My sincerest apologies to you all again. After returning from a business trip, I was tied up with giving reports for several days, which caused the delay in updates. Please forgive me. Updates resume today; I ask for your continued generous support.

Worse still, though my speed was fast, it could never match the rate at which the noxious gas surged into my chest. Before I’d run ten meters, I felt I couldn't hold my breath any longer; veins bulged visibly across my head and forehead, and my heart felt like it was trying to burst out. With a loud cry, I abruptly sprinted diagonally up the sheer cliff beside me. This desperate sprint used every ounce of my strength; while it wasn't quite soaring through the clouds, I managed to reach the desired altitude successfully. At this critical juncture, Man Niao Niao’s mind cleared; using the light from the fire on the cliff face, he lifted Qin Bing'er up to let her gasp for a breath before setting her down. Qin Bing'er dared not delay; she mimicked my movements precisely. That scoundrel Man Niao Niao proved even more capable; he ran faster and farther than I did, and climbed higher up the inclined wall than I managed. After a few quick ascents, he bounded ahead of me.

Flower, sensing my thunderous gasps had slowed my pace slightly, struggled off the ground and followed close behind Man Niao Niao, running forward. Seeing that it remained as agile as ever, I was slightly relieved. This fellow now dared not bark, probably understanding that having the toxic gas flood his lungs was no joke. It ran on its own steam, its speed even a few measures faster than Man Niao Niao’s.

I slowed my steps to meet Qin Bing'er. A girl, after all, is still a girl. Having just leaped off the stage, she was already pale with fright, and then being submerged by that mountain of red quicksand for a moment had nearly exhausted her strength. Her mind and spirit surely weren't in much better shape. Consequently, Qin Bing'er’s speed and agility were noticeably inferior to mine and Man Niao Niao’s, two local boys who had trained in climbing slopes and scaling heights since childhood. Her steps were unsteady, and climbing the incline seemed to sap all her strength; she could only just manage to lift her head to snatch a breath by pushing past her limits. Several times, I saw her tilt her head back desperately, straining as if drowning and struggling to keep her head above water.

This sluggish movement made me feel my lungs were about to explode, my cheeks ballooning outwards. I channeled my qi to my dantian, stamped my feet against the ground, and shot up the slope, scrambling upwards using both hands and feet. Although the inclined wall submerged beneath the noxious gas lacked the burning heat of visible coal, the temperature was not to be underestimated. The coal and rock chunks seared my palms and fingers until they felt tightly constricted, as if they had shrunk significantly. The Six-Eared Grass Shoes bound to my feet proved surprisingly sturdy and surprisingly well-fitted, saving my soles from serious harm, though I still stumbled repeatedly.

I climbed the incline like a gecko for a stretch until I broke through the layer of oxygen-deprived air. Gasping loudly a few times, I glanced over to see Qin Bing'er’s cheeks puffed out even more spectacularly than mine. Soaked as if by water, she ran up the slope to join me. Qin Bing'er was intensely focused on running and inadvertently glimpsed a human head suddenly emerging ahead. Startled, she let out a sharp, short scream and froze mid-stride, looking certain to scrape her abdomen along the slope and slide down. Fortunately, I managed to reach out a hand just in time to clamp around her waist, then extended a leg to wedge between her body and the slope. With a forceful pull from my arm, I lifted her suspended body and rested her on my braced leg. Only then did Qin Bing'er’s cut-off scream finally resume.

The posture we held at that moment was quite bizarre. Qin Bing'er was seated on my thigh, her arms clasped around my head. Her chest was thrust high and heaving violently, her neck stretched like a giraffe’s, her chin and forehead level with each other. I, meanwhile, was on the verge of utter exhaustion. My head was clamped tightly by Qin Bing'er, forcing me to bury it deeply between her soft, yielding breasts. While that fullness and warmth offered a distinct kind of allure, my body, burning with heat from holding my breath, allowed no time to savor this sensation that would normally be soul-stealing. Of course, what also caused me distress were my right leg and left hand. My right knee was bent, pressing against a jutting stone (perhaps coal), bearing well over a hundred pounds of weight. Though Qin Bing'er's hips were round, she didn't have excessive flesh, and the tip of her coccyx happened to press right onto a sensitive nerve cluster of mine. As she struggled and shifted, my right leg shook violently as if seized by a tremor, which was hardly surprising. My left hand was hooked around another stone, fingers curved like claws, my arm pulled rigidly straight, barely supporting the weight of two people and the stone’s temperature, which must have been fifty or sixty degrees. My left leg, like a pillar, was braced against another stone below (coal?), also held ramrod straight...

The smoke and heat forced my eyes shut, and my cheeks began to swell again. I had no capacity for speech. Seeing that I was about to lose my grip and slide down the slope, at the absolute last second, I puckered my lips and blew a sharp puff of air into Qin Bing'er’s chest. She jolted, suddenly realizing her situation, quickly released my head, gripped two stones overhead with her hands, and, trembling, stood up onto my thigh, giving a light push to swing herself onto the cliff face. The pressure from Qin Bing'er’s push was too much; my right leg buckled outward, and the fingers of my left hand, hooked like a claw, began to stiffen. I was about to slide down the slope when, at the critical moment, my ** unexpectedly thrust out a massive, silent head, and immediately I felt my body being supported by two tightly strained shoulders. I used the momentum, swung my stiff hands in the air, quickly clawed onto two stones, and looked down from my abdomen to see that the head belonged to Man Niao Niao!

I quickly pulled myself up, drawing my legs up off Man Niao Niao’s shoulders. Man Niao Niao shuffled sideways a couple of steps, climbing up to be beside me, level with me, with Qin Bing'er directly overhead.

"Hoo..." Man Niao Niao let out a long breath, which was followed by a sound like a bellows rumbling in his throat.

The sound of my own "bellows" was no less intense than Man Niao Niao’s. Fortunately, my lung capacity was just about manageable. After sucking in a few breaths of the hot air containing a small amount of oxygen, the oppression lessened slightly, but the sweat, pouring down like rain, grew more relentless. My soaked clothes, steamed by the hot air, stuck damply and clammy against my skin, causing an indescribable discomfort. I glanced over to see the skin of Man Niao Niao and Qin Bing'er—a mix of black and white—with many patches resembling crosswalk lines on asphalt, clearly streaks formed by sweat mixed with coal dust.

"Niao... Niao... why did you come back? What's the... situation ahead?" I managed to swallow, barely moistening my dry, parched, itchy throat, as I asked.

"Ge... ge... ge..." Man Niao Niao struggled to speak for a long time, unable to get out the word "Laozi" (an informal, slightly arrogant term for 'I'). Amused and frustrated, I cut in, "...Laozi!"

"En!" Encouraged by my prompt, Man Niao Niao swallowed hard. "Ge... ge Laozi, I... and your little brother have already reached the edge of this... air pool. When we looked back and didn't see you, we ran back to get you. Damn it... damn it, what bad luck..."

"Ge... ge... ge..." I started to mimic his stutter.

"...Laozi!" Man Niao Niao added, "The end of this air pool is a long flight of stone steps, and at the top of those steps is a long embankment. The air up on the dike is wonderfully fresh!" Man Niao Niao’s speech was hurried and his words sharp, clearly fearing that his own stuttering would tire the listener more than the speaker.

Hearing that fresh air lay ahead, every nerve in my body sprang to life with excitement. "How much farther?"

"One or two hundred meters!"

"Then what are we waiting for? Bing'er, go!"

Hearing the call, Qin Bing'er replied with a brief "Good," slowly retreated to my side, and the three heads tilted upwards. A few gaping mouths took deep breaths, they braced themselves, ready to push forward again. I gave Qin Bing'er a supportive push on her backside, signaling her to run up the incline first, breathe in as much oxygen as possible, and strive to conquer the last two hundred meters with sheer force.

Qin Bing'er certainly dared not lag; she put forth all her strength, pushed off the slope, and ran forward in a parabola. When her momentum flagged, she plunged into the air pool, then bent low and sprinted forward rapidly, her arms whirling like a windmill. Man Niao Niao and I followed close behind, running so fast we were almost airborne.

The bottom of the gully was flat, covered only in a layer of soft coal slag that crunched underfoot. That sound struck my ears like a bugle call to advance, invigorating my spirit and lending me an unexpected surge of vigor, energy, and morale.

My guess proved correct; the terrain at the bottom of the gully sloped consistently downward. Though the angle wasn't steep, running up the incline to draw in oxygen, as we had done before, had become extremely difficult. This place was almost equivalent to a deep water pool, but it possessed many advantages over a true deep pool. The greatest advantage was that we didn't feel the immense resistance of swimming or the awkwardness of a landlubber in water. Therefore, in terms of movement, we could summarize our action as "agile"—if a qualifier were needed, it would be "extremely" agile. Yes, extremely agile.