Chapter 16
Yu Tai walked over to Shu Li, who seemed to be staring at something, and followed his gaze.
A statue towered amid the yellow sands.
Even after enduring the passage of countless years, it still stood tall. Though windblown sand had eroded its body, nothing could diminish the mighty presence it exuded.
Despite being from another world, Yu Tai recognized the creature carved in stone at first glance.
A qilin.
It was a statue of a qilin.
Yu Tai lowered her eyes, concealing her excitement, and asked Shu Li with feigned calm, “What is it, Senior Brother? Is there something wrong with that statue?”
Inside, she was beside herself with excitement.
If she remembered correctly, Shu Li was paying such close attention to the statue because something in its direction seemed to be calling to him.
The veiled hat Shu Li had used to conceal his appearance was long gone. While the windblown sand had left Yu Tai looking somewhat weary, he still seemed to glow.
He was so beautiful that it felt as though the entire world ought to revolve around him.
Then again, that was not exactly wrong. The world truly did revolve around him.
“Something is a little strange.” His voice was mild, and his expression faintly peculiar.
“What’s strange?” Yu Tai lowered her voice, coaxing him to continue.
Shu Li’s eyes left the statue and dropped to Yu Tai, who was staring fixedly at him with her wide eyes. “Junior Sister’s face looks a little strange.”
Yu Tai: ???
[Host… Your hands are covered in dust, and you rubbed your eyes when you woke up earlier.]
Yu Tai’s smile froze. She whipped around and conjured a large sphere of water with a spell, using it as a mirror.
Her reflection appeared in the water, sporting two dark circles identical to Xia Mo’s.
Her face flamed red.
She glared at Xia Mo, which had been sitting nearby and trembling nonstop for some inexplicable reason, and her temper flared.
It had not even warned her!
Shu Li glanced at Yu Tai’s indignant face. His gaze swept over the crimson tips of her ears before returning to the statue.
By the time Yu Tai realized she had been teased, she had already pulled herself together. She washed her face and walked back over.
“This seems to be an abandoned city,” Yu Tai said.
Shu Li nodded, agreeing with her assessment.
She continued her analysis. “I think there’s something strange about this statue. There’s nothing else around here, yet it’s standing all by itself. Something isn’t right.”
Shu Li looked at her and nodded again. “Junior Sister is right.”
Under Shu Li’s knowing gaze, even someone as thick-skinned as Yu Tai felt her heart tighten.
“This place is too eerie. It may be much more dangerous than it was outside,” Yu Tai concluded. After cursing herself inwardly a few times, she walked up to Shu Li, lifted her clean and pretty face, and said, “For the sake of our personal safety, I need to replenish some nutrients.”
Without waiting for Shu Li to react, she tugged him down by the collar, wrapped both arms around his slender neck, and bit down on his lips.
Unlike the unhealthy chill of the rest of his body, Shu Li’s lips and tongue were soft. Yu Tai hated to admit it, but kissing him truly felt wonderful.
Compared to his previous aversion and resistance, Shu Li was unexpectedly calm this time.
He allowed Yu Tai to kiss him and even responded cooperatively, leaving her both surprised and flattered.
Had he gotten used to it?
Once she had replenished her righteous qi, Yu Tai rested her forehead against Shu Li’s chest and caught her breath. She wiped the corner of her mouth with a handkerchief, then kindly rose onto her toes and wiped his mouth clean as well, as though rewarding him.
Xia Mo peeked through the gaps between its paws. When it saw that the two of them had finished, it lowered its furry paws from its eyes and walked over.
“Chirp!” It pointed at the qilin statue.
Yu Tai immediately supplied an interpretation. “You’re saying there’s something wrong over there?”
Delighted that she understood, Xia Mo nodded repeatedly.
Some instinct told it that something below was calling to someone, and those calls were now surging frantically toward Shu Li.
It was like a peacock fanning out its tail and begging Shu Li to spare it a glance.
Tsk. How embarrassing.
With the heroine’s powerful support behind her, Yu Tai dragged Shu Li over to the man-sized statue.
She reached out to touch it. The statue’s surface was rough and cold, and it left her hand covered in yellow sand.
Yu Tai remembered that the object they were looking for was beneath this statue.
In the original novel, Shu Li had accidentally triggered some mechanism, causing both him and the heroine to fall below.
Unfortunately, the book had never specified exactly where he had touched it.
Yu Tai estimated which parts Shu Li could reach based on his height. She even felt up the qilin’s backside, but nothing happened.
Perhaps it was her imagination, but after she touched its backside, the stone statue’s expression seemed… a little contemptuous.
Shu Li stood calmly to one side, watching Yu Tai jump around and grope the statue at random. A gleam flashed in his eyes as he asked gently, “What are you looking for, Junior Sister?”
Yu Tai deflated for an instant, but his question suddenly made her see the light.
*Am I an idiot? The protagonist should naturally handle the protagonist’s business. Why am I blindly interfering?*
Instead of answering him, she grabbed his hand and pressed it forcefully against a random spot on the statue.
Whether by pure coincidence or not, his hand landed squarely on the qilin’s… most delicate area.
Yu Tai had just opened her mouth when a soft but unmistakable click sounded. In the next instant, the ground vanished beneath the two humans and one beast.
The System: […That actually worked?]
The moment they fell, Yu Tai summoned her flying sword. She grabbed Shu Li with one hand and scooped up the chirping Xia Mo with the other, then landed steadily atop the blade.
The floor above had sealed itself again the instant they dropped through.
Not a single ray of light leaked in.
Yu Tai was about to search for a fire starter when flames suddenly sprang to life in the pitch-black underground passage.
Torches burned in orderly rows along both walls. Their flames swayed as though silently welcoming them.
After observing their surroundings for a moment, Shu Li unexpectedly took the initiative. “Let’s go.”
He immediately walked to the front.
Yu Tai raised an eyebrow. After setting the heavy Xia Mo on the ground, she followed close behind him.
A sudden crunch beneath her foot made her look down.
Her heart plummeted at the sight.
The place where they had landed was relatively clear, but the ground farther ahead was littered with bleached bones. They had clearly lain there for countless years. From the tattered clothing that remained, Yu Tai could tell that most of them belonged to cultivators who had perished here.
If this many people had died at the entrance alone, who knew what dangers awaited them farther inside?
She drew a deep breath, forced herself to stop looking down, and stayed close behind Shu Li as he strode across the bones without so much as glancing at them.
She could not allow herself to be left behind.