Chapter 134: The Cousin That Doesn’t Exist
Wu Xie listened to Lao Yang sincerely trying to persuade him to stay from behind, but he didn’t stop for that, still striding forward quickly, having walked over ten meters in this short time: “For my own good? Isn’t it all for yourself? Shut up, if you want to go down, go by yourself, we’re leaving.”
Seeing no movement from behind after they’d walked for a good while, Lao Yang apparently hadn’t followed, Lin Yan asked Wu Xie: “You really okay with him going down alone? Really not going down to take a look?”
Wu Xie abruptly stopped in his tracks, subconsciously wanting to fish a cigarette from his pocket to smoke, only to realize he hadn’t brought anything.
He licked his gums, walked to beside the wall and slowly sat down, somewhat dejected: “I… I already don’t know if what he says is true or false.”
Wu Xie was hanging his head, Lin Yan couldn’t see his expression clearly, but from those words he could imagine the bewildered look on his face right now.
He too began pondering a question now: Is the so-called plot something that can be drastically changed? He was certain that in the original work, Wu Xie definitely went down, but now Wu Xie definitely didn’t want to go down, even wanted to turn back the way they’d come, which left him somewhat confused.
Although his memory of the original work before wasn’t very deep, he could at least use the bits and pieces he remembered to gain some benefits for himself, like grabbing some treasure. But after losing that foresight from the plot? Even without this incident with Wu Xie, this reality was something he’d have to face sooner or later.
His memory of the original work was gradually fading, he hadn’t remembered much to begin with, and in a few more months it might all be blank. So without that foresight from the original work, how was he supposed to survive in this tomb raiding world full of Sons of Destiny, cheaters, and major villains? Or rather, in what way was he supposed to survive?
If the previous experience coming to Qinling Mountains had solidified Lin Yan’s short-term strategy of sticking with Wu Xie, this mishap made him start thinking about his backup plan after resolving his own troubles. Now he was definitely on the lists of various righteous and villainous forces big and small, and tied to Wu Xie at that.
Setting aside the path with Wu Xie for the moment, leaving Wu Xie now would mean leaving the protection of the Wu Family forces, and even because of Wu Xie, the villainous forces might still take action against him; he wasn’t about to bet on that one-in-ten-thousand chance of the villains showing mercy. While sticking with Wu Xie, at least when the Wu Family looked after Wu Xie, they could incidentally look after him too?
Taking the path of Zhang Qiling or Fatty was something Lin Yan didn’t even need to consider; one was the ceiling of tomb raiding, overpowering everything with sheer force; the other had accumulated a foundation and connections over years of operations, neither of which he could match.
In the end, it was because he was too weak, weak to the point he couldn’t even control his own fate.
Wu Xie was the same; if he had the ability to flip the board, he wouldn’t be so passive throughout the entire plot. Sometimes, intelligence really was worthless in the face of strength.
He and Wu Xie were actually in the same boat.
He heard Wu Xie bewilderedly ask him: “Third Uncle was like this before, now Lao Yang too. I don’t know why they all have to hide things from me, still under the guise of it being for my own good. Do I care what they want me to get? What I care about is why they’re doing this! Third Uncle is one thing, since it might involve my previous generation or even the Nine Gates, but Lao Yang? He’s had over a decade of friendship with me, what can’t he say?”
Wu Xie couldn’t help but let out a cold laugh: “I’m too naive too, got deceived by him with a bronze bell and a staff to come here; if he wasn’t really bad at acting, I’d probably already have been fooled like an idiot into continuing down, without even knowing his goal in fooling me here. And what ‘I’m his best friend’—hah, best friend, just like this?”
He looked up at Lin Yan, a rare vulnerability in his eyes: “Tell me, am I really that naive? Even after being fooled by him like this, I’m actually still worried now if he’ll be safe going down alone, if he’ll lose his life! I fucking really don’t want him to die.”
Lin Yan looked at Wu Xie like this, somewhat hesitant. He really wanted to tell him that Lao Yang wouldn’t harm his life, it’d be fine to follow him; but on the other hand, he also wanted Wu Xie to break free from part of fate’s arrangements this way, to experience fewer heart-pounding events. He was the hope of the Nine Gates’ third generation, but before that, he was just Wu Xie himself—a person with no ambitions, just wanting to be an ordinary antique shop boss, occasionally learning some strange tales.
Putting all the future on one person’s shoulders—is that really fair to that person? Even if along the way he had Zhang Qiling, Fatty, Hua Er Ye. But at his core, he was still that ordinary person who wanted to stay away from the vortex and live steadily; no one had asked what he thought, everything was him being blindly pushed forward by an invisible hand.
So Lin Yan opened his mouth, but didn’t know what to say to Wu Xie. He couldn’t persuade Wu Xie to go, nor could he persuade him to go back; after a long moment, he could only squeeze out: “…You’re fine like this.”
Really, being naive is pretty good, not needing to know anything or consider anything.
But Wu Xie would eventually have to shoulder that burden; he needed these experiences to enrich himself, to slowly complete this bureau spanning who knows how many years.
Footsteps came from behind—it was Lao Yang.
“…I fucking knew you hadn’t left! Old Wu, I knew you—you couldn’t let go of me, sure enough you’re still here…”
Lao Yang’s excited voice came, but neither of them was in the mood to listen, both stunned in place with hearts in turmoil.
“Old Wu?”
Seeing the two of them silent like this, Lao Yang found it strange, but after struggling for a moment, he first waved his hand in front of Wu Xie: “I… let’s still go down, I really didn’t mean to deceive you, it’s just some things… h-how to put it, you might not believe it…”
Wu Xie impatiently slapped his hand away, stood up, his tone cold and indifferent: “Don’t fucking talk nonsense, either tell me the truth, or we turn around and leave right now! We’re not fucking obligated to go down this tomb! What do you mean ‘for my own good’, what do you mean ‘you might not believe’? How can you be sure I won’t believe if you don’t even say it? Let me tell you, Lao Yang, what I hate most is you guys acting like it’s for my own good but telling me nothing! Say it or not? One minute, explain clearly, then we can consider going down from here; otherwise our over-a-decade friendship is done, once we’re out of this mine I’ll pretend I don’t know you, bridges return to bridges, roads to roads, nobody fucking bother with each other.”
Hearing Wu Xie say such heartless words in a calm tone, Lao Yang knew Wu Xie had made up his mind; if he didn’t explain clearly, Wu Xie would definitely turn and leave.
He first threw Lin Yan a pleading expression, but Lin Yan turned his head away and ignored him. Lao Yang was Wu Xie’s friend of over a decade, not his; he’d only known Lao Yang for a few weeks, how deep could their friendship be? Not to mention Wu Xie being the original work’s protagonist, just their shared hardships in the Lu King’s Palace underwater tomb meant the life-and-death bond between him and Wu Xie wasn’t something Lao Yang’s few meals could match. Let alone how Wu Xie had always helped him solve his own problems, spending quite a bit of money and effort for it.
He wasn’t an ungrateful person.
Lao Yang could only stammer: “Actually, most of what I told you is true, except for the cousin thing.”
Wu Xie instantly became alert, thinking of that strange bronze staff.
Lao Yang gave a bitter laugh, dazed for a little while, then said word by word: “The cousin is me myself.”
