Daomu Biji: Restart

When I was young, I slept a lot during the day but couldn't sleep at night. But now, at this age, I didn’t have such concerns. While we examined the 3D modeling of the cave more than a dozen times, someone lowered a camera into the cave to carry out 24-hour surveillance.

After not finding anything, Fatty said that Xiao Hua and Poker-Face must have gone into one of the crevices. We didn’t notice the crevices when we were feeling our way around and there was no way to see them with our eyes, so we might have been bewitched by that corpse. That was probably why we didn’t notice them at all when we were climbing up before.

I disagreed. To be honest, the light was so dim when we were climbing that we couldn't see anything at all.

We leaned back in our lounge chairs in a daze and then went back to the tent to rest. I slept very well that night and when I woke up, I put on a cotton-padded jacket and left the tent. Xiuxiu was sitting in front of the helicopter, waiting for us.

Fatty woke up early, so I assumed they already had a chat. He was sitting on Xiuxiu’s other side with a cup of coffee in hand and said to me, "Xiuxiu agrees with us. The team will go down tonight, increase the number of rappelling ropes, build a lifting platform below, and then lower the mule down."

"Is it reliable? Plus, if Xiao Hua and Poker-Face really did enter the crevices, then it’s possible that we don't have to go down and can move on instead."

"What Xiuxiu means to say is that we shouldn’t look for them. We should just keep moving forward."

I looked at her in surprise, "Why?"

"Because the two of them aren’t ordinary people. They can solve any problems by themselves and will continue to move forward. If we believe in them, then we should wait for them at a certain point up ahead," Xiuxiu said.

I was a little hesitant, but at the same time, I was also surprised that Xiuxiu could make such a decision. When I looked at her, she said, "Of course, if you don't feel reassured, you can search here with Fat Master for a while. In fact, I suggest you don't go down again."

I touched my chin, looked at Xiuxiu, and took a moment to think. "Xiuxiu, ah no, Boss Xiu, it appears you've been corrupted by Master Hua. You weren’t like this before."

Xiuxiu smiled and made an expression as if to say, “I’m not a child anymore.” Then she looked at me provocatively as if to see if I could persuade her.

"What’s the reason for your suggestion?" I asked her, already determined to win. Someone handed me breakfast, so I took it and started eating. It tasted strange.

"First of all, we don't recommend you getting involved in this messy affair. This is a mission given to the other families; you’ve already completed your mission. You don’t owe us anything. So, when Little Brother helps us take care of whatever is going on with Master Black, you should take Little Brother back to Fujian immediately. Moreover, the situation down there is complicated. We don’t have many of those bronze pieces and we don’t know how they work either. Now that you’ve come out, there will be a lot of unexpected situations if you go down again. It’s better to wait here."

Xiuxiu was right. After all, the whole heavenly gift situation was too complicated. It was true that people like us were too skilled and had too many responsibilities, so if we went down again and unexpectedly received the heavenly gift, it would have a great impact.

But this was really Xiao Hua's usual method of doing things, not mine. I was never afraid of screwing things up as long as they were in my hands.

When I walked over, Xiuxiu immediately said, "Of course, I know I can't persuade you, so just act like I didn’t say anything."

She let out an exclamation as I gave her a light smack on the head.

"When I die, you can call the shots again. But for now, you have to listen to me," I said.

I wanted to leave right away without brushing my teeth, but Xiuxiu looked at me and shook her head. I brushed my teeth and washed my face quickly, and then the three of us got on the helicopter and took off for the ancient temple.

Nobody spoke the whole way. The ancient temple really did have to be reached by helicopter. First of all, even though they said it was nearby, it would actually take six or seven hours if you were riding a horse or a mule. In addition, the temple was in the middle of a mountain. Although there was a road that could be used to reach it, very few people took it and it was uncertain whether it was even passable.

The so-called “roads” in the Kunlun Mountains were as twisty as a sheep’s intestines and were so narrow that you could only place one foot down at a time. This was the kind of road we would have to walk if we couldn’t fly.

When we got to the temple, we dropped a hanging ladder directly in front of the door and went down. This temple was actually just a house claiming to be a temple. If you had been to Dunhuang before, then you would know that there were many houses like this. The front eaves were set right up against the mountain wall and the back was actually a grotto that had been dug into the mountain. It was really just a cave with an idol in it.

I didn’t see any cultural symbols, so I didn’t know whether it was a Taoist, Buddhist, or Bon temple. It was extremely dilapidated and covered an area of about a hundred square meters. The only thing inside was that earthen idol, which was so weathered that it looked like a wooden club now.

There were blue bricks on the ground, along with broken roof tiles and straw. The whole temple looked like it would collapse with the slightest breeze.

"It’s said that this ancient temple existed in the period when there was a large number of dead people. This temple was very old, and there were various opinions about when it was built so it’s impossible to verify what time period it belonged to. But this god here, which they offered sacrifices to, is said to have been a new god at that time," Xiuxiu said. "This god was created because of the high death toll of the population here. If you look carefully at the cave walls, you can see that there are reliefs from that time. The locals said that their older generations claimed that many people died here during that time and a monster came out of the ground. Later, the emperor sent people to build the temple before it finally became safe."

"Are there no details about this legend?" I asked her.

Xiuxiu shook her head. "It seems like too much time has passed."

I walked up to the idol and found that it was basically just a block of mud. I couldn't see anything, but for some reason, I thought that it was a bit familiar.

****

No update tomorrow. It's another long one (about 7.5 pages) and I have dinner plans with my coworkers, so I know I won't get through it in time. Sorry in advance darlings~~