But later on, at some point, she learned to find suitable excuses, making it difficult for her parents to punish her.

For instance, when she saw her classmates, she would ask them to hang out elsewhere or visit her home, which provided her with a plausible reason, leaving her parents with nothing to say.

Just like now, if she told her teacher that she left because enemies were about to approach their hiding place, and she went somewhere else, surely her teacher wouldn't suspect she was lying, right?

Yanran felt that although her teacher was very powerful, he didn't understand her at all.

Seeing that she could have taught her Little Flaming Firebird, he instead told her to stay put and not run around. Wasn't that a way to trap her?

Yanran adjusted the bow and arrows on her back, glanced at the steel claws in her palms, and decided that she should leave here to search for the whereabouts of the Little Flaming Firebird.

As soon as she thought of it, she stood up, peeked outside the stone, and looked at Zhou Country. The surroundings were very quiet, with only occasional sounds of footsteps or voices coming from nearby.

Yanran was determined to take action, but in front of her lay several roads leading into the depths of the cave. 𝒻𝘳𝘦𝘦𝘸ℯ𝒷𝘯𝘰𝑣ℯ𝑙.𝘤𝑜𝘮

This made Yanran feel a bit troubled.

Which path should she choose?

Yanran had never heard the phrase "All roads lead to Rome" from her teacher who came from Earth, but in her mind, any path before her had to lead somewhere, and none of them would be a dead end.

In other words, in her opinion, any path she chose wouldn't be wrong.

So Yanran casually selected a path, deciding to follow it to gather information about the Black Group Headquarters, and if possible, find the Little Flaming Firebird along the way.

However, before leaving, Yanran remembered her teacher's teaching; she needed to leave a way for him to contact her so he could find her.

She looked at the ground; it was very clean, without even a single pebble in sight.

Initially, she wanted to find some small stones, put them in an inconspicuous corner, and arrange them in a special shape so her teacher could trace her path.

Surely the passing enemies wouldn't be bored enough to notice the stones on the ground, right?

Yet there were no stones in sight.

Yanran clearly remembered a famous saying, where is the best place for a leaf to hide? In the forest.

Only in this way would the leaf not be so conspicuous, as it would be surrounded by similar companions.

In a cave, a small heap of stones would undoubtedly not attract attention.

But she didn't expect that even in such a big cave, she couldn't find even a single stone.

Could it be that the leader of this Black Exhaust Headquarters had cleanliness issues? Yanran thought angrily, what a bunch of strange people, they were so clean that not even a pebble could be found on the ground, not even a blade of grass.

So, how could she leave a mark? She couldn't possibly leave her arrows on the ground.

Yanran felt a bit troubled.

Looking at the steel claws in her hands, Yanran hesitated slightly. If among the enemies there were one or two particularly attentive ones, they might notice the mark she left.

Yet, her strong adventurous spirit overcame her hesitation.

Yanran lightly jumped up, using her steel claws to gently draw a mark on the stone wall above her head, leaving a mark that wasn't very noticeable.

Would her teacher discover the mark she left?

Undoubtedly, leaving the mark in this position made it the least likely to be discovered, as the enemies passing through here wouldn't be bored enough to walk with their heads up, right? Wouldn't that tire them out?

But if so, wouldn't her teacher also fail to find it?

Yanran hesitated, pondering whether she should leave such a mark in a more conspicuous place.

However, her cautious nature prevailed, and she felt confident that her teacher would definitely notice the mark left in this position.

In any case, Yanran believed her teacher would be able to do it.

If her teacher couldn't find it, Yanran thought mischievously, then next time she could show off in front of him.

Who said that a teacher should always be better than their student?

Yanran decided not to foolishly stay in hiding as her teacher instructed, waiting for him to return.

She wanted to seek out the Black Exhaust's headquarters herself and find her little pet, the Little Flaming Firebird.

Before she began her search, she pondered for a long time to come up with a mark that would be noticeable to her teacher but not attract the enemies' attention, and as a result, she engraved a hardly noticeable scratch on the top of the cave with her steel claws.

If her teacher was observant, he would surely find it.

On the other hand, if he couldn't find it, well, that wasn't a big deal.

In Yanran's mind, she had encountered many people from Black Exhaust Headquarters, and her comment about them was — a mob not worth a strike!

She apparently forgot that on the Nameless Planet, if it weren't for the timely warning of the Little Flaming Firebird, she would have been captured by those within the Black Exhaust Group, and she would have been sold to the governor of some planet by now.

The little girl clearly underestimated her enemies.

Now that the mark was left, it was time for her to act.

When the Black Exhaust Headquarters was initially set up in this cave, the builders followed the terrain as much as possible to create a reasonable layout. Consequently, the paths couldn't be constructed straight, allowing a clear view ahead.

One wonders if the planners had the same ideas as the people from Hua Family Country on Earth when creating this place — aiming to create a "twisting path leading to hidden places" atmosphere.

The winding corridors might not allow an easy overview of the cave's situation, but at the same time, they facilitated the concealment for enemies.

Yanran picked a path at random, although it couldn't said to be completely random; she chose the one with the most turns.

And you know, the little girl had a knack for quick thinking.

Yanran moved swiftly through the corridor, maintaining high alert and observing enemy movements closely, ensuring her cautiousness kept her well-covered. Whenever enemy figures passed by, she managed to evade them.

At the same time, she didn't forget to leave discreet marks on the cave ceiling with her steel claws after traversing certain distances, especially when faced with forks in the path, she made sure to leave a mark at advantageous points.

As she ventured deeper, the number of enemies she encountered increased.

At one corner, when she peeked her head out, she nearly bumped right into an approaching enemy.