FI CH 37

Chapter 37: Underground Labyrinth (VII)

If it weren’t for the fact that the water had dried up, they probably wouldn’t have discovered this path at all.

Bai Hua stared at it blankly for a moment before finally jumping down. Kurosawa closely followed behind him without saying a word.

The entrance to the passage was narrow—only wide enough for one person to enter at a time. However, after walking a short distance, the tunnel gradually opened up. The walls of the cavern were damp, as if water continuously seeped in from above, slowly accumulating and flowing down to the ground, forming small, shallow pools in the depressions.

The terrain here was extremely strange. Although they were clearly heading downward, the path undulated like waves. After each descent came an uphill climb, and after the climb, another descent—repeating again and again in an endless cycle. As the two ventured deeper, the cave ceiling also grew taller, to the point that it was almost impossible to see the top.

After walking for a while, Bai Hua finally understood why Xiao Jiu had said this was a path. If this really was the reservoir of the underground city, judging by the undulating terrain, even if the entire place flooded, it wouldn’t necessarily be submerged to the top. In fact, if one calculated the distances properly, they could even find places to rest and catch their breath after swimming for a while.

But if not for walking through it personally, no ordinary person would ever know such a path existed.

How did Xiao Jiu know about this path? And where did it lead?

Back then, Xiao Jiu had been so young—there was no way he could have entered on his own. So, someone must’ve brought him in… or taken him out through here.

Judging by what Xiao Jiu hadn’t finished saying at the time, he seemed very afraid of this place. Was it because he had nearly drowned here before?

“Bai Hua…”

Bai Hua was so deep in thought that he didn’t even hear Kurosawa’s voice. It wasn’t until Kurosawa called out several more times that he finally snapped out of it.

“What is it?”

Kurosawa couldn’t use his Guide abilities, so he kept his voice as low as possible.

“Someone’s following us.”

Bai Hua didn’t turn around. He calmly listened carefully for a moment, but the sound of dripping water completely filled the surroundings.

“I don’t hear anything.”

“Mm, they’re highly skilled at concealing themselves.”

Bai Hua didn’t ask how Kurosawa figured that out. After all, he always had his ways—sometimes a Guide’s intuition was even sharper than a Sentinel’s five senses. He simply asked, “Should we lure them out?”

“They’ve been following us for a while, but it doesn’t feel like they have any hostile intent. They’re keeping the safest possible distance. Like they’re observing… or confirming something…”

Bai Hua suddenly thought of the things An Shi had said before, and asked, “Is it someone we know?”

“Not sure, I can’t get a lock on their position.”

Bai Hua thought for a moment, then said, “Let’s draw them out.”

“Hmm?”

“I think I know who it is.”

“Alright.”

Right after he spoke, Kurosawa suddenly launched an attack at Bai Hua. Bai Hua pretended to be caught off guard, stumbling backward and falling hard to the ground, staring in shock at his attacker.

Since they were putting on a show, they had to commit. Kurosawa quickly stepped forward, grabbed Bai Hua by the throat, and slammed him against the wall as if about to land a brutal blow.

The entire time, they kept their backs to the person tailing them. The one hiding in the darkness, unaware it was all an act, watched for a moment—then finally couldn’t hold back any longer and rushed out.

Kurosawa had been keeping part of his focus on their rear. By the time he sensed danger, the person was already very close.

At the critical moment, Bai Hua suddenly shoved Kurosawa aside and grabbed the intruder’s hand with his bare hand. He finally got a clear look at who had been tailing them, and called out the person’s name: “An Shi.”

An Shi glanced at Bai Hua, then at Kurosawa standing to the side—finally realizing what had happened.

Kurosawa asked, “Why were you following us?”

An Shi said, “I was worried you weren’t the real ones.”

Bai Hua asked, “What do you mean?”

An Shi turned around and pulled aside the bandage, revealing a wound on his back. It was a deep stab wound, nearly halfway into the blade. He then explained, “After we got separated in the main hall, someone attacked me from behind. Just before it happened, I heard your voice.”

Bai Hua was surprised.

“My voice?”

“Yes. That’s why I let my guard down.”

Bai Hua glanced at Kurosawa. Kurosawa said to An Shi, “We’ve been together the whole time. We never split up.”

Bai Hua asked again, “Did you see who it was?”

“No,” An Shi recalled, “It was very dark, and I’d gotten separated from the Guide in my group. So I was fooled by the voice. That’s why I kept following you two without showing myself. Same reason you tried to draw me out deliberately, isn’t it?”

An Shi was exactly right. Bai Hua had guessed the person tailing them might be An Shi, yet still chose a roundabout way to draw him out—because they had all considered the possibility that someone from their team had turned traitor, just like the earlier group that was ambushed. So mutual testing was inevitable.

But from these words, Kurosawa seemed to have reached a conclusion.

“That explains why the previous team was attacked. They all heard a teammate’s voice being imitated. This is the enemy’s special ability.”

An Shi added, “The enemy waited until we were scattered, then struck. That way, when we met up again, we’d naturally start doubting each other.”

Finally, Bai Hua voiced the thing that none of them had said out loud yet: “So in reality, there was never a traitor among us. This whole thing was just a trap to mislead us into turning on each other.”

“Mm.” An Shi was the first to respond, “If you’re still suspicious of me, I’m willing to cooperate and clear my name.”

Bai Hua countered, “But how can you be sure we’re not the imposters?”

Kurosawa answered in An Shi’s place, “Because there’s only one person who can mimic voices. And thanks to pheromones, it’s even less likely we’d mistake each other.”

An Shi nodded in agreement.

“In that case, sticking close to you two is the safest option.”

Bai Hua finally turned to An Shi and said, “There’s no need for you to prove yourself. If you were really one of them, you could’ve just stood by and watched us kill each other. You wouldn’t have needed to step in at all.”

Now that the three of them had acknowledged each other’s identities, the next step was to exchange information.

Bai Hua asked An Shi, “So, after we got separated, where did you end up?”

An Shi replied, “I stayed on the third basement floor the whole time.”

Bai Hua shook his head.

“Impossible. Kurosawa and I were on the same floor for several days, but we never saw anyone.”

An Shi looked straight at Bai Hua and said, “Same here. I didn’t see anyone either.”

The two Sentinels exchanged puzzled glances. Then Kurosawa asked, “Did you see anyone else while you were there?”

An Shi answered, “Lin Yuan.”

Kurosawa continued, “How old did he look? How tall?”

“About six or seven years old. Roughly this tall…” An Shi held his hand slightly below his waist.

Bai Hua glanced at Kurosawa. They had also seen Lin Yuan up close before. At that time, Lin Yuan hadn’t been that tall.

With that, Kurosawa came to a conclusion: “We each ended up at different points in time.” That would explain why they hadn’t run into each other.

And from the looks of it, Lin Yuan had likely been in this underground city for at least a year.

Bai Hua continued, “During that time, did anything major happen?”

An Shi replied, “There was an external invasion—by the United Forces.”

Bai Hua was momentarily stunned. The United Forces represented the official government. Under normal circumstances, they wouldn’t launch an unprovoked attack on a small faction like this—unless there was a special reason. And Bai Hua could only think of one possibility: “They came to bring Lin Yuan back?”

An Shi gave him a glance and said, “Yes. Lin Yuan is a descendant of a high-ranking officer in the United Forces. There’s no way they’d let him wander outside for long.”

“So the destruction of the underground city was…?”

An Shi shook his head.

“I don’t think that was it. From what I saw, once the United Forces took Lin Yuan and another child, they left immediately. The city’s destruction must have been caused by something else…”

After exchanging information, they finally had a clearer understanding of the situation.

But even knowing the connection between this underground city and the two of them, Bai Hua still didn’t understand—who was behind all this? And why were they being shown what had happened here in the past?

The mental landscape within the city had clearly been created by Lin Yuan, but he likely wouldn’t have done something like this.

That left only one possibility: the familiar-scented Guide Kurosawa had mentioned.

Could that Guide be Feng Xu?

But… wasn’t Feng Xu already dead…?

(To be continued…)
T/L: Oh… Things are getting interesting!! ৻(  •̀ ᗜ •́  ৻)