Reunion: Mystery of the Abyss/Content

"*Long long ago, a legend once circulated among the Mumaru tribe on the Sino-Burmese border. According to the legend, there is an ancient God named Nagas in the deep woods, who could lure people by controlling insects. Therefore, it was worshipped as Insect God by the Mumaru people.*"

In the 16th century, in Langman on the Sino-Burmese border, a scavenger is on his way to a dark and deep cave to dig for honey. He makes it to the honeycomb and starts digging for it. After putting some parts away in his bag, he is lured in by the mysterious darkness inside the honeycomb, only to be shocked to find himself face-to-face with a corpse. Shocked he falls from the comb and down the cave into a water pool at the bottom of the cave.

He survives but soon realizes something is in the water with him. He ends up getting attacked by a giant monster and flees out of the water. Outside he is driven crazy by the statues in the cave and his skin is infested with insects from the inside out.

Crazed he returns to his village but breaks down just before entering, releasing the insects from his body for his whole village to see.

### Present times

In present time Hei Yanjing is spending his time catching fish and cooking them at a river, trading with the local fishermen. He is approached by a young man, Geya who makes an impression on Hei Yanjing with his trading skills.

Suddenly, multiple cars approach and it reveals Xie Yuchen, a former classmates and colleagues of Glasses Lao Wei and Bai Shan, a foreigner and researcher Lima, and Lao Wei¡s assistant Jiang Han. Hei Yanjing is happy to see them and they exchange pleasantries at dinner that night but Hei Yanjing makes it clear he only wants their company, and not to have anything to do with their business.

Xie Yuchen and Lao Wei accompany Hei Yanjing to a more secluded space and talk to him about the historic past of the Mumaru tribe. In the past, their people got infected with parasites and while they managed to appease the god with sacrifices, many died during the tragedy. At the same time, the parasites are supposed to heal blindness. Hoping to find a cure for Hei Yanjing, Xie Yuchen has agreed to fund Lao Wei's research lab if they find the parasites.

Not convinced, Hei Yanjing only agrees to take them to the edge of the jungle via boat the next morning.

Later that night, Xie Yuchen is sitting in his room, reading, when he realizes that insects are being drawn to a statue which the Mumaru tribe carved in the past to appease the god. He sees a shadow outside and goes to take a look, finding Hei Yanjing.

They drink and talk together, with Hei Yanjing starting to explain the dangers of the jungle. He describes a stone formation to Xie Yuchen which is the Mumaru tribe's sign of danger, warning Xie Yuchen to not go further than that.

Hei Yanjing walks away with Xie Yuchen looking after him, showing that he took the figurine with him. He then throws it in the water. When Xie Yuchen informs him that the figurine is worth at least a truck, Hei Yanjing retorts there are many more where he is planning to go and that he shouldn't keep it in his room.

### Into the forbidden area

The next morning, they drive with the boat into the direction of the sacred land of the Mumaru tribe, where the location they are searching for is located. On the way they meet Geya who asks Hei Yanjing who they are. Jokingly he replies, fishermen.

Lao Wei receives a phone call of his debt collectors, ordering him to pay back what he owes. He promises to pay them back soon with interest. Jiang Han listens in on the call.

The call is interrupted by them being shot at from the shore but soon they realize that the shots all miss. Hei Yanjing informs them that he already bribed them to not shoot them but they do need to do their security for the sacred land. He reasons that he paid anyway so they would not get hurt. Bai Shan, who has a bleeding scratch on her arm, questions this and Hei Yanjing jokes he will ask for a refund the next day.

Getting off the boat, Lao Wei is approached by Jiang Han asking what they should do about the owed money and their troublesome accounts and Lao Wei claims he will handle it.

Hei Yanjing and Xie Yuchen say goodbye and Hei Yanjing taps the former on the shoulder as a goodbye. He then leaves and tells them to follow the instructions of their porters as they know the way.

They start going on a search for a dried corpse, as that might have the parasite they are searching for. Walking through the jungle, Lima suddenly falls and finds a dried corpse. The group tests it for the bug but is disappointed when they realize they have not reached their goal just yet.

Knowing they have to continue on, Xie Yuchen advises them to not walk around without caution and explains the warning stone formation by the Mumaru tribe Hei Yanjing told him about.

Going forward, it gets dark and Xie Yuchen is giving them a time limit as he knows it will become too dangerous later on. Lao Wei sees a stone formation showing the danger ahead but destroys it before the others can see it. Afterwards, he asks them to go exactly in the direction of the formation.

Shortly after one of the porters falls and hurts himself and upon seeing a stone statue around them, making the territory as their sacred and dangerous land, panics and runs away. The other porters see it as well and start kneeling and praying to the statues. Lao Wei is annoyed at their desperation and Xie Yuchen asks Bai Shan to talk to the porters and give them more money so they can continue on their journey.

Meanwhile, the panicked porter runs off into the wild and stops feeling the eerie atmosphere around him. Turning around he is attacked by a long tentacle that kills him by piercing through his torso. When the group later walks through the area, Xie Yuchen stops wondering about the atmosphere around them and rain, but does not see the blood drops falling from the dead porter on the tree.

### Following the tracks

Back at the village, Hei Yanjing is catching fish in a tank and suddenly has blurry vision, hitting his head, hoping it to be better. Suddenly he is faced with the local police who want to talk to him because they found a corpse and Hei Yanjing supposedly had contact with him just a short time ago.

Worried it might be Xie Yuchen, Hei Yanjing hesitated revealing the face underneath the cloth but realizes it is Lima. He explains Lima's identity to the police who tell him the body was found in the underground estuary, together with a painted piece of cloth. The cloth portrays a crevice in a mountain and the police tell him the crevice is deep in the forest and the Mumaru tribe's forbidden area. They wonder why the group went so deep into the jungle.

Hei Yanjing decides to go after the group and notices insects collecting together on the wall. He hires Geya and some of his friends to go with him and to take him to the forbidden area. After asking for more money, Geya agrees to lead him.

On their way they find the destroyed stone formation and Hei Yanjing notices the blood that fell from the porter onto a leaf. Nearby they find the porter's body and Geya and the others split into different directions to look out for danger.

They hear mysterious sounds and are attacked by a giant tentacle. Hei Yanjing manages to save Geya and realizes the tentacles see their surroundings through sound. He holds down on Geya's mouth to quiet his breathing and the tentacle retreats.

They find a giant hole in the ground where the tentacle came from. The porters keep repeating the name "Nagas" and Hei Yanjing asks what it is. Geya reveals it is their tribe's ancient god who they are afraid of and gave sacrifices to years ago. When asked if the monster they encountered is "Nagas", Geya says he is too young to know.

They continue on into the crevice and find proof of someone putting down sacrifices at the entrance, showing someone came recently. Originally planning to continue on alone, Hei Yanjing is surprised when Geya reveals they were asked by the village patriarch to investigate the break-in in their sacred lands. They continue on together.

Finding the other groups' ropes, they climb down a cliff, it is revealed Hei Yanjing left a mark on Xie Yuchen when he said goodbye and they can follow it to find the others.

At the bottom of the cliff they find a dead body lying at the edge of the water and soon see it being dragged into the water. They smother their torches and Hei Yanjing removes his glasses to clearly see what is dragging the corpse away. He see the tentacles in the water dragging it away and puts his glasses back on.

Knowing the danger, he navigates Geya and his friends through the tunnels of the cave to avoid the tentacles, trying not to make any noise. The tentacles retreat and he reveals he does think the monster is Nagas.

### Reunion

Following the tracks left behind by Xie Yuchen, they find people being covered and protected by sticky slime. Hei Yanjing reunites with Xie Yuchen and after a short surprise encounter, Xie Yuchen quiets down Hei Yanjing's breathing while a tentacle is looking for them.

Xie Yuchen shows him with a gesture that the rest of the group are trapped in the slime and they agree that Hei Yanjing will save them while Xie Yuchen will distract the monster. Hei Yanjing is almost stopped by the monster but Xie Yuchen starts making noise further away.

Hei Yanjing frees the group members and tries to keep them quiet. When all are free one of their porters is killed by the tentacles, as they hear noise from them. Running from the monster, Geya gives Hei Yanjing multiple grenades to use on the monster.

Xie Yuchen keeps fighting the monster until it retreats after an attack by a grenade. They manage to find a safe space and the group start cleaning themselves from the slime. They talk about the journey so far and when Xie Yuchen tells him they did not see a stone formation, Hei Yanjing keeps quiet about the destroyed formation but does reveal that Lima is dead. He also shares the sheer size of the monster in the water.

Lao Wei tries to convince Hei Yanjing and Xie Yuchen to continue forward. Hei Yanjing refuses and tells them turning back is the best thing to happen. Xie Yuchen agrees, despite Lao Wei's pleas. Hei Yanjing sees strange marks wandering up their neck, When suddenly the first group suddenly hears strange noises asking them to explore further ahead. Despite Xie Yuchen being affected by the sudden voice and pain he still manages to protect Hei Yanjing from Lao Wei's obsession. The voices start again until Hei Yanjing loudly declares they will go down the tunnels.

### The way down

Xie Yuchen tells Hei Yanjing that the sounds stopped and they wonder why only the first group heard it. They see strange marks wandering up Xie Yuchen's veins, as if infected.

Going down with ropes, Xie Yuchen has to take a short break due to dizziness and Hei Yanjing wonders what is wrong with him. They wonder if the slime is toxic and think the only way to find out is at the bottom of the cave.

Going down one of Geya's friends almost falls further down but manages to balance himself. They go to explore more of the stone statues around them and realize the statues symbolize different meanings and are Dorje Drolos, built to subdue the monster.

Bai Shan finds a mural on the wall, showing the palace was built to cut of the water vein and includes a complicated underground water tunnel system. Hei Yanjing fires a flare before they continue on.

While climbing down on ropes, Bai Shan suffers from dizziness from the slime and falls. She manages to grab the rope again and stop her fall but the rope snaps. Hei Yanjing manages to grab her and take her down safely.

### Infected

Arriving at the bottom they find a stone gate and Jiang Han goes closer with a torch to see better what the mural on the door shows. Hei Yanjing warns him and he jumps back just in time, as the first layer of the gate starts melting. Hei Yanjing explains that the gate has a protective layer that is highly flameable, being a trap for adventurers.

Hei Yanjing removes his glasses and realizes the puzzle in the door, telling Xie Yuchen where to point a laser pointer. Xie Yuchen follows his instructions and they use a flame to light the correct spot on the door.

The gate opens, leading them through tunnels. They soon hear insects and find various beehives hanging from the wall. Realizing the bees include the parasites with the healing capabilities, they collect samples.

One of the porters, Bengui, is stung and the bees start attacking them. They flee while Hei Yanjing keeps the bees in check with a torch. They arrive at another stone gate and use a crowbar and their joint strength to open it. While fleeing from the bees Lao Wei pushes down Bengui who is attacked by more bees. They close the door behind them with Bengui being left behind.

Lao Wei talks to Xie Yuchen, confirming with him that they will receive the funding from him since they found the parasite. Xie Yuchen assures him of the funds, as long as the laboratories books are in order after Xie Yuchen's men checked them. This shocks Lao Wei as the account books are not done properly due to the lost money.

Again, they hear voices and Hei Yanjing tells them to check if they are still healthy or if they have been infected. Bai Shan finds infected bites on her shoulder while Lao Wei finds them on his stomach and Hei Yanjing checks Xie Yuchen's arm and finds bites there. Hei Yanjing reasons that the bites look older, meaning they got stung while still in the jungle.

Worried for them Hei Yanjing wants to leave but Lao Wei wants to sterilize a knife and cut out the infection. Hei Yanjing lets him know that this would kill them even faster due to the poison.

The voice continues asking them to go deeper and after talking, Hei Yanjing agrees with Xie Yuchen to continue. The voice stops again.

While continuing onward, Jiang Han confronts Lao Wei, asking him to be honest as he doesn't want to hide the truth anymore. Hei Yanjing talks to Xie Yuchen and the latter reveals he does not think Lao Wei to be a good man and knows something is up.

### Jemorah's remains

They continue onward and find a room structured like a talisman, with a crate in the middle. Taking every that happened into account, Hei Yanjing reasons something Nagas hates must be in the crate.

Lao Wei wants to open the crate but stops when Xie Yuchen threatens to not give him any money if he does so.

They find another mural, revealing the story behind the palace: People from Southern Vietnam found their God Jemorah killed. They bring him back to their village and it reveals to them in a dream that it was killed by Nagas. As revenge, they built the palace with Jemorah's remains and trapped Nagas underneath it, as Jemorah is actually more powerful than Nagas.

Xie Yuchen touches the crate and they hear the voice asking them to open it. Lao Wei pushes Bai Shan out of the way, wanting to open the crate but the others want to stop him. Xie Yuchen reasons that since the voice wants them to open the crate, something bad needs to be in there.

To protect Xie Yuchen, Hei Yanjing wants to open the crate but Xie Yuchen tells him not to. A fight ensues. Scared Geya ends the fight when he shoots a tranquilizer into Xie Yuchen's neck.

While the others are caring for the unconscious Xie Yuchen, Lao Wei uses the chance to open the crate. Once open, tentacles of Nagas appear only to find the crate full of the remains of Jemorah instead of the god himself. Enraged, Nagas starts destroying the palace.

### Escaping the palace

Hei Yanjing takes Xie Yuchen on his back and they start running. Jiang Han runs back when Lao Wei does not follow them but Lao Wei tells him to leave.

Greedy for the funeral objects and the money coming from them, Lao Wei jumps into Jemorah's remains and starts searching. He ends up empty handed and influenced by Nagas to kill the others.

The group continues fleeing, with Xie Yuchen waking up slowly. Thinking there location to be safe, Bai Shan gets taken by a tentacle and the floor under them breaks. They fall down the cave, with a part of a stone pillow landing on Hei Yanjing's foot. Geya manages to hold onto the edge of a stone platform before falling and sees one of his friends dead nearby as he fell on a stone support. He forces himself to be quiet when a tentacle searches for sounds near him. He manages to escape the tentacle and pull himself up.

Xie Yuchen who is helping Hei Yanjing with the stone on his foot, is attacked by the tentacles and together they manage to fight against it and hide by not making sounds. Almost being discovered, Jiang Han joins them at the underground temple and fires a flare, distracting Nagas.

At the last moment, Xie Yuchen tries to warn Jiang Han but Hei Yanjing puts his hand on his mouth to quiet him down. Jiang Han is attacked and falls of a platform with a stone falling on his hand but tries hard not to make sounds so he can escape the tentacles.

Once somewhat safe, Xie Yuchen, Hei Yanjing and Jiang Han reconvene in a corner of the temple to talk. Hei Yanjing asks if Jiang Han has seen Geya but he says he has not.

They see the reliefs in the stones around them but do not see a way out, figuring their only way to survive is killing Nagas. He takes out a grenade he received from Geya and they see a glimmer of hope when suddenly something liquid drops onto Jiang Han's shoulder.

Looking up they realize Nagas has joined them fully in the temple area and Hei Yanjing tells them to run. Nagas kills Jiang Han and attacks Xie Yuchen and Hei Yanjing. Hei Yanjing decides to use the grenade to defend themselves and they flee to survive.

### Surviving the monster

While they think they have no weapon left, they sit beside a funeral furnice and find Geya has hidden inside, finding large amounts of gunpowder, allowing them to attack Nagas by putting the gunpowder in its mouth. They devise a plan to kill Nagas.

They manage to attack Nagas and force a spear between its mouth to force its mouth open but Lao Wei stops the burning gunpowder from entering the monsters mouth. Nagas frees its trapped tentacles and angered attacks Lao Wei, who becomes conscious of his actions again, as well as Hei Yanjing, eating both in one bite. Suddenly it is forcing strong wind into its mouth, almost taking Xie Yuchen and Geya.

Xie Yuchen realizes their only chance is to let themselves be eaten and he grabs the burning gunpowder and lets go from the stone platform. He is swallowed but Hei Yanjing, who managed to hold on inside the mouth with the help of a spear, grabs onto him before he can fall. They decide to let the gunpowder fall deeper into the monster. Outside, Geya, the seemingly sole survivor, decides to attack Nagas with his dagger and it hits the monster just when it explodes.

He is thrown back and covered in slime from the monster. He sees the remains moving and Xie Yuchen and Hei Yanjing are revealed beneath it, both having survived. Geya, clearly happy about their survival, faints from exhaustion. Xie Yuchen admits he is too weak to get to safety, claiming this might be the end. They both lie down on the stone and Hei Yanjing checks the marks on Xie Yuchen's veins, which has spread.

Suddenly Hei Yanjing hears water running beneath them and they are reminded that Lima was found in the underground estuary and not in the sacred forbidden area, meaning the water needs to be connected. After putting Geya on Hei Yanjing's back, they take a chance and jump into the water.

### The ending

One of the village fisherman is trying to catch fish in the river when he sees Geya in the water. He brings him to the shore and is suddenly patted on the should by Hei Yanjing and Xie Yuchen who also survived.

Back at the village hospital, Xie Yuchen is recovering, being able to eat some self-caught and cooked fish by Hei Yanjing. Xie Yuchen announces his return to Beijing the next day. He also explains he checked Lao Wei's research, realizing it is not complete and he had an ulterior motive. Xie Yuchen asks Hei Yanjing to come with him but the latter refuses and says he finally found a place for himself that feels comfortable.

Xie Yuchen relents and packs to leave the next day. Hei Yanjing tells him that he will only welcome him next time and no one else. After leaving, Geya asks Hei Yanjing why he didn't leave as Xie Yuchen clearly cares about him but Hei Yanjing claims who is going to teach him how to fish with his hands, if he isn't there? When Geya asks him if he will really teach him, he agrees but tells him he has to do something else first.

Alone, he takes out his phone and starts typing an email to Wu Xie.