Chapter 53 Accident After the Explosion

As a result, Zhang Haike used his own strategy to set off explosions every two hours. Not only did that fail to draw Poker-face out, but they also set off the whole mechanism above the ancient city.

“When the ancient city was submerged long ago, the local government didn’t try to dig it up,” Zhang Haike said. “Instead, they constructed a dike to draw lake water to the ruins. Then they poured a large amount of mercury into the mud above the ancient city to seal it. This behavior is very strange.

“At that time, some people speculated that the sudden flooding of the ancient city wasn’t a natural disaster but someone wanting to bury and seal some secret in the city.

“After the mercury was poured in, concrete was poured on top of it in order to completely seal the whole area.”

Zhang Haike’s use of explosives in the deep underground of the ancient city destroyed the balance of sand and stone, and as a result, the entire city collapsed. A large number of cracks appeared in the concrete layer and mercury vapor leaked out, killing all of the vegetation aboveground.

Poker-face was already out of the ancient city at that time, so it was only after discovering the situation that Gold Tooth’s story came into being.

When I heard Zhang Haike say all of this, my whole mind felt a little overwhelmed and I almost didn’t hear him add, “These are some of the things your friend has done.”

“After that, he saved you?”

Zhang Haike nodded and said, “Yes. But the process obviously wasn’t as simple as you might think. If I tell you, it will definitely be a riveting story. But first, we already know the secret under the ancient city, and second, although much of it is wonderful, you two have already had extremely rich experiences in this field. Those strange and exciting things may not arouse your interest so I won’t say anything about them. I’ll just tell you that after we were rescued, he got separated from us. After that, I met him by chance in the family’s compound, but we didn’t talk much. As you know, he became more and more capable and reached a higher status, and soon, we weren’t at a level where he could talk to us. He’s been out of reach ever since.”

“Random question,” Fatty interjected. “You said it was the Republic era. Boss, if you were fifteen years old at that time, how old are you now?”

“It’s very impolite to ask people their age,” Zhang Haike said. “I can only tell you one thing—your theory definitely isn’t accurate.”

Zhang Haixing looked at me and seemed like she wanted to say something, but when I looked back at her, she said angrily, “What are you looking at? Just call me Sister. I’ll kill you if you say anything else.”

Fatty turned to look at me and mouthed, “We found Grandma Zhang’s sore spot.”

Before his lips had closed, a bowl of butter tea was flung in his face. I turned my head and saw Zhang Haixing turn around and leave in a huff.

“She doesn’t have any training at such an old age,” Fatty said while wiping his face. “Fortunately, the tea was cold.” Then he asked Zhang Haike, “Has your sister married yet?”

“Not yet. She isn’t worried about it.”

“Hundred-year-old virgin,” Fatty said while glancing at me. “Let’s stay away from this kind of person. I’m too lazy to serve women with endocrine disorders.”

“What happened afterwards?” I asked Zhang Haike. “What else can you tell me?”

“Let me put it this way, if you want to know the details of this person’s life, I can’t tell you too much. He was also very mysterious within our family. The head of the Zhang family comes into contact with so many secrets so it’s also difficult to grasp his whereabouts. The Zhang family is very open-minded in some regards, but some customs are very traditional and dark. You’ll be lynched if you don’t obey the family’s rules.” Seeing that I was a little regretful, he immediately added, “I can tell you the context of his actions over the years. After hearing it, you might find some inspiration. After all, you were by his side and know many details that we don’t.”

I know jack shit, I thought to myself. But since he seemed to think so, I kept quiet.

“When he was eight or nine years old,” Zhang Haike continued, “he was brought to the ancient city of Sizhou as a blood bag and laborer. After that, he must have learned about the secret buried in the ancient city. I know what it is now, too. It’s the keepsake of the Zhang family’s patriarch.

“I theorized that there was civil strife among the Zhang family in Sizhou City at that time and the two factions secretly fought in the city, which may have resulted in the assassination of the Zhang family’s patriarch. As a result of the infighting, someone destroyed the dike and flooded the whole city. Moreover, in order to prevent the Zhang family from finding out the truth, the conspirators at that time controlled the government and completely sealed off the ancient city. The city was later covered up, but there was something on the Zhang patriarch’s body, which had been buried along with the city.”

Zhang Haike told us that it was a bronze bell. We now knew that the Zhang family had researched and gained some control over the hexagonal bells. Although they still couldn’t understand the mystery, they already had more experience using them compared with ordinary people. The patriarch’s hexagonal bell was different from other bells in that it was very big—almost as big as a cow bell—and the sound it made was very slight. But if one heard the sound, they would become clear-headed their soul would settle down. To put it bluntly, it could offset the effect of other bronze bells.

The patriarch back then would have definitely been wearing this bell to avoid disaster. But the most important thing was that there was a room in the Zhang family’s old house where only the patriarch could enter. Every time the old patriarch was replaced with his successor, the new patriarch would enter that room and come out with the old patriarch’s corpse. If the old patriarch didn’t correctly estimate his time of death, the two of them would have to stay in there for several years before the old one would die.

In this room, there were various secrets regarding Chinese dynasties, volumes of books, and cultural relics and artifacts, all of which were unearthly discoveries brought up from underground by the Zhang family over the years.

This room, and the long corridor outside, was full of hexagonal bells. There were so many that there were no dead spots, and if one bell was touched, that person would immediately go crazy.

The room was later moved to the bottom of the Zhang family’s ancient building and placed in their ancestral grave. The various secrets were also classified into different levels and categories, the most important of which was called the Ultimate.

The key point here was that the Zhang family’s patriarch died in Sizhou City. The previous Zhang family patriarch knew the secrets of the world while the later Zhang family patriarch only got a powerful family. But the secrets in this stone room were the duty and purpose of this huge family, so from that moment on, they lost their reason for existing. Thus, the crisis began to emerge.

At that time, the aim of the Zhang family that Poker-face belonged to was to dig out the hexagonal bell from the ancient city of Sizhou. We couldn’t speculate on whether it was for a good or bad purpose. We only knew that it caused infighting among the Zhangs and resulted in all of those people being killed.

But it was obvious that Poker-face got the bell and then entered the room in the Zhang family’s ancient building. He knew the Zhang family’s mission and purpose, as well as the existence of the Ultimate.

As a result, he only did two things for the rest of his life. The Zhang family had already fallen apart by that time, but after he became the patriarch, he began to fulfill their mission once again. At that time, he used the power of the Mystic Nine and obviously went to see the so-called Ultimate for himself.

Thinking back on it, it should be like this: the Ultimate should be the core of what the Zhang family discovered a long time ago, which can be said to be the largest secret in the world. Poker-face knew of the existence of this secret but later went to see it for himself.

The secret behind the huge bronze door under the mountains and rivers.

Who built the door? What kind of world was behind it?

“Well, please allow me to make my sales pitch now. If you want me to tell you more, then join us.”

“One last question.” I sighed, feeling that I had basically been convinced, and then asked him, “What exactly did Poker-face leave in the snowy mountain?”

“The bronze hexagonal bell,” Zhang Haike said. “Only when we get this can we enter the Zhang family’s ancient building and see what the Zhang family has protected for so many centuries.”

<Chapter 52><Table of Contents><Chapter 54>

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Ahaha Poker-face is so savage, just telling them they’re going to die, ditching them, and then making it all the way back out of the tomb while they’re being eaten alive by leeches. I also wanted to know exactly how he saved them (you know it was probably awesome). I hate how Zhang Haike totally just skimmed over it. Also find it odd how he was like “oh yeah, we’re besties. Known each other our whole lives” and it’s like one story that really didn’t reveal much. I’m with Wu Xie, Zhang Haike sucks at telling stories. But at least now we know what they’re going after in the mountain.

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Updated 12/27/2021