Mu Ye seemed to react instantly. He pulled Tang Doudou behind him protectively as he attacked with the iron chain. The iron chain struck the stone wall of the cave with a blue flash and caused rocks to rain down around them even as it lit up the black fog and Shen Moru’s sinister features.
“Let’s go!” Mu Ye didn’t hesitate and started running into the cave while shielding Tang Doudou protectively.
Shen Moru started laughing in his strange way as he followed after them like a ghost. Without the light Mu Ye’s chain emitted, they had no way of telling where exactly Shen Moru was. However, his laughter seemed to come from right next to them. Its abrupt appearance and disappearance was very frightening.
Tang Doudou ran with Mu Ye, but the more they ran, the more off the road became. She hastily tugged at Mu Ye.
Mu Ye said, “There are a lot of forks in the road.”
Tang Doudou’s eyes lit up. “Yes yes! I definitely ended up taking a different road on accident, that’s why that black-robed person in the mural seemed to disappear!”
“Black-robed person?”
“That’s right! Could it be that you didn’t notice?” Tang Doudou glanced towards Mu Ye with puzzlement. How could he have missed it?
“Let’s talk about it later.” Mu Ye stopped her from continuing and ran while pulling her. After a long while, they finally managed to shake Shen Moru off.
Mu Ye didn’t say anything and turned around to head back.
When Tang Doudou saw that he was about to leave her in this unfamiliar, pitch-black place, she hastily grabbed him and asked, “Where are you going?”
“To look at the murals.” After he said that, he pushed Tang Doudou’s hand off and left without even glancing back.
Tang Doudou felt depressed. If she had known earlier that this would happen, she wouldn’t have told him about the murals. Now this was just great, he ran off by himself again.
What if Shen Moru ended up catching up with them?
The more Tang Doudou thought about it, the more unsafe she felt, so she started feeling her way with her hands and walking forward. After a few steps, she heard a ‘kacha’ sound. In the spacious cave, this sound was distinctly loud.
She had stepped on something, and had even gotten her foot stuck.
Tang Doudou rubbed her chin and tried moving her leg again, but it was completely stuck. She couldn’t pull it out at all, so she bent down to try and get her foot out with her hands. She was surprised by the feel of the object.
The sensation was very smooth and even slightly cold. It wasn’t just one thing either, there was stick after stick of this stuff, and they seemed to be arranged very neatly.
She had accidently broken one of the sticks when she was walking and her leg had gotten stuck between two of the sticks.
What could this be?
Tang Doudou was curious. Just as she was about to reach out to try to pry those two sticks apart, the cave suddenly lit up. She reflexively squinted due to the bright light and lifted her hand to block the light. Through the seams in her fingers, she saw that Mu Ye was walking over while holding a makeshift torch.
“What are you doing?” Mu Ye was still as expressionless and cold as always.
Tang Doudou loosened a breath in relief when she saw that it was him. “It’s nothing, it’s just that my foot got stuck. I’ll get it out right now. Oh, that’s right, when you were heading back, did you see that black-clothed person on the murals?”
As she spoke, she looked down to see what her foot had gotten stuck in. With the light, she was immediately able to see what it was and she screamed, “Ah!”
Mu Ye had gone to look around this place, but when he heard her scream, he immediately moved to her side. “What’s wrong?”
Tang Doudou had her eyes squeezed shut as she pointed below her feet. “S-ske…skeleton!”
Mu Ye looked down and saw that her foot was stuck in a ribcage. He sent a strike over and the bones instantly turned to dust. Tang Doudou hastily pulled her leg back and bowed towards the shattered bones with her hands pressed together in front of her as she muttered, “Bro, I really didn’t step on you on purpose, it’s also partially your fault for dying by the road instead of in a proper bed. It was completely dark and there was no way to see, so you can’t blame me for accidentally stepping on you, right? However, I’m a very kind-hearted person. As long as you don’t come looking for me to play, once I get back, I’ll burn paper offerings and incense for you…”
Mu Ye’s lips twitched as he listened to her go on and on about this. In the end, he turned away and started looking towards the cave with the torch.
When Tang Doudou noticed his movements, she immediately stopped trying to communicate with that ‘bro’ on the ground and used her foot to nudge the shattered bone pieces into a pile before tiptoeing away from that place.
“Mu Ye, what are you looking at?” Mu Ye was looking at something with the torch. She looked as well, but couldn’t see anything out of the ordinary.
Mu Ye replied, “Murals.”
When Tang Doudou heard this, she looked towards both sides of the cave. Currently, the torch lit up the walls so brightly that they were practically glowing white. However, the walls were blank. There was no trace of the brightly colored murals that covered the other walls. She moved closer and used her hand to brush off the dust on the walls, but there was still nothing. She looked up at Mu Ye and asked, “There aren’t any murals though?”
“Searching.”
Tang Doudou was puzzled. “Say, why would there be murals in this cave?”
Mu Ye didn’t reply.
Tang Doudou peeked at him. When she saw that he seemed to be listening, she continued, “From what I know, these murals usually appear in caves that had once been inhabited. The murals usually record the daily lives of the inhabitants. Another type of mural appears in tombs and are used to record the achievements of the buried person… However, this doesn’t seem to be a place that people had lived in, nor does it seem like an ancient tomb. It’s really strange that it has so many large murals that span such a long period!”
After she finished speaking, she glanced at Mu Ye.
Mu Ye was also looking at her. He only shifted his gaze away when she looked over. “When did you start looking into these things?”
“Oh…” Tang Doudou thought that he was about to praise her. When he responded with this question, she rubbed her chin and said, “I’d occasionally read about it in books so I remembered the more interesting information.”
Tang Doudou saw that his face was still expressionless, but for some reason she felt that he was thinking she was ‘fucking useless.’
“Did you see that black-robed person on the murals earlier?”
Mu Ye seemed to frown slightly as he replied, “No.”
“How is that possible? The first time I looked, that black-robed person was on every single mural. However, when I headed back, I couldn’t see it anymore. I know what I saw!” Tang Doudou insisted.
Mu Ye nodded. “I know.”
“You know? Don’t you think it’s weird?”
“It’s weird.”
Tang Doudou’s interactions with him were usually like this. He would reply and she would interpret.
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