Chapter 54

Naihe, naihe — nothing to be done.

The old woman: "There's too much in a life that can't be helped, but you always have to set it down and keep looking ahead."

Liu Zhiyi was struck still.

The old woman laughed. "Ah, couldn't hold it in again. You young people don't like hearing us old folk lay down the sense of things."

Liu Zhiyi: "It's all right."

The old woman patted her head.

"Remember what I said — cross the bridge in a bit, walk on, don't look back."

Liu Zhiyi lowered her head. "I… want to take someone out."

The old woman shook her head, smiling. "You can't take them out."

"Why?"

In the last dungeon, her grandmother had mutated too, and in the end changed back.

So she believed her grandmother could pull through this time as well.

The old woman: "The Naihe Bridge is for those who've come to terms and are ready to be reborn. Those who can't let go can't cross."

With that the old woman gave a bitter smile.

"If we could cross, the people of this village would have left long ago."

"Enough of this — it's a waste of time." The old woman wouldn't go deeper. "I need to take you to consecrate the scissors."

With that she quickened her pace, as if unwilling to talk with her further.

In a corner of the courtyard, Liu Zhiyi saw a small brick house, its wooden door half open, red light showing through the crack.

The old woman: "Our village believes in the two-faced Buddha; every household has a shrine."

Hearing this, Liu Zhiyi frowned. The people and ghosts she'd met so far could be traced to something — she'd seen and heard of them coming back to the countryside as a child.

But the village believing in the two-faced Buddha — of that Liu Zhiyi had no impression at all.

And she was very much preoccupied with the statue in the Donated Temple turning its head, so she asked.

"I saw the statue in the Donated Temple…"

"Turned around, yes." The old woman nodded. "I know."

The old woman: "The village's Donated Temple was rebuilt once. Before it was rebuilt, the two-faced Buddha had one face turned outward."

The old woman sighed quietly. "Later a heavy rain came down on the village and the water washed out the rice fields… some of the young ones felt this two-faced Buddha was no better worshipped than not, and in a fit of temper pushed the temple down."

"The old folk felt this was no good, so they gathered the villagers again, donated some money, and rebuilt the temple. And once it was rebuilt, the statue inside had turned around."

Liu Zhiyi fell into thought.

"Was it the old folk donating that made the two-faced Buddha turn its head? Or the young ones pushing the temple down?"

The old woman gave a bitter smile. "I don't know. But ever since, the two-faced Buddha's good aspect could be consecrated, and certain objects, once consecrated, can hurt a ghost. Those scissors of yours are one."

Some things you only remember when you meet them.

Liu Zhiyi had been thinking the whole way, and at last remembered something.

She'd once dimly heard her mother tell Yu Xiao's story, and it was much like the one she'd met in the dungeon.

The difference was that in reality, it seemed once Yu Xiao's father took the scissors away, Yu Xiao returned to normal, and in the end married and had children, becoming again one of the thousands upon thousands of hardworking rural women submissive to husband and father.

Yu Xiao never left the village, never left that father who only dared to curse her once she'd been "possessed."

Her grandmother must have found it a pity, so in the dungeon the scissors became a prop that could cut the umbilical cord.

These were her grandmother's scissors, and her grandmother had given the prop to her.

And after two whole dungeons, Liu Zhiyi finally had a prop that could hurt a ghost.

Liu Zhiyi pressed down her questions, meaning to ask in detail after the consecration, and to look for a way to take her grandmother out.

The old woman said cutting the umbilical cord would let her out — did that mean cutting the cord on her grandmother would let her grandmother out?

But the trouble was, she didn't know what state her grandmother was in now.

If she'd mutated and didn't change back, she couldn't return to reality.

Liu Zhiyi hadn't forgotten the sight of Teacher Yang turning to ash.

The old woman pushed the door open.

Two padded candles stood in the shrine, gold-stemmed, topped with red bulbs; the red light came from the bulbs.

Really, such a thing showing up in this era wasn't right either, but the shrine her grandmother kept in reality was just like this.

A dungeon born of a person's thoughts — was its era so muddled because she'd thought too much, and so the dungeon was muddled too?

Liu Zhiyi thought.

The two-faced Buddha behind the electric candles had turned its head as well.

The old woman didn't move. "I've sent many people to find the scissors, and none of them found them. When you found them, I was glad — it meant you could get out. Fit the scissors to the good-aspect face, and scrape it…"

Liu Zhiyi raised the scissors and jabbed them at the good aspect.

It wasn't easy, actually, because the good aspect hadn't turned far; she spent some effort getting the scissor-tip in, and with that one motion she suddenly scraped a scratch across the statue's face.

Liu Zhiyi startled, and saw a few beads of blood well up in the scratch, rolling off the blade and dripping onto the table.

—Drip.

Such a small drop of blood should make no sound landing.

But Liu Zhiyi heard it.

The drop was like water dropping on water, sending out a ring of ripples.

As the ripples spread, they spread like ink through water.

Liu Zhiyi saw a red bloodline suddenly bloom from her own navel, running upward and out into the air, like someone had drawn a thick line in the air with a red pen, stretching all the way out the door.

The old woman: "See it? That's the umbilical cord."

The cord was like a floating band of vapor, scattering at a touch.

Liu Zhiyi glanced at the scissors; blood clung to the blade — whether it was the light or her eyes, the blood seemed to give off a golden glow.

Truly consecrated, then.

She'd heard before that consecration was having some master chant sutras over a Buddha pendant or the like.

Liu Zhiyi touched the scissors.

This way of consecrating was rather unusual.

She opened the watch.

[Scissors (Consecrated): blessed with mystic power. Besides cutting Auntie Yuedi's umbilical cord, they can cut any uncanny thing.]

Cut any uncanny thing?

Did props count?

The old woman broke into her thoughts: "Cut it."

Liu Zhiyi took the scissors and hooked the umbilical cord with the tip.

The vapor-band cord swayed at the hook and became a light, drifting ribbon draped over the scissors.

The old woman: "Remember — once you've cut it, walk out, follow the sound of water, and don't look back."

Liu Zhiyi flicked the cord with the scissors, and found the drifting cord was not only the one on her body.

She looked at the old woman: a red umbilical cord, like a blood vessel, spread out from below the old woman's belly.

Unlike her own light, drifting cord that seemed ready to scatter any moment, this cord was as solid as something real.

Liu Zhiyi aimed at the old woman's cord and cut down with the scissors.

The blade pressed on the cord, pressing it into a dent, but… it wouldn't cut.

The old woman seemed to have guessed as much, her expression calm.

"You can't cut it. We can't leave here."

Liu Zhiyi: "Why?"

The old woman smiled. "You do seem to like asking why. Some things, said plainly, only bring grief instead."

Liu Zhiyi: "Then let it bring grief."

"Because, deep in our hearts, we want to stay." The old woman sighed. "If we don't want to leave ourselves, how could the cord be cut, how could we cross the Naihe Bridge?"

Liu Zhiyi understood her grandmother's knot: she couldn't get past her mother's death, and felt in her heart that being ill would only be a burden to her.

But Liu Zhiyi didn't mind that; she felt that as long as family were together, any problem could be worked out in time.

Liu Zhiyi: "Running away won't solve anything."

The old woman let out a long sigh, and didn't take up that question in detail, but changed the subject instead.

"You very much want to take your grandmother away."

Liu Zhiyi: "Yes. This isn't a place she should be, nor a place any of you should be."

"What do you mean, should be?" The old woman raised a hand and cupped it lightly under the cord. "Have you ever thought… that your grandmother has thoughts of her own too?"

Liu Zhiyi was taken aback.

To be honest, Liu Zhiyi hadn't thought much about it.

Whether handling her mother's affairs or now dealing with the dungeon, none of it had left her much time or energy to think about her grandmother's wishes.

And after the brain hemorrhage, her grandmother hadn't really been clear-headed.

Liu Zhiyi didn't think the present grandmother could make the right choice.

The old woman: "What's the right choice?"

Liu Zhiyi: "To leave with me."

"Did your grandmother and mother watch over you closely?" the old woman suddenly threw out.

Liu Zhiyi was a little puzzled, but answered truthfully.

"When I was little, fairly closely; it got a bit better as I grew up…"

The old woman: "Do you work locally, or away from home?"

Liu Zhiyi: "Away."

Having answered that, Liu Zhiyi realized the point of the old woman's question.

"That's different — I went away for work because my field does better away from home, I can earn more…"

The old woman asked back, "Then why do you think our staying here is a bad choice?"

"Of course it's different." Liu Zhiyi grew agitated, and simply said it all. "This is a dungeon, Grandma."

"You've mutated, you'll turn into a monster, you'll lure more innocent people in…"

She looked at the old woman.

"This isn't the same, it isn't the same…"

The old woman stared at her, mist gathering in her eyes, and with a blink the tears rolled down.

"But you've mutated too."

Liu Zhiyi went still.

She lowered her head.

She saw the thread-like cord spreading from her belly break apart, becoming red grains scattering one after another in the air, gathering again like smoke at the old woman's side, dimly forming a net of root-threads twined around the old woman.

And these drifting red grains floated out the door too, as if searching for the next host to lodge in.

—Waaah.

Liu Zhiyi heard an infant's cry — it came from inside her own body.

The sound wept on and on, wailing mixed into the weeping.

"Mama… Grandma… don't go, don't go."

Liu Zhiyi stared, and only now noticed the watch on her wrist crackling with static.

She lit the watch screen.

The display was all flushed red, red exclamation marks popping up without stop.

She opened the task bar.

[Infant's Cry (Mutating): Mama, Grandma, don't go, come to my side.]

[When an infant cries, family can never bear to part — they rush to the infant's side as fast as they can.]

So that was it…

When you mutate, you feel nothing at all, Liu Zhiyi thought.

Though her body had changed a little.

Her hearing and sight had grown a good deal sharper.

That was why she'd heard sounds so clearly at night before — it seemed the mutation had begun long ago.

Liu Zhiyi almost wanted to laugh, but she was unwilling too.

She hadn't broken down in the first two dungeons, hadn't compromised, hadn't mutated — so how, here, had she changed without a sound?

The old woman said, weeping, "You shouldn't have come in. You shouldn't have looked back."

Liu Zhiyi heard the scrape of shoe soles on stone come from outside the door.

She pushed the door open.

People stood packed outside.

There was Yindi clutching her belly, and Liu Yang dripping water and holding his parents' hands, and Yu Xiao grinning her mad, foolish grin…