The face's features were twisted, exceptionally hideous, yet upon closer inspection, it was unmistakably the face of an infant.
The round eyes and plump nose, which should have conveyed purity and innocence, were juxtaposed with an extremely sinister and venomous gaze, transforming the face into something infernal.
As the infant's eyes caught sight of Wu Tianzhen, its mouth instantly split open, revealing a set of bright red teeth, further confirming the entity's malevolence.
It had been feigning death in his hand for a long time, and now it was suddenly so lively. Zhang Qiling couldn't help but feel a flicker of confusion. But when he glanced at the startled Wu Tianzhen beside him, he understood everything in an instant.
Zhang Qiling: (Cosmic cat shocked) ...Is it really that effective?
Despite the turmoil in his heart, an inexplicable psychological burden prevented the young Zhang from revealing his emotions outwardly.
He slowly looked at the infant's face, baring its teeth and frightening Wu Tianzhen, and extended a finger to gently press against the forehead of the arrogant thing.
He didn't exert much force, but the warning conveyed was deeply understood by the sinister entity.
The surging Qilin blood emanated a pressure through the skin. The infant's face instantly shut its mouth, and its smiling appearance actually gained a touch of childlike cuteness.
This demonstrated that the entity's intelligence was not low. It not only vividly displayed the concept of bullying the weak and fearing the strong but also knew what it meant to back down.
Wu Tianzhen: ? This is a bit too insulting.
At this moment, Hei Yanjing had ambled over slowly. The white ball in his hand bore an old man's face, wrinkled and decrepit. It was currently grimacing and screaming silently as the audacious young Hei tossed it up and down.
"Why the expression?" Hei Yanjing also noticed the old man's face seemed displeased. His good-hearted nature was immediately touched, making it impossible for him to ignore such disrespect for the elderly!
"At this age, he probably doesn't have many days left before passing away. Why not be happy for a bit?" He squeezed the ball and shook it violently, almost flinging out the ball's brains (if it had any), "Smile, quickly~"
The old man's face on the ball closed its eyes, appearing expressionless and serene, as if it were already a dead ball.
But Hei Yanjing would never let it off just because it was a dead ball. He smiled and slowly aimed the old man's face at the very tip of his flashlight.
"Born underground, so afraid of light? Ah, Uncle Hei is kind-hearted. I'll give you a free sunbath~"
Old man's face: ???
It instantly opened its eyes and grinned widely, as if blooming like a flower. But after all, it was a sinister entity. No matter how much it smiled, it couldn't appear benevolent; it could only become more lewd. It looked like a perverted old man seeing a woman in a bikini.
Zhang Qiling stood a little further away, and the light was not very sufficient. However, the infant ball in his hand, with its sharp eyes, saw this tragic and appalling scene. It almost fainted from fright and immediately put on a show of sudden death, trying to pass itself off as harmless.
This showed that Hei Yanjing's "not-so-human" attribute had surpassed the psychological limits of these sinister entities, breaking through the cognitive barrier between humans and the uncanny, achieving a historically significant accomplishment.
Zhang Qiling did not have a hobby of toying with the uncanny. He tossed the infant ball in his hand, and Hei Yanjing caught it without looking back.
...These human-faced balls were precisely the fruits of the tree before them.
All the flashlight beams converged on the tree, and the strangely shaped tree was finally revealed.
To call it a tree, only the short but thick trunk in the center could be associated with a tree. Apart from that, there were no leaves or branches. The entire trunk was covered with numerous gray-white balls.
These balls varied in size, from those as large as an adult's fist to those as small as a cherry. Countless human faces appeared on them, men, women, old, and young, with all sorts of different appearances. Their eyes were all closed, as if they were in a sweet dream.
Behind this tree was a thick earthen wall, clearly indicating the path had reached its end.
"...I read in 'Mai You Ji' that there is a type of tree called the Five Grains Tree, which can indicate the harvest of the fields for the year through the types of crops on it. Sometimes, beans with human faces grow on it, called Ren Mian Dou, which can portend disaster. Before Hu Weiyong's entire family was executed, such beans grew in their home."
Wu Tianzhen painstakingly searched his memory for information, his tone growing increasingly confused: "Is this Ren Mian Dou? Does its appearance here now mean it's telling us that the subsequent exploration will be dangerous?"
"This thing is indeed Ren Mian Dou," Hei Yanjing was currently trying to juggle the two balls in his hand. The infant and the old man balls were gradually losing their souls in his hands. "But it's not like the books say, predicting disaster. Its function is to bring disaster."
"Its purpose here is not significant, it's just blocking the way. We still need to find the mechanism. Mute~"
Hei Yanjing could decipher mechanisms, but he generally disliked such intricate and detailed things. Most of the time, when faced with weak mechanisms, he preferred to solve them with brute force. This thing still needed to be handed over to a professional.
The professional, Zhang Qiling, glanced at him and paused before realizing that "Mute" referred to him. This appellation was not common, and young Zhang felt somewhat unaccustomed to it.
He slowly walked towards the Ren Mian Dou, realizing that the mechanism should be attached to the trunk. But as he was about to extend his finger, he suddenly encountered a problem—
The trunk was entirely covered with Ren Mian Dou. Pale human faces were pressed close to his eyes, looking somewhat disgusting.
Zhang Qiling: ...
He slowly lowered his hand and instead reached behind him to draw out the eager Black Gold Ancient Saber.
"Bang—"
A loud explosion, dust flying everywhere, the sound of crackling earth and falling stones accompanied by the screams of those human faces.
The Ren Mian Dou tree was split open by immense force. The extremely precise control of the force caused the outer shell of the trunk to fall to both sides, revealing a huge block-shaped shadow inside.
...It must be said that sometimes, violence is indeed a good method for solving mechanisms.