Shannchyuan advanced ahead of Jenqyih. He shone his flashlight around the place. "This is the confluence of two passages," said Shannchyuan. "So, if we walk from the direction of the wider hallway, then we encounter a branching passage. The one to the right leads to a dungeon in our backyard. While the one to the left leads to an unknown place. Which one we should check? The one that forks to the left or the slightly wider passage?"

"I think the left branch of the passage leads to the dungeon in someone else's backyard. Probably this wider passage leading to the exit." Yihshyong was very excited when he said those words.

"I agree with Shyongge," Jenqyih said. "I think we should check these two passages. But right now, our priority is to find a way out. This wider passage makes more sense."

"Alright, let's explore this wider passage," said Shannchyuan.

The three of them walked down the wider passage. Their position was the same as before. Jenqyih in the front, Shannchyuan in the middle, and Yihshyong in the back. Unlike the previous passage, the passage they were going through didn't have many turns, and the distance was relatively short. About a hundred meters from the fork, they had arrived at the end. Cautiously, Jenqyih stopped at the end of the passage. Shannchyuan once again got ahead of Jenqyih. He walked into the room at the end of the passage.

The room behind the end of the passage was large. Wider than the dungeon in their backyard. Since it was spacious, it might be more appropriate if they called the room a hall. The hall was in the shape of a hexagon. On each side was a door leading to another passage. The door was just an empty hole. There were no doors that separated the hall from the passages behind. So a total of six doors in the hall. A large circular stone about eighty or ninety centimeters in diameter was located right in the center of the room. The boulder was about half a meter high. The surface of the stone is flat. Yihshyong and his friends immediately drew near to the big rock.

"At close range, this rock looks like a huge bench." Jenqyih shone his flashlight on the rock face. "There's no way this is a table."

Maybe this is a bench. A giant stone bench. Sometimes, the simple thing is the answer we have searched for so hard.

"This is very much like the situation in the ancient stories in the novels I used to read when I was a teenager." Yihshyong stretched out his hand. He rubbed the surface of the stone bench.

Jenqyih laughed. "You mean fantasy adventure stories that tell of the existence of the secret underground passages?"

"Yes. But I don't mean just a secret passage. More specifically, the scene or the part where the story's main characters went underground and found large, heavy objects."

"Like this big stool?" Shannchyuan asked.

"Yes. Like a bench this size or the stone table in the basement of our backyard. I've read a few stories whose scenes are similar to the situation we're in now. The authors of the stories never explained how large and heavy objects, such as this stone bench, got underground. How do people get it down? Then how to bring it all the way to this hall? It was impossible to transport a rock of this size by hand alone. There must have been certain tools that people used to move this stone here. To be able to load stones of this size, the tools they use must be huge. The problem is, tools that are so big obviously can't fit in the passages we've been through."

Shannchyuan nodded. He then inched away from the stone bench. He highlighted the door holes in the hall wall.

"They never explain that in their books?" Jenqyih half laughed when he asked the question.

"Never! Maybe they couldn't explain it themselves either. So they left it entirely to the imagination of the readers."

"I'm sure there are also authors who have really thought about everything related to the background from the location and settings in the scenes in their books," said Jenqyih.

"Indeed, I have heard that there are also one or two authors who explain in great detail to readers. But usually, readers cannot read their lengthy explanations."

"You mean the editors cut that stuff down because they thought it's verbose and unimportant?"

"I guess so. Not all readers hate that sort of thing. There are also some readers, like me, who want everything explained."

"Dahge, what do you think?" Jenqyih turned to Shannchyuan.

"About what? About the events in the fantasy novel? Or about the events we're going through?" Shannchyuan asked back.

"About this boulder that seems to serve as a bench. How did people put it here?" Jenqyih asked while drawing a big question mark in the air.

"To be honest, I don't know either," Shannchyuan replied with a laugh. "There are always things that are really hard to explain."

After saying that, Shannchyuan approached the stone bench. Yihshyong and Jenqyih followed behind him. He then sat down on the large stone bench. His two friends, without hesitation, also followed what he was doing.