Chapter 2: Clear and Clean

  People have a natural fear of darkness, and Jin Tianxing is no exception. Standing in the darkness, he hears the old man's mournful cry again: "Don't go, that place is a hell where people are eaten." He shudders, his fingers snapping loudly as if trying to shake off the fear that clings to him like a parasite. The suffocating darkness and deathly silence around him make it hard for him to breathe, and all he can hear is his own increasingly labored breathing and pounding heartbeat. A cold sweat breaks out on his forehead - could this really be the underworld? He pinches himself hard on the thigh - Ow! He's still alive. Jin Tianxing starts babbling incoherently: "Jade Emperor, Guanyin Bodhisattva, all you gods and goddesses, protect me and Luo Yi from harm. If we can make it out of here alive, I'll believe in your existence and worship you sincerely."

  After talking nonsense for over ten minutes, Jin Tian Xing suddenly came to his senses. Praying alone was useless. No way, I have to find Luo Yi! Even if I die, I'll die with Luo Yi together!

  A moment later, Jin Tianxing had an idea in his mind. There were thirty or forty people on the yacht with him, and it didn't make sense that only he ended up here. In his imagination, Roy was now cowering in a dark corner somewhere, muttering his name nonstop. With this thought, Jin Tianxing's courage grew, and he took a big step forward. The flame of the lighter flickered for a moment, and he suddenly realized that the lighter was his only source of light. Without it, he would lose his life. The lighter could only last an hour at most, but he couldn't determine how long he'd be in the dark. He had to conserve its use. As long as he could see the road ahead, he'd extinguish the flame and walk forward. When he felt like he'd walked far enough, he'd relight it to look at the path below. Repeating this process should allow him to hold out for a while. After walking several steps, he finally noticed that the ground was very flat, made of something similar to limestone. He seemed to be in an enormous cave.

  Roy, where are you?

  The only response was the gradually fading echo and the sound of water droplets falling, drip, drip, drip.

  Jin Tian Xing didn't know how much time had passed, nor did he know how far he had walked. His throat was hoarse from shouting with all his might, and the flame of the lighter in his hand was getting weaker and weaker, on the verge of going out at any moment. But he still hadn't found Roy, not even a single useful clue. He felt despair creeping up on him, and tried to shake off this negative emotion. Because deep down, he knew that if despair took over, he wouldn't just fail to find Roy, but his own life would also be in danger.

  "Heavenly gods and deities, open your eyes and bless me and Roy to have a boundless future. Once I get out of here, I'll build a grand temple for you." Encountering such a bizarre event, Jin Tianxing finally realized how small and insignificant he was. Before his spirit collapsed, he pinned his hopes on the vague legends of divine intervention. He prayed to the heavens to open their eyes and let him off easy.

  Suddenly, Jin Tianxing's foot was tripped by something and he fell to the ground with a thud. The lighter in his hand also fell out, and everything returned to the suffocating darkness. Ignoring the pain, Jin Tianxing got up and felt around on the ground for the lighter. To him, the lighter was life itself. He heard his heartbeat quickening, his breathing becoming urgent, and the darkness seemed like a massive mountain pressing down on his back, making it hard for him to breathe. Just before his heart jumped out of his chest, he finally found the lighter, lit it with a few clicks, and a small flame emerged, thank goodness it wasn't broken. When he looked at where he had tripped, an electric current ran up his spine to his brain, his scalp felt numb, and his hair stood on end like needles. The intense fear almost made him unable to stand upright. What had tripped him were two corpses lying flat on the ground. To be precise, they were two skulls with flesh that had long since rotted away. Jin Tianxing rubbed his eyes hard, no mistake, they were indeed two skulls.

  After five or six minutes, Jin Tianxing finally gathered the courage to walk over. He only took a glance and knew that these two skulls were those of modern people and not ordinary ones. They wore special combat uniforms, and on their backs were multi-functional military backpacks. These equipment he had seen from his old man, and only the elite among the elite in the army could be equipped with them. Moreover, the death postures of the two skulls were different, both jaws wide open. Jin Tianxing speculated that before they died, they might have experienced extremely terrifying things, which made their mouths wide open, even after death, they did not close.

  After hesitating for a long time, Jin Tianxing still went forward and tried to find something useful from the two bodies. God knows how much longer he would have to stay in this hell-like place, and having more lifesaving things wouldn't be a bad thing. Jin Tianxing held a lighter in his left hand and with his right hand tremblingly opened the breast pocket of one of the skulls. At that moment, a blood-red centipede as thick as a middle finger and about a foot long crawled out from the eye socket of the skull, almost crawling onto Jin Tianxing's hand, giving him another fright.

  "This damn place, centipedes are so big." The hoarse voice couldn't hide Jin Tianxing's joy. He found water and canned goods, compressed biscuits and other food in the backpacks of two skulls. Although they were past their expiration date, he didn't care. As long as he could survive for now, that was enough. His beloved lighter had also been replaced by a flashlight with an eagle eye. A notebook was also found on the two skulls. The first page read "Immortal" in large letters, followed by half a book of dragon and phoenix-like writing. He didn't have time to look at it carefully, so he stuffed it into his backpack and would study it slowly after he got out.

  After searching the two bodies thoroughly, Jin Tian Xing still couldn't find anything that could prove their identities. Judging from the production date of the food in their bags, it was possible that these two skeletons had been lying here for at least two years. He took a few steps back, bowed deeply to the two skeletons and said solemnly, "Although I don't know why you both came here or what your identities are, I want to thank you for bringing me equipment and food. If I can find Roy and get out of here alive, I will definitely investigate everything that happened here and come back to give you a proper burial." After finishing speaking, he turned around and left.

  With the eagle eye flashlight, Jin Tianxing's exploration range and efficiency have been greatly improved. After walking for more than ten minutes, the stalactites and stalagmites that can be seen everywhere accurately told him that he was in a huge natural cave, but how he got here is unknown. Searching for half a day, not only did he not find Luo Yi, but he also didn't find any living person. Jin Tianxing's heart was burning with anxiety, no matter how the two people died before, someone dying here is definitely not a good thing, who knows what kind of danger is lurking in the endless darkness. This feeling is the most unbearable, knowing that there is danger, but not knowing when the danger will occur, always maintaining a state of nervousness, if the heart has any problems, it would have been fatal long ago.

  It's estimated that over an hour had passed, the vast space narrowed into a trumpet shape, and the ground became uneven. Jin Tianxing stepped on a protruding stone with one foot, and a faint "click" sound came from beside his ear, which was particularly clear in the silent darkness. Jin Tianxing immediately stopped moving, as if he had stepped on some kind of mechanism. He didn't dare to move again. Every second of waiting felt like an eternity. Half a minute passed, but nothing unusual happened. Jin Tianxing carefully lifted his foot, and there was no poisonous smoke or flying arrow, nothing at all. Was it just my imagination? He stomped hard on the stone beneath his feet, but didn't hear any "click" sound. Oh no! Jin Tianxing understood a little bit that in a dark, enclosed space, one's greatest enemy is oneself, and the mind often collapses earlier than the body.

  "No way, I heard it very clearly." Jin Tian Xing squatted down to carefully examine the protruding stone, but didn't find anything unusual. "Could it really be an illusion?" Jin Tian Xing stood up and took big strides forward. Once illusions appeared, it meant that the time left for him was limited. He had to find Luo Yi before he collapsed and take her out of this ghostly place.

  Not far from walking, Jin Tianxing suddenly had a feeling of being monitored. At first, he thought it was his own illusion, but the feeling became stronger and stronger, and in the darkness, there seemed to be a pair of eyes staring at him. He couldn't help but stop his footsteps and look back into the darkness, and the feeling of being monitored disappeared. Jin Tianxing looked back at his body with suspicion, except for stone pillars, still stone pillars, and nothing that could move.

  Jin Tianxing took a few steps forward, and the feeling of being watched appeared again. He tried to probe several times, but it was indeed so. Now he is convinced that it is not an illusion, and there really is someone behind him who is watching him, hiding in the dense stone forest. Jin Tianxing continued to move forward, looking for a suitable place. Soon, he found one in a place with fewer stone forests. He pretended to trip over a rock, stood up to find that his shoelaces were untied, and bent down to tie them. The feeling of being watched was still there. Suddenly, he turned around and shone the flashlight on the stone forest behind him. In the narrow space between two rocks, Jin Tianxing saw a scene that took his breath away. If the shock in his heart from finding himself in darkness to encountering two skulls was not inferior to the Tangshan earthquake, then what he saw now was comparable to the Pompeii earthquake. What exactly did Jin Tianxing see between the two stone forests? He saw eyes, no different from ordinary people's eyes, but there were three of them - a third eye on the forehead, in addition to the usual pair. Jin Tianxing's brain went blank with shock, his mouth agape, and his body unresponsive. His eyes stared at a black shadow that darted out of the stone forest and disappeared. Because he was too focused, he only remembered that the person watching him had three eyes, but did not notice the watcher's appearance, or even whether it was male or female.

  It was unclear how long it took for Jin Tianxing to wake up from his shock, but he pinched himself hard on the thigh again, ouch! It wasn't an illusion. He cursed in a hoarse voice, "Damn it, three-eyed, Erlang god! Are there really gods in this world?" In his heart, he raised the danger level by another notch. If there were three-eyed gods, who knew what other terrifying things were lurking in the darkness? It was better to find Luo Yi as soon as possible and think of a way to leave this place. As he walked forward a few steps, the rustling sound appeared again beside his ear. He had discovered earlier that wherever the flashlight couldn't reach, there would be a rustling sound. At first, he thought it was just some small insects, but now it sounded terrifying, making his scalp tingle with fear.

  Sasha.

  As they walked further ahead, the cave became narrower and was about the size of a train tunnel. It twisted and turned, and the ground was very slippery. One careless move would result in a fall onto one's backside. As they spoke, Jin Tianying fell again, but this time he didn't rush to get up. He felt the ground trembling slightly beneath him, and when he pressed his ear against it, he could hear a series of creaking sounds coming from underground, like the sound of gears turning. No matter what lay ahead, he felt that they were very close now - just one stretch of the hand away.

  After turning a corner in an S-shaped curve, Jin Tianxing heard footsteps. Although they were very light, he was certain that they were human footsteps. At this moment, Jin Tianxing's mind only had one thought: Luo Yi is ahead! He shouted Luo Yi's name with a hoarse voice and rushed out. After running for a few steps, he indeed saw a figure in the distance, which was also a girl's back view. The girl heard the sound behind her and turned around. Jin Tianxing hadn't had time to see her face clearly when he heard the sound of a sharp blade cutting through the air. His heart suddenly tightened as he felt mortal danger. Instinctively, he stopped his body from moving forward and tried to shift it to one side. Unfortunately, it was too late. He only felt a heat on his left shoulder, followed by an intense pain that made him unable to stand still. When he touched the area with his hand, he found a triangular metal object stuck in his shoulder, with two-thirds of it already embedded in his flesh. Fresh blood was gushing out from the groove on the side. The air was filled with a strong smell of blood. This woman was definitely not Luo Yi. Jin Tianxing saw clearly that she wasn't holding any weapons in her hand. To throw something with such force required extremely strong wrist strength, which even Jin Tianxing could barely manage to do.

  Taking advantage of Jin Tianxing's distraction, the woman walked up to him and looked him up and down several times before asking in a thick Southern accent, "Are you Chinese?"

  Jin Tian Xing didn't understand what she was asking at all, and he was still a bit annoyed in his heart. Who would throw flying darts at someone as soon as they met? The woman saw that Jin Tian Xing wasn't responding, so she reached towards her waist with her right hand. Jin Tian Xing took a clear look and saw that there was a quiver on her waist that could hold 6 darts, but now it was empty by one. No need to say more, the missing dart was on his own shoulder.

  "Are you Chinese?" The mysterious woman asked again.

  Jin Tianxing listened clearly this time, although he couldn't understand why such a question was asked. If he didn't answer, he would likely be beaten again. Jin Tianxing still answered honestly, "Chinese, damn it, of course I'm Chinese."

  The woman hesitated for a moment, took her hand off the quiver, and asked in Mandarin with a Beijing accent, "Beijinger? I studied at Beiping University for several years."

  Jin Tianxing was stunned again. BP was the name for Beijing before liberation, and the woman in front of him looked like she was only in her early twenties. She couldn't be from some remote mountain village, could she? But if that were true, how would she know the name "Beiping"? Had she even attended school in Beiping? Jin Tianxing observed her carefully. The woman wore embroidered shoes, blue cotton pants, a coarse linen blouse with small flowers, and a long braid down to her waist. Her skin was as smooth as sheep fat. As he looked up, he saw a beautiful face. Apart from Luo Yi, she was the first woman who gave him an electric shock at first glance. Unlike Luo Yi's stunning beauty, this woman had a simple, natural beauty, like an unpolished jade. When she noticed a scorching gaze staring at her, the girl's face turned red with anger. "What are you looking at, you rogue? Haven't you seen a woman before?" Her right hand returned to her waist, and her slender fingers grasped a flying dart.

  Jin Tian Xing realized he had lost his composure, and hastily shifted his gaze elsewhere, saying apologetically, "BP City has long been renamed BJ City. I'm not a native of BJ City either, I'm from QD City." The young woman continued to stare at him warily, her hand still resting on the dagger sheath at her waist, but spoke in a slightly softer tone, muttering to herself, "When did it change? How come I didn't know? You're not teasing me, are you? Such a major event and nobody's ever mentioned it?"

  Jin Tianxing wanted to answer the girl's question, but as he moved his body, the pain in his shoulder made him take a cold breath. The dart might be stuck in his scapula, and Jin Tianxing couldn't help but marvel at the girl's strength, which was almost on par with the elite warriors under his father's command.

  When Jin Tian Xing heard the sound of pain, the girl finally remembered that he had been hit by her flying dart. She said apologetically, "I didn't mean to shoot you, you suddenly rushed out and scared me, so I reflexively gave you a dart." Jin Tian Xing couldn't say anything, after all, someone shot him with a dart, could he shoot back? The other party was a delicate and charming big girl, or at least looked like one. But her next words made Jin Tian Xing's eyes widen in shock: "My dart is poisoned, if you don't pull it out soon, you'll die from poisoning within a few hours." What kind of person poisons their darts? Did she have to be so ruthless?

  The girl's words scared Jin Tianhang badly, he hadn't found Luo Yi yet and couldn't die, he reached out to pull out the flying dart, but it didn't come out, and he sweated profusely. The girl's next sentence made Jin Tianhang's eyes turn black and almost faint, "My dart has a reverse barb, can't use brute force to pull, or the reverse barb will get stuck in the flesh and can't be pulled out."

  Jin Tian Xing was about to go crazy, where did this woman come from? She was so ruthless and vicious. The dart had a reverse barb and a blood groove, once it hit the human body, the blood groove would suck out all the blood like a vampire bat. The dart itself was a poisonous triangular shape, even if you managed to pull it out, it would leave behind a wound that would make even an experienced surgeon frown, not to mention the fact that the dart had been coated with poison, enough to make you shed your skin even if you didn't die. In fact, there was another thing that the girl hadn't mentioned, when the dart was being cast, a large amount of lead and copper had been added, enough to be toxic to humans, the viciousness was appalling.

  "Hurry up and help me pull it out then." Jin Tian Xing urged.

  "Don't worry, I've brought an antidote."

  The girl took out a small white porcelain bottle from her quiver, poured out a red pill, and stuffed it into Jin Tianxing's mouth. Jin Tianxing hesitated for a moment before swallowing the pill, and a refreshing fragrance spread from his abdomen. The girl then suddenly produced a shiny dagger and said, "It might hurt a bit, you have to bear with it." The dagger stabbed down along the arrow shaft, and Jin Tianxing felt as if the dagger was pressing on the arrow, causing a burning pain. With a "ka" sound, the arrow and dagger were pulled out together, bringing out a stream of foul-smelling black blood. Jin Tianxing couldn't help but let out a cry of "ah", and beads of sweat rolled down his forehead.

  Jin Tianxing took a few deep breaths, feeling slightly better. He saw that the wound was still bleeding and was about to cover it when the girl stopped him. "Wait a bit longer, we need to let the toxic blood flow out cleanly before stopping the bleeding, or else it will leave behind hidden ailments." Jin Tianxing furrowed his brow as he watched his fresh blood flowing out like running water, truly a stimulating thing.

  Just as Jintian thought he was going to bleed to death, the girl took out another small porcelain bottle and poured some white powder on his wound. At first, Jintian felt a burning pain in his wound, but soon it turned into a cool sensation and the bleeding stopped. "This is top-grade golden wound medicine, apply it once every two days, and after five or six times, your wound will be almost healed." Jintian took the bottle and put it in his pocket, then tore off a large piece of cloth from his sleeve to bandage his wound. He picked up the flying dart that had fallen on the ground and smelled it, indeed it was poisonous, with a strong fishy smell that almost made Jintian vomit. After everything was done, Jintian lay on the ground and didn't want to get up, this dart would take some time to recover from.

  The two of you looked at me, I looked at you, with big eyes staring at each other and not speaking again. The atmosphere was a bit awkward. Maybe the girl felt that Zhong Jintian had some apologies, so she spoke first, "Were you also captured by the invaders?"

  Jin Tian Xing let out a loud laugh. The movement was too big and pulled on his wound, Jin Tian Xing gritted his teeth in pain.

  "What are you laughing at?" The girl was somewhat annoyed.

  Jin Tianxing couldn't help but laugh and said, "Big sister, it's 2009 now, the Liberation War has been victorious for sixty years, people have long been masters of their own homes, where did these invaders come from?"

  The girl's eyes were wide with astonishment, "Impossible! Just before I came here, I was still leading my brothers in the gang to fight against our enemies. How could it be possible that more than sixty years have passed in the blink of an eye?"

  Jin Tian Xing thought she was joking, but seeing her serious and solemn face, combined with her attire and demeanor, he was stunned. She might very well be from that era of war and turmoil. A very serious question arose before him: had he traveled through time, or had she, or perhaps both of them? Thinking this, he asked in a trembling voice, "What were you doing before you came here?"

  "My sister thought for a moment and said, 'At that time, I and my father were leading the brothers of our gang to fight against the enemy on the Kobe Maru. We were about to succeed when the rudder was damaged and we entered the waters of the Ryujin Shrine. My father said it was bad luck, that we had intruded into the forbidden territory of the lake god. The calm surface of the lake suddenly became very rough, a white light appeared before my eyes, and when I opened them again, I found myself in this cave. I thought I had been captured by the enemy, but half a day passed without seeing anyone, and just as I was getting scared, you showed up.'"

  Lao Ye Temple! It's Lao Ye Temple again, Jin Tian Xing furrowed his brow. What secrets were hidden in the waters of Lao Ye Temple that could bring together two people from different time and space? The girl saw that Jin Tian Xing was no longer speaking and asked, "You said you came from 2009, what can you use as proof?"

  To survive, the two of them must first establish mutual trust. With this in mind, Jin Tian Xing replied seriously, "Look at my clothes and shoes, then look at my equipment, could you have had these in your time?"

  The girl carefully looked at Jin Tian Xing's clothes and equipment, and indeed they didn't seem to be from her era. She believed his words a bit more, "How did you come here?"

  Jin Tianxing smiled bitterly and said, "Similar to your experience, my new wife and I were on a yacht. Who knew the yacht sailed into the waters of Lao Ye Temple? After the white light shook, I ended up here." After finishing speaking, he took out another eagle-eye flashlight and placed it in Qingqing's hand, teaching her how to use it.

  "I once heard my father's Dog Head Military Advisor mention that the waters of Lao Ye Miao are where the god of Poyang Lake lives. Any boat that offends the lake god will be mercilessly crushed into powder by the lake god, and countless boats have mysteriously disappeared in these waters. This saying has been around for a very long time, and fishermen from nearby waters all know about it - they would rather die than approach the waters of Lao Ye Miao. Only passing merchant ships and Japanese boats dare to go there."

  The girl's words raised a question in Jin Tianxing's mind. Since the incident that couldn't get close to Lao Ye Miao water area many years ago was circulating locally, the yacht owner living by the lake shouldn't be unaware of this legend. Then why did he still steer the boat towards Lao Ye Miao water area? Was there some conspiracy behind it?

  It's hard to find a third person who has had the same experience, and having gone through it together has brought the two of them closer. Jin Tian Xing stretched out his hand and said, "My name is Jin Tian Xing, I haven't asked for your name yet, miss." The girl didn't stretch out her hand, Jin Tian Xing awkwardly waved his hand in mid-air, realizing that in her time, shaking hands as a greeting hadn't been widely accepted. He pulled his hand back and said, "I didn't mean anything else, I just wanted to know your name."

  "My name is Cai Qingqing, but you can just call me Qingqing, that's what all the brothers call me."

  "You seem to have many brothers, what kind of person are you?" Jin Tian Xing's heart was clear, even in the war years, having a group of brothers who dared to fight against the enemy, and a woman with a flying dart, would not be an ordinary person.

  Qing Qing smiled and said, "Actually, they are all under my father's command. My father is the big boss of the Angry Dragon Gang, the largest water bandit leader on Lake Poyang."

  Jin Tianxing thought to himself, "No wonder, she's the daughter of a big brother in the underworld. No wonder she's so fierce." In modern times, killing one or two people was nothing for gangs, but back then, gangs killed people as easily as chopping cabbage. This little girl must have had countless lives on her hands.

  Qing Qing muttered to herself, "I also don't know how Father and the others are doing, whether they've managed to get their hands on the Shinpuku Maru."

  Kinokuniya curiously asked, "What is Kamome Maru?"

  Just as Qing was about to respond, a strong tremor and rumbling sound came from the ground, loud enough to be heard clearly without needing to press one's ear against the ground. Something had happened up ahead. The two exchanged a glance and simultaneously headed forward. Having lost quite a bit of blood, Jin Tian Xing's footsteps were somewhat unsteady. Qing walked a few steps before returning to support Jin Tian Xing as they continued on towards the front.