Chapter 2 External Evil
The clepsydra in the northwest corner of the Jinluan Hall beeped twelve times, indicating that the morning dynasty was over. Li Wuxiang took a deep breath and said: "Retreat from the court."
Then he stood up from the throne and walked slowly to his bedroom.
This body had been starved to death once before. When Li Wuxiang came into the body, he could already feel that it was extremely weak and on the verge of collapse again at any time.
But at that time, two more dumplings rolled out from behind the iron plate on the wall of the palace, and he was able to survive. He guessed that it was possible that the sudden resurrection of a dead person had interested the "god", so he decided to observe it for a while to see what was going on.
This is good news for him. A person who can use one hundred and one children to conduct an experiment or sacrifice that lasts for more than ten years must have an extremely twisted and cruel mentality, but now he has shown curiosity, which means that "god" is not A complete madman, but with a little bit of basic humanity left - this is his only hope of escaping from here.
He walked back to the wooden bed and sat down cross-legged, placing the remaining dumpling in front of him. It must have been noon and he was very hungry, but he controlled himself to just stare at the thing without eating it.
The deep memory left by the cruel punishment as a baby made the original owner and his officials follow the daily routine accurately: you can eat when you get up early, you can eat before going to bed, but if you eat food or drink water at other times, , you will experience unimaginable pain.
So Li Wuxiang slowed down his breathing, let himself sit quietly, focused his eyes on the black dumpling, and waited.
The original owner was weak, ignorant, and essentially no different from a smarter animal, but this kind of life also gave him a huge advantage: concentration.
Generally speaking, apart from eating, going to court, sleeping, and excreting, he would spend the rest of the time sitting in bed meditating. His distorted worldview prevented him from imagining anything other than these four stone rooms, so he spent most of his time in a sober daze, or in other words, extremely focused on relaxing and meditating.
Li Wuxiang inherited this advantage, so he could sit motionless on the wooden bed for two hours like the original owner, and gradually heard his own heartbeat, blood flow, subtle air movement in the cracks of the stones, and——
Footsteps.
In the memory of the original owner, the sound of footsteps existed for a long time, soft and slow, like a piece of tissue falling on the stone surface.
Years ago, after the 102nd person disappeared, he would occasionally hear this kind of footsteps at night. But he didn't think there was any problem with this, and regarded this kind of footsteps as a natural phenomenon, just like the wick in the ever-burning lamp that may make a popping sound, or the cracks in the wall. It makes the same sound as the movement of air.
But Li Wuxiang realized that this should be the one hundred and second person - he might not have really left, but was observing everything here in another way that was not noticed by others.
The footsteps stopped in front of Li Wuxiang, and he smelled a very light smell, similar to the fragrance of bamboo. Normal people would never be able to capture this smell. Only people like the original owner of this body, who have been in a single smell environment for a long time, would notice this subtle difference in the air.
He controlled his breathing and continued to remain calm. Since he regained consciousness, the person or thing standing in front of him has come closer to observe him seven times. This time is the latest - he feels that the other person is almost face to face with him, as if he can catch him with just a stretch of his hand. .
But Li Wuxiang restrained this impulse. He doesn't know the other person well enough yet, and he doesn't even know if once he reaches out his hand, he will find that what he grabs is just air. He must further arouse the other person's curiosity to find more clues.
——When the "god" wants to kill everyone, the "emperor" is left to the end, which means that the "emperor" is far more important than the "officials", and it is even possible that they are completely for the "emperor" exist to serve.
On the other hand, the "god" does not seem to care whether the "emperor" is smart or dull, weak or healthy, but only wants him to repeat those few things that symbolize the identity of the "emperor" for more than ten years. This means It seems that the identity and symbol of "emperor" should be far more important than the "emperor" himself.
This made Li Wuxiang feel that he could further confirm that this was a ceremony and sacrifice. He didn't know who the object of sacrifice was, but he felt that the only key point that could save his life or even leave here was the symbol of "Emperor".
Since he couldn't find any possible way out of here, he had to try to add some spice to this "symbol" to see if he could tear a hole in this invisible copper wall. The idea had been vaguely brewing for a few days and was now ready to be tried. Then he suddenly raised his face, opened his mouth slightly and frowned, as if he suddenly heard something. After pausing for a while, he immediately turned his face and looked left and right, as if looking for the source of the sound.
Next, he yelled, retreated quickly on the wooden bed, and leaned against the wall. Li Wuxiang felt that for the original owner, "hearing unexpected sounds" was completely equivalent to the subversion of the entire worldview. , then it’s hard to be too frightened.
And this kind of reaction is just to set off the next step——
He asked his expression to suddenly relax, turning from extremely frightened to doubtful and confused, and then whispered in an unclear tone: "I...I..."
It was as if someone invisible was teaching him how to speak.
Taking advantage of the gap to breathe, Li Wuxiang took a few deep breaths. He couldn't hear the "god's" footsteps now, but the faint smell of bamboo was still there. At first a little further away as he cowered into the corner in horror, as if frightened by his reaction, but now the scent came closer, as if the other person was leaning closer to figure out what exactly he was going to say.
So, he slowly said: "I am... the most... noble person in the world."
Then he repeated it more clearly and coherently: "I am the supreme being in the world."
The smell of bamboo suddenly faded away, and for the first time he felt a slight air current and the sound of footsteps that was far lighter than usual - as if the person who had been observing him closely was suddenly frightened and immediately moved away. And he was still very sneaky on purpose!
This reaction was completely beyond Li Wuxiang's expectation. So he immediately shut his mouth, blinked blankly, as if he had completely forgotten what he had just done, and then sat back on the edge of the bed.
He thought that the other party might come closer to observe him again, but until half an hour later, the room remained quiet, and neither the smell of bamboo nor the sound of footsteps appeared again.
The other party left. Based on his previous reaction... was he scared away?
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Li Wuxiang breathed out gently to stop his heartbeat from beating too fast. Now, he felt that his hope of getting out of here alive was getting a little bigger.
Now he knows that no matter what the reason is, "God" will be afraid!
In the process just now, the "god" first kept a distance, then came forward, then retreated again and disappeared. This caused the mysterious, powerful, and majestic impression he had left in the original owner's mind to suddenly collapse. It also meant that the invisible "god" might have been substantially harmed, and was not a phantom, a spirit, or something else that could not be seen. Something to touch, as he stirs up air currents when he moves quickly!
Li Wuxiang slowly stretched his hand to the bedside and gently touched the bottom board. There was a sharp piece of wood embedded there. It was originally a diagonally split piece of bed board, but he had broken it apart bit by bit a few days ago.
The footsteps of "God" usually appear after the clepsydra drips twelve times again and after the "Emperor" and "Hundred Officials" fall asleep. If he can't restrain his curiosity and returns to the bed again tonight, Li Wu will The prime minister decided to strike violently and try to subdue him.
Because in the eleven days since he "resurrected from the dead", including today, water has been supplied only three times, and the intervals are getting longer and longer.
Two hours later, he ate the second dumpling and lay on the wooden bed as usual, waiting for the "god" to arrive. He listened to the subtle sound of airflow and the dripping sound of a clepsydra, and simulated over and over again in his head how he would roll over to the bedside, pull out the wooden bars, and throw down the "god" with the smoothest movements once he heard the footsteps again. The wooden bars were then inserted into his body.
But more than an hour passed, and there was no additional sound.
Resurrection from the dead and long-term hunger made his body very weak, so his mind was gradually defeated by physiological sleepiness, and Li Wuxiang's eyelids began to close uncontrollably. While half asleep, he suddenly heard a sound, muffled, as if coming from the narrow passage where dumplings rolled out of the wall——
"Wake up, eh, wake up quickly!" a female voice said urgently, "Are you an evil spirit!?"
(End of chapter)