Xiao Nanhui always felt that people who had experienced hunger were always more patient than ordinary people.
She could travel thousands of miles alone, across deserts, over snow-capped mountains, and through oases. She believed that as long as she had faith, there was no place that was unreachable.
But she never thought that what was more unbearable than hunger and thirst was darkness.
Endless darkness.
Her torch went out after an hour, and what followed was a darkness with no boundaries and no end in sight.
The absence of the sun, moon, and stars makes the passage of time seem even slower, like an indefinite punishment that is about to break down the last line of defense in people's hearts.
Whenever she was on the verge of a breakdown, she would grab his hand and gently press it against her face.
His palm seemed to be colder than the surrounding rock walls and soil, but the remaining cool smell always made her feel at ease.
Although the ground in the secret passage was slightly uneven, it was still much flatter than the mountain road on Douchen Ridge. However, she was carrying someone on her back and it was pitch black in front of her. She often bumped into the rock wall and scraped her shoulders while walking.
At first she thought he was very light, not much heavier than Dujuan. Gradually she felt he was getting heavier, even heavier than a pawn holding a pendulum in a siege.
Whenever this happened, she would sit down, gasping for breath and cursing loudly at the unlucky Ding Weixiang, as if he would suddenly appear in front of her to protect his master.
Cursing for too long inevitably makes her mouth dry. She didn't have a water bag on her, so she could only lie on the rock wall and lick the water that seeped out from the cracks in the rock. After lying there for a long time, she always felt that the water she drank was not as much as the sweat she sweated.
Gradually, resting was no longer enough to restore my strength. Sometimes, when I stopped, my legs felt like they were filled with lead and I didn't want to move another step.
But she did not allow herself to stay there for too long. She counted her pulse and heartbeat, and calculated the time before getting back on the road.
During the first few miles, she would occasionally stop and listen carefully to the surrounding movements, imagining that if she could hear the sounds of the Shen family and Ding Weixiang fighting, it would be comforting. However, from the moment she took the first step, she could hear nothing except her own breathing and the sound of the rocks scraping against her feet.
She was walking in the belly of the mountain. No sound or light could reach her. She could only rely on herself.
She began to calculate the days by the time she fell asleep. From the initial light sleep to the final long dream, this calculation gradually lost its accuracy.
Just as she was deeply immersed in her fifth long dream, she vaguely heard a rustling sound in her drowsiness.
She opened her eyes, but was not sure whether she was in a dream or reality.
There was still darkness in front of her, and the sound was not far from her hand. Soon it turned into a furry touch stirring on her fingertips.
Her wrist, which had been powerless for a long time, suddenly snapped, and a sharp squeaking sound rang out in the palm of her hand.
It was a blind shrew that had just licked the sweat from her hand.
She let go of the screaming little thing, and when she heard the sound of its four little paws crawling on the ground, she suddenly smiled for the first time in a long time.
The presence of rats means that the exit is not far away.
She picked up Su Wei, struggled to stand up, and staggered to catch up with the mouse.
After walking three or four steps, the surroundings were still quiet. Time and space were frozen in this impenetrable darkness. The only sign of life was the mouse.
It scratched and dug left and right, and squeaked from time to time, which was comparable to the most beautiful comfort in the world.
Finally, her ankle hit a stone step, and then the squeaking sound disappeared in front of her, and the secret passage fell into silence again.
Xiao Nanhui took a deep breath, slowly squatted down and reached forward.
Level one, level two, level three...
There were seven steps in total, and at the end was a hard, damp wooden board with a gap about half a palm wide at the edge. That was where the mouse had crawled out.
Her legs began to tremble, and the fatigue that had accumulated for a long time began to attack her at this moment.
She placed the person behind her on the stone steps and patted his face gently.
"Your Majesty, Your Majesty!"
The urgent calls lingered at the end of the secret passage, but there was still no response.
She checked his pulse again, and although everything was stable, he still had no senses and was unresponsive.
She had taken him to escape to the end of the desert before. The situation was probably even more critical at that time. She couldn't say she wasn't panicking, but for some reason, if he was still awake, she would feel less isolated and helpless.
Hunger and fatigue invaded her body, but made her mind clearer than ever.
She did not rush to push the wooden door. Instead, she held her breath and moved closer to listen to the movement behind the door.
This secret passage was dug from the Shen family, and who knows what's on the other side of the secret passage. Fang had just escaped from the wolf's mouth and now fell into someone else's tiger's den. She didn't have the energy to fight anyone now.
However, she no longer had the strength to return along the same route.
It was quiet on the other side of the board, like the most expensive girl in a brothel, who, before the moment of the night before sex, would not let you detect the slightest hint of her expression.
Life or death depends on what is on the other side of the door.
Thinking of this, she calmed down instead, pulled out the dagger whose blade was bent due to the flying line, inserted it into the gap of the wooden board, twisted her arms, and kicked forward with her right leg with all her strength.
A dull sound of wooden boards breaking was heard. Xiao Nanhui pushed open the wooden board in front of him, and a rotten and damp smell accompanied by dust fell on his head.
Xiao Nanhui coughed violently for a while, somewhat unsure whether this tunnel really led to the outside.
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