He Xiaoyu’s attention was obviously attracted by the ring. She took the tinfoil circle over to have a close look and murmured, “What on earth is this?”

“Xiaoyu, look at me. I am still kneeling on the ground!” Li Mu waved to her repeatedly.

When He Xiaoyu finally looked at him, she hesitated for a long time, shook her head slightly, and said softly, “I’m sorry, Li Mu, but I can’t marry you!”

What?

Everyone was stunned. Li Mu gaped at her with his mouth wide open.

He Xiaoyu helped him up and said apologetically, “I have already thought it through. We will not be happy if we get married because you can’t forget her and I can’t replace her. I don’t want my husband to think about another woman when saying ‘I love you’ to me.”

“Xiaoyu...”

“Li Mu, I’m really happy that you are willing to propose to me. But it’s time to end this game. I should withdraw from you and Lin Wan’s relationship. You deserve more happiness. But we will still be good friends in the future, right?”

“Yes! We’re good and loyal friends. Lin Wan will be very happy when she knows your decision. She will definitely treat you as her sister and we will be family!” Li Mu said excitedly.

“Can you hug me?” He Xiaoyu pleaded.

“Okay!” Li Mu hugged her naturally. He was so excited because he finally could end this hopeless relationship. He believed his relationship with Lin Wan would enter a new stage. And he had already seen the happy future greeting him.

He Xiaoyu hugged him back, put her mouth to his ear, and said in a low voice, “Li Mu, I will marry you. I will be your wife and you will be my husband. Neither of us can go back on our words!”

Li Mu was completely dumbfounded!

Then, the scene began to distort and everyone returned to Dream Valley. Lin Wan rushed over excitedly, hugged He Xiaoyu, kissed her on the cheek, and said, “Xiaoyu, you’re the best! Li Mu is right. I will treat you as my sister from now on and he will be your brother-in-law!”

Mrs. Hong also came over and said, “Xiaoyu, congratulations! You finally got out of the lost city. Li Mu is right. From now on, we will be family!”

Looking at Li Mu who was still in a daze, Lin Wan kicked him and said, “Why are you staring blankly? Aren’t you happy?”

Li Mu’s expression was uglier than crying. He forced a smile and said, “I am happy! I am so f*cking happy!”

He Xiaoyu hurriedly said, “Lin Wan, we have no time to waste. Let’s get out of here as soon as possible!”

“Yes, you’re right. Everyone, don’t waste time! Let’s get out!”

Then, she kicked Li Mu again and said dissatisfiedly, “Why are you still in a daze? Are you feeling dejected because Xiaoyu rejected your proposal? “

“No, I’m not! Honey, where are we going?”

Shen Zixing hurriedly said, “Brother Mu, that passage is still there! I think we can get out of here through it.”

Everyone quickly went over to check it and confirmed the passage still existed without disappearing together with the dream. So Li Mu hurriedly said, “Everyone, hurry up and get in! Be quick!”

The group hurriedly got into the hole. And then lights of different colors flickered again. When they could see the outside world clearly, they surprisedly found that they were standing in a Stone Forest and were surrounded by giant stones. And the only path here was leading to the distance.

The other people all turned to look at Shen Zixing and then she nodded affirmatively, “We’re out! This should be the next and the last level.”

Mrs. Hong turned to look back and said, “Zixing is right! We’ve left there because the passage is gone.”

Everyone looked back, and as expected, the passage and hole had disappeared. There was nothing else here except for boulders.

Mrs. Hong asked, “Zixing, which level is this?”

Zixing replied, “This should be the third level. The valley is the first level, the passage is the second level and this Stone Forest should be the third level!”

Mrs. Hong said, “In other words, as long as we successfully clear this level, we can find the entrance to the gold mine?”

Zixing nodded, “Yes! That’s it!”

Lin Kun said with disdain, “The Shen Family’s Dream Valley seems just so-so. We’ve cleared two levels with ease. The so-called guarding treasure is nothing special.”

Shen Zixing and Shen Ming’er didn’t refute his words but just laughed silently.

Mrs. Hong shook her head and said, “Don’t talk nonsense! We need to thank Zixing and Ming’er for this. If they had not been accompanying us, it would not have been so easy. I’m afraid only half of the power of this protection formation has been exerted. Otherwise, you would not have been able to laugh now.”

“Mrs. Hong, less than a half!” Shen Ming’er corrected.

“Really? Ming’er, how much power do you think it has exerted?” Mrs. Hong asked with a smile.

“At most 30%. Maybe less!” Shen Ming’er replied solemnly.

“Are you sure you’re not exaggerating its power?” Lin Kun questioned.

“I believe her!” Mrs. Hong hurriedly replied, “Even if Ming’er had said it had only exerted 10% of its power, I would have also believed her!”

Lin Kun still didn’t believe it. So he said, “Mrs. Hong, why? Is there any evidence?”

“No evidence. I am willing to believe her because those bloody stones in the valley represent thousands of victims. After seeing their endings, do we still need any more evidence?”

Lin Kun was speechless, while the others sunk in thought.

Mrs. Hong continued, “Actually, my previous understanding of the Dream Valley’s name is not accurate. I have a new understanding now. Li Mu, what about you?”

Li Mu had always been preoccupied. Hearing Mrs. Hong’s question, he subconsciously shook his head and said impatiently, “Don’t waste time. I have no thought!”

Mrs. Hong rolled her eyes at him and then explained to the crowd, “There are actually only two levels in Dream Valley. One is about dreams, and the other is about the valley. The name of the first level should be Dream, and the name of this level should be Valley.”

“Mrs. Hong, why do you divide its name like this?” Li Mu finally recovered from the shock.

Mrs. Hong replied, “Because our previous experience can be summed up as dreams. So I think it is appropriate to call it this way.”

Li Mu said, “That is to say, what should be highlighted in this level is the valley, right? Does it refer to this Stone Forest?”

Mrs. Hong said, “I don’t know. Maybe we will know what it is when we encounter dangers.”

Li Mu said, “Yes! Let’s move on! By the way, who knows how long it has been?”

Everyone shook their heads in unison.

He Xiaoyu said, “Brother, our phones are dead, and our watches have all stopped. There is no day and night here so no one knows how long it has passed!”

Hearing her voice, Li Mu shivered and quickly said, “Xiaoyu, please call me Li Mu! Don’t call me brother. I’m not used to it!”

“No! Brother is good!” Lin Wan immediately rejected Li Mu’s proposal and said, “Xiaoyu, listen, don’t call him Li Mu anymore. You must call him brother!”

He Xiaoyu replied, “No problem!”

Li Mu complained in his heart, knowing there would be worse days ahead. The wicked girl had retreated in order to advance because she had bet that he would not dare to betray her. And she was right!

Li Mu decided to forget it for now and talk about it with her in the future because his priority was to figure out how to escape from this d*mn place. He should not put the cart before the horse now.

Li Mu asked for a shovel from the two sisters and planned to climb to the top of a boulder to take a look at the surroundings from above.

Unexpectedly, as he was climbing, all the boulders grew higher. So his field of vision had always been limited to a small area.

Lin Wan shouted worriedly from below, “Li Mu, come down quickly! It’s dangerous!” Li Mu then returned to the bottom, shook his head, and said with lingering fear, “You have all seen it, right? It’s weird!”

Lin Wan frowned, “I saw it. The heights of the stones were increasing. The faster you climbed, the faster they grew. When you slowed down, so did they. It seems that you will never be able to climb to the top.”

“It’s strange!” Li Mu said puzzledly, “Can the stones here grow infinitely? But it is still a gimmick, right? It must have a limitation!”

Mrs. Hong guessed, “Maybe what we saw is a hallucination. We thought you were climbing upward, but in fact, after you reached a certain height, you stayed still and stopped moving up!”

“No, it’s impossible! I kept climbing up! Didn’t you see?”

Shen Ming’er said, “Li Mu, I want to have a try!”

After she finished speaking, she climbed up a boulder beside her. The strange thing happened again. After she climbed to a certain height, all the stones began to grow at the same speed as she climbed.

Li Mu was afraid that she would get in danger, so he hurriedly shouted, “Ming’er, come down! It’s useless. You will never get to the top if you climb like this!”

The girl obediently climbed down and asked, “Brother Mu, did the stone grow?”

“Yes, it did. And its speed was the same as yours, so the distance between you and the top had always been the same.”

Lin Wan looked around and said, “Maybe their actions just now are illusory. After Li Mu and Ming’er climbed up, we all fell into a dream. We think we saw them continue climbing up, but they stopped there in fact!”

Mrs. Hong frowned, “It may not be a dream but a deceptive trick. It should be a secret gimmick that can make us delusional.”

“Why do you say that?” Lin Wan asked.

“The protection formation can not affect Zixing and Ming’er so they will not be hallucinated by it. In such a place, only a gimmick can affect them and only a gimmick can have an indiscriminate influence on everyone!”

Li Mu said, “I agree with Mrs. Hong. It should be some kind of a gimmick. To be more accurate, it should be some kind of a deceptive trick which is so smart that it can make us delusional at the same time.”

“Brother, do we need to crack the trick?” He Xiaoyu suddenly asked.

Li Mu subconsciously shivered and said quickly, “No need! We will keep going forward. We don’t need to care about the trick or crack it. If we had such an ability, we would have long gotten out.”

Lin Wan said with a smile, “You’re right. We can’t crack this gimmick. If we want to leave here, we can only accept the challenges bravely. Finding a shortcut is not a good solution.