Yu He grabbed a vine with quick hands. A branch tore through her sleeve, and a sharp pain shot up her arm. As she reached for another handhold, the vine suddenly snapped, and she plummeted.
With a hollow "bang," Yu He landed on her toes, knees bent, steadying herself.
She had managed to grab vines along her fall, preventing a complete tumble, but at the cost of her palms being scraped raw and burning.
Yu He ignored the pain and surveyed her surroundings.
A sliver of sky was visible above – the fissure in the mountainside she had fallen through, hundreds of meters deep. The opening was now too far to discern its edges. Light streamed down from this gap, making it look like a great maw had opened in the mountain.
From above, it would have been difficult to discover such a large opening if she hadn't accidentally slipped.
The split in the mountainside appeared natural. Behind her was a spacious, semi-elliptical space, resembling a semi-artificial excavation. It was deep and dark.
Among the scattered stones on the ground flowed a small stream of clear mountain spring water. Beside the stream, several plump rats eyed her warily.
Once she confirmed she was safe, Yu He went to the stream, washed her hands and face, and drank a few mouthfuls. The spring water was icy cold, almost bone-chilling.
Her arm was still bleeding. She tore off the ripped sleeve and used it to bandage the wound, staunching the flow.
Her jacket was still up on the mountain. Now, wearing only a thin wool sweater with a torn sleeve, she began to feel the chill of the cave.
With nightfall approaching, it would likely get even colder. She needed to get out.
Climbing back up the way she came seemed impractical. Yu He followed the downstream direction of the stream for a while, scaring the rats further into the darkness.
She reached the end of the path where the spring water pooled into a small pond. Carefully observing the water's flow, she saw it continued into the excavated area behind her. There seemed to be a second level below her.
However, it was deep and very dark, making her hesitant to proceed.
To her left and right, the mountain blocked any passage. Unless she could climb up, her only option was to wait for death here.
She gritted her teeth, thinking that death was inevitable either way, and decided to venture in.
Yu He bolstered her courage and walked further in, step by step.
Suddenly, there was a "clatter" in the cavernous space. She seemed to have kicked something. Looking down, she found a military flashlight.
She picked it up. It was covered in dust, but when she tested it, it still worked.
With light, Yu He saw a tattered backpack not far ahead. Something was moving inside. She kicked a stone towards it.
A squeak. A rat the size of a cat emerged from the backpack and darted into the darkness.
Yu He quickly followed its path with the flashlight beam, and by chance, discovered a bronze door deep within the cave.
She first rummaged through the torn backpack. The smell of rat urine hit her. She waved her hand in front of her nose in disgust, then continued searching.
The backpack's surface was covered in dust and scuff marks from dragging on the ground. It was likely the rats had dragged it from somewhere. The zipper was chewed open, and the bag had been dragged so much that most of its contents had fallen out. All that remained were compressed biscuit wrappers, gnawed to shreds by rats, a water bottle, and a dagger.
Yu He took the dagger for self-defense and then walked towards the bronze door.
The ground in front of the bronze door was paved with cement, and in the center, a Bagua diagram was inlaid with small black and white tiles.
Such a large space excavated in the mountainside, equipped with a bronze door – was it a tomb? Or something else?
She approached the bronze door. The bronze had the patina of age. On either side of the door were carvings of the door gods, Shen Tu and Yu Lei, now covered in a layer of dust.
In the center was a lock shaped like the Chinese character "凹" (āo), completely covered in dust. The keyhole at the bottom of the lock was designed in a "工" (gōng) shape, suggesting it could be opened with the right key.
But Yu He knew it wouldn't be that simple. This was a hidden mechanism, a maze lock. Even with the key, it wouldn't open by simply inserting it; the internal mechanisms had to be aligned correctly.
She was keenly interested in deciphering such hidden locks and was even eager to try, but the current circumstances didn't allow for it. She needed to get out first.
She swept her flashlight beam around. To her right, there seemed to be a hidden passage. She took a step forward, then stopped abruptly, as if she had stepped on something.
Yu He moved her foot. The flashlight illuminated the ground. Nestled between two white tiles was a black pearl earring, the size of a small fingernail.
It looked familiar. She picked it up. The earring's hook was rusty, suggesting it had been lost here for a long time.
She remembered that when she was five, to show off her kindergarten crafts to her adoptive parents, she had made a pair of black pearl earrings as a Mother's Day gift for her adoptive mother.
The memory was so vivid because, while trying to drill a hole in the black pearl, her clumsy hands had missed, pricking her finger. She had bled a lot and dared not tell her adoptive parents. Fortunately, Qin Beiting had helped her. He had also helped her drill the hole in the black pearl afterwards.
The finished black pearl earrings became a gift from both of them to their adoptive mother.
Her adoptive mother had been delighted and wore them for a while. But Yu He recalled that after a business trip, she never saw her wear them again.
When Yu He asked her why she no longer wore them, her adoptive mother, as if remembering, apologized and said she had lost one...
Yu He rubbed the black pearl in her hand. She couldn't quite recall the appearance of the original earrings and wasn't sure if it was a coincidence. Had her adoptive mother been here before?
She glanced back at the bronze door. When she got out, she would find an opportunity to come back with equipment.
She put the pearl in her pocket and continued towards the hidden passage.
The passage was a set of upward-sloping stairs, not very evenly constructed. Looking up, she could see a faint light and felt a draft from above, indicating an exit.
Yu He didn't hesitate and climbed upwards. Halfway up, the flashlight flickered twice, then died!
Outside, the sky had already turned dark. The hidden passage was plunged into absolute blackness. Yu He could see nothing and began to sweat.
"Don't be afraid, don't be afraid. Climb up... climb up..."
She couldn't give up here. She hadn't found the killer of her adoptive mother, had not cleared her adoptive father's name, and hadn't even eaten Qin Beiting's pan-fried steak yet...
Yu He repeated affirmations to herself, closed her eyes, and forced her trembling limbs to continue climbing.
It felt like half a century before she finally reached the opening. Drenched in cold sweat, she looked as if she had been pulled from water.
She collapsed at the cave entrance, gasping for breath, her limbs shaking uncontrollably.
Suddenly, a low growl of a beast sounded beside her ear. Yu He's eyes snapped open. In the darkness, dozens of pairs of glowing green eyes were fixed on her...