Chapter 40 Xiao Hua’s Cell Phone

I looked at the valley in the distance—it was dark and gloomy—before suddenly remembering that I had been steadily crawling inside the whole time, hadn’t I? Then how could I come out?

I looked up and found that the sky here was different, but I couldn’t exactly say how. After looking at it more closely, however, I found that the so-called sky was really a layer of fog.

There was a bit of light coming out of the fog, which made it look like a cloudy day. This kind of light was hard to describe. Although you knew that it was daytime, it was a kind of light that was so dim and obscure, it made you feel very depressed.

I raised my hand. There must be wind on such a high mountain, but I didn’t feel anything at all. That was when I realized that this place wasn’t outside, and I was still underground. It seemed this place was an underground crater of some sort.

In this crater, there were many dark trees, just like the ones I saw before in front of that ancient building. They were probably carbonized trees that were completely stuck here and eventually became something like coal.

The Yin Shang⁽¹⁾ imperial tomb in Changbai Mountain was also built under the same geological conditions, but the difference here was that there was light in the sky.

I stood on top of the mountain and thought for a while, but then I suddenly noticed a bonfire at the foot of the mountain.

The firelight was flickering, like the eyes of some thing, or—magma?

I observed the terrain and found that I could make my way down, so I immediately started my descent. Under this strange bright-yet-dark light, it took me more than three hours to climb down the mountain and enter the underground carbonized forest.

As soon as I entered, I immediately smelled the very strong scent of sulfur. There were also black Shigong’s moles everywhere on the trees here. These Shigong’s moles were the size of peaches, and looked as if they were full of fruits.

When I went in, I looked up again and saw that the overall light was very dim now. I also noticed that the light in the sky seemed very strange, but it was hard to describe in words.

In a place like this, anyone who could make a fire must be human and would thus be a friend of mine.

After all, any monster living in such a place likely wouldn’t need a bonfire.

So, I took out my bat whistle and began blowing into it hard, while at the same time relying on my memory to walk in the direction of the fire.

Of course, it was very difficult to find, but at this time, the watch on my wrist suddenly vibrated. I raised my hand to look at it and found that a notification had appeared on the watch face.

This was a notification saying that the cell phone had been found. This type of watch was usually paired with a cell phone, and right now it was showing that there was a phone nearby that had been paired with it before.

This watch belonged to Xiao Hua, so the nearby phone must also belong to Xiao Hua.

I immediately became excited and started using the positioning method to confirm whether I was approaching the phone or moving away from it.

Soon, I saw the light of the bonfire appear up ahead. I was full of hope as I took a few steps forward and saw a person sitting by the bonfire in front of me.

I could tell at a glance that this person wasn’t Xiao Hua, but my heart had already begun to swell with hope. If Xiao Hua wasn’t here, he may have simply gone further ahead to explore. I didn’t know who this person was, but he must be one of us.

The person remained motionless as I walked over, but when I got closer, I realized that they were actually a bee man who had been killed here.

Seeing that this thing’s face had been burned, I immediately shouted, “Xiao Hua!”

Then, I heard a cell phone’s voice-activated response come from the bee man’s hand. I went over, took the phone from its hand, and found that it really did belong to Xiao Hua.

When I turned it on, the password lock had been removed. I immediately went to the video album and saw Xiao Hua’s face appear on the video inside. He was looking around and saying in a very low voice, “You’re seeing this, which means you’re on the right path. You’re now in the Flat Peach Garden.⁽²⁾ After this, you have to do exactly as I say.”

<Chapter 39><Table of Contents><Chapter 41>

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TN Notes:

(1) Wu Xie used this term a couple of times before in “Ten Thousand Mountains”. The Yin Shang Dynasty is the final name of the Shang dynasty after their move to Yinxu (so probably around 1200 BC). The Shang Dynasty was the second dynasty of China and was founded in 1600 BC. More info here. In this instance, the Yin Shang imperial tomb under Changbai Mountain is the one they saw in the volcanic crater after climbing in through the ice (chapter 24 of “Palace of Doom”, around pg 114 of the pdf). They mention it’s a Yin Shang tomb in Chapter 36.

(2) Reminder: flat peaches in this context are the peaches of immortality kept by the Queen of the West.

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Sorry Thimblerig, he’s not out hahaha. You were so excited, too (￣▽￣)