Chapter 167
Chapter 167
Di Shang?
Entropy was an important concept in multiple fields, including physics and information theory.
It measured how chaotic or uncertain a system was.
The more chaotic and unpredictable the system, the higher its entropy.
There was no equivalent for entropy in the language spoken by the Sand People. The Old Village Chief had to explain it to Aman with a frantic combination of words and gestures, spraying spittle all over Aman’s face before he finally got the point across.
Qin Ying listened from the side.
She had not wasted the past few days. She had been studying the language of the Sand People and could already understand simple words like water and meat.
By the time the Old Village Chief had worked himself into such a frenzy that his few remaining molars looked ready to shake loose, Qin Ying summed it up roughly in one word: disorder.
This mercury-like substance was chaotic and disorderly. According to legend, it had been brought by the Heavenly God.
It could become a Cup, a suit of armor, the point of a blade, or even a whip.
Considering how it had transformed into a spindle-shaped spike and nearly punched a hole through Aman’s skull, it was clearly capable of shapeshifting into virtually anything.
Now this was good stuff!
Qin Ying cautiously approached the corroded water jar imprisoning the droplet of mercury.
The Sand People had dropped the jar into the bottom of the cistern many years ago, and it was now completely covered in verdigris.
Aman had retrieved it to serve as a temporary prison.
The droplet of Di Shang darted wildly around inside.
Yet it could not break through the corroded jar, despite the fact that an ordinary person could have crushed it by hand.
Just then, the Di Shang suddenly flattened itself against a piece of gold jewelry and began vibrating violently.
It was only a droplet the size of a fingernail, but its vibrations produced a piercing noise like a blaring alarm.
It was the middle of the night, making the shrill sound all the more jarring.
Qin Ying’s heart sank.
“It might be calling its companions. Aman, tell the Village Chief to have everyone move away from anything made of metal immediately.”
“Take off any jewelry you’re wearing, too.”
This substance devoured metal and had a particular fondness for gold.
The people of the Kuxi Tribe liked to pierce themselves with camel thorns before inserting metal studs into the holes.
If this piercing noise really was a call to its companions, anyone wearing metal jewelry might become their first target.
Simply by finding the Water Jade and securing a stable source of water, Qin Ying had already gained immense prestige among the Kuxi Tribe.
Even children passing by would offer her the roasted beetles they ate as snacks.
At her command, the Old Village Chief immediately began shouting orders.
Aside from Aman and Qin Ying, everyone present hurried to remove their jewelry and metal studs.
No one had it worse than the Kuxi Tribe’s Old Shaman.
Even by modern standards, the man could have been considered a performance artist.
He had pierced his first stud through the side of his nose at the age of twelve. Forty-five years later, gold, silver, copper, and iron covered his entire body.
He removed the one running across the bridge of his nose, undid his belt, then began fumbling around his chest and crotch.
Qin Ying took one glance. She and Aman immediately turned away, unable to bear the sight.
Metal objects and studs were gathered into a pile on the red sandstone.
Everyone else had already removed all their studs, but the Old Shaman was still busy digging around in his crotch.
No one knew exactly where he had put that particular stud. He wanted to save his life, but it hurt too much to simply tear it free.
He spent ages grimacing and fumbling around down there without managing to remove it. In the darkness, all they could hear was his constant hissing through clenched teeth.
Qin Ying nearly laughed from sheer exasperation.
The noise produced by the droplet of “mercury” inside the corroded jar grew even louder and shriller.
Then a faint rustling came from the cistern.
The moon shone bright in the middle of the night, its light as clear as water. Beneath it, a streak of silver suddenly flared.
The silver radiance stretched from earth to sky, reflecting the silvery moonlight like a thread connecting heaven and earth.
It flashed once, then shot straight toward them. At its incredible speed, it would be upon them in the blink of an eye.
Seeing the Old Shaman still dithering, Qin Ying picked up a small dagger someone had discarded and tossed it at his feet.
“Chop it off!” she ordered decisively.
She had only managed to learn a few simple words over the past several days, and her pronunciation was still far from perfect, but the word “chop” was clear enough.
The Old Shaman looked up in disbelief.
What kind of terrifying order was the Lady Divine Envoy giving him?
That thing wasn’t something he could just chop off on a whim!
The Old Shaman looked at Qin Ying, then lowered his eyes to his crotch. Finally, he squeezed his eyes shut, gritted his teeth, and yanked with all his might.
When he pulled his hand out again, a tiny bloodstained ring was looped around his index finger. Clutching his crotch, he hurled the ring far away.
At that very moment, everyone saw a streak of mercury hurtle over and slam headfirst into the rusty water jar.
With a dull thud, the momentum of its full-speed charge punched a soybean-sized hole through the jar’s corroded wall.
The drop imprisoned inside the rusty jar immediately squeezed through the opening and merged with the newly arrived drop of mercury.
Abandoning the two pieces of gold jewelry, the combined mass lunged straight at the iron objects scattered across the ground.
Unlike when it fed on gold, this “mercury” devoured other metals so quickly that the sight made everyone’s scalp crawl.
Silver, copper, iron; it spread over everything regardless of material. By devouring it all, it swelled to the size of a fist in the blink of an eye.
Then, before everyone’s eyes, the fist-sized mass writhed and transformed into a short spear, its point aimed directly at Qin Ying.
Qin Ying’s scalp went numb. She had never expected the damned thing to hold such a grudge.
Aman darted in front of Qin Ying, but even his curved saber had been eaten. There was little he could do barehanded.
As the short spear shot toward her, Qin Ying shoved Aman aside.
While desperately twisting out of the way, she traced a symbol with her finger, preparing to abandon this body and return Outside the Box.
Caught off guard, Aman went tumbling across the yellow sand. His eyes bulged with horror as he watched the streak of silver bear down on Qin Ying, about to pierce through the spot between her brows and into her skull.
Just then, a metallic clang rang out.
Nine metal rings jangled as a white monkey half the height of a man sprang into the air.
Moving like an agile saber master, it whipped out the golden blade carried on its back and knocked the incoming silver streak aside in the space of a heartbeat.
General Chen’s Tent-Guard Monkey stood protectively in front of Qin Ying, its long arms gripping a gold-backed saber as tall as itself.
When it saw the small notch that had been devoured from its weapon, the dog-faced Little Monkey bared its teeth and let out a shrill warning cry at the Di Shang it had sent flying.
The moment Qin Ying saw the Tent-Guard Monkey, she knew the commotion had attracted the attention of the Fengshan Elite Cavalry.
She turned and, sure enough, saw a small cavalry unit galloping toward them beneath the moonlight.
At their head was General Chen Zhao.
The square-faced officer rode his beautiful little horse, holding the reins in one hand as he squinted into the distance.
With his square face and narrowed eyes, he looked from afar like a bearded Tibetan fox.
The cavalry came charging in with such force that the gravel on the ground trembled and rattled.
The mercury-like Di Shang knocked away by the Tent-Guard Monkey rolled in a tight circle, formed itself into a sphere, and fled toward the cistern.
“What happened?”
Chen Zhao’s shout reached them before he did.
He swung down from his mount and stared at Qin Ying, his expression wavering between shock and suspicion.
With things having come this far, there was no longer any chance of Qin Ying excavating and exploring the corridor beneath the cistern on her own.
She had no choice but to tell him the truth.
She was good at explaining things and summarized the entire sequence of events in only a few sentences.
Chen Zhao’s expression changed several times before finally settling into the pained grimace of a man who had suffered from a toothache for three days with no dentist in sight.
The moment he opened his mouth, out came a colorful curse. “Damn it! How could a miserable dump like this have something like Di Shang?”
He turned to a soldier beside him and ordered, “Pass down the command. Break camp and relocate fifty li east.”
Judging by his reaction, he clearly knew what the thing was.
Qin Ying’s expression shifted. “Why do you have to move the camp? Is this thing really that dangerous?”
If it truly was that dangerous, she would have to prepare to flee with the Kuxi Tribe.
Only after issuing several more military orders did Chen Zhao find time to answer her. “It isn’t exactly dangerous. It’s just incredibly troublesome once it starts hounding you.”
The Fengshan Elite Cavalry possessed a vast quantity of weapons and military equipment, including chains and shackles designed to restrain even a large Monstrous Beast.
If this thing got onto their equipment and began devouring it, the entire camp would be thrown into chaos.
Even a piece no larger than a fingernail could devour metal and grow. It had one thing in common with cockroaches: you could kill either one with a single swat of a slipper, but their ability to reproduce was a nightmare.
After urgently ordering the main camp to retreat, Chen Zhao turned his attention back to Qin Ying.
“We have to lock Di Shang up!”