Somewhere deep within the mine, Lin Shu, Ren Hao, and Yan Qing were hard at work destroying the path they'd used to get here. They didn't stop with just the main tunnel—any side passage that could be used to track them was torn down too. As stone collapsed and wooden supports snapped under the pressure, dust clouded the narrow passages behind them.
At the same time, the three were looting without pause. Crystals were yanked from carts, chipped from the walls, and shoved into storage rings and pouches. Lin Shu moved fast, his hands never slowing.
"We already have two full boxes each," Ren Hao said, grinning as he checked his own ring. "That's gotta be close to ten thousand gold coins for every one of us."
"We need to keep moving," Lin Shu replied. "The hidden exit isn't far, and we can't afford to chase after more crystals once we reach it. Take whatever you can along the way, but once we get there, we're done."
The other two nodded, and they pressed forward, continuing the heist with grim focus. Eventually, they reached a narrow stretch of tunnel not far from their destination.
"This is enough," Lin Shu said, glancing at the overstuffed storage pouches hanging at his side. "We're looking at twenty to twenty-five thousand gold coins each, maybe more. That should do."
They slowed their pace as they approached a cracked, half-buried wall.
"This is it," Yan Qing said, placing a hand on the stone. "We'll have to break through. Lin Shu, you should go back and collapse the last part of the tunnel behind us. We'll need all the time we can get if they're still chasing."
Lin Shu gave a nod and turned back. He didn't rush—each support he knocked out was chosen carefully, bringing the mine down in a way that would buy them the most time.
When he returned, the wall was almost broken. Ren Hao and Yan Qing were still striking it with their bare fists, creating a growing hole in the stone. Lin Shu didn't trust them—not fully. If they got the opening wide enough before he returned, there was a real chance they'd use him as bait to delay Xie Lang and the others while they escaped. He didn't take the risk.
Without saying a word, he stepped beside them and joined in. The wall finally gave way after a few more hits, and they stepped through into a narrow, unlit tunnel.
Lin Shu pulled a lantern from his spatial ring, lit it with a spark, and held it up. The flickering light spilled across jagged rock and uneven ground as they moved forward, Ren Hao and Yan Qing taking the lead, their steps echoing through the dark.
Han Yi, Xie Lang, Yun Qiu, Wu Jian, and Zeng Shiyang were being stalled—either by the need to repair sections of the mine or by the difficulty of locating the path Lin Shu, Yan Qing, and Ren Hao had taken.
The five of them worked fast, clearing rubble and reinforcing unstable sections, their breathing heavy, hands scraped and dirt-stained. The mine groaned faintly around them with every shift of rock.
Then, amid the clamor, Xie Lang straightened and muttered, "I think we should split up and take different paths. The mine tunnels are all connected anyway, and this is better than rebuilding it every time we hit a collapse."
Han Yi glanced at him, then at the support beams they'd just set in place. As much as she hated to admit it, the idea made sense.
"He's right," she said, brushing dust from her robes as she rose to her feet. "We need to corner them. We can't afford to waste any more time."
She began issuing instructions without hesitation.
"Xie Lang and Zeng Shiyang will go through the left section. Yun Qiu and Wu Jian will head right. I'll circle around the outer paths of the mine and block off any escape routes."
Yun Qiu didn't like being ordered around—not by Han Yi, not by anyone. But even he couldn't argue this was the best plan they had. He gave a tight nod, holding back any complaint, and turned to leave.
They all split off without another word.
Han Yi moved like a blue phantom through the shadowed veins of the mine. Her speed exceeded even Lin Shu's, each step near silent, every movement calculated. She activated her technique—
"High-tier tracking technique: Veil-Sense Phantom."
The range was short—no more than two hundred meters—but within that span, nothing could hide. Her senses expanded. She could feel everything—the trembling of insects, the slow churn of sawtooth worms... and, unmistakably, the faint but steady steps of three people ahead.
She had them.
Lin Shu, Yan Qing, and Ren Hao were not far. They were walking through a tight passage, one narrow enough to restrict their speed. Every step was a crawl, the stone walls pressing in from both sides.
Time was slipping away from them.
Worse, they couldn't collapse the tunnel to delay their pursuers. Unlike before, they needed silence. Yan Qing had warned them—the walls here were thinner, brittle in some places. A single misplaced blow could alert everyone nearby.
And worst of all, the sound didn't escape. It echoed, then died. Like the mine was swallowing every noise whole.
They moved forward, tense and cautious—aware that something was closing in.
"Alright, we're here," Yan Qing said, eyes scanning the ceiling.
Without hesitation, he drew his blade and began hacking at the stone above. "This is where the path is—I hid it. If we destroy this ceiling, we'll be out."
Lin Shu stepped forward and struck alongside him. Ren Hao joined in. With each blow, cracks spiderwebbed across the surface. Then, with a final strike, the ceiling gave way, crumbling in chunks.
"Alright, let's get out now," Lin Shu said. He didn't wait.
He climbed up first, quick and fluid, not trusting the others to let him go last. If they betrayed him, he wasn't going to be the one left inside. He moved with ease, reached the top, and pulled himself out.
Ren Hao and Yan Qing followed seconds later.
"Now let's get out of here," Ren Hao said.
But just as they turned to flee, a sharp whistling sliced through the air.
Lin Shu ducked—an arrow zipped past his shoulder. He looked back, eyes narrowing.
Down the hole, bathed in pale moonlight, stood Han Yi.
Her blue hair fluttered gently in the draft. Her bow was drawn. Cold. Steady.
Another volley came. Arrows hissed through the night. Lin Shu raised his blade—clang, clang, clang—parrying as many as he could, but his blade cracked under the pressure. He clicked his tongue in frustration.
"Do we gamble," he asked, "or kill her?"
Ren Hao answered quickly. "If we run, one of us gets chased. If we fight, whoever came with her is probably already on the way."
Lin Shu didn't hesitate. "Run it is."
Lightning cracked around him as he kicked off the ground. But not before he twisted his body mid-sprint and slammed a final kick into the edge of the wall.
The stone groaned—then collapsed behind him, sealing off the exit in a rain of rubble.
It wouldn't stop her. Not for long.
But a few seconds were all he needed.
He didn't need to outrun her. He only needed to outrun his teammates.
He vanished into the shadows, sprinting.
Ren Hao and Yan Qing followed close behind.
"We need to hurry!" Yan Qing shouted. "If we can just get far enough, we might be able to face her alone—without the others catching up!"
Inside the mine, Xie Lang moved swiftly through the dark passages, Zeng Shiyang close behind. The two weaved through the winding cave, searching for their targets. Unfortunately for them, Han Yi's attacks had gone unheard. They were too far away to hear anything from her side, and they had no clue what had occurred above.
They pressed on, navigating quickly—but every twist and tunnel led to nothing. It became increasingly clear they had taken the wrong path.
Just when frustration was beginning to mount, a sound reached them.
Crunch.
Both stopped.
A low, wet, grinding sound echoed from further in.
They followed it carefully, steps light but quick. As they rounded a corner, their eyes landed on the source.
A wounded sawtooth worm.
It was gnawing desperately at the crystal-lined walls, trying to consume more ore in a bid to heal itself. Near it lay another worm, lifeless, its body mangled.
Xie Lang moved to continue forward, but something made him pause.
His eyes narrowed as he examined the wound patterns on the creature's body. Long, clean slices. Sharp. Intentional.
"Wait… these aren't injuries caused by another sawtooth worm," he said slowly. "These are blade wounds. And as far as I remember, Yan Qing uses blades. Lin Shu too—he can create bone weapons. It should be them. Looks like they were stopped by the worms and had to fight."
Zeng Shiyang knelt by the dead worm, examining the direction of the cuts.
"From this path, they're heading deeper into the mine," he said. "They're getting close to the dead-end tunnels. I don't know what they're planning or why they'd go that way…"
He stood, expression darkening.
"But one thing is clear—they're the traitors who allied with the Jiang Clan. And even if they aren't, they still abandoned their fellow students and even killed some students and an instructor. They've made their choice. Now they'll face the consequences."
With that, the two surged forward, following the faint trail of blood, crystal dust, and vengeance.