Chapter 1154: Air
"N-Ninth Sister..." Qiu Shiliu asked, dazed. "Did you see... that thing that just shot past..."
Bai Jiu was silent for a long moment on the other end, then a faint voice replied, 「I saw it.」
"You saw it too? I thought I was hallucinating... that thing just now..."
「Shiliu.」 Bai Jiu cut her off immediately. "Don't speak for now. Open the door behind you."
"Huh...?"
「Right now.」 Bai Jiu said in a tone that brooked no refusal.
"Alright... I-I understand..." Qiu Shiliu didn't ask why, but immediately turned around and opened the door. On the other side was an old, worn-down house.
「Don't think about anything. Go inside now.」 Bai Jiu said again.
Jiang Shi could clearly see that Bai Jiu's expression was grim, as if she were extremely tense.
But from her voice, he could tell that Qiu Shiliu had already escaped danger. He didn't understand what Bai Jiu was worried about.
"Okay, okay, Ninth Sister. That really scared me just now... You saw it too, right? That woman came out and directly..."
「Don't...!」
The moment Bai Jiu's voice fell, Jiang Shi's left eye was plunged into darkness, as if something had gone wrong with the space where Qiu Shiliu was. Then, a cry of alarm rang out.
"Oh no..." Bai Jiu steadied Jiang Shi's head, looking left and right, but through the eye there was only darkness and a rustling sound. She couldn't see Qiu Shiliu at all.
"Ninth Sister... what's wrong?" Jiang Shi asked.
"That silly child, Shiliu..." Bai Jiu said anxiously. "She forgot that she's currently floating in midair using her 'will.' The moment she thinks 'a person will fall,' then she will inevitably fall."
According to Bai Jiu's line of thought, when Qiu Shiliu entered that space, she subconsciously thought she had entered the vast universe. So her subconscious had instilled in her the beliefs that "a person floats" and "cannot breathe."
"Ah?!" Jiang Shi was stunned. "Then Shiliu, she..."
The two of them realized the situation was serious and fell silent. After waiting for a long while, they finally heard Qiu Shiliu's voice again from Jiang Shi's left eye—
「Damn, that scared me to death...」
"Thank goodness... Shiliu..." Bai Jiu's suspended heart relaxed a little. "Are you all right?"
「I'm fine, Ninth Sister. Thanks to you...」 Qiu Shiliu replied. 「It was a good thing you told me to open that door right away. That decision saved my life.」
After a rustling sound on the other end, Qiu Shiliu's face reappeared in the picture. It seemed she had placed the small "walkie-talkie" inside the door and managed to capture her own reflection.
From the tiny image, Bai Jiu could see Qiu Shiliu clinging to the ground with both hands. Behind her was an endless starry sky, but her hands had reached into the doorway, as if she were hanging on the edge of a cliff.
She saw Qiu Shiliu use her strength, inch by inch pulling herself into the doorway, rescuing herself from the brink of falling over the cliff. Then, panting, she turned around and closed the door.
After that, she slowly stood up and looked at the unremarkable building in front of her.
「What is it?」 Bai Jiu asked. 「My view is limited. I can't see clearly.」
"It's..." Qiu Shiliu didn't know how to describe the house in front of her, because it was just too ordinary. "Ninth Sister... how should I put this... You know those 'abandoned temples' that often appear in TV dramas? It's pretty much like that..."
「An abandoned temple?」
"Yeah... pretty much..."
Qiu Shiliu walked forward slowly, looking at the bare-walled room. It had been swept clean, with only a stove built from stone bricks and a bed made of straw. There was no other furniture at all.
「Be careful. Tell me if anything happens.」 Bai Jiu said.
"Don't worry. This place looks... really... too..." Qiu Shiliu frowned for a long time, finally coming up with the word, "too safe."
With that, she went to the other side of the room and saw that there was also a rusty blue iron door.
She slowly reached out and pushed the iron door open. Warm sunlight spilled into the room, onto the walls, and onto Qiu Shiliu's face.
Qiu Shiliu's eyes slowly widened. In an instant, she froze in place.
The house was situated halfway up a small hill. Looking down from this hillside, there were many earthen houses arranged in a haphazard pattern. It seemed that dusk had already passed; smoke was beginning to rise from some of the earthen houses, with figures bustling about and voices filling the air with noise.
Qiu Shiliu swallowed, then lifted her nose and sniffed. Instantly, a stream of fresh air filled her lungs. Dizzying oxygen began to travel with every cell in her body, transporting to every part of her. Her dormant body seemed to be gradually awakening, and even her pores relaxed at that moment.
Her eyes instantly turned red. She reached up to touch her face, and tears had unknowingly already covered her cheeks.
「Shiliu... what's wrong?」
Qiu Shiliu knew she didn't want to cry, but this feeling was just impossible to hold back. Tears streamed down, and her whole body trembled.
"Ninth Sister... I... I don't know how to say it..." Qiu Shiliu choked. "I feel like I'm truly alive. I'm watching the sunset... I'm breathing air... I'm seeing wisps of cooking smoke... In front of me is a small mountain village."
「Breathing... air...?」 Bai Jiu felt she couldn't quite understand. "Haven't you been breathing all along...?"
"No... Ninth Sister..." Qiu Shiliu struggled to express what she was feeling. "Just take one breath here, and you'll feel like everything you've breathed for all these years was fake... Just one breath is enough..."
Hearing this, Bai Jiu's eyes flickered. Her lips moved slightly, and a strange thought surfaced in her mind.
She just hoped Shiliu wouldn't discover that thought, otherwise...
「Ninth Sister... Did I... escape?」
Hearing these words, Bai Jiu was stunned. Her hands, holding Jiang Shi's cheeks, pressed a little harder.
Yes... In a strange space that could lead anywhere, why couldn't Qiu Shiliu go straight to the real world?
No matter which real world it was... She should be able to live a good life now, right?
Rationally, Bai Jiu wanted to deny Qiu Shiliu's conclusion and tell her, "You're mistaken. It's all fake." But emotionally, she hoped Qiu Shiliu could truly escape. She had no reason to stay here and suffer any longer.
If she really could stay there, even if it was a secluded mountain village, she would be the first person in history to leave this place.
A conflicting feeling began to spread in Bai Jiu's heart. After just a moment, she made her choice.
"Shiliu, forget about Xuanwu. Find a chance to just..."
「Ninth Sister, I think I'm very close to Xuanwu's secret now.」 Qiu Shiliu interrupted. 「Tell me what to do.」