“Come over here, quick!” Zhu Shu pressed her hand against a wall and called out in surprise, “The temperature on this side is different!”

Yu Yaqing walked over, touched it, then felt the wall on either side. She said in a low voice, “These stone bricks are warmer and drier than the ones around them. There must be a space on the other side.”

Su Man crouched down, swept aside the straw along the base of the wall, and called out, “The bricks are loose.”

The women all hurried to crouch down and pry at the bricks.

Hu Ya felt a flash of awkward embarrassment.

Bai Youwei glanced at her sidelong, her tone cool and indifferent. “It’s perfectly natural for me to look down on you.”

Hu Ya: “……”

……

The loose bricks were pulled out one layer at a time, revealing a faint glimmer of light from within.

Yu Yaqing struck the wall hard with her fist — and the entire surrounding ring of bricks caved in! — A square opening was exposed in the wall of the cage, just wide enough for an adult to crawl through.

The passage went deep, and by its angle appeared to lead upward. The inner walls bore scratch marks and dark smears of dried blood, along with clumps of hair and broken fingernails — it looked like a passage through which bodies had been dragged.

As for why it had been sealed up, there was no way to know.

Perhaps simply to deceive them.

Yu Yaqing hitched her bridal gown up around her waist and bent down to crawl into the passage. “Hu Ya, stay right behind me.”

Hu Ya hesitated.

Where the passage led, no one knew. Anything could happen on the other end.

They might find Zhao Lanfen’s gruesome remains. They might discover Bluebeard’s hiding place. And if that monster went berserk again, wouldn’t they be walking straight into a trap?

She agonized over how to convince Yu Yaqing to stop — Yu Yaqing was not someone who left room for argument once she’d made up her mind…

“I’ll go with you.”

Then, without warning, Su Man spoke up.

She also tied her bridal gown around her waist, gave no thought to whether she looked presentable, and bent to crawl in after her.

From inside, Yu Yaqing frowned. “Your hand is injured. It’ll be hard to move through the passage.”

“A night’s rest and it’s fine. Just don’t twist my wrist like last time.” Su Man — who never made jokes — managed a rare moment of self-deprecating humor.

Thinking back on what had happened, Su Man still felt a lingering sense of dissatisfaction. She had grown up never meeting her match among women, yet somehow she had lost to Yu Yaqing. Hard to swallow.

Yu Yaqing said, “Then stay behind me. Don’t get too close. If something happens to me up ahead, slide back down immediately and warn the others. Seal the passage and leave — then figure out another plan.”

Su Man nodded.

The two of them entered the passage one after the other. The remaining four women stayed below and waited.

……

The air inside the passage was nothing like the cold dampness of the basement. It was warm.

The higher Yu Yaqing climbed, the hotter it got. Sweat began to bead on her skin, and the elbows and knees she used to crawl forward began to slip.

She held her breath and moved with greater care.

Behind her, Su Man seemed to sense the change and also slowed her pace.

At last they reached the end of the passage.

Something was blocking the way.

Yu Yaqing reached out cautiously and touched it — metal, and warm to the touch, almost hot, but not enough to burn. Still within the range she could bear.

She pressed close and listened. Nothing.

She knocked deliberately against the metal layer, testing whether anything on the other side would stir.

Still nothing.

Yu Yaqing unwound the gauze skirt from her waist, wrapped it around her hand — layer upon layer — and then pressed it against the metal at the end of the passage and shoved with all her strength!

Screeeee —

Metal scraped across the floor with a grating, ear-piercing shriek, and a thick, heavy stench of blood flooded in!

Yu Yaqing finally saw what lay beyond the passage. She covered her mouth and nose, staring at the scene before her in shock — she had forgotten how to speak.

To say the room was drenched in blood would not be an exaggeration.

Everywhere the eye could reach was red. Red and gleaming. Several ancient torture racks stood displayed around the room, their surfaces coated in old blood dried to black, the testament of countless victims who had suffered upon them.

—