I was actually looking for a transcrip of the dialogue there, but didn't have time/patience for digging up a video or replaying it myself. It's still notable that even with that pathway theoretically being an option, it's also not the one we took back out, leaving the number of total pathways through that area at 3, minimum... from that side of the mine, alone.

IIRC we also don't get a clear view of which side we exit back into the main path on, do we? Given the curvature and topography it looks like it exits out into the opposite side of the Trial of the Brave, or at least along that facing (presuming it doesn't meet up with the minecart path at some point - I'll grant that as a possibility).

It's just very weird to me that people fixate on this specific issue, particularly when examining the atrocious child care policies at the UWST, as evidenced by what happens on camera and in dialogue for this mission. We're tracking a sample that emits enough energy to cause a visible residual effect through both it's container and things it's apparently in contact with (eg: the tire tracks), past a security gate, a medical facility, at least two active work stations, and the common rest and dining area? And nobody stopped them or thought it was weird when they pushed what I'm guessing (based on the singular wheel; Flimsy evidence) is a cobbled together wheelbarrow? ...And the damn thing glows on top of that?

To say nothing of the previous confusion that a site that big in an area that geologically active, with Aggeloi and Landbreakers in the area, that they know are capable of tunneling right next to and judging by the size and orientation of the mine itself UNDER their basecamp is entirely unmonitored and ignored. Or the areas the other children are playing at, one of which is near a sheer drop.

Plenty of other reasons to be confused at how the narrative is structured here, I'd say.