Chapter 56
Chapter 56
Thanks to Fusheng, Shengsheng felt nothing for the rest of the journey.
Even when a snake as thick as her waist lunged in front of her, she merely stepped aside without expression, giving Fusheng room to kill it with a single strike.
They traveled in silence.
Fusheng finally stopped before an enormous waterfall.
Only then did Shengsheng realize they had reached their destination.
“Come here.”
She approached in confusion.
Fusheng wrapped one arm around her waist.
Before Shengsheng’s startled eyes, he pushed off with one foot and shot directly toward the waterfall.
Caught unprepared, Shengsheng swallowed several mouthfuls of water.
After spitting it out, she wrung the soaked hem of her dress and examined what lay behind the falling water.
As expected, there was no legendary cave of the Monkey King.
There was only a large cavern, too dark for her to see anything inside.
Unexpectedly, Fusheng asked, “Are you afraid?”
Shengsheng nodded without hesitation.
At a time like this, even if she was not afraid, she had to claim she was.
Fusheng produced a red cord from some unknown place. He tied one end around his own wrist and the other around Shengsheng’s.
The cord now connected them.
Shengsheng tugged it suspiciously.
“It truly will not break?”
Fusheng answered with confidence. “It will not.”
Shengsheng relaxed.
If he said so, the cord must have been woven from some extraordinary material.
They proceeded on foot through darkness so absolute that Shengsheng could not see her own hand.
Being wrapped in such airless blackness felt dreadful.
Fortunately, the occasional tug against her wrist gave her a sense of security. Otherwise, she truly might have–
No.
Otherwise, she would have produced a high-powered flashlight on the spot and blinded Fusheng.
The thought nearly made her laugh.
The man ahead stopped abruptly. Shengsheng failed to halt in time and walked straight into him.
Fusheng’s voice echoed through the darkness.
“We have arrived.”
She heard a small scrape. The scent of smoke reached her nose, and a gentle light appeared.
Shengsheng stared at the fire striker in Fusheng’s hand. The corners of her mouth twitched.
*You had a fire striker? Why did you not use it earlier? What is wrong with you?*
It was not that Fusheng had refused to use it.
First, he could see perfectly well in the dark.
Second–and more importantly–he had forgotten it existed.
Only when Shengsheng thought about a high-powered flashlight did he remember.
The cramped passage ended before them in an ordinary stone wall.
Under Shengsheng’s knowing gaze, Fusheng lifted one hand and knocked several times.
Dust drifted down.
The stone wall slowly slid aside.
Shengsheng looked entirely unsurprised.
Of course. Novels and television dramas always worked this way.
Fusheng led her through.
An entirely different world lay beyond the wall.
How should it be described?
It was nothing like anyone would expect.
Perhaps one imagined twisting stalactites in fantastic shapes, or heaps of glittering gold and treasure.
No.
Absolutely not.
Shengsheng stared at the orderly rows of buildings below and went completely blank.
She and Fusheng stood upon a high terrace.
Beneath them lay an entire city.
The buildings looked worn, as though abandoned for many years. A broad avenue divided the city down the middle and led directly to a palace occupying the highest point at its heart.
The buildings had pointed roofs.
Their style resembled that of the frontier tribes, though the workmanship was considerably more refined.
After reminding Shengsheng to pick her jaw up from the floor, Fusheng descended the winding, broken stairs.
Shengsheng manually pushed her jaw shut, though her eyes remained vacant.
An entire city behind a waterfall?
Good heavens.
This was absurdity opening the door for absurdity itself. Absurdity had come home.
After finishing her complaint, she hurried after Fusheng.
They entered the city.
Its dilapidated appearance had not lied. No one lived here.
Yet traces of the former inhabitants remained everywhere.
And in this case, “traces” was entirely literal.
Shengsheng stepped around a bleached human bone and finally caught up with Fusheng.
She could not imagine what sort of earthly catastrophe had occurred before the city’s abandonment, leaving skeletons scattered across every street.
Some of the bones belonged to children.
Shengsheng did not dare ask questions. She followed Fusheng obediently.
Her silence surprised him.
“You are not afraid?” he asked softly.
Shengsheng immediately arranged her face into an expression of terror.
“Terrified.”
*Not in the slightest. I used to be a ghost. If ghosts do not frighten me, why would a few bones?*
Understanding entered Fusheng’s eyes.
So she was a little ghost who had stolen someone else’s body.
“This was once a city of the Qing Kingdom,” he explained without emotion.
Shengsheng had not expected him to volunteer the information. She nodded with little interest.
Then something occurred to her.
Her eyes lit up. Forgetting their difference in status, she seized Fusheng’s sleeve.
“Does that mean the enormous treasure left by the Qing Kingdom is here?”
Fusheng pulled his sleeve free. With rare helplessness, he extended one elegant finger and poked her forehead.
“All you see is money.”
Shengsheng rubbed the spot. Her excitement dimmed by the smallest possible degree.
“But is there treasure?”
Fusheng shook his head.
“Nothing but the dead.”
“Then why did we come?”
“To find a dead person, naturally.”
His answer sounded perfectly reasonable.
Shengsheng stared at him.
She would have been better off not asking.
They had crossed thousands of miles to find a corpse.
Then what possible use could Shengsheng be?
She learned the answer soon enough.
Inside the palace, they stood before an enormous door carved with dense, incomprehensible symbols.
Fusheng gave a concise order.
“Cry.”
Shengsheng stared.
For a moment, she thought she had misheard him.
“Your Grace?”
Fusheng looked into her bewildered eyes, reached out, and patted her head.
“Be good. Cry this door open.”
Shengsheng laughed awkwardly.
“Your Grace cannot be serious. How could crying possibly open a door?”
*Are you all right? Are you all right? Are you all right? Are you all right? Are you all right?*
Fusheng was perfectly well.
“Believe in yourself. Your tears can create a miracle.”
His voice turned extraordinarily gentle. His affectionate eyes softened like water as he coaxed her.
Shengsheng had no response.
Who had claimed this man was allergic to romance?