When Zhao Rong and his group followed the middle-aged man out of Bada Alley, they immediately felt the scenery open up before them. Even the sky seemed larger.

Zhao Rong stared at the vast wheat field ahead and turned to the middle-aged man in surprise. "I asked you to lead us to the masterminds, Hong Ju and Zhou Xiaoer. Why have you brought us to a wheat field?"

"Sir, you don’t understand," the middle-aged man explained. "This place is called the Watcher in the Wheat Field. Our boss and his son are hidden in an underground palace right beneath it."

Hearing there was a palace under the field, Zhao Rong was incredulous. "Are you sure there’s a palace under this wheat field?"

"Absolutely," the middle-aged man said earnestly, leading them into the rows of wheat.

Walking behind Zhao Rong, his assistant and the three women felt increasingly uneasy as they ventured deeper. The assistant glanced at the yellowing ears of wheat and frowned. "It’s wheat harvest season," she said to the man. "Why hasn’t anyone come to gather all this ripe grain?"

"Sir, you don’t understand," the man explained again. "This field is called the Watcher in the Wheat Field, but it’s also known as the Field of Death. If ordinary people wander in here, they might not make it out."

The three women grew alarmed. "Fatso, this wheat field looks completely ordinary! Why do you call it a Field of Death?"

Before the middle-aged man could answer, the wheat stalks suddenly shot up, growing as tall as corn. Just a moment ago, the five of them had been visible from the waist up, but now they were completely engulfed by the towering wheat.

Seeing the field grow to trap them, Zhao Rong asked the man warily, "How did this wheat suddenly grow taller than corn? What’s going on?"

"Sir, the wheat in this field has been genetically modified," the man explained. "So, while they look like plants, they’re actually a type of intelligent creature. Moreover, every single ear of wheat has artificial intelligence embedded within it."

Hearing how extraordinary the field was, Zhao Rong remarked thoughtfully, "No wonder this place is called both the Watcher in the Wheat Field and the Field of Death. There’s clearly more to this place than meets the eye."

The assistant, however, looked at the surrounding ears of wheat, feeling as if millions of eyes were fixed on her. "Fatso," she said nervously, "your boss hasn’t installed a pinhole camera on every single ear of wheat here, has he?"

"How could that be possible?" one of the women disagreed. "Installing pinhole cameras on millions of wheat ears would be an unimaginably massive project."

But just as the women dismissed the idea as too outlandish, the middle-aged man nodded. "The assistant is right. Every ear of wheat in this field is actually hollow, and each one is composed of incredibly tiny pinhole cameras."

When Zhao Rong heard that the seemingly golden expanse was filled with hollow, camera-equipped wheat ears, cold sweat dripped from his forehead. "Damn," he exclaimed. "Your boss really spared no expense to monitor every blade of grass around here."

The assistant suddenly grew terrified. "If every ear of wheat contains a pinhole camera, doesn’t that mean the villains Hong Ju and his son Zhou Xiaoer are monitoring our every move right now?"

The three women also grew worried. "No wonder this is called the Field of Death," one said. "With so many cameras watching, it must be nearly impossible for anyone to get out of here alive."

Hearing their concerns, the middle-aged man tried to reassure them. "Don’t be afraid. Although all these wheat ears are fitted with pinhole cameras, they haven’t been activated."

"Why not?" Zhao Rong asked skeptically.

The man explained, "When the cameras were installed, the system was pre-programmed to activate only when more than seven people enter the field. There are only six of us right now, so the cameras remain off. We can safely continue deeper."

With that, the middle-aged man continued to lead the group into the depths of the wheat field. As they walked, however, Zhao Rong felt the atmosphere grow increasingly eerie. He looked suspiciously at their guide. "This field is enormous. It feels like we’ve been walking for an hour, but why do I get the feeling we’re just going in circles?"

Before he could finish his sentence, a dozen or so scarecrows leaped out from the surrounding wheat.

The assistant and the three women stared, their eyes wide with disbelief. "Damn, no way! Not only can they move, but they’re also incredibly agile. Are they equipped with artificial intelligence too?"

As the women stood there astonished, a scarecrow in a top hat stepped forward, pointed at the group, and declared in a hollow voice, "Anyone who enters the Field of Death meets only one fate: death."

Another scarecrow in a torn leather jacket performed a front flip, landing directly in front of them. "You outsiders trespassed in this field. Now, we scarecrows will send you to Western Heaven!"

Everyone was stunned. The scarecrows were not only limber and articulate, but they also seemed to possess intelligence.

Zhao Rong swallowed hard, counted the scarecrows, and carefully studied their bodies before turning to the middle-aged man. "How can these things talk? How are they intelligent? What is going on?"

The middle-aged man, seeing the scarecrows, was so frightened he hid behind Zhao Rong. "Sir, you don’t understand!" he stammered in terror. "They may be made of straw, but they have souls, brains, and thoughts!"

Hearing the man’s words, Zhao Rong’s eyes darted back to the scarecrows, and he immediately noticed something peculiar. While their bodies were made entirely of straw, the heads beneath their hats were somehow concealed and oddly shaped. It was suddenly clear to him: these scarecrows had real brains... filled with living brain matter.