Chapter 55 The Fifty-Fifth Chapter Fire Evil's Ability (6)

  In the tunnel, Huo Xiaoxie was sweating profusely as he dug with all his might, having already taken off his outer garment and wearing only a short jacket, with his sleeves rolled up. Shui You'er stood beside him, watching intently but unable to lend a hand. As Huo Xiaoxie worked, his expression was unusually focused, every shovel stroke accompanied by a slight pursing of his lips, and on his 16- or 17-year-old face, a strong sense of determination and courage shone through. Shui You'er held up the oil lamp, watching as the beads of sweat on Huo Xiaoxie's forehead flowed down, illuminated by the lamplight, tracing out lines of glittering silver on his face. His eyes sparkled like two bright pearls in the dark night, shining brightly. As Shui You'er gazed at him, she became somewhat entranced, her eyes fluttering with a mix of emotions - shyness, admiration, joy, and sorrow - as countless thoughts swirled up in her mind.

  Huǒ Xiǎo Xié focused on digging the wall, not noticing what expression Shuǐ Yāo ér had. In the tunnel, only Huǒ Xiǎo Xié's heavy breathing and the dull sound of digging mud could be heard.

  The place where Huo Xiao Ye and Shui Yao Er were located was extremely soundproof, with a long passage blocking the way, deep underground. The sounds inside couldn't be heard outside, and external sounds couldn't penetrate either. However, when Zheng Da Chuan and his men fired their guns in unison, Huo Xiao Ye still paused slightly, stopped what he was doing, listened carefully, and asked Shui Yao Er if she had heard the gunshots. When Shui Yao Er said she hadn't, Huo Xiao Ye relaxed, shook his head, and continued digging.

  But what he didn't know was that Huo Xiao would "take the plate" at the age of 16 or 17, a talent that had even surprised Hei San Bian, the great thief from Northeast China. This "taking the plate" required extremely good hearing, as every slight collision sound must be heard clearly, without any margin for error. Therefore, Huo Xiao's hearing was actually better than Shui Yao'er's, but he believed in Shui Yao'er's abilities and thought she was stronger than him everywhere, so whenever Shui Yao'er said she hadn't heard anything, Huo Xiao would think it was just his own tinnitus playing tricks on him.

  Huǒ Xiǎo Xié had been digging for almost an hour, and the hole in the wall was already three or four feet deep, but he still couldn't see the end of it. Exhausted, Huǒ Xiǎo Xié sat down silently to rest. Shuǐ Yāo ér saw that Huǒ Xiǎo Xié was parched with thirst and asked: "Monkey, are you thirsty? I'll go find some water for you?"

  Huo Xiao Ye hastily waved his hand, panting heavily and said: "Don't go! It's nothing, I can endure thirst. In the past, when I was in Fengtian City, I stole things from a store and got caught, locked up for three days and nights without a drop of water to drink, thinking it would exhaust me, but I was fine, still lively and energetic, and managed to escape!"

  "Monkey, I know you love to boast and make up stories, but there's a limit to it, I don't believe you! Monkey, are you afraid that if I go upstairs, I'll encounter danger?"

  "That's it, that's it. You go up alone, it's dangerous. I'm not showing off, I'm thirsty, but I can still hold on. Who knows, maybe if we dig another foot, we'll get through. So now you don't need to come up, I can do it, I can do it."

  Shuiyao'er smiled slightly after hearing Huoxiao Xie's words, her eyes sparkling with amusement. She quickly lowered her head slightly to avoid Huoxiao Xie seeing her gaze and said: "Alright, monkey, I'll listen to you this once. I also know you're capable, but if you still can't find the end after a while, I'll have to get some water for you to drink."

  Huǒ Xiǎo Yē suddenly said with a silly laugh: "Actually, haha, when I said that I didn't drink water for three days and three nights, it's true, not entirely bragging. If it's inconvenient to get water and I'm forced to, I'd drink urine too."

  "You rascal! How dare you say such disgusting things! Shut your mouth at once!"

  "Haha, sorry, sorry! I suddenly remembered something and started talking nonsense. I'm slapping myself, slapping myself." As he spoke, Huo Xiao Ye really did slap his own face lightly with a few quick pats.

  "Never mind, never mind, you really are one..."

  Huǒ Xiǎo Xiào le

  Laughed, swallowed saliva, and slowly said: "Sometimes I feel that if this world can't hold me anymore, and there's no place for me to stand, I can find a quiet place like this underground cave, hug my beloved little girl, and she loves me as much as I love her. It's okay to die together slowly." Huo Xiao Xie spoke without thinking, but the listener had intentions. Shui Yao Er lowered her head for a long time without speaking, turned her head sideways so that Huo Xiao Xie couldn't see her face, and Huo Xiao Xie felt that something was wrong with Shui Yao Er, hurriedly saying: "Did I say something wrong again?"

  The water demon child shook her head and still didn't turn around, saying slowly: "Do you really think that?"

  Huǒ Xiǎo Yé didn't know how to respond and could only scratch his head, saying: "It should be, it should be true."

  The water demon child suddenly turned his head, his eyes sharp and fixed on Huo Xiao Xie, gritting his teeth, his voice also becoming extremely shrill: "What is 'should'!"

  He was taken aback by Xiao Ye's words and didn't say a word.

  The Water Demon's face relaxed slightly as she stood up and said coldly, "If you're done resting, get back to work."

  Huo Xiao hurriedly responded with a sound, got up from the ground, picked up the hoe and continued to work.

  In the corner of a house with a huge pulley in the underground passageway, the ground near the pulley trembled slightly, and a broad-edged flat knife emerged from the ground, cutting open an arc on the ground. The knife was retracted, and the ground sank suddenly, revealing a bright light, and a hole that could accommodate one person crawling out appeared. A pair of hands climbed out of the hole, and a thin figure sprang up from the ground, looking around before seeming to breathe a sigh of relief and standing up straight.

  This man is the owner of this fallen inn - Qian Zhanggui, his true identity is a member of the tomb raiding and treasure hunting gang that disappeared from the rivers and lakes ten years ago - Pendi Long's descendant, nicknamed Pendi Mouse!

  Qian Zhanggui used Jia Qingzi as a meat shield and barely escaped Zheng Dachuan's hunt, entering the earth cave. However, Jia Chunzi didn't come down. Qian Zhanggui originally wanted to stay at the entrance of the cave for a while, first to listen to the movements above, whether Jia Chunzi was still alive, and secondly to kill those who chased into the cave. Just as he heard that Jia Chunzi might not die for the time being, he saw flames raging at the entrance of the cave, with thick smoke pouring in. Qian Zhanggui was furious, but there was nothing he could do, so he retreated deeper into the cave.

  Qian Zhanggui could have escaped through the tunnel, but he couldn't swallow this bad breath. Qian Zhanggui was very familiar with the tunnel he dug himself, and it went all the way to the bottom of the kitchen's pit. He planned to dig open the ground and go up from the kitchen, killing Zheng Dakuan and others by surprise. Even if he couldn't solve everyone, he could rescue Jia Chunzi. Qian Zhanggui made up his mind, rested for a while, then took out the tools he had hidden in advance from the tunnel, and spent another hour digging before crawling out of the ground through the mechanism.

  Huoxiao Ye and Shuixiao Er were intently digging a hole, the two of them silent, their hoes digging into the mud with muffled sounds. Qian Zhanggui arrived quietly as well, both sides being quite far apart, for a time neither of them noticing that there were other "distinguished guests" underground.