Whatever decision she had to make, her first priority was to gather food and water, then find a safer place.
This safer place needed not only strong concealment but also the ability to block Lin Xue’er’s attacks.
Additionally, it had to have a backdoor, so that if she was found and Lin Xue’er broke in, she would have a way to retreat-otherwise, it would be no different from waiting for death.
As for why she didn’t first choose to investigate Lin Xue’er’s movements near the iron door and then formulate a corresponding plan, it was because Xia Mengxi could no longer make clear judgments.
She didn’t know whether Lin Xue’er would lie in wait in the wooden hut above the entrance or search for her throughout the underground prison.
After much deliberation, she ultimately chose this conservative approach with the least risk.
“Whew…!”
Now that she had a plan, Xia Mengxi took a deep breath to steady herself, tightened her grip on the wooden stick, and immediately sprang into action.
Gently opening the storage room door, she quickly peeked out to scan both sides of the corridor.
After waiting silently for about ten seconds, she tiptoed into the passageway.
Her next targets were food and water, which she knew were stored in two places: the cafeteria warehouse and the room with the metal cell.
Clearly, the latter was the more dangerous of the two, so… she chose the latter.
Was it because of the principle that the most dangerous place is the safest that Xia Mengxi dared to boldly return to her living quarters?
No. If that were the case, she could have just hidden beneath the metal cell-why bother looking for a safer place?
The real reason was that she considered Lin Xue’er might also think the same way.
She couldn’t guarantee that Lin Xue’er wouldn’t ambush her at the warehouse, nor could she guarantee that Lin Xue’er wouldn’t lie in wait at her living quarters.
Since both options carried uncertainty, she naturally chose the latter to gather supplies.
Although the cafeteria warehouse was spacious, allowing her to maneuver around Lin Xue’er, it had only one entrance.
If Lin Xue’er blocked the door or simply stood in front of it, wouldn’t that be certain death?
In contrast, the living quarters had limited space, making it easy to escape into the corridor.
She could also set up “warning lines” on both sides of the passage—any sign of movement, and she could flee immediately.
The warehouse couldn’t compare in this regard.
“Thankfully, this second place I was imprisoned isn’t like the first time—that cell only had one passageway. Otherwise, I’d have to gamble on one side and take my chances.”
Finally arriving at the corridor leading to her living quarters, Xia Mengxi couldn’t help but sigh in relief.
Without wasting time, she quickly began setting up the “warning lines.”
The so-called “warning lines” were simple tripwire traps-strings fixed to both walls of the corridor, about a hand’s width above the ground.
Incidentally, the strings were made by using a small piece of iron she found in the storage room to cut strips from her own clothes, then unraveling the fabric into threads.
The small tripwire trap Xia Mengxi had set up wasn’t meant to use the sound of Lin Xue’er falling as an ‘alarm’—who knew if Lin Xue’er would even make a surprised noise when tripped?
So she had tied a small iron block to the other end of the tripwire.
This iron block was the real ‘alarm’ she wanted.
Though the lighting in the corridor wasn’t bright, and the ‘tripwire’ was placed in a blind spot around a corner, making it hard to spot unless someone was staring at the ground while walking, Xia Mengxi still took extra precautions.
Only after setting up the tripwires at both corridor corners near her dwelling did she finally step inside.
Even with the ‘tripwires’ in place, she peeked out the door every few seconds to check both sides of the corridor, which only made her grow increasingly tense.
After what felt like forever, Xia Mengxi finally gathered all the food and water she could carry.
She used a thin blanket from the bed as a makeshift bag, bundling the supplies inside and slinging it over one shoulder like a satchel.
“Good, this weight is just light enough for me to still run.”
She jumped a couple of times and jogged in place for a few seconds to confirm the load was within her manageable limits.
Then, gripping her wooden stick again, she left the dwelling.
“What a shame. If I weren’t worried about accidents, I could’ve taken more—or made multiple trips to clear out all the supplies. Ugh…”
By her estimate, the food and water she carried could last her about a week if rationed for normal energy levels.
If she stretched it to survival limits, she could hole up somewhere and barely last over half a month.
But extreme survival wasn’t the goal-she knew no rescue was coming.
She had to maintain a functional state.
“So, at most, I’ve got just over a week to deal with Lin Xue’er… Ugh.”
Xia Mengxi shook her head helplessly as she moved toward the storage room, keeping a sharp eye on her surroundings.
Then clink!
A crisp metallic sound rang out from not far behind her.
Her breath hitched.
She didn’t even consider checking whether the tripwire had malfunctioned or been genuinely triggered.
Only one thought filled her mind: Run!
“Shit!”
Xia Mengxi cursed and bolted forward.
But in her panic, she forgot one crucial detail—and ended up tripping over her own tripwire!
Luckily, she only stumbled a few steps without fully falling.
The misstep forced her to turn around, confirming the tripwire hadn’t malfunctioned.
It had been triggered-by someone.
“Xia Mengxi, don’t struggle pointlessly. You can’t escape.”
Lin Xue’er stood at the far end of the same corridor.
Steadying herself, Xia Mengxi shouted back.
“Lin Xue’er! It’s not over yet-just you
wait!”
Without another glance, she immediately sprinted down the opposite corridor.
She wasn’t stupid enough to stand there and let Lin Xue’er close the distance.
Following the layout of the underground prison from memory, she ran aimlessly with purpose this was to confuse Lin Xue’er.
Only after circling around for quite some time did she dare to head in the true direction of the storage room.
“Haah… haah… haah…!”
By the time she finally made it back to the storage room, Xia Mengxi felt like her lungs were about to burst, and her legs were as heavy as lead, barely able to move.
But she didn’t allow herself to rest just yet.
Forcing herself to move, she made her way to a cluttered corner of the storage room.
There, several toppled metal cabinets were piled up, and climbing to the top of them provided just enough height to reach the ventilation duct.
Though Xia Mengxi had once explored this duct and found that an iron grate blocked further progress, limiting how far she could go, it still made for a decent hiding spot now.
So, she stuffed the supplies into the duct, unlocked the storage room door, turned off the lights, and then—relying on memory—climbed into the ventilation duct before finally allowing herself to rest.
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