After realizing this, Adrian gave up on his search for escape mechanisms. He sat down on the floor and began tapping rhythms on the wall. To his surprise, the person on the other side mirrored his beats perfectly. Impressed by their rhythmic skill, Adrian began tapping out more complex sequences.

The rhythmic exchange continued, with Adrian setting a pattern and the other side mimicking it flawlessly. Then, the roles would reverse, each challenging the other with intricate beats. It seemed neither wanted to stop.

Ariana, observing from a distance with a hand on her forehead, felt resigned. She admired Adrian's ability to find joy under such distressing circumstances.

Adrian was having a great time and even asked Ariana to join them.

But Ariana refused him and kept on searching for clues.

As Ariana scoured the area, her attention was drawn to the wall, sensing something unusual about it. Approaching, she checked the wall and the lamp that had fallen from the wall.

She quickly recognized the lamp's unique design-it was adorned with strands of some mysterious dried grass that looked like severed heads.

Next to it was a specific groove, which seemed purposeful. Ariana kept searching for clues, and suddenly, as she moved a wall socket, its casing turned, revealing a shape that perfectly matched the groove on the wall lamp.

She promptly fitted the lamp back into its original place.

The wall lamp clicked perfectly into the groove, securing it firmly in place. As Adrian adjusted the lamp, the color that shimmered like a blue ocean on the wall began to fade, revealing stone doors that slowly parted from the middle.

To everyone's surprise, the two groups of people came face to face.

Ariana, Adrian, Holden, and Bennett found themselves staring at each other, frozen in disbelief as if witnessing a hallucination.

Ariana snapped back to reality first from the shock. The sight of Holden sparked a mix of joy and surprise in her, causing tears to well up in her eyes. However, noticing Bennett beside Holden, she quickly brushed away her tears and rushed to pull Holden closer.

Protectively, Ariana extended her arm in front of Holden, her gaze fixed on Bennett with fierceness.

Holden, touched and amused by Ariana's gesture, gently lowered her arm and intertwined his fingers with hers, playfully tugging at her earlobe to comfort her.

Bennett watched their tender exchange with a stony face, the bitterness in his heart evident.

He regretted not having orchestrated a plan to kill Holden earlier, envisioning a scenario where he could have played the hero who rescued Ariana. Now, he was forced to witness a scene that grated on his nerves.

His frustration brewing, Bennett was jolted from his thoughts by Ariana's guarded tone. “Bennett, what are you doing here?" Ariana asked.

As Ariana's defensiveness intensified, Bennett's response was sharp.

He sneered, “Why am I here? To capture your precious Holden for my experiments, of course."