Chapter 249: Silent Valley

In the jungle, without the guidance of the signal smoke, we would definitely never reach that place. We asked Panzi if he had any ideas, so he climbed up to the treetops and, using the location of the signal smoke as the central axis and the strange cliffs on the edge of the distant basin as reference points, marked his compass. As long as we walked in the direction between those two cliffs, we were bound to pass the point where the smoke was burning. However, the jungle was so dense that even a ten-meter error could make us miss it, so we had to get as close as possible before the smoke went out.

We couldn’t afford any more delay. We immediately packed our gear, synchronized compasses with Panzi, waded into the swamp, and set off toward the signal smoke.

Crossing the water at the edge of the swamp during daylight was very easy. The rainwater had pooled into clear, high water levels, so we could find stones to step on along the bottom. Where there were no footholds, we swam. In the time it takes to smoke half a cigarette, we made it across and reached the true edge of the swamp.

That was a relatively sparse area of rainforest, noticeably higher in elevation. Many interconnected “tree clusters” jutted out above the water like giant islands. We could see large amounts of rubble mixed into the mud beneath this area, making it look as though the water wasn’t deep.

But as we moved deeper, we found the trees in this area were extremely dense. After only about two hundred meters, the canopy became so thick that no sunlight could penetrate. The tree roots were tangled and intertwined. Earlier, I’d had the idea of making a dugout canoe so we wouldn’t have to wade so cautiously, but looking at this underwater environment, I knew a canoe would be equally impossible to navigate here. We had to go on foot.

Deep in the forest, the light grew dim, and soon we were surrounded by terrifying tree roots covered in vines, which in turn were blanketed in green moss, the air thick with moisture. The vines were so tangled and vast that in most places we had to crawl on all fours to squeeze through. It felt like we had entered a huge cave filled with trees.

Panzi hacked at the obstructing vines. Since almost all the trees were connected by thick roots and vines, we hardly had to wade at all—walking on the thigh-thick vines felt quite steady.

What struck us as strange, however, was how eerily quiet this dense forest was. Aside from the sounds of our own movement, we heard nothing else. The silence was unsettling.

“The Queen Mother of the West’s turf really is eerie,” Fatty said as he walked. “Damn, there’s not even a single bird chirp!”

“More than that,” I thought. “It seems like there’s nothing here at all!” The unnatural silence gave me the illusion that we might be the only living things in this rainforest besides the trees.

“Maybe there are so many snakes here that the birds have all been eaten,” Panzi said.

“Impossible. Then what would the snakes be eating now?”

The thought of those snakes made everyone tense again, but all the way here we hadn’t seen a single trace of them, which surprised us a bit.

We pressed on with our nerves on edge. Soon we saw ahead some ancient architectural ruins wrapped in trees and protruding from the water. Because of the long passage of time, these broken walls had weathered into irregular stone shapes. Vines and moss had taken root in the crevices, enveloping them completely, making them hard to distinguish from the rainforest until we were right on top of them.

These structures must have been the top parts of buildings in their time, which is why they still rose above the water. Since we couldn’t see the underwater sections, we didn’t know their overall shape, but looking at the tops, they resembled simple pagodas. There were many of them, varying in height and size, like a forest of stupas for burying monks.

We hadn’t seen any remains of the Queen Mother of the West all along the way, so finally spotting some was a relief. Earlier, I’d had a nagging thought that maybe we had taken a wrong turn—after all, there was no sign at the canyon entrance saying “Queen Mother’s City, 2 km ahead, mobile signal covered.” It would have been a huge joke if we got in there and found nothing.

We had no time to stop and examine these ruins. We soon moved deeper among them. Even though we didn’t intend to study them, our winding path occasionally brought us right up to these ruins, and I noticed that although they had weathered a thousand years, they were still incredibly solid. Strangely, all these “pagodas” had many square holes, clearly carved during construction.

The square holes were neither too large nor too small—too narrow for a person to pass through, but anything smaller than a person could fit without issue.

Fatty found it odd, and as he passed one, he instinctively shone his mine lamp inside, but he saw nothing—only heard the sound of water below, without knowing where it led.

Panzi had no time for this and urged us to hurry. Fatty knew we were pressed for time, so he only gave it a quick look before catching up.

The absolute area of this valley wasn’t large. As we went deeper, the underwater mud noticeably decreased, revealing various submerged ruins clearly—forming a bizarre yet spectacular scene. The water was only about two or three meters deep. Countless ruins and thriving underwater tree roots intertwined, making me feel as if the thin layer of water separated us from another world.

Only then did I truly feel like I had entered an ancient city. Looking at these remnants, I could vaguely imagine how prosperous it had been here once. But times had changed—even the city of a goddess had returned to dust.

As I was lost in thought, the flow of water underfoot suddenly changed. It seemed there was a steep slope ahead. We grew cautious. With so many trees around, a slip or misstep could mean serious injury.

After a few more steps around a large tree, Fatty gasped. We saw a huge strange face suddenly appear in the dense forest to our left, less than ten meters away, as big as a truck’s head. The face was mottled with green patches, with large eyes and a high nose—identical to the human-faced bird stone carvings we had seen at the canyon entrance. It was a massive stone sculpture wrapped in moss and climbing plants.

Fatty shone his mine lamp on it. The statue’s body was submerged in the swamp, leaving only the head, which blended into the dense forest. The bird’s body underwater was in a very strange crouching posture, as if it were about to spread its wings and take off—like a feline before it pounces. We could also see some oddly shaped dark shadows beneath the water under the statue, though we couldn’t tell what had sunk there.

We exchanged glances, recalling our earlier thought: if the human-faced bird statue outside the canyon was a warning to outsiders that they had entered the territory of the Queen Mother of the West, then what did the appearance of this huge human-faced bird statue mean? Could it be an even more severe warning?

I subconsciously looked at the sea of trees behind the statue, thinking: Could it be that in the area beyond this statue, some great danger awaits us uninvited guests? Chapter Five: The Stone Statue

While pondering this, we arrived at the foot of the statue. The current grew faster, and we saw the swamp water swirling chaotically among the tree roots—hard to tell what was going on below. Panzi warned us to be careful, saying there might be gaps in the ruins under the mud leading underground, like sewer openings.

Fatty was completely oblivious, his attention fixed on the stone statue, his lamp sweeping back and forth over it.

Under the focused light, I noticed more details. The statue seemed to have been carved from a single massive stone, now cracked and broken in many places. The thick moss covering it made it look even more grotesque and ugly. Up close like this, I couldn’t really make out the overall shape of the carving.

After a few glances, Fatty shined his light underwater. The statue was wedged between two huge dipterocarp trees, and the part in the swamp was completely entangled by tree roots. We could also see that deeper in the water, some strange shadows were also caught in the roots, their shapes irregular, tucked into the roots—they might have been part of the statue.

Fatty stared for a long time but couldn’t figure out what they were. I also found it strange that while the surrounding tree roots were clearly illuminated by the lamp, those things always showed only as shadows. Then it dawned on us—those weren’t dark objects; they were holes.

Moreover, judging by the direction of the drift of things attached to the tree roots, it seemed the water here was flowing down into those black holes. Just as Panzi had said, there were gaps beneath the statue leading underground.

We had hoped to see something weird and wonderful, but now we were disappointed. Panzi urged us on again, and we had to continue.

Fatty wasn’t willing to give up. As he swept his lamp back, he muttered to himself, “Where does this water flow to? Could this ancient city be hollow underneath?”

I said, “No, it might be part of the city’s old drainage system. Some of the underground water channels or wells still work, so this happens.”

Fatty said, “Then where do these drainage channels lead? This is a low-lying area—there’s nowhere lower for the water to go.”

I thought about it. In typical cities, drainage systems discharge into nearby rivers and eventually the sea. For an ancient city in the Western Regions like this, there were no large above-ground lakes or rivers nearby, but there must be underground rivers passing through the area. Logically, such a drainage system should connect to those underground rivers. However, in reality, rainfall is extremely scarce in the Western Regions, and water is precious. It hardly makes sense to have such a luxurious “drainage” system. In usual surveys of sites like Loulan, the so-called drainage was all above-ground, channeling water into wells. An underground drainage system here was indeed odd.

So I guessed that either this drainage system led to an underground river, or there were numerous water-storage wells or pools beneath the ancient city, and the water was all flowing into those deep wells, stored there. These wells might be like the karez systems in Turpan, connected underground so that when one well fills, water automatically flows to the next, until all wells are full.

The hole beneath this statue might have been a well mouth from that time, which was quite possible. Earlier, when we saw the stone pagoda, Fatty said he heard water sounds below, likely the sound of the underground water channels.

"This is exactly 'dig tunnels deep, store grain everywhere.' Seems like Chairman Mao's ideas came from the ancients too. Our Queen Mother of the West is no slouch," Fatty said.

Panzi said, "But there's so little rainfall here, only a heavy downpour every few years. A project this big might take hundreds of years. Will it even work, dammit?"

"If you look at the short term, it might not be worth it. But in the Western Regions, whoever has water can rule. Loulan, known as a great Western power, only had a few thousand soldiers. The terrain here is unusual—if you can store large amounts of water, even a small state can hold its ground. Look at this situation: this oasis must have formed exactly because of that. Trees retain water, water nurtures trees. The Queen Mother of the West back then was clearly a far-sighted person."

The Queen Mother of the West ancient city was naturally situated in an extremely low-lying area. Such a setup could even draw in the limited groundwater from the Gobi. But if my guess was right, we've been here for a few days already. After all this time, these well tunnels were still draining water, which meant they hadn't filled up yet. Just how deep were those wells and underground passages?

Panzi thought for a moment, nodded, and said, "That makes sense. But every advantage has its disadvantage. If war broke out and someone sneaked into the city to spread plagues or poison, wouldn't the whole city suffer?"

I said, "The well openings certainly wouldn't be many. Probably only the Queen Mother's palace and the homes of powerful ministers would have well openings. Commoners might have used the public wells we saw earlier. Those places would have been heavily guarded. We've watched period dramas—poisoning looks easy but is actually quite difficult. After all, the wells are deep. Even the most potent poison, once diluted, probably couldn't even kill E. coli."

Fatty paused at this point, apparently thinking of something, and suddenly said, "Damn, that means these well openings must all be connected. So we could go through the well openings and get into the Queen Mother's palace."

I said, "That's true, but we're not fish. And the tunnels down there must be crisscrossed like a maze. Even with the best diving gear, you might not make it out alive. What if the underground passages are only as wide as a bowl? That would be even more troublesome."

Fatty cursed, "Are you making fun of me again? What's it to you if I'm a little fat?"

I said, "Damn, how is that sarcasm? I'm not even as skinny as the width of a bowl myself."

"I don't think so," Fatty said. "When we used to support the border areas, we learned basic stuff. When digging field ridges and irrigation channels, the width had to be determined by the water volume. With rain this heavy, would a passage as wide as a bowl be enough? Xiao Wu, aren't you good at calculating these things?"

When I studied architecture, they covered this kind of issue. But now, trying to recall on the spot, I couldn't remember at all. After pondering for a few seconds, I had to give up and said to him, "Can't remember right now. Let me think carefully when I rest."

Panzi said, "Alright, Third Young Master, you two stop mulling over this. Hurry up. Even if you calculate it's as wide as a subway, we still can't go down there. Besides, the most important thing now is to get to Third Uncle's place as fast as possible."

I thought he was right, nodded immediately, and focused my mind, no longer dwelling on it. Just then, from the forest behind us came the sudden sound of a branch snapping, along with what seemed like the shaking of treetops and a continuous rustling of leaves. Something was moving through the dense bushes.

On our way here, the forest had been almost completely silent. This sudden noise startled us all. We all stopped and turned to look back.

The canopy was dense. Aside from that massive stone statue of a human-faced bird body, we couldn't see anything clearly. The sound then gradually died down. The forest soon returned to that suffocating silence.

We exchanged glances. That kind of noise definitely wasn't something small. It seemed the forest wasn't completely empty after all.

Panzi raised his gun and signaled for us to ready our weapons, stop talking, and quickly leave this place. We nodded, not daring to slack off anymore. We concentrated on observing our surroundings and quickened our pace.

We hadn't taken two steps when Fatty suddenly said, "Hey!" and added, "Wait!"

We asked him what was up. He turned back, pointed at the human-faced bird stone statue behind us, and asked, "Where was its face facing just now?"

We looked at the stone carving and discovered that its face had somehow turned toward us—a giant, expressionless, moss-covered, ferocious face. Since half of it was hidden by the trees, it looked like an unknown creature peeking out from behind the forest.