“Is this never going to end or what,”
Li Siqi’s lips twitched as she stared at the Stone Wall before her.
But to her surprise, when she activated the mechanism of this Stone Domain, a bright light suddenly shone from the bottom of the Stone Domain.
Could this be the outside world?
“…Well, alright, it’s not.”
The hope on Li Siqi’s face faded as the Stone Wall slowly rose, because behind the Stone Wall wasn’t some splendid world, but rather a Hallway that looked like it had been dug out from underground.
She could only sigh helplessly.
“Forget it, even though it’s not the outside, at least this Hallway has lights, and they’re still on. That means there must be people here. In that case, I guess I’ve found a way out after all.”
Cheering herself up, Li Siqi hummed a little tune, then once again set off forward.
Since she’d left the Stone Domain from its back door and was now in the middle of the Hallway, she chose a direction at random and began to walk, since there was no sign or indicator.
However, as she walked, Li Siqi started to sense something was off about this place, because along her path she passed by several half-open rooms with heavy doors.
Time after time, everything she saw gave her a strange sense of déjà vu, and finally she realized what this place reminded her of… Jail.
“Tsk, a School actually has such a shady place. If word got out, your school would be finished for sure.”
More than fear, Li Siqi actually felt excited at her discovery—she almost wished this School would close down.
So, she took out her phone and, while walking, snapped photos of all the facilities she passed.
But just as she’d taken a few more photos, she seemed to catch a faint sound.
“That’s… singing?”
Though the sound was very distant, Li Siqi could still make out that it was someone singing.
In a place like this, who could possibly be singing? Could it be that this place is actually still in use for holding people?
Driven by curiosity, Li Siqi started toward the direction of the singing. At first, as she walked, it was nothing unusual, but as she got closer, she could finally make out the melody, and the expression on her face turned complicated.
“What a weird song! The tone isn’t bad, but the singing sounds like the person is just venting all their frustration. Totally unbearable.”
But then again, the voice of the person singing—she felt like she’d heard it before…
No way, right? If it’s someone she knows, how could they be here?
Forget it, she’d know once she got closer.
So, enduring that dreadful singing, Li Siqi walked straight to an Iron Door.
She tried to peer inside through the little slot on the old Iron Door, but because of the angle, she couldn’t see what the person singing looked like. Still, the voice sounded young, even a bit soft and gentle—maybe about her age.
“Hey, you inside, cut it out! Your singing is terrible!”
“…Oh! Sorry!”
A girl’s embarrassed voice came from the direction of the Iron Door, obviously not expecting anyone to be here. Huh? Huh?!
She came—finally, she came!
“Li Siqi!”
The girl hurriedly rummaged through a nearby cabinet, found a hairpin, and ran excitedly to the Iron Door. As Li Siqi finally saw what the singer looked like through the slot, she froze.
No wonder the voice felt familiar—it was her! Xia Mengxi!
“You… wait, you—why are you here? Weren’t you studying abroad?!”
“It’s a long story. Let me open the door first, I’ll explain everything after.”
With that, Xia Mengxi mustered all her strength, snapped the hairpin in half, removed the decorative piece, then awkwardly used the two bits of metal to fiddle with the Iron Lock outside the door. It took her some time, but finally, she managed to open it.
After opening the door, Xia Mengxi noticed that her gothic lolita dress wasn’t suitable for moving around. So, after greeting Li Siqi, she quickly ducked into a nearby locker to change into something more practical.
As for Li Siqi, she was still in a daze—whether it was Xia Mengxi being here, or seeing her pick the lock, she was both shocked and amazed.
“Wait a minute, what on earth happened to you? I’m feeling a little dizzy right now.”
“Well… how should I put this…”
Xia Mengxi scratched her head, then began to explain the situation to Li Siqi as she changed clothes.
“I… for some reasons, got locked up here by someone. And you know that person too—it’s my childhood friend, Lin Xue’er.”
“Her? Well, that makes sense, considering that girl is definitely not normal.”
Xia Mengxi didn’t quite understand why Li Siqi had such an opinion of Lin Xue’er, but as she listened to Li Siqi recount how she got here, she understood.
“Let’s not talk about this for now. We should get out of here. If things are as you said, she might be on her way back.”
After changing into her School uniform, Xia Mengxi quickly urged Li Siqi to leave with her, but then noticed Li Siqi was walking strangely.
“Siqi, are you hurt?”
“I’m not hiding it. That girl pushed me off a cliff, but I was lucky enough to find a secret tunnel. Still, I hurt my leg.”
Seeing that Li Siqi was injured, Xia Mengxi’s sense of security plummeted. Her instincts told her that Li Siqi’s injury would only lead to trouble.
“But Mengxi, you can pick locks—why didn’t you just escape earlier?”
“I wanted to, but there are a lot of reasons why I couldn’t.”
Xia Mengxi let out a bitter laugh. If she could’ve escaped, she would have—why wait around to suffer?
Especially since this time, Lin Xue’er didn’t give her a single chance to catch her off guard. Without a sure opportunity, trying to escape recklessly would only lead to disaster.
Still, she hadn’t expected that Lin Xue’er, after turning so twisted, would even attack other people and not just rough someone up, but actually try to kill. In a sense, she was probably considered lucky.
Lucky? What nonsense! These past days, she’d been enduring Lin Xue’er’s neurotic commands—one little mistake, and she’d be punished immediately.
Because of this, to vent her emotions and stay sane, she always sang loudly when Lin Xue’er wasn’t around. Otherwise, if she could only keep holding it in, she might really lose her mind.
Ha…
After a while, Xia Mengxi helped Li Siqi to a heavy main door.
Her lockpicking skills weren’t very advanced, so she couldn’t get through such a sturdy door. But that was fine, because before, she’d discovered a spot where a spare Steel Key was kept.