Crawling backward was much slower than going forward. Both of their knees and palms were bleeding, and they were drenched in sweat. The air in the tunnel grew increasingly thin and hot. Kit finally couldn't hold on any longer and collapsed. The man paid him no mind and continued to crawl backward, using his hands to feel for another exit since sight was useless in the tunnel, which slowed him down even more. Unbeknownst to him, more than an hour passed, and he had only crawled about four hundred meters. This five-kilometer-long passage had a total of three forks. Without someone who knew the way, it was easy to get lost. A single wrong turn would add six hundred meters to the journey, and most importantly, the forks were extremely difficult to find. The tunnel was pitch black; any human who entered would simply be exhausted to death inside.
Sonita and her mother waited outside for over six hours, but still, Kit and the other two did not emerge. They were frantic with anxiety, a sense of foreboding growing in their hearts. Daechir had long guessed this would be the outcome. She could sense Yurina watching them from not far away. "Crazy woman, why haven't my father and the others come out yet?" Daechir dared not speak the truth, afraid the other would smash her to pieces in a fit of rage. "Let's wait a little longer. They'll be out soon." But inwardly she was anxious, "What on earth is Yurina doing? Why hasn't she made a move yet?"
Another half hour passed. Sonita and her mother had lost their patience. The woman yelled at the head, "Tell me, what the hell happened in there?"
"Madam, how would I know? I'm out here with you."
Just then, a loud "rumble" came from the direction of the large stone door. "Did they come out from the front?" Daechir said, a sudden idea striking her.
"Is there another way out from that side?" Sonita asked.
"Let's go and see." The woman grabbed her daughter's hand. "Let's go!" The two of them immediately ran over. It was a wall opposite the stone door that had collapsed, scattering a pile of rocks and dust on the ground. "What's going on?" the woman asked the head in her hands.
"Madam, you ask me everything? How would I know?"
"Mom, be careful! There might be someone else here. The wall wouldn't just collapse for no reason."
"Could it be that little person holding the dried corpse?" Just as she finished speaking, swoosh! A dark figure flashed by. Sonita's eyes were sharp. She cried out in alarm, "It's that half-bodied woman! How did she get out? Where are Dad and the others?"
The woman thrust the head at her daughter and gave chase. Yurina, propped on her hands, ran no slower than her pursuer. After about a hundred meters, she deliberately slowed down to let the woman catch up. At a corner, she hid. The woman suddenly lost her target, her eyes wide with anger. There was normally nowhere to hide in the passage, but Yurina was lying behind a rock. With only her upper body and the dim light, the woman didn't spot her at first. Yurina held an iron pipe, ready to deliver a fatal blow. As the woman looked around, a shout came from behind, "Mom, did you find her?"
"No, it's too dark here. Don't come over. I can handle it myself."
Sonita stamped her foot and yelled, "We've been tricked! That stone door is an entrance and exit! Something must have happened to Dad!"
"So the head lied to us?" She strode to her daughter, snatched the head, and shouted, "Tell us how to get into the stone door, or I'll smash you to bits."
Hearing this, Daechir cried out frantically, "Yurina, come out! Explain it to them!"
She yelled several times, but there was no response. The woman, enraged, lifted the head and slammed it on the ground, then stomped on it several times. Daechir squeezed her single eye shut, letting out a series of pained cries. Sonita couldn't bear to watch. "Mom, don't! Let me ask her!"
She picked up the head from the ground. "Crazy woman, right now I just want to find my dad, and then the three of us will leave this place. Please tell me how to open that stone door."
"I really don't know. Only Yurina knows how to get in. She's hiding behind the rock at the left corner of the wall."
The woman immediately approached the rock. She was cautious, moving very slowly. Yurina was filled with hatred and jumped out, cursing, "Ghost head, why did you betray me?"
"Who told you to stay hidden? Did you kill that man and the boy?" Daechir wanted to drag her into the mess, deliberately steering the conversation in that direction.
The trick worked. Upon hearing this, the woman charged forward recklessly. Yurina, holding a weapon in her right hand and propping herself up with her left, saw the ferocious attack coming. She swung the iron pipe, hitting the woman on the right shoulder. With a sharp "Wah!", the woman didn't retreat but advanced. Before Yurina could swing a second time, the woman had pounced on her. The two immediately began to grapple. Yurina was strong, but without her lower body, she had no advantage and was quickly pinned underneath. The woman's hands gripped her neck tightly, shouting incessantly, "I'll kill you! I'm going to kill you!"
Sonita placed the head on the ground and also went to help. Daechir, now free, desperately wanted to hide, but even such a simple task was impossible. She tried blowing air at the ground with her mouth, hoping to make the head roll, but after several attempts, the head didn't move an inch. The fight on the other side had changed. Sonita had found a rope from somewhere and tied Yurina's hands, looping the other end around her neck. The mother and daughter dragged the half-body towards the stone door. They seemed to have forgotten Daechir and didn't take her with them. The woman raised the iron pipe at Yurina and roared, "One last chance. If you don't tell me how to get into the stone door, I'll smash you."
To survive, Yurina finally compromised. A few minutes later, the three of them were inside the stone door. Sonita held the iron pipe, leading the way, while the woman dragged the half-person behind her. They passed through the corridor and came to another stone door. "This stone room is the gold warehouse. I think those two are probably still inside," Yurina said.
The woman was overjoyed. "Are you serious?"
"Mom, be careful. Don't fall for her tricks again."
The woman nodded and gently pushed the door open. The room was filled with a brilliant golden light. Piles of gold coins were on the floor, and the walls were hung with shields, masks, armor, swords, spears, and other pure gold items. In a corner, a vehicle was parked. But she wasn't interested in any of this. The room wasn't large. After a brief search, she didn't see her husband. She burst into tears with a "Wah!" Sonita, hearing her mother's cries from outside, rushed in. "Mom, what's wrong?"
The woman stopped crying. "No one's here. What should we do?"
"They must still be in that passage. There's no other exit here. Let's go out and look."
Just as the two were about to leave, they heard a click. The stone door instantly shut. Sonita cried out inwardly, "Oh no!" and rushed over, but no matter how hard they pushed, the door was sealed as if welded shut and wouldn't open. Outside, Yurina, having succeeded in her ploy, was ecstatic. She yelled at the stone door, "Just starve to death in there, you pathetic humans."