36 Cave 20 || Exit 2

They then tried to smash the mirrors in every room.

"Are you done smashing it?" Lin Haicheng asked, wiping the sweat from his forehead with his hand.

"It's over." Tian Yiyi sat on the ground, panting, leaning against the wall.

Even the mirror on the ceiling was smashed to pieces by them.

The result was that several people were exhausted and the mirror was just an ordinary mirror.

"Then what should we do? Are we just going to wait here to die? We have to go to the theater again tonight, and the person who is chosen will definitely die..." Xu Yaoyu looked at them eagerly.

As the show drew closer, Yan Shuang began to grow restless. Their miscalculation had wasted a whole day, costing them the chance to find other survival options.

At this time, Jing Ning's hand covered his hand and patted it gently, as if to soothe his emotions. Then he heard him say, "Let's go to the theater tonight."

Xu Yaoyu pursed her lips and tears welled up in her eyes.

"Theater!" Lin Haichen keenly understood the implication. "You mean there's a mirror in the theater?"

"I think so." Jing Ning said.

"If it's really in the theater, how can we find it? We don't have time at all." Tian Yiyi asked while smoking a cigarette tiredly. She had been smoking since Ye Qi's death.

Yan Shuang recalled that two days ago, from the moment they entered the theater and saw the red sedan chair, the lights in the theater suddenly went out, and then they heard something walking in from the gate, followed by the lights coming on and the sound of drums. When they found their seats, the lights went out and the drums stopped, and the bride was chosen.

Ye Qi's words silenced everyone again. Besides, no one knew the Ghost Bridegroom's selection criteria; those who knew were already dead.

If you can't find the mirror, you'll die.

"We can only go there at night and find the right time to see if we can find a mirror." Lin Haichen said, "If we take our seats slowly then, maybe we can delay the bride selection process."

No one questioned it. It was already the fifth night, and after several days of high-speed work in their minds and bodies, they were all exhausted.

"Go back to the room and rest for a while. We have a tough battle to fight tonight." Lin Hai said while rubbing his temples.

As night fell, the death card appeared in front of their door. To save time, they took the card and headed to the theater.

The card is like a hot potato, but you have to hold it in your hand.

"It's really like a dog-skin plaster that can't be shaken off." Lin Haichen was at a loss whether to laugh or cry, and made a joke.

Xu Yaoyu stopped crying now and followed them numbly.

Because the cave was damp and cold, Old Man Li's rheumatism in his legs flared up, his legs and feet began to ache, and he couldn't walk.

He waved his hand and said, "You young people, go quickly. I'll take my time behind you."

Yan Shuang carried him on her back and said, "What are you talking about? Can't we carry you over here?"

"Yes, Grandpa Li, let these grown men carry it. They are very reliable." Xu Yaoyu said.

"This... is a trouble for you guys." Old man Li no longer refused and let Yan Shuang carry him.

"Tell me if you're tired." Jing Ning said behind him.

They quickened their pace, being already familiar with the route, and without stopping, they arrived at the theatre in less than an hour.

Lin Haichen looked at the time and said, "There's still an hour before the performance. Let's look around first."

The entire theater was vast, stretching as far as the eye could see, with only a faint light filtering through the cracks in the cave ceiling. Water dripped from the ceiling, echoing throughout the cavern.

Xu Yaoyu neatly rolled up her skirt and tied a knot, then walked among the rocks. She slipped and almost lost her balance, but Tian Yiyi quickly pulled her up and she was out of danger.

Yan Shuang put Old Man Li down from his back and joined the search team. He knew that the mirror would most likely be inside the theater, but what if?

An hour was neither long nor short, and the five people searched around but found nothing.

"Looks like we have no choice but to go inside and look for it." Lin Haichen's words dashed everyone's last hope. Although they had expected this, the atmosphere still grew tense after confirming this fact.

At this moment, the familiar, suffocating smell of paper money drifted out from the crack of the door again...

As if an invisible hand was strangling his throat, Yan Shuang suddenly doubled over and began to cough violently. His face flushed crimson, his chest heaved violently, and every breath was blocked by the thick smell of ash.

"What's wrong with him?" Tian Yiyi asked Lin Haichen while covering her nose with her hand.

Lin Haichen couldn't figure out why. Although the smell of the paper money was pungent, it was still bearable.

Jing Ning stood beside Yan Shuang and patted his back to relieve the air blockage in his lungs. His voice was low and tense, and his eyes were fixed on Yan Shuang. "How is it?"

Yan Shuang stopped coughing after a long time. She squatted on the ground, breathing heavily, buried her head in her knees, and waved her hands. Her voice was so hoarse that it was almost inaudible, "It's okay, I just choked suddenly."

But his face was pale and his fingertips were trembling slightly, and it was obvious that he was not feeling well from choking.

"Passengers, please come here to check your tickets!" The woman's voice came from the fog just like last time.

"Excuse me, what kind of show is this?" Jing Ning asked the woman while checking the tickets.

The woman, enveloped in white mist, couldn't make out her expression, but could only hear her unchanging voice, "Don't you know? It's on the ticket."

"I can't read." Jing Ning said nonsense without thinking.

The woman was stunned for a moment and remained silent for a long time. She probably didn't expect to run into a few illiterate people today.

The woman's patience seemed to be running out, and she spat out three words in a bad mood, "Married woman."

"Oh, thank you." Jing Ning took the ticket and walked away.

"Next..."

After the six people checked their tickets and the woman disappeared, Jing Ning asked, "Have you seen this movie?"

Several people shook their heads, but Old Man Li said he had seen it. "It tells the story of five young girls from different family backgrounds who risk death to resist their fate of marriage. In a patriarchal feudal society, daughters obey their fathers, wives obey their husbands, and mothers obey their sons. The most ironic thing about the film is that these oppressions are often reinforced by women themselves. Those mothers and mistresses who were once young girls eventually become the most staunch defenders of patriarchy."

Jing Ning nodded and said, "Getting married is not a new starting point in life, but a ceremony for women to be formally incorporated into the patriarchal system. It is a process of transforming from an appendage of one man to an appendage of another man."

"So the bride defied fate and died in the sedan chair. But in fact, this wedding was originally a ghost marriage prepared for her!" Tian Yiyi said with disgust, "The blood-stained red wedding dress ruined another woman's life."

"Are we all married women? Waiting to be chosen, but unable to do anything about it." Xu Yaoyu swallowed her saliva. Yan Shuang thought she was going to cry out of fear again, but she suddenly fired back, speaking eloquently. "Who the hell wants to marry him? Don't you think you're a piece of shit? You're like a maggot. Not only do you want to kill me, but you also come here to disgust me. Isn't it nice to just sit there and quietly dig up your shit? Did I dig up your ancestral graves in my past life? I met such a shameless ghost in this life."