I kneaded my shoulders, asking with a puzzled frown, "This lift only goes down—what kind of design is that?"

His expression remained blank as he murmured, "That's normal. Lifts from that era often had separate shafts for ascending and descending. The upward elevator might be on the other side of the passage."

I grunted, finding his explanation perfectly logical.

He stepped forward, pulling the opened wire mesh gate shut again. "Let's close it. I'm worried something might crawl in later..."

Hearing that sent a prickle of unease down my spine.

But since we had already come this far, there was no reason to retreat. I took a deep breath and pressed the red button.

The lift groaned with a heart-wrenching screech, shuddered violently, and then began its slow descent.

I let out a slow breath of relief, thinking, These American-made things are sturdy; they still work after all these years.

As the lift sank lower, the surroundings plunged into absolute darkness, yet the world beneath the earth was not entirely silent.

I heard a faint, mournful whooshing sound rising from below the lift—hollow and empty, like the weeping of countless souls.

I asked, "Why is there wind down there?"

He shook his head, having already set Xiao Wang down. He leaned against a corner of the lift cage and closed his eyes to rest.

Bored, I checked my phone; it was past one in the morning, yet sleep was nowhere in sight.

Then, *spoke in a low voice, "Stop overthinking it. The four of us can only trust fate now."

I sighed, shaking my head silently. But as I pondered his words, something struck me as slightly off.

Suddenly, I shivered. Wait, he said 'the four of us,' but including Xiao Wang, there are only three of us!

Did that mean someone had been following us all along, someone I couldn't see? Was this person human or a ghost?

Thinking this, sweat beaded on my forehead. I tentatively asked, "You just said... the four of us?"

*Still with his eyes closed, he nodded, then pointed upward.

I followed the direction of his finger and looked up. There, draped over the wire mesh roof of the lift cage, was the faint silhouette of a person!

My heart leaped in shock, thinking my fears had come true. But then *let out a small laugh and said, "Just a dead man, petrified for who knows how many years. But meeting is fate; this brother is coming along for the ride."

I truly hadn't expected him to crack a joke at a moment like this; my tightly strung nerves almost betrayed me.

I couldn't help but laugh wryly and curse the bad luck.

*Ignored me, then after a moment asked, "Got any cigarettes? Mine are finished."

I remembered the cigar I had found earlier in the matchbox and was about to take it out to share with him when the lift suddenly vibrated violently.

I quickly grabbed the nearby wire railing to steady myself.

At that moment, a cracking and splintering sound came from below us, and the lift's descent slowed considerably.

*Clutching the railing with one hand, he shone his flashlight down into the lift shaft. In the narrow space, clusters of creeping vines had somehow sprouted, catching on the lift, tearing them apart, splattering green sap everywhere.

and I exchanged glances, both utterly perplexed. How could such lush vegetation grow deep underground?

The section of the shaft choked with vines and greenery only spanned a short ten meters. Soon, the lift passed through this area and began to stabilize.

continued to scan the area with his flashlight. On one side of the shaft, he spotted a rusted iron door heavily entangled with leafy tendrils.

Next to that iron door, there used to be a lift stopping mechanism—meaning the lift could have stopped there previously, but it was clearly broken now.

As the lift scraped past the iron door, a beam of light from a flashlight pierced through a gap in the dense foliage, flashing briefly before vanishing.

My heart skipped a beat. *shouted, "Is anyone there? Who is down there!"

After a moment of silence, there was no reply, and the lift continued its descent further down.

"That’s strange," I said to *, "if someone were there, they should have heard us."

frowned, offering no answer.

The two of us fell back into silence.

noticed my uneasy expression, managed a strained smile, and said, "Here."

I reached out and took what he handed me. It was an old-fashioned roll-your-own tobacco, very dry. I brought it to my nose; the tobacco leaves had a unique, soothing aroma that calmed the nerves slightly.

"Where did you get this?" I couldn't help but ask.

pulled a wooden box from his coat pocket, containing a stack of dried tobacco leaves, then pointed upward. "Remember our friend up above? When the lift shook, this tobacco probably fell out of his pocket. I told you we four were fated to meet, didn't I?"

I forced a wry smile, unsure what to say.

We smoked in silence as the lift continued its descent. After an unknowable amount of time, we passed several archways without stopping once.

The rare tranquility was soporific. Neither * nor I spoke again; we leaned against the lift cage and started to doze, the only sounds being the faint whoosh of wind and Xiao Wang's occasional light cough. Everything felt strangely calm.

I couldn't tell how long I had drifted off for when the lift suddenly vibrated violently, startling me awake.

became instantly alert, gripping the lift wall with one hand while his gun was already in the other.

This vibration was intense but brief. Our lift stopped abruptly when a black object pierced the floor of the cage, jabbing up suddenly between the three of us.

switched on his flashlight. The object protruding from the bottom was a tree branch, thickly covered in dense, deep green leaves.

I secretly thanked fate that the branch hadn't poked through underneath my backside, otherwise...

frowned. "A tree growing underground?"

I found it equally bizarre, but then something clicked. I pulled out the file I had taken from the documentation room and showed it to *.

The document contained a drawing of a primitive forest, resembling the Amazon River basin, apparently situated deep beneath the earth.

looked at the diagram, growing increasingly astonished. "Are you saying the place described in this drawing is right here?"

I spread my palms open. "I suspect so. We'll know for sure once we go down and look."

waved his hand. "It's possible we were just snagged by the vegetation growing on the lift shaft walls, and there might still be a long drop below. How about this: you stay here with the injured man, and I'll rappel down to check."

I nodded. "Alright, be careful."

I handed * his backpack back. He retrieved a coil of nylon climbing rope, hooked one end securely to the wire mesh at the bottom of the lift, and then hammered the other end down through the gap where the branch had entered.

He then took out wire cutters and widened the gap enough for a person to pass through before lowering himself down the rope.

I used my flashlight to illuminate the way for him from above, but * quickly disappeared into the dense leaves. The rope remained vertical, clearly bearing weight.

After a few minutes, the rope suddenly went slack. * shouted from below, "I reached the bottom, damn it, there really are lots of trees down here!"

I felt curious too and asked, "Is it safe down there?"

replied, "Safe for now. Come down."

I acknowledged him, hoisted Xiao Wang onto my back, untied my own belt, and secured him tightly to my chest. Just as I was about to climb down the rope, the trees began to shake violently, and I heard *’s ragged breathing.

I paused, asking, "What happened?"

The rope instantly went taut again; clearly, * was climbing back up. As he ascended, he yelled, "Don't come down! Go up! Go up!"

Before I could ask anything else, *’s head poked out from the leaves. Seeing his panicked expression, I pulled him up in one swift motion.