The dry well stood in a dilapidated courtyard. Nearby was a low house with broken doors and windows, its interior piled with rotten wood and shattered tiles.
The courtyard was overgrown with weeds, clearly neglected for many years.
Zhang Queling landed beside the well with a dark look on her face.
In an instant, countless chaotic, clamorous voices leaped over the mottled courtyard wall and drilled into her ears.
Among them were the heart-rending pleas of women, the despairing cries of children, the coarse, feral laughter of men, and shouts rising and falling one after another.
The voices were not clear, yet they were like countless steel needles, stabbing her eardrums until they throbbed with pain.
She secretly clenched her teeth and forced herself not to pay attention.
She recalled the map's information, as well as the escape route the two of them had agreed upon.
She did not take the already ruined courtyard gate. Instead, she came to the eastern wall and pressed her ear against it.
Yao Zhixue's voice sounded in her mind at just the right moment.
Queling... climb over the wall, and you'll be in the residence's garden... There shouldn't be many people.
Zhang Queling clenched her fists and asked in her heart: How many times did you restart at this "save point"?
Seven... seven or eight times... maybe? Yao Zhixue's thoughts came haltingly, lacking confidence.
The corner of Zhang Queling's mouth twitched. She stopped paying attention to her.
She sensed the surroundings once more, and only after confirming that no one was nearby did she exert strength through her feet.
When she reached midair, she turned her body sideways and braced one palm against the top of the wall, doing her best to reduce the risk of exposing herself.
In the blink of an eye,