Chapter 35: Adversary

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Before us was a fork in the road. We had been following the left-hand branch along the riverbank.

The man said he was taking me somewhere.

“Hey, kid! Move it! At this rate, we’ll never get there before dark.” Every so often, he glanced back and urged me on.

I did not dare answer aloud, merely grumbling inwardly: What does he mean, we will not get there before dark? Is there even such a thing as day and night down here? Besides, can’t he see that I’m carrying someone on my back?

Sister Hong was well built, though not particularly tall. I estimated that she weighed no more than fifty-five kilograms. That was not especially heavy, but carrying her for several miles along the treacherous banks of this underground river was another matter entirely. One careless step and I could easily take a tumble, which was why I had been unable to move very quickly.

“Stop. Let’s stop here for a moment.” The man ahead of me suddenly came to a halt.

He pointed toward the opposite bank of the underground river and told me to look.

Across the river stood a wall of rock. In the weak beam of the flashlight, I saw a fissure in it, perhaps thirty or forty centimeters wide and stretching a long way up and down. I could not tell how deep it went.

“What is it?” I asked, puzzled as I stared across the river.

“What else? Swim over to the other side.” His eyes narrowed as he studied the cleft in the stone.

“I can’t swim. And Sister Hong still hasn’t woken up. How is she supposed to get across? Are you kidding me? If we’re going over there, we’ll have to wait until she wakes up.”

The man looked at me, then at the unconscious Sister Hong sprawled across my back. In the end, he sighed and muttered a curse about a lazy donkey finding endless excuses to stop.

I gently lowered Sister Hong to the ground. The man and I leaned against the rock wall and closed our eyes to rest. I intended to wait until she woke before moving on. Safety came first.

I was exhausted. Leaning against the wall, I gradually drifted off.

As the old saying goes, what occupies the mind by day appears in dreams by night. I had a very strange dream.

In it, I entered a magnificent palace. Fur carpets covered the floor, and six enormous bronze lanterns stood along either side. Candle flames flickered within them. One by one, a great many dancing girls in gauzy garments, with willowy waists and graceful figures, entered the hall. They danced in groups of three.

The palace maidens were all breathtakingly beautiful, their brows dark and elegant as distant mountains. As their veils fluttered, every one of them gazed toward the upper end of the hall.

I followed their eyes.

There were twenty-nine steps leading upward. At the top stood a massive bronze bed. At each of its four corners crouched two ferocious horned dragons, eight in all. Their bodies twisted like springs, their faces savage. Each dragon faced a different direction, gazing toward the east, south, west, or north.

Lying on his side atop the bronze dragon bed was a richly dressed man wearing a crown. He held an empty bronze goblet in one hand and did not spare the dancers behind him a single glance.

Since his back was toward me, I could not see his face. I wanted to walk over and take a closer look, but my body refused to obey.

Then, without warning, the candle flames inside the enormous bronze lanterns slowly changed from pale yellow to light green, and finally to a deep, ominous green.

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In an instant, the magnificent palace vanished. Green light drifted all around me, as though I had entered the underworld. At the same time, the beautiful faces of the dancers began to twist into something hideous.

Just then, the man lying on the bronze dragon bed slowly turned his head toward me.

That face...

His skin was green, his nose sunken. Pus dripped constantly from his face, which looked as though it had been soaked until swollen, becoming huge and round. His features were all crushed together at the center. Two long fangs pressed tightly against his lower lip, while a few strands of hair hung naturally over his forehead.

“Ah!”

I jolted awake, drenched in sweat. I gasped for breath, still shaken to the core.

“What is it? Dream about a ghost?” The man opened his eyes where he leaned against the stone wall and asked in an indifferent tone.

“No... nothing. Just a dream.” I hurriedly wiped the cold sweat from my forehead.

I had been able to see even the patterns carved into the bronze lanterns. The dream had felt frighteningly real.

Sister Hong had not yet awakened, but color had returned to her face. If nothing was seriously wrong, she ought to regain consciousness soon.

Sure enough, this time my guess was right. Sister Hong woke before the night was over.

The moment she opened her eyes, she asked for water. She was still weak, and I was afraid that drinking river water would give her diarrhea, so I took out the last half bottle of mineral water from my pack and helped her drink it.

“Sister Hong, you finally woke up!” I wiped her mouth for her, beaming with relief.

“Damn it... I nearly died down here.” She gripped my hand. “Thank you, Yunfeng. You saved my life. You didn’t abandon me and run off on your own. The Chief was right about you. You’re a man who values loyalty.”

She no longer called me “brat.” Now she was calling me a man.

“It was nothing. We help each other, that’s all.” I scratched my head awkwardly.

“You are...?” She suddenly noticed the broad-faced, hairy man resting with his eyes closed in the southwest corner.

The man opened his eyes. Seeing that One Mole had awakened, he cupped his hands and said, “A Southern School excavation worker, Golden-Point Striker Chen Jiansheng.”

Sister Hong’s expression held six parts solemnity and four parts disdain, but she still returned the gesture.

“North School logistics, One Mole, Chen Hong.”

The two exchanged a nod from a distance and then stopped speaking to each other. That counted as a greeting between fellow professionals.

The Southern and Northern Schools had never been on good terms. Given the circumstances, the fact that they had merely exchanged names and greetings was already considered a favorable outcome.

When two rivals meet on a narrow road, the bolder one prevails. I imagined that if the Southern Chief and the Northern Chief ever crossed paths inside the same tomb, blood might well be spilled.

Both sides dared to draw their blades; no one would willingly admit defeat. Unless one group could completely crush the other, the truth would be settled by the weapons in their hands.

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They were clearly at odds, but I could not afford to fan the flames. I did my best to keep the conversation calm between them. After all, there were only three of us down here, and we were all tied to the same fate. Finding a way out was the only thing that mattered.

I told Sister Hong that we needed to cross the river to the opposite bank.

She frowned. “Yunfeng, how can you trust people so easily? What if someone has ulterior motives and intends to harm you? What will you do then?”

“Hmph.” The man beside us folded his arms. “You judge a gentleman by the standards of a petty man. As the saying goes, women and petty men are difficult to deal with.”

“You!” One Mole sprang to her feet, furious.

“Say that again, if you dare.”

“Heh...” The man curled one corner of his mouth into a cold smile. “Women and petty men are difficult to deal with.”

“Don’t! Don’t be rash, Sister Hong!” I reached out to hold her back, but I was a step too slow.

“Oh no. This is going to turn ugly...”

“Southern rat! Get up!” One Mole charged toward him furiously.

Just then, I noticed something change in the man’s eyes. At first they blazed with anger, but then his expression shifted into confusion and vacant bewilderment.

He was a head taller than Sister Hong, and there was still something imposing about him as he rose to his feet.

Then the man scratched his head and said, “Southern rat! Get up!”

Sister Hong’s expression changed. She planted both hands on her hips and shouted, “Try copying me again, you bastard!”

The man immediately put his hands on his hips as well.

“Try copying me again, you bastard.”

“You stinking Southern rat! Dead rat! Rotten rat!” Sister Hong was so furious that the veins at her temples bulged.

The man grinned foolishly and mimicked her:

“You stinking Southern rat! Dead rat! Rotten rat.”