Chapter 471: Something on the Cave Ceiling

After the adventures in Sichuan, climbing was no longer a big challenge for me. I estimated the height of the cave at over sixty meters, about as high as a twenty-story building.

Fortunately, the rockface was much easier to climb, and in less than an hour I had climbed very high. What made me most proud was that the cigarette clipped to my ear never fell off the whole time.

I tied iron spikes to a rope to make a simple safety line, and by the time I found it extremely difficult to climb any further, I was about ten meters from the top of the cave.

Fatty called up to me from below. I shone my flashlight at the cave ceiling, which was covered in stalactites like rows of wolf fangs. As I expected, I spotted something among those stalactites.

But those stalactites were too big and jagged, and from this distance I still couldn't see clearly.

"Is there something or not?" Fatty asked from below, full of anticipation. I thought, damn it, he won't climb himself, so I won't tell him just to piss him off, and ignored him.

Fatty kept calling persistently from below. I steadied myself and tried changing angles on the rockface. I nearly fell several times, but still couldn't make it out.

I caught my breath, feeling a bit frustrated. After climbing so high, it was all for nothing.

Fatty shouted, "The sun shines on the incense burner giving forth purple smoke; the purple smoke rises amid this mountain. You can't see clearly from that spot. Shine the light for me, turn the flashlight beam to maximum brightness, and let me look."

I cursed, "If you're too uneducated to recite poetry, don't recite it at all. And if you must, at least get your tongue straight, okay?"

"I'm just livening up the mood, damn it. You're anxious, I get it, but stop picking on me. If you keep babbling, I'll smoke you out, and you might not even be purple smoke," Fatty snapped back.

I muttered curses under my breath and had no choice but to shine the flashlight into the stalactites. After a long while, he still couldn't see anything special.

But he did see that there was something among the stalactites, not very big, but definitely man-made.

"Can't see it. Too far away, not enough light. That damned cripple took the telescope, otherwise we could see a bit more."

The core problem was still the distance. The tactical range of the Wolf-Eye flashlight wasn't short, but human eyesight is limited. With such concentrated light, if the object is too small and unfamiliar, it's hard to tell what it is just from its shape.

In this situation, we either needed a telescope or had to get closer.

I looked up. Climbing further was indeed very difficult and extremely risky, but at that moment, I had decided to take the risk.

I made a gesture to Fatty indicating I was going to keep climbing up. Whether he saw it or not, I struggled to find footholds and climbed a few more steps.

Then I realized that above me, the rock was all smooth limestone cascades at a reverse angle. If I stepped on it, within three seconds I'd be smashed bloody at Fatty's feet.

I don't know how long I hesitated at that spot. Fatty called up to me countless times, but I ignored him. I had climbed so high; I couldn't bear to go back down like this.

But there was really no way. Finally, Fatty shouted up helplessly, "Come down, the foreman agreed to pay up."

Stuck there for so long, my drive was exhausted. I had no choice but to climb down dejectedly. When I reached the ground, Fatty shook his head at me.

I clapped my hands and sighed, "Now I'm completely out of ideas too. If you have any dirty tricks, go ahead and use them."

"If I had any dirty tricks, I'd have used them long ago. I'm out of ideas too. But your effort wasn't completely wasted—at least we know there's something up there," he said. "Actually, there's one possible method, but I didn't dare mention it because it's too risky. You could make a hook out of the iron spikes, see if you can hook onto something and swing over."

"Then how do I get back?"

"Get back my ass. You hang up there. Once we find the entrance, I'll go into the building and rescue Little Brother and the others, then come back for you. You can just hang there, smoke a cigarette, and think about our good days ahead."

Fatty's method was feasible but ridiculous. I definitely wouldn't do it. Forget about whether that thing up there was really related to the entrance; if I actually let Fatty go and he died in there too, I'd be stuck hanging there starving to death. That would be a miserable way to die.

After climbing once, my physical strength was drained, and my fingers were trembling. I moved to soak in the water while flexing my hands, and then I suddenly noticed something strange about my hands.

I shone the flashlight on them and saw that between my fingers and under my nails were pitch black.

Dirt? Mud? But it felt oily, not like mud. I smelled it and noticed a strange odor under my nails. Not everyone could recognize that smell, but I immediately knew what I had gotten on me.

"Stop staring, you're as fussy as an old woman," Fatty scolded.

I said, "No, this is the smell of naphtha." I looked around at the rock walls. "There's naphtha in these rock crevices."

I went to the rock wall, reached into a crevice, and felt inside. It was dry, nothing there. Then I climbed up to about the height of three or four men and reached into another crevice. This time, I pulled out a handful of black oil.

Naphtha is a special kind of oil. Its ingredients vary wildly; many different formulas produce what can be called naphtha. The only common feature is that it's a gelatinous, flowing but very viscous substance. With a wick, it burns very slowly, typically used for ever-burning lamps and torches in enclosed spaces. It can be stored for long periods without going bad or drying out.

The crevice was very narrow; I couldn't reach my hand all the way in, but when I shone the flashlight inside, I saw that the crevice was rich in naphtha. A dark layer of it, and within it many fist-sized cotton balls.

Following the crevice upward, I noticed it was continuous, spiraling all the way up to the top of the cave.

This was a path for directing fire. Judging by the cotton wicks, it seemed to be for lighting.

Fatty climbed up too and exclaimed in surprise, "Whoa, they've poured sesame paste in here? What's this stuff?"

I pointed at the wick and explained. He looked up and clicked his tongue. "Holy crap, if this gets lit, it'll be spectacular."

"But what's it for?" I asked. "Do they need this much naphtha to look in a mirror? How wasteful is that? And it's definitely one-time use. Once this naphtha is lit, there's no putting it out. Even if you had a fire extinguisher, climbing up there to spray it would be extremely difficult. Once lit, it won't stop until the oil burns out."

"Not necessarily," Fatty said, pointing at the cotton wicks inside. "Look at these wicks—they all have burn marks. These have been lit before."

I shook my head: "They must have been lit to test the quality of the wicks before being installed. If they were lit here, the oil inside would have to burn out completely before going out. You'd have to climb up the wall covered in flames to put them out—how many people would die? Besides, all the oil channels are connected. To put them out, you'd have to extinguish every single wick at the same time. Putting out just one would have the surrounding flames re-ignite it immediately."

Fatty stroked his chin and nodded: "Makes sense. But this oil channel and this mirror here must be connected, right?"

I nodded, and he said: "Then that's settled." With that, he pulled out a lighter. "As Comrade Marx said, practice is the sole criterion for testing truth."

I saw what he was doing and was immediately alarmed, about to ask: "What are you doing?"

The flame from the lighter practically flew out of Fatty's hand. He swung his hand and stuck the lighter into the crevice. The oil residue inside ignited instantly, and a dragon of fire shot out from the rock crevice.

Neither of us expected the flames to be so fierce. Caught off guard, we both threw ourselves backward and landed heavily in the water.

Luckily there was water below, so I wasn't hurt. I scrambled to my feet and looked up, and I saw a spectacle that left me dumbfounded.

A fire dragon spiraled upward along the wall, as if startled, crawling wildly across the cave walls, leaving blazing traces. In almost an instant, the entire cave was illuminated brightly by the fire.

At the same time, the temperature in the cave began to rise, and a strong smell of oil filled the whole space.

We stared in shock as the fire dragon spiraled upward, circle by circle, almost making us dizzy.

It took a full ten minutes for the fire dragon to reach the top and stop. We saw a spiral of flames covering the entire cave wall. The whole cave was now fully revealed. I noticed the cave was shaped like an inverted horn, and all the firelight was concentrated onto the mirror in the water. The ancient building in the mirror was illuminated as bright as day.

"Awesome," Fatty said, dazed.

I turned to look at him and snatched the lighter from his hand. "Are you out of your damn mind? What if the oil line was connected to explosives? This place isn't like before. Can you be a bit more reliable, Fat Master, so we can live a few more years?"

"If you wanted to live a few more years, you shouldn't have come here," Fatty said, not even looking at me, his eyes on the ceiling. "Fat Master isn't as fussy as you. Look, what's that?"

I looked up and immediately saw, at the top of the cave, in the area that had been dim before, a very tiny model of an ancient building.

The small model of the ancient building was hanging upside down from the cave ceiling. If not for the strong light that eliminated all shadows, it would have been impossible to see.

"Zhang family ancient building!" I frowned. At the same time, I saw many shimmering spots on the building. It seemed there were many mirrors around the model, reflecting the firelight. I also saw countless shimmering spots faintly appearing on the surrounding walls. The whole cave seemed like glass.

Fatty murmured: "So the Zhang family people all came from Lilliput."

"No, this is a filter," I said. Looking at the shape of the whole cave, I suddenly understood the mechanism behind it. Looking at the walls full of flames, I knew I could no longer verify it. But I was almost certain that the secret of the ancient building in the mirror could not have any other explanation.