My heart soared, and I danced in my embroidered shoes with such agility they seemed impenetrable. At the same time, I whispered a reminder to Tan Ping'er to drag Man Niao Niao. Tan Ping'er asked no questions, simply turning to pull at Man Niao Niao’s arm. Unfortunately, Man Niao Niao’s flesh seemed to have grown without any sensible design; when Tan Ping'er pulled, all she managed was to elicit a higher, more terrifying shriek of pain from Man Niao Niao, but the man didn't budge an inch. I had no choice but to toss aside the hua'er, keeping a wary eye on those few "people" while slowly bending down to haul Man Niao Niao.

Gripping Man Niao Niao’s arm firmly, just as I was about to straighten up, a giant, pitch-black serpent tore through the air, striking like lightning straight for my forehead. My heart lurched; I nearly cried out. The two orbs between my legs retracted defensively, tensing every nerve in my body, preparing for the worst. Fortunately, my inherent fear of snakes had somewhat diminished. In my sheer terror, a fleeting glance revealed that the giant serpent was none other than Lord Zhang Fei’s Zhang Ba She Mao (Eighteen-Foot Serpent Spear)!

Could it be that Lord Zhang Fei, carved on the stone gate, was the guàizi (boss/leader) of this group of "people"?

It was another instinctive reaction. I swung my embroidered shoe to bat away the spear, but the snake-spear recoiled as if a stick in a 3D movie that had lunged too close to the eye, gradually vanishing, and those figures also disappeared without a trace.

I wiped the cold sweat from my face, grabbed Man Niao Niao with one fierce tug, and hissed at Tan Ping'er, "Go!" Tan Ping'er dared not delay. Together, we supported the limp, continuously crying-out Man Niao Niao, stumbling headlong into the depths of the winding passage. The flashlight Man Niao Niao held had extinguished some time ago and was now gone. Unable to see the surroundings, Tan Ping'er suffered numerous tumbles during the run, emitting muffled groans, but fortunately, by following my pace, she avoided being smashed against the uneven earthen walls until she bled profusely.

The hua'er had also lost the will to fight, trailing behind with muffled whimpers, occasionally turning back to let out a couple of fierce-sounding but cowardly barks.

In truth, I had no room for extraneous thoughts at that moment; all I wanted was to escape this narrow passage as quickly as possible, find a relatively safe spot, and figure out how to save Man Niao Niao. As for how this encounter between humans and "Half-Puppets" had occurred, that was far from my concerns at this precise moment.

Man Niao Niao’s greatest trait was that the degree of his muscular development was inversely proportional to the capacity of his brain. Though I possessed some brute strength too, and Tan Ping'er shared part of the weight, Man Niao Niao’s combined flesh, bone, and organs still pressed down on me until I gasped like a bellows, making my steps stagger. The situation was extremely precarious, but my confidence remained... robust.

My thoughts trembled in rhythm with my pounding steps. Just as I was cursing when this large intestine-like passage would finally end, a chillingly fresh dampness washed over me, instantly icing my feverish mind. I looked up and saw that before me was a bottomless, funnel-shaped chasm, its edge right beneath my feet. The passage had reached its end!

I stopped abruptly, forgetting that Tan Ping'er couldn't see what lay ahead, and I hadn't managed to warn her in time. Tan Ping'er maintained her running momentum, stepped into empty air, screamed, and plopped down onto the steep slope leading into the pit. Fortunately, in that critical moment, she held tightly to Man Niao Niao’s arm, preventing her from rolling straight down the incline. Only then did my warning—"Careful!"—burst from my mouth.

I inwardly sighed with relief, holding Man Niao Niao’s arm fast, bracing my back, and trying to use Man Niao Niao’s weight to pull Tan Ping'er back up.

Who knew that this was the moment to prove Man Niao Niao’s profound adage: "What’s destined to be eaten by an egg, the scale will measure with a pig's shank." Man Niao Niao, Tan Ping'er, and I were hanging like a row of zongzi from the edge of the pit, not truly in danger of falling, but the hua'er, that damned companion, went completely mad for some reason. It let out a few barks towards the passage entrance and suddenly turned and leaped in. This leap, with terrible precision, landed right on my waist. This impact, though seemingly small, had the direct consequence of making me lose my footing, sending me tumbling headfirst alongside Man Niao Niao into the abyss.

Tan Ping'er hadn't anticipated such a turn of events either. She had already secured Man Niao Niao’s arm and braced her feet against the slope, trying desperately to pull herself up to lighten the load on me and Man Niao Niao, while also escaping danger herself. Who would have thought that Man Niao Niao and I would collapse like twin mountains, sliding down the slope back-first, sticking to the incline.

I couldn't control my body at that point. In that split second, I swiftly tossed away my embroidered shoes and reached out, grabbing Tan Ping'er's right arm, yanking hard. This pulled her into a half-rotation on the steep slope, flipping her into an inverted position—head down, feet up. But lifting one end meant dropping the other. Already utterly exhausted, I couldn't maintain my grip on Man Niao Niao’s cumbersome body when distracted, and I watched helplessly as he tumbled down toward the steep bottom with dull thuds.

I thought Man Niao Niao was finished. I held tight to Tan Ping'er's hand, unwilling to let go. My backside scraped painfully against the slope wall, the searing heat immediate, and I could clearly feel the wall’s hardness, coldness, and roughness.

The sliding speed increased rapidly. Driven by instinct, I angled my body sideways as I slid down the steep slope, my right hand still firmly clutching Tan Ping'er’s. I had already resolved that even if my arm was torn off, I would never let go; if we died, we died together. My left hand wasn't idle either; I strained to reach above my head, trying to feel for a protruding rock or anything else.

I didn't find a protruding rock, but suddenly my feet touched the ground.

The glimmer of relief was instantly replaced by terror. My slide slowed, but Tan Ping'er didn't decelerate; she plummeted downward with ferocious speed. The tremendous pull nearly ripped my footing away, and with a heavy thump, I slammed onto the ground, nearly shattering every tooth, my nose tingling with sharp numbness. In the next moment, I heard a gurgling sound.

Before I could properly survey my surroundings, I glimpsed five ghastly pale fingers about a foot ahead and above me. The fingers were hooked, digging into the ground, moving slowly, and beyond their outer edges was endless void and darkness. I froze for a moment—whose fingers were those? That moment of hesitation lasted less than a second before I understood whose hands they were. Quick as thought, I shot out my left hand, extending past the fingers, and seized a wrist that still held warmth. The instant I grabbed that wrist, those five veiny fingers could no longer grip the earth and slid away. A powerful downward drag immediately transferred to my arm.

I spat out the blood trickling to the corner of my mouth, my jawbone pressing against the cold floor. I managed to look up slightly: I was sprawled across a perfectly regular stone beam. The beam wasn't wide, just about the breadth of my chest, hard, cold, very smooth, but terribly damp.

The wrist I held with my left hand was naturally Man Niao Niao's. The current situation was utterly helpless. Though my right hand held Tan Ping'er’s, she had already fallen below the beam. I could only faintly hear her cries of alarm, sounding distant. It wasn't that she was far away; it was that my senses were beginning to cloud, and my hearing was greatly diminished... In this way, Man Niao Niao and Tan Ping'er firmly pinned me to that narrow stone beam.

“Ping... Ping’er... quickly... step on my... shoulder and climb up, Yingying... can't hold on much longer..." It was Man Niao Niao’s voice, as ethereal as a celestial sound. Following this, my two arms shook. The pull on my right hand lessened; presumably, Tan Ping'er was stepping on Man Niao Niao’s shoulder. My body, pressed against the beam, lost balance and slid toward Man Niao Niao’s side. However, I, Man Yingying, wasn't raised on rice porridge alone. In this emergency, I spread my legs down past the beam, barely stabilizing myself.

Man Niao Niao and Tan Ping'er seized the opportunity, each reaching out a hand to clutch one of my legs. The tension on my arms lessened considerably. For every gain, there was a loss; the inner sides of my thighs were bruised by the stone beam to the very bone. Fortunately, my two precious spheres, responsible for continuing the lineage, were no longer in their original positions, having narrowly escaped disaster.

Just as I felt my hands might have detached from my body, a small hand clamped onto my trouser waistband. Because I was wearing those strangely styled trousers found by Ji Ye and Tan Ping'er in the Suspended Tower, they had no loops for a belt. I had only secured them haphazardly with a leather strap around the waist. Then, the tragic happened: in her panic, Tan Ping'er actually yanked my trousers down to my heels. One could only imagine my pale buttocks were completely exposed—but, thank heavens, Tan Ping'er couldn't see, otherwise... otherwise... I wouldn't even know what kind of death to choose that would preserve my lifelong reputation!

Heaven never seals off all escape routes. My fallen trousers proved immensely helpful. After a flurry of effort, Tan Ping'er finally managed to climb onto the beam, then braced herself across it, helping to pull up that brute, Man Niao Niao.

I sighed with profound relief, my throat gave a gurgle, and the world before my eyes went completely black!