The moment the stone door was opened, an indescribable chill swept over her, causing Xi Xi to shiver.
At the same time, a faint yet clearly audible sound of dripping water reached her ears. Xi Xi quickly scanned her surroundings through the searchlight. But after just one glance, she frowned and withdrew without hesitation.
One good news and one bad news. This was the conclusion Xi Xi reached after weighing the options in her mind.
The good news is that a new exit has been found. After the stone gate opens, there is a brand new open-air canyon that leads directly to the ground, so there is no need to go back.
The bad news is that it seems to be getting colder outside, on a completely different level than before. Moreover, there is a stagnant pool of water at the bottom of this new canyon, which means she will have to wade through it to get through. Given her current physical condition, this is quite strenuous.
For a moment, Xi Xi was caught in a difficult dilemma, unable to move forward or backward.
Xi Xi leaned against the rock wall, her thoughts surging like a tidal wave. After much hesitation, she finally decided to make do with spending the night in this cave.
It might be more advantageous for her to wait until night fades, dawn breaks, and the sun rises before embarking on her return journey through this new canyon. After all, by then, the sky will be brighter and the temperature will rise, solving all her problems.
Thinking this, Xi Xi sighed softly and then unloaded her heavy hiking backpack. After the stone door closed, the cave, which had been chilly, warmed up again in the swirling heat generated by the heating talisman, becoming a relatively comfortable shelter once more.
Xi Xi sat with her knees bent against the corner of the wall, quietly feeling the heat emanating from the center of the cave dwelling.
This is a confined space where heat doesn't easily dissipate, so even if the heating talisman's effectiveness diminishes over time, it probably won't have a significant impact on the temperature inside the cave.
Having slept too long during the day, Xi Xi shouldn't theoretically be too sleepy at this moment. However, the burning sensation of fever kept coming, gradually blurring her consciousness, making her eyelids heavy, and finally she slowly closed her eyes.
Looking back, Xi Xi couldn't remember when she fell asleep; she only vaguely remembered being awakened by the earth-shaking tremors at dawn. The tremors were all too familiar to her, like a nightmare from the depths of her memory replaying itself. At the same time, it seemed as if some dust was falling in a flurry, instantly waking Xi Xi completely.
She reacted with exceptional speed, grabbing her backpack without hesitation and dashing towards the stone gate like an arrow.
In its previous life, Spring City was located on an earthquake zone, and it suffered a lot during the apocalypse. Various natural disasters followed one after another, the climate became increasingly erratic, and geological changes were more frequent, with small earthquakes every three days and large earthquakes every two months.
Xi Xi's decision to flee was purely instinctive. As soon as she stepped out of the stone gate, she stepped into a shallow pool of water. Fortunately, the terrain here was higher, and the water barely reached her ankles.
The sky was beginning to lighten with a pale, fish-belly white, foreshadowing the approaching dawn. But the sun had not yet risen, and the whole world remained bathed in a hazy, dreary morning light.
The once calm water was now rippling with tiny waves, silently proclaiming the shock.
Xi Xi's heart sank, realizing something was wrong. She struggled to steady her swaying body and narrowly avoided the huge rock that crashed down from above.
As the dust settled, she looked closely and gasped – the two sides of the canyon were slowly closing in on each other as if being pushed by a pair of invisible giant hands! At the same time, the stagnant water in front of her seemed to be under immense pressure, its water level rising steadily, threatening to overflow.
Xi Xi immediately became more alert. She quickly slung her backpack over her shoulder and began to survey the surrounding canyon structure as fast as she could. Soon, her gaze settled on a narrow but straight crack.
Xi Xi braced herself against the sandstone on both sides and leaped with all her might, her body pressed tightly against the cliff face, her hands quickly finding protruding rocks to hold onto.
This is the ideal place to implement the chimney climbing method.
The so-called chimney climbing method is a common technique in rock climbing. Physically speaking, it utilizes the interaction of forces to achieve vertical ascent.
Xi Xi raised her head with a serious expression, gazing up at the crack above her. She estimated the crack to be about half a foot wide, enough to make it passable. Without further hesitation, she grunted and mustered all her strength, focusing intently on climbing.
If she climbs slower than the canyon closes in, she will be flattened into a meat patty by the canyon, like a mosquito swatted by a fly.
Soon, Xi Xi, whose physical fitness was slightly lacking, began to experience muscle soreness, but her eyes grew increasingly determined. She kept adjusting her posture, sometimes using her feet to push against the small indentations on the rock wall, and sometimes using the strength of her arms to pull herself up.
Sweat streamed down Xi Xi's forehead, mingling with the fine sand on the cliff face, but Xi Xi didn't care. She had only one thought in her mind: "to live."
She exerted all her strength, using her body weight and muscle power to find tiny footholds on the almost vertical rock face and gradually move upwards. Xi Xi could feel the rocks on both sides gradually converging with a strong pushing force, which became more and more intense as she went higher.
After a long and arduous struggle, Xi Xi finally saw the light at the top of the canyon. She took a deep breath, mustered all her strength, and leaped upwards, gripping the rocks at the edge of the cliff tightly with both hands.
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