2 Surface

Liu Kai raised his hand that held the torch to check the ceiling, and he saw a ladder four meters above the ground.

'This looks like it might lead to the surface.'

'I don't know who made this underground passageway, but he must've been one athletic guy to jump that high. So how do I reach that ladder?' He thought as he searched for a way to reach his only hope for escape.

As he thoroughly explored the walls, he felt that the bricks had gaps in them.

'How long has this passageway existed to have this many gaps?' He thought as he stuck the torch on the wall.

Then he stretched out his right hand to grab on to the highest opening he could reach and lifted his left foot, then stuck it in one of the gaps as well.

He propped himself as he stretched out his left hand to grab on to the next crack as if he was rock climbing.

Liu Kai was not athletic in any sense and did not do well in sports in high school.

But there was no other way for him to escape this dungeon-like place.

So he held on tight and moved slowly and climbed.

He closed the gap between him and the ladder, but he didn't see any more gaps to grab on to.

He looked down to see how high he climbed, and it was a good 3 meters above the ground.

He was still, give or take, a meter away from the ladder.

He swayed his body up and down, while still holding on to the gaps tightly, to gain momentum.

He put all the strength he could on his legs as he jumped up to reach the ladder, arms stretched out.

But at the last moment, he slipped on some moss and lost his balance.

**THUUUUUUUUUD!!**

A loud noise echoed through the whole passageway as his body crashed to the ground.

"AAAGH!!?"

He gasped for air, arching his back with the wind knocked out of him.

The pain was felt throughout his body from the shock as it made contact with the floor.

After a few seconds, he felt the pain dissipate quickly, so he stood up, but Liu Kai wondered how he recovered almost entirely from the fall or even his exhaustion.

Too many weird things were happening at the same time.

However, he was determined to reach the top. He climbed the wall again, this time with more caution.

He was checking to see if there were any moss on the gaps he can use as a foothold.

Liu Kai fell once more, this time falling short on his jump to reach the first bar of the ladder.

But he still didn't falter.

He repeated his cycle of climbing and falling multiple times.

And each time echoing throughout the passageway.

He got used to climbing the wall, but he always fails to grab the end of the ladder after jumping.

"How many times did I fall already?"

His body is aching from falling so many times that he lost count.

"This time for sure… I'll be able to hold on to that ladder."

"One last time," Liu Kai sighed while forcibly motivating himself.

Liu Kai climbs again, now on the highest part that he could reach.

He took a couple of deep breaths and readied himself to jump.

He imagined the outside world with clean, fresh air, pristine water, and maybe food.

He imagined his previous meals.

"Okay, I can do this! Let's do this or I'm going to die here alone and cold," he scared himself with the thought of dying alone young without even having a decent meal or even seeing the sun one last time.

"Well, it's not like someone's waiting for me anyway… but still, I would like to live a good life and have a family of my own," he conversed with himself, fantasizing about what he really wanted to do.

'Oh wow, I never really thought about all this back then. What am I doing!? I've been raising red flags here! Let's just get this over with.'

He took a deep breath and leaped from the wall with all his might and stretched out both of his hands as he grabbed the ladder and held on to it.

"FINALLY!!" Overjoyed with his achievement, he climbed up the ladder that led him to a sealed manhole.

He tried pushing it open but... it didn't budge.

"Hello!! Is there anybody out there!?" He knocked on the cover and tried shouting for help, hoping that someone from outside could hear him and open it from that side.

He was sure he heard someone walking on the surface and it seemed like multiple people judging from the steps, but no matter how long he kept knocking, no one heard him.

Liu Kai tried to find a way to open the manhole from the inside.

"It's so dark… I left my torch stuck to the wall down there," he grumbled as he leaned back and brushed both his hands across the circle cover and felt something like a handle. He turned it clockwise and heard small clicking noises while he did.

"It's a combination lock!" He exclaimed as he realized. But what was the code?

He brushed his hand again without letting go of the dial-like-handle.

Liu Kai soon felt carved figures on the cover; they were numbers.

He concentrated and traced them carefully to know what they were.

"7… 5… 3… Got it!" He said when he traced the numbers.

Liu Kai carefully entered the code and when it clicked to signal it being unlocked, he pushed the cover to open.

His eyes winced, irritated by the bright light from the sun.

He wasn't used to it after staying in the dark for that long.

He finally climbed out from the tunnel to the surface.

And as soon as he got up to smell the fresh air, the manhole cover automatically closed.

Thinking back, it looked more like a tomb or an underground cell from the single room, the iron door, the long passageway, and the sealed cover.

He looked up to bask in the sunlight's warmth and stretched out both his hands to feel the open space.

"What is this place?" He murmured as soon as he noticed his surroundings.