After posting a hundred notes, Serena Feng was exhausted. They happened to reach a wooden chamber, and Serena simply sat down on the floor, leaning against Prince Nolan to rest. It took her quite a while before she had the strength to pull water and food from her Smart Med-Pack.
"I just hope the others can find us soon. If not, even if they don't starve, they'll die of thirst." This room was packed with treasures, but not a single bite to eat.
Even if there was food, after all these years, nothing would be edible anymore.
"They will." Whether it was the Eighteen Riders or Sean Xuan, none of them were the type to sit and wait for death. Once they realized their predicament, they would definitely search all around. Their only real worry right now was Snow Wolf.
"I hope Snow Wolf ends up with someone. Otherwise..." Serena sighed softly. Prince Nolan pulled her onto his lap. "Don't worry. Snow Wolf will follow our scent and find us."
"Let's hope so..." Serena thought back to Snow Wolf's panicked howl before they fell. She was genuinely anxious for it—after all, that silly wolf was smart, but couldn't read a single word.
After eating, Serena started feeling drowsy. She meant to lay out a sleeping bag, but Prince Nolan scooped her into his arms. "No need to bother with that."
"You'll get tired." Holding her all night would leave Prince Nolan's arms sore.
"It's fine." Prince Nolan draped a blanket over Serena. "With me here, just sleep easy."
A month inside the imperial tomb had left Serena much thinner. To say Nolan wasn't worried would be a lie. But they rarely had time alone—no matter how concerned he was, he couldn't show it. Now, with this rare moment together, Prince Nolan didn't want to let it slip away.
No matter how harsh the conditions, he wanted Serena to have the best of everything.
"Okay. If you get tired, wake me up." Serena yawned delicately and shifted, finding a comfortable spot in Nolan's arms. She fell asleep soon after—and this time, she slept deeply.
Ever since entering the imperial tomb, Serena had been on edge every single day. Even when there wasn't any danger, they’d camped out in the wilderness, and she never dared sleep deeply—always hyper-alert, waking at the slightest sound. But now...
Curled up in Prince Nolan's arms, Serena finally felt safe—and slept soundly for once.
While Serena slept peacefully, Sean Xuan and the Eighteen Riders couldn’t rest at all. Split into small groups, Sean was with one of the Riders. They wandered from room to room, always ending up somewhere new—unable to find their way, unable to escape, sometimes looping back to where they started.
The worst part was that every room was blindingly bright. They couldn’t tell day from night, had no clue how much time had passed—just knew they were getting hungrier and thirstier with every step.
Hunger was bearable, but thirst was torture. They desperately needed water—otherwise, they’d die in here for sure.
"I can’t go any further." Luckily, these three had tumbled into the same group, so at least they had each other for company.
"Let’s keep looking. Maybe Serena and the others are just in the next room." Prince Nolan was right—the Eighteen Riders weren’t the type to sit around waiting for rescue. As soon as they woke and realized the walls could be pushed open, they started searching room by room. But...
They were completely lost!