Volume 2: The Ancient Country of Lando Chapter 43: Walking on the Road to Death

  "What's that?" Whip Girl wondered.

  I was also very curious, so I stared at the old man without blinking. Perhaps he felt my gaze, and the old man in Tang suit turned his head to look at me for a moment before turning back to answer: "It's Manchu..."

  Su Qin asked the old man in Tang suit: "Mang Mang? Are you talking about that kind of bird with wings? Is there really such a thing?"

  The old man in Tang suit didn't answer her, I said to Su Qin: "There's nothing impossible in this world, I think that barbarian bird might be a special species on the snowy mountain, this kind of bird flies with its wings together, perhaps it is for mutual warmth and resistance to the extreme cold on the snowy mountain."

  Su Qin thought I was right, nodded and said: "The strange bird of Manman has been recorded in many ancient documents, it seems that the ancients really saw this thing. However, if such birds still exist in the world, why have they not been discovered for so many years? Not even a corpse has been seen."

  Liu Dapao said to Su Qin: "Miss Su, this problem is actually very simple. It's just that you've been studying ancient history for a long time and have also picked up the bad habits of ancient historians. You only know how to think in fixed patterns, so some problems always seem difficult to understand. Think about it, these strange birds were recorded in the Honghuang era, so they must be an very ancient species, unique to the snowy mountains, and wouldn't have migratory habits. How could this species possibly thrive in such a harsh environment until now?"

  I saw Liu Dapao say that the archaeological finds were fake in front of Su Qin, and I thought this woman would be annoyed. But unexpectedly, Su Qin didn't mind at all, and instead listened with a puzzled expression, asking: "If they couldn't have survived to this day, then how come there are still some here?"

  "Need you ask? Have you forgotten how the Queen of Ya Shen discovered the secret of Lantian Flower?" Liu Dapao's face was strange, as if he was thinking that Su Qing was usually meticulous, but now she had become stupid.

  "Oh..." Su Qin nodded thoughtfully.

  It's not that Su Qin has become stupid, but she has lost her sense of proportion in this situation. Not just her, we are also the same, because we don't know what to do next, and even more so, we don't know what "Hei Niou Kou" wants to do to us.

  If the "black button" had shot at us before, it would have been easier to die quickly, but now we are being escorted all the way here, and we don't even know when or how we will die. This kind of psychological pressure is unprecedented, and anyone would be terrified.

  So Su Qin kept asking questions nonstop, just trying to calm herself down. And I and Liu Dapao chatted with her casually, also a manifestation of our own unsettled minds.

  Tang Zuan Lao Tou is currently surrounded by Bian Zi Nu Hai, Jin Shou Zhi and Jack, don't know what they are plotting. The rest of the subordinates were commanded by Gao Ye Xiong to handle the corpses first, then start patrolling around, while Zhou Xing sat aside watching us.

  He didn't actually have his eyes on us, but was sitting with his back to us in a daze. I wanted to test whether he had his attention on us or not, so I quietly got up and found that he was still silently sitting there.

  I know it's impossible to get out of here now, maybe I'm just bored, or maybe it's some other mood, I start walking slowly towards Zhou Xing.

  Zhou Xing was still facing away from me, seemingly unaware of my movements. I took step by step towards him, and when the distance between us was only five steps left, he suddenly spoke up.

  "Get any closer and I'll take action." He spoke with his back still turned to me, although there was no visible movement, a strong sense of oppression rushed towards me.

  I involuntarily stopped in my tracks and stood still on the spot.

  "I have some questions for you," I said to him.

  "I have nothing to say." Zhou Xing fell silent for a moment, slowly turned his head back, but didn't look at me.

  After he finished speaking, he turned his head back around. I opened my mouth but didn't know what to say, so I had no choice but to turn around and walk back to where I originally was and sit down.

  Liu Dapao patted my shoulder and said, "Young master, since we've fallen into this kid's trap, we can only admit defeat. Let's not dwell on this matter anymore, but rather think of a way to shake off these people."

  I heard Liu Dapao say that, and suddenly felt a pang of guilt in my heart. I said to Liu Dapao: "Uncle Liu, sorry, I've been a burden to you."

  He could have avoided this situation if it weren't for helping me. Now he might still be in the shop as a small boss, his wife cooking in the kitchen, and his son sitting on his lap telling stories and pulling his beard.

  Liu Dapao listened to my words, but he looked very unhappy and said to me: "Young master, what are you talking about? To be honest with you, since I followed the master of the house, I have already made up my mind to sacrifice myself for him. This determination will never change throughout my life. Even if it's for your sake, or for the sake of your son and grandson, as long as Liu Dapao still has a breath left in me, I won't let the Long family suffer!"

  I was deeply moved, and after looking at Liu for a long time, he patted my shoulder again and smiled at me. Suddenly, I found that at this moment, he looked so much like my father.

  "He's damn it, all because of that bastard Zhou Xing! Even if I become a ghost, I won't let him off!"

  As soon as he spoke, my attention was drawn to him. I wondered what his true identity was and how he managed to hide it so deeply. Looking at him speaking with a straight face, if I hadn't suddenly thought of all the abnormalities about him, I would have probably been deceived by him until the end.

  The more I think about it, the angrier I get, and I feel like punching him right away.

  "Long Qiu, what's wrong with you?" You Zi suddenly asked me.

  I just realized I was staring at him and quickly looked away, shaking my head saying: "Oh, nothing..."

  Reason tells me it's still too early to make a move.

  Youzi seemed to have noticed something was off about me and responded with a soft "oh", her eyes darting back and forth before falling silent.

  Not long after, the old man in Tang suit coughed twice and began to tell others about his encounter with Manman, and then summarized the experience of dealing with such monsters. It seems that they were discussing this issue just now.

  It wasn't until he finished speaking that I realized that the Lan Palace was not the only place where the barbarians were present, but also in the previous cave. The casualties of these people during our unconscious period were all thanks to the barbarian.

  These strange birds have very large heads and are all corpses controlled by the Lantian Flower. Not only are they extremely fast, but they can also grab a person entirely into the air, and in less than two seconds, a life is over.

  However, after their summary, the bird's attack target seems to be human eyes. The "black button" member who was injured was able to survive only because he closed his eyes at a critical moment and waited for death. Perhaps this is the key to how the Lanke Orchid distinguishes its targets. The Lanke Orchid itself has no eyes, ears or nose, but it seems to be able to receive light waves reflected from the eyes of living things. Therefore, when encountering such a thing, the best way to save one's life is to close one's eyes in time and then escape from the scene.

  I only now understand why "black buttons" can lift us out of that vast crowd of corpses, it turns out they walked out with their eyes closed.

  Su Qin said to us at this time: "If that's the case, we need to be careful. We don't have any weapons now. If we encounter the barbarians later, we'll avoid them using this method."

  The scale of the Lan Palace is extremely large, and where we are is a high platform in front of the palace. Although most of the snow fell into the valley after the avalanche, the snow on the platform was still very thick.

  The crowd rested for a moment and then continued to move forward. In front of them were two large stone pillars, standing on either side of the Lan Palace gate, which was not part of the palace itself but stood alone. On top of it was carved with patterns of ancient flowers, seemingly used for worship.

  Arriving at the Lan Palace, the group slowed down their pace. According to Tang Zuan's old man, Manman was entrenched in this palace. Zhou Xing carried Tang Zuan's old man and walked at the front of the group, leading them to the gate of the Lan Palace, but instead of opening the door, he turned left and headed towards the side of the Lan Palace.

  The whip girl found it strange and asked Zhou Xing: "Brother Kevin, aren't we going in through the main gate?"

  Zhou Xing shook his head and continued walking forward. At this time, Jin Shouzhi pulled over the whip girl and said: "Young lady, you don't know something. Don't look at this palace as being very large, actually the space inside is very small. Because the era of the Ya Shen tribe's existence, building technology was not yet mature, it was impossible to create a large space in stone buildings. In fact, this palace is similar to the Great Pyramid, all built with large stones."

  The whip girl hummed and suddenly pushed away the golden finger: "Hate! Don't I know? Do you need to teach me?"

  Jin Zhi Zhi hastily nodded and smiled apologetically, carefully retreating behind the Whip Girl.

  Going around the side of Lan Palace, you can see a stone staircase in front. The stairs of Lan Palace are all set outside the palace, with about 20 steps and then a platform, and there are about 200 steps to the top, passing through twelve large platforms.

  When climbing the stone steps, the team was quiet and no one said a word. The mountain wind was blowing loudly, and everyone walked while looking around left and right. In this place, the target was too big, if discovered by the barbarians, it would be impossible to defend against.

  Fortunately, everyone knew the characteristics of this corpse bird, so they weren't particularly afraid. I was very curious about what the corpse bird looked like, so while looking around, there was a complex psychology, hoping to see this legendary strange bird on one hand, and remembering the person who had just died on the other.

  "The scenery here is really great." Su Qin said to herself as she walked beside me.

  Following her gaze, I looked out and found that the snow-capped mountains were all in sight. The Jade Dragon Snow Mountain has been accumulating snow for years without melting, with a white blanket above the snow line, while the foot of the mountain is lush and green. In the distance, the horizon is gray and hazy, but looking up slightly, you can see the blue sky and white clouds, which is indeed one of the most beautiful landscapes in the world.

  I even thought that if this place is developed into a tourist attraction, there will definitely be many people coming.

  Just as I was about to respond, she suddenly said: "I remembered the poem by Bai Shan Ju Shi: Turbid ink can't write the color of high mountains, perhaps Penglai fell into the mortal world. The description is really apt, I think this poem must have been written when he came to the top of Snow Mountain that year and saw this scene in front of him."

  She muttered to herself, her shoulders trembling slightly.

  I know she's nervous, the end of Lan Palace is just around the corner, and perhaps soon she'll reach the end of her life. With a bleak future ahead, Su Qin's words sound like a dying lament.

  As I gazed at her slender profile, I suddenly felt a pang of tenderness and couldn't help but grasp her hand, giving it a gentle squeeze. Su Qin was taken aback, but also gave my hand a light squeeze, the corners of her mouth curling up slightly as she turned to look at me with eyes that were already moist, yet her smile grew even brighter.

  A warm feeling rose in my heart and I couldn't help but smile at her, holding her hand as we continued walking upwards.

  We soon reached the first platform and were about to continue upwards when Chow Sing suddenly stopped. The old man in traditional Chinese attire on his back was very alert and quickly asked, "What's wrong?"

  Zhou Xing shook his head and didn't speak, looking around left and right. After a long time, he said: "Let's keep going, everyone be careful, the atmosphere doesn't feel right."

  After he said that, everyone became tense. Zhou Xing's intuition had never been wrong. Since he said it didn't feel right, then it must not be right.

  The team's speed slowed down again, and it took a full two minutes to climb up to the second platform.

  Before taking the third step in the morning, Zhou Xing stopped again and looked around.

  Everyone was driven crazy by him, and it was not easy to climb up to the fifth platform, already exhausted. The old man in Tang suit saw that everyone was too tense, and this place was also a high-altitude mountain top, knowing that the physical consumption was very large, so he let everyone stop and rest, eat something.

  We also got some food, although it was very little, but it's better than nothing, and we didn't want to think about anything else, so we just ate with the northwest wind.

  Youzi swallowed the things in his hand, smacking his lips as if not satisfied, and shouted to the people in front: "Hey! Is there anything left? This little thing is not enough for me to fill my teeth!"

  "Feed you to give you the strength to climb to the top, anyway, you're all going to die, wasting our food, save your energy, stop yelling!"

  "Damn it..." Oil just wanted to retort, when Zhou Xing suddenly grabbed a plastic bag and flung it at me.

  I reached out and took it down, finding several pieces of dried meat inside.

  "Found your conscience?" I shook my head with a bitter smile and threw the plastic bag into the midst of everyone.

  "He's got a good conscience!" Youzi hummed and grabbed a piece of food, stuffing it into his mouth.