Dragon Girl Neues Kapitel

Kapitel 15

After we emerged from the ground floor, no one mentioned the strange black things again. It seemed everyone thought the same thing, which was fine; it saved me a lot of trouble. Soon, we found a dilapidated little door diagonally opposite the bamboo house, behind which was clearly a path. As for the third floor I had originally planned to go up, I later learned…

Section 129: Dai Bamboo Houses (16)

On the pitch-black third floor, a dark figure crouched not far from the stairwell, cautiously observing several figures below from a slanted angle. Around her were many iron cages of varying sizes; she couldn't see what was inside, but the sounds they made were enough to tell her something.

"Hiss... hiss..."

A series of chaotic noises came from downstairs, then everything returned to calm. The people downstairs seemed to have left. The dark figure peeked out, and after confirming, let out a deep sigh of relief. About ten minutes later, she came down the stairs from the third floor carrying several cages.

As the light swept across, several brightly colored, thin snakes were revealed inside the cage!

After placing the cage at the bottom of the stairs, the dark figure walked straight towards the large hole in the wall. She stopped at the edge of the hole, seemingly deep in thought. Behind her, the white figure grew clearer and clearer…

"The city walls! The exit!"

After stumbling and running for a hundred meters, we were pleasantly surprised to find that we had actually reached the true end of the street. And at the end, there was a very high red-tiled and golden-glazed wall! This was clearly the city wall of an ancient city, with a huge carved fox gate in the center, which must be the south gate.

Seeing this, everyone cheered. I was overjoyed; we were almost at our limit, and finally, the dawn of victory had arrived! However, not everyone was happy. I noticed Lü Fang's sorrowful face. I thought for a moment, "You did your best, and we did our best too..." Although I was also helpless and saddened, at least I could comfort him like this.

In fact, we did nothing.

Lu Fang was extremely frustrated, his emotions were difficult to control, and he began to sob softly again. I had no words to say, so I went back to Ye Min's side.

"Go and try to persuade him," I said to Ye Min, my expression complicated.

Girls always have an advantage over boys when it comes to comforting, guiding, and encouraging others. Ye Min shook the water droplets from her hair, nodded to me, and walked straight towards Lü Fang. Sigh, everyone's so anxious right now—eager to get home. Once we're safely out, let's call the police and get them to search for that poor girl.

While we were still grieving over the missing Su Yan, Horse Face had already retreated to the gate to investigate. I could guess with my toes – who else would have gone first?

Section 130: The Gate of Change (1)

Chapter Sixteen: The Gate of Change

The scene before me was somewhat dark, my mind was a bit fuzzy, and I couldn't hear any sounds. The hissing of insects filled everything. The strange insects struggled to turn over and then wandered around the giant tree again, foraging for food and water.

1. Mist

2 monsters

Chapter Sixteen: The Gate of Change

1. Mist

The main gate, the fox-carved gate.

The massive gate before us was extremely tall, at least fifteen zhang (approximately 33 meters) high. The two gates were joined together, and the gate itself was about seven zhang (approximately 33 meters) wide. Chains hung along the edges of the gate, covered in rust. Having weathered countless storms, the gate itself was now heavily rusted. The remaining colors had faded and become mottled, making it impossible to discern its original hue.

But I still think it's extremely beautiful, especially the fox carving on the door frame.

Naniso is a man of both boldness and refinement, and his buildings are adorned with vibrant murals and reliefs, and this place is no exception. If one were to find several places decorated with mythical beasts or time markers, one could deduce the objects of their faith and worship. Unfortunately, this was not the case; the landscape was a chaotic mix of all sorts of things.

The ink-splashed dragon with its eye-shaped bones, the Zouyu guarding the river, the terrifying flying image of the Empress... But now, at this time and place, the gatekeepers are not generals like Guan Yu or Zhang Fei, but two foxes.

The city gate, weathered by wind and rain over the years, is quite damaged. I can only make out the general outline of the creature depicted on the gate, but judging from its shape and size, it is most likely a fox. I have read in historical records that foxes have pointed snouts, large ears, long bodies, short legs, and a large tail that trails behind them. Their bodies are reddish-brown, with black backs of their ears and white tips on their tails. The pair before me, apart from a slight difference in color from the historical records, largely match the descriptions.

After we finished looking, I reminded Lü Fang and Ye Min, who were in the distance, "We've talked enough. Who can stand being out in the rain for so long? Let's hurry up and open this city gate together and get back to the car."

Once everyone was standing under the city gate, they realized they were holding a hedgehog in their hands—too heavy to carry and too heavy to put down. The gate wasn't locked, but it still required considerable strength to push it open. I silently considered the situation. Of the group, only Horse Face seemed to have the strongest. Should I have him and Ye Min, who was slightly weaker, push one gate, while Lü Fang and I pushed the other? Or perhaps the four of us could work together to push open one of the two gates? That didn't seem like a bad idea either…

Section 131: The Gate of Change (2)

I touched the carved fox on the door, pondering, "A man should be especially careful, especially towards the last minute. Better safe than sorry, anyway..."

The streets and alleys behind me were shrouded in mist and rain. I'm not nearsighted; on the contrary, my eyesight is quite good. The rain fell on the dark streets, making everything in front of me murky. Just then, something white appeared in the darkness.

You damn...you persistent, nagging beast!

Upon closer inspection, I felt a chill run down my spine. A shiver ran through me, and without turning my head, I stared at the white figure in the distance behind me and yelled at them, "Push! Push the door open!"

Everyone witnessed it. Horse Face and Ye Min, like me, saw what was in the distance and were terrified, frantically trying to push against the giant carved fox gate with their hands or bodies. Seeing our unusual expressions, Lü Fang also looked back, and after a long while, he actually asked, "Is that Su Yan?"

This kid is really quite ill.

I was completely focused on damaging state property, so I didn't have time to explain myself. I yelled, "What are you looking at! Hurry up and open the door!" Lu Fang panicked, "Is she without makeup? Let's wait for her!"

"What do you mean 'no makeup'? That's...that's..." Arguing with a modern college student about this is like talking to a brick wall, it's pointless. I got impatient and yelled angrily, "That's Lin Yong! If you don't want to die, come help me right now!"

Perhaps such a straightforward explanation would be helpful. Upon hearing the name, Lu Fang immediately pictured the tightly closed eyes of someone rushing along and speaking. "White... white leather shoes!" He nearly stumbled, yelling as he pushed the door open as well.

The city gate is several feet high, thirty-six feet high. Riding a white horse, beating a lamb, he beat a little fool (Yunnan dialect: idiot).

We were all in a panic, and with great effort, we pushed open the heavy, sculpted fox-carved gate, thinking there might be an escape route behind it. But what we saw behind the gate left us all stunned—

The place behind the door was not what we had imagined at all.

Upon entering this place, having been introduced to the concept of a "surrounded chamber" beforehand, and seeing its strange layout upon entering, we were preconceived notions that "it's a maze." We forgot the principle that our perspective is limited, while the world is infinite. What we saw earlier now appears to be only a partial view, a mere glimpse of the whole picture. It turns out this eerie place isn't entirely a maze of walls, haunted rooms, and haphazard burials; there's actually a vast, open area hidden within its heart.

Section 132: The Gate of Change (3)

This is not a city gate, at least not a gate leading out of the city.

This result left us utterly disheartened; it turned out this wasn't over yet. But it wasn't time to wallow in despair yet; we had to quickly close the door again and block out the filth behind us.

We put our efforts back on and restored the gate to its original state. Alright, that thing can't pass through walls, so there's no danger for now.

Frustrated, I squinted at the "vast expanse of yellow earth." There was rain and fog behind the door, and visibility was not high. I squinted for a long time but still couldn't figure out which way was which. So I turned around and told everyone, "This place is probably not a maze but a huge apartment building. We must have gone through the dormitory to reach the living room. The host's living room is really big."

Upon hearing this, everyone sighed repeatedly, "What kind of time is this to be joking?"

"Why don't you just sit on the ground and sigh?" I retorted.

After I finished speaking, I quickly reminded everyone that we still had to keep going and find a place to take shelter. If the spring rain got too heavy, it wouldn't be pleasant. But that's nothing compared to what would happen if this door stopped working for that thing behind us.

Nobody was stupid; of course, no one would joke about risking their lives.

We began our endless trek again, the drizzling rain obscuring our vision, our hearts chilled and our eyes stinging. The land here was vast and open, flat as a board, surrounded by layers of cold, thin mist that seemed to rise from the ground. The mist was so thick that as far as the eye could see, it was a sea of fog; apart from the city gate behind us and parts of its connecting sections, the other three sides were completely hidden in the fog. If the Naniso people hadn't also played Quidditch, I would have had no idea what this place was for, nor how it ended up among this chaotic cluster of buildings.

After quickly observing the surroundings for a while, I noticed that the open space wasn't a perfect circle. The edge connecting the open space to the wooden gate resembled the shape of a bottleneck, irregular and unnatural. I couldn't think of a better word to describe it than "ghostly eyes" (a Yunnan dialect term meaning something that is neither fish nor fowl).

This place is either a mirror illusion or truly vast.

Furthermore, being at the mouth of the bottleneck gave me an overwhelming sense of oppression. This is the feeling I hate most in my life; it's like having someone point a fingertip at your forehead—incredibly suffocating and uncomfortable, even pointing at yourself has the same effect. Based on my experience along the way, this place is bound to be dangerous; how could I dare linger?

Section 133: The Gate of Change (4)

Wounded and in pain, we had to proceed cautiously. At first, there was only a thin mist, but as we ventured deeper into this vast area, the fog gradually thickened. I calculated that after only a hundred meters, visibility had already reached a point where we couldn't see more than a hundred paces ahead. Wasn't this change in environment a bit too dramatic?

The “special circumstances” forced us to become heavy-handed and slow-moving.

Based on my high school knowledge, fog is simply a weather phenomenon caused by the condensation of suspended water vapor in the atmosphere, resulting in visibility of less than one kilometer. Fog is most common on autumn and winter mornings. Autumn and winter mornings? I was puzzled. It's spring now, and it's early morning, how could that be? But I was immediately stumped by the difficult question of whether early morning counts as morning. Although I knew what was obstructing the view, but…

Lu Fang was also frowning and looking around. He also thought it must be fog. He said that fog is ever-changing and complex, and can be classified into seven categories: radiation fog, advection fog, evaporation fog, uphill fog, frontal fog, and mixed fog that combines uphill and frontal fog, plus smog caused by human activities.

What exactly is this kid studying?

I was a little embarrassed. I only knew about fog before, and didn't realize there was so much to it. Lü Fang continued, saying that although there are many subcategories, they can be broadly classified into radiation fog and advection fog. Despite the various phenomena, they are all essentially the same: water vapor condenses when it cools. Based on his earlier assessment, what was surrounding us was naturally formed fog, definitely not smog caused by human activity. I thought to myself, if they changed "human activity" to "non-human activity," I could understand it.

Listening to Lü Fang's bland and uninspiring professional knowledge, we didn't stop. The further we went, the less hope we found. The fog, which had initially blended with the white, gradually turned yellow, then orange-gray. What? Was he going to say something again? The change in the fog color caused Ye Min's expression to change as well. I said, "That's just atmospheric brown clouds, don't make a fuss."

Brown clouds in the atmosphere are haze. The appearance of this stuff now suggests the presence of potentially deadly, extremely fine dry dust particles. I understand the definition of haze formation. But the thought is chilling. Whether it's my guess or just my imagination, I suddenly feel my breathing become much heavier. Looking up at the sky, I see a dense haze overhead, the same color as the hearts of the Nazis during World War II.

Section 134: The Gate of Change (5)

We walked another hundred meters, and the air grew increasingly murky. After "investigating" for a while without figuring out the cause, we simply stopped talking. Since our escape route was blocked, we had no choice but to grit our teeth and keep going. The weather was already gloomy, and everyone's silence made the atmosphere even more oppressive and suffocating. I was worried about two things: first, whether there was any danger in this smog-filled place; and second, since we couldn't get out now, there was still hope of finding Su Yan, although it would be difficult. Too many questions swirled in my mind, and thinking about them only made my head throb. Before I knew it, I had walked several more meters when I heard Lü Fang's voice.

Is there something ahead?

2 monsters

Sure enough, nothing is left idle unless there's something to do; there must be a reason why such a large expanse of land has been reclaimed.

Hearing Lü Fang's concerns, I looked ahead. In the hazy, grayish-yellow expanse, there was indeed a blurry outline. From our angle and distance, we couldn't make out what it was, nor could we discern anything strange about it. However, though indistinct, we could sense its extraordinary size. Given the current environment and situation, anything could significantly exacerbate our already tense nerves, so Lü Fang's mention immediately made us extremely tense, and we quickly became defensively prepared.

The air was filled with our heavy breathing.

After a tense standoff with no sign of movement, I whispered, "Everyone, relax. If that thing in front of us is alive, it should have pounced on us by now. If it's inanimate, we don't need to be afraid. Let's take a look." With that, I moved very slowly, intending to approach the blurry, enormous creature.

Ye Min pulled me from behind, biting her lip and shaking her head. I said to them, "Let's go and see if we can find any clues. This blind wandering around isn't a solution."

"Since we ventured deeper into the open area, we've been surrounded by fog and haze. Now even the entrance has disappeared. We don't have a compass, and without any landmarks or anything visible to the naked eye, it's easy to lose your sense of direction. Besides, we've been walking for half a day and haven't seen anything but fog and haze. Rather than wandering around aimlessly, we'd better find a landmark. Even if that landmark is something beyond reason, we outnumber them. At worst, we'll fight to the death. Don't worry, Xiaomin, we guys will protect you with our lives."

Section 135: The Gate of Change (6)

The last sentence was clearly meant to comfort the young woman.

Ye Min's eyes reddened with emotion. Ma Lian and Lü Fang seemed to agree with what I said. After thinking it over, since there was no other way at the moment, I gave them a few casual instructions and led them forward step by step. As the distance closed, the giant object in the haze gradually revealed its true form. When the whole scene was revealed, everyone was completely bewildered.

The enormous object in front of us was now only a few steps away, and we could see it clearly.

It turned out to be a giant tree, about three stories high, rising abruptly from the ground. The tree was very tall, with huge branches and broad leaves growing in layers, blocking out the sun. Although the air around the tree was polluted, it still appeared lush and verdant.

"They cleared such a huge open space just to grow this towering 'radish'? And they even put out so much artificial smoke, are they just waiting to harvest it and eat it when the season comes?" Since it's just a plant, there's nothing to be afraid of. I was amused by my own thoughts. This vast, smog-filled open space was only for planting this one huge, unknown tree? It's just crazy. While I was puzzled, I was about to lighten the mood by mentioning some recent government regulations on land planning and per capita land area, but I immediately noticed that Ye Min and the others' expressions as they looked at the giant tree were somewhat abnormal, even distorted.

Clearly, there's something wrong with this tree.

Noticing the strange expressions on the other people's faces, I quickly turned back to take a closer look at the towering tree. Upon closer inspection, it was no ordinary tree. Its branches and leaves were lush and verdant, rustling softly, yet I felt no wind at all. As the branches and leaves swayed, my face gradually contorted in pain.

The thick branches and trunks in front of us were covered with numerous oval-shaped objects. I had no idea what they were—these oval-shaped objects, clinging to the tree, were about a meter long, with extremely thick shells on their backs. The shells were raised in a hemispherical shape, with the center of the shell being higher, and the surface was covered with concave patterns similar to tortoise shells. The backs of these strange tortoise-shell-like shells were pale reddish-yellow, and the edges were all milky white.

The large group of elliptical objects suddenly began to tremble and wriggle intermittently.

What the hell are these things?! Just one glance at them and I felt like I'd been electrocuted; my whole body went numb, let alone watching them wriggle. The others were also trembling with fear, their fur and flesh shaking uncontrollably.

"Boom!"

Just as we were all staring in disbelief, a muffled thunderclap exploded not far overhead, the deafening sound shaking the heavens and the earth. Perhaps because of this, the grotesque creatures on the giant tree seemed startled and began to wriggle rapidly. Not only that, but as they wriggled, they also made terrifying hissing sounds.

Section 136: The Gate of Change (7)

This scene made all four of us tremble with fear, our skin breaking out in waves of goosebumps. The hissing, eerie sounds were like countless sharp needles piercing every bone and joint in our bodies and filling our entire cerebral cortex.

"Boom!"

Another rumble of thunder accompanied by lightning, and in the blink of an eye, their wriggling became faster and faster! From their initial trembling and crawling, they transformed into frantic restlessness, and one by one, flat, strange insects detached from the tree, "thud!" "thud!" crashing down alive, landing on the ground, landing at the same level as us!

Aside from my eyes being able to open wide, I could barely feel any other part of my body. They finally began to disobey me; I couldn't move my feet, lift my hands, or even open my mouth. Witnessing the monster before us, the four of us were completely lifeless. They, however, were all still alive and unharmed.

Because of the abundant rainfall, streams of water of varying sizes had already formed on the ground. The strange insects that had fallen down twisted their bodies and began to crawl around in search of food and water. Some of them landed face down, while others landed with their backs up...

Some of the strange insects that crashed to the ground weren't so lucky. They landed on their backs, leaving their abdomens completely exposed in front of us.

We were just unlucky...

The monstrous insect's abdomen was utterly horrifying! Just one glance was enough for me to know that even if I survived, I'd never sleep soundly again. Those wriggling limbs, that soft tissue mouthpart that stretched across the entire abdomen, and those compound eyes densely packed around it…

The scene before me was somewhat dark, my mind was a bit fuzzy, and I couldn't hear any sounds. The hissing of insects filled everything. The strange insects struggled to turn over and then wandered around the giant tree again, foraging for food and water.

They seemed to completely ignore us, these four big pieces of fat.