Chapter 100: The Vanished Child! Mutual Confirmation!

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But as he looked, Lin Yi was a bit dumbfounded! The reason for his astonishment was that behind the footprints of Old Master An Yingxiong and the others, there was... a child's footprint!

Originally, Lin Yi had assumed that this footprint belonged to a missing person. But now, he felt that assumption was wrong.

Because that footprint was unusual.

It was a barefoot print—no shoes at all.

Tell me, which child would go barefoot? And which child would appear alone behind Old Master An Yingxiong and Master Mu, of all people?

Those two wouldn’t bring any children into the cave; it was far too dangerous.

The more he thought about it, the more Lin Yi felt a creeping chill along his scalp.

The underground passage of Dove Cave extended deep and narrow. Lin Yi had been walking for ten minutes but still felt no end in sight.

The cave branched and twisted, making it difficult to navigate; one misstep and he could find himself back where he started.

Now, someone was calling his name, and there was a child's footprint—things felt increasingly off.

His energy detector in hand, Lin Yi kept scanning, hoping to detect something when “Neurozap” remained silent.

So far, nothing.

As he walked, Lin Yi finally found the first drop of cave milk!

Cave milk is the liquid that drips from stalactites.

Generally, large stalactites are called pillars, medium ones are stalagmites, and smaller branches are called stalactites.

But cave milk isn’t a type of stalactite.

It’s the energy liquid that drips during the growth of stalactites.

Much like ominous energy transforming into a sinister liquid, spiritual energy turning into spiritual liquid, or vital energy becoming vitality liquid.

Cave milk is one such liquid energy form, related to stalactites.

Inside the cave milk lies mostly spiritual energy condensed into liquid form.

Each stalactite has a history spanning hundreds or thousands of years. Over that time, even the most barren surroundings allow the stalactite to absorb some energy.

Most of this energy is spiritual in nature.

This accumulated energy gradually forms liquid inside the stalactite, which drips as cave milk.

Thus, cave milk is essentially an energy liquid.

Holding his energy detector, Lin Yi indeed found many drops of cave milk.

However, these drops were small and scattered.

Some emitted energy levels around a few hundred, others into the thousands.

The energy detector wasn’t very accurate at measuring such fine energies, so Lin Yi relied heavily on his keen observation.

In the end, he categorized and stored the cave milk into various bottles and jars inside Neurozap’s mysterious spatial storage, collecting quite a bit.

“Though I’ve collected a lot, I didn’t bring any tools in—it’s really tricky. I can’t just conjure them out of thin air for Brother Baike and the others,” Lin Yi thought.

“Whatever, they’ll come in soon anyway. I’ll take some of these, conjure them near certain stalactite pits, and pretend I just found them as a gift for Brother Baike and the others.”

At that moment, no one called Lin Yi’s name again.

After winding through twists and turns, Lin Yi realized he had actually circled back.

It seemed the fork he chose earlier was a dead end looping back on itself.

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As Lin Yi pondered this, his gaze fixed again on the circle of small footprints, the voice calling his name came once more.

“Lin Yi, Lin Yi…”

If before the voice had sounded ethereal and unfamiliar, now the voice was very familiar.

It was Zhang Xu’s voice!

“Brother Zhang Xu…” Lin Yi was puzzled and about to turn around.

Zhang Xu was the elder brother from the Shengjing City Paranormal Investigation Bureau who had earlier chased after the little enchantress Li Qinqin, but hadn’t caught her—thanks to Lin Yi’s shout, Li Qinqin obediently returned and was detained.

Turning around, Lin Yi still saw no one, but he was certain it was indeed Zhang Xu’s voice—he hadn’t mistaken it!

The area in front of Lin Yi was wide and open; throughout, he had seen no one.

“This time the voice isn’t ahead, but truly behind me. Something’s wrong, really wrong…”

The child’s footprints, the mysterious voice calling his name, the voice of Brother Zhang Xu… it all felt tangled and confusing.

Lin Yi smiled wryly. Whatever, he was just here to gather cave milk anyway, so he continued searching.

These cave milk drops could be placed into spiritual wells, some could be added while cooking, even a bit in water—endless uses.

“Chug chug…”

Lin Yi resumed collecting cave milk.

Some were pure white and flawless, others crystal clear; the older the cave milk, the more translucent it was, while the fresher ones appeared whiter, some even murky.

Each drop emitted a refreshing fragrance, invigorating the mind, for they contained abundant energy.

Time passed slowly—twenty minutes elapsed without any further calls.

Besides the initial small footprints, Lin Yi saw no more.

Gradually, an hour passed, then two, with no incidents.

Lin Yi felt he had reached the heart of the cave, its deepest part… estimating distance, he was about a hundred meters underground in Dove Cave.

The cave itself was located about one-third up the mountain, roughly twenty meters from the surface.

Subtracting that from the hundred meters meant he was about eighty meters below ground level.

“Lin Yi, Lin Yi… ahead, is that Brother Lin Yi?”

Someone called again, this time much clearer.

The last sentence was strikingly real.

Neurozap still gave no hint, making Lin Yi frown as he quickly turned to look behind.

This time the voice came from behind, not ahead.

Turning, Lin Yi saw someone approaching—Zhang Xu.

Zhang Xu’s face was alight with joy, eyes wide as he stared at Lin Yi.

Lin Yi took out his energy detector and scanned vigorously, detecting energy fluctuations around two hundred.

Since Neurozap gave no indication, Lin Yi guessed this was indeed Zhang Xu.

Though puzzling why Zhang Xu was here, and alone, not with the others.

Calmly, Lin Yi pulled the relic from Neurozap’s mysterious storage and held it firmly.

Some things required caution; Dove Cave was too strange, like a suspense drama filled with countless mysteries.

Holding the relic, Lin Yi stepped toward Zhang Xu.

Before Lin Yi could take more than a few steps, Zhang Xu ran up.

Zhang Xu was quite robust, standing nearly 1.9 meters tall like a wall.

His face was dark, skin similarly so.

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His bald head had sparse eyebrows, shining brightly under the eerie green glow of the lantern grass.

Seeing Lin Yi, Zhang Xu’s face showed great delight, though buried under that joy was deep fear.

He soon reached Lin Yi, looking around nervously, breathless.

Finally, he fixed his gaze on Lin Yi and asked intently,

“Hey, Brother Lin Yi, are you really Brother Lin Yi? Can you prove it?”

“...?”

Lin Yi’s confusion deepened.

What did Zhang Xu mean? Before Lin Yi could ask for proof of Zhang Xu’s identity, Zhang Xu himself requested proof that he was who he claimed to be?

While Lin Yi’s face showed perplexity, Zhang Xu’s expression brightened even more.

Then, trembling, Zhang Xu said, “Brother Lin Yi, don’t blame me, it’s just… I’m really scared.”

“Myself, Brother Baike, and the others entered, leaving only Zhao Hu outside. Shortly after we entered, someone called our names.”

“One of our brothers responded, the rest didn’t. We were discussing this when that brother disappeared… one of our own vanished.”

“We wanted to turn back, but Brother Bai was worried about you, so he ordered us to keep going. We walked for a long while, found some cave milk, and just as we were happy…”

“Suddenly, someone saw the missing brother. Lots of us chased after him, including Brother Bai and me.”

“But after wandering about, we still couldn’t find him. Exhausted, we saw a child playing with a small leather ball, bouncing it against the stone wall. We heard the thuds clearly.”

“As we rushed over, the child was pulled away by an adult. We recognized the adult from photos—it was one of the missing people!”

“Two missing people!”

“Both from Household Five, Group Ten, Shanghe Village—found at once!”

“Brother Bai and the others hurried to follow. We circled around, and somehow I ended up alone. Brother Lin Yi, I’m scared. I still haven’t found them… I… I feel like this Dove Cave is haunted!”

“Glug glug.”

Zhang Xu swallowed nervously.

Looking around, wiping sweat from his brow, Zhang Xu’s fear was evident.

Though his strength had reached a B-level second-tier expert, even he was sweating from fright—imagine how terrifying the situation must be.

“Brother Lin Yi, I heard someone call my name… they called me Zhang Dongxu, my old name. I changed it long ago; no one knows it but my deceased parents. So, there must be ghosts in Dove Cave…”

“I was scared and ran away quickly… cough cough. Brother Lin Yi, don’t laugh at me. Though I joined the Paranormal Investigation Bureau, most of my work is administrative. Only recently, with improved skills, did I start fieldwork. Suddenly encountering this… I really got scared.”

Zhang Xu’s face showed panic and embarrassment.

As a Paranormal Investigator, being so timid around spirits and demons was frankly inexcusable.

A perfect example of “big guy, small courage.”

His words made Lin Yi frown.

Clearly, Dove Cave was not a safe place!

If before Lin Yi adhered to “ghosts don’t harm me, I don’t harm ghosts,” now the spirits were becoming increasingly brazen.

“Let’s head back and see if we can find Brother Bai and the others,” Lin Yi said to Zhang Xu, smiling.

“Brother Zhang, what are ghosts and demons? With your strength, what’s there to fear? When we met Zhang Fang earlier, you were fine, right? Come on, let’s go.”

“Um, well… Brother Lin Yi, can I try throwing some black dog blood on you first?” Zhang Xu hesitated, awkward.

“…”

Lin Yi.