Then, her pale lips moved slightly, and a strange, low sound echoed through the cave.

It was the kind of sound that was hard to describe. If she hadn’t been warned, Mu Dai would never have thought of it as a way to communicate—because it blended so naturally into the mountain itself: trees swaying, leaves rustling, birds flying overhead, insects chirping.

It was like how real spies are nothing like the imposing, heroic figures in movies. In reality, they’re so unremarkable that even if they circled you three or four times, you still wouldn’t remember their face.

This sound was the same—completely unnoticeable.

Mu Dai’s throat went dry. She reached over and tapped Yan Hongsand. “The wild woman might be calling the wild men. Be on guard.”

Yan Hongsand said, “Good. I was afraid she wouldn’t call them.”

Her eyes gleamed fiercely as she spoke, her lips pressed stubbornly into a thin line.

The three of them waited quietly for quite a while. Unexpectedly, nothing happened.

Suddenly, a thought struck Mu Dai: they couldn’t hear what the woman was saying, but surely she wasn’t just screaming “help.” What if she was actually instructing the wild woman on what to do?

She quickly whispered this suspicion to Luo Ren.

Luo Ren said, “That’s possible. But at this point, it doesn’t matter—we’re at the stage where the map runs out and the dagger comes out. In other words, it’s going to come down to hand-to-hand combat. No more tricks.”

He crouched down beside the woman. “We can’t understand what you’re saying, but you used to be human, so you can understand me—we have two friends lost somewhere in these mountains. We need your help to find them.”

The woman’s clothes were so ragged they barely showed their original color. Some parts were torn into strips, some tied into knots and bulging strangely. She stared hard at Luo Ren, her eyes shifting, then moved her gaze to Yan Hongsand, and then to Mu Dai. Her cold, piercing stare made Mu Dai feel uneasy.

Mu Dai tugged Yan Hongsand toward the entrance—half to avoid the tension, half to keep watch in case wild men suddenly appeared.

From afar, the outside looked silent. The fire pit hadn’t gone completely out yet.

After a while, Luo Ren came out and asked them what they thought: “It’s getting late. Spending the night in the cave won’t be easy. Should we stay here, or head back?”

Yan Hongsand said either way was fine. Mu Dai thought for a moment. “If we go back, there’s no food waiting for us anyway. Might as well stay here. Besides, what are we going to do—carry her all the way back? That’s a huge hassle.”

“Fair enough,” Luo Ren said after glancing around. “But everyone’s going to have to tough it out tonight. No sleeping. Keep the fire going—the bigger the better.”

The sky darkened.

The bonfire roared to life. A night wind rose, but luckily it blew outward, so the smoke didn’t flood back into the cave. The three of them huddled near the entrance, sitting together, occasionally tossing on more wood, glancing back now and then at the woman lying inside.

She no longer struggled, just lay there quietly. The rouge-colored amber around her neck glowed softly in the firelight.

Mu Dai hugged her knees, staring into the flames, troubled.

Would the wild men come? Would they bring Cao Yanhua and Yi Wansan with them? And if those two hadn’t been caught, why had there been no sign of them at all?

She tilted her head toward Luo Ren. “Do you think the wild men live nearby?”

Luo Ren nodded. “Judging from the way that woman communicates with them, I’d say so. If they lived too far away, the wild men wouldn’t be able to hear.”

Mu Dai muttered, “Then Cao Yanhua and Yi Wansan must also be close. If they really got caught and have been locked up for days… who knows what state they’re in? Starving, scared… maybe even missing a limb or two.”

Luo Ren fell silent, then suddenly seemed to think of something. “Mu Dai, give me the whistle.”

Cao Yanhua was on edge.

At first, things had actually gone pretty smoothly. Just last night, Yi Wansan’s “talent” had clearly impressed the female wild one—so much that their “artistic exchange” lasted a long while. Afterwards, everyone had gone to sleep in a surprisingly calm and even friendly atmosphere.

In the morning, the wild woman went out and came back not just with the little apple, but also two extremely sour pears—one for each of them.

Yi Wansan, encouraged, drew even more—cups, TVs, cars… all things the wild ones had never seen. While “Brother San” kept her attention with his drawings, Cao Yanhua crouched in the back with a stone, quietly scratching words into small stone chips.

First, he carved “HELP.” He flicked the chip outside. The wild woman didn’t even turn her head.

Then he carved “SOS.” Flick, out it went.

The stone pieces were too small for long or complicated messages, so he improvised, muttering silently in his head:

—Brother Luo, little master, and rich sister, please keep your eyes open. You have to see these…

He didn’t know how many times he had thrown them, when suddenly, just as he swung his arm, he froze.

Far off in the forest, a faint plume of smoke rose, as if someone was making a fire.

He was still staring when the wild woman suddenly sprang to her feet.

Cao Yanhua panicked, thinking his little espionage act had been discovered, every hair on his body standing on end. But she didn’t come for him—she bolted out of the cave entrance.

Confused, Cao Yanhua turned to Yi Wansan. He didn’t know either, but guessed, “From the way she tilted her head, it was like she was listening to something.”

Cao Yanhua frowned. “But I didn’t hear anything.”

Before long, the wild woman came back.

This time, she was visibly agitated. No more drawing. Her face twisted, nostrils flaring, snorting harshly. At the slightest sound, she jerked her head up, baring her teeth as if ready to rip something apart.

Cao Yanhua and Yi Wansan hardly dared to breathe.

And then night fell.

Inside the cave, a small fire burned. The wild woman’s eyes darted back and forth between the two men.

Cao Yanhua’s heart pounded, his scalp tingling. He felt he understood her look perfectly. It said: Which one to eat? Which one? The fat one.

Just then, a sound reached him—a whistle.