Chapter 87: A cave of secrets
Ru Yi’s fingers tightened around her sleeve. "Yexue...that’s her. That’s Madam Lin, I recognize her voice clearly."
Her gaze had already shifted, sharp and calculating...scanning the perimeter of the house instead of the door they had just been turned away from.
"If we go back through the front, he’ll stop us," Yexue muttered.
Ru Yi nodded quickly. "Then...the back? We can go around and check. There was only one guard in the entire house the last time we were here."
Yexue was already moving toward the back of the house. She gestured to Ru Yi. "Stay close."
The rear of Madam Lin’s residence was even more quiet than the front. Like expected...there were no servants, no guards, no sound of movement. Just stillness, too deliberate to be natural.
Ru Yi’s unease deepened with every step. "Why is no one here?"
"Because whatever they’re trying to hide," Yexue said lowly, "is meant to stay hidden. It makes sense why they don’t have an adequate number of staff."
They circled along the wall, careful and silent.
Soon enough Ru Yi spoke, her eyes widening in surprise. "Yexue..." she pointed at something in the distance.
Half-hidden behind overgrown shrubs and creeping vines was something unnatural. A door.
It was not upright like any normal entrance...It was slanted, angling downward into the earth. Like something that didn’t belong to a house at all.
Yexue’s eyes narrowed. "Found it."
Ru Yi swallowed. "Do you think that’s where—"
"Yes."
There was no hesitation in Yexue’s voice. She stepped forward, pushing the vines aside. The wood beneath was old, rough, reinforced with iron that had begun to rust at the edges.
Yexue reached for the handle.
"Wait—" Ru Yi whispered. "What if—"
It was too late.
The door creaked open and the ground disappeared beneath Yexue’s feet.
"Yexue!"
She dropped.
The world tilted violently as her body slammed downward, the air knocked from her lung as she hit solid ground with a dull, echoing thud.
Pain flared through her side, but she ignored it immediately, forcing herself upright.
"Ru Yi!" she shouted, looking up. "Don’t come down—"
There was a blur of movement followed by a gasp before Ru Yi came tumbling through the opening, slipping with a startled cry as she fell straight into the darkness.
Yexue moved fast.
She stepped forward just in time to catch part of her fall, though the impact still drove them both back slightly.
Ru Yi clutched onto her instinctively, breath shaky.
"I told you not to jump," Yexue muttered.
"I didn’t jump," Ru Yi said weekly. "I slipped..."
Yexue exhaled, steadying them both before finally looking around. She went still. "What is this?"
The space around them looked like a cave, stretching wider than it had any right to beneath a house. It was carved deep into the earth with jagged stone walls that glistened faintly with moisture.
The air was damp—thick, almost suffocating, and carried the scent of iron and something older. Something that had been left to rot in silence.
Water dripped somewhere in the distance.
Echoing.
Slow.
Deliberate.
The ground beneath their feet was uneven, rough, scattered with small stones and patches of darkened earth that looked almost stained.
Ru Yi’s grip on Yexue tightened. "This isn’t normal."
"No," Yexue responded quietly. "It’s not."
And then—
There was a weak sound. "...help..."
Both of them turned instantly. At the far end of the cave were figures...chained to the wall.
Ru Yi’s breath caught. "Madam Lin!" She rushed forward before Yexue could stop her.
A woman hung against the stone wall, her wrists bound by heavy iron shackles that dug into her skin. Her robes were torn, her face pale, lips dry...but she was alive.
Barely.
"Ru Yi...?" Madam Lin’s voice cracked, disbelief flickering in her eyes.
"I’m here," Ru Yi said quickly, dropping to her knees beside her. "We heard your voice when we were about to leave."
There was another sound of chain dragging. Ru Yi turned to it, only to see another figure. Smaller. Curled weakly against the wall.
It was a little girl. Thin. Fragile. Breathing shallowly, as though even that took effort.
Ru Yi stared. "Who is that?"
Madam Lin’s expression broke. Tears welled in her eyes as she turned her head slightly to the girl. "My daughter..."
Ru Yi’s mind went blank. "What?"
"My daughter," Madam Lin repeated, her voice trembling. "She’s alive..."
Ru Yi shook her head slowly. "No... you said she was dead."
"I lied," Madam Lin whispered, tears slipping down her face. "I had to...I had to..."
Ru Yi’s chest tightened.
It was thr groaning, the voice she’d heard before. "That was her?" she asked softly.
Madam Lin nodded weakly. "She has been here this whole time. I tried to get her out, but—" her voice broke.
Ru Yi looked at the girl again, and something inside her twisted painfully. What monster would have the heart to do this to their child?
"Why?" Ru Yi whispered.
Before Madam Lin could answer, a sound echoed above them. A heavy slam.
Yexue’s head snapped upward. The door!
"Ru Yi," she said sharply.
Ru Yi turned at the same time a click followed. Loud and final.
The faint silver of light from above was immediately gone. Darkness pressed in tighter on the group.
Ru Yi started to tremble from fear. "Yexue..."
Yexue’s expression darkened as she stared up at where the entrance had been. "We’ve been locked in."
Trapped. That was a better word.
Silence fell over the cave. Heavy and suffocating.
Ru Yi gulped hard, her voice small and desperate. "Is there another way out?"
Yexue didn’t answer immediately. Her gaze shifted slowly back toward the chained figures. Then to the shadows stretching deeper into the cave.
Unseen.
Unknown.
Dangerous.
"There better be," Yexue said quietly, even though she was starting to panic on the inside. Her eyes darted upward again, as if the door might somehow reappear if she looked hard enough.
It didn’t.
Her chest tightened.
Think.
That was what Qingyie would say.
Assess. Observe. Act.
Yexue clenched her fists. Her mind was blank. Being the mastermind wasn’t her role. Qingyue was the one who saw patterns where others saw chaos.
Qingyue was the one who stayed calm, who planned three steps ahead, who always knew what to do.
Yexue? She executed, she followed that plan, and she fought.
But this?
This wasn’t a fight. There was no enemy in front of her to strike. No clear path to force open. Just darkness and uncertainty laid in front of her.
"Yexue?"
Ru Yi’s voice pulled her back. Soft, fragile, and trusting.
Yexue swallowed hard. She couldn’t afford to break, not now. Not when Ru Yi was here and the thought of her getting hurt hit harder than anything else.
Because if something happened to her—
Yexue’s stomach twisted violently.
No.
No.
Absolutely not.
She stepped forward instinctively, placing herself slightly in front of Ru Yi without thinking.
"I’m here," Yexue said, more firmly this time.
Ru Yi’s fingers brushed against her sleeve, holding onto her like an anchor.
"I’m sorry," Ru Yi whispered. "If I hadn’t asked you to come—"
"Dont," Yexue cut sharply. "This isn’t your fault."
"But—"
"I said it’s not your fault." Her tone softened slightly after. "I chose to follow you." The words echoed in her own head.
I chose you.
Yexue forced herself to inhale slowly. Her gaze adjusted to the dimness. The cave wasn’t entirely dark—faint light seeped through cracks in the stone above, barely enough to outline shapes.
Irregular walls. Narrow passages stretching deeper.
Yexue turned to Madam Lin. "Who locked us in?" she asked.
"My husband," she whispered.
Yexue’s jaw tightened. "Why?"
Madam Lin hesitated, her gaze dropping. "Because he thinks no one will come looking for us."
A chill ran down Ru Yi’s spine.
"But why chain you here?" Ru Yi asked, her voice shaking now. "Why lie about your daughter being dead?"
At that, Madam Lin broke. A soft, pained sound left her as she turned her head weakly toward the girl. "Because she was supposed to die."
Madam Lin’s voice trembled with every word. "My husband made a deal," she continued. "It was a long time ago. For wealth. For status."
Yexue didn’t react outwardly, but something in her expression sharpened. Ru Yi felt it.
"What kind of deal?" Ru Yi asked quietly.
Madam Lin closed her eyes. "The kind that required a price." She took a deep breath. "The first child was the agreement," she whispered.
Ru Yi’s stomach dropped. "No..."
"I couldn’t let it happen," Madam Lin continued, tears slipping freely now. "So I hid her. I told everyone she was stillborn. But he found out."
Yexue’s hands curled into fists.
"Instead of killing her," she said slowly, piecing it together, "he kept her here. To complete the deal later."
The cave felt colder. Heavier.
Ru Yi wrapped her arms around herself unconsciously. "That’s...that’s horrible."
The small girl shifted faintly at the sound of voices, a weak, pained groan escaping her lips.
Ru Yi immediately leaned closer. "Hey...it’s okay. We won’t let anything happen to you."
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