Outside the border, the sun rises as usual.
Near a stretch of forest by the Nu River, the morning mist permeates.
Inside a cave hidden halfway up the mountain, a faint wailing sound can be heard.
The deep cavern twists and turns inward, where a glimmer of firelight can be vaguely seen.
Upon closer inspection, a fire is burning, with about a dozen pale-faced people gathered around it.
Most of them are elderly, children, and women, with few young and strong men among them.
These people, most with numb expressions, are staring at an old woman with graying temples who is clutching a bundle of clothes, rubbing it on her face while murmuring and crying.
The old woman's son went hunting yesterday and hasn't returned.
He was either eaten by the wild beasts in the mountains or encountered a demon.
There are many spirit monsters and fierce beasts in these mountains.
And to this, they have become numb.
Many who fled with them into the mountains have disappeared in such a manner.
