However, nobody had anticipated that Randy's disappearance was merely the precursor.

Three days later, the second man disappeared without a trace. It was Bob.

We hadn't found Randy in the past three days.

People in the village panicked, fearing they would be the next ones to disappear.

I ventured into the village fields to carry out my chores when, from afar, I spotted Joseph and David huddled together in evident distress.

Abandoning the hoe, I cautiously walked across the field, edging towards the rear of the slope where Joseph and the others were huddled in conversation.

I moved with utmost care lest they should catch sight of me.

Joseph, glancing around nervously, stammered out,

"David, Randy's vanished, and now Bob too. Are we next on the list?".

David spat on the ground with a grim look.

"All the men in the village have gone. It's them who should panic first."

David continued,

"Since you can't turn back now, why not have a few more rounds of fun? I think those two just didn't follow the rules and stayed overnight."

Joseph was still a little scared, but it seemed like the things in the cave had momentarily disarmed him. He nodded in agreement.

The two of them went their separate ways. When night fell, I saw Wilson sneaking out to the cave again.

Intrigued, I swapped into Joseph's clothing and quietly tailed him to the cave.

From a safe distance, I observed Wilson standing guard outside the cave. It appeared that every villager who approached had to hand him something before being allowed to enter.

"Does this cave require tickets now?" I wondered.

Wilson knew everyone in the village. With my disguise as a man, I couldn't sneak in.

I quietly approached the grass next to the cave and leaned to one side to listen to what was happening inside.

A feminine voice echoed, soft and harmonious, retaining its charm even amidst the screams.

"Isn't it said that women are never allowed to enter the cave? Why is there a woman's voice?"

I frowned and wanted to get closer, but I accidentally touched the grass beside me and made some noise.

Wilson noticed the commotion and walked over.

I was so anxious that I sweated profusely. My mind flashed back to the time when my mother was discovered near the man's cave. Upon her return, she bore the brunt of my father's wrath, left bruised and battered. Repeatedly, I vowed never to venture near that cave again.

"Squeak squeak squeak."

At the critical moment, a few mice ran past me.

When Wilson saw the mice, he let go of his doubts and continued guarding the cave entrance.

I patted my chest in shock, secretly grateful to the mice.

"Here, here..."

Sophie squatted in front of me and greeted me quietly.

It turned out that Sophie had secretly placed those mice.

I shushed her and motioned for her to continue observing. Sophie made an OK gesture.

On the way, neither Sophie nor I dared to move for fear of attracting Wilson's attention.

It wasn't until my legs went numb that I saw men coming out of the men's caves one after another. Joseph was in the crowd with a satisfied look, and his belt was loose again.

Wilson was the last to leave. After the men left, he entered the cave alone.

Ten minutes later, Wilson came out of the cave with the things that the men had given him and turned to go home.

I rubbed my sore legs. I wanted to sneak into the cave and see if there was really a woman there.

At the critical moment, Sophie grabbed me and motioned for me to look back.

A man came back. It was David.

Before he went in, he muttered, "It's not worth it? It's not my turn yet. I need to reclaim something."

I looked at Sophie in confusion, hoping she would explain, but I didn't expect to get a shock.

"If I knew, why would I sneak out at night."

Sophie was David's fiancee. Their fathers had discussed letting them get married when they grew older, so Sophie was particularly curious about why David came to this cave every night.

I made a face at Sophie in response.

"What should we do now?"

Sophie clenched her fists. She wanted to break in, but she didn't dare. In fact, I didn't dare either.

It's not that I've outgrown my curiosity; it's more like the fear instilled in me by those childhood beatings has lingered, making me hesitant to act as an adult.

"It's almost dawn. If we don't go back soon, we'll be like when we were young."

I saw that David did not look like he would come out soon. I could only barely exchange glances with Sophie. Our eyes were filled with unwillingness.

Just as we were about to take our first step towards the cave, we encountered an unexpected hurdle – David.

We looked at the sky and sighed deeply. Then, we went home in sadness.

I slipped into the house, took off Joseph's clothes, put them in their original positions, and opened the door.

Unexpectedly, a figure was sitting straight in the room, and her dark eyes made her look particularly terrifying.

I was startled. When I turned on the light and found it was my mom, I breathed a sigh of relief.

"Where did you go in the middle of the night?"

"I... I'm going to the bathroom."

My mother's eyes were wide and sunken, her face contorted with anger, and her voice rose sharply, fueled by rage.

"Don't go out in the middle of the night in the future, remember?"

I was a little unconvinced, so I retorted in a low voice,

"But Joseph goes out every night."

Unexpectedly, these words seemed to have touched my mother's sore spot. She grabbed my collar tightly, her nose almost touching mine, and her face began to look ferocious.

"He... he's a man!"

I felt wronged and couldn't help crying.

"Why? Men are also human! Why can he go out, but I can't."

Seeing that I was crying, she was at a loss. After thinking for a long time, she clumsily hugged me, gently wiped my tears with her sleeve, and said softly,

"Wait a little longer. It'll be done soon..."

I didn't understand what my mother meant, and she didn't explain. Instead, she persisted in gently touching my back, which was shaking uncontrollably from tears.

Mom returned to her usual calm and dignified self at dawn and instructed me to return to work.

When Joseph saw me carrying a hoe, the corners of his mouth curled into a mocking arc.

"The offspring of an enslaved person is indeed a little enslaved person. If you don't finish cultivating these three acres of land today, you won't get any food."

I gritted my teeth and cursed in my heart. "Why doesn't he need to do farm work? Why does he have to wander around the village with his friends every day?"

Speak of the devil. David hooked his arm around Joseph's shoulder and ignored me.

"After you left yesterday, I sneaked in... It's cool to be alone."

Upon hearing this, Joseph looked nervously at the cave by the entrance of the village and spoke again,

"Nothing will happen? After all, that's..."

David smiled freely.

"What are you afraid of? You've been hanging out here. You should have been afraid long ago."

"But Randy and Bob..."

"That's because they were unlucky. Look, I'm fine."

Joseph seemed to have been persuaded by his words and agreed to go with him tonight.

But before night fell, they received the news of the death of Randy and Bob.

Randy and Bob's bodies were found in the river. When we arrived, we only saw their wrapped bodies. We couldn't see anything inside.

Sophie crouched down and squeezed through the crowd to find me. She put one hand to my ear and whispered,

"When they were first pulled out, I saw that Randy and Bob's bodies were covered with dense brownish-red hair, and their bodies had become particularly swollen. They were... unsightly."

I was surprised. "Brownish-red hair? Long?"

Sophie swallowed her saliva and seemed to be a little scared.

"I saw them with my own eyes. At that time, Cherry wanted to hold him in her arms and cry, but when she saw this miserable situation, she shrank back and did not dare to go forward."

"Some men who fished them out tried to pull off the hair, but they couldn't! Just like... they grew up on their own."

Despite stubbornly suppressing my fear, I couldn't resist grasping Sophie's hand. Her hand was ice-cold, just like mine.

Wilson ordered a few young men to carry their bodies away and put them in the ancestral hall for the time being.

There was something fishy about their deaths. Cherry was unwilling to bury Randy, saying that she could only bury him after finding out the truth.

Unexpectedly, Wilson, who was usually gentle and considerate, burned their bodies this time. Cherry had already taken Randy's ashes when she heard the news.

I was also a little suspicious. "Do people grow brownish-red hair?"

"Wilson burned their bodies anxiously. What was he trying to hide?"