“Squatting like that? If there’s a sudden emergency and we gotta run, your legs’ll cramp up!”
Wei Qiuying paced back and forth, kicking me twice as she passed.
I ignored her, glancing around the darkness before lowering my head again, face heavy with gloom.
Seeing no reaction, she sighed and wandered off with her flashlight to a spot nearby.
...
“Where… where even are we?”
After a long silence, I finally realized wallowing wouldn’t help. I lifted my head.
“Where… are we?” I whispered again.
...
“Somewhere beneath the Royal Citadel. Not sure.” Wei Qiuying returned softly after scanning the area.
...
“The Royal Citadel… that huge palace?”
Squinting, I stood up and surveyed the surroundings in her flashlight beam.
We stood amid chaotic ancient ruins—cylindrical stone pillars and low walls of wildly uneven sizes, casting dim, shadowy hues under the light.
What unsettled me was their irregularity: thickness ranged from elephant-leg thick to a maiden’s arm slender; heights varied from over three meters to under one. No symmetry. No harmony.
Some pillars showed damage, but most stood intact. Their numbers stretched endlessly, seemingly circling the entire base of the Royal Citadel.
I looked up into the pitch black and faintly made out the colossal silhouette of a stone structure above.
*Had I already crossed that pitch-black suspension bridge and reached the Royal Citadel’s side?*
I recalled being dragged through darkness earlier—feeling a slight sway underfoot. That must’ve been the bridge.
Taking a slow breath, I felt an odd comfort from these mismatched pillars and walls.
...
“These pillars… the hell… could it be—”
Wei Qiuying cursed, running a hand over a tall pillar in awe.
I rushed over. The beam revealed strange, unreadable carvings.
“This has to be the royal burial ground of the Dragon-Taming Civilization!” she exclaimed, gently tapping the pillar with her delicate fingers.
“A burial ground?”
My fragile sense of safety vanished. Fear coiled tight. I’ve never trusted tombs—something absurd always happens here.
“Yin and yang, reversal and flow—profound beyond grasp. Solstices return, the Nine Palaces align.”
She murmured softly, prying a chunk loose with her dagger.
“If one masters yin-yang’s truth, heaven and earth rest within one palm.”
Clutching the fragment, her voice rose with excitement.
“The hell are you muttering? Possessed or what?” I snapped, dropping all pretense. With close friends, I never held back.
“This is Hetian seed jade! This color, this texture, this love-at-first-sight feeling—no way! Wula-gua!” She ignored me, striking a dramatic news-anchor pose.
“Wula-gua?”
I didn’t care if it was stone or jade. Messing with tombstones invites karma. I stepped back.
“Mutton-fat Hetian jade! This piece saves fifty years of grinding. And you, idiot, are backing off?” She chuckled, chattering on.
Honestly? Her scolding had zero sting. Felt kinda cute, even.
…Was I just too thick-skinned?
...
A bloodcurdling scream ripped through the distance—followed by a thunderous crash of collapsing stone. A crimson flash streaked across the cavern, vanishing instantly.
Squinting, I spotted two faint red dots far away at the source, swaying eerily in the dark.
“Comrade Pulao’s already closing in. Has Sister Yanzi not arrived yet?” Wei Qiuying adjusted her night-vision goggles. Her human-skin mask was peeling; I couldn’t see her face, but her tone was urgent.
“My mom’s wearing my wetsuit—no idea where she went. And Second Brother… his leg was hurt. Pulao must’ve taken him down already?” I murmured, piecing things together.
“Leg injury? Nah. That bastard’s a pro at faking weakness—definitely playing dumb again.”
“Earlier, your mom got careless. Lucky I lured Pulao over. You’d all be toast otherwise.” She switched off the flashlight, scanning the dark with her goggles.
*She lured Pulao?*
I remembered the crimson jade plaza—Pulao’s sudden appearance *did* save us. I’d thought it was luck. Turns out, she’d set it up.
This girl… wasn’t ordinary at all.
Connecting every detail, I realized: Mom was playing a grand game.
Back at Droma’s, she warned me to stick close, avoid Second Brother’s group. She must’ve seen through them long ago—but played along, never stopping her plan.
Seemingly a loss? Actually, she’d already swapped in Wei Qiuying.
Mom had laid a trap disguised as an expedition. Second Brother, clueless, thought Wei was his ally. Wu Datong? Already devoured by Pulao. He was alone now. We had three.
The scales of fate had flipped.
*So that’s it… so that’s it!*
Pinching my chin, I breathed: “Brilliant… absolutely brilliant!”
Wei Qiuying glanced over. “Huh? Cat spirit possess you? What’re you meowing about?”
I ignored her, stretching against a pillar.
If Mom went this far to corner Second Brother, I wouldn’t be her stumbling block.
I didn’t know her final goal—but I trusted her. Everything she did was for me and Dad, Wei Chuanyi.
Strength surged through me.
Then—
A pair of icy hands seized my ankle.
From the darkness behind, a bone-chilling whistle cut the silence.
My scalp prickled.
*A human whistle?! Someone’s grabbing my ankle… and whistling?!*
...
