"What's wrong? What's wrong?" Tan Ping'er was indeed anxious, asking repeatedly. Man Niao Niao, whether sensing my thoughts or genuinely believing I was in trouble, played along perfectly, shouting up in a panic, "Guai Da, Ping'er... Ying Ying seems to be finished, ah!"

"Ah?" I heard Tan Ping'er shriek, and in a flicker of sight, I watched her leap down, plunging into the quicksand like a cannonball. Perhaps due to haste, the girl adopted the posture of a diving champion—head down, feet up, a textbook dive.

As soon as Tan Ping'er let out that scream, I was already climbing up. The moment she sank into the quicksand, my mind completely seized up too, and I launched myself toward her in a perfect swan dive. I quickly grabbed her legs, my belly pressing against the mud and sand, desperately pulling her upwards.

Man Niao Niao, hearing the commotion, panicked too. In the dim light, he scrambled wildly on the earthen ladder, half-crouching on a rung, blindly flailing one leg onto the mud. In my haste, I grabbed his leg, used the leverage, and successfully yanked Tan Ping'er free from the quicksand. I then pulled her up onto the ladder and brushed the clinging black, fine sand from her body. The entire process was executed flawlessly, one smooth motion after another!

Tan Ping'er gasped for breath for a good while before regaining her composure. She inadvertently touched my forehead and gasped again, "Ying Ying, are you alright?"

I gave a sly smile. "I'm fine!"

Tan Ping'er was insistent, nestling into my embrace. "You... how can you be so mischievous?"

"Hey, can you two stop focusing on me for a second? If we stay in this place any longer, we'll either drown in this red sand or be suffocated by this damned murky air..." (Man Niao Niao consistently mispronounced qingqing (intimacy) as liaoliao (chatting).)

Man Niao Niao’s reminder jolted me; I realized this was hardly the time for affectionate lingering. I quickly helped Tan Ping'er stand up. The three of us, plus the dog, had successfully regrouped, and the immediate next step was figuring out how to escape. However, Man Niao Niao’s last comment left me puzzled—what red sand? Were these heaps of fine sand actually red?

"Truly, from up above, I only vaguely saw red beneath. I initially thought it was a river of blood! Who knew it was actually red sand... How could sand be such a vibrant, brilliant red?" Tan Ping'er's words, full of curiosity, confirmed that Man Niao Niao hadn't been joking with me about ribai (chatting idly).

"Red sand? Brilliant red?" I rubbed my eyes, desperately trying to see the sand’s true color, but no matter how hard I scrubbed, the piled fine sand remained as black as ink.

"That stubborn, sour temper of yours is acting up again. What are you muttering and fussing about now? We need to hurry and find somewhere we can breathe properly. It’s getting hotter here, and the smell of coal smoke is thickening. It’s choking me—I wish I could poke a few extra holes in myself just to gasp for air—what the devil is this place?" Man Niao Niao complained, his tone saturated with strong dissatisfaction. Hearing him press again, I didn't have time to look or ponder further. I glanced up and indeed saw the white light on the cliff face growing larger and brighter, and the fumes from the burning coal were becoming increasingly acrid.

I briefly explained the reason for the apparent oxygen depletion, urgently warning him and Tan Ping'er against reckless action, lest the consequences be dire. I held Hua'er tightly, afraid the creature, now recovering its breath, wouldn't understand my words and might bolt off foolishly. As for why such a massive hollow existed here, or why there was so much fine, soft red sand, those answers would have to wait for future discovery.

I quickly reassessed the surroundings one last time, then turned back to Man Niao Niao and Tan Ping'er. "Well... the only way is to figure out how to escape this mountain of quicksand first..."

"Then why are you still rambling, wu'an yo (what’s the point)? Hurry up and think of something!" Man Niao Niao exploded with chatter before I could even finish.

"Like this," I said, abandoning any thought of arguing with Man Niao Niao, pointing ahead. "We'll huddle together and roll across. I see that the sand pile forms a gentle slope; maybe this man-eating quicksand stops there. If anyone feels suffocated, give a shout, and we'll help lift you up for a breath before rolling again."

"You said there's a lot of carbon dioxide gas here, and the terrain below the sand slope is lower, meaning less oxygen. Could we suffocate?" Tan Ping'er cautioned.

"...?" This was indeed a point I had overlooked. I stood on my tiptoes and peered towards the distant ravine. My vision was obstructed; I couldn't see how deep the gully beyond the sand pile was. I made a quick decision: "We take things one bite at a time. Let’s find solid ground to stand on first."

I carefully lifted Hua'er onto my shoulders, letting the dog cling to me. Though Hua'er couldn't speak, we shared a deep understanding; its hind legs tightly wrapped around my torso. I hooked my right arm around Tan Ping'er’s waist and my left arm around Man Niao Niao, roared once, "Go!" and decisively jumped off the earthen ladder.

"Hua'er..." Man Niao Niao mumbled as we neared the surface of the quicksand.

"Shut up!" I spat out the fine sand that had flown into my mouth and barked the command, silencing his grumbling. I knew what he intended—he wanted me to abandon Hua'er. No way.

The three humans and one dog floundered miserably on the fine, soft quicksand, but having learned from our previous harrowing experience, both Man Niao Niao and I proceeded with extreme caution. After several struggles, we finally reached the edge of the quicksand. Relief washed over us, and the group scattered, rolling down the slope.

The situation was far more complicated than we had anticipated. I had assumed that after rolling down the slope, we would mostly encounter odorless, colorless carbon dioxide, leading to severe oxygen deprivation. But the reality was that the air was thick with a complex array of pungent, spicy, and hot smells that burned into our lungs, causing intense chest discomfort. Among all the odors filling the ravine, I even detected the scent of burning sulfur. This smell triggered a realization: coal burns completely to produce carbon dioxide, but what if the combustion is incomplete? That would produce toxic carbon monoxide!

I panicked, struggling to climb up, jumping hard while holding Hua'er, and shouting for Man Niao Niao to grab Tan Ping'er and jump too. Man Niao Niao forgot all notions of propriety between men and women and hoisted Tan Ping'er up for a mighty leap. Thanks to Man Niao Niao’s brute strength, at least he and Tan Ping'er weren't suffocated to death right there.

Using the upward leap as a chance to survey our surroundings, I clearly saw that the two sheer cliff faces were covered in patches of burning coal, uneven and offering no handholds. The air in the space was hot, like a gigantic coal stove. The gully ahead seemed relatively level, but the terrain gradually sloped downwards. Judging by the feeling beneath my feet, the ground was scored with shallow grooves, somewhat resembling the anti-skid grooves on a highway.

Fortunately, the spot where we landed was the highest point in that section of the canyon; the layer of non-oxygen gases was thinner here. Furthermore, the chaotic movement had caused some mixing between the upper and lower gases. Although our throats felt extremely raw, after several forceful jumps, the feeling of pressure in our chests slightly lessened, and the symptoms of oxygen deprivation eased somewhat.

After several jumps and keen observations, I was thrilled to discover that a significant portion of the cliff base, far below our current level, showed no signs of burning. This phenomenon was easily explained: coal or sulfur simply would not ignite in an oxygen-free environment. This meant that ahead of us lay a gas pool—a gas pool that claimed lives far faster than a pool of pure water.

Reaching this conclusion, and surveying our surroundings, a daring idea took shape in my mind. Breathing heavily, I said to Man Niao Niao and Tan Ping'er, "Your stamina should still be okay? I have an idea..." Then, while jumping, I began to explain my concept.

In truth, this plan demanded considerable physical strength. The three of us and the dog were hardly brimming with energy; simply breathing was a victory. But at this moment of life and death, even if we exhausted our very last ounce of strength, we couldn't surrender the slightest shred of hope. The idea was this: sprint forward with all our might. When we felt on the verge of suffocation, we would run diagonally towards the cliff face, which formed an inverted 'V' shape, using inertia to propel ourselves up onto the inclined rock layer, snatch a breath of air, and then immediately drop back down and sprint forward again. This pattern of rising and falling repeatedly would surely see us through this canyon eventually. I had also assessed the distance; given our current reserves, we certainly wouldn't make it as far as the actively burning coal.

As for what lay beyond, or whether we would collapse from exhaustion mid-way, that was ultimately up to Lord Jesus or Lord Yama to decree.

Man Niao Niao and Tan Ping'er were already too exhausted to speak, merely panting and nodding desperately in the darkness.

Clutching Hua'er, I jumped up forcefully, quickly sucked in a breath and held it in my chest, settled my stance, and sprinted forward at a hundred-meter dash pace, loudly signaling Tan Ping'er and Man Niao Niao to follow.