After the pattering of water subsided, Xiang Wan straightened her clothes and prepared to walk back. She had just taken a step when someone grabbed the hem of her dress.
"Did you...did you hear that?"
The woman surnamed Guo was a little nervous, holding tightly to Xiang Wan's clothes and pressing her body close to hers, her eyes constantly looking left and right.
Xiang Wan frowned and flung her hand aside.
"Don't get so close to me, we don't know each other."
"I mean it, it looks like something is coming."
The woman surnamed Guo was unusually calm, which Xiang Wan found strange. She shone her flashlight along the way they had come, but found nothing.
"They're gone."
Xiang Wan turned around and walked towards Professor Liu and the others first. After so much time, it should be about time.
"Wait, wait, there really is something."
The woman surnamed Guo stayed close to Xiang Wan, not caring whether Xiang Wan disliked her or not.
In the long corridor, only the sound of their footsteps could be heard, "tap tap tap."
As they approached the intersection, the stench of urine grew stronger, and lights shone from the passageway on the right. Xiang Wan stopped and asked, "Professor Liu, are you done?"
The light flickered, but no one responded.
"Are they still peeing?"
When the woman surnamed Guo arrived here, her attitude returned to its previous state, as if she wasn't the one who had been afraid just moments before.
"Try shouting it out."
Xiang Wan frowned, looking at the woman surnamed Guo, determined to get her to speak.
There was no response; either Professor Liu didn't hear her, or he wasn't there. She didn't dare pin her hopes on the other three, since given their attitude towards her, it was already a favor if they didn't tease her.
"Why should I shout? Aren't you the bold one?"
"If you don't shout, you're staying here by yourself."
Xiang Wan's bad premonition grew stronger. She and the woman surnamed Guo made quite a commotion, yet no one responded. Didn't that say something?
Seeing that the woman surnamed Guo was about to make her usual sarcastic remarks, Xiang Wan turned her head away and walked towards the place with the light.
There were traces of urine on the ground, and the smell of urine was strong. A flashlight lay scattered to the side, and messy shoe prints stretched into the darkness in the distance.
Xiang Wan was puzzled. Judging from the footprints, the three of them must have gone in the same direction at the same time, but she didn't hear any strange noises.
To find out what had happened, she picked up the flashlight, turned it off, put it in her backpack, walked back to the intersection, and looked into the other two passageways.
There were also traces of urine and footprints in both passageways, but only one person had moved back and forth in each passageway. It seems that the three of them went into the rightmost passageway, but it's puzzling why they didn't call the other two.
She tried to ignore the smell of urine and carefully observed the passageway on the left. There seemed to be a considerable amount of urine stored up there, gradually seeping into the ground. In the passageway they had come from, the urine flowed in a direction that appeared to the right. The passageway they had checked first seemed to extend downwards, as the urine continued to flow along the base of the wall.
"So you like watching other people pee? You should have said so earlier, otherwise I would have kept you from leaving."
The woman surnamed Guo made a sarcastic remark, but Xiang Wan pretended not to hear it and carefully considered what Professor Liu had said earlier.
Connecting the dots—"underground," "bottom of the tower," "traditional method"—Xiang Wan made a guess. She took a fruit knife from her bag, drew an arrow on the wall, shone her flashlight at the woman surnamed Guo, and then walked away without looking back in the direction the footprints led.
Seeing that Xiang Wan ignored her for a while, the woman surnamed Guo shook her and walked away. Even if she was carefree, she knew she couldn't stay there alone, so she pouted and followed closely behind Xiang Wan.
The corridor hadn't been used in a long time; it was covered in dust, with cobwebs hanging in the corners and scattered around. Xiang Wan hadn't looked up to observe this when they walked together earlier. Now it seemed someone had cleaned it, and she became even more certain that Professor Liu and the others had gone this way.
She knew to leave a mark for her companions before leaving, so why didn't Professor Liu and the others? Was it because they left in such a hurry that they didn't have time to do so?
Xiang Wan shook her head, deciding not to dwell on it. She carefully walked forward, following the footsteps, for about twenty minutes until she came to another intersection, with footprints leading into each passage. This time, Xiang Wan was in a dilemma, unsure which way to go.
"An intersection again? What a terrible place! There are forks in the road everywhere. I shouldn't have come here. What are we going to do now?"
The woman surnamed Guo was a little impatient. When she saw Xiang Wan looking at her, she didn't dare to show it, for fear of angering Xiang Wan and having her left alone there.
Xiang Wan put down her backpack and sat down to rest. The original owner's constitution was too weak; she really didn't understand why she had come to this place.
"Wu Xiangwan, why aren't you leaving?"
The woman surnamed Guo spoke weakly, her imposing manner suddenly diminishing, making Xiang Wan wonder if it was even the same person.
"Rest here and wait for them."
"What? They've already left, why are we still waiting for them?"
When someone who is afraid of the dark and being dumped suddenly says such things, Xiang Wan looks at her with some surprise and doubt, then turns her head away and remains silent.
This woman surnamed Guo is so unpredictable, her attitude changes so quickly. Moreover, Professor Liu told them to wait, but given Ms. Guo's attitude towards Professor Liu, she shouldn't have changed her mind so soon.
What do you suggest we do?
Xiang Wan posed the question to her. If she had ulterior motives, it would be easy for them to shake her off now that it was just the two of them.
"Let's go this way, I feel like they're heading this way."
The woman surnamed Guo pointed to the fork in the road on the right. Xiang Wan raised her flashlight and shone it in that direction, but it was pitch black.
"My sixth sense is very accurate; they must be heading this way."
Seeing her confident expression, Xiang Wan stood up, slung her bag over her shoulder, and said to her, "You go first, I'll keep watch for you."
Seeing Xiang Wan's firm attitude, the woman surnamed Guo reluctantly stepped towards the right-hand passage.
Xiang Wan followed slowly behind her, observing the situation in the passage and watching the woman surnamed Guo's reaction.
The passage was smooth, with nothing but dust on the stone walls. Because she was walking at the back, Xiang Wan noticed that besides the footprints of the woman surnamed Guo, there were no other footprints on the ground.
Are you sure they headed this way?
Xiang Wan spoke again, and the woman surnamed Guo replied without turning her head, "They must be over here. Hurry up, we're about to catch up with them."
If Xiang Wan still can't see through his blatant lies, she's truly a fool.
Seeing that the woman surnamed Guo was walking faster and faster, Xiang Wan gradually slowed down. When she saw a small groove on the stone wall, she suddenly had a plan.
"They're over here."
Xiang Wan shouted, shone her flashlight into the passageway, immediately turned it off, and then groped her way into the recessed area.
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