Sabre Cyclone

Chapitre 20

Standing still, hearing the cold wind howling past, Zhang Zhengqiu said, "Did you kill Ruan Zhiyun?"

He was standing behind me, and I was leaning against the railing. I felt his hand on my shoulder. Would he push me off the tower? At that moment, I actually had that thought.

I turned around and gazed into his eyes, those dark eyes. I fell in love with those eyes the first time I saw him.

He stared at me intently, as if he could see right into my heart. But he couldn't see into my heart. He was just an ordinary person in his twenties, while I was different; I had lived for over a thousand years.

I smiled slightly, about to speak, when suddenly the tower began to shake violently. Several cannon shots rang out in the distance. His face turned pale, and he looked back. The tower shook even more violently. I couldn't stand and almost fell over the railing, but he grabbed my hand. We huddled together, rolling on the ground.

A few seconds later, the violently shaking tower finally collapsed with a loud crash. He held me tightly, letting the bricks and stones fall on him. I tried to peek out from his shoulder. Not far away was the central log supporting the tower. Although the log was also rotten, it should be a relatively safe place.

I immediately pushed him to roll in that direction. The tower finally collapsed completely, but we rolled to the side of the log, where a small space supported by the log accommodated both of our bodies. Although we couldn't get out, we were at least spared from being crushed to death by bricks and stones.

Blood trickled down his forehead, dripping onto my face. The place was barely big enough for us to turn around; we could only lie there quietly.

I said, "The Leifeng Pagoda has collapsed."

He gave a wry smile: "We're very lucky."

I smiled slightly: "I wonder when someone will come to rescue us."

He sighed, "It's hard to say. Maybe people won't be willing to clear the ruins of Leifeng Pagoda because of the legend of the White Snake. If that's the case, we won't last more than seven days. Hopefully, someone will come to rescue us within seven days."

I remained silent. I was different. Not to mention seven days, even seventy or seven hundred days, I wouldn't die. But he would die. Without water, he could only live for seven days.

I held him tightly, feeling his warm body temperature. He was truly different. A thousand years ago, his body was cold. Dragons are aquatic creatures, born cold-blooded; how could their body temperature possibly be high?

I said, "Don't be afraid, that old man knows we're inside."

He gave a wry smile and remained silent.

We waited quietly for help, but no one came. Gunfire and artillery fire echoed intermittently; we had no idea what was happening.

Later I learned that on the day Sun Chuanfang's army entered Hangzhou, Leifeng Pagoda happened to collapse. In an instant, people were in a panic, and everyone was afraid. Rumors circulated that the end of the world might be coming.

I wasn't hungry, but after about three or four days, he couldn't hold on any longer. I could feel his breath getting weaker and weaker. Would he die? Would he die beside me?

I asked with a laugh, "Do you eat human flesh?"

He didn't answer; he was too weak to answer. I said, "Eat my flesh! That way you can live longer."

---janeadam

Reply [40]: He didn't speak, so I put my shoulder close to his mouth and said, "Why don't you drink my blood? My blood might be more nutritious than ordinary human blood." I had just learned the word "nutritious," and that's roughly how I used it.

He tilted his head slightly and asked me in a weak voice, "Why are you alright? Why am I on the verge of death, but you're still the same as you were a few days ago? Can you survive without food and water?"

Of course, I lived in the ancient tomb for a thousand years, without eating or drinking, and I still survived, didn't I? But you won't understand that I am not a white snake, I was once a white dragon.

I heard the sound of someone turning over stones, and I perked up. I nudged him and said, "There's hope!"

He was unresponsive, his head drooping limply. Was he dead? No, I could feel his heartbeat; his heart was still beating.

Finally, a sliver of light appeared, and I screamed at the top of my lungs, "Help! Help us!"

I overheard the workers clearing the rubble exchanging words: "My God! There are people down there!"

"Could it be Lady White Snake?!"

"What's wrong with you? Does Lady White Snake need someone to save her?"

"How do you know? If it's not the White Snake imprisoned under Leifeng Pagoda, then who is it?"

Zhang Zhengqiu didn't die, but when he was locked up in the hospital, he was practically as good as dead. I'm different. I'm alive and kicking. When the doctor examined me, he looked surprised and uneasy. Of course he was surprised. I'm an immortal person. I was just trapped under the tower for a few days. What could he do to me?

Zhang Zhengqiu's injuries were not serious, and after a few days of recuperation, he recovered his strength.

While he was unconscious, I went to his old residence from a thousand years ago. That small house by the lake has now become the Lou Wai Lou restaurant, famous throughout the world for its West Tower Song Sao Fish.

I went to eat Song Sao Fish, and all I tasted was sourness; it was so sour that my eyes almost welled up with tears.

Zhang Zhengqiu's condition improved, but he was in no hurry to return to Shanghai. He spent his days in a daze in his hospital room. Hangzhou was in chaos, and everyone was rushing to Shanghai. Only he didn't care about anything outside.

He doesn't care, and neither do I. This world is no longer mine. I feel like I'm just an accidental intruder. My era is long gone.

After he regained his mobility, he suddenly said he wanted to go to the riverbank. I knew he had figured it out and was finally making a clean break. He was different from the man he was a thousand years ago; a thousand years ago, he wouldn't have been so indecisive.

The riverbank was desolate and deserted.

Although it snowed, the river was not frozen; it was deep and dark. Is my uncle still in the depths of this river?

He said, "Have you figured out the answer to the question I asked you that time?"

I smiled slightly: "Have you thought it through yourself?"

He said calmly, "I've figured it out, but I still want to know your answer."

I turned to look at him. "Actually, you already knew the answer. Didn't Sister Ruan tell you a long time ago? I was the one who pushed her down."

I finally understand why Ruan Zhiyun pushed me away at the last moment, preferring to fall off the building herself. It's because the living are always at a disadvantage, while the dead have the upper hand. And who can compare to the dead?

He gazed at me silently: "But that's not what she told me. She told me you're not human. I didn't believe it at first, but now I finally do."

"You believe me?"

"Are you even human? If you are, why were you completely unharmed when you were trapped under the tower?"

I couldn't help but burst out laughing. It was truly a ridiculous situation. I still clearly remember what Liu Yi said to me: "What kind of monster are you? You told me you're already a human, but are there any people in this world who don't age? What kind of monster are you?"