Chapter 37 The Third Me

I picked up a stone from the pile beside me. I didn’t think he would be able to find me so quickly since I was in the dark, but if anything had changed, I would at least have a chance to defend myself.

The only walkable path in this underground valley was very narrow, and the light wobbled as it gradually approached my position.

I saw a man coming towards me, and he was holding a lantern and wearing a ragged jacket. He didn’t see me standing there in the dark as he stopped to catch his breath and looked around.

He then sat down and put the lantern on a waist-high stone that was off to the side.

I initially felt confused when the light illuminated his face, because it was like I knew it, but at the same time, I didn’t. Then I realized that both feelings were correct, because what I was seeing was my own face. The man who had come here looked exactly like me.

I narrowed my eyes—Zhang Haike? Or…

His face was full of fatigue, and he was looking around in confusion. No, not Zhang Haike. Those in the Zhang family usually had sharp, resolute eyes.

He didn’t seem to have any plans to move on and began tidying up his backpack. There was some food in his backpack, which he seemed to be eating.

My hands were shaking, my mind was blank, and I didn’t know how to react. Suddenly, the man seemed to hear something and raised his head in alarm. I quickly held my breath, but noticed that he wasn’t looking in my direction. He was looking into the depths of the canyon.

I turned to look and saw another dot of light swaying in the distance.

The Wu Xie in front of me seemed nervous. He watched and waited for a while before taking out a pistol, but he didn’t make any other moves.

I continued clutching the stone in my hand, and after half an hour, I saw another man holding a torch and approaching very carefully.

As the man came closer, I saw that he was wearing a tight cotton-padded jacket for mountain climbing and carrying a huge mountaineering bag. He seemed to smell the kerosene nearby and pulled out a mountaineering pick. When the other Wu Xie looked at him from under the lantern’s glow, neither of them looked surprised at all. Instead, the newcomer put his backpack down.

His hair was very long— longer than mine and the other one’s—and he hadn’t shaved his beard for a long time. He took the mountaineering pick and cleared out a section of gravel to give himself a place to rest.

I looked at this third person’s face and felt even more cold sweat come pouring down. It was also my face.

What’s going on?

My clear mind became chaotic, and I couldn’t think.

Why was there more than one of me here?

And they were acting just like me. Could it be that the Wu Xies Zhang Haike had been hunting down before were disguised as me for this purpose?

Then, in the distant darkness, lights began to appear one by one. I was horrified when I realized that countless people were starting to come here.

Fucking hell, I said to myself.

As I watched the lights continue appearing one after the other, all the hair on my body stood on end.

These people didn’t pay any attention to the others and merely found a place to sit down, just like that first “me”. They didn’t talk or look at each other and just sat there quietly. Soon, the canyon outside the bronze door was filled with lights and the starlight disappeared. It looked just like the firelight covering the mountain during the Shiva Lantern Festival.

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