“I need you to bend down.”

“What?”

“Please, just trust me. What could go wrong?”

“I shudder when you say that.”

“Come on. Please? Cricket’s going to fly over the cuckoo’s nest if we don’t do something about it!”

Sighing, Master sat down on the moist floor and bent over.

“This is earning you five demerits.”

I groaned at the prospect of my workload – but I’d only do it if I managed to get out of here in the first place.

Gathering up my courage, I used Master as a step-ladder (something he really resented, I think) and took another grab at the ceiling.

I missed the first few times, but when Master complained about how heavy I was (“Xiaoli, have you been at the sweets again?”), I got so angry that I latched to the ceiling with a vice-like grip, determined not to let go.

I brought my legs up to the cracks in the ceiling, and searched for a faulty block.

There must have been a secret opening somewhere. From what I remembered, the tunnel was large.

“Look out below!”

Thunk.

“I warned you.”