“Jiu… Jiu Jie…” Qiu Sixteen asked in a daze. “Did you see it… the thing that just came out…”

Bai Jiu remained silent on the other end for a long time, then her ethereal voice came through: “I saw it.”

“You saw it too. I thought I was hallucinating… just now that…”

“Sixteen.” Bai Jiu immediately interrupted. “Don’t speak first. Open the door behind you.”

“Huh…?”

“Immediately.” Bai Jiu said again in a tone that brooked no refusal.

“Okay… I, I understand…” Qiu Sixteen didn’t ask for a reason and immediately turned around to open the door. On the other side of the door was an old, dilapidated house.

“Don’t think about anything. Enter the door now,” Bai Jiu said again.

Jiang Shi clearly saw that Bai Jiu’s expression was grave, as if she was very nervous.

But from the sound of it, Qiu Sixteen had clearly escaped danger. He didn’t know what Bai Jiu was worried about.

“Okay, okay, okay, Jiu Jie. That really scared me to death just now… You saw it too. After that woman came out just now, she directly…”

“Don’t…!”

As soon as Bai Jiu’s words fell, Jiang Shi’s left eye fell into complete darkness, as if something had gone wrong with the space where Qiu Sixteen was. Immediately after, a cry of alarm came out.

“This is bad…” Bai Jiu held Jiang Shi’s head, looking left and right, but on the other side of the eye was only darkness and rustling sounds. She couldn’t see Qiu Sixteen’s figure at all.

“Jiu Jie… what happened?” Jiang Shi asked.

“It’s ‘air,'” Bai Jiu said. “Sixteen just thought about ‘air.'”

According to Bai Jiu’s thinking, when Qiu Sixteen entered this space, she subconsciously believed she had entered the vast universe, so her subconscious instilled in herself the convictions that “people will float” and “unable to breathe.”

“Ah?!” Jiang Shi was also startled after hearing this. “Then Sixteen she…”

“The problem is that after seeing that faceless woman fall, Sixteen subconsciously thought ‘I will also fall,’ so her conviction immediately changed and she began to fall rapidly toward the abyss.” Bai Jiu said. “The only way to save herself is to open the door behind her and enter it, changing the space she’s in… but I don’t know if I spoke in time.”

The two knew the situation was somewhat serious and both fell silent. After waiting for quite a while, they finally heard Qiu Sixteen’s voice once again transmit from Jiang Shi’s left eye—

“Damn, that scared me to death…”

“That’s great… Sixteen…” Bai Jiu’s anxious heart relaxed slightly. “Are you alright?”

“I’m fine, Jiu Jie. Thanks to you…” Qiu Sixteen replied. “Fortunately you told me to quickly open the door. That decision saved my life.”

After the rustling sounds on the other side of the screen, Qiu Sixteen’s face appeared again. It seemed she had placed the small “intercom” inside the door and managed to illuminate herself.

From the tiny image, Bai Jiu discovered that Qiu Sixteen’s hands were gripping the ground, with the endless starry sky behind her. A pair of hands extended into the door, as if hanging on the edge of a cliff.

She exerted force with both hands and moved bit by bit into the door, pulling herself back from the brink of falling from the cliff’s edge. Then, panting heavily, she turned around and closed the door.

Afterward, she slowly stood up and looked at the mediocre building before her.

“What is it?” Bai Jiu asked. “My viewing angle is limited. I can’t see clearly.”

“It’s…” Qiu Sixteen didn’t know how to describe the house before her, because it was really too ordinary. “Jiu Jie… how should I put it… Have you seen the ‘dilapidated temple’ that often appears in TV dramas? It’s about like that…”

“A dilapidated temple?”

“Yes… about like that…”

Qiu Sixteen slowly walked forward, looking at this bare house. The place had been cleaned spotlessly, with only a stove made of stone bricks and a bed made of straw. Apart from that, there was no other furniture whatsoever.

“You need to be careful. Tell me if there’s any situation,” Bai Jiu said.

“Don’t worry. This place looks… really… too…” Qiu Sixteen frowned and thought for a long time, finally coming up with this adjective. “Too safe.”

After speaking, she came to the other side of the room and saw that there was actually a rusty blue iron door here.

She slowly reached out and pushed the iron door open in one motion. Warm sunlight spilled into the house, falling on the floor, on the walls, and on Qiu Sixteen’s face.

Qiu Sixteen’s eyes slowly widened, and almost in an instant, she froze in place.

The location of this house was on the hillside of a small hill. Looking down from this hillside, there were actually many earthen houses arranged in an orderly manner. It seemed the time had already passed dusk. Some earthen houses were beginning to produce cooking smoke, with human figures bustling about and noisy voices.

Qiu Sixteen swallowed, then raised her nose to sniff. Instantly, a rush of fresh air poured into her lungs. The dizzying oxygen began to follow every cell in her body and be transported everywhere. Her dormant body seemed to be gradually awakened, and even her pores stretched open at this moment.

Her eyes instantly turned red, and when she reached up to touch them, tears had unknowingly filled her cheeks.

“Sixteen… what’s wrong with you?”

Qiu Sixteen knew she didn’t want to cry at all, but this feeling just couldn’t be held back. Her tears rushed forth and her whole body was trembling.

“Jiu Jie… I… I don’t know how to say it…” Qiu Sixteen answered chokingly. “I feel like I’m truly alive. I’m watching the sunset… I’m breathing air… I’m watching the wisps of cooking smoke… Before my eyes is a small mountain village.”

“Breathing… air…?” Bai Jiu felt somewhat unable to understand. “Haven’t you been breathing all along…?”

“No… Jiu Jie…” Qiu Sixteen tried hard to express what she was feeling. “As long as you breathe once here, you’ll feel that everything you’ve breathed for all these years has been fake… Just one breath is all it takes…”

After hearing this, Bai Jiu’s eyes flickered and her mouth moved slightly. A strange thought emerged in her mind.

She only hoped Sixteen wouldn’t discover this thought, otherwise…

“Jiu Jie… have I… escaped?”

Hearing these words, Bai Jiu froze, and the hands holding Jiang Shi’s cheeks also applied slightly more force.

That’s right… a strange space that could lead to anywhere—why couldn’t Qiu Sixteen go directly to the real world?

Whichever real world it was would be fine… She should be able to live well, right?

Rationally, Bai Jiu very much wanted to deny Qiu Sixteen’s answer and wanted to tell her “you’re mistaken, everything is fake.” But from an emotional perspective, she hoped Qiu Sixteen could truly escape. She had no reason to continue staying here and suffering.

If she could truly remain there, even if it was a secluded mountain village, she would be the first person in history to leave this place.

A conflicted emotion began to spread in Bai Jiu’s heart. After only a moment, she made her choice.

“Sixteen, never mind about Xuanwu. Find an opportunity to directly—”

“Jiu Jie, right now I should be very close to Xuanwu’s secret,” Qiu Sixteen interrupted. “Tell me what I should do.”