No one spoke. Professor Liu led the way, feeling the stone bricks as he guided the group forward slowly. Aside from their footsteps, only their breathing could be heard, sounding especially loud in the dark corridor. Xiang Wan followed closely behind Professor Liu; she dared not lag behind. She noticed that among these people, only Professor Liu treated her with kindness; the others were more or less hostile. Given the current uncertain situation, avoiding danger was a natural instinct.
After walking for about fifteen minutes, a fork in the road appeared ahead, the searchlight unable to see the end. Professor Liu was also perplexed. He raised his wrist to check the compass, but the needle swung erratically, making it impossible to distinguish east from west or north from south.
"Professor, what should we do now?" One of the men, dressed in khaki clothes, pushed Xiang Wan aside and stood in front of Professor Liu. "It's another intersection. If this continues, we'll be trapped here."
Professor Liu shook his head and said, "No, although the map doesn't show the exact location, I know we're not far from our destination."
"If all else fails, just use explosives. It's better than not being able to get out."
"No way," Professor Liu said sternly. "Don't you know where we are? The explosives are too powerful. If the passage collapses, we'll all be killed."
"Then what should we do? We can't even determine our location, what are we even looking for?"
"Don't worry, we'll find a way."
As Professor Liu spoke, he put his backpack on the ground, took out a small laptop, and turned it on. Lines of data scrolled up rapidly. After operating it for a while, a map appeared on the screen; upon zooming in, it was a map with somewhat indistinct markings.
“We came in from here,” Professor Liu pointed to a point on the map. “Based on our pace, we rested for 16 hours out of 48 hours. If we calculate the other time at our average walking speed, we walked about 120 kilometers. In addition, there was an accident on the way, so we weren’t walking the whole time. Let’s estimate it to be about 100 kilometers. Considering the base is 230 meters on each side, we would have traversed the entire tower several times over. The reason we haven’t found the entrance yet, according to my calculations, is that we took many detours after falling underground.”
"That's impossible, Professor. We've been going in a straight line the whole time, without turning a single corner."
"According to the records, there shouldn't be such a long passage, unless..."
Professor Liu frowned, and the words he hadn't finished made everyone's hearts tighten.
"Are we trapped in a maze?" The woman arguing with Xiang Wan was met with denials from the others as soon as she spoke.
"You think this is in the country? You're talking about being trapped in a maze? Foreigners don't do this."
"Xiao Guo, we live in a scientific society now, and everything must be based on evidence."
Professor Liu's expression was serious. The woman surnamed Guo awkwardly shut her mouth. When she saw Xiang Wan looking at her, she glared at her resentfully and stood aside without saying a word.
Xiang Wan didn't want to pay attention to her, but she kept provoking her, and she felt frustrated if she didn't retaliate.
"Ignorance is truly terrifying!"
"You're so educated, why don't you point out a way? Nothing good has happened since you came in. You must have been born with bad luck, causing us all to suffer along with you."
"Hmph, I bring bad luck with me? Fine, then don't come looking for me for money when you get out of here. You're covered in bad luck, or you'll never have good luck again."
"you--"
"Alright, everyone, say less." Professor Liu interrupted the woman surnamed Guo. "The situation is not good for us right now, let's save our energy for the journey."
“Professor, do you know which way to go?” another man asked.
"I have a simple solution," Professor Liu said awkwardly, glancing at Xiang Wan and the woman surnamed Guo. "Walk back a bit, but don't go too far. We'll call your names in a bit, then come back."
"How about I take them there?" a man said, feeling a little sorry for the woman surnamed Guo who seemed reluctant.
"Don't leave, we'll need you later." Professor Liu reached out to stop him, saying, "They'll just leave for a bit, nothing will happen."
Upon hearing this, Xiang Wan knew that Professor Liu must have used some method that was not suitable for women to watch. So without saying a word, she took out the flashlight from her bag, turned it on, and walked back the way she came.
Seeing that she had left, the woman surnamed Guo had no choice but to hurry up and follow behind her.
"Hey, slow down! Can't you see I can't keep up?"
Xiang Wan turned around and returned her previous words: "Someone is just spoiled. He can't stand not having someone protect him along the way."
"you--"
The woman surnamed Guo was furious and raised her hand to slap Xiang Wan, but Xiang Wan dodged it. She turned her head and sneered, "Save your energy. Instead of wasting your strength here, you should think about how to live longer."
"Mind your own business! You've been dragging my feet ever since you came in, and you still have the nerve to talk back to me."
Xiang Wan was too lazy to argue with her anymore, so she strode forward until the light from Professor Liu and the others was reduced to a blurry dot.
Because she was angry, and because of Xiang Wan's reminder, the woman surnamed Guo stopped doing anything unnecessary and slowly moved towards Xiang Wan, huffing and puffing.
Xiang Wan ignored her, put her backpack on the ground, patted it, and sat down, leaning against the wall behind her to rest for a while.
The corridor was very quiet. The sound of breathing made her feel that there was still some human presence. In addition, she could faintly hear the sound of running water, in waves.
The woman surnamed Guo was a little scared, so she tiptoed and shuffled closer to Xiang Wan.
Xiang Wan closed her eyes to rest, pretending not to see it, and slowed her breathing to slightly relieve the stabbing pain in her chest.
From the moment she woke up, she had felt a dull, stabbing pain in her chest. In that situation, she couldn't express it and had to endure it. When her attention was elsewhere, she didn't feel anything, but now that she was sitting down to rest, the sharp, stabbing pain began to spread to her chest. Xiang Wan guessed that the original owner of this body had probably fallen from a height and injured her internal organs. She rummaged through her bag and found only some wound medicine, gauze, iodine, and a little food and drink.
To recover as quickly as possible, she took off her coat, wrapped a roll of gauze around her chest, and that relieved the pain a little. She didn't know if she had any other injuries from falls or sprains; she'd have to check that later. Most importantly, she needed to find a quiet place where she wouldn't be disturbed and focus on the plot; otherwise, she felt truly lost.
"Hey, what do you think they're doing?"
The woman surnamed Guo made conversation out of boredom, and Xiang Wan knew she was scared, so she replied calmly, "Why don't we just wait and see?"
"Want to go together?"
Xiang Wan rolled her eyes at her and didn't say anything.
"snort!"
Feeling awkward, the woman surnamed Guo put down her bag and sat down next to her.
The air in the corridor wasn't very fresh and had very poor circulation; even so, you could still faintly smell a urine odor.
"Hey, need to use the restroom? Want to go?"
The woman surnamed Guo sounded a little awkward, and she stopped arguing with Xiang Wan.
Xiang Wan thought for a moment and decided it was best not to split up at this point, especially since she also needed to use the restroom, though she was too embarrassed to say so. She rolled her eyes at the woman surnamed Guo and said while picking up her bag, "I have a name."
The woman surnamed Guo stomped her foot angrily and followed Xiang Wan into the corridor to find a place to relieve herself.
In the quiet environment, apart from the woman surnamed Guo and herself, there was no one else, but Xiang Wan felt uneasy.
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