Futile Devices Scans

As everyone ate and chatted, the large bamboo tray of insects was soon emptied, and they each scattered to return to their work.

After Zhang San waited for his clothes, boots, and socks to dry, he dressed properly again and asked Cook Wu to lead the way to the underground chamber where the young nobleman had once been held.

Each of the three carried a torch and descended into the tunnels. Sure enough, they took a path no one usually walked.

The underground chambers where everyone lived occasionally had skylights for ventilation along the way, and there were drainage channels before the doors. In some of the larger chambers, there were even fireplaces and ventilation shafts for lighting fires and keeping warm. This path, however, led steadily deeper. There was no drainage and no skylight; the farther they walked, the more dark and secluded it became.

Although it was deep and secluded, there was only one path and no forks. Before long, they reached the isolated little chamber.

The small chamber looked like a temporary resting place carved out along the tunnel. It was only five or six chi deep, with a wooden barred door at the entrance, turning it into a cell. Zhang San touched the wood. It was newly made.

Cook Wu had been silent the entire way. At this point, she suddenly said, “There used to be a carpenter here. The bandits made him build this door. Some of the tables, stools, and bathing tubs in the fortress were also made by that carpenter. Later… the bandits complained that his workmanship was poor and said he was wasting food, so they killed him. My husband and the others were the ones who carried him out and buried him.”

Zhang San reached out and opened the wooden barred door. Inside was an earthen bed with some straw and torn cloth spread over it. There was also half a broken clay jar containing dried filth.

He then held up the torch and examined the wooden barred door closely. There was a palm-sized opening in the door, likely for people outside to pass food through. Around that opening, someone had ground away a rough gap, widening it all the way to the lock. The lock had been pried apart and hung broken in midair, and there were many shards of broken jar scattered on the ground inside. Zhang San understood.

He said, “They locked the young nobleman inside. He used a shard of pottery to grind the door open and escaped. The bandits took out all their anger on the carpenter.”

Cook Wu lowered her head and wiped the corner of her eyes with her sleeve, choking as she said, “Boss, I won’t hide it from you… that old pottery couldn’t have ground through the door. I saw that young nobleman was pitiful and thought of my dead son, so when I delivered his food, I secretly gave him a stone shard… I didn’t expect it would get the carpenter killed… I never even told my husband about this… I was the one who caused it…”

Zhang San comforted her. “Big Sister Wu, don’t blame yourself. This absolutely wasn’t your fault. If anyone is to blame, it’s those bandits for being so vicious. Ordinary roadside bandits usually want money, not lives, but on my way here, I saw that they had killed every last person and hadn’t even spared the oxen.”

Cook Wu cried, “Boss, before you came, we were bullied by those bandits every day! I was cooking for them then, and every dish I served, they forced me to taste first. I often thought I might as well put poison in the food and die together with them…”

Zhang San was about to comfort Cook Wu a few more times when he suddenly saw Li Si looking eager to “comfort” her as well—using the same old method of supporting the cook and trying to touch her hand. He quickly grabbed Li Si and dragged him behind himself.

He thought to himself that this little fool learned by copying others and truly did not understand things properly. He did not even know that men and women should not touch so casually. Where had that shy look from when they first met, when he would blush at the slightest touch, gone?

Cook Wu’s emotions stabilized somewhat. Zhang San asked again, “Big Sister Wu, do you know where that young nobleman fled?”

Cook Wu shook her head. “I never saw him again. Those bandits never mentioned him again either.”

There was only one path forward and back. Where could the young nobleman have gone? Zhang San held the torch toward the depths of the tunnel. “What’s ahead? Is there still a path?”

Cook Wu said, “I was curious when I delivered food before, so I went to look. A few steps ahead, it collapses. It’s a dead end.”

The three carried their torches and continued inward. Sure enough, after walking only a short distance, they saw that the end of the passage had collapsed with earth and stones, blocking it completely. There was no way forward.

Zhang San wanted to climb onto the rubble to take a look, but the first stone he stepped on collapsed. He said resentfully, “Sisi, you go up and look.”

Li Si stepped onto his palm, and with a boost from Zhang San, he climbed up lightly. After reaching the top of the piled earth and stones, he turned back and asked Zhang San for a torch.

Before long, he turned back and said, “There’s a small hole, caught between two stones.”

Zhang San immediately understood. “That young nobleman probably crawled inside. I’ll come up and take a look too.”

Using both hands and feet, and with Li Si pulling him, Zhang San finally climbed onto the rubble pile as well. The two crouched together before the opening.

The hole was pitch black and bottomless. Even when they shone a torch inside, they could not see anything clearly. Zhang San sniffed but did not smell any trace of death. Instead, a faint breeze brushed toward his face, which meant the hole ahead was open.

But the entrance was extremely narrow, only large enough for a child to pass through.

The two felt around near the entrance, and Zhang San gradually discovered a loose stone. He drew the fine saber he had wheedled from Wang Xu and used the tip to pry at the stone.

It scraped and cracked with sharp, painful sounds.

Li Si, beside him, frowned as he listened. He thought of Brother Wang saying, “Any good weapon given to you gets ruined in no time.” Sure enough, it was true.

As Zhang San pried at the stone without the slightest distress, he said, “What are you standing there for? Come help.”

⸻

The two pried, dug, pulled, and moved until they finally loosened the stone and pushed it aside. The opening was now a little wider. Excited, Zhang San crawled in… only for his shoulders to get stuck. His backside stuck out as he flailed, his voice muffled from inside. “Pull me out!”

Li Si wrapped his arms around Zhang San’s firm, round tiger hips and tugged from behind for a long time before finally pulling him free.

Covered in dust, Zhang San said, “You go in. You’re thinner.”

Li Si took the torch from his hand and slipped smoothly inside.

The passage inside was still very narrow. He could only crawl forward like a caterpillar. Fortunately, he did not have to crawl for long before reaching the other side. The other end was also a pile of earth and stones. Holding the torch to light his way, Li Si carefully climbed down to the ground and shone it ahead.

“What do you see?” Zhang San called from the other side.

“It’s a path. A long one!” Li Si shouted back.

Li Si held the torch forward. The narrow cave walls squeezed into a dark road, eerie and strange, as though it had no end.

His shout drew waves of echoes, which struck against his ears again and again, each one louder than the last, like thunder, shaking his brain until it ached.

Li Si’s eyes blurred for a moment, as if he had returned to the coffin boards that had locked him in since childhood.

It had been just as dark, cramped, and lonely.

He had lived inside such narrow shackles for fifteen years. He had only broken free a few days ago, yet under cover of darkness, they seemed to come surging back.

Li Si shook his head hard, frightened, and waved the torch around to look in every direction. There was only him. Second Uncle was not there, Grandmother was not there, and even Zhang San was not beside him.

His heart gave a violent jump, and panic suddenly seized him.

“Brother Xiao?”

He turned in circles in confusion, growing more and more panicked. “Brother Xiao…”

His hand trembled, and the torch fell to the ground, rolling somewhere unknown. The black walls pressed down on him from all directions, squeezing him until he could not breathe. Though the echoes had vanished, the heavy pounding of his heart sounded like an iron hammer, striking again and again against his ears.

Even his voice trembled. “Brother… Brother Xiao… where… where are you?”

His voice rose and fell, faint and indistinct. Zhang San, on the other side, could not hear clearly and shouted, “What’s wrong?”

Li Si could not hear his voice. With trembling hands, he felt around everywhere. Brother Xiao was not there. Everywhere were cold black walls, without even a trace of warmth. But Brother Xiao had been there just now. He had been smiling at him, his eyes curved like two crescent moons, the fingers that touched the corner of his mouth rough and warm.

His cries grew more and more terrified. “Brother Xiao! Where are you?”

Zhang San finally realized something was wrong. He pushed his head into the hole and shouted anxiously, “What’s wrong? What happened?”

But Li Si shouted from the other side, “Second Uncle! Brother Xiao is gone! Help me find him! Help me find him!”

On this side of the hole, Zhang San was so frightened his soul nearly flew out of him. Second Uncle? How had Second Uncle gotten involved? Had this little fool run into a real ghost?

“Sisi! Come back quickly!”

This form of address finally startled Li Si awake. In panic, he groped toward the direction of the voice. The torch on the ground had gone out, and in the pitch darkness, he felt around the tall mound of earth.

On the other side, Zhang San was also squeezing at the mouth of the hole, desperately trying to force his way in, but his struggling movements suddenly stilled—he felt ash falling onto his head.

“Boss!” Cook Wu shouted from behind him. “Ash is falling everywhere around you!”

Zhang San inwardly cried that this was bad. Most likely, the stone they had just pried loose had caused a problem. He turned back and said to Cook Wu, “You run out first!”

Then he pushed into the hole again and shouted, “Sisi! Hurry over!”

Li Si was climbing upward in the dark and had already reached the opening on the other side.

Cook Wu ran back a few steps, but because she was worried about the two of them, she stood at a distance and refused to leave. “Boss! It really is about to collapse! Hurry and run!”

Holding the torch, Zhang San looked into the hole and saw the ceiling beginning to cave in, clods of earth falling without pause. Li Si’s face was blurry on the other end. At this point, he could no longer crawl into the hole. If he did, he would definitely be buried inside.

He could only shout to Li Si, “Go back! Don’t come over!”

Li Si looked even more dazed than usual, stupidly crawling only toward the direction of the voice. Zhang San was so anxious that he shouted, “Sisi! Listen to me!”

Li Si’s movements stilled.

“Go back! Run toward that side! I’ll come find you! I’ll definitely come find you!”

Li Si stared at him blankly as stones kept falling between them. Zhang San was so frantic that he roared, “Sisi! Go!”

Li Si retreated.

Seeing his face disappear into the darkness, Zhang San quickly turned as well, half running and half sliding down the mound of earth. He grabbed Cook Wu, who was still waiting for him, and hurriedly ran outward.

They had just reached the little chamber where the young nobleman had been imprisoned when a tremendous boom came from behind them. The ground shook wildly. Dust surged up like a flood, roaring from the passage behind them and swallowing them both in an instant.

——

Smoke and dust rolled through the tunnels. The farmers and farm women working on the other side of the earthen fortress were all startled out and gathered in panic at the entrance to the collapsed tunnel. The brothers Zhou Qi and Zhou Ba also rushed over.

As the second boss, Zhou Qi quickly comforted everyone and told them to spread out instead of crowding around the tunnel entrance. Seeing that there had only been one heavy crash from inside the tunnel and that it seemed to have calmed down afterward, he had his younger brother and the others wait outside. He himself, along with a few strong and bold farmers, covered their mouths and noses with strips of cloth, lit torches, brought several iron shovels and spades, and went in together to take a look.

The group carefully entered the tunnel and saw that inside, smoke and dust filled the air, but the ceiling and walls had not collapsed and still looked relatively safe, so they continued deeper.

Before long, they reached the cave where the young nobleman had once been imprisoned. There were some scattered stones at the entrance, only high enough to reach the tops of their feet, and it did not look dangerous. There was simply too much dust, and even with their mouths and noses covered, the group could not help coughing a few times.

Zhou Qi shone his torch into the cave and saw Zhang San and Cook Wu both curled on the ground, bent at the waist, their bodies covered in a layer of dust. Zhang San was curled behind Cook Wu, shielding her, and both of them were covering their heads and faces.

“Boss!” Zhou Qi shouted as he hurried forward.

Zhang San slowly raised his head, and the moment he did, he began coughing uncontrollably. Zhou Qi tore two more strips of cloth from his own clothing and gave them to the two to cover their mouths and noses.

“Cough, cough, cough… Send Big Sister Wu out first,” Zhang San said.

Two farmers helped the dazed Cook Wu out.

Zhang San was also dizzy, but with one hand covering his mouth and nose, he snatched the torch from Zhou Qi’s hand with the other and staggered toward the depths of the tunnel.

Zhou Qi chased after him. “Boss! Slow down!”

The ground was covered in broken stones, and Zhang San stumbled as he ran. Zhou Qi caught up and supported him.

They had not gone more than ten steps before more stones and earth blocked their way. The tunnel ahead had partially collapsed again, packed so tightly that even its former shape could no longer be seen, much less the opening Li Si had crawled through.

Zhang San threw aside the torch and climbed a few steps up the rubble pile with all his strength, but his foot slipped and he fell back down.

As Zhou Qi supported him, he asked in panic, “Boss, could Young Master Li be…”

Zhang San’s face was completely bloodless. He lay against the rubble pile, his trembling palm digging at the stones. “He’s on the other side… Could he be buried? The tunnel collapsed so much. Could he have been buried?”

Zhou Qi had never seen him so utterly lost. He hurriedly comforted him over and over. “No, no, no! Boss, don’t panic! I saw Young Master Li running so fast on the ice earlier. He must be fine!”

Zhang San trembled. “That’s right. He can fly. He must be fine…”

He seemed as though he had calmed down, murmuring this softly. But then he swayed to his feet, suddenly snatched an iron shovel from the farmer behind him, raised it, and struck fiercely at the rubble pile.

With a heavy clang, earth and stone cracked apart. He himself was knocked staggering by the rebound of the shovel handle.

Zhou Qi quickly supported him. “Don’t, don’t! Boss! If you dig like this, it might collapse again! Everyone in the fortress has done corvée labor before. Plenty of people know how to tamp city walls and dig cave dwellings. I’ll call them in first to discuss it. We’ll probably have to dig while propping it up.”

The farmer behind them also comforted him. “Boss! Don’t panic! We’ll all help. With more people, there’s more strength! We’ll definitely rescue Young Master Li!”

——

The panicked commotion on this side of the tunnel and the sound of everyone talking did not penetrate the layers upon layers of broken stone and earth.

At the other end of the long, narrow passage, in a stretch of dead silence and darkness, Li Si opened his eyes.

He had been pinned beneath a pile of loose earth. When he rose, there came a scattering of small sounds, and dust splashed up, choking him into several coughs.

This scene felt familiar, as if he had experienced it not long ago.

But the coffin boards pressed tightly around him from all sides, and his head was muddled. He could not remember anything.

He crawled on the ground and felt around. Suddenly, he touched something like a wooden stick. Feeling again, he found a hard, scorched, oily end and realized it was a torch. He then felt around on himself, found his fire striker, and lit the torch.

Coughing, he held up the torch and looked around. He saw that he was in a pitch-black hidden passage. Behind him was a collapsed pile of earth. Ahead of him was a passage that looked dark, eerie, and endless.

A burst of sharp pain came from his forehead. He covered it and endured for a while. Only when he saw the blood staining his palm did he realize his head had been struck by a stone.

The intense pain made him remember: flames soaring into the sky, rolling stonefalls, Second Uncle’s deathly pale face, the Command Envoy’s final entrustment…

He reached into his robe and pulled out the token of the Imperial City Directorate envoy.

And then? Where had he gone after that?

Then he had gone to the abandoned fortress Second Uncle mentioned and met a vicious bandit wearing a tiger skin. They had fought. He seemed to have lost… and then he was here.

Had that vicious bandit locked him in here? That vicious bandit… what did he look like?

Suddenly, his chest tightened, and panic rose. His head throbbed sharply again. He had never had such a strange feeling before and looked around blankly. The dark coffin boards were still there, faintly separating him from the outside world.

But why did his heart hurt so much? What was surging so fiercely in his chest? So unfamiliar. So strange.

——

He could not make sense of it, but he knew he could not remain in this dark place. He shook the dust from his body, raised the torch, and staggered forward.

The road was so long it seemed endless, and it kept sloping upward. Every twenty or thirty steps along the way, there was an oil lamp on the wall. The oil inside seemed to have been there for a very, very long time, dried and congealed, but when he tried lighting one, he found that it could still be used.

After walking for a long while, the road ahead gradually became level, and a fork appeared, one path leading left and one right.

In the past, he would have simply chosen one path and gone straight ahead, turning back if it led nowhere. But for some reason, now he felt he should not do that. When encountering difficulty, one should not blindly charge in. One should stop, observe carefully, and think cautiously.

He stopped at the fork, lowered the torch, and carefully examined the ground. Soon, he found a fresh trail of footprints. The feet were very small, like a child’s, and they had come from the same direction as he had. When they reached the fork, there were two sets of footprints going back and forth on the left, but only one set of footprints leaving toward the right.

So he continued down the path on the right.

——

After walking for a while longer, the path began to slope upward again. By the end, there were even nearly vertical stone steps, requiring him to climb up one step at a time with both hands and feet.

The final short stretch looked very much like the shaft of a well. At the end was a rotten wooden board. The moment his hand touched it, a shower of wood dust fell, choking him into another bout of coughing.

The wooden board opened with one push. Fresh air rushed toward him, and a faint light entered his eyes.

Above was another stretch of well shaft. There were still stone steps in the wall for climbing, and he quickly climbed out.

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