aircannonsinc 116 The Way to the Church
116 The Way to the Church
The bulging wetsuit deflated and clung back to the body.
"And now?" Nono opened her arms and spun around halfway.
"You've lost a lot of weight."
"Shut up."
Nono untied the thread from her wetsuit and hung it on a protruding copper ring on the wall.
"From now on," she clapped her hands, "it's just the two of us."
"Look at these snake-faced people," Lu Mingfei pointed to the statues on both sides of the passageway ahead, "I think it would be best to destroy them. They should also be a kind of living spirit. Last time, there was a smaller snake-faced person, a few dozen centimeters long, following behind Aki. As a result, Aki cut her own lifeline and almost took off her helmet to commit suicide. It was very strange."
"This is so weird?" Nono clicked her tongue and shone her flashlight forward.
Countless bronze statues stand along the two walls, all dressed in ancient attire, with wide robes and sleeves, holding ivory tablets in their hands, but slender snake necks protrude from their collars, and their cobra-like heads are bowed, bowing towards the center of the passageway.
"These statues are quite large, and I'm worried that if you, this violent maniac, destroy them, you'll wake Norton up again," Nono said.
Lu Mingfei took out a coin and flicked it away. This coin was left behind by the people who ate their barbecue earlier; it was a 2000 chrysanthemum one-yuan coin, missing a "2". Ling said it was a misprinted coin, and if it were in good condition, it could fetch several thousand or even tens of thousands of yuan, and told him to keep it with him at all times.
The coin glittered in mid-air before landing with a "plop" in the water in the center of the passageway.
"What are you doing?" Nono asked.
"Try the mechanism; that's how they do it in games."
"Can you be a little more reliable? Norton doesn't play games."
"That's hard to say."
Lu Mingfei retrieved the coin from the bottom of the water and put it away carefully.
Nono stood in front of the first statue for a while, then suddenly said, "Lu Mingfei, come here."
"They're here."
Hold my hand.
"What, are you scared?"
"From now on, continue from where I left off." After saying that, Nuonuo seemed like a different person, pulling Lu Mingfei forward. "Come on."
"See them?" Nono raised a hand and pointed to two rows of bowing statues. "There are eighty-eight kinds of metal elements under my control. I burn them out of the mine, kill them, and then bring them back to life. They are my subjects."
"What's the point of doing this?" Lu Mingfei looked at Nuonuo, feeling as if he were talking to the memories of this Bronze City.
"We welcome guests and guard the gate." Nono's steps were unhurried. "When strangers walk down this road, they will stand up and ask questions. If they can't get their names, they stay here."
"Then..." He looked around and noticed that the statues were all bowing in a gesture of respect. "Are they welcoming guests now?"
"They recognize you," Nono said in a low voice. "Everything in this city recognizes you."
Nuonuo led Lu Mingfei through the maze-like passageways, as if she were the master of the place, knowing exactly where every fork in the road led.
Upon arriving at an open space, Nuonuo took Lu Mingfei's hand and stood beside the lake in the center.
"Lu Mingfei, I've been looking for you," Nuonuo suddenly said.
"Looking for me?" Lu Mingfei wasn't sure whether this Nuonuo was the one who had entered profiling mode or the usual one.
"Because I'm lonely without you."
"You're talking about the twin concept, right?"
"Let's go down," Nono said. "Our home is down there."
The bottom of the lake is white.
Layers upon layers of bones covered the entire lakebed, so dense that there was almost no place to step. The distinctive skulls and sternums indicated that these bones belonged to humans, and that tens of thousands of people had died here, their remains having settled here for thousands of years.
"How many people are there?" Lu Mingfei asked.
"Six thousand, that's Gongsun Shu's garrison. Outside the city are Liu Xiu's 80,000 troops." Nuonuo pulled Lu Mingfei and swam in one direction. "Come this way."
Below was another entrance guarded by a "living spirit." The two approached the spirit, and the turbine-shaped metal plate shifted, briefly creating an entrance that triggered a water tornado that sucked them in.
At the bottom, they were caught by a chair. They were sitting side by side on a huge waterwheel. The bronze waterwheel was covered with a thick, unidentified fabric, and each of the water-catching flaps was a comfortable seat. They descended along a dark passage, with the rushing sound of water on both sides.
"Why are there chairs on the waterwheel?" Lu Mingfei asked.
“You can’t sit still,” Nono said, “so I put a chair on the waterwheel.”
"You can't walk fast," she said again, "so I'll let the passageway walk for you."
The waterwheel reached its end, and the two men jumped off. They stood in a small house, an ancient dwelling cast in bronze, which, apart from its material, was no different from the ancient Chinese dwellings he had seen in history book illustrations.
"Come in, it's windy outside." Nuonuo opened the door and waved to Lu Mingfei with a smile.
Lu Mingfei sat down next to Nuonuo at the small table, which had a lamp and tea set on it.
Nuonuo looked at Lu Mingfei with indescribable emotions in her eyes. She reached out and touched Lu Mingfei's head, then gently pinched his cheek.
"Alright, I feel like you're taking advantage of me under the guise of profiling." Lu Mingfei tilted his head back and sat down opposite her.
Nuonuo slowly reached out, picked up the pot with one hand and the small cup with the other, and made a gesture as if to pour water. The pot was empty, and no water flowed out.
"There's no water left, I'll go get some," Lu Mingfei said.
"Don't go out!" Nono suddenly shouted.
Lu Mingfei was stunned and didn't know how to respond.
"I'm sorry," Nono whispered, "You're easily fooled by humans, I just wanted to protect you."
"It's okay, I know, thank you," Lu Mingfei replied.
Nono looked at him for a while, then gently placed the empty pot back on the table.
"It's out of character," she said.
Sitting opposite Lu Mingfei was Nuonuo, just like at the beginning.
"Finished acting?" Lu Mingfei breathed a sigh of relief. "Now we can go find Norton's egg, right? Do you think he'll lay his eggs here?"
"Lu Mingfei, I've been looking for you," Nuonuo suddenly said.
The words sounded familiar, and Lu Mingfei said in confusion, "I've always been here."
"Why do you always hide yourself and avoid me?" Nuonuo stared into Lu Mingfei's eyes, as if trying to see through what he was thinking.
Although they were in the Dragon King's lair, the world had entered a romance scenario, and at this moment, it was just the two of them in a world.
"I'm sorry, but people who get close to me are generally unlucky."
Nono frowned. "What do you mean?"
"It's like as soon as things start to get better around us, something bad happens. It happens every time," Lu Mingfei said. "Then we get used to it, we stay away, and everyone is safe."
Especially those with red hair...
"And now?"
"Now? I can even beat the Dragon King, so I'll protect you!"
"You're turning against the Heavenly Gang, Lu Mingfei!" Nuonuo pounced on Lu Mingfei, gently pinching his ear. "It's clearly your senior sister who's here to protect you!"
"I was wrong, I was wrong."
Nuonuo grabbed Lu Mingfei's head with both hands, gave him a sudden kiss, and laughed arrogantly, "Lu Mingfei, your first kiss was with me, Nuonuo!"