Old Song adopted my suggestion, spat at the corpses a few times, and then shone his flashlight on the space: "Xiao Duan, since these dead ghosts are trapped by natural disasters and can't escape, does that mean we have no way to survive either?"

"Let's leave it to fate and keep looking! Maybe the geology here has changed over the years!"

I didn't want Song Laosan to know about my affair with Butterfly Man, so I didn't tell him my previous speculations. I gave him a vague answer to his question and then led him to the other exit of the cave.

Although I had just walked this path once, I hadn't explored it thoroughly; I only went there to fetch water.

When I led Song Laosan to the front of the blocked road again, we found that there were no forks in the road or any kind of exit such as a tunnel.

Looking at the passage completely blocked by huge rocks, Song Laosan's eyes flashed with annoyance: "Damn it, we're really trapped in this godforsaken place! If I had known this would happen, I would have preferred to die at the Hundred Ghosts' Feast. Even if the female ghosts drained my life force, at least I would have died enjoying myself, which is better than starving to death!"

"Stop talking nonsense. If you want to die, you can hang yourself now. If you don't want to die, then find an exit as soon as possible! Split up and look!"

Looking at the surrounding mountain walls, I couldn't help but feel annoyed. If I had known the exit was so well hidden, I should have asked the butterfly man how to get in and out before making a move against him.

Old Song was convinced that there was no way out here, otherwise the people in the cave would never have been trapped inside. And because I knew about the Butterfly Man, I had been searching diligently.

After walking around for a while, I found that there were no passageways at all.

Song Laosan walked over from the other side and sat down on the ground in frustration: "It seems that this cave is just a prison sealed in the mountains. There must be no other way out. If we want to survive, we can only risk going back to the cat ear cave."

I couldn't tell Song Laosan about the Butterfly Man, so I could only insist, "There's definitely something strange about this place. Let's search more carefully!"

Old Song San curled his lip in despair and said, "What's the point of looking for this? This cave is different from the village in the Hundred Ghosts' Night Banquet! In that place, we could fly out, but here, even if you could fly, you'd only crash into the ceiling!"

"Fly out?"

When I heard what Song Laosan said, a thought flashed through my mind, and I shone the flashlight on our heads.

At the top of this cave, there are many steel spikes driven into the rocks, as well as emergency lights fixed to the ceiling, all remnants from the construction of the prison.

On the left side of the mountain wall, a rope fixed to a steel rod slung down the wall, its top extending along the ceiling into a shadowy area.

"Holy crap! How did a rope end up here?"

Song Laosan became wary: "Xiao Duan, are we going to run into something dirty again?"

"Let's go check it out, quick!"

It then dawned on me that our cave was located halfway up the mountain, so the probability of the passage being on the sides was very small. Even if outsiders came in, they must have dug in from the top or bottom.

Song Laosan ran over to the rope and examined it. He suddenly drew his knife: "This rope is nylon, and it even has a trademark on it. It's the Swiss Mammoth brand! Xiao Duan, we've really encountered something supernatural. This thing couldn't possibly be in a cave from this era!"

I grabbed the rope and started to climb: "So many people are searching for the Miao Jiang Immortal Palace in these mountains, perhaps others have already been here."

"Xiao Duan, wait a minute!"

Old Song grabbed my arm: "This kind of thing can't be taken lightly. We've already encountered danger once, how can you be so careless again! What if this rope is an illusion and you fall halfway down?"

"You've seen what's inside the cat-ear cave. Rather than going back and fighting those pink-skinned rats in that cramped space, I'd rather take a gamble here! If you value your life, then stay down there and wait."

Ignoring Song Laosan's attempts to stop me, I wrapped the rope around my ankles and climbed up using it as a support.

The ceiling of this cave is about nine meters high, which is the height of three or four stories.

Previously, I was bitten on the arm and shoulder by a Gu creature in the Cat Cave. When I was possessed by evil spirits, I don't know why, but the wounds were covered with mud. The mud made my arm sore, numb and swollen. I almost fell down several times while climbing.

It took a lot of effort for me to finally climb to the top. The rope was tied in a knot on the steel rod at the top and swung towards the edge of the ceiling.

I looked over with my flashlight in my mouth and found a protruding rock that formed a gap between itself and the ceiling. However, there were several other rocks standing inside, blocking the light from my flashlight.

I crossed my legs and clamped the horizontal rope between my legs. I also untied my belt and tied myself to the rope before moving over there.

The interlayer at the top of the cave was less than a meter high. I crouched down and went around the protruding rocks in front of me. When I saw the scene in front of me, I breathed a sigh of relief.

This is the ventilation shaft of the cave.

This ventilation shaft doesn't look like it was built by man; it's probably a cave that happens to connect to the mountain cave. However, to keep out snakes, rats, and other small animals, a layer of metal louvers was welded on. Over the years, these originally incredibly sturdy iron sheets have developed a layer of rust, and a hole has been cut into them, clearly done with a blowtorch.

I peered into the ventilation shaft and saw a rope hanging down inside. I turned to Song Laosan and yelled, "We've found the exit up there! Get up here now!"

Song Laosan was a little surprised, but he quickly started climbing up the rope: "This damn place actually has an exit... Here I come!"

While Song Laosan was climbing up, I had already entered the ventilation shaft.

This is a sloping cave with an interior full of folds, like a pig's intestine. Because it is connected to the outside of the mountain, it is obvious that rainwater often flows in, and the crevices in the inner wall are filled with mud that has been washed down.

The presence of this layer of soil also preserved the traces of the Butterfly Man.

There was only one line of footprints on the mountain wall around me.

This means that after the Butterfly Man descended from the high place to the prison and rescued me, he did not climb back up the same way he came, but instead went down through the ventilation shaft.

Although I didn't know much about him, I could tell he was an expert. I believed he must have explored the area above, so when Song Laosan arrived, I grabbed the rope and started moving down.

Song Laosan entered the cave, examined the traces inside, and said to me, "Xiao Duan, it's too dangerous for us to go down rashly. Since this ventilation shaft leads to the outside of the mountain, should we go up first and try to contact the others?"

"It's too late. We entered the cave earlier to get the bull's head before the black-robed man, but we were delayed by the cat ear cave and the evil spirit encounter! We don't even know if they put this rope down. If we go out and waste a few more hours waiting for reinforcements, we'll really end up with nothing."

While answering Song Laosan's question, I also started to move down the rope: "The Golden Rooster and Golden Sheep are both altars guarded by monsters. The Hundred Ghosts Banquet we encountered should just be a coincidence that led to the Golden Bull Cave and the Secret Prison forming a passage. But the Hundred Ghosts Banquet itself is not part of the Golden Bull Cave, so there must be something else in this mountain. Be careful!"