Chapter 29: Prisoner's Dilemma

The Spearman grew restless: "Wailing and wailing, it's driving me crazy!"

The One-Eyed Man chuckled: "Steady on, steady on. That is the hope of the future. Don't be annoyed; the louder the baby cries, the stronger its innate constitution."

Ding Jun understood now. The copper pipe embedded in the cellar ceiling must lead to a very distant place. The One-Eyed Man and the Spearman were in on the secret, while the small-eyed man had been excluded and then executed when he accidentally neared the edge of the truth. But where did the baby come from? Who installed that copper pipe beneath the Shi family's old estate? And what was the purpose?

Perhaps all the answers would be revealed after a long period of waiting. For that, he was willing to suffer in silence a while longer.

He did not know how much time had passed when the two men, who had been dozing on the table, suddenly stood up in unison, walked to the steps, and looked upward.

The One-Eyed Man spoke first: "Welcome, Lady Xue."

The Spearman stood at attention, respectful and solemn, and greeted loudly: "Greetings, Lady Xue."

A young woman in a cyan trench coat descended the steps with a light, nimble gait. Her features were delicate, her eyes bright as snow. The moment her feet touched the ground, she noticed the rope net on the copper plate and asked crisply, "Is this the accomplice of Shi Miaoshou you captured?"

The One-Eyed Man nodded: "Yes, this is Ding Jun. He claims to be a comrade-in-arms of Shi Hai, a retired special forces soldier from the U.S. Delta Force."

The woman sneered: "A fool with a death wish!"

She approached the copper plate, nudged the rope net with the tip of her shoe, and barked with utter contempt: "Hey, are you still alive? Tell us, where has Shi Miaoshou gone?"

Ding Jun could tell at a glance that this was not the same woman he had seen in the earth forest the previous night; her demeanor, voice, and posture were vastly different.

"I... don't know..." Ding Jun intentionally curled his tongue, forcing out a hoarse, wheezing voice.

"Everyone who comes to help will die. So what if he's Delta Force? They were all wiped out by us in a single round in Afghanistan!" the woman boasted arrogantly.

The One-Eyed Man and the Spearman kept their smiles plastered on, nodding at every word she spoke.

"I really... don't know..." Ding Jun said feebly.

"Hey, did you find any other secret chambers? This cellar is empty, there’s nothing here. What’s the point of staying?" The woman turned to challenge the One-Eyed Man.

The One-Eyed Man replied with a smile: "We are searching diligently. We dare not work openly during the day; we can only do it after nightfall. I felt Ding Jun might have intelligence value, so I kept him here for Lady Xue to interrogate."

The woman snorted: "Value? I don't see any value—"

A tinkling sound suddenly came from the steps, like two shards of jade colliding.

The woman looked up, her arrogance vanished. She lowered her voice and called out: "Welcome, Lady Xue."

Ding Jun also looked toward the top of the steps. First, he saw a pair of white leather boots reaching above the knees. Even in the sand-swept Tibetan border, the boots were spotless, maintaining the pure, original white of lambskin from the snowy mountains. Every step the person took was steady, yet devoid of any heaviness, giving the impression that once she stepped down, she would never retreat or change her mind.

Moving upward, Ding Jun saw a white snow-leopard suede coat, the hem adorned with mutton-fat white jade of various shapes. As she walked, the jade pieces occasionally bumped against each other, emitting a faint tinkling sound.

As she descended a few more steps, her slender waist, cinched with a white jade chain, was revealed. The chain was also carved from high-quality mutton-fat jade, the links interlocked with a lustrous sheen.

The One-Eyed Man and the Spearman lowered their heads, not daring to look directly upward.

"Thank you all for your hard work." When her face was fully exposed to the light, she finally spoke. Her voice was like fingers brushing across a harp—resonant and melodious.

She was a girl with features as exquisite as if carved from ice and jade. Her gaze was as calm as water, her long hair hanging down like a black waterfall.

When she entered the cellar, no one could look her in the eye; they all bowed their heads involuntarily, overwhelmed by her noble aura.

"Dongzhu, do not be impatient," she said.

The girl in the cyan trench coat who had entered earlier lowered her hands and replied: "Yes, Dongzhu understands."

The girl walked slowly to the copper plate, staring at Ding Jun in the rope net. She seemed to carry an icy chill; wherever she went, the temperature of the surrounding air dropped by several degrees.

At such close proximity, Ding Jun saw that she had deep, dark, profound eyes. The large orbs seemed to radiate a misty coldness at every moment. Being stared at by her, he felt a nervous tension, as if his heart were racing and he had nowhere to hide.

"Lady Xue, this is Ding Jun, a helper invited by Shi Miaoshou," the One-Eyed Man introduced from the side.

The girl replied: "I know, but he is not our target. Release him."

This statement was beyond Ding Jun’s expectations, and the others were even more bewildered.

The girl’s eyes shifted, focusing on the copper pipe on the ceiling.

The One-Eyed Man explained promptly: "That copper pipe seems to lead to some secret space; strange sounds often come from it."

The girl nodded and, with a light leap, landed on the copper plate.

At that exact moment, Ding Jun suddenly felt an ominous premonition. The One-Eyed Man and the Spearman were exchanging glances; one retreated to the table, while the other moved behind Dongzhu.

"Lady Xue, I have something to say—" Ding Jun struggled and had just begun to speak when he suddenly heard the squeaking and snapping of a torsion spring. Then, the four sides of the copper plate tilted upward simultaneously, like an opening Venus flytrap, instantly enclosing him and the girl.

In the half-second before the plate closed, Ding Jun witnessed the Spearman assassinating Dongzhu, while the One-Eyed Man’s hand was already under the table, clearly having triggered the mechanism that caused the copper plate to transform.

"Waa... waa..." The baby's crying became clearer, as if it were ringing right in Ding Jun's ears.

In the darkness, he skillfully cut through the rope net and freed himself, but he stood still, not daring to move haphazardly for fear of an accidental conflict with Lady Xue.

"Surprised, are you? I suspect your subordinates have turned on you. Lady Xue, I have no hostility toward you, especially in this situation. Since we are both trapped like turtles in a jar, we should work together, shouldn't we?" Ding Jun said.

He could feel that Lady Xue was within five steps, as the strange coldness remained constant.

"Yes," the other replied with a single word.

"Let’s get acquainted; I am Ding Jun," Ding Jun said.

"Good," the other replied.

Ding Jun fished a matchbox from his pocket and struck a match. Before he could look at the girl across from him, he observed the situation.

The copper plate, which had looked ordinary on the surface, actually had countless hidden intersecting lines, like a flattened soccer ball. If one didn't pay attention, one would assume it was a solid slab. When the One-Eyed Man activated the mechanism, the plate folded along these lines, instantly forming an airtight copper sphere. It was incredibly sturdy, and it would be extremely difficult for those trapped inside to escape. Furthermore, oxygen in the enclosed space was limited, and they faced the danger of suffocation.

After a quick scan, Ding Jun blew out the match to avoid wasting oxygen.

This situation was even more perilous than being trapped in the cellar of Toling Monastery.

"Lady Xue, what do you think?" he asked.

Once upon a time, the Guge envoys were mortal enemies of Shi Miaoshou, and by extension, mortal enemies of Ding Jun, Fang Qing, and other helpers. Now, the roles had reversed; Ding Jun found himself trapped in a corner with the Guge envoy, Lady Xue.

"Only by breaking the bottle can the butterfly fly," Lady Xue replied.

Her voice was indeed beautiful, carrying a purity untainted by the world, which reminded Ding Jun of glaciers that had remained frozen for tens of thousands of years, the snow lotuses atop the Himalayas, and the faint tolling of bells in ancient Tibetan temples. Being with such a girl, no matter how much anger or restlessness he felt, it was extinguished by the cool air emanating from her lips.

"How do we break it?" Ding Jun asked, looking up into the darkness.

Actually, during the time that half a match had burned, he had already devised a plan. However, he wanted to hear Lady Xue's opinion. The hallmark of a master is to sharpen one's skills through mutual exchange; even as a king of individual combat, he was still willing to humbly seek the insights of others.

"The key to the copper sphere is the closure point," Lady Xue replied.

"Exactly," Ding Jun nodded.

"You are a special forces soldier; you must have a way," Lady Xue’s reply was extremely concise, without any extraneous words.

Ding Jun smiled silently. This laconic way of communicating was interesting and suited his taste. Often, he preferred doing to talking; the fewer words, the better, as empty talk helped solve nothing.

Within two minutes, he retrieved a dozen seemingly unrelated items—metal rods, hooks, nuts, and drill bits—from the various pockets of his clothing, quickly assembling a miniature hand-cranked drill.

"Once it is quiet outside, I will begin," he said.

In his past survival training, he only needed a Swiss Army knife to handle any mechanical problem. This time, the situation was complex, and the modular hand-cranked drill would be more useful. According to his plan, he only needed to drill through the sixteen connection points of the copper sphere to open a small window and escape easily.

Now, he hoped the One-Eyed Man and the Spearman would leave the cellar after their success, giving him the chance to act.

He moved a step to the side and braced his right hand against the inner wall of the copper sphere, preparing to press his ear against it to listen for movement outside. Suddenly, the searing heat against his fingertips made him pull his hand back sharply.

"Damn, they’re lighting a fire!" he whispered, a layer of cold sweat instantly breaking out on his forehead.

He had seen ashes left under the copper plate, but he never imagined that starting a fire there was to roast the copper sphere. At this rate, in less than ten minutes, the temperature inside would rise rapidly, steaming them both to death.

Strangely, he did not feel the searing heat under his feet; there was only a mild warmth.

"There is still time," Lady Xue said, without a trace of anxiety or panic.

"Ten minutes—or less," Ding Jun took a deep breath.

If all else failed, he would have to risk drilling through the copper sphere immediately, breaking out under the siege of the One-Eyed Man and the Spearman to fight a desperate encounter. In that case, the success rate was only thirty percent. That is to say, while he was confident he could kill one, there was a high risk of being severely wounded by the second.

"No," Lady Xue dismissed that answer.

Ding Jun crouched down and carefully felt the ground beneath his feet. He soon discovered that the concave bottom of the copper sphere heated up slowly; it must have been specially thickened and insulated. He had observed earlier that the concave bottom was an approximate square with sides of three meters.

"We are standing in a thickened, flat-bottomed frying pan. No matter how slowly it heats up, it will eventually reach fifty, one hundred, or even more degrees Celsius. This is getting troublesome—" Ding Jun looked up again. This time, there seemed to be a faint light inside the copper sphere, allowing him to see that strange copper pipe.

Coincidentally, the copper pipe was perfectly encased by the copper sphere without leaving a single gap, and the edge of the pipe was flush with the inner wall of the copper sphere.

"This mechanism... it's like the structure of a flask and a gas collection tube..." Ding Jun immediately reached a conclusion.

When he was in the military, he had received special training in chemical experiments, primarily to deal with terrorist biochemical weapon laboratories. The terrorists used all sorts of glassware for refining poison gas, and the refining processes were extremely complex, involving a dozen or so continuous steps of heating flasks, obtaining gas, collecting, transmitting, and compressing it for storage.

But what was the point of doing this here? He lowered his head, lost in thought, when he was suddenly startled by the sight before him. The side wall of the copper sphere was glowing with a deep, eerie red, like glowing charcoal left after an open flame had died out. It was because the side wall had been heated until it glowed red that he could see the top of the sphere by the light of the charcoal.