Xu Xi was entering this passage for the second time, so the moment he jumped down, he skillfully crouched and crawled forward on his knees for a few steps.
The High-Ponytailed Woman hadn't anticipated the passage would be this narrow, so she had to squat down as well and follow the young man ahead by crawling.
"This is good, right here."
Xu Xi looked back, saw they were already positioned in a blind spot from the view above the hole, and stopped, sitting with his legs bent.
The High-Ponytailed Woman adopted a cross-legged sitting posture.
"I have a question."
After hesitating for a moment, she decided to ask anyway.
"If this passage isn't dangerous, then why did you say coming down here would mean death?"
Where does the danger come from?
Xu Xi paused for a second before suggesting, "You can try crawling further inside."
Unlike him, who had a second chance and had experienced the outcome of being trapped to death here, she lacked certain information and naturally couldn't figure it out.
The High-Ponytailed Woman glanced at the deep, dark passage ahead, pursed her lips, and slowly crawled past Xu Xi towards the depths.
As they passed each other, Xu Xi suddenly remembered she didn't have a flashlight; she couldn't possibly crawl in the dark. So, he reached out and handed the flashlight to her.
"Take the flashlight."
The High-Ponytailed Woman was taken aback for a moment before accepting the flashlight.
As she turned, she relaxed imperceptibly.
Xu Xi sat idly in place, spacing out.
After quite a while, the High-Ponytailed Woman slowly crawled back.
She was frowning, clearly having discovered there was no way forward.
No wonder the young man before her seemed so confident about luring out that hidden unknown thing.
If all four of them had fallen into this trap and come down, that thing would definitely come to block the hole and trap them here to die.
The High-Ponytailed Woman even felt a wave of retrospective fear.
She didn't dare imagine what it would feel like to be trapped in this narrow hole, slowly waiting for death.
Even though she had items on her, they could only save her life when she was attacked by supernatural beings. In a predicament like this, they were utterly useless.
This was a God Hunt instance. The slightest misstep could mean dying inside it.
Xu Xi didn't explain further either. He believed that with her intelligence, she would have understood the moment she saw there was no path ahead.
The High-Ponytailed Woman returned the flashlight to Xu Xi.
The two of them sat there silently, listening to the commotion outside from time to time.
Soon, the commotion arrived.
"Ah— You, you let go of me! Let go!!"
A high-pitched male voice, filled with panic, came through.
Xu Xi and the High-Ponytailed Woman exchanged a glance.
Did they catch him?
When they crawled out of the hole, they saw the Burly Man pinning a young man face-down on the floor, tightly restraining him with his arms twisted behind his back.
The young man's cheek was pressed hard against the floor, distorted by the pressure, his expression unwilling as he struggled fiercely, trying to break free from the restraint.
The Refined Man was confiscating the items on his person.
Flashlight, thick wooden plank, long nails, hammer…
The moment the four of them saw these items, they knew their purpose.
This young man wanted to seal the hole under the wardrobe, trapping them completely inside the passage.
The High-Ponytailed Woman showed an expression that said, "Just as I thought."
The Refined Man and the Burly Man, however, looked rather grim.
If not for Xu Xi's warning, they would probably be in that underground passage right now, with no one to hear their cries for help.
"Stay still." The Burly Man pressed down harder, warning him in a fierce tone.
This young man seemed perfectly normal, grimacing in pain, his expressions vivid, with nothing supernatural about him.
But "normal" people in an instance aren't necessarily truly normal.
Xu Xi instinctively thought of the red-dressed woman from the last instance, the one who returned to the village to be a bridesmaid.
She had a lively personality, cheerful and outgoing. No matter how you looked at her, she seemed like an ordinary girl. Yet, in the end, just as they were about to leave, they discovered the original village had turned into a dilapidated, ruined house.
"Who are you? Why are you trying to harm us?"
Xu Xi was pulled back from his thoughts by the Refined Man's serious voice.
He swept the flashlight over, but his gaze landed on the Burly Man's wrist.
Under the light's illumination, he saw a red mark on it.
Was he scratched by the young man?
It wasn't serious, though. Judging by the Burly Man's complete lack of reaction, either he hadn't noticed he was scratched, or he didn't care about this minor wound that would scab over soon.
Being able to scratch the Burly Man meant this young man apparently had some skill.
"Don't shine that in my eyes!" The young man turned his head away, tightly shutting his eyes, as if the intense white light was irritating them.
Oh, sorry.
Xu Xi smoothly moved the flashlight away.
"Answer my question. Who are you? We should have no grudge against you, right? Why are you trying to harm us?"
The Refined Man asked again.
It wasn't that he didn't suspect the person being pinned down was a supernatural being, but the fact that the Burly Man could restrain him proved he posed no immediate direct threat to them.
With the strong light gone, the young man slowly opened his eyes.
He looked up at the strangers before him, tried to move, but was immediately forcefully restrained by the man on top of him.
"That's what I should be asking you. Who are you? Why are you here?"
The Refined Man replied with a composed expression, "We are a group of hiking enthusiasts. Halfway up the mountain, it suddenly started pouring rain. We were worried about mudslides, so when we discovered this inn over here, we came to take shelter."
As he spoke, he even took off his backpack to show the young man the basic hiking gear inside.
"But when we came in, we found this inn was actually abandoned, and there were even strange things here. One of our teammates lost his life because of it."
When the Refined Man mentioned "strange things," the others secretly heightened their vigilance. They all knew he was testing this person.
However, the young man just frowned, his expression not changing at all.
"Let me go first."
The Refined Man shook his head. "Sorry, you have attempted to harm us. Without knowing your identity and true intentions, we must refuse your request."
The young man fell silent for a moment, realizing he couldn't resist.
He lowered his eyes and confessed quietly, "My name is Yang Wu."
Yang Wu?!
The four of them exchanged looks.
The Refined Man confirmed, "You are the Yang Wu staying in Room 202?"
The young man nodded. "That's right. My older sister came here to hike too, but she disappeared after staying one night at this inn. Our family reported it to the police, but they couldn't find her. I wasn't satisfied, so I came here myself to look for clues about my sister."
"Then why did you try to seal us inside the underground passage?"
After carefully scrutinizing each of them, this young man who called himself Yang Wu said flatly, "Because—"
"I suspect you aren't human."
The four of them: "…?"