It was another passage, and Xiang Wan took off running. She didn't care about anything else as long as she could get rid of these things.
As she ran, she saw two figures loitering ahead. It was none other than Liu Zijue and Zhou Ziqi. With no other way out, Xiang Wan shouted, "Run!" and in their moment of surprise, she slipped between the two.
"Wu Xiangwan, you're still alive."
Guo Ziqi's voice was full of resentment, but Xiang Wan had no time to pay her any attention. She darted off into another side passage. Only the sound of hurried footsteps and Guo Ziqi's curses could be heard coming from the passage she had passed through.
Xiang Wan snorted coldly and sped up again. Liu Zijue and the other two weren't stupid; they deliberately ran in the direction Xiang Wan had gone. They had originally hoped to have them share some of the burden, but who knew they'd end up with two more troublemakers.
She dared not pause for even a moment; knowing the personalities of those two, they would definitely throw her off if danger arose. Hearing the footsteps behind her getting closer, Xiang Wan ran while quickly surveying the surrounding terrain. She saw what appeared to be a black pit ahead, with a path on each side of the pit.
She had very little strength left. Rather than continuing to run for her life and ultimately being devoured by the insects, she might as well take a gamble. She paused briefly, then took the axe from her waist. Just as Guo Ziqi and the others were about to catch up, she leaped forward with all her might, then jumped, slamming the axe into the rock wall opposite the pit with her right hand. After sliding a foot, it finally came to rest against the wall.
"Ah~~" Guo Ziqi followed behind Xiang Wan, thinking there was still a road ahead, and almost fell into the pit, but was pulled back by Liu Zijue.
"Wu Xiangwan, you did this on purpose!" Guo Ziqi was furious. "I won't let you get away with this."
"Hurry up, those things are catching up."
Liu Zijue pulled Guo Ziqi and ran to the right, glancing at Xiang Wan as they left. The light was too dim for Xiang Wan to see the meaning in his eyes. It didn't matter anyway; in the end, either they would die, or she, Xiang Wan, would die.
The pit was quite effective, about two meters wide. The beetles paused briefly at the edge of the pit, then rustled away towards Liu Zijue and the others, which relieved Xiang Wan slightly.
As the tension eased, Xiang Wan felt as if her arm was weighed down by a thousand pounds. She turned her head to look left and right, but found no protrusions to hold onto. Looking down, she saw a bottomless crack in the ground. She had thought it was just a small pit, but now that she saw it clearly, she broke out in a cold sweat.
"Xiao Qi, how deep is it here?"
"Well, with your current physical strength, you'll probably collapse before you even get halfway up."
"You mean, the path below leads to the end?"
"Huh, did this system mention this?"
"hehe!"
If it weren't for the shortcut, the system probably wouldn't have reacted this way. Xiang Wan has been dealing with the system for quite some time now; if she couldn't even guess this, she'd be ashamed of herself.
My arms are aching, and the strength in my hands is gradually weakening. My palms are sweaty; if I don't find a solution soon, I might really die here.
The dagger was still hanging at her waist. She gripped it with her left hand, then forcefully thrust it into a crevice in the rock wall. Once the dagger was firmly in place, she pulled out her axe and found another crevice to insert it into. Her feet weren't idle either; she probed downwards, slowly shifting her weight onto any foothold she could find.
The deeper she went, the more protrusions she found, allowing her to catch her breath. Xiang Wan breathed a slight sigh of relief and continued to slowly and inching her way down, stopping and starting intermittently.
She didn't know how much time had passed when Xiang Wan felt her hands and feet were almost numb, and her head was throbbing. Finally, she felt her feet touch the ground. She perked up and used her feet to feel the ground again, confirming that it was indeed flat. Suddenly, her legs went weak, her grip loosened, and she collapsed.
She was exhausted, her whole body felt heavy, and she didn't want to move at all once she lay down. It took her more than an hour to recover, and she slowly got up and leaned against the stone wall behind her. She took out a bottle of water from her bag and drank several mouthfuls.
She felt a pang of regret; in this dark and gloomy tomb, she hadn't realized how unbearable time could be. If only she had asked for Liu Zijue's watch back. Sigh.
After resting enough, Xiang Wan put all her tools into her backpack before looking around. The place where she was lying wasn't actually flat ground, but rather a protruding platform on a stone wall, about three meters wide from the bottomless underground fissure. Near the fissure, there were two stone pillars carved into snake heads, with two chains extending from the pillars to the other side.
The underground fissure widened as it went deeper. At this point, Xiang Wan could barely see the other side with her headlamp. No wonder the insects didn't dare jump this way; it was because of this. Xiang Wan dared not think further, afraid that recalling the adventure would make her weak in the knees.
She turned around and looked behind her, where she saw a stone door embedded in the stone wall, with a stone-carved cobra on each side, its tongue flicking out.
Xiang Wan walked over and took a closer look. There seemed to be something dark inside the snake's mouth, and its forked tongue was sticking out from there. Usually, in this situation, you would need to try lighting a fire. Based on her experience watching movies, she took out a lighter and lit both of the snake's forked tongues.
The snake's mouth emitted a greenish glow, which was eerie to Xiang Wan, so she decided to focus on studying the things on the stone door.
The stone gate was taller than a person, fan-shaped, and the symbols on it resembled both people and animals, including snakes, birds, and insects. Xiang Wan said she couldn't understand them and there were no hints, so she simply summoned the system; it was most suitable to entrust Guan Rong's task to it.
"Otherwise, why would this system always say that you're uncultured? That's terrifying!"
"Don't use your computer-like memory to mock your host. If you were human, you wouldn't necessarily learn more than me."
"Look at Liu Zijue, how come he doesn't need help?"
"What does he do? What does this host do? Everyone has their own job, so let's keep to ourselves. Besides, he's a good person, so you can go with him."
"I'm telling you, but you won't listen. Fine, what can I do? I was blind to have chosen you, so you're destined to suffer!"
While 007 focused on cracking the code on the door, Xiang Wan wasn't idle either. She looked around and found the two snake heads increasingly eerie. She finally managed to blow out the two green flames with a breath of air before she could breathe a sigh of relief.
"Xiao Qi, are you done yet?"
"Alright, alright, follow the system's instructions. Don't be impulsive, or you'll be in big trouble if you press the wrong button."
Upon hearing this, Xiang Wan immediately composed herself, not daring to be careless, and strictly followed the system's commands.
"Snake, eagle, and man as a group, press them down together."
Without a third hand, Xiang Wan observed the positions of the three symbols. One was facing her forehead, and there was one on each side of her hands. She used her head and hands to push forward together, and she heard a "click-click-click" sound. The symbols on the door shrank inward together, and then the stone door slowly opened to the left and right, revealing a circular totem in front of her.
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