Book 4: Chapter 45: Answer
Xiao Hua had always been a very gentle person, so even though this question was asked very calmly, I was a little surprised to find that it seemed a bit aggressive. My emotions were very complicated as I turned to look at Poker-Face. I didn't like him being questioned, but what Xiao Hua said really was something I cared about.
Anyone who entered this place should be full of doubts, so if Poker-Face could give an explanation and clear up these doubts, it would undoubtedly be like suddenly throwing a ray of sunlight in this place.
Poker-Face looked at Xiao Hua and still didn't answer.
It seemed like he never had any intentions of mentioning this issue. Xiao Hua had probably figured it out at an earlier time and just sighed.
Eventually, Poker-Face said, "It's different from what you think."
"But does this have anything to do with what you said about the Ultimate?" Xiao Hua continued to ask.
When Poker-Face nodded, Fatty and I both froze in shock and then looked at each other in dismay.
Fuck me, they’re really related?
Poker-Face didn't explain any further, but he also had a doubtful expression on his face.
What I was wondering was, if the black spot and the bronze door were the same thing, then was it possible that an ancient civilization built a giant door over the black spot in order to cut off its growth and prevent it from advancing any further?
Was there also a crevice behind the bronze door that led to the bottom of the Kunlun Mountains?
So what did Poker-Face do when he entered the bronze door? Was there anything at the bottom of the Kunlun Mountains? I had already prepared myself to never know what was behind that bronze door, but who would have thought I’d get a clue now.
"Is there anyone in front of you?" Poker-Face asked.
He was asking Xiao Hua if there was an advance team that had gone deeper into this place.
"Black Glasses is still up ahead," Xiao Hua answered.
"You go out first. The three of us will find him," Poker-Face said.
"He’s already having problems," Xiao Hua said. "It’s obvious his behavior isn’t under his control." Xiao Hua looked around. "The stones here seem to be controlling him. You won’t be able to find him and I can't find him either. If there’s no way to figure out what’s going on here, I’m afraid we may not even be able to get down from this cliff."
"What the hell is going on? Why did you even come here? " I asked him.
Xiao Hua looked at me—I had never seen a sign of him hiding something from me before, but I saw it on his face just now—before turning to his team and saying, "Bring me one of the bronze pieces. You should clean up first and watch closely as Fat Master examines the corpse."
Someone handed a bag to Xiao Hua, who immediately threw it to me, "You take it. Let’s go up so we can chat privately."
I took the bag and glanced at Poker-Face. When he nodded at me, I began climbing up after Xiao Hua.
We climbed all the way up to a spot three stories higher than our previous position and found a gap to place a safety anchor in. Xiao Hua then hung the bag on another safety anchor before heaving a big sigh.
The lights below were very hazy, almost like a dream.
"Go ahead," I said to him.
Xiao Hua silently made a gesture at me, which was the exact same gesture Jin Wantang had showed me before. I didn’t know what it meant, but it seemed to represent something: the breaking of a pledge of confidentiality.
"When your grandfather was cremated, you should remember very clearly that no one was allowed to watch or be near the incinerator," Xiao Hua said. "Your grandfather's cremation took three times longer than ordinary cremations."
Well, I knew that, but I didn’t know what Xiao Hua was getting at by mentioning it.
"Shigou Diao is an organization. When they die, they follow these rules. But not every family will abide by it. I bought a video of a Shigou Diao cremation. Do you want to see it? After you do, you can empathize with what I’m going to say later."