"My dear, what exactly is inside that chip? I can't tell you right now, but you need to know that it contains important company secrets. The person I want you to find can use this to negotiate with the company and get me out..."
So that's why Qu Xiangyun valued the chip so much.
I nodded at Qu Xiangyun, vowing that I would secure her freedom, even if it cost me my life.
...
In the blink of an eye, the night passed. When we had breakfast, Xavier arrived before Qu Xiangyun with a somber expression, looking down at her.
"Qu Xiangyun, I expect you to know your place. Whatever schemes you've been up to, I can overlook them for now. But I must see the node today. Otherwise, I can't guarantee what might happen."
As Xavier spoke, her eyes drifted towards me intentionally.
Her gaze held only pure malice.
Damn it, that lunatic Xavier, she wouldn't possibly be using me as a hostage to threaten Qu Xiangyun, would she?
I looked up at the scenery, deliberately avoiding Xavier's meaningful gaze.
But my fists were already clenched.
Damn it, just wait until I find an opportunity, Xavier. One day, I'll make you pay for crossing me!
"Xavier, I don't know what you're talking about. We're about to reach the node soon; it probably won't even be nightfall."
Facing Xavier's interrogation, Qu Xiangyun remained calm. Perhaps she had anticipated this day and was prepared.
Xavier heard Qu Xiangyun's noncommittal response and nodded slightly.
The atmosphere eased slightly, and Hathway, who had been silent all along, chimed in with a joke.
She suggested that if things got bad, I could be castrated first, which would make everyone safer, especially since everyone else was female. She worried that I might have a moment of animalistic rage in the middle of the night and attack them.
Upon hearing Hathway's suggestion, Xavier's eyes raked over me, as if she found the idea intriguing.
I shot Hathway a sidelong glance, feeling a chill down my spine.
Damn it, what a traitor.
I helped you back yesterday, and today you come up with a suggestion like this.
However, hearing Xavier's words, I became increasingly curious about this so-called node.
Despite not receiving any useful information from them so far, I had a persistent feeling.
This node would surely unravel some of the mysteries that had been plaguing me.
After some lighthearted banter, I saw Qu Xiangyun nudge me and give me a subtle look. I understood immediately; under Xavier's pressure, she had made up her mind.
Regardless of whether that short savage was still following us, she was determined to find an opportunity for me to escape today.
After tidying up, we began our journey for the day.
The path we took today was different from before, filled with various underground currents that could easily pull you in if you weren't careful.
Qu Xiangyun had told me she would find a chaotic moment for me to seize the chance and escape.
What we didn't expect was that this opportunity would arise so quickly.
After walking along the underground river for three hours, we encountered something strange.
Water is the source of all life; wherever there is water, various plants and animals will live.
This underground river was no exception.
However, unlike on the surface, the plants underground were bizarre and concealed deadly dangers.
So, all along, Xavier had led us to avoid these plants as much as possible to prevent any complications. But now, the path ahead of us was extremely narrow.
To our left was the turbulent underground river, and to our right, a bottomless cliff.
Below the cliff lay only endless darkness.
I kicked a stone down, but it made no sound, as if it were a passage to hell.
If we were to fall, we would likely be not far from hell.
Faced with such a scene, an ordinary person would probably have wet their pants from fear.
What made it even more chilling was the whistling wind that swept through the bottomless abyss,
sounding like the wails of vengeful spirits!
This peculiar geographical feature was recorded in Professor Gu Gefu's documents and was called the Sky River.
At first, I was puzzled, but after thinking about it carefully, compared to the bottomless cliff, this underground river truly did seem to flow through the sky.
To avoid falling into the abyss, even though we knew the plants here were extremely dangerous, we had no choice but to steel ourselves and tread carefully through the grass along the underground river.
We had encountered countless plants on our journey, so we had some experience dealing with them now.
Unlike surface plants, these underground ones intensely disliked strong light.
When we shone our headlamps on them, they reacted and moved away from us.
This reaction from the plants made us all breathe a sigh of relief. However, as time went on, we suddenly realized that there seemed to be something hidden within this seemingly ordinary grass!