"Now everything lines up perfectly." Sun Hang habitually snapped his fingers, but at the moment the snap sounded, the long-lasting lamp suddenly extinguished.

Everyone instantly went into a state of high alert.

"What's going on?" Yang Qi looked at Sun Hang, "Did you do this?"

"It's got nothing to do with me; it went out on its own." Sun Hang said, "Is this the legendary... 'Ghost Blowing Lamp'?"

"The meme wave of the long-lasting lamp disappeared..." Ye Xuan, who had been monitoring the instruments, whispered, "Did it 'commit suicide'?"

"It can't have been scared to death by your finger snap, right?" Wang Xiyi stared at Sun Hang's finger with a complicated expression.

The long-lasting lamp went out after Sun Hang snapped his fingers, and considering Sun Hang's usual bizarre abilities, it's hard not to link the two together.

"Should I snap again?" After speaking, Sun Hang snapped his fingers again.

The crisp sound echoed in the tunnel, but nothing else happened.

Everyone looked at each other, clearly unsure of what to do next.

"I'll go take a look." Sun Hang finished speaking and quickly walked to the long-lasting lamp, reaching out his hand.

He wasn't sure if the lamp's extinction was related to him... but he had really just innocently snapped his fingers just now, and as for the Three Monkeys, it was even more impossible — every time the Three Monkeys appeared, even if hidden in extremely secret corners, Sun Hang could sense its presence as if declaring its arrival, always manifesting some tangible form in the scene, whether a statue or a pattern... But since Sun Hang's attention wasn't attracted this time, it probably meant the Three Monkeys didn't intervene in this matter.

To facilitate adding lamp oil, the long-lasting lamp wasn't too high off the ground, only two meters, so Sun Hang easily reached the lamp base and gently pulled it out from the rock wall.

Sun Hang then discovered that the lower limbs of the human figure embedded in the rock wall were not human-shape feet but had mutated into "arms" similar to octopus tentacles.

The oil pan of the long-lasting lamp had no lamp oil, only a layer of coagulated dirt and a small stub of lampwick, where the flame had just flickered, leaving no expected blackened traces.

Sun Hang examined the lamp in his hand for a while; aside from the eerie infection-themed human figure serving as the lamp base, the lamp had nothing special — it was made from ordinary copper-tin alloy, the craftsmanship quite rough, with many places showing unpolished seam lines.

If replaced with a regular person, the item would barely qualify as a low-quality fake in the antique market, apart from being solidly constructed and heavy to hold, with nothing commendable.

Selling it as ingots of bronze might even be dismissed for too much impurity.

This thing can't be fearing being devoured by myself... therefore opting for "self-destruction", could it?

Isn't this pure "damage the enemy 800, self-loss 10,000"?

No, it didn't even damage 800, truly "loss to self, no harm to others".

"How is it?" Seeing Sun Hang silent for too long, Yang Qi asked from a distance, "Is there anything unusual?"

"Can't tell." Sun Hang walked back, handing the long-lasting lamp to Candle Dragon, "You're an expert; can you spot any trick?"

"I'm not any expert, just a hobbyist." Candle Dragon gave a self-deprecating smile, modestly, "I'm only familiar with genuine antique and art pieces; for this kind of creepy item masquerading as an antique, I wouldn't say I've dabbled; rather, I'm completely in the dark."

"Then can you tell what kind of antique this thing is imitating?" Sun Hang asked again.

"Pure original." Candle Dragon turned the lamp back and forth, "From a Feng Shui perspective, this kind of bizarre design is very unlucky; few would buy it for home decoration, maybe only a handful seeking novelty."

"But as a decoration for the cult organization's base, it's quite fitting, right?"

"Indeed." Candle Dragon nodded, handing the long-lasting lamp to Yang Qi.

Just as Yang Qi picked up the equipment intending to conduct a detailed examination, a faint whimpering sound suddenly emerged from the depths of the tunnel.

"You... all heard that, right?" Ye Xuan raised her weapon, aiming towards the direction from which the whimpering came, "That sound just now, it wasn't just my imagination, right?"

"Heard it." Sun Hang nodded, "Sounds a bit like those low-budget horror movie ghost wails... Hmm, seems like something crawling out."

Before Sun Hang finished speaking, a blurred figure slowly crawled out from the shadowy area.

The strong flashlight beams instantly locked on its body.

Crawling out of the shadows was a grotesque skeleton, its body severely deformed, almost without human features remaining. Dirty, messy long hair covered the entire face, dragging behind were legs completely fused together, like a mermaid in legends — however, at the end of the legs, below the ankles, were not human's distinct toes nor a mermaid's fin but a mess of putrid, ulcerous tentacles.

Accompanying its laborious crawling, the tendrils resembling a living mop left a winding trail of pus and blood behind it.

"This thing... is the human figure under the long-lasting lamp?!" Everyone glanced at the crawling grotesque skeleton and then at the long-lasting lamp Yang Qi held — the designs were almost identical, even those ulcers on the tentacles were sculpted on the lamp figure.

Previously Sun Hang thought it was a flaw from rough crafting.

This grotesque skeleton supported its body with its hands, a thick layer of keratin covering its arms and elbows, lifting its upper body, struggling to raise its head — although its face was completely covered by hair, from the angle and direction of tilting, it was clear this creature's gaze remained firmly locked on the long-lasting lamp held by Yang Qi.

"Since it's a grotesque skeleton..." Sun Hang turned to Zhong Ling, "Can you resonate with this creature?"

"No..." Zhong Ling shook her head, "She... she isn't a grotesque skeleton..."

"Not a grotesque skeleton? Then is it a creepy object?" Sun Hang murmured, "But I feel its aura seems very unstable, unlike something completely creptified..."

"She's human..." Zhong Ling's voice slightly trembled, "She's an infected individual, an individual not yet fully creptified."

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