C39 (1/2)
After finishing the mural, Zhu Yingqiong and I were silent for a long time, because the entire thing was too complicated according to our deduction, there were still a lot of things hidden that we did not know about.
For example, for Emperor Yongle Zhu Di, why would he be implicated in Wild Mountain?
What role did Wu Zhong play in front of Zhu Di?
The Ming Dynasty's army was in confrontation with the White Kingdom, had Emperor Jianwen been captured or fled?
If he escaped, then given Emperor Jianwen's personality, it would be impossible for him to hide in obscurity for the rest of his life. Then, what did he do for the rest of his life?
Was Wu Zhong still alive underground?
Too many questions filled my mind, making it more and more chaotic. I took a deep breath and glanced at Zhu Yingqiong, who was packing her bag.
Zhu Yingqiong said coldly, ”We can't stay here forever. The miasma will appear in about three hours. We have to leave this area.”
In these two days, while taking care of Zhu Yingqiong's body, I observed the situation regarding the miasma fog. This miasma fog was very regular, it pervaded the entire forest around five in the afternoon every single day, and continued all the way until the next morning. There were only a few empty hours every day.
If we wanted to leave, we would have to take advantage of this period of time to charge out of the area. Furthermore, two days had passed and I hadn't received any response from the Fourth Uncle and the rest, so I was more anxious than anyone else.
But now there was another problem, what about Ji Xiang?
Her condition was so serious that she couldn't keep up with us. To put it bluntly, I couldn't care less about her in any special situation.
Zhu Yingqiong seemed to be able to see through my worries, she put on her backpack and walked out of the rundown temple: ”Ji Xiang, I will take care of her, and even though she has gone mad from fright, it does not mean that she is stupid. She is the only one in the previous group who is still alive, she definitely knows about the dangers inside.”
I asked in astonishment, ”You want to use Ji Xiang to find the entrance to the underground? You've gone mad, Ji Xiang probably only managed to come out of the ground alive with great difficulty, but now you want her to go back in again, isn't that the same as causing her death? ”
Zhu Yingqiong said coldly: ”Everyone has their own destiny, Ji Xiang's existence is our guiding light. If you want to find your grandfather, you must rely on her, furthermore, don't you think about how Ji Xiang was able to find us in the miasma filled forest? She must know where the dangerous parts of the mountain are located and where they aren't dangerous. This is also the reason why she is still alive right now. ”
It was obvious that she was facing an unknown fear, and it was also possible that she knew that the road ahead was dangerous, so it was very obvious that she had resisting feelings, but her hand was still tightly held by Zhu Yingqiong, and she was unable to struggle free.
In my heart, I don't agree with Zhu Yingqiong's thoughts, but I know that it is hopeless to persuade him. Furthermore, if she doesn't continue to lead Ji Xiang forward, could it be that she will leave Ji Xiang alone in this lousy temple?
Or should we collectively give up and bring Ji Xiang back for treatment?
If it was only when Hai Yang and I were walking up the mountain, I would have been happy to do so, but now that we have reached this step, it is already too late for us to retreat. Furthermore, there is still no news from Fourth Uncle's monk Hai Yang, even if I was willing to do so, the others would not agree to it.
We went down the road and discovered that there were traces of buildings scattered throughout the surrounding area. Even though they had all collapsed, we could tell that we had already penetrated deep into the core of the Wild Mountain, and were not far from reaching the White Kingdom's ancient Walled City.
Sure enough, after we crossed the mountain ridge and stood halfway up the mountain, Ji Xiang started shouting crazily, while Zhu Yingqiong was also staring straight ahead with a blank expression on her face.
Directly in front of us was a sunken valley, surrounded by mountains that looked like a basin. In the middle of the valley, there was a continuous cluster of buildings.
The buildings were densely packed in the deep valleys of the cove. At a glance, there were at least over a thousand families that had been built by the mountains, forming terraced fields with layers upon layers of buildings. Looking down from the top of the mountain, it looked like the gossip of China.
It was a pity that the entire building complex had long since collapsed like a pile of rubble. Only a few houses could be seen standing on the ground, which showed the glory of the White Kingdom back then, while the rest only consisted of a wall made of soil which gave off a desolate and desolate feeling.
This was not a country, but more like a mountain stronghold hidden deep in the mountains!
We excitedly went down the mountain, and for some reason, the closer we got to my place, the more uneasy we became. Zhu Yingqiong frowned, and it wasn't until we got close that I finally knew the reason why something was wrong.
Silence, complete silence. There was not a single sound in the entire valley, not even the sound of the wind or the chirping of birds. It was as if he was looking at a painting, giving off an uneasy feeling.
Ji Xiang's entire body was trembling frantically as she shouted, trying to get rid of Zhu Yingqiong's hand several times, but she was always held back by Zhu Yingqiong. From Ji Xiang's unease, we know that the British have definitely come here, otherwise Ji Xiang would not be in such an uneasy state.
Standing at the abandoned Walled City entrance, we can see a lot of modern things. For example, there are barbed wire, mortars, concrete houses made of steel plates, and sentries rebuilt on the earthen walls. They were all probably done by Sakyamuni Army back then.
”Fourth Uncle, Monk, Hai Yang, are you there?”
I stood at the Walled City entrance and shouted towards the inside, my voice constantly echoing in the valley, but I did not receive any response, and did not know if Fourth Uncle and the rest had arrived here, or if they had already found the underground entrance.
”The underground entrance should be inside the Walled City. Let's go in and search!”
Zhu Yingqiong was very excited, she told me that she was about to step forward, but Ji Xiang suddenly bit her hand, broke free from Zhu Yingqiong's grasp, and shouted with a frightened face: ”There's a ghost! Ghost, don't kill me! ”Don't kill me …”
The more she spoke, the more pale she became, suddenly she turned and rushed into the mountain forest behind us. It was obvious that she did not dare to approach Walled City, so Zhu Yingqiong and I hastily gave chase, but Ji Xiang ran very quickly, and after Zhu Yingqiong recovered, she could not catch up to him at all. I clenched my teeth and chased after her for five or six minutes, and caught her several times, but her resistance was extremely strong.
It was too dangerous in the forest, so I didn't know what Ji Xiang was afraid of. I was worried that she would run into some Beastmen, so I could only search for her in the forest, but she disappeared from the world, completely disappearing from the forest.
Zhu Yingqiong caught up while panting heavily, ”There's no need to search. She's even more familiar with this place than us.
I asked, ”Then what do we do?” Leave her alone? ”
Zhu Yingqiong said coldly: ”There are too many people that I need to find, I don't care about her life or death. It's already 4.37 in the afternoon, and the miasma will soon pervade the air, if we continue looking for her, there's only death waiting for us!”
After she finished speaking, she turned around and walked back towards the Ancient Walled City. Looking at her back, I suddenly felt that this woman was very cold-blooded and was a little heartless.
Hai Yang said that with this personality of mine, I admit that I'm soft-hearted, but at least I still have human nature. Even in this remote place, I still uphold the principle of being a human.
By saying this, I am not saying that Zhu Yingqiong is heartless, but it is just that I feel that she is too heartless.
We once again returned to the Walled City entrance, and the miasma quickly attacked us. We simply didn't have the time to investigate the entire situation of the Walled City, and could only find the concrete house that was built with steel plates previously by the Sakyamuni Army to avoid the miasma.
Inside, there was also a rusty metal table with a military map covered in dust on it. On the wall, there were even guns that had rusted into metal pieces. It could be seen that this was the meeting room where the Sakyamuni Army used to be.