Chapter 216: Getting Out Of The Hellhole
"Did the snake just move in recently? Did it piss off the lizard?"
Han Yu didn’t want to know. He didn’t want to be the neutral bystander caught in a battle between beastly apex predators with emotional baggage.
Whatever their backstory, he hoped they tore each other apart without involving him.
Nearly a day later, his legs threatening mutiny and his waterskin long since emptied, Han Yu’s lungs caught a whiff of something miraculous.
Air. Real air. Fresh air.
He didn’t care if it carried the smell of sulfur, brimstone, wet dog or unwashed yak—he sprinted toward it like a man possessed. The tunnel sloped upward before ending in a steep climb. The exit was nearly thirty meters above him, light spilling through it like the gates of heaven.
Han Yu looked up and grimaced. "Of course."
With no time to rest, he started climbing. The rocks were jagged, the surfaces unstable, and his hands screamed with each pull. He sliced his palms on shards of stone, dirt got into every crevice of his robes, and blood trickled down his arms in thin lines. But inch by inch, he made it.
Finally—finally—he hauled himself out onto solid ground and collapsed onto his back, panting, bleeding, and possibly crying a little inside.
When he recovered enough to stand, he took in his surroundings.
Barren earth stretched in all directions. Wind blew across the rocky plateau, dry and sharp like it carried a thousand years of dust. Han Yu turned slowly in a full circle, scanning the horizon.