Book Synopsis
Book Tags
Donation Rankings
Comment
0 Comments
You May Also Like
墨書 Inktalez
I heard someone chuckle softly, and suddenly everything in front of me darkened. All the scenery became murky, as if tossed into a washing machine. When my vision finally cleared, I saw everyone standing at the bridgehead, either sideways or half-turned towards me, their faces displaying expressions of disbelief.
I quickly scanned my surroundings and was taken aback. Out of the twenty-two everlasting lamps, only the one that A Chen had broken was extinguished; the rest were still glowing. Even more astonishing was that there wasn't a trace of Mercury on the ground?!
My mind jolted, leaving me utterly confused. “What... exactly is going on?”
My junior came over, pulling me along by the neck as he spoke. “I was just about to ask you the same thing! Senior Brother, let’s be honest here—don’t even think about the mermaid meat; it’s all filled with Mercury. You can’t take it with you or eat it! We should hurry and see if there are any valuable treasures in Li You's Tomb. Hehe... once we find some treasures, what can’t we buy when we get out? Senior Brother, come on now, even if you can’t eat it, there’s no need to cry and throw a fit!”
I was completely bewildered. “What are you talking about? Who wants to eat mermaid meat? Isn’t it you and Old Qiao who were shouting about it?”
Hearing this, Old Qiao, who was walking ahead, stopped to wait for us to catch up. He came over and draped an arm around my shoulder but still mindful of Third Granduncle Master and the others, he called my name: “Qian Yi brother, don’t go spouting nonsense! Just because you’re upset doesn’t mean you can say whatever comes to mind!” Suddenly dropping his smile, he placed a hand on my forehead. “You’re not losing your mind too, are you?”
I felt even more confused. A glance revealed that at the end of the stone bridge ahead, between a pair of young boys and girls known as Deng Nu, there was a half-open secret door. Everyone was streaming through this door. I quickly turned back to look; behind us was the room with a White Jade Stone Bridge, surrounded by twenty-two kneeling figures resembling Deng Nu. It was definitely the same place!
“...But when did this exit get discovered?” I wondered aloud; I didn’t recall anything like that happening.
My junior chuckled and looked at Old Qiao. “Of course, it was discovered by our famous Qiao Qi Qiao Fuzi! But it’s hidden so well that who would have thought the clue would be on these four Double Dragons Playing with a Pearl pillars? Each pearl corresponds to a wall along four winding curves. If you follow those curves in the southeast, southwest, northeast, and northwest directions, the walls they point to are where the hidden doors are located. The mechanism for that secret door is even harder to guess! Damn it, we’ve been feeling around on those walls for ages, our fingertips sore from searching, and we didn’t find anything! Guess what—this secret door’s mechanism is right here—on the copper pillar facing the wall!” My junior said this while glancing at the left-hand copper pillar carved with Double Dragons Playing with a Pearl, where one of the golden dragon's front claws had recessed inward—seemingly where the mechanism was located.
In no time at all, we had passed through the secret door. As I shone my flashlight ahead, a passageway about two meters wide appeared before us, stretching endlessly into darkness.
I couldn’t help but want to ask my junior something but felt that this matter couldn’t be explained in just a few words; it might make him think I was crazy. After pondering for a moment, I tentatively asked, “Was your mermaid just now referring to the wick inside the everlasting lamp?”
"Yes! Are there any other mermaids?" My junior brother casually surveyed the surroundings while Old Qiao had already moved ahead to take on his role as chief strategist. Before leaving, he had instructed my junior brother to keep an eye on me, clearly considering me a bit of a lunatic.
However, I couldn't afford to dwell on that now; if I was a lunatic, at least I needed to know the reason behind it. I continued to ask him, "That wick was discovered by A Chen first, right?"
My junior brother replied, "A Chen? That guy? How could that be?"
"Then who was it?" I pressed.
Finally, my junior brother seemed to take notice, shifting his gaze and flashlight from the passageway to me. " Senior Brother, do you really not remember anything at all?"
I was nearly blinded by his sudden movement and instinctively wanted to swat away the flashlight. Suddenly, a sharp pain shot through my palm, and I gasped in surprise. Without thinking, I reached for it with my other hand, only to find it covered in thick gauze.
Looking down, I gasped. My right hand was completely wrapped in gauze, and where my palm burned like fire, there was a bloodstain the size of an egg. It seemed I had hit the flashlight earlier and reopened an injury inside.
My junior brother crossed his arms. "Do you remember now?" Seeing my bewildered expression, he sighed helplessly and explained, "You were the first to discover Mermaid Oil. Your hand got stuck to the mermaid, and we had a hard time getting you down from there. Who would have thought... your brain got sucked out too." He said the last part half-jokingly, clearly thinking I was just overly startled and injured, causing my mind to be a bit unclear.
But I couldn't find anything funny about it; my heart raced wildly, and my mind felt like a chaotic mess! Who could tell me what was going on? Was it my brain that had malfunctioned, or did everyone else's brains collectively fail apart from mine? It sounded more likely that the former was true.
At that moment, a flash of insight struck me. I suddenly remembered experiencing such vivid hallucinations back in the Quicksand Pit. Could this time... also be a hallucination?
No, no, no! I couldn't mislead myself. "What happened after that? What happened next?" I asked.
My junior brother shrugged. "After that, you just passed out."
"Not that," I said. "What I meant was, what happened in the tomb afterward? Did Mercury appear, or did you feel any lack of oxygen?"
My junior brother took a deep breath as he listened. "No—there was plenty of oxygen! I didn't know earlier, but Mercury only exists in the bodies of mermaids. As long as we don't touch it, there won't be any leaks. Senior Brother, I think you're just too tired. Don't overthink it; let your mind relax! I'm heading ahead; it seems like something's happening up there!" With that, he hurried off, clearly eager to move on.
The others had also stopped about five or six meters ahead, but it didn't seem like anything was wrong. Everyone appeared calm, as if they were studying something on the wall.
My mind was a chaotic mess, and I had no idea what to do or whom to trust! I decided to pause and sort things out.
If the hallucination from climbing the Safety Rope last time was something I could still believe, this time was definitely not the case. Hallucinations don't exist in reality and aren't triggered by objective stimuli, but what happened to A Chen was undeniably real. Moreover, the objective environment hadn't changed; only the protagonist had shifted from me to A Chen (or vice versa).
This completely illogical and absurd situation felt eerily familiar; it seemed like I had encountered it before—more than once. My heart began to race as I recalled someone I desperately wanted to forget—Illusionist!
Could it be that all of this was his doing? Damn it, am I still trapped in his illusion?
Just then, someone suddenly tapped me on the shoulder, startling me and sending a chill down my spine.
Comment 0 Comment Count