54 Silk Road 14
◎Zhang Qian◎
This thought only lasted for a moment. Zhu Heng did not have the extra time to delve into it. He needed to jump into the mud with Helan Dao and rush to the next level.
The quagmire was no longer dangerous. Zhu Heng felt his body sinking into the mud until his head was submerged. He was surprised to find that he could still breathe normally and even speak.
He Landao had obviously noticed it, too. As the two of them slowly sank, he spoke with interest, "So slow. How about we guess where the next level is?"
Zhu Heng casually replied, "Han Dynasty."
"That's it? Of course I know it's the Han Dynasty." Helan Dao laughed. "I mean, which specific event in the Han Dynasty? For example, Gan Ying, the first Eastern Han envoy to Rome who almost succeeded? Or... Ban Chao, the Protector General of the Western Regions?"
Zhu Heng glanced at him calmly: "You know so much, why are you asking me?"
Helan Dao raised his eyebrows.
As they spoke, the speed of their descent suddenly increased. Zhu Heng felt as if someone had yanked him hard in the stomach. Then, with two loud thuds, they both fell to the solid ground, sending up a puff of thin smoke.
We have reached the sixth floor.
When the smoke cleared, they could see their surroundings clearly.
This is a tent, and inside the tent sits a middle-aged man with a weathered face and a thin body. His eyes are shining brightly, and his sharp gaze falls on them, motionless, as if he can see through people.
Oh no, I’ve been caught red-handed, Zhu Heng thought.
He opened his mouth, ready to find an excuse to smooth things over: "We..."
However, the man spoke first: "Long time no see, I have been waiting for you."
Zhu Heng was stunned. He glanced at Helan Dao, who had the same reaction. Helan Dao obviously didn't know what was going on either.
"Long time no see..." Zhu Heng repeated the man's words, "Have we met before? Who are you?"
The man didn't say anything. He stood up with his hands on his knees and slowly walked towards them.
Zhu Heng's eyes followed the man's movements, glancing at the surrounding furnishings from the corner of his eye: the thick tent cover, worn to a greasy black. On the small table stood a vase containing a bunch of dried flowers, their colors already dark, dry, and yellow. In the corner of the tent leaned a long, shiny wooden staff, adorned with a few ornaments that looked like animal tail hair, already tattered and bald...
The light in the tent was dim, and a few beams of light shone through the gaps in the tent fabric, leaving bright white spots on the ground.
The man stood in the spot of light.
The sunlight from below caught his eyes, and his gaze moved from Zhu Heng to behind them.
Zhu Heng turned his head and saw that the tokens they had obtained from the previous floors had fallen out of their bodies because they fell so hard, and were scattered all over the floor.
The man counted them with his fingers, and to Zhu Heng's astonishment, he recognized them all. He muttered, "Let me see. Kumarajiva's lotus, hmm, it fell with you, and it's still very fresh. Oh, that's tea from Quanzhou, the port of the Southern Song Dynasty. Great! I haven't had tea from the Central Plains in a long time... What else? Is this Yuan Dynasty blue and white porcelain? Bronze mirrors, silk... Very good, very good, not a single one is missing."
"Wait a moment, sir." Zhu Heng called out to the man who was immersed in his own world, "Are these tokens all yours?"
The man was obviously surprised, and a smile appeared on the corner of his mouth: "My property? Why do you think so? These-"
He took a step back and spread out his hands: "These are things that can save your lives. It's useless for me to hold them. Oh, by the way, you can leave the lotus in your hand to me." The man said to Helan who was picking up the lotus and smelling it.
"There are still many in that stinking quagmire of Kumarajiva. You can get them whenever you want. Unlike me, I can't see anything from the Central Plains."
Zhu Heng almost subconsciously cast his gaze on the small table he had just looked at. There was a bunch of burnt dried flowers in the vase on the table. Zhu Heng narrowed his eyes.
That is a dried lotus.
"Oh, I forgot to introduce myself. My name is Zhang Qian, and I'm from what you call the Western Han Dynasty." Zhang Qian noticed Zhu Heng's reaction, but he didn't explain anything.
"Zhang Qian?" Helan Dao repeated.
In other words, they skipped the Eastern Han Dynasty and went directly to Zhang Qian.
Helan Dao put down the lotus in his hand and casually placed it in the vase full of dried lotus flowers on the table.
Zhu Heng looked at the dried flowers and suddenly frowned. Why do all these lotus flowers look the same? It's like they were copied and pasted...
Helan Dao's voice interrupted Zhu Heng's thoughts. He asked Zhang Qian, "I've read in history that although your mission to the Western Regions wasn't smooth and you were even captured along the way..." Helan Dao noticed Zhang Qian's expression froze for a moment, then smiled and changed the subject, "But you were the first person to open up the Silk Road, so this is the final level, right?"
"The last level?" Zhang Qian emphasized, "I'm afraid the truth of the matter will disappoint you. I don't know how many levels this copy has, but one thing I can be sure of is that the level you are on now is definitely not the end... Wait a minute, you haven't taken your eyes off me since the beginning, what do you want to ask?" Zhang Qian turned and asked Zhu Heng.
Zhu Heng was stunned for a second, then replied, "I was wondering, as someone from the Western Han Dynasty, how could you know so much about the future? Can I ask that?"
"Of course, it's okay for me to answer your question. This is what someone who came here before told me. I like to exchange information with you... and with them." A very subtle light flashed in Zhang Qian's eyes.
"Did all these people pass the level successfully?" Zhu Heng asked.
Zhang Qian smiled and replied, "Although they can all leave this level smoothly with my help, they naturally cannot pass through it. And so far, not a single one has."
Zhu Heng glanced at Helan Dao and felt a little interested.
Zhang Qian stood up, lifted his water bag, and poured a drop of water into his palm. "A drop of water is truly the most beautiful structure in the world... I'll pour this drop out later. Remember, before it hits the ground, you two must quickly run in. That way, you can leave this floor. Remember, you must be quick."
He tilted his palm slightly, signaled Zhu Heng and He Lan with his eyes, and said, "Come on, children, put on the hooded robes you brought from Quanzhou... Don't be too afraid, your predecessors left in the same way."
Zhu Heng looked at Zhang Qian deeply, feeling that something was fishy going on, but he showed no abnormality on his face, and just followed Zhang Qian's instructions.
As the water drops fell, Zhu Heng and Helan Dao swooped over, and the water drops instantly turned into a whirlpool, sucking them both in.
Then Zhu Heng heard Zhang Qian say his last words: "Good luck, and I look forward to seeing you again soon."
A thought suddenly flashed through Zhu Heng's mind.
He immediately grabbed Helan Dao and tried to rush back, but the water droplets had already held them tightly, sending them on to another world.
A blinding white light enveloped them. This time, the descent was much longer than any previous one. The weightlessness lasted for more than ten seconds. Then, they felt their bodies suddenly become very light, almost floating, and then, lifted by a force, they landed gently on the ground.
Zhu Heng swayed, opened his eyes, and saw a familiar scene - a hemispherical glass curtain wall, white sunlight pouring in, and an empty waiting hall.
This is the ruined city standing in the desert.
"We..." Zhu Heng paused for a second, "Are we back on the ground?"
With a "bang", there was a sound of a heavy object hitting the ground behind Zhu Heng.
He thought it was Helan Dao's voice, but when he looked up, he found Helan Dao standing next to him. At this moment, Helan Dao slowly raised his eyes and met his gaze.
The marble floor of the waiting hall was so shiny that one could see a mirror. Zhu Heng held Helan Dao's shoulders, looked away, and followed the floor behind him.
He first saw a silver handgun lying on the ground.
Further back were two pairs of feet, with long, dark robes trailing on the ground draped over the ankles, gently swaying in the wind.
Zhu Heng's hand on Helan Dao's shoulder suddenly pressed down lightly.
It was a very covert action, no one could notice it.
But for Zhu Heng and Helando, this action was like a switch, opening up their minds.
They reacted at the same time—it was the two robed men chasing them!
Zhu Heng quickly took a deep breath and continued to extend his sight behind him for reconnaissance.
At this moment, the other party's toes were pointing towards them. It was obvious that he had noticed the existence of Zhu Heng and Helan Dao before Zhu Heng discovered them.
Perhaps because the incident happened suddenly, both sides were stuck in place, not moving at all.
The only good news - Zhu Heng comforted himself - was that the silver handgun that fell to the ground was closer to him.
His heart was beating fast.
Perhaps the sound of his heartbeat was too loud. He saw Helan Dao slowly raise his hand, cover the back of his hand, and pat him as if giving a secret signal.
Zhu Heng made his decision almost in an instant.
He shook Helan Dao off, turned around and fell to the ground. Before the other party arrived, Zhu Heng successfully grabbed the pistol. He raised his hand, aimed it at the hearts of the two robes, and pulled the trigger without any hesitation.
The two robes fell down.
Zhu Heng stood up straight, breathing softly, his hand holding the gun shaking uncontrollably. He felt a sense of fear and regret for no apparent reason, and he didn't know what was wrong with him.
Those two robes, those two robes...
He Landao walked to Zhu Heng and whispered, "Well done."
Zhu Heng raised his eyelids to look at him, wanting to say something but unable to utter a word. Suddenly at this moment, he heard footsteps coming from not far away.
They looked down at the waiting hall at the same time and made eye contact with two uninvited guests who had accidentally broken into the waiting hall.
These two uninvited guests had the same hairstyle, skin color, eyes, nose... and appearance as them.
There was deathly silence all around.
A bird flapped its wings and crashed into the glass curtain wall above their heads, breaking the stalemate between the two sides.
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