Chapter Sixty-Eight: A Way Out

Duan Rui rubbed her aching forehead, while Fang Nian pointed toward the four pendant lights hanging in a row from the ceiling.

“The reason Xue Luan couldn’t find the mechanism before wasn’t because he lacked the skill,” Fang Nian explained. “It’s just that this design is so simple, there’s no need for any complicated mechanism at all. We overthought it, and that only made things harder for us.”

Duan Rui nodded in agreement. She’d suspected this ever since she’d encountered that so-called combination lock, which was little more than a smokescreen.

“Yes, the architect of this hunting ground is rather clever. He knows us all too well, so he deliberately used something simple to mislead us. Perhaps we’ve dealt with too many complex traps in the past; when faced with something that requires no thought at all, we’re most easily lulled into carelessness. If I’m not mistaken, these four pendant lights must be the ‘four stars in a line’ mentioned in the notebook.”

Fang Nian had the same suspicion. Frost was creeping ever closer, and the metallic sound of contracting iron began to echo from the back of the room. Without hesitating further, he dragged a chair over to check the pendant lights above.

But when Fang Nian tried to move the chair, he discovered that this seemingly light wooden seat actually weighed around two hundred pounds.

He glanced at Xu Dong, who stood nearby.

“That guy was smashing the wall with this heavy chair just now? Damn, he really is a brute.”

Fang Nian pulled the chair under the light, stepped up, and tried to tug it down. It didn’t budge. He twisted it back and forth, but still, nothing happened.

“This can’t be right. If there’s no mechanism, then…”

He redoubled his efforts and yanked on the lamp. Sure enough, with a hiss and a groan, the light dropped about ten centimeters.

“This is it,” Fang Nian exclaimed, excitement rising in his chest. He quickly checked the remaining lights, and as he suspected, each could be pulled down as well.

By now, the room’s temperature had plummeted to minus thirty or forty degrees. Duan Rui and Jin Jinhui were stamping their feet against the cold. Even Fang Nian, whose body had undergone remarkable improvement, was beginning to feel the chill.

“Brother Guo, Xue Luan, Xu Dong, come over here. Let’s all try pulling these lights together.”

The others had noticed Fang Nian fiddling with the lights, but hadn’t held out much hope. Now, seeing Duan Rui standing beneath one as well, they realized there must be something to it and gathered around, each finding a chair to stand on.

But one of the chairs had just been smashed by Xu Dong, leaving them a seat short. In the end, Jin Jinhui had to climb onto Xu Dong’s shoulders to reach. Xu Dong’s face turned bright red at the arrangement, prompting a round of laughter that lent a touch of humor to their peril.

Nearly everyone managed to pull their light down, but Jin Jinhui couldn’t budge hers no matter how she tried. At last, Xu Dong held onto Jin Jinhui while she gripped the light, and together they managed to pull it down.

With the final lamp lowered, a sudden rumble echoed through the space. A large hole appeared in the door, the panel flipping open to reveal a passageway beyond.

Joy surged through the group—they had less than five minutes left on the timer, but at last, they’d found the exit.

Fang Nian shouted to Duan Rui, the only one not occupied.

“Duan Rui, don’t just stand there. Go check it out!”

His words snapped her from her daze, and she crawled into the opening without a word. Less than a minute later, she crawled back out.

“The tunnel is long—I couldn’t reach the end. But there’s wind inside. It must connect to another space on the other side. I’m sure it’s the way out.”

Their spirits lifted, they eased their grip on the lights. But the moment they let go, the door that had just opened slammed shut again.

Xu Dong cursed aloud. “Damn it, so we found the way, but how are we supposed to get out now? These lights are as heavy as lead. If you don’t weigh at least two hundred pounds, forget about pulling them down.”

“Two hundred pounds?” Fang Nian paused, an idea flashing through his mind. He turned to Guo Ji and the others. “Anyone have a rope?”

Duan Rui and the others immediately understood. Xiao Xueluan found a coil of rope in an old wooden box in the room and tossed it over.

“Let’s use this to tie the chairs.”

They set about fastening the heavy, iron-like chairs and then hoisted them onto the pendant lights.

But when they reached the fourth light, they realized that the last chair had been smashed to pieces by Xu Lang earlier. Its broken frame wouldn’t be enough to weigh down the lamp.

“Damn it, what now? If I’d known, I wouldn’t have used the chair to smash the wall,” someone grumbled.

Fang Nian sighed, glancing at the timer on Duan Rui’s wrist—less than two minutes remained.

“This isn’t the time for regrets. I’ll hold onto the light. You all go through the tunnel first.”

Guo Ji protested at once. “Let me do it—I’m the team leader.”

But Fang Nian shook his head. “All the more reason for you to go first, as the leader. You have to get everyone out of here. Compared to the rest of you, I’m the least essential. It’s better for me to stay.”

He smiled suddenly. “Besides, I won’t necessarily end up stuck here. I have a plan. Hurry, go!”

Guo Ji wanted to insist, but Duan Rui pulled him away. “There’s no time.”

Hearing this, Guo Ji finally relented. For the first time, he gave Fang Nian a look of affirmation and then led the others in a dash toward the tunnel, disappearing inside.

Duan Rui glanced at Fang Nian, whose hands were numb and red from the cold as he gripped the rope with all his strength. An unfamiliar emotion flickered in her eyes, but Fang Nian, focused on escape, didn’t notice.

The tunnel was extremely narrow, barely enough for one person to crawl through at a time. The two women managed quickly, but the three broad-shouldered men—especially the tall Xu Dong—found it much harder to squeeze through.

Guo Ji, seeing this, pushed hard from behind to help him move faster. As soon as they all made it past the first bend, a thunderous crash sounded from behind.

A torrent of icy air swept through, as sharp as knives. When they checked the timer—only ten seconds remained.