Before the shock of the mine cave photo fades, the third episode opens with Kyle and Naya’s secret operation. To avoid Gregory’s surveillance, the two sneak into the abandoned mine before dawn, unaware that a decades-spanning network of sin is about to engulf them from the darkness.
I. The Horrifying Truth of the Mine Prison Cell
Exploring the mine is like peeling an onion, revealing layers of cruelty. On the walls of the prison cell covered in X marks, Kyle discovers the words "73" scratched with fingernails—their X shape perfectly matches the tattoo on Lucy’s wrist. This number corresponds to 1973, the exact year the Indigenous elder mentioned as the start of the drug experiments. Naya, meanwhile, finds a tattered experiment log in the corner, recording "Subject reactions: increased aggression, fragmented memory." The torn edge of the signed page leaves a residual "G," pointing directly to Gregory, the deputy director of the Park Service.
Even more suffocating, soil from the cell floor tests positive for DNA from multiple minors, including Kyle’s son Ethan and three names never listed in missing person files. When Kyle finds Ethan’s schoolbag in the ventilation duct, the amulet hanging from the zipper eerily echoes the letter "L" on Lucy’s bracelet—a eerie parallel between two victims who never met, sharing identical tokens.
II. A Multifaceted Siege and Crisis of Trust
Gregory spots their movements via a hidden camera at the mine entrance and dispatches park SWAT teams to arrest them on charges of "illegal intrusion into a protected area." Simultaneously, "Scarface," leader of the illegal gold-mining gang, gets wind and rushes to the mine with armed men. The "gold transactions" in the ledger are revealed as a cover for using missing teenagers to mine rare minerals, with Gregory as their protector.
During their escape, Kyle and Naya’s trust fractures for the first time. Fearing for her son’s safety, Naya wants to return to town to confirm his status, but Kyle insists on taking the experiment log as key evidence. Their argument scatters them when SWAT closes in. While evading pursuit, Naya encounters Thomas’ grandson, who reveals: "The truth behind the Ranger’s Curse is a trap set by Indigenous people to stop the experiments. Now you’ve become prey too."
III. Outbursts of Trauma and Redemption
When Kyle ventures deeper alone, he triggers a hidden mechanism and plummets into the 1973 drug experiment’s core area. Flashbacks uncover the truth: Gregory’s father, head of the experiments, used Indigenous children to test hallucinogens. After failures, surviving subjects were imprisoned in the mine, with "Cross Impression" bottles as the experiment’s logo. Here, Kyle finds Ethan’s sketchbook; its last page depicts a man with an X tattoo leading him out of the mine—a profile matching the young Marcus.
Back in town, Naya faces a violent confrontation with her ex-husband. Desperate, she uses a scrap of the ledger as leverage to escape. When she reaches the child protection center to see her son, she finds a stranger’s note in his hand: "Your son’s eyes look like the girl who ran away in 1973." This makes Naya realize her family may have long been ensnared in this sin.
IV. A Dual Dead End at the Climax
Kyle bursts out of the mine with the experiment log and Ethan’s sketchbook, only to be blocked by Gregory. In their confrontation, Gregory admits all: "Those kids weren’t missing—they were turned into compliant miners. Lucy was the first to regain her memory, so she had to die." As he raises his gun at Kyle, the mine suddenly explodes—Scarface had detonated explosives to destroy evidence.
Meanwhile, Naya finds an X-shaped gold tattoo sticker in her son’s bag. The child innocently says, "The uncle who gave me candy yesterday gave it to me. He said you know him." The camera cuts to the town square, where Marcus’ daughter Amy stands in the crowd, the same tattoo clearly visible on her wrist.
Core Conflicts and Foreshadowing
This episode uses the mine’s nested spaces (modern cell → 1970s lab → original tunnels) to metaphorize "the intergenerational transmission of sin." Kyle’s obsession shifts from "finding the missing" to "exposing the truth," while Naya moves from "protecting her family" to "fighting the system." The experiment log’s mention of "memory-altering technology," Amy’s sudden tattoo, and "the girl who ran away in 1973" hint at surviving victims in the town—their existence will be the next episode’s critical breakthrough. The mine collapse from the explosion pushes the protagonists to the brink of life and death, temporarily burying Gregory’s crimes, creating intense tension as "truth teeters on exposure only to sink instantly."