The cargo well was shaking at a subtle frequency, its walls continuously seeping dark red droplets mingled with a nauseating, fishy-smelling, yellowish-brown thick juice.

Even if he held his breath completely, that despairing, rotten smell still filled Ur Wunnian's nostrils and flowed into his lungs.

I can't die here!

Ur Wunnian's eyes bulged. His physique, far beyond that of an ordinary person, allowed him to climb rapidly like a monkey, scrambling up the hemp rope towards the wooden trapdoor at the top of the cargo well.

However, that trapdoor seemed eternally out of reach. No matter how hard Ur Wunnian tried, he could never close the distance.

The cargo well was slowly constricting, seemingly determined to completely swallow Ur Wunnian.

"AHHHH!"

A chill went down Ur Wunnian's spine as a cold current swept through his entire body. Driven by terror, he wrapped his legs around the rope. His arms straightened and joined together, thumbs interlocked to form a knife hand, and he struck at the encroaching walls.

[Skill Name: Hot Plough Charged Flash]

[Type: Fighting]

[Special Effect: Hands transform into blades, and after a brief charge, release two intersecting blasts of Nen forward]

[Stamina Point Cost: 50]

[Cooldown Time: 15 minutes]

[Note: A technique created by the young hero Nie Yuanqing—formerly of the Kongtong Sect, now an assembly line worker at Plant No. 1 of the Kongtong Mountain Steel Factory—during the Second Year of Hongwu of the Ming Dynasty.]

"Break!" Ur Wunnian screamed hoarsely, his palms erupting with a crimson glow. The sharp blasts of Nen, like two overlapping crescent moons, descended upon the wall with unstoppable force.

BOOM—

As the crimson blasts of Nen tore through layers of obstacles, blood-red splatters went flying, leaving a massive gash.

Through the gaping hole, Ur Wunnian could clearly see the stone wall below, which his attack had melted into a deep and ragged scar.

Yet, before joy could appear on his face, the cargo well began to shake violently, like a surging tide, rapidly covering the cross-shaped gash and healing it completely. Ur Wunnian's mind was already overtaken by despair. It seemed that his attack had angered something, as the whole well drastically constricted, intending to bury him alive.

"You want me dead? Then you'll suffer too!" Ur Wunnian snarled fiendishly, taking out a large quantity of chewing gum from his pack and throwing it at the fleshy walls of the cargo well, his fingers trembling as they touched the remote control button.

"Recycling old refrigerators, old color TVs, old fans, washing machines..."

An incredibly brainwashing audio played, almost imperceptibly, in the distance, igniting a spark of hope in Ur Wunnian's heart.

In the cramped space, he lifted his head and yelled with all his might, "I'm here! Can you hear me?!"

"Why are you yelling so loudly?"

A deep voice came from just above at the wooden trapdoor. Li Ang was lying on the ground. He flipped open the trapdoor, glanced down into the cargo well, and said indifferently to Ur Wunnian, "These are all hallucinations. Cut the rope, grab hold of it, and jump down."

"What?" Ur Wunnian roared. "Quick, pull me up! I've tried before; the cargo well gets narrower further down. It's a dead end!"

"Trust me. Cut the rope, grab hold of it, and jump down," Li Ang repeated. Forest Cat's head also appeared beside him. "Believe him," Forest Cat urged. "Cut the rope and jump down."

Ur Wunnian looked down. The cargo well below was even narrower and more congested than above; not a single sliver of light could be seen.

The walls around him writhed, making a wet, SQUELCHING sound as white fascia splattered pus that dripped onto Ur Wunnian's red suit, corroding holes into it.

There was no other way.

Ur Wunnian clenched his teeth tightly. He raised his head and stared steadfastly at Li Ang and Forest Cat. Then, tearing the hemp rope with his hands, he grasped the rope and fell, pulled downward by gravity, falling, falling.

THUD—

Seconds later, Ur Wunnian landed heavily on the hard ground. His ankles were gripped tightly by something, and he was completely pulled out of the cargo well.

Although his back was injured from the fall, Ur Wunnian, with his exceptional physique, flipped up from the ground in an instant, warily looking around.

This place seemed to be a cluttered room used to store various seldom-used items from within the mansion.

In front of him stood his teammates—Stonemason, Forest Cat, and Li Rising—each keeping a distance, as if they were assessing his mental state.

"Everything you saw in the cargo well was an illusion," Stonemason said. "Are you okay?"

Ur Wunnian lowered his gaze to scan his body, realizing that there was no pus on his red suit, only a lot of wall dust.

The hemp rope in his hand, at some point, had turned into a six- or seven-meter-long half-section of intestine. Its ends were withered, shriveled, and grayish-brown, with a rough, uneven break at the upper part.

Where it touched his palm, however, it was plump and rosy, full of vitality.

This is...

Ur Wunnian tried to let go of the intestine but found that a round mouth full of sharp teeth had grown from its middle section, clinging to his palm like a leech, difficult to pull off or tear away.

Under the flashlight beam, Ur Wunnian could clearly see blood surging within the intestine—it had been continuously sucking the blood flowing from his palm.

"Let me do it."

Stonemason stepped forward. After observing for a moment, his hands deftly pressed on both sides of the intestine's mouth, gently breaking the now lifeless intestine apart, and lightly detached the round mouthpiece.

At that moment, Ur Wunnian also felt a wave of dizziness, not only from the blood loss but also from the electrifying, numbing sensation coming from the wound on his palm.

He shook his head, looked up, and asked, "What I saw just now, was all an illusion?"

"Yes," Li Ang nodded. He had Ur Wunnian bend over slightly, then peered into the elevator shaft himself.

The shaft appeared normal, with no strange distortions.

At the very top of the mansion's cargo well, there was indeed a pulley system. Hanging from it was a hemp rope—but besides the rope, there was also another half-section of intestine.

Judging by its shape, it was the same one Ur Wunnian had held.

Apparently, after being transported to the Heavenly Ladder Shaft, Ur Wunnian had been hanging from the intestine all along.

The large intestine's mouth had bitten his palm, drawing blood while producing a slew of vivid, convincing illusions right before his eyes, with the intention of trapping him alive inside the elevator shaft.

Even the teammates he thought were at the top were actually inside the cluttered room at the very bottom of the elevator shaft. If he had climbed upwards, he would have only touched the stone walls at the top of the mansion. Only by jumping downwards was there a chance for survival.

A wave of fear surged through Ur Wunnian's heart. If his teammates hadn't arrived in time, he most likely would have become a corpse, hanging alone in the cargo well.

"Here, hand me the intestine."

Li Ang naturally took the lifeless intestine from Ur Wunnian's hand and wrapped it around his waist. Accompanied by the System's notification sound, he climbed rapidly up the cargo well wall like a spider. Reaching the top, he also pulled down the remaining half-section of intestine.