The Eighteen Riders gradually reunited in the rooms. By the time they reached Room 99, almost everyone had arrived—only Sean Xuan, the Snow Wolf, and one last Rider were still missing.
"Those two and the wolf are probably together. If we could find our way here, they'll follow the instructions and get here soon enough." That was what everyone believed, so the seventeen didn't wait any longer—they simply pushed open the door and went inside. Sure enough, in Room 100, they found Serena and Prince Nolan.
By this time, Serena was already awake and no longer nestled in Prince Nolan's arms. Seeing the Eighteen Riders appear, she greeted them joyfully, rising to meet them.
"You finally made it. I was really worried you wouldn't find your way and end up dying of thirst in here." Seeing that, although their faces looked rough, their spirits were still good, Serena felt secretly relieved.
In this hellish place, the one thing you can't afford to lose is the will to survive.
"Miss Serena..." The Eighteen Riders were overwhelmed with emotion when they saw her, some even tearing up. "We finally found you."
Though they hadn't suffered much, everyone still worried after getting separated. Most importantly, without Serena, even eating and drinking would be a problem for them.
In this hellhole, there's every kind of treasure you could want—grab a piece and you'd be rich—but not a single thing to eat.
Serena understood perfectly. They were thirsty and exhausted, and had no energy for talk, so she quickly took out water and food. None of the seventeen hesitated—they grabbed the water and gulped it down, as if drinking could fill their stomachs.
After eating and drinking for a while, the Eighteen Riders finally regained their strength. Only then did they remember to stand and pay their respects to Serena, but she waved it off, telling them to focus on resting.
The Eighteen Riders didn't stand on ceremony. Even though two men and the wolf were still missing, they weren't worried; if they could find their way, so could the others.
"There's still Twelve, Sean, and the Snow Wolf missing. It's been almost two days now—they should have found their way by now, right?" With no sign of them, Serena grew more anxious.
It had been two days since she woke up. Going three days without food was one thing, but three days without water could be fatal.
Prince Nolan squeezed Serena's hand and quietly reassured her, "Don't worry, they'll be here soon." The fact that seventeen had found their way proved the method worked. For Sean, Twelve, and the Snow Wolf, it was only a matter of time.
Of course, that was assuming the dumb wolf hadn't gotten separated. If it had...
"That's bad!" When Sean and the last Rider finally appeared together, Serena couldn't help but groan in relief.
"It really was bad—we were about to drop." Sean's lips were so dry they were cracked. He took the water Serena handed him and sipped slowly, while the other Rider didn't care for manners, grabbing the bucket and gulping it down.
"I thought I was going to die. Waaa..." The Rider known as Twelve clung to his brother and burst into tears. These past two days felt endless; at times, he truly thought he'd die here, with no one left to bury him.
"It's okay, it's okay, we're all fine now. With Miss Serena here, we won't starve or die of thirst." The Eighteen Riders quickly comforted their companion, covering his mouth so he wouldn't say anything more embarrassing.
The Eighteen Riders prided themselves on being tough men—they didn't go in for crying like women just to win sympathy.
Serena didn't see anything wrong with it. After all, they'd just survived a disaster—showing a bit of weakness when reunited with familiar faces was perfectly normal.
Of course, Serena wasn't in the mood to dwell on it. Right now, her only worry was the Snow Wolf.
"The Snow Wolf won't get into trouble so easily. Let's rest for a day, then we'll go look for him." Prince Nolan knew what was on Serena's mind, and squeezed her hand to comfort her.
After resting for a while, Sean recovered and realized something was off. "Where's the Snow Wolf?"
Where was the Snow Wolf?
As for the dumb wolf Serena kept mentioning, he was currently living it up—drinking some unknown celestial nectar and chewing on a legendary, nearly impossible-to-find immortal medicine: the Immortal Flesh Fungus (Taisui).
Immortal Flesh Fungus, also called meat lingzhi, is described in Li Shizhen's Compendium of Materia Medica: 'Eaten regularly, it lightens the body, prevents aging, and grants the longevity of a celestial.'
Starving, the Snow Wolf caught the scent of the Immortal Flesh Fungus. Once he confirmed that this meat-like, flavorless thing was non-toxic, he didn't hesitate to take a big bite.
After two noisy bites, the Snow Wolf wrinkled his nose in disgust, closed his eyes, and swallowed it whole.
It tasted awful—not a hint of meat. As a wolf, he hadn't eaten grass in ages.
The Immortal Flesh Fungus was a rare spiritual medicine, and this particular specimen had grown for nearly a thousand years. The Snow Wolf ate the whole thing, and the side effects hit instantly—his whole body felt hot and restless, and he longed to roll around in the snow to cool off.
"Awooo... awooo." It was unbearable!
The Snow Wolf howled in distress, his eyes growing dazed like a drunk's. He staggered as he walked, his limbs unsteady.
"Awooo... awooo." Somebody help! Serena, come save me, I've been poisoned!
The Snow Wolf's cries grew louder and louder, until the whole underground palace was shaking. But...
Serena wasn't there at all, so even if he howled himself hoarse, no one would come to save him.
"Awooo..." The Snow Wolf's cries gradually faded, his head growing heavier and his limbs nearly immobile. He struggled to take a few more steps, but his strength failed him—his front legs buckled, and he collapsed into a pool beside the Immortal Flesh Fungus.
Luckily, the pool wasn't deep—just up to the Snow Wolf's neck, so he was spared from drowning.
By now, the Snow Wolf had lost consciousness and could only float with the water, waiting for Serena and Prince Nolan to come rescue him...
After a day's rest, the Eighteen Riders and Sean were back to normal. Faced with their almost superhuman powers of recovery, Serena could only sigh in awe—such freakish resilience was something she'd never achieve in this life, or the next.
Now that they were trapped in these maze-like rooms, even Prince Nolan's map was useless—they could only take things one step at a time and hope for the best.
To avoid another disaster, Serena divided up some food and water, making sure everyone carried a share. That way, even if they got separated again, nobody would starve or die of thirst.
"We can't count how many rooms there are here, but one thing's certain: we'll never reach the end. We're just stuck wandering in circles, and trying every room one by one to find a way out is nearly impossible." Sean and the other Rider had explored the most rooms, so they knew best.
"We can go forward, backward, left, or right, but we have no idea what's beneath our feet." Prince Nolan pointed to the ground, where a strange, wood-like liquid was flowing. His deep eyes glimmered with a hint of light.
"Might be worth a try." Since the ground was almost their only way out, Sean had thought of it too.
"The question is, could there be poison in that stuff?" Serena was worried. They didn't recognize the liquid flowing beneath them, and if they broke through the floor, something could go wrong.
In a tomb, you can't just mess with things at random. They'd ended up here because they'd used the wrong method to open the stone gate...