The tile was meant to be a locked trap plate, yet Jing Shu pried it up bit by bit with brute physical force. Whoever designed the mechanism probably never imagined that aside from the switch someone would simply rip it open with their bare hands. Beneath it was a standard sliding controller with a visible seam in the metal. Jing Shu drove the steel bit along the seam. She hammered again and again until the narrow gap widened.
The heavy exertion pushed her deeper into hypoxia. Her thoughts blurred into a gray haze, but she didn't stop. Every pore on her skin begged for a draught of fresh air. Her chest heaved like a set of old bellows. The cold sensation of death from her previous life crept over her again. She struck even harder with the hammer. In that moment, she sensed something strange and pulsing in the Rubik's Cube Space. She had no time to think about the sensation.
With both bodyguards joining in and pounding hard on the metal, there was a heavy bang that echoed in the small room. The panel tore free and dropped into the darkness. The passage below finally opened.
Jing Shu gulped the sudden influx of air into her parched lungs as if it were sweet nectar. Her whole body felt as if it were floating. It was light and blissful, yet her head still spun with vertigo while the concrete world tilted under her feet. If she had to describe it, it's like running a fever of forty degrees Celsius. Her steps felt weightless as she moved. The voices around her sounded distant and dreamlike.
"Jing Shu? Jing Shu?"
"Come on. We're going down now. Wang Chuang and Da Mao are already through the opening. Jing Shu, are you unwell? Don't scare me like this." Su Mali shook the girl gently by the shoulder. After a short nap on the sofa, she felt fine. Only Jing Shu, who had strained every muscle in the low oxygen room, suffered from hallucinations and auditory distortions.
"Okay," Jing Shu answered. Everything felt unreal. It's as if she were trapped inside a dream. She didn't even remember how she climbed down through the dark opening. She vaguely recalled Su Mali shouting at her to grab the rope. So she grabbed the rough hemp of the rope.
Jing Shu knew this state couldn't go on. She had to save herself from the fog in her mind. She took half a drop of undiluted Spirit Spring from the small vial. The ravenous hunger didn't hit her stomach. Her head still swam in slow circles. The Spirit Spring must have been working somewhere else in her system. Her life mattered most now. So she steeled herself and took another full drop of the liquid.
"We have to find an exit fast," Wang Chuang said, his voice echoing in the vertical space. "We're walking in the shaft without the elevator car. If the car moves and slams into us, we're finished."
Two thick steel cables ran along the length of the passage. Fei Zhuzai had likely "ridden the elevator" down to a lower level. Jing Shu was still dazed by the lack of oxygen. If she had been clear headed, she would have been shocked by how many branch points there were in the construction. The underground space was vast and dark. No one knew where the tunnel led.
She had essentially forced open an elevator door to a shaft with no car. The group descended along the greasy suspension cables. Maybe it would be the third level they reached. Maybe it would be the second.
"My worry's another door at the end that needs brute forcing," Wang Chuang said as he looked down into the pit. "Either way, we must find a way out of here. Da Mao, once we find the exit, contact Mr. Su first. If anything happens to us, I will cover the rear."
"Brother," Da Mao started to protest.
"You still have Er Mao and San Mao to raise. Your family depends on you for their food," Wang Chuang reminded him.
The passage stretched long into the dark. The first sections had two or three forks and turns in the concrete walls. Each path ended at a control plate and a heavy door that wouldn't open. Wang Chuang and Da Mao tried everything to budge them and failed. They had no choice but to keep moving downward.
Usually at the end of a shaft, the top or bottom framework lets you climb out, since it's only a metal rig. Jing Shu's mind didn't clear. If anything, she felt worse than before. It's like a dream she couldn't wake from no matter how she tried. She realized something terrifying as she walked. She could barely feel the sensation of pain in her limbs. She pinched herself hard on the arm, then couldn't remember if she had actually done it. Had she pinched herself or not?
She took another drop of Spirit Spring. What was happening to her body right now? Why did the cure all fail to work as it usually did? She had always wondered how a coma patient's mind felt during the long sleep. Now she knew the truth. The mind seemed awake, but when it told the limbs to move, the body wouldn't respond. Moments ago Jing Shu had been strong as an ox. Now she leaned on Su Mali just to walk.
"Jing Shu, hold on. Once we get out, I will find a doctor right away," Su Mali urged as she supported the girl's weight. At first she had thought it's simple hypoxia. Rest would fix it. Even Wang Chuang had said these were the symptoms of the condition. They had already poured a full bottle of mineral water into Jing Shu, yet her condition only worsened.
"Jing Shu... Shu... Shu..."
Jing Shu heard someone call her name. Each word was stretched and fading. It's like an echo bouncing down a long, hollow tunnel. Was she getting worse?
"Almost there. That's the elevator frame. Climb down beneath it and we reach the exit ledge," Wang Chuang called, sounding excited.
Then a loud creaking rose from the darkness behind them. The two steel cables snapped into sudden motion. They couldn't see the car yet, but the cables were moving fast. That meant something heavy was racing down the shaft toward them.
"Run!"
"Run!"
Wang Chuang shouted the warning. Su Mali hauled Jing Shu toward the bottom of the frame. Da Mao and Wang Chuang followed close behind the women.
"One hundred meters more. Then jump across to the ledge!" Wang Chuang yelled.
Jing Shu ran on pure instinct. Her speed surged past Su Mali's, so she took the lead and pulled Su Mali along through the dark. But four people crammed in a narrow shaft couldn't run fast. One hundred meters sounded short, yet it felt like a lifetime at the edge of death. Did ordinary elevators move this fast? It felt like a free fall toward the ground, not a steady descent. Worse, the twin cables whipped with brutal speed against the walls. Death itself was on their heels.
There. A patch of light marked the exit ledge. Jump.
Jing Shu leaped first. Su Mali followed right after her. In that instant, the elevator assembly plummeted from above.
How fast would a falling mass hit from a great height? By the time you notice the movement, it's already there.
In less than two seconds, the heavy car crashed down with a thunderous impact. Da Mao sprang through the opening after them. A deafening boom shook the entire shaft. It happened so fast a blink would have been too slow.
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Hypoxia is a medical condition where the body or a specific region of the body is deprived of adequate oxygen supply at the tissue level. It can range from mild to severe and can be life threatening if not addressed promptly.