bookcurios Chapter 221 It seems that a friend has come
Chapter 221 It seems that a friend has come
The three people, without any communication, hurried on in silence, away from the crowd, crossed the snow line, and went deeper.
As the sun gradually set, they climbed to the top of one of the snow-capped mountains and found a place to set up camp, thus ending their day's journey.
The scenery on the snow-capped mountains is extremely beautiful no matter when you look at it. The light and shadow on the horizon add a layer of warm yellow color to the snow-white mountaintops, which also adds some warmth to the people in it.
Wuxie finally got the chance to slowly ask questions about the doubts in his heart.
"Are you... going to the Bronze Gate?"
He looked at Zhang Qiling who was standing aside, looking at something unknown, then looked at Qin Yuchen who was sitting with his eyes closed, and asked cautiously.
"Yes." Zhang Qiling retracted his gaze, sat next to Qin Yuchen, and answered Wuxie's question.
"You mentioned before that behind the bronze door is the ultimate, so what exactly is it?" Wu Xie frowned and continued to ask,
"..." Zhang Qiling shook his head and didn't intend to explain this in too much detail.
Seeing him like this, Wu Xie didn't intend to dwell on this question, but changed the subject and asked:
"So are you going in again this time?"
Zhang Qiling was silent for a moment and nodded.
"You were able to follow us and knew where we were going. It seems that you knew something."
"Yes, but I don't understand why I have to go in?"
"This all starts with an agreement and a secret."
Zhang Qiling said.
This is the first time he starts telling stories about himself.
Wuxie listened very carefully.
Zhang Qiling said that the Zhang family's ancestral precepts have always aimed at survival, hoping that the Zhang family can survive in any troubled times, thus preserving the group burials of the Zhang family's ancient building.
A long time ago, the Zhang family obtained a huge secret, and this secret itself was only known to the patriarch of the Zhang family.
Moreover, this secret has a critical time node. Once this node arrives, someone needs to guard it.
However, ever since something happened to the Zhang family and Zhang Qiling became the last head of the Zhang family, he took the initiative to find the Nine Gates at that time, that is, the period when Zhang Qiling was still alive, hoping to rely on the power of the Old Nine Gates to share the responsibility and prevent the secret from being discovered.
But no one among the Old Nine Gates fulfilled their promise.
Zhang Qiling paused for a moment and continued:
"For a hundred years, the people who have guarded this secret are all members of the Zhang family. However, after that incident, the power of the Zhang family was weakened. Our previous promise is that the people in the Nine Gates must take turns to guard this secret."
Wu Xie tried hard to digest the information Zhang Qiling gave him. He quickly absorbed it and asked:
"Why didn't they go?"
“That’s a really interesting question.”
Qin Yuchen didn't know when he opened his eyes. He leaned against Zhang Qiling and looked at Wuxie with a funny face.
"You should ask Zhang Qishan or any of the people in charge of the Old Nine Gates about this question, instead of asking us."
"...Sorry." After hearing Qin Yuchen's answer, Wuxie suddenly felt a little embarrassed and quickly changed the next question.
"Then... how long will it take to get out after entering?"
Zhang Qiling said: "Ten years."
"...Ten years." Wu Xie silently repeated these two words and asked again,
"Then if the nine gates take turns as agreed, who should take the turn in the next ten years?"
"you."
"Me?" Wuxie pointed at himself blankly. It could be said that this was an answer he had not expected at all.
"Homeless people."
Tan Yuchen added.
Wu Xie looked at Qin Yu Chen. After digesting what Zhang Qiling said, combined with the largest tomb-robbing activity in history that he had heard of at the time, this was the first time he had a more or less complete understanding of something.
Although there are still some details.
Wu Xie had not yet fully recovered from his shock and had no idea what Qin Yuchen had added. He wanted to continue asking something, but the two people who could give answers had already lost interest in answering the questions and stood up and left.
The next day, before dawn, they continued on their way by moonlight.
They remained silent all the way. Wuxie actually wanted to just go in. Since he was already here, he might as well start by fulfilling his promise.
But when he thought about Qin Yuchen's attitude towards the older generation in the Huo family at that time, he decided not to bring bad luck to Qin Yuchen.
The three of them left the ridge and came to the area where the hot springs were.
Qin Yuchen, who had been silent all the way, suddenly laughed. He took off the tightly wrapped black knife on his back, tore open the white cloth, stared at a gap and said:
"It looks like a friend is coming."
"Wha...what?"
"Come on."
The change happened too quickly, Wuxie had no time to react. Before he could see what was being said, Zhang Qiling grabbed the strap of his backpack and quickly slipped into another gap.
As soon as they left, fierce gunfire was heard from one of the gaps, mixed with a few curses.
The loud noise knocked down the fragile rubble, which then hit the two people who were trying to run.
Wu Xie was hit so hard that he tightened his hat, held his head with both hands and tried to turn around to look for Qin Yuchen:
"Brother! Where's Yu Chen?!"
"later."
Zhang Qiling replied in a calm voice.
He quickly shuttled through the narrow gaps. Fortunately, there were many gaps here and it was dark enough to confuse the people behind him.
Wu Xie paused before asking what those people were thinking, because he found that after Zhang Qiling finished speaking, the gunshots around him became quieter and he could no longer hear Zhang Qiling's footsteps.
In just a few seconds, it seemed as if he was the only one left around.
"Brother?" Wuxie quickly turned on the flashlight and looked at the endless gap.
This was what Zhang Qiling asked him to close when he was being taken away by Zhang Qiling. When he opened it now, he found that Zhang Qiling was no longer around.
“Brother!!”
"Yu Chen!"
Wuxie shouted a few more times, hesitated for a while and decided to keep moving forward.
Wuxie didn't know how long he had been wandering inside. Just when he couldn't find anyone and was about to go back the same way, he saw a faint light source right in front of him.
He quickly turned off the flashlight and immersed himself completely in the darkness.
He didn't know what the light source was. Although he hoped in his heart that it was Tan Yuchen or Zhang Qiling, he didn't dare to gamble.
The sound of bullets raining down like raindrops just now seemed to still be ringing in his ears. What should he do if he was unlucky and met those people of unknown origin?