Chapter 107: Poisoning and Murder

He Yu was still hopping mad, complaining that we had ruined him. He grumbled that he was already plagued by bad luck, and now that we had used his explosives to blow the Buddha statue to smithereens, he would probably choke even on a sip of cold water from now on.

I shot back, telling him that since he knew he had been down on his luck for so many years, praying to Buddha clearly hadn’t done him any good. I suggested we try a different approach; maybe fighting poison with poison would actually turn his luck around.

Tian Xiaoqi, on the other hand, was a rare non-superstitious member of our trade. She wiped the dust from her nose, handed me a bottle of water, and asked, “Blowing up the pagoda is one thing, but what was the point of destroying the Buddha statue?”

I took a drink and passed the water to He Yu, then shook my head at her innocently to signal I didn’t know either. She looked at me suspiciously, as if I were the one who was actually in charge.

Lu Ayao sat on the ground for only a few minutes before standing up. He offered no explanation. Without a word, he took the lead and started down the stone passage. He probably intended to tell us everything once we reached a relatively safe spot further inside.

I called over to He Yu to pack his things. I was carrying Tian Xiaoqi’s bag, which still held some dry rations, though I had no idea where we currently were.

Lu Ayao had said earlier that this was an underground palace, and we certainly hadn’t reached its core yet. That meant we had to ration our food, as it would likely take a long time to get out.

I shone my flashlight ahead as we walked. Above the stone passage’s platform, a blooming lotus had been carved in exquisite detail. On either side, the gate-guarding Xuanwu^[1] statues faced the entrance, with giant snakes coiled around them, their flickering tongues stretching toward the lotus.

Their designs were remarkably exaggerated and their size massive, sharing a striking similarity to the Yellow River river-taming beasts I had seen in ancient texts.

A draft of cold air hit us as soon as we entered the stone passage. I hunched my shoulders and looked at the oxidized, damp murals and shrines lining both sides, finally sensing a trace of human presence in this godforsaken place.

This stone passage was built relatively wide, and its stone floor had been completely smoothed flat. The craftsmen had been very meticulous; I felt that from this point on, we were entering the true heart of the underground palace.

Lu Ayao walked very fast, leaving us quite a distance behind. Several times I wanted to call out for him to slow down and walk with us, but I swallowed the words every time. What was the damn point? Saying anything would be a waste of breath. He wouldn’t listen to me anyway.

After walking dozens of meters, He Yu said, “This is where we received your message earlier. If you hadn’t turned on the walkie-talkie then, Old Lu and I would have headed in the opposite direction. Also, we found a large shrine here that was probably meant for a statue. It’s relatively safe.”

After speaking, he turned to look at Tian Xiaoqi. “Hey, little girl, the issues with you haven’t been resolved yet. I don’t think you should keep hiding things. I don’t want to point a gun at you, so once we find a safe spot, you’d better spill everything you know.”

“Are you out of your mind? I’ve told you everything I know and everything I should say. What else do you want me to say?” Tian Xiaoqi stopped and put her hands on her hips.

Seeing this, I quickly stepped forward to pull them apart. I whispered to He Yu, “Do you know something? Why do you guys keep thinking there’s something wrong with Tian Xiaoqi?”

He Yu threw up his hands. “I don’t know. I don’t know what her deal is specifically. Old Lu hinted at it when we were on the boat. Between this woman’s word and Old Lu’s, I’m obviously going to trust Lu Ayao unconditionally. What, he didn’t tell you?”

I froze for a moment, and He Yu caught it immediately. Grinning slyly, he teased me, “Ah, so a close relationship really can’t be judged on appearances alone, can it?”

“Comrade Gan, you should do some soul-searching. Why did he tell me and not you? You must have offended him earlier.” He patted me on the shoulder.

His words set off a surge of irritation in my chest. I slapped his hand away. “What total nonsense! Are you two teaming up to mess with me? Just wait, I’m going to ask him right now!”

With that, I turned around and ran forward with my flashlight. This stone passage was very long, built to cut right through the mountain. Lu Ayao was walking fast on his own. I hadn’t realized how fast until I started running, discovering that there was already a gap of nearly fifty meters between us.

I ran forward for a bit and slowed down once I caught sight of his back. “What is it that you can tell He Yu but not me? What’s wrong with Tian Xiaoqi? They’re way in the back, so she can’t hear us. Can you tell me now?”

Lu Ayao didn’t answer. He was just a short distance ahead of me, continuing to walk along the wall of the stone passage. He ignored me when I spoke to him. Following behind him, I felt more and more uneasy. No matter how terrible his attitude had been before, it had never been this bad.

Thinking this, I reached out to pull him back. The moment I grabbed him, my whole body went stiff. It’s worth noting that Lu Ayao had long since taken off his diving suit and changed into a jacket over a short-sleeved shirt. I grabbed him from behind, but even through two layers of clothing, I could feel a bone-deep chill seeping out of him.

The sensation was hard to describe, roughly like touching an ice-cold stalactite inside a cave during the hottest days of summer.

I immediately sensed something was off and yanked him harder, but I never expected that single pull to drag him down straight backward. Without He Yu’s quick reflexes, I didn’t even realize what was happening before he pulled me to the ground with him.

I scrambled up from the ground with a roll to check on Lu Ayao. He was already in a deep coma, his face bluish-pale and his body freezing cold. Panic seized me. I had no idea where this poison had come from. No wonder he had been hugging the wall as he walked; the toxin was probably making him stagger.

“Something’s happened! He Yu!” I shouted toward the passage behind me.

He was almost certainly poisoned.

I shifted from a crouch to my knees and unzipped Lu Ayao’s jacket to look for a wound. The red talismans on the porcelain shards on his face were becoming increasingly vivid, just as they had back in Hubei. I pulled back his sleeve and found a blackened wound, likely left by that infant corpse earlier.

Just as I was about to move, my head suddenly began to spin in waves. The dizziness came completely without warning.

Yet my thoughts only grew clearer. At least three minutes had passed since I called out, but He Yu still hadn’t come, and no one had answered me.

He Yu would never ignore me for no reason. Something must have happened!

“He Yu, can you hear me? Something happened…”

I forced myself to my feet, bracing against the wall as I shone my flashlight down the stone passage behind me.

A figure stepped into the beam of light. I stopped and shook my dizzy head hard to clear my vision. To my shock, I saw that the person was Tian Xiaoqi, and she was dragging He Yu by the back of his collar.

He Yu was already unconscious. Tian Xiaoqi smiled and tossed him onto the ground in front of me.

Tian Xiaoqi looked at me in slight surprise. “I didn’t expect you to react so quickly.”

Lu Ayao was right. Tian Xiaoqi had been suspicious from the very beginning, and He Yu and I had just drunk the water she gave us!

The water was spiked!

God knows what she gave us. My legs suddenly went weak and I collapsed uncontrollably to the ground. Before my arms lost all strength, I instinctively used every remaining bit of power to crawl backward.

“What are you trying to do?” I fought to stay conscious.

Tian Xiaoqi walked toward me, or rather, her gaze was fixed on Lu Ayao, whom I was shielding behind me.

She stepped in front of me in two strides, pinched my chin between two fingers, and pulled up her pant leg to draw a small dagger from her leg wrap. She patted my cheek with the blade and smiled. “Don’t worry, you’re good-looking. I never intended to poison you to death from the start. But right now, you’d better not interfere with my business.”

She was going to kill Lu Ayao?!

I couldn’t fathom what could drive a girl studying traditional Chinese medicine to resolve to kill someone. To achieve this, she had even resorted to drugging us. The shock coursing through me almost eclipsed the paralyzing weakness in my limbs.

Having finished speaking, Tian Xiaoqi hauled me up from the floor with one hand and delivered a sharp kick to my chest. Weak and caught completely off guard, I felt a metallic sweetness rise in my throat as I slammed hard against the wall. My flashlight clattered to the ground, and I immediately spat out a mouthful of blood.

Blood was streaming from my head, coating my hand and face, but I didn’t have time to worry about it. Straining with my arms, I dragged myself a small step closer to Lu Ayao until I was finally within reach, desperate to wake him.

Tian Xiaoqi clearly couldn’t be bothered with me anymore. I watched helplessly as she walked past me, dagger in hand. I hurriedly used my right hand, the only part of me that could still move, to shove Lu Ayao’s arm, smearing my blood all over him.

“Wake up, Lu Ayao! Someone’s trying to kill you! Wake up!”

Tian Xiaoqi gripped the knife in a reverse hold and lunged, driving the blade straight toward Lu Ayao’s heart.