At 2:00 PM, he met up with Lu Qinglian at the entrance of the hospital building.
In the end, Zhang Shutong hadn't gone with Du Kang to Ruoping's house. Everyone had their own matters to attend to, without exception.
Indulging in a reckless whim once was more than enough.
"What did the doctor say?" he asked Lu Qinglian.
"The recovery is going well, but I still need to rest quietly."
Zhang Shutong nodded.
Lu Qinglian's curiosity was indeed very faint; she didn't even ask what he had gone off to do.
It didn't take long to loop around to the small house behind the hospital. There was no need to ride the bicycle for such a short distance. He pushed the bike along, walking at the very front. After a moment, he finally asked:
"Are you free this evening?"
"What is it?"
"My mom invited you over to our house for dinner. She's been nagging about it for a long time." Zhang Shutong added, "It won't be too late, probably around five o'clock. What do you want to eat?"
"Don't be too quick to refuse," Zhang Shutong interjected before she could speak. "She bought a chicken, and the chicken soup was already simmering in the pot when I left the house."
"Did you do that on purpose?" To his surprise, Lu Qinglian knit her brows.
"What do you mean on purpose?" Zhang Shutong asked, baffled.
"Waiting until now to bring up something that was decided this morning."
Zhang Shutong understood her meaning. She was accusing him of forcing her hand after the fact. If he had told her this morning, she could have directly refused, but delaying it until the afternoon when the food was already stewing made a refusal seem impolite.
"I didn't mean it that way..." Zhang Shutong didn't know how to explain it either, so he simply chose to roll with the misunderstanding. "Are you going or not?"
"Okay."
He asked Lu Qinglian what dishes she wanted to eat again. She said anything was fine. Knowing he wouldn't get a specific answer out of her, Zhang Shutong composed a brief text message to his mother, letting her use her own discretion.
The two of them arrived in front of the old house shortly after.
They remained silent along the way. Returning to the tunnel, they silently resumed clearing the debris. They had cleared slightly more than half of it during the morning, but now that they were short two helpers, their speed had slowed down considerably.
But some things couldn't depend on others. The world looked different in everyone's eyes. His buddies viewed this as an adventure, but to him and Lu Qinglian, it was work that had to be done, even if it yielded absolutely nothing in the end.
"Lower the flashlight a bit."
Zhang Shutong snapped back to reality, taking the wooden beam from Lu Qinglian's hands.
"Student Zhang Shutong." She finally let out a sigh. "If you are truly feeling melancholy, you can go up to the surface to rest. Do not stay down here and get in the way."
"How are you going to manage on your own? You won't even be able to see anything," he said abstractedly.
"The flashlight has a strap. I can bite down on it, though I would prefer not to do so unless absolutely necessary." She spoke with equal abstraction, pulling a brick out from the pile. "What I am saying is, you had better concentrate."
"I thought a shrine maiden would possess the ability to see in the dark."
"There is no such thing."
They rotated turns a few times, going back up to the surface to catch their breath for a bit.
At first, they had found the underground smell foul, but now they were practically numb to it. Zhang Shutong drank some water and saw the reply message from his mother:
"Your mom is going to buy some green vegetables. Do you want to eat king oyster mushrooms?"
He still remembered the last time they ate a meal at the villa; it was the first time Lu Qinglian had ever seen a king oyster mushroom, so she had reached for them a few extra times.
"Does this kind of behavior count as being unfaithful?"
To his astonishment, she suddenly dropped a bombshell, even though her tone remained completely flat.
Zhang Shutong offered her a helpless glance.
"Can you please not throw around words haphazardly when you've just learned them? At most, it counts as goodwill."
"Is that so?" Lu Qinglian was also taking small sips of water. Her pink lips left an impression on the mouth of the bottle, yet her words remained perfectly clear. "In addition to Student Gu Qiumian, you went to see another female at noon. It is better to dispense with this kind of goodwill."
Zhang Shutong looked at her, utterly incredulous.
"How did you know?"
"Your behavior, along with that phone call at noon, made it perfectly clear. Or did you think you hid it well?" she said nonchalantly. "You were very excited when you left, but you returned looking completely distracted. Student Zhang Shutong, a possibility suddenly occurred to me. Did you originally have plans for tonight, but got rejected, which was why you thought to invite me to dinner?"
The look in Zhang Shutong's eyes could no longer be described merely as incredulous.
"My apologies," he finally sighed. "While it deviates slightly from your guess, it's not too far off."
"There is no need to apologize. At least it proves you have not turned your sights on me yet. So what is this called?" She seemed to be researching a academic topic, musing thoughtfully. "I heard the girls in my class call it... unfaithful, or philandering?"
"Like I said, don't use words carelessly if you don't understand them."
Lines of black frustration appeared across Zhang Shutong's face.
"Let's go."
He slapped the dust off his pants, not particularly inclined to explore this topic with her.
Lu Qinglian nodded her chin slightly.
By the time they returned to the surface once more, it was already just past 4:00 PM. Only a final bit of debris remained in the tunnel. The two of them discussed it briefly and decided against pushing through to finish it in one go. Instead, they prepared to return to the surface to rest and reorganize for a short while—
They needed to build up their physical strength first, just in case any danger lay hidden inside.
By now, the evening glow had already risen along the horizon. Because the sunlight had been good today, even the sunset clouds were stained a brilliant orange-red.
The twilight glow reflected in Lu Qinglian's eyes. She narrowed them slightly, seemingly enjoying this fleeting moment of tranquility.
Night would inevitably fall. Zhang Shutong quietly watched the setting sun for a brief moment. His mother had just called to urge them to come home for dinner. According to his mother's intentions, since they had gone to the trouble of inviting Lu Qinglian to their house, she certainly couldn't just sit down to eat and leave right after finishing; they had to at least share a cup of hot tea.
He replied that they would be there right away. This was a message that had to be answered.
There was another message that had actually received a reply shortly after noon. The hour was getting late; perhaps someone was currently standing on a ship deck beneath the setting sun, concluding a brief journey as the wind scattered her long hair. There seemed to be nothing left to say. This was a choice that had been made long ago, and keeping it close to his heart would only invite needless frustration.
Zhang Shutong realized he hadn't looked at the evening glow in a very long time.
The sun was about to set, and he was nearing the end of a busy day. Tomorrow would be Monday, the start of the school term. He would have to throw himself into a new battlefield, where one wave rose before the last had settled.
His student life had actually turned into such a strange state.
But by the same token, the life he had previously envisioned had long since become impossible to return to.
The clouds looked light and airy. He stretched his body, brushed the dust off his jacket, and the two of them stepped back into the tunnel once more. The previously light atmosphere instantly shifted, forcing them to raise their guard.
Walking through the cold and quiet underground, the only sound in their ears was their own footsteps. Lu Qinglian continued to lead the way at the front, and they quickly reached that low wall—
By now, they had finally figured out that this was indeed a very thick wall; in a certain sense, it wouldn't be an exaggeration to call it a platform.
The only things blocking the upper portion were a few scattered chunks of concrete.
Zhang Shutong put his gloves back on. Summoning his energy, he picked up these shattered pieces one by one and tossed them down at his feet, until a piece of rebar appeared horizontally before his eyes. This was also the final piece. Lu Qinglian stepped forward to lend a hand. The two of them backed up a few steps, gripped the rebar together, and gave a sudden, fierce yank—
Amidst a cloud of kicked-up dust, he let out a cough and quickly covered his nose and mouth.
—The tunnel was finally cleared.
What appeared before the two of them was a deeper expanse of darkness.
Lu Qinglian turned on the flashlight, first aiming it straight ahead. The beam of light instantly flattened into a circular shape against a solid surface, causing Zhang Shutong to freeze involuntarily upon seeing it.
Because this indicated that the depth was very short.
It was actually another dead end.
He instinctively looked back over his shoulder. In other words, this tunnel was nothing more than a single straight line, and it wasn't interconnected in all directions as they had previously imagined. Qingyi had earlier speculated that this was an entrance leading to the hospital's basement, but looking at it now, it remained a dead end.
"What about above?" Zhang Shutong asked again.
"No entrance."
Next, Lu Qinglian swung the flashlight around to illuminate their surroundings. Zhang Shutong's gaze followed the light, and he suddenly discovered that the walls of this space were not smooth, let alone constructed from concrete. Instead, they were...
Sand?
Or perhaps rock strata?
Unable to see clearly from the outside, he knit his brows. The space before his eyes resembled the end of a cavern far more than it did a secret chamber.
Yes, a cavern. Counting back a few hundred meters from beneath his feet, the entire tunnel bore marks of construction everywhere, yet this narrow space alone was entirely primitive. It looked as though construction had suddenly ground to a halt before completion.
The two of them exchanged a look.
"Wait here."
Lu Qinglian commanded in an unassailable tone.
Then, she bit down on the flashlight, nimbly climbed onto that platform, and lowered her body. Zhang Shutong could only urge her to be careful. Lu Qinglian quickly reached the other side, dropped down, and looked around everywhere before the beam of light settled on the left cave wall.
Lu Qinglian stood there silently, unclear what she was gazing at.
"Safe," she finally spoke after a long pause. "Come in and look."
Zhang Shutong also climbed over the platform. The moment his shoes touched the ground, the sensation beneath his feet was indeed different, and a surge of earthy scent rushed into his nose. He touched the cave wall; it had the texture of soil.
At that moment, Lu Qinglian knit her brows and said:
"Look here first."
Zhang Shutong followed the beam of the flashlight, and his heart gave a sudden, violent leap.
A fox with a wide, grinning mouth.
"..."
To be precise, that was a relief carving of a fox. It turned out the entire left wall consisted of rock, and the fox had been quietly carved into the rock face. Yet Zhang Shutong felt his scalp go numb because of a single relief carving:
He reflexively recalled the image his mother had shown him this morning. The joyful fox was an exact match for the relief carving before his eyes!
Just as Zhang Shutong was about to speak, Lu Qinglian added:
"There are more."
Then, the beam of light shifted.
Zhang Shutong was finally able to see the full contents of the wall, and the hairs on his arms suddenly stood on end because there wasn't just one fox, but a total of five—
A fox with a wide, grinning mouth.
A fox with eyes wide with rage.
A fox baring its fangs.
The features of the remaining two faces had already become blurred and impossible to see clearly.
Gazing at this eerie depiction of foxes, Zhang Shutong found himself speechless. Why would there be foxes at the very end of a tunnel?
Or rather, why would a rock wall bearing fox reliefs be blocked up with such a massive expenditure of effort?
Even though the basement harboring the clay figure clues at the other end hadn't been locked, this end had been blocked completely solid?
What exactly had happened during construction back then? Why did it suddenly grind to a halt upon reaching this spot?
And—
What exactly was this tunnel?
A chill crept up Zhang Shutong's back. At that moment, the beam of the flashlight suddenly went out, plunging the space back into pitch darkness. His eyes widened, and in the next instant, a cold hand covered his mouth.
"Be quiet. Someone is here," Lu Qinglian said in a low, solemn voice.
Zhang Shutong hurriedly held his breath. He listened intently, only then feeling a faint vibration traveling through the earth beneath his feet. Very quickly, the sound of a footstep echoed from the distant front.
Someone was there!
Who could it be?
The string in his mind instantly snapped taut.
But Zhang Shutong knew that regardless of who it was, the two of them could not remain here. The surrounding space was simply too narrow, leaving no room to even engage in a physical struggle.
If he were alone, he might choose to hide, but it was different with Lu Qinglian by his side. In the darkness, he heard a rustling sound—the noise of down jacket fabric rubbing against the concrete. Their thoughts were aligned; Lu Qinglian had already climbed out over the platform a step ahead of him.
Zhang Shutong followed closely behind. The two of them stood steady one after the other, remaining silent, simply pressing their bodies sideways against the concrete wall.
Very quickly, a beam of light appeared in their field of vision as that person walked down from the stairs.
So who was it?
The shadow from the basement?
But next, the beam of the flashlight swung in their direction.
There were only two paths upon descending the stairs.
Was it a coincidence, or an inevitability?
However, this flashlight beam was far weaker, completely incomparable to the high-powered flashlights they held. The two of them were able to remain hidden in the darkness.
Zhang Shutong narrowed his eyes. As he adapted to the light, he quickly made a judgment.
If it were the shadow from the basement, the first thing the counterpart should check would be that basement... But the moment this thought arose, he dismissed it.
No.
When they were clearing the debris this morning, they had carried those concrete blocks up to the surface. If the newcomer was the very person who had blocked this rock wall, they would understand exactly what had happened the moment they saw the debris above.
So it was an inevitability?
Thinking of this, he raised his guard to the absolute maximum.
Right now, the counterpart was in the light while they were in the dark; they actually held the active hand in this situation.
Zhang Shutong took the flashlight from Lu Qinglian's hand. His meaning was perfectly clear: if a confrontation became unavoidable in a moment, he could suddenly switch on the flashlight to catch the opponent off guard, which would also serve as the signal for Lu Qinglian to strike.
The footsteps drew closer and closer.
The figures of the two were about to be exposed to the light.
Zhang Shutong began to count down silently in his head.
Three.
Two.
"Is anyone there?"
The footsteps suddenly ground to a halt.
"Is someone up ahead? I saw the mineral water bottles up there..."
Zhang Shutong froze instantly, lowering the flashlight.
He spoke in utter disbelief:
"...Senior?"