"Thump—!!!"

Another heavy hammer slammed into the winch at the top of the stone gate, producing a deafening roar!

The heavy cast iron gate suddenly sank even further down!

The gap has become smaller!

It's less than two feet wide left!

The entrance to an abandoned tunnel underground.

The last miner—the man whose head was smashed open and whose face was covered in blood—was finally pushed and kicked into the crowded passage by Jiang Chan and Uncle He!

At the entrance, only Jiang Chan and Uncle He remained!

"Little Stone! Quick! Go in quickly!" Uncle He trembled as he tried to push Jiang Chan inside.

"Thump—!!!"

A third, terrifying thud!

With unprecedented power and the despair of finality, it exploded with a deafening roar! The entire earth trembled! The rock walls overhead groaned under the strain! A large chunk of rock above the entrance to the passage, already teetering on the brink of collapse, crashed down with a deafening crash as this fatal blow struck!

"Get out of the way!" Jiang Chan's pupils shrank, and she used all her strength to shove Uncle He hard into the passage!

Boom!!!

Huge rocks, mixed with countless coal slag and gravel, like a collapsed small mountain, instantly crashed onto the spot where Jiang Chan and Uncle He had just been standing!

The murky black water was smashed into the sky! The entrance to the passage was completely blocked!

All that's left is a crooked hole! Gravel is still sliding down!

The thick smoke and dust choked Jiang Chan and Uncle He, causing them to cough violently.

Uncle He lay halfway down in the passageway, still in shock as he watched the scene outside instantly buried under rubble, terrified out of his wits.

"Uncle He! Get in there! Don't block the way!" Jiang Chan wiped her face and yelled at Uncle He.

As if waking from a dream, Uncle He began to wriggle deeper into the passage, using both his hands and feet.

The entrance was almost completely blocked! Jiang Chan looked at the narrow hole that was still gathering dust, and listened to the frantic digging and coughing sounds from the depths of the passage. Her lungs felt like they were on fire, and every breath she took was accompanied by a tearing pain.

There's no time!

The sound of the hammer sealing the well above is a death knell!

She gritted her teeth, ignoring the pebbles that scratched her skin, and like a gecko struggling for survival, she desperately crawled through the hole, using both her hands and feet!

The gravel scraped against her body, leaving streaks of blood.

Darkness and dust almost engulfed her.

The passage was terribly narrow, barely allowing her small, frail body to wriggle around.

She could even hear the clattering sound of gravel sliding down and blocking the gaps at the entrance behind her!

climb!

Keep crawling forward!

Climb with all your might!

From the depths of the tunnel came the hoarse, frantic roars of Pillar and his men, along with even more intense digging sounds, as if they were racing against the death hammer that kept falling from above!

"It's open! It seems like the path ahead is clear!"

"It's windy! Strong wind!"

"Hurry! Pillar! Give it your all! Push that rock aside!"

Jiang Chan's heart pounded! The hope of survival lay just ahead! She pushed her way forward recklessly!

Just then—

Rumble, rumble...!!

From deep above came a muffled, continuous, and terrifying crushing sound!

No longer the intermittent thuds of heavy hammers, but the stone gate slammed down completely, the heavy gate edges scraping against the base rock with a teeth-grinding sound! Immediately following was a deafening roar as countless heavy rammed earth bags were frantically squeezed, and earth and rocks cascaded down! It was like the sky collapsing and the earth splitting open!

The entire passageway began to tremble violently!

More violent than ever before! Like the final convulsions of a dying beast!

Deep inside the passage, the joyful shouts of Zhu Zi and the others, who had just struggled to push aside the obstacles in front of them, were instantly swallowed up by this terrifying, apocalyptic roar!

"No—!!!" The pillar's desperate roar pierced through the layers of rock walls, filled with heart-wrenching madness!

Jiang Chan felt a tremendous force surge back from the depths of the passage! A shockwave, carrying dust and gravel, slammed into her! At the same time, the hard, cold rock wall above her emitted a teeth-grinding groan, and the entire passage twisted and compressed violently!

It's completely sealed off!

Has the stone gate been completely lowered to the ground?

The rammed earth was used to fill it completely?!

The last gap... is gone?!

A wave of overwhelming despair instantly gripped Jiang Chan's throat! Her body stiffened in the narrow passage, the air in her lungs being violently forced out! Everything went black before her eyes!

However, amidst this suffocating, desperate roar—

A faint, yet unusually cool, night breeze carrying the scent of grass and trees from the outside world gently brushed against Jiang Chan's cheek from the direction the pillars and the others had just pushed open deep inside the passage!

wind? !

Almost simultaneously—

Hoofbeats!

The thunderous sound of horses' hooves!

Like a thunderbolt tearing through the night!

From far to near!

They were as fast as streaks of black lightning!

Wild! Violent! With a fury and majesty that crushes everything in its path!

The sound of countless heavy iron hooves slamming into the hard ground of the mine, like the raging drumbeats, instantly drowned out all the frenzied clamor of filling the wellhead!

An aged yet thunderous roar pierced the night sky, slamming into Wang Bapi's crazed, twisted smiling face:

"Stop this—at my command!!!"

The sound was like a thunderclap, carrying boundless rage and unquestionable authority, fiercely cleaving through the air above the mine as Wang Bapi roared madly and the overseers chanted fervently!

Rumble!

The thunderous sound of hooves shattered the deathly silence of the night! Dozens of tall horses, like a black torrent of steel, swept into the mine, carrying strong winds and dust!

My dear reader, there's more to this chapter! Please click the next page to continue reading—even more exciting content awaits!