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墨書 Inktalez
I suppressed the urge to punch that fluffy white face and asked, "You've been down here for so long and haven't dried your clothes yet. What are you doing?"
Of course, my question was quite unreasonable. They wouldn't waste time for no reason, especially while taking care of two people who couldn't fend for themselves. They must have been struggling during this time. However, I was annoyed by Jack's show-off in front of me, and I wanted to vent a little and provoke him; I admit I was being somewhat childish.
I think I achieved my goal because I could clearly see the anger in Jack's eyes. He grabbed his underwear from another pole without even putting it on properly and waved his briefs at me, shouting, "Don't think just because you found this way out by sheer luck that we have to bow to you. You can't just order us around here. I've had enough."
I was quite satisfied with Jack's reaction; this was the attitude an American should have. It was wrong for him to come to China and act all profound and pretentious. I nodded at him and said, "Put your pants on first."
The atmosphere froze for a few seconds. I noticed A San and Bu E Song were nervously watching us while Fumi, who had been mumbling before, fell silent. It seemed that our argument made them feel uneasy and confused. From A San's terrified expression, I could tell he was worried we might come to blows since he kept glancing at our hands where two guns were positioned beside Jack and me.
Perhaps it was due to our different survival environments; A San immediately thought of resolving the situation with force when he saw this scene, even considering taking out the opponent. I didn't have such thoughts, and I doubted Jack did either.
Our standoff didn't last long. Jack angrily put on his underwear, stood up, and pointed a finger at me from his elevated position. "This isn't over. We risked our lives to save you, not to be treated like this."
I nodded again and raised a hand with my palm facing down in a gesture for him to sit down. "Tell me the specifics. How did you get down here? What’s the situation below? And why am I the only one injured?"
Jack looked at me in shock, his expression gradually shifting from anger to despair. Clearly, he found it difficult to understand the way Easterners handle problems; he had been ready for a big argument but ended up punching a pillow instead.
Moreover, the situation was unfolding according to my control. Although he was furious, his thoughts were being led by me.
With a complex expression, Jack sat down, reluctantly taking on the role of a narrator. I urged him again, and he cleared his throat: "Because you're foolish, only you got hurt."
Damn. I didn't expect his first words to infuriate me so much. However, I was genuinely curious; jumping into the center of the Pit Vortex was unimaginably difficult. I never thought everyone could manage it, especially the two Lao People. To be honest, by the time of my last jump, I had already mentally said goodbye to them. Yet the reality was that not only did they both make it down safely, but they also had no new injuries. How did they manage that? Was I really the most cowardly one? This could overturn my worldview.
Seeing my expression, Jack seemed to regain some confidence and began to accept his role as a narrator with less resistance. The two people drying clothes were quite diligent; they first dried our clothes while we stood there in our underwear. As we warmed ourselves, Jack filled me in on what had happened.
Of course, Jack started with what interested him most—the moment I leaped into the unknown.
Just like me, in that mysterious state, the decision I made wasn't necessarily the best but certainly the quickest. I made the right decision in the shortest amount of time, but I miscalculated my timing slightly. When I jumped off the wood, it was still moving forward due to inertia. In other words, I jumped off too early, which caused me to be too far from the center of the Pit Vortex.
Fortunately, I maintained a good posture in mid-air; otherwise, it would have been very difficult to enter the black hole at the center of the Pit Vortex.
However, this also meant that I used all my strength to propel myself forward and barely entered the black hole without any time to adjust my body position. I remember realizing that I had overshot and attempted a front flip maneuver to crash my back against the wall of the black hole. But according to Jack's account, I ended up looking like someone who just tucked their neck and bumped their head into it.
I certainly didn't believe his nonsense and immediately questioned him, "With a rock that hard, if I hit my head against it, I'd be knocked out. Don't try to fool me."
Jack furrowed his brow, thinking for a moment before he understood what I meant. He scoffed, "Your head is harder than you think. Besides, you didn't hit the rock; the center of the vortex is a hollow space surrounded by water. You crashed into the Water Wall. But that would still be enough to knock you out; the fast-moving water would have hit you hard."
After Jack said this, I found it even harder to believe him, as if he had witnessed the whole scene himself. Do you have a god's perspective?
I took the piece of clothing that Buasong had tossed over and slowly put it on, fastening the buttons while looking at Jack with disdain. "You make it sound so real. Did you actually see it?"
"Yes," Jack replied casually. "I was right behind you; I was the second one to jump."
My hand paused slightly as I buttoned up, but then I looked up at Jack nonchalantly, signaling him to continue. However, I knew that this made his words more credible.
Jack was also observing me, showing satisfaction at being able to put me in an awkward position.
"Yes, I was the second one to jump," Jack repeated his earlier statement. "I saw you run to the middle of the log and realized what you were about to do. Although I didn't know your purpose or what would happen when you jumped, there couldn't have been a worse outcome at that point, so..."
Jack habitually shrugged.
"It didn't matter anymore. Maybe I hesitated a bit; anyway, I wasn't as fast as you, and I only started running after you jumped, which allowed me to..."
Jack turned to look at the two people roasting clothes and continued, "take greater advantage of the log's forward momentum. The two Lao People were the last to jump off the log but managed to escape safely because they timed it well. Thanks to your early jump, there was plenty of lead time; I really admire you for that."
I couldn't tell if he was complimenting me or mocking me. At that moment, all I could think about was escaping, so I didn't dwell on it too much.
When Jack said that, his expression was serious and sincere. If it had been any other American I had encountered, I would have believed him with that kind of expression and might even have felt proud. But with Jack, who was well-versed in Chinese culture and an old hand at You Tiao, I had to think twice. I figured he must have read "Romance of the Three Kingdoms" and "Black Thick Learning."
However, what Jack said next made me lose interest in pondering this matter any further.
(To Be Continued...)
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