Chapter 107: The “immortal” Li Nuowei
After listening to Drake’s analysis, Li Nuowei fell into a brief silence, his pitch-black eyes losing their luster like those of a dead fish, and moments later, he suddenly trembled all over with a horrified and inexplicable expression in his eyes.
“What’s wrong with you?” Drake noticed Li Nuowei’s anomaly and asked puzzledly.
Li Nuowei blinked, the terror in his eyes vanishing in an instant, as if the fearful expression over something just now had never existed, and he smiled, “Nothing, I just suddenly remembered some things. That tunnel you mentioned earlier, I happen to know something about it.”
“Tell me about it.” Drake asked while driving, frowning slightly. He recalled Li Nuowei’s attitude just now; the other seemed to have some impression of the tunnel he mentioned, but in that instant of daze, he suddenly understood everything and became confident.
Li Nuowei smiled, “Wasn’t that tunnel said by someone to be a road leading to the land of the deceased? And some people even tried sending items through the tunnel to another world, saying it really worked.”
Drake nodded, “Yes, the missing boy I’m looking for once placed things his brother liked before his death at the tunnel entrance, so I’m wondering if the boy’s disappearance is related to this behavior of his.”
“Then let’s assume it’s really possible to send things to another world.” Li Nuowei smiled slyly, his mouth curling into a slightly mad grin, “Shall we try sending ourselves out?”
Hearing this, Drake was horrified, almost losing control of the steering wheel, cold sweat breaking out on his forehead. He then revealed two rows of interlocking shark teeth and laughed, “Heh, you really are crazy.”
“So, are you doing it or not?” Li Nuowei crossed his arms and asked with a smile.
“Since there’s a probability of success, of course we have to try.” Drake exhaled a turbid breath and chuckled. He glanced at his wrist, where bluish-black scales had spread beyond the gauze bandaging the wound.
Although he didn’t know why Li Nuowei kept saying he still had enough time, he felt the urgency of his limited days. He had to solve the case as quickly as possible.
As for his own life and death… Ever since Drake confirmed he was infected with Mermaid Disease, he no longer held any hope of “still being salvageable.”
He was a detective; as long as he could solve the cases he handled before dying, he would die without regrets.
Twenty minutes later, Drake and Li Nuowei arrived at the mysterious tunnel near Cape of the Horizon Beach. They stood at the entrance, exchanged a glance, nodded to each other confirming they were prepared, and then stepped into the tunnel together.
“How do you make a wish?” Drake asked curiously, “How do people in Shenzhou usually pray blessings to the deceased?”
Li Nuowei smiled and replied, “There’s no special rule. Close your eyes, clasp your hands together, silently think your prayer in your heart, and perhaps it will be conveyed in the netherworld.”
“Then how do you confirm it really got conveyed? You can’t rely on feeling, right?” Drake found it somewhat amusing; he felt this was no different from the prayer and blessing cultures he knew in the New York region.
Li Nuowei thought for a moment and said, “Actually, there is a saying. There’s an ancient saying in the Shenzhou Region: what you think about during the day appears in your dreams at night, meaning things you often miss will make you encounter them in dreams. In other words, if you sincerely pray to a deceased person you miss, you might dream of that person you want to see at night.”
Drake nodded, “I get that; it’s the concretization of the subconscious.”
This time it was Li Nuowei’s turn to chuckle. He squinted and said, “That’s probably what prayer means. Give it a try.”
The two stopped at the center of the tunnel. Drake looked at Li Nuowei and asked, “Are you coming with me? What if it succeeds? Won’t you be in danger too?”
Li Nuowei shook his head, “You don’t need to worry about that, and you don’t need to worry about your safety. I said I would protect you.”
“…To be honest, saying that now really makes me suspect your orientation, little brother.”
“You don’t need to doubt that; I’m straight.” Li Nuowei calmly glanced at Drake, then proudly raised his chin and said, “I’m already a real man!”
Drake squinted and sized up Li Nuowei for a moment; this was something he hadn’t noticed.
After bantering with each other to ease their inner tension, the two stopped talking, closed their eyes, and silently began praying in their hearts.
As soon as their eyelids closed, the world seemed to plunge into darkness, vision blocked, and the other senses amplified. Drake felt something else surrounding him in the darkness, peeping at him, crawling twistedly in the dark corners.
Soon, Drake faintly heard the sound of an unknown creature stepping in water, somewhat like a human barefoot stepping on water, or like a reptile such as a crocodile walking through puddles.
But no matter how he imagined it, Drake realized danger was approaching him.
This tunnel really hid something, or it really led to another world. The commotions he heard at this moment were from an otherworld envoy who, upon hearing his inner call and prayer, came specifically to receive and guide him.
Hoo…
Suddenly, he felt someone playfully blowing lightly by his ear, a cold wind carrying the salty smell of the sea making his left ear icy and stinging. He trembled in shock and awoke.
Opening his eyes again, the world seemed to have changed color. Before him was pitch black, and a low roar of an unknown beast came from the dark underground ahead, as if below was the fallen netherworld hell, a sinful icy cold abyss.
Drake suddenly felt short of breath, realizing he had forgotten to breathe for a moment, like a newborn infant. Only after a heavy pat on his back from a hand beside him did he finally recall his survival instinct, gasping greedily.
The hand that suddenly slapped his back wasn’t large, but its feel and temperature felt familiar to Drake. He asked, “Li Nuowei?”
“It’s me.” Li Nuowei replied while turning on the flashlight function on his mobile phone. He deliberately shone the light upward from under his chin to create a terrifying atmosphere, “Looks like we’ve really entered hell.”
Drake was speechless at the other’s childish antics. He also took out his mobile phone to illuminate, lighting up the way back.
They were now on a section of stairs, with a thick wall behind them.
It seemed their prayer just now had allowed them to pass through the tunnel wall, arriving here.
“Is this the air-raid shelter mentioned in history?” Drake shone his flashlight around the environment. The walls were divided by white and green, and from an artistic perspective, it had a strong World War style.
“Maybe.” Li Nuowei shook his head; he couldn’t be completely sure either.
Drake and Li Nuowei then descended the stairs, continuous unsettling low roars echoing in their ears. They advanced in silence, both feeling each other’s uneasy heartbeats.
At a certain section of the stairs, Drake suddenly stopped, squatted down, and picked up a screen-shattered game console from the stair platform, with small bloody fingerprints still remaining on it.
“Familiar?” Li Nuowei beside him inquired.
“Yeah.” Drake nodded and said, “It’s the thing that child sent to his brother.”
As he spoke, Drake stood up, exhaling deeply, feeling a chill coming over him.
Sensing Drake’s heavy mood, Li Nuowei said no more. Upon seeing the bloodstains, he too, like Drake, had a premonition that the disappeared child was likely beyond hope.
Continuing downward, after passing countless looping stairs and stepping over countless steps, the two finally reached a flat, spacious corridor.
Ahead was a half-open iron door, rusted and spotted, with several deformed bloody handprints smeared miserably on the door panel, and hysterical nail scratches remaining on the door panel.
The two approached with pounding hearts. Despite trying not to make noise, the rusted iron door still creaked chillingly when pushed, and instantly, the low beast roars from the dark depths ahead became prolonged and restless, like excited prelude to a hunt.
Drake barely managed a smile and said, “Can’t hold back and coming to eat us? How interesting.” He faintly heard excited low roars and the footsteps of a group from the darkness ahead.
“This way.” Li Nuowei suddenly grabbed his arm and led Drake running in a certain direction in the darkness.
Drake, with no sense of direction in the darkness, could only let Li Nuowei lead him. Surprisingly, they didn’t encounter any dark and twisted terror creatures head-on; they safely passed through flat ground and numerous mutilated human and beast bones, finally arriving at a sealed underground room.
Li Nuowei closed the door and used a crowbar from the ground to jam the two handles of the iron door, trying to block the terror creatures chasing from outside.
“What else do you know exactly?” Drake broke free from Li Nuowei’s hand and pushed him back a step.
He once again sensed an unbelievable anomaly from Li Nuowei. The other seemed to know the escape route in advance and had prepared along the way, while he felt like he had been led into a haunted house meticulously designed by the other, facing those unknown things alone in terror, which gave him a feeling of being toyed with, making him annoyed and ashamed.
Li Nuowei pondered slightly, “If I say I can see the future, would you believe me?”
Hearing this, the uncertain expression on Drake’s face gradually calmed after astonishment, and he said, “I believe you, as long as you tell me seriously.”
Li Nuowei sighed softly, a helpless expression on his face, and finally began to tell his story.
“My name is Li Nuowei, 21 years old, second-year student in the School of Economics and Management at Liuhua Port Comprehensive University. Up to today, I’ve been a perfectly normal and excellent youth in society.” Li Nuowei said, his eyes showing strange reminiscence and nostalgia, as if these short two days were his entire lost youth.
As he spoke, Li Nuowei looked at the bewildered Drake and said seriously, “Then, in the time today that you don’t know about, I will die because I went to the Second Central Hospital to visit a classmate I admire.”
“Huh? What are you talking about?” Drake was full of bewilderment.
“Simply put, I have the ability to load and save files like playing a single-player game, but it triggers ‘rewind’ upon death.” Li Nuowei rubbed his aching brow and said, “Every time I die, I return to two days ago, that is, the day you… um, first met me this time.”
Drake found it hard to believe and said in shock, “You… how do you have such an ability?”
“Heh, you might not believe it.” Li Nuowei smiled and said, “A month ago, I suddenly dreamed of a forest cabin, which was a small shop selling all kinds of eerie magical items. I bought a story from a shopkeeper who looked younger than me, and since getting that story, I gained this ability.”
“Honestly, I didn’t realize at first that this ability was connected to that strange dream I had that day. It was only after dying countless times that I finally noticed the connection.”
“So what exactly was that story?” Drake inquired.
Li Nuowei shook his head, his breathing unsteady, and smiled palely, “I advise you not to know that story; it’s a story that can never stop.”
Drake fell silent at once, then asked seriously, “Since you have such an ability, you should be able to completely avoid such dangerous things, right? Tell me the truth: why get involved in this anomaly event on purpose?”
“I’ve already told you.” Li Nuowei looked into Drake’s eyes, “I’m not hiding anything from you about this matter. I am indeed helping you out of repaying kindness.”
“I didn’t believe in fate before, but only after experiencing countless reincarnations did I realize that fate really exists in this world. In your life, there might be one or several fated people you can never escape. I can rely on this ability to avoid countless dangers, and you, unknowingly, have saved my life countless times in my lifetime.”
Seeing Drake still bewildered, Li Nuowei smiled, “I know you’ll believe everything I say, but you definitely won’t understand my feelings, and I think you don’t need to understand them, because it’s a luck too good to enjoy, and for me, it’s even more of a pain.”
“Do you know how many times I’ve reincarnated?” Li Nuowei exhaled deeply, pain showing in his eyes.
“How many times?”
“One thousand three hundred eighty-two times.” Li Nuowei grinned.
Drake was stunned in place; from this precise number, he felt the heaviness and pain in Li Nuowei’s heart. He imagined if it were him experiencing such nearly countless deaths and returns, he might end up like Li Nuowei.
Despite trying to maintain his rationality, his mind was slowly approaching collapse from remembering countless death memories.
Death Return—everyone can probably guess Li Nuowei’s ability.
