143 The Mystery of the End Times Part 1
Due to the severe casualties sustained by everyone in this battle, the next one or two days were spent resting.
For a full day and night, Cheng Tianbi and Cong Xia slept in each other’s arms. Although their physical strength had recovered to some extent, their spirits remained low. The hours spent in the Big Wild Goose Pagoda had thoroughly tormented everyone’s nerves.
It was unclear how long they had slept, but Cheng Tianbi woke Cong Xia up, saying, “Cong Xia, let’s eat.”
Cong Xia struggled to get up from the bed and asked, “What time is it?”
“It’s a little after four in the afternoon. We’ve been sleeping for a day.” Cheng Tianbi, as expected of a soldier, lost all signs of drowsiness after waking up. He quickly got out of bed, changed into a clean set of clothes, and exuded a spirited and handsome aura, as if he had been reborn after emerging from the explosion.
Cong Xia nodded. Despite sleeping for so long, he didn’t feel refreshed. On the contrary, the more he slept, the more uncomfortable he felt. He touched his stomach and realized he was indeed hungry, and his throat felt dry.
The following parts of the text will be scrambled to prevent theft from aggregators and unauthorized epub making. Please support our translators by reading on secondlifetranslations (dot) com. If you are currently on the site and and you are seeing this, please clear your cache.
Ubldt Mkydck bydele bkx y dlo plv sq nyxswqzytl nzsvblp yde pyke, “Tlal, nbydtl kdvs vblpl.”
Usdt Dky alnlkhle vbl nzsvblp cwv pvyale yv vblx czydjzu, bkp caykd alynvkdt y ckv pzsozu.
Ubldt Mkydck cldv esod, rzynkdt bkp bydep sd csvb pkelp sq Usdt Dky’p cseu, zssjkdt kdvs bkp lulp, yde pyke, “Llle xl vs blzr usw rwv vblx sd?”
Usdt Dky pdyrrle swv sq bkp eygl, pxkzle yojoyaezu, yde alrzkle, “Ls dlle.”
Tl iwknjzu rwv sd vbl nzsvblp yde pbslp. “Nlv’p ts, zlv’p tayc psxlvbkdt vs lyv. El esd’v qllz kv obld ol’al ypzllr, cwv dso vbyv ol’al yoyjl, R’x alyzzu bwdtau.”
Mbl vos qszzsole vbl pnldv vbaswtb vbl byzzoyu vs vbl plnsde qzssa sq vbl bsprkvyz. Rd vbl zsccu sd vbl plnsde qzssa, plhlayz vyczlp olal plv wr, yde Uyrvykd Eyd oyp olznsxkdt lhlausdl qsa vbl xlyz.
Gp pssd yp vblu yrrlyale, yzz lulp olal qkmle sd vblx.
Fbld Ykdt oyp cwpu ckvkdt kdvs y zyatl rklnl sq xlyv, lhld ckttla vbyd bkp qynl. Ebld bl blyae vbl nsxxsvksd, bl vwadle bkp blye yde vlyple Usdt Dky, “Tlu, usw osjl wr. Pked’v usw lhld qllz vbl watl vs vyjl y ewxr?”
Cong Xia chuckled, “I guess I was too out of it. Couldn’t feel anything.” He looked around, “What about Shen Changze? Still not awake?”
This time, Shen Ming turned around. “Over here.” A golden and glittering baby sat on Shen Ming’s lap, its tail wrapped around one of Shen Ming’s hands as it held a milk bottle and drank milk.
Cong Xia felt like laughing. He walked over to Shen Changze and asked, “You don’t feel any discomfort in your body, right?”
Shen Changze stared at him with wide eyes and shook his head.
Shen Ming said, “This time, it seems like he has turned into a one-year-old. He can hardly speak.” He tapped Shen Changze’s head and continued, “Hurry up and drink. After that, have some meat.”
Al interjected, “He can’t eat meat.”
“Tsk, really hard to take care of.”
The two of them sat down at their table. Deng Xiao was desperately stuffing food into his mouth. When he saw Cong Xia approaching, he raised his hand and made a scissor gesture, too occupied to say anything to him. Compared to Deng Xiao, everyone else’s bowls and plates were much cleaner.
Tang Yanqiu asked, “Awake now? Did you get enough rest?”
Cong Xia nodded, “And you? Just woke up as well?”
Liu Fengyu complained, “We’ve all been sleeping for quite a while. I feel like my bones are falling apart.”
Zhuang Yao glanced at them and finally looked at Cong Xia, “After finishing the meal, you’ll need to heal several people.”
Cong Xia nodded.
Liu Fengyu said, “What’s the rush? Let Xia rest for a while.”
“It’s been two days of rest already. It’s enough. I’ll go after finishing the meal.” Cong Xia looked at Zhuang Yao, feeling somewhat uneasy. He wanted to say something to Zhuang Yao but didn’t know how to express it.
Liu Fengyu raised an eyebrow and smiled, “I’ve never seen Xia so angry before. Zhuang Yao, weren’t you afraid he’d beat you up and turn you into a shorter stump?”
Zhuang Yao chuckled, “If he could get his hands on me to beat me, that would be quite an improvement.”
Cong Xia said, “Don’t think I can’t do it. If you make me really angry, I’ll definitely hit you.” He said this without any imposing manner, and after saying it, he felt a bit discouraged. In reality, when Zhuang Yao ordered the detonation of the explosives, he not only wanted to hit Zhuang Yao, but he even felt the urge to kill him.
Liu Fengyu laughed, “I’m really looking forward to seeing you give him a lesson.”
Cheng Tianbi said calmly, “The decision to detonate one minute later was made by me. Zhuang Yao did well, but I don’t expect you to be like Zhuang Yao. You two are different individuals, and the team needs cooperation and division of labor. Each of you has your own role to play.”
Cong Xia sighed lightly, feeling quite complicated. He understood that Zhuang Yao made senseāconsidering the bigger picture means taking responsibility for everyone’s sacrifices and efforts. However, he doubted whether he could make the same decision to put his companions in mortal danger. If he were faced with the same choice as Zhuang Yao, he would be the one making the wrong decision. That was the gap between him and Zhuang Yao.
If he were just a simple combatant without decision-making abilities, it might not affect much. However, he was the team’s major logistics support, responsible for supplying energy and healing everyone. In critical moments of battle, the next time, he might have to make a cruel choice. At that time, would he have progressed beyond what he is now?
He didn’t know, and he was even afraid to think about it. The only thing he could do was to make himself stronger. Perhaps when he became powerful enough to help the team successfully complete all tasks, he wouldn’t have to face those choices that left him feeling inadequate.
Cheng Tianbi patted his back and softly said, “Don’t think about it, just eat.”
Cong Xia forced a smile at him and began to eat.
Captain Wan had prepared simple boiled or grilled meat for them, along with a bit of precious cabbage. The meat tasted good, but no one could tell what it was, and of course, no one asked. Cong Xia used to be a picky eater, refusing to eat cat or dog meat, wild animals, or overly gamey meat. Now, as long as it wasn’t human flesh, he would eat anything. Having never experienced hunger, he didn’t understand that the highest purpose of eating was not enjoyment but survival.
With Deng Xiao around, the six of them quickly devoured all the dishes on the table and shared a bottle of precious beer.
After the meal, Zhuang Yao said, “The weather is nice today. Let’s go for a walk. Cong Xia can attend to the injured when we come back. They all have minor injuries, just a bit of inflammation.”
The others understood that he had something to discuss and didn’t want to be overheard in this crowded place.
After bidding farewell to Captain Wan, they left the hospital.
The hospital was located in the city center, relatively close to the Bell and Drum Tower. However, the once dazzling lights of the tower were gone, and the nearby bustling traffic was absent. As far as the eye could see, there were only vast wild grasses and desolate buildings.
The six of them strolled leisurely for a while before finding a spot with shallow weeds and sat down.
Zhuang Yao spoke up, “I want to know what you all experienced inside the Big Wild Goose Pagoda. Tell me everything in detail.”
The four who entered the Big Wild Goose Pagoda looked at each other, and Cong Xia said, “Let me explain.”
He took a deep breath and described everything they experienced inside the Big Wild Goose Pagoda exactly as it happened two days ago. As for the events involving Tang Yanqiu’s team, Al had already told Zhuang Yao.
After listening to their accounts, Zhuang Yao said, “It’s a pity that the thumb bone was buried in the soil. With our current manpower and technology, it’s impossible to dig out something so small.”
“Although the thumb bone is gone, we still didn’t return empty-handed.” Cong Xia took out a small bag from his clothes.
“What is this?”
Cong Xia opened the cloth bag and took out nine slender objects resembling chopsticks. “These are the nine incense sticks that were inserted into the censer in front of the Buddha. They have remained unchanged for such a long time, and I don’t know what material they are made of. Since they are not heavy, I brought them out with me.”
Zhuang Yao took the nine incense sticks and carefully examined them. “It’s indeed difficult to tell what material they are made of. They don’t seem to be synthetic materials.”
Cheng Tianbi touched one of the incense sticks. “Could they be tendons from sheep or cattle?”
“They do look like something from an animal’s body. We’ll have them examined in Beijing. Perhaps we can uncover some secrets,” Zhuang Yao suggested.
Cong Xia carefully put the nine incense sticks back into the bag. Although he didn’t know what they were made of, he had a feeling they were valuable and might come in handy in the future.
Then, Cheng Tianbi said, “Besides these, I also kept something.”
“What is it?”
He took an oval-shaped black wooden box out of his pocket.
“This is!” Cong Xia exclaimed, āThe thumb bone?”
Cheng Tianbi shook his head and opened the box. “I did throw the bone into the foundation, otherwise, the insects wouldn’t have rushed into the depths. I just left the box used to hold the bone.”
The others looked inside the box and saw that it was indeed empty.
“I kept it because its shape seemed very familiar to me,” Cheng Tianbi explained.
“Familiar?” Cong Xia frowned as he looked at the box.
Zhuang Yao’s voice trembled with excitement, “Yes, this shape…”
Cong Xia’s eyes widened, “Is it the ancient jade?”
Cheng Tianbi nodded and replied, “Based on its size, it’s too spacious to be used to hold a thumb bone. Moreover, there are no fixtures inside the box. If it were truly a sacred Buddhist relic, this preservation method would be too rudimentary. However, if this box was never meant to hold the bone, then everything makes sense.”
Trembling, Cong Xia took out the ancient jade from his wrapped belt. He was so excited that he almost dropped it. Carefully, he placed the palm-sized ancient jade into the box. With a soft click, the ancient jade fit snugly into the padded interior of the box, almost without any gap, as if it was tailor-made for it!
Cong Xia held his breath, astonished as he observed the perfect fit of the ancient jade in the box. The simple and ancient black wooden box paired with the smooth and lustrous ancient jade seemed like a match made in heaven. Although it was likely just a coincidence, Cong Xia had a strong feeling that this scene of the ancient jade fitting into the box had appeared somewhere before, imprinted deep in his memory, making him believe that these two items were meant to be together.
Tang Yanqiu sighed, “Is this a coincidence… or?”
Zhuang Yao replied, “I don’t think it’s a coincidence. From the time we arrived in Xi’an and became interested in the puppet jade in the Big Wild Goose Pagoda to the first time we trespassed into the pagoda, and then Cheng Tianbi’s solo mission to retrieve the camera, and finally the joint effort with the Dragonblood Clan to break into the pagoda… It all seems like circumstances forced us into action. But if we reverse-engineer this sequence, focusing on Cong Xia obtaining this box as the ultimate goal, don’t you feel like everything was pre-arranged?”
Everyone felt a chill run down their spines, and their scalps tingled.
“If this box was indeed meant to hold the ancient jade, then obtaining it wasn’t an accident. We often say that there are arrangements in the mysterious workings of fate, but in reality, all so-called ‘arrangements’ in the world are the results of external and internal forces. Remember the concept of karma I once mentioned? Everything is predetermined destiny, and every decision we make influences others and the world. Similarly, the world also has a reciprocal effect on us. Obtaining this box might be a part of some force called ‘fate’ making arrangements.”
Cong Xia gazed at the box and asked, “So, what is the purpose of this box?” He examined it but found it to be a simple and ordinary box. It didn’t seem to have any hidden mechanisms.
Liu Fengyu said, “Check if there’s something beneath the padded cloth.”
**************************************
Other Novels:
Managing a Divine Beast Kindergarten in the Immortal Realm
Second Life Translations' Comment Policy
1. Be kind and respectful. Comments with curses will be put under moderation.
2. No links to other websites or asking for links.
3. No spoilers!