"Ah!"
Dai Xiaomei's scream was short and terrified, cutting through the darkness.
Zhou Niannian's heart tightened, and she screamed along, grabbing Jiang Fan's arm tightly.
Jiang Fan and Yao, hearing the scream, immediately became as if facing a great enemy.
They thought Dai Xiaomei was in trouble, and were naturally extremely nervous.
"Don't panic, brother is here!"
"Brother... kill!"
Jiang Fan shook off Zhou Niannian and rushed to Dai Xiaomei's side.
Yao almost simultaneously leaped forward. Their vision had not yet adjusted to the darkness, so they instinctively attacked the void.
In an instant, Jiang Fan unleashed seven palm strikes at the air, palm winds scattering in all directions.
Yao was not to be outdone, delivering five consecutive kicks with powerful force.
The two of them, facing non-existent enemies, ferociously swung their fists and kicked.
If one were to be struck by their blows, even marble would likely shatter.
Visibility was poor in the dark, and several times, Jiang Fan and Yao's fists and feet landed on each other.
"On the ground, the thing is on the ground."
Dai Xiaomei screamed frantically.
Jiang Fan's heart tightened. On the ground? Could it be venomous creatures like snakes?
He crouched down and swept his leg, precisely kicking a stone. The stone bounced heavily off the wall and then landed on the ground.
At this, the atmosphere around them froze.
Everyone could tell it was just an ordinary stone.
Nothing is more awkward than a sudden silence.
"Ahem, the thing that scared you so much, could it be this stone?"
Jiang Fan asked Dai Xiaomei with a displeased expression.
"Heh heh, maybe it was."
"Hmm, strange, it didn't seem like a stone just now."
"Did it transform? Wow, you kicked it into a stone!"
Dai Xiaomei giggled foolishly, trying to brush it off.
Panda watched Dai Xiaomei with a look of disdain. A mere stone scared her like this; she truly lived up to her timid nature.
"I told you all, get used to the surrounding darkness first, and don't move around carelessly."
"You'll scare yourselves, and it would be disastrous if you stepped into a trap."
Jiang Fan couldn't help but scold Dai Xiaomei.
Dai Xiaomei sheepishly touched her head, no longer daring to move about recklessly.
After a while, everyone slowly grew accustomed to the darkness, and the path ahead gradually became clearer.
Jiang Fan thought for a moment and decided not to light a torch, proceeding in single file.
It was enough to vaguely see the path ahead.
After walking for about fifteen minutes, the passageway gradually brightened, and they could see their surroundings clearly. Jiang Fan suddenly stopped.
Zhou Niannian and Dai Xiaomei, walking behind, tensed up immediately, not knowing what had happened.
"What's wrong?"
"Is there any danger?"
Jiang Fan sighed, moved aside, and revealed that there were seven branching paths in front of them!
The viewers in the live stream gasped.
"My goodness, seven paths!"
"Even if each person took one, there would still be two paths left unexplored."
"Could there be a magical gourd at the end of each of the seven paths?"
"Or maybe a Dragon Ball at each, which could grant wishes if collected."
"This is troublesome. Let's see what tricks Jiang Shen has up his sleeve."
Jiang Fan frowned and felt around on the ground, tossing a few small pebbles into each of the seven paths.
Five of the paths echoed with a long, clear rolling sound.
The other two paths produced short, dull thuds when the stones rolled.
This was precisely the echo detection method Jiang Fan had learned. Paths with dull echoes were standard dead ends.
"These two paths are dead ends, so we don't need to explore them. There are five paths left, and there are exactly five of us..."
"I suggest each of us explore one path. Regardless of whether it's a dead end or not, we'll regroup here after one hour."
Jiang Fan looked around, and Yao and Panda did not object.
Zhou Niannian bit her lip and, after a long pause, slowly nodded.
Dai Xiaomei wore a mournful expression, but since everyone else agreed, she couldn't be the one to refuse. She indicated she wouldn't go.
"We'll meet here in an hour. Remember, if you find any new forks, turn back immediately."
Jiang Fan gave the instruction and, like a bird, leaped forward three times, heading down one of the paths, his figure instantly disappearing into the darkness.
Yao thought for a moment, chose a path in the middle, and just as he was about to embark, he suddenly turned back.
"Dai... Dai Xiaomei, if you're afraid of the dark, you can... you can come with me."
Dai Xiaomei actually wished very much to go with Yao, but as they had agreed to explore one path each, she could only refuse Yao's kind offer.
Yao nodded, turned, and disappeared into the darkness.
Seeing this, Zhou Niannian gritted her teeth in anger.
Even the wolf-child knew to be considerate and wanted Dai Xiaomei to go with him.
That dense straight man had actually left her behind without a word!
He had even pushed her hand away just moments ago!
Just you wait. If there's a dragon at the end of the path, I'm going to wish for him to fly to outer space.
With a pained expression, she stepped onto the rightmost path.
Panda called out with "ooh ooh" sounds and also chose a path.
In the darkness, human eyes were normal, but only the panda's eyes glowed a bright emerald green, perfectly serving as a guide.
Dai Xiaomei saw that only she was left and could only grit her teeth and take the last path.
An hour later, everyone returned to the starting point.
Jiang Fan reported first.
"My path was very long, and I didn't see an end, so I came back first."
Zhou Niannian looked very happy because she had encountered a dead end.
"I walked for a while and found the path ahead blocked by a large amount of collapsed rocks. Perhaps an earthquake occurred and blocked the road."
Yao narrated briefly.
"Li- live..."
Panda then transformed into an embroidered ball, rolling on the ground, and made muffled noises.
"You mean? You were attacked by falling rocks?"
Jiang Fan guessed Panda's meaning.
Panda nodded. It hadn't walked far when suddenly, a large boulder appeared from the end of the passage and rolled towards it.
Terrified, Panda scrambled back as fast as it could.
There's a mechanism... Jiang Fan mused. This was another dead end.
Everyone's gaze turned to Dai Xiaomei, waiting for her report.
"Li- live road..."
Dai Xiaomei's voice was a little weak.
As it turned out, walking alone in the dark, she became more and more scared. She walked for a long time without covering even a kilometer.
Feeling that time was almost up, Dai Xiaomei hurried back. Consequently, she was the first to return among the five.
Because she hadn't gone far, she didn't know if the path was a dead end or a live one, and could only guess.
Excluding two dead ends, there were three live paths left. Now, Jiang Fan was in a difficult situation.
He had to decide whether they should explore one path together or split into three teams.
After thinking for a while, Jiang Fan couldn't decide. He simply sat down cross-legged, like Ikkyu-san, twirling his finger around his forehead in thought.
Yao followed suit and sat down. As soon as he sat down, he suddenly exclaimed.
On the square bricks of the ground, there were actually some characters written!