Chapter N° 5 : the deadly road

Wu Xie

The next morning, Wu Xie woke up alone in his sleeping bag and after looking around, he noticed that Xiaoge was nowhere to be found, which only made him curse in panic into the first rays of the day. Angry with Xiaoge for leaving him so suddenly once again, after they had kissed so heavenly last night, Wu Xie went out in search of him.

Luckily, he didn't have to go far to find Qiling, who had a bunch of herbs on his hand, medicinal ones at that. Wu Xie sighed in relief and smiled as soon as Xiaoge's gaze was on him, forgetting completely about his previous anger.

"Wu Xie." Greeted Qiling as he came closer.

"I was worry you left again..." Wu Xie told him sincerely.

"I will tell you first." Oiling assured him, and Wu Xie smiled quite pleased with the reassurance.

"Good. I worry every time you disappear on me." Wu Xie said, pulling Qiling into a hug.

"Let me see." Qiling whispered into his ear.

"Huh? What?" Wu Xie asked, letting go of him.

"Your stomach." Wu Xie blushed a bit, but he lifted his shirt for Xiaoge to see. He also looked down and was surprised to see his injury almost completely healed, with only a minor scar in where there had been a mayor one the night before.

"Was it your blood?" Wu Xie asked, as there were still traces of his blood on his healed skin, Qiling simply assented.

"Thank you... it doesn't even hurt now, but Xiaoge... don't use your blood on me anymore. I'm not using you for..." Qiling pulled him closer and kissed Wu Xie to make him shut up. He didn't want to hear that coming from the one he loved. He knew Wu Xie was not like others, and it was precisely for that reason that he had fallen for him.

"I know. Come, we need to get moving. This place is not safe." Qiling told him, taking him by the hand and dragging him back to their camp. A little while after, they were back on track, moving around the rainforest in search of his uncle and the Queen Mother's Palace.

At some point, they halted as the forest seemed to become alive with obvious movements around them. Qiling had seen the traces of snakes as he looked for medicinal herbs, which is why he wanted to haste their pace more. He had a bad feeling about the place from the start, like there was something calling on him, yet he was restless to do so Worse of all, there was someone following them as they went deeper into the forest. He had gone and scout early in the morning before Wu Xie woke up and had a look, but found nothing, so he brought back a few herbs he saw along his way to use it as an excuse in case Wu Xie asked where he was. He knew Wu Xie's endless curiosity better than anyone else, after all.

They kept walking for a good portion of the day, following a narrow path that ended with a wall of rocks quite high, blocking the rest of the way.

"Okay, that's a huge wall. I doubt our recently given birth mother can climb it." Pangzi said as they halted to look around but with no other way to go further.

"Who's a mother, you idiot? And just for the record, I am fine." Wu Xie corrected

"I think there is a path behind this pile of rocks. The way it looks, it was probably intentionally blocked by whoever came here before." Pan Zi said as he inspected the wall.

"If that's so, then there is no problem. We can always blow it up. It's been a while since I showed my true talent." Pangzi offered with confidence.

"Don't be hasty. Blowing it up and considering the height, it may trigger a landslide." Wu Xie worried.

"It's unlikely. This mountain looks relatively stable. A small blast will not do much to this base." Pan Zi concluded, while examining the rocks.

"See, Tianzhen? It's time to blow things up." Pangzi said as he patted Wu Xie's shoulder. After careful preparations, Pangzi was ready to do his job. Qiling didn't want to take any chances, so he kept Wu Xie close in case something went wrong

"Alright... prepare yourself for the majestic Pangzi explosion. Bam!" He shouted dramatically as he pressed the ignition button and Xiaoge pushed Wu Xie against the rock wall to protect him with his body, just in case, but after a few seconds there was nothing.

"What the hell Pangzi?" Wu Xie asked from over Xiaoge's shoulder.

"Huh? Was it too damp?" Pangzi questioned himself, pressing the button again, and this time, the explosion blasted the rock wall, while shaking the earth under their feet. Instinctively, Xiaoge had hugged Wu Xie, but fortunately, aside from the huge noise and debris from the explosion, nothing else came down on them.

There was a cloud of dust lifted, which made them cough a bit, but it wasn't thick enough not to see through it. There, just behind the dust was a large figure of what looked like a bird made of stone over an arch and they walked toward it, over the debris of what was left of the rock pile.

Wu Xie stumbled over one rock, which moved unexpectedly under his weight, but as usual, Qiling was there to support him. They glanced at each other, and Xiaoge kept a hold on Wu Xie's arm to make sure he would not fall until they were clear of the rocks.

"Wow, isn't that one of those birdmans that almost killed us back in the Cloud Top Palace in Mount Changbai? How come the thing is now here? Is it hunting us all the way here?" Pangzi asked in astonishment.

"It's becoming obvious now that both Birdmans and Blue Birds are related somehow. The map that Wenjin had on her notes with the dragon vein points had the Cloud Top Palace and other tombs over the vein with only Tamutuo marked outside of it." Wu Xie explained.

"Yep. And if this bird is a native here, then..." Pangzi whispered.

"Someone had taken the bird from here, most probably as a gift from the Heavenly Queen Mother to Mount Changbai and incorporate them into their own version and protection." Wu Xie finished for him.

"Birdman or Blue Bird, it only means we have to be careful. There are more than snakes lurking around here now. These things are a threat to us too." Ah Ning said, quite sure of it.

"I will go first." Wu Xie offer and give a step forward, but Xiaoge grabbed his arm to make him stop.

"Stay behind me, I will go." Qiling said, letting go of Wu Xie and walked ahead of them. He only stopped when reaching a set of statues with visibly holes on the sides. He saw There was something engraved on them, so he cleared the image with his knife, for Wu Xie to take a better look at it.

"Wu Xie..."

"It looks like a group of humans walking on a passage... pretty much the same way we are doing now. It may be some kind of ancient ritual, but there is nothing about what it is for." Wu Xie observed.

"Then what about the holes on the statues? What are they for?" Pangzi asked.

"Don't know, but they look weird." Pan Zi noted.

"Just in case we should be more careful. Keep your guard high at all times." Ah Ning said, having a weird feeling about the path from the start.

"Okay, so let's just move faster These old friends are too creepy for my taste." Pangzi joked moving on.

"Wait, Pangzi." Qiling halted Fatty.

"What? Now you will protect me as your damsel in distress behind us?" Pangzi teased.

"Hey! Who's a damsel in distress?" Wu Xie protested.

"We all know you are... such a danger magnet, right Xiaoge?" Pangzi asked in good humor.

"Quiet." Qiling whispered, ignoring Pangzi's remark.

"Yeah, yeah... there is always the Pingxie's priority, right?" Pangzi noted dejectedly.

"I mean, it's too quiet." Qiling cleared his previous comment.

"Oh..." Pangzi shut up, finally noticing the place, for been a rainforest it was indeed too quiet. "So what then... is there a trap ahead?" He asked a bit embarrassed.

"Let's see..." Qiling took a small pebble from the ground and throw it ahead with force, making it stumble a long way inside the road. Nothing happen, then Pangzi took several ones and like it was a game of who throw it farther, he make several shoots inside. Still nothing happen.

"There is nothing." Pangzi concluded.

"I will scout ahead, you keep your distance behind me. Just in case." Pan Zi offer and not waiting for a confirmation he keep walking, with Pangzi, right behind him.

So far nothing seems to go wrong, aside from the fatigue Pan Zi had with each step, then from above the trees, something fell right before them. A small bird.

"What the hell?" Pangzi look up, while in shock.

"There are other dead things too..."

Ah Ning pointed at a corner, where a lizard was rotting, and as they looked better, under the dead leaves were other skeletons of small animals as well.

"This doesn't look good..." Then, the sound of rocks falling made them look back at the way they had come in, to see it completely blocked.

"We should really hurry ahead." Ah Ning pressed, feeling unwell all of the sudden, and so they kept ongoing until Ah Ning bent down, completely exhausted and sick, passing out shortly after.

"Ah Ning!" Wu Xie hurried at her side to help her, but then Pan Zi also felt like there was something pressing on his inside, ready to make them explode.

"Wow! Pan Zi, are you okay?" asked helping him stand.

"Not good. There is really something bad going on that we can't see it." Pan Zi said, sitting on the ground instead. Qiling went to the closer statue and cleared it up to see the image engraved in it.

"Wu Xie!" He called for his lover and was by him in an instant. "Look, we can't go any further." And so Wu Xie did.

"Two humans had fallen down in this one, while the other go on ahead... and the location inside this road... it's exactly where we are..." Wu Xie induced out of the carvings.

"This one is different from the first one. Back then, all humans were standing, now some are falling down. It's a sequential recording." Pangzi said and Wu Xie agreed.

"Most probably and judging from the pattern, Xiaoge is right. We can't Keep going or like those humans, we will fall down one by one until there is no one left alive.

"What about this one here?" Pangzi pointed at a kind of circle with some curves inside of it.

"Looks like an altar."

"Wow, so that means...?"

"Yes, right now we are nothing more than sacrifices inside a path of death." Wu Xie concluded.

"But how are they killed? There is nothing obvious in here, no deadly traps, no arrows flying out of nowhere or any other danger that could take us down without our notice." Pangzi wondered.

"The bird." Xiaoge suggested and they went back to where that small bird had fallen.

"Even this one doesn't show a visible cause of death." Pangzi said looking at it.

"Then it must be internal." Wu Xie suggested.

"Alright, be my guest." Pangzi said seriously.

"Hell no, why me? I'm not good with dissections."

"Neither am I. Go ahead, you are the scholar here."

"I'm not a scholar and what autopsies had to do with them?"

"They know all kinds of stuff and..."

"I'll do it." Xiaoge finally said, while taking out his knife and doing what the other two couldn't. Wu Xie resisted the desire to gag as Qiling opened the bird to find it was all messed up inside, like it had exploded internally

"This is bad, it's like it was imploded." Pangzi whispered. Behind him, Xiaoge was beginning to feel dizzy.

"Yeah, the organs are all scattered. This is serious, we need to get away..." But then, Xiaoge staggered.

"Xiaoge!" Wu Xie caught him and passed Qiling's arm over his shoulder to lay him down with the others to rest, but in the process, Wu Xie fell down too.

"Wu Xie!" Qiling pulled him to him with the little strength he had left, making him fall in between his legs and over his chest. If the circumstances were different, he would have been embarrassed by the sudden intimate position, but given the fact he wanted to throw up his stomach out, he closed his eyes and rested his head on Xiaoge's chest, while pulling his hand over his mouth to prevent puking over Xiaoge

"Pangzi... hurry up and find out what's going on." Wu Xie manages to whisper a few seconds later.

"Okay... let's see... the damage is internal... but what can harm a body from the inside in here. The trees? The air? The light? No, no, no... that doesn't sound right... then, sound?" Pangzi pondered.

"If the damage was internal in that bird, then it must be sound waves. They are inaudible and cause internal damage to the organs, not to mention nausea, fatigue, and dizziness. If exposed for longer periods, the heart will explode and we will be death meat." Pan Zi said with ragged breath.

"But what causes it?" Wu Xie whispered, now feeling dizzy.

"The holes." Xiaoge said, breathing heavily under Wu Xie.

"The holes in the statues, yes, it must be them transmitting some kind of infrasound waves, perhaps from the noise of the explosion or the falling of the stones earlier. "Hurry Pangzi!" Pan Zi said, and he didn't need to be told twice, so Pangzi hurried up and filled the holes of all the statues with whatever he could fit in.

Soon after the job was done, Qiling felt better, finally free from his dizziness and pressing on his chest, which had nothing to do with Wu Xie over him.

"It worked." Qiling whispered to Wu Xie, who assented with a hint of a blush on his face.

"Yeah... at least I don't want to puck over you anymore." Qiling smiled faintly.

"Get up, let's leave this place." Xiaoge said, and Wu Xie removed himself from over Xiaoge, then helped him stand

"Let's go and find a safer place to rest." Wu Xie said, and so they walked out of the path of doom, with Pangzi carrying the still unconscious Ah Ning, to lay down somewhere far.

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