Life in the Wormhole

Two years ago, when Li Banfeng left Yaowanggou for the first time, he had traveled across the border of Mount Mazhu. While he was examining the border line back then, he had watched a white-robed man riding a white crane crash straight into it. That crane and man had claimed to have spent twenty years in closed-door cultivation, possessing abilities ordinary mortals could scarcely fathom. Yet the instant they flew into the border line, both had disintegrated into ash. At the time, Li Banfeng had assumed something had gone wrong with their brains. Who could have imagined he would encounter them again today? The white-robed man gazed in Li Banfeng's direction for a while. Seeing nothing, he bowed his head once more to search for food. Li Banfeng couldn't make out what kind of sustenance he was scrounging for. He only saw the man picking things up from time to time and stuffing them into his mouth. The crane's focus remained locked onto Li Banfeng. It couldn't see Li Banfeng either—not only was he invisible, but he was completely untouchable. Even so, it could clearly sense his position. He couldn't afford to get entangled with them right now. This was Li Banfeng's first time traversing a wormhole, and he didn't dare linger. Picking up his pace, he strode swiftly along the path beneath his feet. Leaving the crane behind, Li Banfeng walked for less than a minute before coming across an emaciated man. In all his years, Li Banfeng had never seen someone so thoroughly skeletal. He had witnessed plenty of people starved to death in Haichiling, yet even those corpses carried more flesh on their bones than this man. The man was sprawled on the ground, frantically searching for food. This time, Li Banfeng could see clearly what they were eating. Across the pitch-black earth grew patches of fibrous fuzz resembling black moss. Writhing amidst this fluff were worms as thick as chopsticks, shaped like earthworms. The man grabbed clumps of the fibrous moss together with the worms and shoveled them all into his stomach. The sight of his ravenous gorging reminded Li Banfeng of a friend. That friend's manner when eating bore an uncanny resemblance to the man's present movements. The crane caught up from behind again and called out to the emaciated man, "Little brother, don't be in such a rush to feed. Do you sense someone nearby?" The man shook his head without uttering a word. The crane then called toward the distance, "Young lady, do you sense someone coming?" A silhouette stood far off, gazing in Li Banfeng's direction as well. She seemed able to sense Li Banfeng, yet she kept silent. Li Banfeng pressed onward until the dust-laden path came to an end, whereupon his figure vanished into a burst of light. The woman standing in the distance finally spoke: "It seems that person has already left." The crane sighed, turning its head toward the withered man who continued his frantic forage. "Little brother, try your best not to eat the worms. You can't chew them up, and once they enter your belly, they hatch into smaller worms. The more you eat, the hungrier you'll become." The gaunt man set down the moss and worms in his hands, fumbled a crude phone out from his breast pocket, and dialed out once more. *** Li Banfeng returned to Mount Mazhu, materializing roughly ten meters from the border line. He had successfully crossed the Boundary. The gramophone bounced with sheer delight. "Husband, it worked! It really worked this time!" Li Banfeng nodded, drew out the Boundary switch given to him by Old Train, temporarily disabled a small section of the Boundary, and returned to his wife's side. "Husband, your servant is so very happy!" The gramophone sucked Li Banfeng's head right into its horn, giving him several dizzying spins. Li Banfeng was delighted as well, yet his mood differed from the night before. "Husband, what's the matter?" His wife sensed that something was off with him. Li Banfeng picked up the gramophone. "Darling wife, let's talk after we get home." Once inside the companion dwelling, Li Banfeng recounted his recent experience. "Wife, I saw people inside the wormhole. And one of them was someone I recognize." His wife pondered for a moment, gently shaking her head. "A situation like that is hard to say—" She produced a sheet of paper, drew a river, sketched a bridge across it, and placed two doors along the bridge, explaining the principle to Li Banfeng in meticulous detail. "Husband, this river is the Boundary. "This bridge is the dark bridge we constructed. It consists of two paths, the real and the illusory, represented respectively by two doors. "If there is no bridge and one crashes straight into the Boundary, they will be reduced to ash through the annihilation of matter and antimatter. "If one possesses the first, the real bridge, they can slip into the wormhole and cross the Boundary through it. "If one also possesses the second, the illusory bridge, they can find their orientation within the wormhole and subsequently locate the exit. "However, this illusory bridge was constructed using the Lie-Root Stone as its foundation. As you advance across both bridges, you might see illusions created by the stone." Li Banfeng asked, "Does my wife mean to say that the people I saw in the wormhole were all phantoms?" The gramophone couldn't say for certain. "They might not necessarily be illusions; they could be real. Perhaps some individuals found only the real bridge without discovering the illusory bridge, recklessly plunged into the wormhole, and became trapped inside with no way out. But could a living person truly survive in a place like a wormhole?" Were they illusions, or were real people trapped within? This seemed easy enough to verify. Li Banfeng stepped out of the companion dwelling, took out his crude phone, and dialed Luo Zhengnan. Luo Zhengnan was currently on a rooftop listening to the radio. A wave of static crackled through, leaving him somewhat irritated. Lately, he had been plagued by static. Day or night, whenever he plugged in an antenna, the noise lingered constantly before him. He had swapped antennas, tuned through frequencies, consumed medicinal pills, and achieved a minor breakthrough in cultivation—Luo Zhengnan had tried numerous methods, yet none had proven effective. He truly couldn't fathom what was causing it. After a wait of several dozen seconds, the static cleared. Luo Zhengnan resumed listening to the broadcast: "Dear listeners, this product of ours is practically a household name across Puluo Province. What makes it so remarkable? Allow me to explain in detail. First of all, burying corpses is undeniably hard manual labor, and you certainly can't manage without a proper shovel. This shovel of ours was specifically designed for body disposal—" Luo Zhengnan snapped the radio off. That host was truly obnoxious, shoving such clumsy advertisements down people's throats. Speaking of which, where had A'hui gone? By regular custom, A'hui would host broadcasts at the radio station throughout the entire winter. Yet winter wasn't even half over, and she hadn't shown up for several days. Just as Luo Zhengnan's mood soured, Li Banfeng's call came through. "Seventh Master, were you looking for me?" "Old Luo, look into Qin Tianjiu's whereabouts for me." "Understood. Give me a moment." Li Banfeng hung up and waited for Old Luo's report. Inside the wormhole, he had seen that gaunt, skeletal man. Judging by the way he ate, his movements were remarkably similar to Qin Tianjiu's. About ten minutes later, Luo Zhengnan called back. "Seventh Master, there's been no word from Ninth Master for several days!" Li Banfeng frowned. "That bastard Shen Jinzhong didn't tell me again!" "Shen Gold Seal has been searching for him all along. He thought Ninth Master threw a fit of temper over the jewelry shop matter." "What happened with the jewelry shop?" "Shen Jinzhong opened a jewelry shop that kept getting hit by thieves recently, turning it into a losing venture. Shen Gold Seal pinned the blame on Ninth Master, so Ninth Master had been keeping watch near the shop lately. He might have gotten a bit upset over that." Li Banfeng hung up. This went far beyond mere petulance. Qin Tianjiu wasn't a petty-minded person. That emaciated man just now was indeed Qin Tianjiu, and for reasons unknown, he had ended up in the wormhole. According to his wife's explanation, if an ordinary person touched the Boundary, they would suffer matter-antimatter annihilation and burn completely to ash. Those trapped inside the wormhole had to possess some method of entering it, yet lacked the means to leave. That white crane, which claimed to be an expert after twenty years of secluded cultivation—two years ago, Li Banfeng had considered him a laughingstock. Now, it appeared the crane genuinely had real capabilities. He had believed he possessed the ability to cross the Boundary, and indeed, through his own power, he had entered the wormhole without the aid of external devices. But what about Little Fatty? The urgent priority was to rescue him. His wife studied the diagram for a long time. "Husband, if you wish to rescue them, it will be exceptionally difficult. It's equivalent to pulling someone who fell into the river back up onto the bridge. One careless misstep could drag you into the river right alongside them. Husband must think this over very carefully!" Li Banfeng furrowed his brows tightly. Who on earth had sent Little Fatty into the wormhole? *** Yuezhou, Jiacheng District, Yunsheng Road. Boss Lu stepped out of his bookhouse. He wore an ivory-yellow shirt fastened with frog buttons down the front, paired with black trousers. As always, his short black hair and straight-line mustache appeared impeccably groomed, as though every single strand had been tended to with great care. In his hand he carried a book: Volume Seven of the *Collection of Embroidered Frost*, the shop's bestseller. Seemingly walking at an unhurried pace, he traveled from Yunsheng Road all the way to the Cultural Palace—a distance of more than twenty kilometers—in less than five minutes. A gunfight movie was playing at the Cultural Palace today, and most of those setting up stalls were brokers. Boss Lu found a seat in the back row and sat down. A snack vendor approached and asked, "Sir, what would you like?" "I'll take everything." Boss Lu handed the vendor a stack of banknotes. The vendor promptly set aside his wares and escorted Boss Lu upstairs to meet Lin Fojiao. Had it been anyone else, the snack vendor would have questioned them first. But Boss Lu was a regular customer and an old acquaintance of Lin Fojiao; once Boss Lu gave the code, the vendor arranged the meeting immediately. Inside the office, Lin Fojiao was dozing. The snack vendor poured Boss Lu a cup of tea, then turned and left. Boss Lu tapped lightly on the desk and presented a requisition list to Lin Fojiao. Lin Fojiao squinted at it for a moment, then stretched languidly. "These items won't be easy to procure." Boss Lu chuckled. "If they were easy to procure, I certainly wouldn't have troubled you." "A bulk procurement of this scale requires corporate backing. The equipment manufacturers won't sell to private individuals, so there will be additional expenses incurred—" Boss Lu took a sip of tea, casually flipping through his copy of *Collection of Embroidered Frost*. "Old friend, there's no need for such talk between us. When have I ever quibbled over minor details with you? Just name your price." Lin Fojiao brought over a calculator, punched in a number, and showed it to Boss Lu. Boss Lu gave a subtle nod. "Roughly when can it be delivered?" "Two weeks at the earliest." "Then it's settled. Two weeks." Boss Lu rose to leave. Lin Fojiao glanced at the copy of *Collection of Embroidered Frost*, his bleary eyes opening slightly. "Fond of reading?" Boss Lu smiled. "I have them in my shop. I'll send a full set over for you tomorrow." Not long after Boss Lu departed, Lin Fojiao summoned the snack vendor. "Did Tang Changfa recently purchase a batch of scientific research equipment?" The vendor checked his ledger and nodded. "Scientific research falls under their registered business scope. They also have skilled negotiators, so their dealings went very smoothly." "Discuss it with him. I need to purchase a batch of scientific equipment as well and want to use his company for backing. Offer him a three percent cut." "Chairman Lin, we have similar companies of our own." "A company is easy to arrange, but capable negotiators are hard to come by. Ask them their thoughts first." *** "Isn't a three percent cut far too little?" Yan Cui'er curled her lip, none too pleased with the offer. The snack vendor didn't waste words with Yan Cui'er, knowing she was somewhat dull-witted. He merely asked, "When will Tang Changfa and Yan Hong'er return?" "They went out to collect goods. It'll take at least an hour or so!" The vendor turned and left. Two hours later, Tang Changfa and Yan Hong'er returned. Before the newly arrived inventory could even be moved to the warehouse, Yan Cui'er relayed the business proposal to them. "I didn't even want to entertain them. Offering a measly three percent cut—who would want to take their business?" Tang Changfa poked Yan Cui'er with a finger. "Blockhead! You've been in the Outer States for so long, and you still can't do basic math? Do you have any idea how much scientific research equipment costs? On a ten-million-dollar deal, our cut is three hundred thousand! Is that small to you?" Yan Hong'er was exasperated as well. "We're doing business on their turf, yet you wouldn't give them an ounce of face. Do you have no sense of propriety?" Yan Cui'er pouted, tears brimming in her eyes. "All you two ever do is bully me! Tomorrow, we're going to the Shopkeeper to let him judge who's right!" Hearing that, Tang Changfa fell silent. Yan Cui'er was heavily favored by the Shopkeeper. Yan Hong'er, however, refused to pamper her. "Then go tell the Shopkeeper! Let's go right now! We'll lay out reason and facts; I refuse to believe the Shopkeeper can't tell right from wrong!" Tang Changfa mediated, "Enough, I'll go ask what kind of deal it actually is." He sought out the snack vendor on his own initiative and accepted the business. Back in the private booth, Tang Changfa examined the equipment list, pacing back and forth across the room in agitation. Yan Hong'er asked, "What's wrong? Are the items difficult to procure?" "Procuring them is easy enough. The issue is whether we should be procuring them at all." Tang Changfa handed the list to Yan Hong'er. Yan Hong'er had sharp eyes and immediately spotted the electromagnetic instrument. "Isn't this the item the Shopkeeper had us purchase before?" Yan Cui'er peered over. "Maybe it just has a similar name. It might be different from the one we bought." "It's more than just a similar name!" Yan Hong'er inspected it closely. "Look at this line—it's the model number. It's identical to what the Shopkeeper purchased." Yan Cui'er scratched her head. "I'd guess this stuff is like medicinal pills. The Shopkeeper wanted to buy it, and others want to buy it too. Is that really so unusual?" Yan Hong'er shook her head. "That's not how it works. This is entirely different from medicinal pills!" Tang Changfa hurriedly pulled out his phone. "We must inform the Shopkeeper immediately. If the Shopkeeper forbids it, even if we accept that we can no longer do business here, we must sabotage their deal." *** Still in Puluo Province, Li Banfeng received Tang Changfa's call and listened to the general inventory list. Li Banfeng was familiar with all of this equipment, as his wife was currently using every single piece. Someone was conducting research on the Boundary. "Shopkeeper, can we take this job?" "Take it. Handle it properly for him. Ideally, try to figure out who approached Lin Fojiao to buy these things. If you can't find out, that's fine too. Above all, do not offend Lin Fojiao. Make sure this line stays connected; whatever you do, don't let it break." Li Banfeng hung up and carefully weighed the underlying connections. Did the person buying this equipment have any relation to Little Fatty's plight? The gramophone took the pendulum and Mengde along to the laboratory. Whether they could cross the two dark bridges and haul Little Fatty out of the river would depend entirely on his wife's research. *** At midnight, a martial arts film screened at the Cultural Palace. Today, the black market dealt in cold weapons. As the snack vendor went about his business, a wisp of smoke drifted over, traced a circle before his eyes, and dissipated into nothingness. The vendor glanced back to find a man in a red checkered shirt sitting in the rear row, smoking a cigarette. This man was a regular patron, He Haisheng. The vendor walked over to He Haisheng and handed him a bottle of water. He Haisheng glanced at the bottle, which had "216" written on it. After lingering in the main hall for a while, He Haisheng headed to Booth 216. A few minutes later, the snack vendor stepped inside. He Haisheng lowered his voice. "I hear you took on a major deal recently to procure a batch of scientific research equipment?" The vendor remained silent. He Haisheng understood his meaning: until the price was agreed upon, the vendor wouldn't disclose a single shred of information. He drew out a check and wrote down a figure. After inspecting it, the vendor pocketed the check, produced an equipment list, and handed it to He Haisheng. He Haisheng scanned the list, then asked, "Who commissioned you to purchase this equipment?" Once again, the vendor fell silent. He Haisheng produced another check and penned an amount. The vendor examined it, tucked it away, and handed He Haisheng a copy of *Adding Fragrance Lyric Talks*. He Haisheng flipped through it from cover to cover. On the very last page, he found the bookstore's seal: *Lu Family Bookhouse.* He Haisheng nodded, took the list, and departed from the Cultural Palace. *** At eight in the evening, the Lu Family Bookhouse closed earlier than usual. Boss Lu had an important matter to attend to tonight. He balanced the accounts, tidied the books, lit an incense burner, brewed a pot of tea, and arranged eight small dishes of candied fruit. By candlelight, he brought out the copy of *Record of Jade Fragrance* gifted by Zhang Xiuling. The complete work was planned for twenty-six volumes, eleven of which were currently published. Boss Lu opened Volume One and began reading slowly. This *Record of Jade Fragrance* was co-authored by Puluo Province's two greatest female talents, Zhang Xiuling and Shen Rongqing. Others might assume these two prodigies wrote essays, poetry, or refined literature of high elegance, but they were utterly mistaken. The explicitness of *Record of Jade Fragrance* was breathtaking. In the eyes of avid readers, it was the only work in the past century capable of rivaling the *Collection of Embroidered Frost*. Boss Lu hadn't harbored high expectations for *Record of Jade Fragrance* at first. In his view, female authors tended to remain relatively conservative in certain matters. Yet after reading a single volume, Boss Lu realized his preconceptions were gravely flawed. *Record of Jade Fragrance* was not merely rivaling *Collection of Embroidered Frost*. In scale, depth, and sheer height, *Record of Jade Fragrance* was decisively superior. And seemingly by far more than just a cut— "How is this possible..." Boss Lu's hands trembled slightly. The copy he held was from the very first revised edition published by Zhang Xiuling, of which only thirty sets had been sold. Zhang Xiuling had specially reserved a set for Boss Lu, with its contents virtually untouched by censorship, making it exceptionally precious. Had it not been so precious, Boss Lu would have torn the book to shreds right then and there. "Hahaha!" Yu Yaoming laughed heartily as he descended from the second floor. "Boss Lu, with this shipment of equipment, I reckon it won't take even a month before I can—" "What did you say? This is a bookhouse! A serene sanctuary for scholars! Do you possess no sense of decorum whatsoever?" Yu Yaoming froze in place. In all the time they had known each other, he had never seen Boss Lu lose his temper. He hurried back up to the second floor, not daring to utter another word. With furrowed brows and a dark expression, Boss Lu continued leafing through *Record of Jade Fragrance*. As the night deepened, Boss Lu set the book down and retired to his bedchamber to rest. *** At a little past four in the morning, the front door of the bookhouse clicked open. A figure in black slipped stealthily inside, circling around the second row of bookshelves before weaving through the aisle between the third and fourth rows. The intruder ascended the stairs and arrived before the second-floor storeroom door. He heard snoring from within. Having just finished his experiments, Yu Yaoming had only recently fallen asleep. The figure drew a ring from his pocket and slipped it onto his right index finger. He slid the ring along the crack of the door; the lock opened, but the door remained shut. Knowing a mechanism secured the door, the intruder felt along the surface with his fingertips until he seemed to locate the central trigger. Pinching with his index and middle fingers, he disarmed the mechanism—only to see a written character squeeze out from the door's seam: *?* Its "Speech" radical split into upper and lower halves, clamping onto the intruder's lips to force his mouth open. Its "Person" radical morphed into a short fork, stabbing straight toward his chest. Its "Fowl" radical transformed into a hunting net, pinning the intruder to the stairs. The man in black slashed the net open with his ring and tore free of the "Speech" radical on his mouth, but couldn't dislodge the "Person" radical at his chest. After trading several blows with the intruder, the "Person" radical plucked a book from the shelf and unleashed Tracing Ink Along Lines, summoning a swarm of written characters that encircled the intruder. This left the intruder utterly baffled. Tracing Ink Along Lines was a foundational technique of Literary Cultivators, hardly anything novel. The problem was that the one executing the technique wasn't a Literary Cultivator—it was a written character! And it wasn't even a whole character; it was merely a fragment of one. Cramped by the limited stairwell, the intruder found himself under siege. He immediately leapt down to the ground floor, intending to slip through the bookshelves. Yet the books on the shelves fell open one after another, their printed words peeling off the pages in rapid succession. The character that had driven him down the stairs appeared behind him. After clashing with the intruder for so long, it had suffered only minor damage, its combat potency barely reduced. Before him stood thousands upon thousands of written characters awaiting him, every single one possessing combat power no less than that first character. The intruder glanced around frantically, desperate for an escape route, but inside this seemingly modest bookstore, he could see no way out. Just as the intruder was about to lose his life, a man wearing a long gown and a bamboo conical hat hung with a row of copper coins entered the shop. He snatched two books from a shelf and hurled them toward the intruder. The two books fluttered open and shut like a pair of massive hands, swatting aside swaths of characters and carving a path through the bookshelves. Following this path, the black-clothed intruder escaped the bookhouse alongside the hat-wearing man. *** Arriving at a native bank, the two entered the back hall. The intruder removed his veil, revealing himself to be He Jiaqing, the owner of this very bank. The man in the conical hat was Mr. Kongfang. Still shaken, He Jiaqing drained an entire pot of tea. After catching his breath for a long while, he murmured, "I truly never expected Boss Lu's combat prowess to be so formidable." Mr. Kongfang smiled. "You were reckless. You dared to pull tricks on his territory all by yourself? Do you have any idea that even the Patriarch of Literary Cultivators might not best him in a fight?" He Jiaqing brewed another pot of tea and poured a cup for Mr. Kongfang. "Yu Yaoming is in his hands. He's using Yu Yaoming to research the Boundary, and he's likely very close to succeeding." "What's the rush? If he can pull it off, can't we do the same?" Mr. Kongfang took a sip of tea. "My subordinate has already returned. He knows virtually everything Yu Yaoming knows. Even if there are gaps, based on the equipment Yu Yaoming purchased, he can infer the general outline. "Even if we're a step slower than Zhou Badou, we won't lose out. As long as we possess the method to crack the Boundary, we'll have the capital to dominate Puluo Province. Don't go looking for trouble with Zhou Badou again. He spared you this time out of respect for me; you won't be so fortunate next time." *** Boss Lu threw on a coat, walked down to the main hall, picked up the scattered books from the floor, and returned them to their shelves. Snoring continued steadily from the second floor. Boss Lu let out a long sigh. "Such a heartless fellow, yet he sleeps soundly enough!" Returning to bed, Boss Lu tossed and turned, utterly unable to sleep. He took out *Record of Jade Fragrance* and *Collection of Embroidered Frost*, comparing them back and forth several times. As dawn approached, he read between the lines, seeing two words emblazoned across the entire page: Crushing defeat! *Collection of Embroidered Frost* had been thoroughly crushed! "Arrogant juniors!" Boss Lu sat by the desk, took up his brush, and penned a line: *Collection of Embroidered Frost: The Sequel.*" *** Critick stood at the peak of Daogui Ridge, watching the daolao ghosts prepare for the New Year celebration. He had received news from Du Wenming and knew that He Jiaqing was researching methods to crack the Boundary, bolstered by the support of Xuehuapu. "Cracking the Boundary is marvelous. Without the Boundary, no one will be able to stand in our way!" Critick gazed at the rising sun, straightening his red suit. He was contemplating a grave question: "What would be a good name for my second technique?"