Chapter Seventy-Two: Perils in Succession

From beginning to end, Baoling stood with her back to the door, head bowed, staring at the globe, her face blank, her eyes half-open and half-shut, nostrils gently flaring. Looking at her, it was more than sleepwalking; she was deeply hypnotized, her thoughts adrift between semi-consciousness and semi-slumber.

Guan Wen had known her for so long, never hearing of any sleepwalking symptoms. This state must surely be orchestrated by Kalle.

Suddenly, she bent down, carefully placed the white copper pillar, then lifted away half of the globe and pushed it aside. Next, she picked up the white copper pillar and set it in the old groove at the center of the globe, remaining there, dazed and listless.

Without a key, how would she unlock it? Guan Wen couldn’t help but smile bitterly. Baoling’s state pained him, but under Kalle’s control, he was powerless. Moreover, Baoling wasn’t a master lock-picker; without Kalle’s special skills, how could she open that lock?

Kalle thrust his left hand into his pocket, and when he withdrew it, a vintage white copper key gleamed between his fingers.

So… you orchestrated the thief’s snatching? The key was with you all along? Guan Wen was startled.

With a flick of his finger, Kalle sent the key precisely into the keyhole, then answered with a sinister smile: “Of course the key was with me. In fact, our people have been tracking Baoling ever since her first entry from Hong Kong into Xizng, all the way to now—she’s been under our surveillance the whole time, and that includes you, anyone connected to the treasure of Mount Niseri. If we wish, we can monitor anyone in the world.”

Guan Wen suddenly realized: “You’re with the Azure Dragon Society?”

Kalle had previously sent Xiao Huo a message, saying the Azure Dragon Society’s men were gathering on the route from Zhangmu border to Kathmandu, but no one had guessed that the so-called men of the Azure Dragon Society referred to himself.

Kalle grinned wickedly: “That’s right. Now everyone has fallen into my trap; I’ll admit it outright.”

“How should this be handled? My heart can bear no more; the burdens are too heavy, too arduous. I cannot persist—may I choose to relinquish… Perhaps I am not the best candidate, please select another…” Baoling spoke, but her voice distinctly shifted to another woman’s, every sentence ornate, not the speech of a modern person.

A few seconds later, she issued another female voice, but the words were now obscure, ancient Tibetan.

Guan Wen ignored Kalle for the moment, listening closely to the passage. The general meaning: “The eternal legacy must not be interrupted. The one chosen by the deity is the most suitable heir. If you evade, you will be struck by divine wrath, thunderbolts from the heavens, plagued by illness and die miserably.”

Kalle’s expression changed. He released Guan Wen and moved to the other side of the globe, staring fixedly at Baoling’s face.

Baoling’s voice alternated constantly between the two female voices, as if a martial arts master performing ‘two hands at once,’ one person playing two roles, rambling on for nearly five minutes. In the end, the figure speaking ancient Tibetan prevailed, her tone growing ever more severe, forcing the ornate voice to become increasingly humble.

“Open it.” The Tibetan voice barked with steely force.

The ornate voice answered: “I have tried many times, the key turns, but the lock will not open. I am utterly powerless.”

The Tibetan voice fell silent for a while, then murmured: “Where did it go wrong? After so many years, has even the seal changed its nature? No matter what, you must open it; that is the rightful path among mortals.”

The ornate voice replied: “I do not know, but truly I am powerless.”

Even with the key, it cannot be opened? Guan Wen, tense, clenched his fists and muttered to himself.

“Of course it can’t be opened, otherwise why would I go to such lengths to lure you all to the Palace of Summer?” Kalle interjected instinctively.

“May I try?” Guan Wen asked.

Kalle waved his hand. Guan Wen stepped forward, bent down, gripped the key handle, twisted hard— the lock cylinder turned smoothly ninety degrees. Normally, the lock would now be open, its contents exposed. But strangely, the white copper pillar remained unchanged, exactly as before.

He twisted it a dozen times, the lock cylinder always moving smoothly, the situation unchanged.

“She is the only one who can open it, the one closely tied to the seal. Since she bears Princess Chao Ge’s soul, seeing the object will stir memories—she must recall something.” Kalle did not lose hope, pressing forward relentlessly.

Guan Wen glanced at Baoling—she was still lost in a fog, unaware of the danger at her side. She didn’t so much as glance at Kalle, focused solely on her inner feelings.

Medical research shows that sleepwalkers can get out of bed and act on their own during sleep, then return to their original place and continue sleeping. An EEG of a sleepwalker shows activity in stages three and four of normal sleep—the deep sleep stage, during which people do not dream. Thus, sleepwalking and dreaming are completely unrelated, two distinct phenomena.

Guan Wen was certain that Baoling, at this moment, was utterly unconscious, oblivious to any conversation between him and Kalle.

“Let her go, it’s useless,” he said.

Kalle cackled: “Let her go? What a joke! I’ve invested so much effort; I won’t release anyone without results. Actually, I have one last move, guaranteed to activate her past-life memories and help me open the white copper pillar. That is—” He suddenly stepped back and twisted a thick book on the bookshelf.

With a crash, a glass dome three meters in diameter descended from the ceiling, enclosing Guan Wen, Baoling, and the globe at its center.

“This device was originally meant for Miss Baoling, but you barged in at just the wrong moment, so you’ll have to accompany her. You’ll soon experience the taste of being entwined by thousands of snakes.” Kalle twisted a second book; the library floor parted to the sides, and the spot beneath Guan Wen turned to transparent glass.

He remembered the library lay directly over the dining room, but now, under Kalle’s machinations, he saw no tables or chairs—only a deep, black pit, its bottom flickering with eerie green light.

“Sorry, but I must use such extreme and violent methods to get what I want. We’re all clever people; everyone knows exactly what chips are in whose hands. For example—” Kalle clapped; two men pushed in Gu Qingcheng, her hands shackled behind her, and shoved her hard, sending her crashing against the glass dome.

Gu Qingcheng’s face was ashen, and the steel wolf-tooth handcuffs were genuine. The two men behind her held guns; she had no power to resist.

“Miss Gu, you’re late—otherwise, the three of you would go down together. That would be quite interesting. Of course, such a fun game needs lighting. You shouldn’t have pulled the breaker; that gave me advance warning. Hahaha…” He laughed loudly and clapped, turning on all the lights in the room and corridor.

Hiss, hiss, hiss— the venomous snakes seemed awakened by the light, their hissing growing louder.

“Don’t be reckless, Kalle. If they die, the clues to the treasure of Mount Niseri are severed; you’ll get nothing, your efforts wasted,” Gu Qingcheng, unwilling to sit and await death, tried psychological tactics to change Kalle’s mind.

Kalle feigned humor, shrugging and tapping the glass dome twice, then pressed a hidden button on the bookshelf’s side, turning on the lights in the deep pit.

“Hey, look down—some new friends are waiting to welcome you!” He snickered, as if he were a movie director relishing his own dark joke.

Guan Wen glanced down once; a wave of vertigo nearly made him vomit on the spot.

The pit was circular, about three stories deep, its walls made of double-layered glass, two meters between inner and outer walls. In this two-meter-wide, ten-meter-high ring, it was packed with snakes of every color, writhing together, tongues flicking, as if a crowd of ravenous peasants, waiting for food to rain from above. The green light he had just seen came from the eyes of starved venomous snakes—the more toxic, the brighter the glow.

“If I lower this glass dome to the bottom, then remove the dome and inner glass, imagine what would happen? You’d be buried at least five meters deep in a heap of snakes. To welcome you, they’ve been starved nearly a month. Oh, yes, let’s test it—drop a mouse in, let them warm up for the main event…”

No sooner had Kalle finished than two men pushed in Xiao Huo, his hands and feet shackled, body stained with blood—clearly wounded in several places.

“Perfect. Now everyone’s assembled, the show can begin. Hey, tell them below—release a mouse!”

A small window opened at the rim of the pit’s outer wall, and someone tossed in a loudly squeaking giant rat. It was a fat field mouse, a foot long from nose to tail. Before it hit the ground, a dozen blue serpents leapt up, shredding it in midair, tearing it into seven or eight pieces. In less than five seconds, the mouse vanished completely in the snake heap. This meager morsel only stirred the snakes to greater frenzy, battering the glass, hissing and thudding in a cacophony.

Even the usually calm Xiao Huo changed color.

“Think of something, Guan Wen. Now you’re the only one who can save you two; the others are powerless. So hurry, don’t let those secrets be swallowed by snakes. I’m not patient, nor do I care for drawn-out battles; I prefer things quick and clean. If you die, the other two won’t survive either. I’ve long decided: if I can’t get the treasure beneath Mount Niseri, no one else will, ha… hahahahaha…”

Kalle laughed madly, head thrown back, for so far his plan had succeeded without a single wasted move.

“Who are you? As far as I know, Kalle doesn’t have such ambition, nor any interest in joining the Azure Dragon Society. He was my first friend in Kathmandu; if I’m not mistaken, he’s already snake food, right? My only regret is that I’ve never seen your true face. We’ve met through conflict—perhaps you’d grant me the courtesy of revealing your real identity?” Xiao Huo spoke with calm dignity.

With a click, Kalle twisted a mechanism; the glass floor beneath Guan Wen began to slide down along the pit wall, slowly descending toward the snake pit below.