Непревзойденная наследница

Глава 23

"I don't know, maybe it's some kind of more mysterious potion."

“Look, what’s this?” Caesar placed his index finger on the upper left corner of the parchment, where there was a round object painted red. Qin Wen said, “It’s the sun, of course.”

Qin Wen was stunned for a moment, and sure enough, she saw a string of red English words next to the sun: in the evening.

“This map depicts a scene at dusk,” she said. “And it’s dusk now. Strange, I haven’t seen any text like this before.”

"It most likely appeared along with the reflection of the pagoda," Situ Xiang said.

"That's strange."

She looked at Caesar in surprise: "What do you mean?"

“The standard orientation on maps nowadays is north at the top, south at the bottom, west on the left, and east on the right. That survivor is a professional archaeologist; he would never make that mistake.” Caesar stood up. “But look closely, the sun in the sky is to the east of the tower!”

Everyone looked towards the dazzling red sunset, the sky a blood-red hue.

"How do you know that's the east?" Qin Wen always expressed deep skepticism about his words.

“It’s very simple,” Caesar said. “Look at the big rock you just sat on; it’s covered in moss. Moss on rocks thrives in damp conditions and doesn’t tolerate sunlight, so it usually grows on the north side of the rock.”

Qin Wen bit her lower lip, her brows furrowed. Could it be that the survivor had made a mistake? He was so smart; he was able to escape from here alone. He couldn't possibly have made such a basic mistake.

If he is not wrong, then there is only one explanation.

Nature is wrong.

"Could it be... a reflection?" Qin Wen was suddenly startled, as if a thunderbolt had struck her head. "This pagoda is just a reflection."

Everyone was shocked. Situ Xiang looked behind him and asked, "Could we have made a complete mistake? That pagoda should be behind us, near the River of Oblivion?"

“We came from there, and there are no tall stupas there,” Miller said, shaking his head.

"Our eyes have deceived us," Qin Wen exclaimed excitedly. "In my memory, the Volgilians kneel towards the stupa, but now they are turning their backs to it. There's only one explanation! The stupa is in the direction they're kneeling in!"

Caesar's face lit up with joy: "In that case, if we follow these encircling skeletons to their center, we will find the tower!"

"Bingo!" Qin Wen snapped her fingers excitedly. "What are we waiting for? Let's get started!"

Following the numerous skeletons beneath their feet, the five walked for a full half hour before finally reaching the end point where all the Volgilians knelt in worship. There stood several stupas, but they were not tall and seemed quite ordinary.

“There’s nothing here.” Miller said grimly. He could feel that Masha on his back was growing weaker and weaker. He couldn’t be sure if he would live to see the treasure inside the sacred stupa.

"Could it be that, as depicted in the picture, the pagoda is underground?" Caesar speculated, but Qin Wen immediately shook her head in denial. "In my memory, that winged pagoda was definitely on the ground!"

Caesar chuckled twice: "Are your memories absolutely true?"

Qin Wen's lips twitched twice: "Does your mouth have to be so foul?"

Situ Xiang, who was standing to the side, finally lost his temper: "Enough! Do you guys have too much energy?"

The two rolled their eyes in frustration, thinking, "What's it to you?"

“The pagoda must be nearby.” Situ Xiang took two steps forward, and everyone suddenly heard a muffled sound and saw him stop, his face solemn.

"What's wrong?" Qin Wen asked.

Situ Xiang took a step back, and she was surprised to find a bruise on his forehead. Qin Wen immediately exclaimed in alarm, "What happened to your forehead? Did someone hit you? But there was no one there, right? Was it so fast that we couldn't even see it?"

"Enough!" Situ Xiang was extremely displeased with her deliberate mockery. "I bumped into something."

"Huh?" Qin Wen and Caesar looked at each other. There was clearly nothing where Situ Xiang had just been standing. Could it be that they had encountered a ghost wall?

The young policeman stared intently at the spot where he had hit a wall, his face turning pale: "There should be a wall there."

Qin Wen opened her mouth wide. Could it really be a ghost wall?

"It's a pagoda!" Caesar seemed to realize something, rushed over, and groped around in the air: "It really is a wall, I can feel it!"

Qin Wen squeezed her eyes shut: "Why can't I still see anything?"

“Sometimes, the eyes can deceive you.” Caesar’s smile was unfathomable. He walked up to her, took out an MP4 player, and said, “Want to listen to some music?”

Qin Wen slapped his hand away in disgust: "You still have the interest to listen to music at a time like this?"

“Legend has it that Buddhist chants can awaken the mind and enlighten the spirit, making one’s mind clear and eliminating distracting thoughts.” Caesar gently put earplugs in her ear. “Without distracting thoughts, one will not be bewitched by demons.”

His voice was like magic. Qin Wen stared at him quietly, unable to think for a moment. She could only listen carefully to the music coming from her earphones. It was not Buddhist music at all, but heavy metal rock, which made her ears ring loudly, as if the demonic sound was piercing her brain.

She angrily ripped off her earplugs and yelled at Caesar, "What are you doing?"

"Look again, is there still nothing there?" Caesar's smile was captivating, and Qin Wen was instantly stunned, her mouth agape, wide enough to swallow a chicken. "This...this..."

"How about it? Isn't it amazing?" Caesar laughed happily. Right behind him, a Buddhist pagoda tens of meters high suddenly appeared, resembling an ancient monster. The bas-reliefs were exquisite and intricate, all based on Buddhist legends. Those who saw it couldn't help but feel an indescribable sense of awe and wanted to kneel down to worship.

"This...this is a tower?" Qin Wen was so shocked that she began to stammer, "Impossible...how could it suddenly appear? Could that music really have magic power?"

Caesar did the same thing, letting Situ Xiang and Miller listen to that deafening rock song, and both of them looked on with disbelief and astonishment.

Hearing Qin Wen's question, Caesar said smugly, "This is just ordinary rock music. None of us have been bewitched by any devil."

"Could it be 'wandering in the Saha world'?" Miller asked.

“No,” Caesar said. “I don’t know if you all remember, but every plane that flies over here crashes, just like the Bermuda Triangle.”

Situ Xiang narrowed his eyes slightly: "According to the detection, it's because of the strong magnetic field."

“That’s right, that’s why our compass malfunctioned. But it’s not just instruments that can be interfered with by magnetic fields, but also the human brain.” Caesar shook the earpiece in his hand. “We were misled by this kind of magnetic field interfering with our central nervous system, which caused us to misjudge the location of the pagoda. The simplest way to remove this interference is to disrupt our thinking with loud, deafening noise. But no one knows how long this method can last.”

When everyone turned around, the towering structure that had once stood on the horizon was gone, leaving only a cluster of small pagodas and dazzling red flowers.

27. Death Dancer

The wooden doors of the pagoda had vanished completely over thousands of years of corrosion, leaving only a dark, gaping opening. Qin Wen had just reached the door when her face turned ashen. She bent down and picked up something: "This is Xiao Li's."

She held a silver needle in her hand, and Caesar had to admit his admiration: "You have excellent eyesight."

"What time is it? Stop making such pointless jokes!" Qin Wen shouted angrily. Caesar immediately pushed her away a few steps to avoid the oncoming anger and spittle.

“They’re in the tower.” Situ Xiang walked straight in. It was already dark inside, and they couldn’t see clearly. Just as everyone was about to go out to find some sticks to make torches, they suddenly heard a few muffled “poof” sounds, and bright yellow flames suddenly lit up.

The hall was empty except for a few flying apsara reliefs carved on the surrounding walls. These beautiful Buddhist fairies stretched out their arms from the walls, suspended in mid-air, holding a lotus lampstand with bright yellow flames burning inside, beautiful and enchanting.

"In the Devil City it's Ruomu, but in this godforsaken place, what kind of fuel is used to light it?" Caesar stood up, touched a few spots on the wall, and then landed on the slender arm of a flying dancer. Looking into the lotus lamp stand, he saw that it was densely packed with countless corpses of 'ghost butterflies'!

“Disgusting.” He jumped back to the ground with disgust, his movements graceful. “Looks like someone prepared this especially for us.”

"You mean that dead transvestite?" Qin Wen asked. "Didn't he kidnap Xiao Li to get that treasure? Does he intend to wipe us all out here?"

Miller sneered, "Killing us won't be that easy."

A sudden tightness gripped her chest, and Qin Wen clutched her clothes, collapsing to her knees. Caesar quickly helped her up, asking with concern, "Are you alright?"

Qin Wen suddenly tilted her head back, opened her eyes, and saw only the whites of her eyes; the world was now completely black. Within that darkness, she saw countless fleeting images. In a large hall, there was an altar carved from obsidian, its patterns entirely depicting the sacred Salang snake and poisonous flowers of the Shaluo cult's legends. A beautiful woman in white lay flat on the altar, tightly clutching a golden treasure box, its surface intricately carved and inlaid with jade, radiating a faint golden glow.

It is true!

With his back to Qin Wen, King Ebony walked to the altar. A priest in a black cloak presented him with an iron dagger. He took it, gave Zhen Yan a deep look, then raised the dagger and plunged it down.

"No! Zhenyan!" Blood splattered everywhere. She opened her eyes, screamed, and collapsed into Caesar's arms, tears blurring her face.

"Wen..." Caesar was pleasantly surprised; this was the first time she had hugged him on her own initiative. "Did you remember something again?"

“Zhenyan was executed in this tower.” She murmured, tears still streaming down her face. “In the Buddhist Hall at the very top of this tower, King Ebony made Zhenyan hold that Buddhist treasure and subjected him to the punishment of having his five senses sealed!”

Caesar could feel Qin Wen trembling; the hatred emanating from her body was beginning to amaze him.

"They're in the Chongfo Hall right now!" The young girl suddenly stood up, her eyes filled with an eerie light. "I'm going to save Xiao Li!" With that, she rushed into the only staircase leading upstairs. Caesar tried to stop her, but it was too late. Situ Xiang's face was grave, his fists clenched, his eyes filled with an unfathomable pool of green: "Chase after them!"

There was no one waiting in the stairwell, it was pitch black. Everyone could only carefully walk up the stairs while holding onto the walls. There were hurried footsteps overhead. Caesar was like an ant on a hot pan. That little girl was too emotional. This pagoda was strange and mysterious. There might be a deadly trap somewhere. She was really not afraid of death!

Gritting his teeth, he stepped past Situ Xiang and followed the sound of footsteps. Strangely, Situ Xiang did not stop him. In the darkness, no one could see what kind of emotion was in those icy green eyes.

The higher he climbed, the darker it became, almost pitch black. Caesar anxiously called Qin Wen's name, but there was no answer. The staircase ended, and the sensation under his feet made him feel as if he were entering a large hall. It was a tower, a very tall tower, with a hall every few meters.

The tactile sensation under his feet told him that this place, like the lower level, was empty.

He heard his own heartbeat, took out a lighter from his jacket pocket, lit it, but it only illuminated a small area in front of him, which wasn't very helpful. He kept calling out to Qin Wen, but still no one answered, yet he persisted. At that moment, he suddenly felt that he was just as foolish as the king of Saka.

An instinct told him there was an obstacle in front of him, so he raised the lighter higher, only to be startled to see a face, a hideous and ugly face!

Miller, carrying Marceau on his back, suddenly felt a chill run through his body. He had lost his flashlight in the River of Oblivion, and now he could only grope his way forward in the darkness. Humans have an instinctive fear of the dark, something left in human genes from ancient times, and no matter how brave you are, it's no use.

It was quiet all around; he could only hear his own footsteps and breathing. A chill ran down his spine. Shouldn't there be someone else in this narrow stairwell? Why couldn't he hear his footsteps?

Where did Situ Xiang go?

"Hey, police officer!" he called out in a low voice, but no one answered. He paused and called out several more times, but still no one answered. It was as if Situ Xiang had vanished into thin air; he didn't even hear the sound of him leaving.

Miller's palms were sweaty. He took a step back, sensing the fluctuations in the airflow around him with his skin. If someone were to attack him at this moment, he could retaliate at the fastest speed.

But everything was calm. Miller tightened his grip on Marchie's back and suddenly touched something cold.

It's a flashlight! Marshall still has his flashlight on him!

He gently pulled out the flashlight, pressed the switch with a snap, and a strong white beam shot out, heading forward. In that instant, he saw a figure flash by.

A deafening gunshot rang out in the air, making the silence all the more terrifying. Miller felt a sharp pain in his chest, flew backward, and crashed heavily to the ground. The unconscious Matthew rolled around beside him without making a sound.

As a member of the Blood Wolves, he had long been prepared for death, but he was unwilling to accept it. In the past, even in much harsher environments, he would not have been shot so easily. This damned place had made him weak.

Becoming sluggish.

Life was slowly slipping away from his body. He still had the strength to stand up again, but he couldn't. He was seeing all sorts of hallucinations. He saw his wife and daughter again, and they were still smiling sweetly.

Aina, Sophie, we'll be living together soon.

Caesar leaned closer to examine the face and discovered it was merely a stone carving with horns, a fierce expression, and sharp fangs, performing a pose commonly seen in Buddhist dance. He had some knowledge of Buddhist culture, and if he remembered correctly, this should be Kinnara, the god of songs, from the Eight Legions of Devas and Asuras.

Kinnara is actually the name of a tribe. The men of the Kinnara tribe all have ferocious faces, like monsters, while the women of the Kinnara tribe are dignified and beautiful. He suddenly became interested in what kind of beauty Zhenyan, who had captivated King Ebony at first sight more than 2,500 years ago, was.

Suddenly, a face appeared behind the Kinnara statue. He instinctively reached out and grabbed the person's neck, pulling her in front of him. The person threw a rough punch at his arm, but he grabbed her wrist. The lighter fell to the ground. Both of them smelled the familiar scent on each other and were stunned.

Qin Wen withdrew her fist and said angrily, "I can't find the way up. The stairs end in this hall." As she spoke, she turned on her flashlight, just an ordinary household flashlight, the dim yellow light making the hall look eerie.

This grand hall is filled with all kinds of carvings, with intricate bas-reliefs on the walls and life-sized sculptures standing all around, like a gathering of Buddhist deities.

Caesar paused, feeling a chill run down his spine: "Wen, don't you think the statues here are a bit strange?"

Qin Wen was taken aback: "What's strange about it?"

Don't you think they're all watching us?

Qin Wen shivered and glanced around. Whether it was a relief or a sculpture, they all faced them. She could feel countless cold gazes focused on her, and her forehead was covered in cold sweat.

“Caesar, listen to me.” Qin Wen composed herself. “It’s an illusion, it must be an illusion. My house used to be covered with celebrity posters, and every night I felt like they were all watching me…”