Daomu Biji Volume 8 Chapter 42

After the adventure in Sichuan, climbing was no longer a problem for me. I visually inspected the height of the cave, which was more than 60 meters and about 20 stories high. Fortunately, this mountain rock was a lot easier to scale and I climbed very high in less than an hour. What made me feel most proud was that the cigarette placed behind my ear didn't fall down during the whole process.

I tied the rope with iron spikes and made a simple safety rope. When I found it very difficult to climb again, I was about 10 meters away from the roof of the cave.

Fatty's voice echoed below me. I used a flashlight to illuminate the roof of the cave, which was full of stalactites hanging upside down like spikes. As expected, I found something between these stalactites.

But they were too big and jagged and I still couldn't see clearly in this position.

“Is there anything?” Fatty's voice was eager. My heart said, “if you don't climb on your own, I won't tell you and just piss you off!” I didn't bother answering him.

Fatty kept shouting from below while I tried to change my angle on the cliff after some hesitation. I almost fell off several times, but I still couldn't see clearly.

I took a few breaths, feeling a little depressed. It wasn't very easy to climb so high and it was all in vain.

Fatty cried, “Sunshine incense burner gives rise to purple smoke. Purple smoke is born in the mountains. It's impossible to see your position clearly. You can shine your light on it for me. The flashlight is at its brightest so I'll see.” (TN note: I think those first 2 sentences are a butchered recitation of Li Bai's poem 'Gazing at a Waterfall on Mount Lu').

I scolded: “If you're not fucking educated, don't recite it. Would you mind straightening your tongue before reciting it again?”

“I was trying to liven up the atmosphere since you get impatient when you're in a hurry. Don't be so short with me and then ask me to bring you sunlight smoke. Your mother isn't necessarily purple smoke.” Fatty became angry.

I cursed darkly as I pointed the flashlight at the stalactites for half a day, but he also couldn't see any mechanisms. But he did see something in the middle that wasn't big, but must be artificial.

“Can't see, it's too far away and the light's not strong enough. That deformed bastard took away my scope, otherwise I could see better.”

The core problem was still too far away. The lighting distance of “Wolf-Eye” was actually not close, but my eyesight was limited. Under such concentrated light, if something was too small and unfamiliar to you, it would be difficult to judge what it was according to its shape. In this case, we'd have to either use a scope or get closer.

I looked up and saw that it was really difficult to climb and the danger was very high, but at this time, I had already decided to take risks.

I made a gesture to Fatty that I would continue to go up, and whether he saw it or not, I struggled to find a place to move. A few more steps up, I found that it was all smooth lime walls at a reverse angle. As long as I stepped on it, within three seconds, I would be in front of Fatty as a bloody flesh pile.

I don't know how long I struggled in that position while Fatty called me countless times below and I ignored him. I had climbed so high that I was unwilling to go on like this, but there was really nothing I could do. Fatty was helpless at the bottom and finally shouted at me: “Come down, the foreman promised to pay.”

I had stayed in the same position the entire time and had run out of energy, leaving me no choice but to climb down despondently. Fatty shook his head at me as I fell to the ground.

I clapped my hands and sighed, “I'm at a loss now, so we'll do whatever you've come up with.”

“I hate to say it, but I've thought all day and can't think of a way. But we're not without results, at least there's something up there." He said, “In fact, there's a slim chance that I have a solution, but I didn't want to say it because it's too risky. You can make a hook out of an iron spike to see if you can hook anything over there and then swing over for a closer look.”

“Then how can I get back?”

“Come back, my ass. When I find the entrance, I'll go to the building to save Little Brother and get them out, and then come back to save you. You just hang up there, smoke, and think about our bright future.”

Fatty's method would work, but it's bullshit and I definitely won't do it. Regardless of whether the above thing is really related to the entrance or not, if I let Fatty go and he dies, then I'll hang there and starve to death. That kind of death is too painful.

After climbing up once, my body was exhausted and my fingers trembled a little, so I went to soak in the water. At the same time, I suddenly found that my hands felt off.

With a flashlight, I found my fingers were dark and my fingernails were all black.

Dirt? Mud?

But the feeling was very slippery, not like mud at all. When I smelled it, I could detect a strange odor from my fingernails. Not everyone would notice, but I knew what it was.

“Don't worry about it, old ladies like you are so fastidious.” Fatty scolded.

I said, “No, it's the smell of kerosene,” and looked at the rock walls around me. “There's oil in these seams.”

I went up to the edge of the rock wall and reached up and touched it, but it was dry and there was nothing noticeable. Then I continued to climb, going all the way up to a height of three or four people. I put my hand in the stone crevice and touched the black oil.

Kerosene is a special kind of oil made up of strange ingredients and any oil prepared using many formulas could be called kerosene. The only common feature is that the oil is gelatinous and flows easily, but is very viscous. In the case of a cotton core, the combustion is very slow and is usually used in a closed place like a pilot lamp or torch. It doesn't deteriorate or dry up after long-term storage.

The gap was so narrow that my hand couldn't fully penetrate, but when I used a flashlight to illuminate it, I found that the oil content in the gap was very high, and on the dark floor, I could see many fist-sized cotton balls inside.

I looked all the way up the gap and found the entire thing continuously filled with kerosene, spiraling all the way to the top of the cave.

This was a way to start a fire, and looking at these cotton cores, it seemed like they could be lit.

Fatty also climbed up and was surprised when he saw it. “Yo, it's covered in sesame paste. What is this?”

I pointed to the cotton core and explained it to him. He looked up and said, “Fuck, it must be spectacular.”

“But what's it for?” I asked. “Do you need so much kerosene just to look in the mirror? This bastard's extravagant and wasteful. Moreover, this stuff must be disposable. If the kerosene is lit, it can't be extinguished at all. Even if you have a fire extinguisher, it's not easy to climb up and spray it. We'd have to wait for the oil to burn out.”

“Not necessarily.” Fatty said, pointing to the cotton core, “Look at these cotton cores, there are traces of burning. These things have already been ignited before.”

I shook my head: “It must've been lit to test the quality of the cotton core before it was put in. If you light it here, the oil has to be burned through before the fire can be extinguished. How many people would die if they climbed against a wall of fire to put it out? And all the oil paths here are connected so you'd have to extinguish all the cotton cores at the same time. If you extinguish only one, the flames on the edge will ignite it again immediately.”

Fatty touched his chin and nodded, “That makes sense. However, this oil channel and this mirror should be connected, right?”

I nodded, and he said, “That's fine.” As he spoke, he pulled out a match. “Comrade Marx said that practice is the only criterion for testing truth.”

I was immediately shocked when I saw this: “What are you doing?”

He lit the match, and the flame almost went out as Fatty threw it into the crack. The spark inside was lit at once, and a fire dragon emerged out of the crack in the rock.

Neither he nor I thought that the flame would be so fierce. It caught the both of us off guard and we threw ourselves into the water.

Fortunately, the water below prevented me from hurting myself and I struggled to get up immediately. When I looked up again, I saw a spectacle that left me stunned.

A fire dragon was circling all the way up as if it were frightened, crawling on the cave wall and leaving a burning flame mark. Almost immediately, the whole cave was lit by the fire.

At the same time, the temperature began to rise, and a smell of fire and oil immediately filled the whole space.

We were stunned to see the fire dragon spread upward in circles, almost dizzyingly.

It took ten minutes for the dragon to climb to the top and stop. We saw the flame spiraling over the whole cave wall, completely revealing it, and I found that the shape of the cave was like an inverted horn. All the flames were concentrated in the mirror under the water and the ancient building was illuminated as if it were day.

“Amazing.” Fatty said dumbstruck.

I looked back at him and snatched the other matches from his hand: “You're crazy, what if this oil was connected to explosives? This place isn't the same as it used to be. Could you be more reliable and let us live a few more years?”

“If you want to live a few more years, you shouldn't be here.” Fatty retorted. He didn't look at me at all, but stared at the ceiling, “I'm not as slow as you are. Look, what is that?”

I looked up and immediately saw a very tiny building model in the originally dim area above the ceiling.

The small model hung upside down on the roof of the cave, and if it weren't for the strong light, it would be impossible to see with all the shadows.

“Zhang Jialou!” I frowned. At the same time, I could see that there were many light spots flashing on the ancient building. It seemed that there were many lenses around the model, which were reflecting the fire here. At that moment I also saw countless light spots dimly flashing on the walls around us, making the whole cave look like colored glass.

Fatty murmured, “It turns out that the whole Zhang family is from Lilliputian.” (TN note: nation of tiny people from Gulliver's Travels).

“No, it's a filter.” I said. I looked at the shape of the whole cave and immediately understood the operation of its mechanism, but knew it was impossible to verify after seeing the wall of flames. But I was almost certain that there was no other possibility regarding the secrets of the ancient building in the mirror.

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Chapter end