Book Synopsis
Book Tags
Donation Rankings
Comment
0 Comments
You May Also Like
墨書 Inktalez
Of course, further identification would have to wait until we saw the positioning device.
As we walked, time flew by, and before long, we reached a fork in the path.
Though it was called a fork, it was more like reaching a dead end, where someone had dug out a passage about three people wide. The excavated rubble was haphazardly piled in the middle of the passage, creating a large hole about one meter wide and a smaller one half a meter wide. The ceiling of the larger hole was about 60 centimeters high, while the smaller one was only around 40 centimeters.
In short, it looked rather peculiar. I gestured for A Li to stop and took her flashlight to inspect further.
Inside the hole, the digging marks were chaotic and varied in direction, not resembling anything produced by human consciousness under normal circumstances. Upon closer inspection, each mark was thick at the top and sharp at the bottom, measuring around ten centimeters in length and dug quite deep. If these were made by human tools, then the strength of that person must have been extraordinary, akin to that of a beast. However, if they were made by some animal's claws, then that creature would certainly be something we couldn't contend with.
Naturally, I couldn't share these thoughts with A Li; I could only swallow them down. I directed the flashlight to the side, where the rubble had formed a wall in the middle of the passage, completely isolating the hole. When I shone my light on it, I found that even the crevices between the stones were blocked off; no light could penetrate through.
The large stones that had fallen to the ground were stacked several layers thick, making it impossible to determine which path my junior brothers had taken based on footprints since no one could leave prints on the stones (and if you have something stuck to your soles, don’t argue with me).
I didn’t proceed further inside but stepped back to briefly explain the situation to A Li and asked, “What do you think?”
A Li squatted at the entrance of the large hole and looked around. “I find this strange. Generally, when people dig holes, they place the excavated soil and stones somewhere out of the way. This is my first time seeing it piled right in the middle of a path.”
I swallowed my second guess and focused on her line of thought with my first: “It’s also possible that two teams were working simultaneously—one digging on the left and one on the right. They might have habitually tossed their excavated stones behind them into the middle of the passage.”
A Li immediately shook her head. “That’s not right. If two teams were working at once, it’s clear that this area required a significant amount of work; they would need to clear a passage wide enough for three people to walk through at once. But instead, they’ve blocked up the middle of this passage with stones—wouldn’t that defeat its purpose and narrow it down?”
I was caught off guard by A Li's question. Why would anyone engage in such a futile endeavor?
Let’s consider it from another perspective. If I found myself in this situation, my first instinct would be to retrace my steps, and only as a second thought would I think about forging a new path. This approach has a certain resemblance to my junior brother's style of confronting challenges head-on.
At that moment, my primary goal was to find a way out as quickly as possible. The logical thought would be to minimize the time and effort spent, simply needing to carve out a path wide enough for me to pass through. It was akin to Old Qiao’s method of digging a tunnel; it didn’t need to be spacious, just enough for someone to get through.
However, for some reason, I did not take that route. Instead, I dug a wide avenue capable of accommodating three people at once and carelessly piled the sealing stones in the middle of the path. Why did I do that? Was it because one of my companions was an exceptionally large person who took up the space of three? Yet during the digging process, this hefty individual had worked so hard that he ended up looking like a thin person, causing the passage to narrow again.
Lost in these thoughts, A Li suddenly said, “ Brother Qian Yi, perhaps we shouldn’t think about this with a human mindset. What if this tunnel wasn’t dug by humans…”
In such an environment, A Li’s sudden voice startled me. The implication that it might not be human-related sent chills down my spine and made my scalp tingle.
A Li’s idea aligned with my second guess. When normal reasoning fails to explain something, it becomes inevitable to consider other possibilities.
My eyes instinctively scanned the excavation marks on the large hole and caught sight of five parallel claw marks about three centimeters deep. A shiver ran through me; if these were made by some creature, then its claws were alarmingly sharp. One swipe could gouge out a fist-sized pit in solid granite. If those claws were to catch a person… Goodness, half of them might be torn apart.
As the only man present, I had to muster my courage not just for A Li’s sake but for my own as well. I said, “No matter what happens, we must prepare for the worst! From now on, keep your weapons ready and stay alert; beasts love to ambush from behind. A Li, you go ahead of me. If anything unexpected happens, don’t hesitate—just strike.”
A Li nodded cautiously and gripped her Nine-Tailed Whip tightly. I continued, “Discussing the design concepts of these two tunnels here is pointless. If it’s good fortune, it’s good; if it’s misfortune, we can’t avoid it anyway. We just need to stay focused. The black-clad figures must have tracked us here without taking time to ponder like we are now. However, since they know we’re still behind them, they will likely leave some markers at any forks in the road. A Li, you check the smaller tunnel while I search around this larger one. My junior brother usually marks his path with an inverted triangle—see if you can find any near the entrance.”
Only after assigning our tasks did I realize that there was only one flashlight between us; my lighter had fallen off Dong Ya and I had no idea where it went. Just then, A Li pulled another lighter from her pocket and handed it to me—it seemed like her personal item that hadn’t been accounted for during our gear redistribution earlier.
After giving it to me, A Li dove into the tunnel without wanting to explain further. As she left, the light diminished with her presence. I vaguely recognized this lighter; it felt familiar and was made of metal with a glass shell—clearly high-quality foreign merchandise.
I groped my way to the large opening and clicked it open. Instantly, I was stunned; wasn't this the lighter I had given away?
The Metal Lighter, first produced in 2019 by Old American, quickly dominated the market with its windproof technology that could ignite under any harsh conditions. It could sustain a flame for 15 to 20 minutes with a single strike, making it the top choice for outdoor adventurers. Most of what’s sold on the market now are fakes, but this one was purchased through my chubby friend from his uncle who served in Border Defense. At that time, we bought two—one for my junior and the other was meant for me. However, when A Li saw it and liked it, I ended up giving it to her.
I never expected that years later, this thing would come back to me after going in circles. How does that song go? "Fate brings people together from a thousand miles apart!"
As I searched, I recalled the pair of eyes behind the flames—cold and lifeless, devoid of any vitality, easily reminiscent of a corpse. Strangely enough, my first reaction wasn’t to think it belonged to a dead person; instead, those eyes seemed familiar. Those calm, unperturbed eyes felt like I had seen them somewhere before… After a moment of thought, I remembered— Cold Bench!
Could he be the "snake" that my junior mentioned—the man in black?
Comment 0 Comment Count