Chapter 4 of Part 1: Secret Passage, Narrow Escape (11)

  Due to the prolonged exertion, my hands and arm joints were sending waves of numbness, sweat had penetrated through my palms, but I knew in my heart that I couldn't relax for a moment, moving forward was survival, giving up was death. Struggling finally got me less than a meter away from the edge of the platform, my feet also found a foothold, and my hands relaxed slightly, the numbness even more intense than before.

  At that moment, I suddenly slipped underfoot, and my whole body lost its balance in an instant. My mind also became a complete blank at that moment.

  I felt my body rapidly falling, and even the sound of rushing wind could be heard in my ears. I subconsciously grabbed the homemade rope in my hand, but my body was still sinking, and a burning pain spread through my palm.

  I slid down another section and finally came to a stop, with both hands grasping the lower end of the rope, while my lower body was completely suspended in mid-air. The wind blew and my body would involuntarily sway back and forth. It felt a bit like being on a Ferris wheel, especially in winter, when you reach the top and even the slightest breeze makes you feel like you're going to fall off.

  At this moment, I didn't dare to be the slightest bit slow, I deeply knew that below was a hundred-foot deep cliff, and if I fell down, I would lose my life. I gritted my teeth, waiting for the wind to blow again, using its force to inch closer to the cliff wall, exerting strength in my hands to slowly move up inch by inch as before. At this time, Jin Douzi was standing on the opposite side with his heart already in his throat.

  Just as I slid down, the palms of my hands were already worn out and my pants were stained with fresh blood. However, it's possible that my fingers had become completely numb, so I didn't feel any pain at all. This time, my upward speed was even slower than before.

  After a while, I crawled back to the previous position, and my foot stepped on that protruding small stone again. But now I didn't dare to relax like before. After a short rest, I continued to climb up, and finally, my right hand tightly grasped the protruding stone on the platform, then I used all my strength to push my body up, and my upper body climbed up completely.

  After I got on the platform, I was panting heavily and sat next to the wild chicken. I wanted to take a cigarette to relieve my tense mood, but found that both hands were curled up and no longer obeyed orders. The few tendons under my forearm had become stiff and bulged out.

  After a while, the fingers finally relaxed, and at this time, numbness and pain came together from the forearm that had begun to swell. But looking at Jin Douzi still standing on the other side, I could only take another breath and bring him over as well. I walked to the stone and prepared to take down the rope, but when I saw the rope tied to the stone, I was shocked.

  The rope was almost worn out, and if I hesitated a little more, I would have fallen into the deep valley before losing my strength. It seemed that this rope could no longer be used, so I shouted to Jin Douzi standing opposite me: "Jin Douzi, wait a minute, this rope is broken, let me see if there's any other way!"

  Jin Douzi nodded, although only a few meters away, but it felt like we were worlds apart. I turned my head and walked towards the "Mongolian yurt" behind me. From a distance, I didn't think this "Mongolian yurt" was very big, but as I got closer, I saw that it had two floors, each over five meters high. The lower floor had a half-open stone gate with a familiar pattern on it, which I couldn't quite recall at the time, probably because my mind was preoccupied with how to save Jin Douzi.