Chapter 406: Stone Shadow: The Nest (Part 2)

There was a special tacit understanding between Xiao Hua and me, perhaps because our backgrounds were too similar, or because there was some inexplicable bond between the Xie and Wu families. So, this feeling left me with no awkwardness or uncomfortable silence. Instead, I could very well understand how he felt, so I quietly sat down as well. The wind under the setting sun already carried a hint of chill. This place was a completely different world. Only by sitting here could you understand: there was no path down, nor any way to reach other places. All you had were a few rocks around you, and on both sides were bottomless abysses, with mist slowly gathering below your feet. As I sat on this solitary peak a hundred meters high, looking around, I saw similar solitary peaks in the distance, one after another. Suddenly, a strange illusion arose—as if I were an immortal, and with a light step, I could take off from the top of this cliff, step on the sea of clouds, tread on the solitary stones of thousands of peaks, and fly toward the snowy mountains.

I suddenly understood those seeking immortality. In that era, when they climbed to this rocky peak and saw the scenery before them, under the spell of this extreme, ethereal beauty, it was indeed possible that they would cut the only rope and trap themselves on this cliff.

That night, nothing was said. Due to time constraints, we only ordered two sets of equipment. Also, we didn't want to be too conspicuous during our work. Xiao Hua said it was enough for just the two of us for now. We had two days for the initial search. Only when the old lady and the others arrived at the lakeside in Banai and had everything ready could we proceed with the next step.

Old Madam Huo firmly believed that the other half of the Zhang Family Tower was buried deep under the lake. The tower's foundation held the remains of successive generations of Zhang family ancestors. To disguise their identities, these people had their right hands cut off before burial and then sealed in iron coffins. The Zhang family was so mysterious, passed down for centuries with almost no leakage. Where did they come from, and what were they doing in this mortal world? Why did they have to be sealed in iron coffins after death? Could it be, as Old Madam Huo said, that they were simply monsters whose corpses would undergo extremely abnormal and dangerous changes after death?

No one knows. Hundreds of years ago, what was the reason that the Lei family (Yangshi Lei) built this completely lightless Zhang Family Ancient Tower to store their bones? How did they reach some consensus with the emperor of that time? I recalled that in the Yangshi Lei blueprints, at the center of the last floor of the ancient tower, there was a solitary giant coffin rack. That floor should be where the earliest Zhang ancestor was placed. In the late 1970s, the first mission of the archaeological team was headed there. What would Poker-face and the others have seen there?

If it were before, I would definitely have been overwhelmed by intense curiosity, but now I felt that whatever was there must be something I didn't want to see—nothing good.

That night, I hung in the "nest" on the cliff face, securing a safety rope tightly around my waist and lying inside my sleeping bag. A small gas lamp hung above me, casting a fan-shaped patch of light. Xiao Hua had fallen asleep early. Hundreds of meters below, I could see the firelight of several people. Their voices, carried up by the crosswind, sounded like ghostly wails and were indistinct. This kind of sleep felt dreamlike. I never would have imagined I would end up in such a situation before. Yet I fell asleep without much struggle.

I was so calm it scared even myself. Just before falling asleep, I suddenly realized that I had truly changed.