Chapter 16 Seeking a Way Out

As the new main quest prompt sounded, Xiao Tan and Bei Ling, still underground, were traversing the cave, searching for a way out.

Although that rock had said before its ascension that they would definitely be able to walk out in a day and a night, it was clear that this guy's calculation method had problems.

What it called a day and a night was probably twenty-four hours of non-stop, continuous forward movement.

Naturally, Xiao Tan and Bei Ling couldn't possibly move like that. They were constrained by the consumption of their Stamina Values and had to stop to rest from time to time. Both of them were currently at Level 17, with a full state of 1700 Stamina Points. Even if they were overconfident, they would at least have to keep their stamina above a quarter, otherwise, what if they encountered an emergency, and their stamina happened to be bottoming out? Wouldn't that be terrible?

Although the monsters and puzzles in this cave weren't triggered endlessly like landmines in *Pokemon*, the fLAgs distributed on the map alone were already enough. Under normal circumstances, there was no way to bypass them if they wanted to move forward. From time to time, there would also be some kind of reward, like giving you a piece of candy after slapping you in the face...

Therefore, the two of them had basically entered a state of playing a traditional RPG game... exploring, triggering events, obtaining rewards, resting, continuing to explore... repeating the cycle. Unconsciously, the map they explored became larger and larger. Since they didn't know the specific location of the exit, they would try to explore any forks they encountered as much as possible.

And so, when the two of them finally found the exit, the time had already passed midnight on the second day. And from the time they initially fell into the cave, it had probably been about thirty-five hours.

These kinds of long-term scripts in Thriller Paradise, when played in the later stages, would produce a very strange sense of fatigue. The player's body was in a sleeping state in the game pod, while their spiritual world seemed to be active in a controllable dream.

If this dream was very long, exceeding a day, or even two days, a person's sense of time would become problematic. This situation wasn't too intense in the script, and its true influence should be when the player left the game pod. At that time, the player would have the illusion that they had stayed up all night, but in reality, their body wasn't tired, they just felt like they hadn't rested well mentally.

"This should be it, right?" Xiao Tan took off his miner's hat and put it away.

Bei Ling also turned off her flashlight, raised her head, and looked upwards in the direction of Xiao Tan's gaze, "Judging by sight, it's even higher than the place we fell from."

At this moment, Bei Ling had already changed the batteries in her flashlight twice. She hadn't expected that lighting equipment would be needed for such a long time in this script, so she only brought four spare batteries, which were now all used up. In fact, after talking to the rock, Bei Ling realized that the flashlight batteries might not last for very long, and once they lost lighting, her and Xiao Tan's movements would be several times more difficult and dangerous. So, she quickly suggested that the two of them not turn on their light sources at the same time, and that they turn off the lighting equipment when resting, in order to save some power.

Fortunately, they finally found the exit before the power ran out.

This was a rock cave similar to the place where they fell, without a cave ceiling, and above it was a tunnel. The tunnel here wasn't the shape of an inverted funnel, but an ordinary cylindrical shape. In the middle of the rock cave was still a pool of water, and on the four walls of the rock cave, thick, gnarled yellow vines grew, these vines were like natural climbing ladders, intricately and densely covering the stone walls, extending all the way to the top (similar to the demon vines in *Darksiders*).

Looking up, you could see light coming in at the top of the cylindrical tunnel, which was covered with vegetation, like a canopy covering the top of this tunnel.

Looking up from the dark bottom of this cave, the moonlight sprinkled down from the gaps in the plants, hazy and indistinct. Although it couldn't be said to be a beautiful and wondrous sight, it was indeed a fairly good view.

"Um... then I'll go up first?" Xiao Tan asked, "Oh... right, should we get a rope and tie each other together, like a safety rope when mountaineering?"

"You occasionally come up with some good ideas," Bei Ling replied, which could be considered a rare compliment.

Xiao Tan just smiled and didn't reply. This kind of personality could be considered an advantage. If it were Feng Bujue who was praised, he would definitely take an inch and try to sell himself again.

Bei Ling had ropes in her luggage, and they were the kind of mountaineering ropes with safety buckles. This item was a store item and was expensive, but its practicality was beyond doubt, and it was worth the price.

They tied the ropes to their respective shoulders and waists, leaving seven or eight meters of rope length between the two, so that they could move without affecting each other's climbing movements, and if one of them accidentally fell, the other could withstand the impact of the fall in time. Of course, this was just an insurance measure, and it couldn't be ruled out that the other person might also be taken down by the force of the fall.

Before climbing, they rested for a while to allow their Stamina Values to reach a safe level as much as possible, in order to avoid falling halfway due to exhaustion. Then, led by Xiao Tan, they began to climb.

Climbing walls was a basic ability that an assassin must master, like eating, sleeping, breathing, and blinking. An assassin could forget how to speak, but they wouldn't forget how to get up when they encountered a wall.

Of course, Xiao Tan wasn't an assassin, he was just a player wearing the classic attire of *Assassin's Creed*, with agility as his development direction, and combat and investigation as his main specializations. But facing this well-set climbing path in the game, he climbed relatively easily and comfortably. After all, the walls were full of handholds and footholds, and these vines were extremely strong and tough, so it was unlikely that he would miss a grip or step.

Although Bei Ling was weaker in terms of physical strength and skill, she was lighter, and climbing wasn't strenuous. Because there was someone opening the way above, and there was a rope on her body, she was also more relaxed psychologically, and following Xiao Tan's rhythm, she quickly climbed halfway.

Looking down, it was pitch black under her feet, and she could only vaguely hear the faint sound of the water in the pool, but she couldn't see the bottom. Looking up, the moonlight that penetrated the vegetation seemed even brighter.

Climbing had been going on for nearly twenty minutes, and the two were gradually approaching the exit at the top. The excitement and joy of finally escaping diluted the physical and mental fatigue accumulated over the dozens of hours. The dangers along the way were still vivid in their minds... the seemingly endless tunnels, the monsters that would appear at any time, the puzzles blocking the way, the sudden scares... these were finally coming to an end.

The mood at this moment was as refreshing as drinking a sip of ice-cold milk after taking a bath.

"Huff... we're finally out!" After returning to the ground, the two lay face-up on the grass under the starry sky, exhaling a long breath.

At this moment, they were in a mountain forest, and the bright moonlight illuminated the surroundings as if it were daytime. The trees were sparse in this area, and the terrain was slightly sloped. Anyway, they didn't see any obvious dangers for the time being.

"I say... is this already the early morning of the third day?" Xiao Tan asked.

"That's right, the duel is tonight," Bei Ling replied, "About a dozen hours left."

"Uh... judging from the main quest, Jue Ge and the others should still be in that place called the Lingzhong Realm, right?" Xiao Tan added.

Upon hearing this, Bei Ling seemed to have thought of something: "That's right! How did helping that Su nüxia (female hero) break through her martial arts end?"

Xiao Tan revealed a hint of worry: "Well... anyway, judging from the team bar, Jibu hasn't died yet..."