Song Ning walked a hundred meters to the left, switched off her flashlight, and waited at the entrance to the passage that turned right.
She heard faint footsteps.
Then a weak light slowly approached.
She slipped quietly through the entrance, walked some distance inside, and waited.
The light lingered at the entrance, as though its owner was debating whether to come in...
Song Ning tossed a small stone far ahead. It struck the rock wall with a series of clacks, bouncing away into the distance.
At the same time, she let out a startled cry, neither too loud nor too soft.
Then she immediately hid in a recess in the rock wall beside her.
Sure enough, the light outside went out at once, and someone entered the passage, following the sound.
Song Ning hid to one side. Once the soft footsteps had passed farther down the passage, she quickly slipped out, doubled back to the entrance, and left the cave.
The reason that passage was called the "looping mountain passage" was the clever placement of its entrance.
It looked ordinary on the way in, but from inside, the opening was concealed around a bend. The misleading perspective made it extremely difficult for anyone unfamiliar with the layout to find, leaving them going around in circles inside...
Song Ning ran all the way to the Chinese banyan tree and waited behind it for a while.
This time, sure enough, no more sounds followed.
Rather than heading down the mountain, she turned and continued climbing.
As the eastern sky turned pale, Song Ning reached the summit of Lianwu Mountain.
Feeling the cool, refreshing mist at the summit, she let out a long breath.
Crossing one more peak from here would let her descend the other side, where Kaoshan Village lay at the