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墨書 Inktalez
Lijie braved the fierce winds at the mountain peak and arrived at the edge of the cliff. Looking down, she saw nothing but a gray mist, with no bottom in sight. Standing at the cliff's edge, tears that had been held back began to flow like a raging river. She murmured, "Xin Yi, I’m here, I’m here to find you. Your Xiao Jie has come to find you. Can you hear me? Can you hear me, Xin Yi? … I want you to live. As long as you can live, I will never make you angry again. I know I am not a magnanimous woman; I shouldn’t have left you just because other women liked you. If you are still alive, I will always stay by your side, even if it means sharing you with other women. I will never leave you again..."
As dawn broke, a red sun finally broke free from the distant mountains and rose to the peak. Even the raging winds began to calm down. However, the bottom of the cliff remained shrouded in mist, obscuring any view below. Lijie wiped her tears away, opened her backpack, and took out a large coil of rope. She secured one end to a sturdy tree at the top of the mountain and threw the rest over the cliff before putting her backpack back on and donning her gloves. She attached two hand-held descenders to the rope and began to slide down.
The cliff was steep and sheer, with no place to land in between; only occasionally did a strangely shaped Pine Tree poke through a crevice, stubbornly growing crookedly upwards. After sliding down for a while, Lijie felt her still-healing wounds begin to throb painfully. She slowed her descent and stopped at the roots of a Pine Tree to rest for a moment, wiping away the sweat that had formed due to the pain from her wounds. Looking up, she realized she could no longer see the cliff top; it was completely obscured by mist. Although it wasn't a great distance, so much fog surrounded it that it felt peculiar.
After resting for a while and suppressing the pain from her wounds, Lijie continued sliding down. After descending for a short distance again, she felt her body could not take much more. Looking down, she spotted a rather large crooked Pine Tree not far below her; its lush canopy resembled an umbrella, indicating its tenacious vitality. It was hard to believe such rich vegetation could grow on such a barren Cliff. Lijie suddenly felt an urge to lie on its canopy for a while; that vibrant green looked so lovely against the starkness of the Cliff above.
Lijie slowly moved sideways toward the large Pine Tree and finally found solid ground on its trunk. She tested it with her foot and found it quite sturdy. So she tied the rope around the Pine Tree and found a thick branch to sit on. Gently rubbing her right rib surgery site with one hand, she suspected her wound had reopened because she could feel warm liquid trickling down from it. "Sigh..." Lijie let out a soft sigh, unsure if she could hold on until she reached the bottom of the cliff. As long as she could endure until she saw Xin Yi, that would be enough. If Xin Yi had truly met with misfortune, Lijie didn’t know if she would have the strength to bring him out of this Cliff; if not possible, being buried alongside him at the bottom of this cliff wouldn’t be such a bad ending.
Looking down again revealed nothing but an endless abyss below; she didn’t know how deep it was but decided to continue downward anyway. She noticed that her hanging rope was not aligned directly with this large Pine Tree; if she wanted to keep sliding down, she would have to leave this tree and return to her vertical path with the rope. Lijie stood up while holding onto the cliff but suddenly felt dizzy due to her body still not having fully recovered; everything went black as she fell toward the abyss beneath the Pine Tree. Although Lijie lost control of her body due to dizziness, her mind remained clear as she sensed herself falling into the deep void below and instinctively waved her arms in an attempt to grab something to prevent herself from plummeting.
In her frantic flailing, Lijie's right hand unexpectedly grasped a branch. She quickly tightened her grip around it with all five fingers; this scare had made her break out in cold sweat all over—she had nearly fallen into the abyss below. However, Lijie's situation was still perilous; the branch she held onto was thin and could break at any moment. Fortunately, Lijie's weight was light; if it were someone heavier, that branch would likely have snapped under their weight already. Even though Lijie was light, that branch had bent significantly under her weight; being made of brittle material, there was no telling when it might snap.
At this moment, Lijie only had one right hand hanging onto the branch while all of her weight rested on it; pain shot through her already torn rib wound in waves. After several attempts without success in getting her left hand onto the branch—her right arm lacked any strength left to pull herself up—she realized that if things continued like this for much longer, her right hand would surely give out and she'd fall into this abyss that remained unseen.
Although Lijie hadn’t held much hope for survival when coming here, now that she hadn’t found Xin Yi yet, she couldn’t just die without understanding why. If there was even a slight chance left, she'd rather die beside Xin Yi than anywhere else; being buried together with him was her minimum requirement. Thus, Lijie quickly calmed herself down; years of being an assassin had honed her self-control skills significantly—remaining calm under pressure was one of an assassin's basic qualities.
She first looked up; as long as she could get back up onto the Pine Tree again, she could slide down along the rope safely. But this thought was quickly dismissed because there was nothing on that bare cliff face that could be climbed back up on—it was impossible—and since the branch in her hand was bending under gravity’s pull and hanging away from the tree trunk itself without any other branches available for support, there was no way for her right arm to move either.
Since going up seemed impossible now, perhaps going down might offer some options? Lijie looked down at her feet again and fortunately spotted a small ledge about three or four meters below where she stood—a ledge roughly one square meter in area where jumping down should allow her to stabilize herself safely on it. However, looking around revealed nothing but bare cliffs elsewhere—no other places for standing.
In other words, while jumping onto that ledge would temporarily prevent falling off into oblivion below, once there she'd be stuck without any further escape routes—eventually starving after exhausting all food and water supplies in this desolate Cliff.
To jump or not to jump? In just a short time frame Lijie wrestled with this dilemma repeatedly before ultimately deciding to jump first—after all delaying death by several days versus falling off immediately were two different matters altogether; perhaps something might change during those few days spent waiting.
With determination set in mind, Lijie gritted her teeth and let go before jumping down.
For someone like Lijie who possessed exceptional skills, three or four meters wasn’t much height at all—even though fatigue weighed heavily upon her body when landing on that ledge only caused slight swaying before stabilizing herself again; upon steadying herself further revealed that this wasn’t merely just any ledge—it turned out behind it lay an opening leading into a dark cave! The cave entrance measured about one meter square—small enough for someone crouching inside—and its upper wall jutted slightly outward which explained why she hadn’t noticed it earlier while hanging onto that branch.
To think there’d be such a cave up here on this Cliff! Judging by its shape it appeared naturally formed—a testament indeed to nature’s wonders! Realizing staying atop this ledge offered no immediate solutions while contemplating escape routes proved futile—this cave might serve as shelter from wind and rain at least! Yet uncertainty loomed regarding what lurked within—perhaps some giant serpent or beast awaited inside? Guessing wouldn’t help much now; better off exploring within instead! If suitable enough for resting purposes then Lijie desired nothing more than recuperating after expending so much energy since climbing started last night until plummeting off this cliff had drained nearly every ounce of strength from within her body.
Lijie set down the backpack she had been carrying and took out a flashlight to shine it into the cave. The straight distance inside the cave was not long, only about four or five meters, and she did not notice any creatures inside. However, near the bottom of the cave, it seemed there was an additional space; it was unclear whether it was just a recess in the cave wall or an extension of the cave itself. After assessing the situation, Lijie drew a dagger from her thigh and held it in one hand while using the flashlight with the other. She knelt down and crawled into the entrance of the cave. Once inside, Lijie realized that the ceiling of the cave was surprisingly high, allowing her to stand up and walk. She stood up, carefully observing her surroundings as she moved deeper into the cave.
It turned out that what she had seen from outside was not actually the bottom of the cave; it just turned a corner, leading further inside. After turning the corner, it became even darker, and a foul odor hit her face. Lijie shone her flashlight deeper into the cave and discovered that it was incredibly spacious inside; the beam of light could not reach the opposite wall of the cave. She never expected there to be such a large open space behind Cliff.
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