The child left the cage smoothly, and no other incidents occurred.
This point made everyone present slightly relieved.
Including the child who had lost his freedom for a long time.
The little fox, seeing the child finally emerge, was also a little happy for him. Then, she looked at him with some anticipation and asked the child, "Now that your first request is fulfilled and you've left the cage, can you tell us how to get out of here?"
The child was still a bit dazed. The feeling of suddenly gaining freedom was indeed unaccustomed to him after being imprisoned for so long.
However, he quickly reacted.
At this time, the sooner they left this damned place, the better.
The child then responded to the little fox.
He said to the little fox, "Yes, follow me."
The child was still adjusting to the feeling of walking. He hadn't walked on his own two feet for too long. However, his movements were too slow, and Ye Tiancheng couldn't bear it any longer, so he directly picked up the child.
When the child was picked up by Ye Tiancheng, he was immediately flustered.
He said in shock, "What are you doing? Put me down quickly!"
Ye Tiancheng couldn't help but retort, "If you walk so slowly, I'm afraid the owner of this damned place will be back already. It's faster for me to carry you. As for walking, you can slowly try to recover after you are truly free, and it won't be too late."
"Which direction do we need to go, point it out to me."
Hearing Ye Tiancheng's words, the child finally stopped struggling.
He pointed in a direction with a reluctant expression and said, "To the room with the pool where I used to stay before I transformed into human form."
Ye Tiancheng and the others didn't doubt anything. After all, the contract had been signed, and they weren't afraid of the child turning against them.
He then carried the child and walked towards the door. The little fox and Liang Ping hurried to follow behind Ye Tiancheng, walking out together.
During this process, after the child finished giving directions, he remained silent for a few seconds before finally speaking, "The owner of this place is not the one who locked me here."
Hearing this, Ye Tiancheng and the other two were immediately intrigued, and their attention fell on the child.
However, when communicating with children like this, Ye Tiancheng and Liang Ping unanimously agreed that it was more appropriate to leave it to the little fox.
Of course, this was not them implying that the little fox was too childish.
Absolutely not.
Ye Tiancheng gave the little fox a look. After understanding Ye Tiancheng's hint, the little fox took over the child's words and asked him, "Do you know a lot about this place? Actually, we still don't quite understand who is behind all this, or what this place is. We can only tell that this is a tomb."
Hearing the little fox's words, the child looked at him with some disdain.
He said, "Then you are too muddled."
Ye Tiancheng and the other two were speechless.
The little fox tried to defend herself, Ye Tiancheng, and Liang Ping.
"It's not like that, it's not being muddled!"
"The reason we don't know is, my elder brother and I came to rescue someone. Because the person we were rescuing was already here, we were directly teleported here and got trapped here as well. We also lost a companion..."
"As for our companion who fell here, they were originally in another place, and then inexplicably, the ground beneath them gave way, and they were teleported to this place. In such a situation, who can figure out what's going on? It's good enough to find a way out."
After hearing the little fox's explanation, the child thought for a moment and then said, "No wonder you three are together. Logically speaking, only one person should be able to enter here at a time. I originally thought you had agreed to enter separately."
The little fox's eyes widened slightly, and she asked in surprise, "Only one person can enter at a time?"
Regarding this topic, Ye Tiancheng and Liang Ping were obviously paying extra attention and listened intently, wanting to know what was going on. This way, they might be able to figure out Nie Chongyang's whereabouts.
After all, if only one person could enter at a time, then Nie Chongyang might not have entered here at all.
When the child heard the little fox's question, perhaps because the contract had been reached, he had already gained the trust of Ye Tiancheng and the other two and was willing to explain some things.
So, the child explained to the little fox, "You said earlier that you and your elder brother came to rescue someone and were directly teleported here. It should not have been through the normal channel, so it's a special case and cannot be used for judgment."
"But you said you lost a companion while you were rescuing someone. Based on what I know, it should be the situation I understand."
The little fox immediately said anxiously, "Tell us quickly, we are worried sick about our lost companion!"
The child frowned impatiently and said, "Don't rush me, I'll say it slowly. When explaining, it can't be without a beginning or an end."
He said, "This place, in fact, is only for one person to enter at a time. If there are companions around when entering, accidents will occur. One person will be instantly pulled in, but others will only see that one of their companions has inexplicably had an accident."
"Everyone will only see that their companion who had an accident suddenly has the ground beneath them crack open, causing them to fall. This is something that happens in an instant. By the time others react and go over, the ground has already returned to its original state, and the companion has already disappeared."
Because this child could also judge that Ye Tiancheng clearly seemed to be the little fox's elder brother.
He wasn't considered Liang Ping because the child could also sensitively feel that although Liang Ping's relationship with Ye Tiancheng and the others should also be very good, there seemed to be something separating Liang Ping from Ye Tiancheng and the little fox. It wasn't that their relationship was false, but rather that the distance between Liang Ping and Ye Tiancheng was slightly greater.
And the relationship between Ye Tiancheng and the little fox was very obvious.
Sometimes, people's emotional tendencies would be unconsciously reflected externally. As long as one paid a little attention or observed more, it could be easily discovered.
Therefore, after saying the previous words, the child shifted his gaze to Liang Ping.
"It should be that companion who was chosen and had the accident. Because there are some strange mechanisms here, you probably didn't realize it at first after arriving here, that you and your companion were separated. But you are quite smart, so you discovered that the companion beside you was fake."
"So, in your eyes, your companion suddenly disappeared."
"In reality, the separation is mutual. The companion who was with you earlier also felt that he had lost you."
After hearing the child's explanation, Ye Tiancheng and the other two breathed a sigh of relief.
Liang Ping also showed some surprise.
He said, "Is that really true? That's great. I was worried about Captain Nie. If that's the case, I'll be relieved."
The child guaranteed, "Don't worry, I'm definitely not lying to you about this. Your companion must be fine. Well... if he didn't encounter other dangers, the situation outside when you were there probably wasn't very safe."
"Otherwise, you wouldn't have fallen down inexplicably, and you should have realized that the place you were standing on had some problems before that."
Liang Ping nodded helplessly.
They were being attacked at the time, and in the midst of battle, it was certainly not a safe situation.
But in comparison, the possibility of Nie Chongyang being assassinated and replaced, and still remaining in his original position, was much more reassuring than that.
As they spoke, they returned to the pool where the feng shui fish were kept.
Ye Tiancheng looked around thoughtfully and said, "When you were still in the form of that black bird, you always stayed here. Was it also because you had to leave from here to escape?"
The child nodded, admitting Ye Tiancheng's guess.
"Indeed, I can only leave from here, but neither of my two forms can activate the mechanism here to leave. So, I can only stay here. Other than that, it's the same wherever I go."
His tone carried a hint of sadness.
Ye Tiancheng thought for a moment and then asked the child, "What exactly happened to you? Are you a human or a bird? And why did you appear here?"
Hearing Ye Tiancheng's question, the child curled his lips with some self-mockery.
He said, "Am I a human or a bird? In the past, I was certainly a human, but now, I don't know what I am."
This answer was truly unexpected for Ye Tiancheng and the others.
Had this child transformed from a human into a bird?
What exactly had happened to him?
The child did not hide his experiences. It wasn't to the extent that he was unwilling to mention them.
When Ye Tiancheng and the others asked, the child was willing to talk.
As the child narrated, Ye Tiancheng and the others finally learned about what had happened to the child.
According to the child, the place where they were located, the ground, should still be within the scope of the ruins of the burned-down hotel.
He was born in a village within this area and was originally an ordinary child.
But in the years he was born, his village always had accidents, and there were always rumors of hauntings. Moreover, the village had poor harvests and droughts. Later, some people said it was because there were vengeful spirits here, and it was related to the hotel ruins.
In any case, some people suggested that the village could only recover if the wrath of the vengeful spirit was appeased.
To appease the wrath of the vengeful spirit, besides offering sacrifices and burning things for it, they also had to offer virgin boys and girls, as said by a passing charlatan. However, after the plan was implemented, the villagers failed.
Because they discovered that this charlatan was a liar.
However, at that time, the child had already been trapped in the fire. His parents certainly did not send him for sacrifice voluntarily, but under the circumstances at that time, they had no choice and could not resist. Resisting would only lead to the death of the entire family.
Therefore, the child was abandoned.
At this moment, when the villagers discovered they had been deceived and the child was trapped in the raging fire, no one was willing to take responsibility for this mistake and rescue the child from the fire.
Even so, the child's eventual death was not due to the fire.