So… did Li Siqi just accept her fate?
Of course not!
Even though Lin Xue’er had declared her identity and wouldn’t do anything pointless, in Hongshuo, Lin Xue’er was nothing if not a troublemaker, the kind to believe even the words of a madman. If that was the case, then there’d be no such thing as a cautious snake!
So, before jumping off the cliff to her supposed death, she had carefully observed the situation along the mountainside.
Sure enough, she noticed that on the sheer cliff below her feet, there was a Broken Bridge that originally led to the mountain opposite, now hanging vertically along the mountainside.
The mountainside wasn’t completely bare—vines grew thickly there. As long as she held onto those vines and made her way onto the lone, jagged stone block atop the Broken Bridge, perhaps she could find a place to hide herself.
With this thought, Li Kaiqi moved quickly, taking advantage of the moment before Lin Xue’er could see through her feigned desperation. She hurriedly followed, keeping her movements subtle.
Relying on her excellent reflexes and flexible body, she turned and clung to the vines along the steep cliff. But, pushed down by gravity and fear, she couldn’t help but slide a considerable distance downward, causing her hands to scrape and bleed.
Although the pain in her hands was intense, compared to death, what did a little pain matter?
Besides, at this point, she had no time to worry about it. To prevent Lin Xue’er from searching where she’d just come down, she made sure to keep moving downward along the vines.
When she reached the place she had planned, sure enough, at the base of the jagged stone block, there was a cave opening half-buried in sand and mud.
Because the situation was urgent, Li Siqi didn’t look carefully into the hole. She simply patted the sand away, used the vines to anchor herself, and climbed inside—though this led to a small accident.
“Tch! Ouch! Tch!”
By the light shining in from the mouth of the cave, it was clear that Li Kaiqi was now inside a narrow passage.
The passage was about two meters high, just wide enough for two people to walk side by side.
Notably, the passage was made entirely of stone and sand. Maybe due to the passage of years or shoddy construction back then, besides the solid stone walls on the left and right, the passage’s floor and ceiling had many cracks and gaps.
Because of this, Li Siqi’s little accident happened when she stepped on a broken Burial Stone that had fallen from above and was now embedded in the ground, causing her to sprain her ankle.
“Am I out of luck or what…”
Leaning against the Burial Stone, Li Siqi let out a wry smile. Still, the fact that she’d managed to come this far was a stroke of luck, so she didn’t dwell on such a small mishap.
“Anyway, I can’t get back up for now. I might as well see what’s going on here.”
She was intensely curious about the Secret Passage hidden in the cliff. After all, a place like this was anything but ordinary.
And judging from the Broken Bridge outside, this passage was either a backdoor to a special place or an entrance to somewhere else.
If that was the case, maybe she could use the passage to find another way back up the mountain, so she wouldn’t have to risk climbing back up the steep cliff.
Not knowing what to expect, she walked through the passage for quite a while, until she reached its end—only to find it was a Dead End. There wasn’t any so-called special place.
“How strange. Did I make a mistake?”
Li Kaiqi frowned. She felt something was off; it couldn’t be that the passage just ended here. If so, why bother building it out of stone and sand for people to walk through?
Even if this was just a storage space, there should at least be a room-like area, not just a single corridor. But there was nothing of the sort.
“Could it be… I need to trigger some kind of mechanism to reveal the real Secret Passage? After all, it’s so well-hidden here. Maybe that’s really the case.”
Nodding thoughtfully, Li Siqi began feeling around at the end of the passage, knocking and searching.
After nearly ten minutes of searching, she inadvertently pushed in a loose Stone Brick on the wall. Suddenly, a violent tremor ran through the passage.
“What the heck!”
Li Kaiqi quickly backed up several steps, but then, both in front and behind her, deafening noises echoed out.
She had discovered the passage’s true secret. She had triggered a Trigger Mechanism that revealed a Stone Staircase leading downward—but at the same time, she lost her way back.
“Seriously, is this a joke…”
Because of the many years that had passed, when Li Siqi activated the Trigger Mechanism, the movement caused a collapse on the passage she came from. Stone Bricks and the dirt above rained down, sealing the passage behind her.
“If this staircase doesn’t lead me out, then I’m really done for…”
With her way out gone, Li Siqi could only pin her hopes on the Stone Staircase in front of her, leading downward.
With a limp, she supported herself on the wall with one hand, using her phone as a flashlight, and stepped carefully down.
Anxious but determined, she eventually reached the bottom, only to find herself before yet another Dead End.
Because she’d just dealt with something similar, Li Siqi immediately began feeling around the surrounding walls.
As expected, after pushing in another Stone Brick, the stone wall before her slowly rose. As the wall moved away, Li Siqi found herself standing in what looked like an old Mountain Office.
“What? An office? Really…”
Deep inside a remote mountain, there was actually an office from a bygone era. The thought felt incredibly bizarre.
But seeing it with her own eyes, Li Kaiqi couldn’t help but marvel. No one would believe it if they hadn’t seen it themselves.
“Pity… the timing isn’t right. Otherwise, I’d really want to see what secrets are hidden here.”
Li Siqi didn’t let her attention wander. She headed straight for the office’s main door, pushed it open, and what appeared before her was an Iron Door enclosed by a spiral Stone Staircase.
Inside the Iron Door was an old Electric Elevator from the last century. Li Siqi pressed the separate button for the elevator door, but unsurprisingly, there wasn’t even the slightest response.
“As expected.”
Li Siqi shrugged. In a place like this, she didn’t expect anything else.
So, she began descending the spiral Stone Staircase. Along the way, she passed many large doors, but they were all tightly locked with iron chains wound around the handles of double Iron Doors. So, she just kept walking, soon nearing the very bottom.
“You’ve got to be kidding me, every single one is locked?”
Reaching the last Iron Door, Li Kaiqi was starting to despair, nearly losing hope. But luck was on her side—the final Iron Door was not only free of iron chains, it wasn’t even locked.
However, when she pushed the Iron Door open, what lay before her was another Dead End.