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墨書 Inktalez
"Are you blind?!" I muttered under my breath.
Blood was streaming down my face, but in the cold wind, it quickly froze, including the wound on my head, which had also stopped bleeding. Yet, in this state, it was obvious to anyone that the blood was flowing down from the top of my head.
I climbed down from the balcony railing and glanced at Cao Mingzhe. He had already stepped into the room, removed his cigar from his mouth, and exhaled a puff of smoke while tilting his head. A few drops of blood adorned his face, and he wore a mocking smile as he looked at me.
It was my blood, congealed in spots on his face. It must have dripped onto him when he was thrown against the outer wall of the Hotel Building. After that, the blood on my face had frozen; it was impossible for it to continue dripping.
I spat on the ground in frustration and turned away. I was certainly annoyed by his teasing, but I was even more shocked by his agility and control over his body. His abilities were more impressive than Spider-Man's; while Spider-Man needed webs to leap between skyscrapers, he could do so purely with his own strength and flexibility.
Moreover, his loss of sensory perception complemented this newfound ability. If he had normal sensory capabilities, at that moment when he grasped the top of the flagpole, the weight and speed of his body would have created a tearing sensation in his arms. I realized that only someone like him, who had lost their sense of pain, could perform such a difficult maneuver.
At the same time, I understood why the Hakka People would compromise in front of him. His abilities were extraordinary; while they might not sweep through Hakka Village entirely, the Hakka People certainly lacked the power to subdue him. Having such a superhuman enemy meant that the Hakka People would probably sleep with one eye open. With his unpredictable nature and swift movements, how could they possibly contend with him?
And then there was Vietnamese A San. That guy was all about profit; the only things that could make him obedient were immense benefits or overwhelming power. Coincidentally, Cao Mingzhe possessed both and made sure A San knew it. I figured my sidekick would soon abandon me for him.
At this moment, I was probably the only one on the balcony of the entire hotel feeling this biting cold wind. It felt absolutely freezing.
I walked into the room and closed the floor-to-ceiling glass door behind me. The warmth inside revived me, but the blood that had congealed on my face felt like a large piece of Hemostatic Gel, tightening my skin uncomfortably.
I ignored Cao Mingzhe and headed straight for the bathroom.
In the large mirror of the bathroom, my reflection was a sight to behold. My face was covered in blood, resembling Cao Mingzhe's nosebleed. A mixture of mucus and blood formed two thick, prominent scabs that dripped down to my chin. Surprisingly, my clothes were quite clean; most of the blood had splattered on the ground outside the building and on the outer walls.
After washing my face, I gathered my thoughts and stepped out of the bathroom. I paid no attention to the wound on my head; after years of scrapes and bruises, I had learned to ignore them as long as nothing was broken.
Cao Mingzhe had returned to his desk, intently examining the cigar in his hand as if studying the wisps of smoke rising from it. The blood droplets on his face remained; it seemed he was either indifferent to their presence or simply unaware. It appeared that losing one's sense of perception came with its own drawbacks.
“How did you know about the Hakka People and their Eternal Gate? Did Song Guilong tell you?” I didn’t point out the blood on Cao Mingzhe’s face; instead, I asked my next question directly.
Cao Mingzhe shifted his gaze from the cigar and shook his head. “No. Do you remember the documents we organized at Lop Nur? There’s an ancient narrative poem that I restructured, and I found that it vaguely mentions a portion of the devil's remnants escaping from Lop Nur.”
I nodded. “Of course I remember. If I recall correctly, that narrative poem ends with the Deep Water Prince slaying a dragon; there shouldn’t be anything after that.”
“Indeed, that’s how the data stands. However, in the first half of the poem, there’s a reverse narrative that mentions the direction in which the devil's remnants fled. Although it’s only briefly mentioned, it is the only description of where the Lop Nur remnants went. I focused on this segment, gathering data and conducting research, and from its directional clues and descriptions of the remnants' living conditions, I found the Valley of the Hakka People.”
“That must have been difficult.”
"It’s difficult. For this reason, I often wander in the deep mountains and valleys, far away from civilization, sometimes for months without any contact with society. Many people think I’m insane. I suppose you do too."
I nodded. "I’ve worried about you."
Cao Mingzhe shook his head and turned his gaze back to the cigar in front of him.
"Do you remember the scene when we left the underground of Lop Nur? Like a miracle. What do you think about it?"
"I believe it was a spatial barrier." Cao Mingzhe kept his eyes on the cigar, as if stating something very ordinary, perhaps something he had contemplated for so long that he no longer needed to think about it. "Just like what we encountered at the Eternal Gate of the guest family."
"But we only had that experience at the Eternal Gate. In Lop Nur, we didn’t see the Eternal Gate; we entered a passage, then saw a blinding light, and after that, I lost consciousness. What about you? Did you have a different experience or feeling?"
"Of course not." Cao Mingzhe rotated the cigar in his hand. "I discussed this with Old Xiao; the feelings were the same, there wouldn’t be any difference. Moreover, we both agree on the theory of spatial barriers. I became more certain of this understanding after entering the Underground Cavern of the Hakka People and exiting through their Eternal Gate. Old Xiao recognized this even earlier and with more certainty than I did."
"How can that be? Isn’t the Eternal Gate of Lop Nur stronger? Its power has dissipated as well?"
"No. It’s still very powerful." Cao Mingzhe bit down on the cigar and took a deep drag. "We believe it’s a result of human manipulation."
"What!? Who!?" I shouted nervously.
Cao Mingzhe took a large puff, finishing his sentence while smoke still billowed from his nose. When he opened his mouth again, both his voice and smoke escaped simultaneously.
"Song Guilong. It can only be him."
For a moment, silence fell over the room.
My mind was racing, and the information provided by Cao Mingzhe felt more like a riddle. According to his theory, the Eternal Gate at Lop Nur was extraordinarily powerful, so it should be impossible to control. How could it possibly be manipulated by someone I knew and was familiar with?
“Song Guilong absolutely does not have the super ability to control the Eternal Gate!” I suddenly broke the silence and shouted.
“Then who do you think does? Or what is his purpose in going down there alone?”
“What about your purpose in going down? Aside from your so-called Dequantize.”
“Isn’t that enough?”
“It is.” I sighed. Indeed, if it was for this ability of his, Cao Mingzhe had sufficient reason to take the risk. But there were still many things I didn’t understand, like why he insisted on having me join, and why he needed to bring along the Vietnamese and Hakka people.
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