47 Silk Road 07
◎Let me smell your scent.◎
The two fell vertically into the water, the lake was bottomless.
Zhu Heng felt his vision go dark, and his hand touched something hard. He subconsciously grabbed it, and then he heard a "crash" sound, like a balloon filled with water bursting, and they fell heavily to the dry ground.
Zhu Heng lay on the ground and brought the object he had caught in the water to his eyes. It was a small blue and white porcelain bowl, its cobalt blue paint vibrant and vibrant. It was exquisitely crafted.
Before he could even get up, he heard some joking conversations from above: "Hey, someone else is coming down from up there."
"Look at the silk and porcelain they're holding. Wow, they look so high quality!"
Zhu Heng moved his eyes and looked at the people who were talking above him... no, it should be said that there was a group of people.
They wore strange clothes, had forked beards on their faces, pointed hats on their heads, small braids on the back of their heads, and their facial features were all oriental.
"Another high-quality porcelain has arrived. The Khan will definitely be happy!" said one of the people in the group.
Another retorted: "What's the point of being good? There's only one of them. None of them can get out."
"Take your time. There will always be a way out. Don't be impatient."
Helan Dao looked at the people wearing strange clothes, leaned over to Zhu Heng and whispered, "This should be the Yuan Dynasty."
Zhu Heng nodded. He stood still, surveying his surroundings with a touch of surprise.
At this moment they were standing on a ship. The deck made of wooden boards under their feet was not stable and creaked with the slightest movement.
The air didn't have the expected smell of seawater, and the bottom of the ship was an endless desert. The entire ship seemed to be stranded on the coast, unable to move forward.
Zhu Heng recalled the conversation between the crew members dressed in Yuan Dynasty costumes. He stroked the blue and white porcelain bowl in his hand and asked them, "Is this porcelain bowl important to you?"
The group of people laughed out loud when they heard this. "What are you talking about? The porcelain bowl is important to you two! It's the token that brought you here from the underground city. Without it, you would have died at the bottom of the oasis lake."
As they spoke, they pointed behind them, and Zhu Heng saw that the boat was piled high with porcelain, including bowls, plates, bottles, and alms bowls.
"Did you all get in this way?" Zhu Heng asked.
No wonder the dungeon system doesn't count the casualties of the residents who disappeared in the oasis. This group of people didn't die at all.
So, the two people they saw being killed in the ruined city at the top are still alive?
"Of course. But the quality of the porcelain sold in the dungeon isn't very good. It's rare to see something like yours... Where did you get this?"
Zhu Heng was stunned for a moment, and subconsciously looked at the silk scattered in Helan Dao's hands.
It was as if, like the blue silk, it had fallen into their hands inexplicably.
The person asking the question was very good at reading Zhu Heng's expressions. Seeing Zhu Heng hesitate, he smiled and said, "If it's inconvenient to say it, then don't say it. It's not important."
Zhu Heng: "It's not inconvenient at all. I found it in the water and brought it here as soon as I got it. By the way, why are you on a boat like this?"
"We have no other choice. Logically, the Great Khan's western expeditions gave him direct control over Central and Western Asia, with merchants and priests constantly traveling back and forth. The Silk Road should have been extremely prosperous, but now that the Silk Road is blocked, we have no choice but to take the sea route. Who knew that the sea would turn into a desert? Both the land and sea routes are completely blocked."
"Since you can't get out, why do you value a good-quality porcelain bowl so much?"
"We're just guessing," the man laughed, rubbing the back of his head. "Generally speaking, only high-quality porcelain can be exported. We wanted to see if only a piece of high-quality porcelain could open up both the Eastern and Western Silk Roads."
"What's the result?" Helan Dao wrapped the silk around his hands again and asked with a smile on his face.
The man curled his lips: "As you can see, nothing has changed."
The surrounding environment remained the same as it was at the beginning, with no movement.
Zhu Heng stared at the vast desert that was directly illuminated by the sun and sparkling with tiny points of light. His eyes moved back and forth in it. Suddenly, his gaze fixed on a certain place and did not move.
There was a flash of light, as if it came from the reflection of light on the water.
Before he spoke, the crew members had already seen the same thing, but they seemed not surprised by it. One of them said to Zhu Heng, "That's not water, it's a mirror."
"Mirror?" Zhu Heng glanced at Helan Dao and had evil thoughts in his mind.
The crew member watched Zhu Heng's actions clearly and sneered, "This desert is full of mirrors. If you want to go and find out, I tell you, it's a huge mistake! Do you think no one has gone down to take a look before? But without exception, they all met with accidents."
"Is the desert dangerous, or is the mirror dangerous?"
"Perhaps you've heard of the Bailongdui Desert?" the man said with a subtle smile. "The Bailongdui Desert is near Dunhuang. During the Jin Dynasty, a monk named Faxian passed by here and said that 'there are many evil spirits and hot winds here, and everyone who encounters them dies, leaving no one alive. There are no birds flying above, no animals walking below... only the bones of the dead serve as markers.'"
"That's the land route heading west. What does it have to do with the sea route we are on now?" Zhu Heng asked.
"Of course, of course, this isn't the Bailongdui Desert described by Faxian. I'm just making an analogy, but considering how dangerous it is, we can also call this long-dried-up sea area the Bailongdui. Doesn't it sound scary... Wait, what are you two doing? Get down! Come down now!"
When the crew looked up, they saw Zhu Heng and Helan Dao flipping over and jumping off the boat one after another. They were so frightened that their faces turned pale.
Helan Dao landed steadily on the sand, looked up at them with a smile, and while brushing off the sand on his body, he said to the crew, "You guys go about your business, we'll go over and take a look, don't worry about it."
The crew members were so angry that they vomited blood. Helan said this in a relaxed tone as if he was just joining in the fun, and said, "Don't worry about it." Who wants to care about you?
"Forget it." Someone waved his hand. "It's just two people who won't cry until they see the coffin. There are dead bodies buried everywhere here. One or two more won't make a difference. Let them go!"
Zhu Heng and Helan Dao didn't care what the crew members behind them thought. They left them behind and walked towards the mirror under the yellow sand, one step deep and one step shallow.
There must be something strange about burying so many mirrors for no reason.
They came to the nearest broken lens. Zhu Heng was about to squat when a light suddenly flashed in his peripheral vision.
Following the light, I saw another mirror buried more than ten meters away, reflecting the sunlight from a corner protruding from the sand dune.
Somehow, Zhu Heng had an idea and turned to walk over there.
However, at this moment, a tornado blew up in the sky, and a vortex-like sand bowl emerged at the end of the horizon, moving rapidly towards Zhu Heng and the others.
"A sandstorm is coming! Come back quickly! Quickly!" The people on the boat suddenly shouted. Although they said they didn't care, they still loudly warned them that danger was approaching.
But Zhu Heng was the one who didn't care. He was halfway through his plan to commit suicide, so there was absolutely no reason for him to give up halfway.
Helan Dao didn't care at all. He was fearless and looked arrogant.
Zhu Heng approached the mirror and brushed away the yellow sand covering it. His appearance was vaguely reflected on the mirror. Just as he was about to take a closer look, his fingers suddenly touched a hard and cold corner.
Zhu Heng was stunned for a moment, then he took out a small bronze mirror from under the yellow sand.
"What is this?" Helan Dao, who followed behind him, asked casually. The dust was approaching, and a mouthful of yellow sand filled his mouth and nose, choking Helan Dao and making him cough twice.
"Bronze mirror." Zhu Heng's expression was a little solemn. He took out the blue and white porcelain bowl he had taken from the water before coming out here and placed it together with the bronze mirror. "A bronze mirror handed out from the mirror."
Zhu Heng was not mistaken. This small bronze mirror appeared out of thin air. Before that, there was nothing here.
"You mean 'deliver'?" He Landao placed emphasis on this word. "So, you think someone on the other side of the mirror is deliberately giving something to you?"
Zhu Heng paused. He had only described it that way subconsciously. After Helan Dao said that, he realized the problem - in his subconscious, taking the mirror was as natural as drinking water from a cup at home.
"I don't know." He shook his head, put the matter behind him, and brought up another topic with Helan Dao, "But, have you noticed a problem?"
"You say." Helan Dao squatted down and moved closer to him, and deliberately avoided the dead bones that were faintly visible under the yellow sand.
There are dead bones everywhere in this sandy river, especially near the mirror. I think this is the most dangerous place.
Helan Dao glanced around. The sky was filled with yellow sand and the ship was no longer visible. They had lost their way there. If they did something, no one would know. Thinking of this, Helan Dao raised his eyebrows.
Zhu Heng held the bronze mirror and the blue and white porcelain bowl, his eyes following the silk in Helan Dao's right hand all the way up, and finally looking into Helan Dao's eyes.
He said: "Bronze mirrors, porcelain bowls, and silk all appeared in our hands out of thin air..."
Helan Dao corrected him: "Only the bronze mirror and the porcelain bowl are like that. My silk was blown here by the wind, which is different from your situation."
Zhu Heng glanced at Helan Dao with an indifferent expression.
Helan said: "It's not important, please continue."
Zhu Heng: "Porcelain and silk are both tokens of passage to the next level, so I guess this bronze mirror is also."
"That makes sense," He Landao said. "If the mirror is also a token of trust, then when we get to the next level, we might find there's another level below it."
"It always ends."
"There's a lower level below a lower level, endlessly. What are you going to do?"
After hearing Helan Dao's question, Zhu Heng's heart did not waver at all. To him, this was not a problem at all.
"Anyway, it's better than sitting and waiting to die. Do you want to try it?" Zhu Heng held the small bronze mirror and spread his hands towards Helan Dao, tilting his head to the side.
Helan Dao stared at Zhu Heng without moving. He remained silent for a long time, so long that Zhu Heng almost forgot about the approaching dust storm around them.
"You..." Zhu Heng just opened his mouth to make a sound, and his wrist was suddenly grabbed by Helan Dao, and then he was pressed down by him, and the dust in the sky was blocked behind Helan Dao.
This world should have been extremely noisy, but Zhu Heng could hear nothing. The surging dust and sand behind him swept over, but it could not withstand the waves of horror raised in Helan Dao's eyes.
With Helan Dao's head buried in the crook of his neck, Zhu Heng heard him say, "Let me smell your scent."
【Author’s words】
I rolled over in bed after typing in the morning. Guess why?
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