I stood guard at the entrance of the cave, suddenly hearing a faint sound coming from the grass beside the cliff cave.

A moment later, a girl poked her head out, her black and shiny eyes filled with caution.

I gestured for her to be silent and whispered, "What's your name? Do you like candy?"

"Don't tell anyone you saw us here, sister. I'll bring you candy tomorrow."

The girl remained unmoved, her lips pressed tightly together, her fingers twirling a broken vine-like thread on the stone wall.

After a while, as if making a major decision, she opened her mouth and uttered two words.

I didn't hear the expected childish voice but rather a roaring train passing by my ears.

An ugly scar stretched across the base of the girl's tongue, which had been completely severed.

I heard footsteps approaching from behind, and I turned to see the figure of Master Qingning appearing at the cave entrance.

"What are you doing? Did you find that girl?" Seeing my dumbfounded expression, she frowned and asked.

In the blink of an eye, the girl disappeared into the mountain forest like a small fish diving into a deep pool.

A thought crossed my mind, and I shook my head, then asked, "Did you find anything inside the cave? And what about the fish woman you mentioned?"

"You don't need to know about these things. This matter will be resolved quickly." A hint of a smile flashed across her eyebrows and eyes, unsettling me.

"This concerns my life and death! Why shouldn't I know?" Angered, my voice unintentionally rose an octave.

"What are you shouting for? Do you want to die here?" Master Qingning's face turned from red to white.

Seeing my apparent intention to continue shouting unless she spoke, she sighed, seeming to compromise:

"The villages in the past valued boys over girls greatly.

"In one village, they discovered a fish in the mountain spring. Women would eat its eggs after cutting open their bellies, then have intercourse with their husbands, guaranteeing the birth of a boy. Almost three births a year, and every pregnancy resulted in a boy.

"However, this fish species soon went extinct, and despite the villagers' efforts to find it, they found nothing.

"Later on, the women who ate these fish eggs would have swollen bellies, but instead of giving birth to boys, they would give birth to piles and piles of fish eggs..."

Terrified, I covered my mouth, and an image of the woman who desperately sought death in my dream appeared in my mind. I blurted out, "So, they started luring women from the outside to eat the fish eggs and bring them back for fertilization and childbirth?"

Master Qingning nodded, her eyes seemingly filled with approval.