Cruel Heart

Liang Yingwu actually sighed, though he quickly suppressed it, but indeed, he was sighing. “You saw the rope just now; what else can we think of?” I finally understood why Liang Yingwu was so downcast. The “straight rope forward” strategy was a brilliant plan, and because it worked so well, it forced the hidden force to reveal itself. However, this revelation meant Liang Yingwu understood that this mysterious corridor was now openly “declaring war” on us. Our previous explorations were attempts to understand the corridor’s oddities and find a way to use external tools to navigate out. But now, with the force revealed, it was clear that even tools would be futile. Under these circumstances, any further strategy would yield no better results, and attempting more sophisticated tests might even risk retaliation from this mysterious power.
“I understand your thoughts, but I believe my conclusion is exactly the opposite of yours.” Unlike Liang Yingwu, I didn’t deliberately lower my voice because I wanted everyone to hear what I was saying. “Indeed, if we continue to explore the tunnel with various methods, there might be dangers. The force that grabbed the rope earlier was a mild expression; if it were to become violent, it might grab our necks instead. However, our chance lies here. If we retreat from the tunnel now, we will surely starve to death. Since we are facing death either way, why not keep exploring the tunnel, keep provoking that force, making it unable to hide anymore? Just grabbing the rope in mid-air isn’t enough; we need to expose it more. Only when the danger fully reveals itself can we see everything clearly and find a way out. To survive, we must first face death – this is what we must do now!” For the first time, I didn’t shy away from mentioning “death” in front of the students because at this moment, I needed to use death to stimulate their courage.