Zhao Guo'an knew that now wasn't the time to play the hero, so he tactfully put down his backpack and politely said, "Thank you!"

Fujiwara Keiaki smiled, "You're welcome. I've long said that I admire young people like you. Once we're out of here, if there's an opportunity..."

Halfway through his sentence, he saw Zhao Guo'an had already turned around and jumped directly to the other side without even taking a few steps back for a run-up.

"..." Fujiwara Keiaki.

I kindly tried to help you and praised you, and this is how you treat me?

As for Zhao Guo'an, his thinking was quite simple: Didn't you say you admired me?

Then I'll change everything you admire and see if you still admire it.

Zhao Guo'an vaguely remembered that in the bus, Fujiwara Keiaki had said he admired his respect for his elders and his politeness.

Now he was deliberately being impolite, to see what the other person still admired.

Of course, if deliberately doing the opposite didn't work, Zhao Guo'an could only say that Fujiwara Keiaki that old guy was really shameless.

"Miss, would you like to give me the bag?" Fujiwara Keiaki turned around to ask before jumping across.

Su Yuzhuo shook her head, indicating no need.

Fujiwara Keiaki didn't insist and jumped straight across.

When it comes to these manners, Japanese people indeed have their own set of insistences. They bow to greet when they meet, and in everyday conversations, they mostly use honorifics. Many times it even gives people a feeling of being overly polite, almost hypocritical.

Su Yuzhuo stepped forward two steps and stood at the spot where Fujiwara Keiaki had jumped. Just as she was about to jump across, she noticed something seemed to be reflecting light in the crevice close to the wall.

She squatted down, reached out to pick up the reflective object, wiped away the dust on its surface, and began to examine it carefully.

First of all, it was smaller than the usual medal by a circle. Judging by the color, it should be made of bronze.

Furthermore, its surface was engraved with patterns. Although covered with rust which obscured the full view, from the outline and details, one could judge it was a long knife.

On the blade and tip, there were a few drops of fresh blood, and below were some small words, but because of the heavy rust, it was impossible to know what was written on them.

At this moment, Fujiwara Keiaki's eyes widened, and he exclaimed, "Miss, this is..."

Xiao Feng keenly sensed something was off. At least since knowing him, he had rarely seen Fujiwara Keiaki so amazed.

Even when following Zhen Jinghan, with so many incredible coincidences happening, the other party was merely depressed, not shocked.

In other words, whatever Su Yuzhuo was holding must be of great value.

In fact, Xiao Feng's guess was not wrong. What Su Yuzhuo held was precisely an item left behind years ago by her father, Iwakami Ryoji. It was equivalent to the Iwagami Clan's emblem.

"Could this really be fate?" Su Yuzhuo clenched the "bronze medallion" in her hand, murmuring to herself.

In truth, it wasn't unreasonable for her to think so.

Just the day before setting off, Su Yuzhuo had just made up her mind to return to China in the name of the Iwagami Clan to regroup, strengthen, and develop. She just didn't know if she could leverage her father's past connections.

And now, at this moment, the item representing the Iwagami Clan's highest identity emblem appeared in her hand. It's like a pillow coming when you're drowsy.

To put it in a more modern way.

It's like the Iwagami Clan is a company on the verge of bankruptcy, and Su Yuzhuo is the fallen rich second generation wanting to start her own business but lacking capital. She wants to take over the company to save it but lacks the credentials to convince others.

The situation is awkward beyond description!

But with this medallion, it's equivalent to having the authority and capital to convince others, similar to how Du Qingyun used his reputation to support Du Linlang in becoming the president of Lanyue Group, so no one could question her credentials.

"What's wrong?"

Lin Zhiyan at the back of the line asked with a frown.

Su Yuzhuo snapped back to reality upon hearing this, put the circular medallion into her pocket, and shook her head, saying, "It's nothing, just feeling a bit emotional seeing something of my father's."

After this brief interlude, everyone started moving again.

...

"Ding!"

The phone in the pocket made a noise.

Xiao Feng stopped and turned back, saying, "Roll call!"

Everyone began to speak out, reporting their numbers in sequence from front to back.

In such a narrow passageway, it's hard to know at a glance how many people are behind. Although it's unlikely for someone to fall out quietly, there's always that saying.

Better safe than sorry!

Once it was confirmed that no one was missing, Xiao Feng didn't continue further.

The phone in his pocket beeped every ten minutes, and this was the third beep.

This meant they had been walking for a full half hour. Calculating it as three steps in two seconds which is a bit more than two meters, that's at least 1,800 meters — close to two kilometers.

"Did you also walk this long before?" Xiao Feng turned back, looking at Sun Shijie in the line.

Sun Shijie smiled wryly, "When I came in that time, I only walked just ahead of the stone, didn't even get through the passage."

The implication was clear enough: Sun Shijie wasn't sure how much further it was.

Xiao Feng took a deep breath, finding it hard to resist wavering. Often those things that seem simple are actually the most complex.

It's like how earlier when they shone the flashlight inside the passage, it wasn't a straight line. Yet walking inside, there wasn't any obvious feeling of turning.

In this situation, Xiao Feng couldn't help but suspect whether it was a maze designed to exploit visual and sensory errors.

If it's simply going around to the entrance again, that's one thing, but the fear is of going in circles, or suddenly encountering a fork in the road, having to choose one or split the group.

After a moment, Xiao Feng made a decision, "We'll go another twenty minutes. If we still can't get out, we'll need to think of something else."

"What else can we do?" Everyone asked in unison, unable to think of any option other than going back the way they came.

But if the so-called "another way" meant returning, given Xiao Feng's character, he would have said it outright.

Xiao Feng looked up and pointed a finger upward.

Everyone immediately understood. Xiao Feng intended to climb up to find a way out. After all, there's an old saying that standing high provides a better view. If it really didn't work, that was the way to go.

Another ten minutes or so passed, and Xiao Feng's pace halted once more. Just ahead, the end of the passage appeared, but it was a dead end, like construction had stopped midway.

The little girl struggled to tiptoe, grabbed Xiao Feng's backpack with both hands, and peeked her little head over his shoulder, saying, "Doesn't seem like there's a road ahead?"

"Let's go see first," Xiao Feng said.

Having come this far, a bit more distance wasn't a bother.

Moreover, Xiao Feng didn't believe Sun Shijie's ancestors put so much effort just to build a dead end.

Sure enough, getting closer, Xiao Feng found it wasn't actually a dead end. It just looked that way due to the line of sight.

In truth, there's no road ahead, but on both the left and right sides, there were two paths. In essence, it was a T-junction.

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