Volume 5 14-15
The team continued down the steep path until reaching the ninth lantern. As always, everything seemed quiet, and there was nothing out of the ordinary with the stone structure, only that the road was suddenly cut short by a lake. Its azure surface sat perfectly still, producing such a perfect reflection of the stars in the sky that Li Yiming could have thought them to have fallen to the ground.
"There’s nothing about this lake on the maps." Eyeglasses looked at his tablet.
"Look!" Liu Meng suddenly pointed at the other end of the lake.
The lake that laid in front of them was crescent-shaped and wrapped around the small stream that Li Yiming and his teammates had followed, making them barely a hundred meters away from the opposite shore. The tenth lantern which Liu Meng pointed at could be clearly seen standing across from this very lake.
"Are we going around this?" Liu Lin gazed at the lake. There was something discomfiting about the perfect stillness of the water.
"The fog..." Chen Quan suddenly squinted. A pale, white mist was climbing up the shores.
Li Yiming picked up a small pebble and threw it into the lake.
Plop!
The canvas on which the stars were painted was broken for a short moment. Li Yiming extended his senses into the water. ’Nothing... No shrimps, no crabs, no fish...’
"We’re going into the lake," Li Yiming said with determination. The shape of the lake made it impossible to estimate how long it would take to take a detour around it, and the fog gave them little time to think.
"Are you sure?" Shen Jianming looked at the misty film that was growing thicker by the second.
"We won’t be able to go across once the fog settles in." Chen Quan was quick to decide. He made sure that his bag was tightly sealed and put his dagger between his teeth.
Chen Quan dove into the lake with a loud splash, and his head quickly resurfaced shortly after. Despite the weight of his bag, he swam forward speedily, not even bothering to look back once.
"Let’s go." Eyeglasses glanced at Li Yiming and jumped ahead.
"Stay close to me." Li Yiming held Liu Meng’s hand as they both leaped into the water.
Lin Lu looked back at Shen Jianmin, put the M4 on his back and followed suit.
The team of six swam steadily toward the opposite shore. One could have believed this to be a relaxing journey if they ignored the bone-chilling events that happened beforehand, with the beautiful landscape around the lake and the sea of light illuminating the sky. However, every single person had their full attention ready for any kind of unexpected danger. As for Li Yiming, he spent most of his time staring at Liu Meng. After a quick glance ahead of, he noticed that the shore was hardly visible anymore.
"We have to hurry," Li Yiming urged.
"Wait!" Chen Quan, who led the way, suddenly stopped and looked around in bafflement.
"The water’s moving!" Eyeglasses shouted.
Just as Eyeglasses finished his sentence, the water below suddenly began to form into a whirlpool.
"We have to get out!" Li Yiming shouted, but the vortex had already grown too much in size and was swallowing up the entire lake.
’I guess I can’t hide it anymore.’ Frustrated, Li Yiming finally decided to use Thunderflash to save himself and the rest of the team.
"What?" Li Yiming’s eyes widened.
"Liu Meng!" Li Yiming panicked and instinctively extended his hand toward Liu Meng. He felt more reassured when their fingers locked together, but this comfort was short-lived. The vortex quickly dragged them down, and they were already more than a hundred meters apart from Chen Quan, who was still floating at the edge of the whirlpool.
’How deep is this lake?’
historical
This was Li Yiming’s last thoughts before he was pulled to the bottom.
Instead of being pulled from all directions, as Li Yiming had expected, the flow of water actually carried them to the center of the lake. He could barely see the surroundings; the water not only blocked the light, but it also prevented him from extending his senses. Fortunately, both Li Yiming and Liu Meng were a long way from suffocating, owing to their superior stamina. Before long, the currents finally settled down, and Li Yiming knew right away that it was the right time to make for the surface.
"Ugh..." Li Yiming gasped for air as his head made it out of the water, and he quickly pulled Liu Meng up, who was also gasping for air, her wet hair covering her entire face.
Li Yiming was relieved as seeing Liu Meng unharmed, and he finally had the attention to spare for what was happening around him. ’The same forest, the same lanterns... are we still in the same lake?’ Li Yiming hurriedly pulled Liu Meng toward the shore.
"Where are the others?" Once at the shore, Liu Meng brushed her hair to the side and turned back to look at the water.
"I think they’re still in there." Li Yiming looked at the lake. He suddenly vanished with a flash of purple light and appeared on the other side of Liu Meng.
’It’s back...’ The fact that he could use Thunderflash brought his confidence back, since it was his go-to technique.
"Look!" Liu Meng could see someone emerge from the water near the middle of the lake.
Li Yiming appeared right above the later the next moment and picked up the unconscious body from the lake. He tossed it toward the shore and appeared there the next instant to catch it. He could teleport himself with Thunderflash, but not carry a person with him as he did.
"It’s Lin Lu! How is she?" Lin Lu recognized the person Li Yiming had just rescued.
’It’s okay. She’s breathed some water, but we should be able to pull her back." Li Yiming said after putting his hand on Lin Lu’s neck.
"Let me do it!" Liu Meng suddenly exclaimed. She grabbed Lin Lu’s shoulders from Li Yiming and started to tap gently on her back.
"What do I do now...?" After seeing that Lin Lu was still unconscious, despite spitting out some water, Liu Meng looked at Li Yiming with a guilty conscience.
"You mean you don’t know?" Li Yiming thought Liu Meng knew what she was doing based on how fast she reacted.
"I’ve seen it on television... ventilation...?" Liu Meng bit her lips, her cheeks burning. She was nervous and... a little jealous.
"Well, I don’t know..." Li Yiming was also at a loss for what to do.
Liu Meng put Lin Lu down on the floor. "I know that you have to push on her chest and blow air into her mouth... I think that you also need to do it at the same time."
"Alright, so I’ll apply pressure here, and you blow the air." Li Yiming rolled up his sleeves. He was reluctant to give mouth-to-mouth since he had been spending three days in the wilderness without brushing his teeth.
"No no no, I’ll handle the chest. You blow the air." Liu Meng intervened right as Li Yiming reached out for Lin Lu.
"Huh? Okay..." Li Yiming was starting to understand Liu Meng’s intentions.
Li Yiming lifted Lin Lu’s chin up and made ready to carry out the maneuver. She had droplets of water hanging from her long eyelashes, and her tanned skin seemed spotless under the moonlight. This was the first time Li Yiming observed her this closely, since his attention had been wholly focused on Liu Meng before. ’Wow... I didn’t think she was this pretty. If she wore something more fashionable instead of a combat outfit, she would look stunning. I should be glad right now, but Liu Meng... Oh well, her life is what matters the most.’
"Wait... how about... you push and I’ll do the breathing..." Liu Meng suddenly stopped Li Yiming as he lowered his head.
"Oh..." Li Yiming almost threw Lin Lu’s head away upon hearing Liu Meng’s call.
"Cough... cough..." Lin Lu began to cough violently and suddenly opened her eyes. Li Yiming and Liu Meng let out a sigh of relief; Lin Lu was a little different from an ordinary person after all, and anyone less rigorously trained could have died already as Li Yiming and Liu Meng wasted their time.
* * *
Eyeglasses dragged Chen Quan by his belt as he made his way out of the water. He looked around until his eyes were fixated on the night sky. ’The same lake, the same mountain... where are we?’
"I... owe you my life." Chen Quan suddenly woke up and said with difficulty.
"You could help me out by getting up yourself. I have a really bad feeling about this lake." Eyeglasses looked at Chen Quan and dropped him down.
"Where are the others?" Chen Quan did not seem to mind the rough treatment at all and even sipped some water to rinse his mouth.
"Don’t know. Seems like we’re split." Eyeglasses took out his computer and started working. He was not worried about Li Yiming and Liu Meng, since they would have undoubtedly survived if he did. As for the others, he simply did not care.
"That’s a sturdy computer you’ve got right here." Chen Quan sat down right next to Eyeglasses, still shaking a little.
Eyeglasses ignored Chen Quan’s remark — he had put the computer away into his storage ring before he jumped into the lake. Rather, he focused on the question at hand. ’Is this really a domain...? I wonder.’
"Look..." Chen Quan pointed at the bottom-right corner of the screen.
’Four twenty-three... it moved?’ Eyeglasses was concerned by what he was seeing.
The number suddenly jumped to twenty-four.
The suspense is soon over ??
Shen Jianming grew up in a town right next to the sea. He joined the army when he was eighteen and was chosen for the spec ops squad when he was twenty-three. He was not the best shot in the team, nor the one with the best stamina, but he certainly held the throne for the best swimmer. His squadmates even gave him the nickname "Water Spectre."
As soon as Shen Jianming was pulled into the water, he held his breath and relaxed down. He knew that any struggling was simply a waste of stamina. As the current grew weaker, Shen Jianming, who was about to reach his limit, swam upward. The dizziness that was growing at a dangerously fast rate was finally cleared away by fresh air as he emerged from the lake. He looked around in worry between heavy gasps for air. ’Well, I’m out, but what about captain...?’
Shen Jianming had barely turned his head around when he noticed something flying straight toward his face. His eyes went black as the sound of something hard colliding against his head was heard. Before he fainted, he heard an angry voice in the distance.
"That’ll teach you to spy on my sis and me when we’re taking a bath. Pervert!"
* * *
Dawn arrived. It was no longer a sudden shift of night and day, but rather a gradual one. The sky lit up slowly, and the clouds on the east side were colored by orange sunlight. Li Yiming, Liu Meng, and Lin Lu sat at the shore of the lake and stared into the water: an entire night without anyone else surfacing.
"They’re..." Lin Lu lowered her head and bit her lips. She had started the mission with seven teammates, and now five of them went missing before having even achieved anything at all.
"We’ve been split, but they should be fine. We should circle around the lake and look for them." Li Yiming cleaned away the mud stuck on the bottom of his pants. He had perfect confidence in Eyeglasses, just as the latter had for him, and he saw Eyeglasses near Chen Quan when the whirlpool appeared. ’So Chen Quan should also be fine, it’s just Shen Jianming...’
"I lost my backpack. I’ll see if I can find some fruits in the forest." Lin Lu quickly settled down. If Li Yiming could regain his composure so quickly, then she would not be so slow either.
"It’s fine. Liu Meng still has some food, let’s eat first." Li Yiming glanced at Liu Meng.
"What? Oh." Liu Meng’s jumped up when her name was called, and the red light beneath her combat clothing faded away.
"Hey, how did your hair dry up so quickly?" Lin Lu suddenly noticed that Liu Meng’s long hair had dried out completely, but her own hair, which much shorter, was still wet and damp. The same was true for the clothes Liu Meng wore. l.
"It is normal that your clothes are still wet?" Liu Meng glanced at Li Yiming.
Li Yiming rolled his eyes; he had already sensed Liu Meng’s fire being used to dry her own clothes for a while now.
"We should eat first. We’ll go find the others after."
"Alright." Liu Meng grimaced and reached out for her backpack.
Lin Lu was baffled when she saw Liu Meng take out canned food, milk, bread, and even chips from her backpack. "Did you guys really bring all of this? You really did think of this as a field trip, did you? Also, how did you fit all of this into your bag...?"
"Ah! All done. I only brought this much." Liu Meng suddenly froze and realized the mistake she just made.
"She was worried that she wouldn’t be able to get used to the food you brought." A bead of cold sweat rolled down Li Yiming’s forehead as he scrambled for an excuse, and he tried to silence Lin Lu by giving her an opened can of beef.
"Have you noticed?" Li Yiming took a bite from a slice of bread and asked a question that would divert Lin Lu’s attention.
"Yeah." Lin Lu nodded with a severe countenance and started to chomp down on the food.
Li Yiming took another bite and sipped on some milk as he fell into his own thoughts.
From the moment the sun appeared above the horizon, the uninterrupted chirping of birds could be heard, and right now, there were even small fishes hopping out of the water from the time to time. A quick inspection and Li Yiming discovered the abundance of life at the bottom of the lake.
"Look at that!" Lin Lu swallowed down a mouthful of beef and pointed at the opposite shore. Two white herons flew out of the woods and were looking for food in the lake.
’This...the whirlpool from yesterday... Everything’s back to normal, but did we make it out... or did we enter the domain?’
"Wait... people are coming. We need to get out!" Li Yiming suddenly heard a very faint noise in the distance. After quickly cleaning up around where they sat, the three dove behind a bush nearby.
Lin Lu grasped her dagger as she laid prone in the grass. She had lost her rifle, but the dagger which she kept around her ankle had survived.
"Some kind of car?" Lin Lu could finally hear the noise now. It seemed like there were quite a few people heading their way. ’And this noise... a wooden wheel?’
"Quick! Let’s get some water and wash before going home." A loud, jovial voice was heard. About seven people appeared with two primitive-looking wooden trolleys.
’It’s them...’ Li Yiming’s heart skipped a beat; he recognized the person who led the way as the man who had jumped off a tree earlier.
"Their clothing..."
"Shush." Lin Lu interrupted Liu Meng. She could now see that all seven were men between twenty and forty years old. They wore robes and cloth shoes like those found in a museum around the Tang era, and had long, uncut hair. 1
"It’s quite the trip this time. Two whole carts. My little daughter loves these five-colored fruits! She’ll be very happy." Another man removed his robe and started to wipe his muscular torso with a grey cloth.
"If Xiao Min likes it so much, you should take a bit more then. We’re only two in the family, and Xiao Min is a such a pleasant child," Another guy said.
"Ah, but Aunt Li also likes these five-colored fruits a lot, doesn’t she? Everyone in the neighborhood knows about your piety!"
"What are you talking about! There are two whole carts. We’ll all have more than enough!"
The men removed their clothing one by one and washed themselves with water from the lake. All seemed to be content and happy with the result of their harvest.
’Five-colored fruits?’ Lin Lu looked at the giant baskets on the trolleys, which were full of a kind of unknown five-colored fruits as big as apples.
Li Yiming frowned. ’Going home, neighborhood? They have a village around here?’
The three waited patiently in their bush as the men concluded their routine.
"Who are these people? They’re dressed so strangely..." Liu Meng whispered after seeing the men walk away.
’Seems like they’ve just finished harvesting some kind of fruit, and they’re going back to their settlement." Lin Lu had also caught the hint.
"We should follow them." Li Yiming knew that finding Eyeglasses was not such a priority, since he could rely on the latter to come to him eventually. But the group of men constituted a very important clue. The trio
* * *
Qing Linglong sat at the end of the table and listened to the newly hired young man in the front, who was trying his best to explain his marketing strategy. However, the next moment, Qing Linglong suddenly frowned. The pencil she had been spinning around broken into two pieces and fell onto the table.
The room fell into a dead silence, and the young man at the front looked at his boss with a ghastly expression.
Beep! Beep!
Qing Linglong picked up her phone without looking. She was the only one who dared kept her phone on during the meeting: it was Qiaoqiao.
"That’s a fine plan. I’ll leave the rest to you. I have something to do." Qing Linglong said coldly and left the conference room.
She had just received a message from Heaven’s Laws: Team Dissonance had entered a domain.
* * *
At a beach on the other side of the Earth, a muscular man with a big beard rested on his chair comfortably with two alluring women in swimsuits. One was massaging his leg, while the other one was preparing a drink. However, both seemed to be terrified by the sudden shift in the man’s countenance. They could not imagine how a man was both rich and had pleasant manners suddenly gave them the impression that he was some kind of ferocious monster.
Big Beard looked at his tablet with a cold countenance. ’Li Yiming, Eyeglasses, and Liu Meng? So they’re really inside a domain? But what about the vacation? There are still two months left. What happened?’
His tablet was akin to Li Yiming’s, and he had purchased it from the exact same marketplace with progression points. The moment he saw the three names turn red on his screen, Big Beard knew that Li Yiming, Liu Meng and Eyeglasses had entered a domain and were going to be henceforth isolated from the exterior world. ’Why... are they still wary of me? But what about the Qing sisters? Is this an accident?’
At the Xianyun Abbey of Lianyun Peak, Li Huaibei bowed down reverentially to the statue of the deity in from of him and offered it his three incense sticks. Qing Feng sat right next to him, meditating with closed eyes.
Qing Feng seemed to pretend to have seen or heard nothing of his visitor, and, in the same way, Li Huaibei also completely ignored Qing Feng. As Li Huaibei exited the temple and made for the mountainous peaks in the distance, Qing Feng finally opened his eyes and glanced at the three incense sticks Li Huaibei had brought with him.
"So it starts..." The two whispered simultaneously.
In old times, people in China did not cut their hair, since hair was considered a gift from one’s parents, and so it would be against filial piety to cut one’s hair. ?