We locked eyes—or rather, four eyes. Pulao’s pair of red lights weren’t eyes at all.
Qiuying and I were tangled together, my face pressed against her chest. I could clearly feel her heart pounding wildly.
Pulao’s massive form swayed in the darkness. Back at the Jade Plaza, I’d glimpsed its head—utterly bizarre, a grotesque fusion of ugliness and terror, a true masterpiece of anti-aesthetics.
I recalled two unnaturally long tentacles, deeply unsettling. Something else swung restlessly above us.
Qiuying clamped a hand tightly over my mouth, trembling with fear. I couldn’t speak, nearly suffocating under her grip.
After a moment, the red lights shifted, slithering toward the stone gate. Only then did Pulao’s colossal silhouette emerge—a black serpent that seemed to have swallowed an elephant whole. It slid across the floor with a sickening, sticky rasp.
Only when the sound faded did Qiuying slowly release my mouth.
“Damn, you nearly suffocated me!” I gasped, wrenching her hand away in a furious whisper.
“No time for chatter. Follow it—Pulao’s returning to its lair. Someone’s already inside the Royal Citadel!” Qiuying cut in, voice tight with purpose.
I frowned. *Its lair? So the Royal Citadel is this monster’s den?*
I glanced up at the massive, shadowy stone gate. A cold dread coiled in my gut—like standing before the gates of hell.
“Okay, okay! Sorry! Let’s move!”
After a hasty apology, Qiuying scrambled up the stone path. I hurried after her.
Honestly, her resolve was terrifying. Shaking with fear moments ago, she now trailed the monster without hesitation. If it were me? I’d have bolted on the spot.
I steeled myself and followed, calf wound throbbing faintly.
...
...
The Royal Citadel’s interior disoriented me. We climbed row after row of crumbling stone steps toward the summit.
“This place is too open,” Qiuying murmured, pressing against the left wall. “Stone niches line both sides. If Yan An’s lying in wait, we’ve got nowhere to hide…”
“It’s massive…”
“Might not be him,” I whispered. “Could be my mom got here first.”
“No idea. Damn comms are fried—I can’t reach Sister Yan.”
“Stay sharp. Don’t think being Yan An’s niece protects you. That man is ruthless. Capable of anything.”
I recalled the second brother who’d explained the reliefs. He hadn’t seemed monstrous.
But he was a stranger. As the old saying goes: *You can paint the dragon’s scales, but not its bones; know a face, but not the heart.* Here, I had to watch everyone.
Square recesses dotted the walls—deep, spacious, purpose unknown.
Climbing felt like scaling a mountain. Beyond the gate: only upward steps. Nothing like I’d imagined—an ancient marketplace, Dragon Tamer Clan architecture. Just stairs. Endless stairs.
*Was this built as a fitness trial for the Dragon Tamer Clan?*
I remembered historical dramas: officials climbing palace steps. Those were nothing compared to this.
...
Those wall recesses kept nagging at me.
Pulao’s rustling hadn’t faded. Qiuying, goggles on, kept a careful distance.
Her expression vanished beneath the swollen human-skin mask. I couldn’t read her.
Trailing something like this truly took courage.
...
...
“Holy shit.”
Qiuying froze, muttering under her breath.
“What is it…?” I crept closer and whispered.
Climbing slowly had spared my stamina.
“Up ahead… damn. Words can’t describe it.”
She handed me the goggles. They felt heavier than expected. I adjusted them and looked up.
I’d assumed thermal imaging—but the view was crystal clear.
And froze.
From our angle, the staircase ended at a vast platform. The Royal Citadel’s layout formed an inverted triangle: steps widened with every rise, maxing out at the summit.
I saw only a sliver of the scene. Pulao swayed its head aimlessly.
But that wasn’t the horror.
Surrounding it: a seething sea of black-haired heads, bobbing wildly like tadpoles in a summer pond.
Only necks and up were visible—they had bodies. Density suggested over a hundred.
The scale stunned me. Their frantic motion felt like concert fans losing themselves to the singer.
“This…”
I yanked off the goggles, rubbed my eyes. Qiuying sat on the steps below, massaging her forehead like reality had broken.
Was I hallucinating?
“What the hell *is* that…?” Qiuying groaned, clutching her head.
“A scene straight out of hell… I guess.”
I leaned against the wall, stomach tight.
Logically, no one else was here. But human-like, moving things? Only one kind: Whispering Maidens.
Ahead: Pulao, a massive unknown predator—and a horde of active Whispering Maidens.
Qiuying suddenly looked up. Her swollen mask twisted eerily.
“I have an idea. Maybe we can blend in.”
“Huh?”
...
...
