55 Silk Road 15
S-level missions
"Zhu Heng" and "Helan Dao" downstairs ran out of the waiting hall and disappeared in the blink of an eye.
Zhu Heng and Helan Dao immediately understood what was going on.
They chased after him without hesitation, wasting no time, and ran behind "themselves" into the residential area outside.
The uninhabited area of the ruined city was so vast that upon entering, Zhu Heng felt suffocated. The residential buildings overhead piled up in a rush, making it almost impossible to see the sky. Everywhere was filled with impenetrable, dilapidated buildings.
After chasing for a while, Zhu Heng stopped and paused for a few seconds.
He looked up at Helan who had caught up with him and said, "It's us."
Helan Dao nodded: "It's us, we are the robes."
"So this is the next level Zhang Qian mentioned. This is both the first and the last level. There are only seven levels in total."
As Zhu Heng finished his conclusion, his expression changed slightly, and he immediately turned and ran back: "We ran too far. I don't remember us running this far."
He Landao did not take action immediately. He followed slowly and asked Zhu Heng, "Why did you go looking for 'us'?"
Zhu Heng stopped and looked at him: "You see, this is a cycle."
Helan Dao raised his eyebrows.
"So we have to find ourselves and break this cycle."
-
Zhu Heng followed his memory and came to their original hiding place.
A thin layer of sweat appeared on his forehead. As he approached the wall, Zhu Heng couldn't help feeling a little nervous.
It has to be quick, because "they" are going to the dungeon soon.
Zhu Heng rushed there at the fastest speed he had ever run, but he was still a step too late. He saw yellow sand rising from behind the wall. "They" who had been hiding there had disappeared from the ground.
Zhu Heng punched the wall, breaking the skin on his joints and bleeding.
He Landao arrived a step late. His eyes fell on Zhu Heng's left hand: "I suggest you go to the waiting hall to treat the wound."
Zhu Heng held the back of his hand and glanced at Helan Dao indifferently, but still turned around and walked back.
"I just noticed that there is a pool of water in the middle of the waiting hall. You can use it to wash the blood off your face." Helan Dao said.
Zhu Heng returned to the waiting hall. There was no trace of fighting inside. The place where the two "corpses" were lying was now empty. It seemed that the place had been cleaned up by the system, as if nothing had happened.
"I always have a bad feeling, for example..." Helan Dao glanced around and then spoke.
"You'd better shut up." Zhu Heng interrupted him, "I don't want to hear bad news now."
Helan Dao shrugged, not really caring: "You must be thinking the same thing as me, so you won't let me say it."
Zhu Heng didn't say a word. He walked to the side of the pool, squatted down, put his hand into the cold liquid and stirred it. Ripples appeared on the water surface, and Zhu Heng's face with a bloodstain across it in the reflection also floated.
Suddenly, Zhu Heng slowly raised his hand, gently stroked his cheek with his fingertips, and stared at the water.
Another face slowly emerged from under the water. It was his own face—a clean face without a drop of blood.
The face looked at him from the water, obviously also noticing Zhu Heng's presence.
He slowly put his hand down, and at the same time, "Zhu Heng" under the water raised his hand and touched his cheek.
Zhu Heng instantly submerged his entire arm in the water. His hand unexpectedly passed through the surface and directly reached the underwater dimension where Zhu Heng was. Surprised, he subconsciously opened his palm and grabbed the ankle of the person opposite him, trying to pull him back to the surface.
However, the "Zhu Heng" on the opposite side kicked his hand away and led the "Helan Dao" on the opposite side back to the shore where he could not see.
"What's wrong with you?" Helan Dao, who had been standing behind him, noticed something was wrong with Zhu Heng and walked towards him.
Zhu Heng had no time to care about Helan Dao's question. He let him stand beside him and looked down at the water with him.
At this moment, two figures appeared on the water, one was "Zhu Heng" on the opposite side, and the other was "Helan Dao".
"Oh, isn't this us? I see." Helan Dao sighed as if suddenly realizing something. "I never thought that one day I would admit how foolish I was... Even though we're both wearing robes now, what's wrong with this 'Helan Dao' across from me? He can't even recognize himself? This is really unbelievable."
Zhu Heng stared at the water surface and found that "he" and "Helan Dao" in the underground city were both sinking to the bottom of the water and heading to another world.
He didn't blink, afraid of missing something.
That blue and white porcelain bowl, yes, that Yuan Dynasty porcelain bowl that inexplicably fell into his hand, how did it appear here? Now is probably his only chance to find out.
Zhu Heng stared at the bottom of the water and saw the two faces in the water that looked exactly like theirs slowly turning red due to holding their breath, looking very painful.
Hold on a little longer, and a token will fall down soon...
Helan Dao didn't seem to like standing here doing nothing. He said coldly, "Can't you see that we're about to suffocate to death in the water?"
"What can I do?" Zhu Heng said, "You can't ask me to find a token..."
etc.
Zhu Heng's expression froze for a second, and his hand touched the blue and white porcelain bowl hidden under his robe. He seemed to know what he should do.
He immediately pulled out the porcelain bowl and threw it into the water without hesitation. The bowl slowly sank, and then turned over. The pattern on the bowl suddenly became less clear, as if it had entered another world, separated from them by an invisible barrier.
Zhu Heng watched as the blue-and-white porcelain bowl slowly floated in the water toward him and landed in his hands. Then, the bowl carried them to the next world.
"It's really interesting." Helan Dao watched everything happening in the water and said slowly.
"So, the other tokens are also given by us to ourselves." Zhu Heng said.
Helan Dao turned his back and glanced around casually: "The next level is the bronze mirror, so do we have to find the mirror? I don't think you can pass it through the water."
As soon as Helan Dao finished speaking, Zhu Heng's eyes lit up and he went straight to find the toilet in the waiting hall.
When he got there, before entering, Zhu Heng saw a mirror installed at the door that was covered with a layer of dust.
Helan Dao is right, Zhu Heng thought.
No wonder he took the bronze mirror handed to him from the broken lens so naturally in that desert world belonging to the Yuan Dynasty.
Zhu Heng thought as he wiped the dust off the bathroom mirror. A faint silhouette appeared on the mirror. He immediately pulled out the bronze mirror from his arms and shoved it into the bathroom mirror, successfully passing it to the world on the other side.
A white light flashed in the mirror, dazzling Zhu Heng's eyes. He suddenly realized something. He looked at the scene in the mirror: in the dust, "Helan Dao" suddenly hugged "Zhu Heng" and buried his head in "his" neck to sniff.
Zhu Heng looked at Helan Dao's movements, moved his lips, and turned his head away.
However, Helandao clearly had no sense of shame about his behavior. He looked towards Zhu Heng with a playful look in his eyes.
Zhu Heng turned his face away. He wanted to ask Helan Dao what he was smelling. He felt that this was not a normal behavior in such a situation, but Zhu Heng could not bring himself to ask.
He felt uncomfortable all over, so he simply cut off all outward sight and shut off his five senses. But if he focused his gaze on Helan Dao's face at this time, he would find that the smile on Helan Dao's face gradually disappeared when he looked at him.
Helan Dao lowered his eyes and looked down at the blue silk on his right arm, his gaze containing a deep light.
If all the tokens in their hands in the past were from their future selves, then what about this piece of silk?
How it came into his hands.
Why does this piece of silk smell like... Zhu Heng?
"Let's go." Zhu Heng spoke first to divert attention. He held a handful of tea leaves in his hand and said to Helan, "We have to deliver this to our own hands."
But how should this be delivered? Zhu Heng was a little puzzled.
Helan Dao saw his confusion and said, "Put your hands out... Don't look at me like that. Do you remember how we got the tea and left on the Song Dynasty floor?"
"Appear automatically in our palms?" Zhu Heng said, and the palm holding the tea leaves unconsciously loosened.
"That's right."
Helan Dao stretched out his hand and covered Zhu Heng's hand. Those tiny tea leaves disappeared directly from his palm, apparently going to another world.
"What's next?" Helan Dao asked as he let go of Zhu Heng's hand.
Zhu Heng suddenly fell to the ground.
He Landao was stunned and immediately squatted down to check Zhu Heng's condition.
There was no wound on his body, but he had fallen unconscious. Helan Dao looked at Zhu Heng's face again and found that a faint black mist had gathered above his head, looming.
What's this?
Suddenly, a voice of prayer came to Helan Dao's ear.
"Buddha, how can I help Master Tripitaka escape from this predicament?"
Helan Dao turned his face to the side and saw a temple next to Zhu Heng. In the temple, Master Huiwei was kneeling in front of the Buddha, praying for Xuanzang - it looked a bit like a holographic image.
Helan Dao looked at it for a while, then reached out and took out a piece of paper from the temple. He frantically wrote a few words: "Go find the two people who appeared at the city gate when the sun sets."
After writing, he threw the note in front of the Buddha statue.
Then the scene suddenly changed, and the sound of wind gradually began to sound in my ears.
Helan Dao looked up and saw three familiar translucent figures in the desert - they were the former "Zhu Heng", "Helan Dao" and "Xuanzang".
He looked far ahead, and just ahead of the three figures, he saw the city of Guazhou standing on the desert. However, at this moment, Zhu Heng, who was walking in the front, suddenly turned around and, as if he had lost his soul, led Helan Dao and Xuan Zang in the opposite direction.
Helan Dao frowned. He noticed that the black fog that originally gathered above Zhu Heng's head had now wrapped around "Zhu Heng" in the desert, like a movable balloon, tightly wrapping him inside.
No, we can’t let “Zhu Heng” go on.
Helan Dao made a decision immediately. He pushed aside the black fog, walked directly in, and held Zhu Heng's hand.
He closed his eyes, trying to identify Guazhou's location in the darkness. Zhu Heng, whose body was eroded by the black mist, was incredibly obedient. He held Helan Dao tightly, following his guidance and heading in the right direction.
He Landao noticed that "Zhu Heng" behind him was shaking constantly, and he spoke to comfort him: "I'm here."
Zhu Heng quieted down.
They finally walked out of the black fog, and Guazhou was ahead.
Zhu Heng, who had been lying on the ground, groaned softly and slowly woke up.
Helan Dao let go of Zhu Heng's hand, left them, and returned to Zhu Heng on the ground.
"Did I fall asleep just now?" Zhu Heng opened his eyes and looked at Helan.
"Um."
Zhu Heng didn't say anything, he seemed to have guessed what had happened to him.
"Next up are Kumarajiva and Zhang Qian. It seems these two worlds don't need us to give tokens." Zhu Heng stood up. "So now, what should we do?"
After he said this, he looked straight at the only thing left on his body - the silver pistol.
Suddenly, there was a noise on the floor above the waiting hall.
Zhu Heng reflexively grasped the gun in his hand, and he and Helan Dao looked up at each other at the same time. After only a second, the two men reacted tacitly and quickly turned around and ran to the upper floors.
Coming up the stairs, the backs of two men in long robes came into their sight.
Zhu Heng's hand holding the gun handle trembled, and the gun fell to the ground with a crisp sound.
All four of them seemed to be still.
At that moment, countless thoughts flashed through Zhu Heng's mind. They turned into words and kept flashing in his brain.
not good!
Zhu Heng cried out secretly.
He saw "himself" turn around and grab the pistol before him, followed by two "bangs" and the sound of bullets piercing the air.
He saw himself and Helan Dao fall down.
Soon the whole world returned to silence, so quiet that nothing could be heard.
Before he fell, only one thought popped into Zhu Heng's mind - damn, this is called an S-level mission.
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