The gray-clad men erupted into a commotion. Someone pointed at me, laughing his head off.
“Hey, Boss, listen to him. The brat’s got a sharp tongue. Doesn’t matter if his teeth are hard—his guts sure are.”
Their so-called “Boss” strode forward.
“I’m not a dentist, since you have a silver tongue,” he hissed with a grin that made my scalp numb, “you can go see what kind of evil killed our brothers.”
I froze. “Huh? Me?”
“Yes. You.”
His one eye flashed coldly as he jerked his hand up. Instantly—shhhk-shhhk-shhhk—dozens of blades glinted in the dim firelight, rising around me in a perfect ring.
The air turned ice-cold.
I swallowed hard and forced out a rickety smile. “What if I say no…?”
Before the last syllable fell, the blades tilted up in unison, the steel tips nearly brushing my nose. The chill of killing intent crawled straight up my sinuses.
Great. Wonderful. Saying “no” apparently meant they’d host my funeral on the spot.
Panicked, I shot Lian a desperate look—“Save me!”
He didn’t even blink. His brows lifted slightly, his face as cold as frost, expression saying loud and clear: “Your life or death? None of my concern.”
I turned my pitiful eyes toward Hua.
He was still fanning himself lazily, posture relaxed like some old man enjoying an afternoon opera. He even hummed, “The wind follows the tiger, the clouds follow the dragon.”
…Seriously? Now? Both of you can’t spare even a little help?!
Just as I was about to collapse under sheer despair, Lian finally spoke.
“Go take a look around. See what’s different.”
“Huh?” I blurted.
He didn’t wait for my confusion to settle.
“And take the water skin at your waist. Splash it everywhere.”
His tone was so calm and airy, it sounded less like sending me into mortal peril and more like asking me to stroll over to the farmland to take a leak.
But no matter what, it was at least a straw to clutch at. I bobbed my head like a pecking rooster. “Okay—okay! I’ll go! I’m going now!”
The Boss didn’t stop me. He only stared with that cold, predatory eye and sneered,
“If you dare play tricks, I’ll send you to hell immediately.”
How considerate. Truly.
Trembling, cursing in my heart, I shuffled forward.
Why is it always me?! I’m the useless protagonist—why does the plot keep shoving me into the frontline?! The Demon Cult Leader and the right hand are the powerhouses here!
But with blades at my throat, and only one life to lose, all I could do was brace myself and walk.
Not far from the spirit-way pillars, I noticed a small plot of land that looked like farmland. Oddly, the crops here were sickly: leaves yellowed and limp, growing in sparse, miserable patches—completely unlike the wild grass just a dozen meters away, which grew like it was trying to storm the heavens.
A chill ran through me.
Something’s wrong.
I scooped up a bit of soil, rubbed it against the heel of my boot. Black, sticky sludge clung between my fingers, dark and gritty.
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“An omen! It’s an omen!”
Someone shouted behind me. Instantly, the gray-clad men swarmed forward, eyes shining like they’d seen a mountain of gold.
“The immortals are guiding us to fortune!”
“There must be treasure below—big treasure!”
My stomach tightened. Terrible. These guys really were old hands; they could read signs with just one glance.
Not that I understood any of this “immortal omen” nonsense.
But one man drooled as he explained,
“Passed down from our elders—if black soil kills the fields, there’s bronze underneath!”
Ah. So that was it.
Gritting my teeth, I did as Lian instructed. I uncorked the water skin and splashed water everywhere.
At first, nothing strange—soil soaked it up normally.
But when I walked a bit farther, everything changed.
The moment the water hit the ground, it beaded up like droplets on polished stone—round and bright—refusing to sink even a fraction.
“Huh?” I muttered.
I even nudged it with my boot—nearly slipping and doing a magnificent face-plant.
Before I could figure it out, the gray-clad men lit up like firecrackers and rushed forward.
“Bronze road! Bronze road!”
“We found it! It’s right here!”
“…Bronze road? What are you building—an imperial highway made of copper?”
They were ecstatic—almost ready to kneel and pray.
Finally, Lian spoke, his cool voice cutting through the frenzy.
“This is rammed earth.”
His gaze swept over the patch where water wouldn’t sink, as though he was staring at an ancient corpse long buried.
“Beneath an ancient tomb, the soil is packed repeatedly—layer after layer—until it’s hard as stone. Normal earth absorbs rain. Only rammed earth holds water on the surface.”
The gray-clad men nodded immediately, as though receiving an imperial decree.
My heart sank.
So the dying crops weren’t because of blight or drought—there was something massive buried underneath.
The Boss gave a low snort, his one eye gleaming with cold triumph.
“Where rammed earth grows no grass and water won’t sink—that’s the bronze road. The tomb is right below.”
I finally understood. In my head I was cursing nonstop:
I’m the useless protagonist of an old half-abandoned fiction—how did I end up scouting tomb routes for a gang of grave robbers?! Could this storyline bully me any harder?
Before I could dwell on my misery, the Boss had already locked onto me, his gaze sharp as a blade peeling skin.
“Kid,” he drawled, “seems you’ve got some skills. Since you can find the copper route, you’ll walk in front and scout for the brothers.”
I nearly choked on my own breath.
—Great. Fantastic. He’s actually sending me out as the sacrificial canary.
My heart was beating like a funeral drum, but on the surface I suddenly threw my head back and let out a wail worthy of a widow at the city gates.
“Dear—!”
The cry was so tragic that birds in the forest shot up into the sky in a panicked flutter.
I pointed at Lian with shaking hands, voice trembling with tears I didn’t have:
“They’re forcing your husband into a tomb! Are you not going to act?!”
“…”
The air froze.
Every one of the gray-clad men stared—some wide-eyed, some snorting, some twitching at the mouth.
Even the leader was stunned for a heartbeat before letting out a rasping, delighted laugh.
“Husband? Hahaha! Fine, fine! Since you two admitted it yourselves, I’ll grant you your wish. The pair of you can go down together!”
Inside, I was ready to fist-pump.
Ha! Drag-someone-else-into-the-water tactic: success!
I waited for Lian to coldly deny it and end this farce.
But instead, without a flicker of hesitation, Lian simply nodded and walked toward me.
I: “???”
—Excuse me?! Aren’t you supposed to beat these grave robbers to a pulp and walk away in disdain? Why are you actually volunteering to die with me?!
Before I recovered, Hua snapped his fan shut with a soft clack, smiling with narrowed eyes.
“Count me in as well.”
“You’re going too?!” I nearly passed out on the spot.
Hua, utterly righteous, pointed at me.
“I’m on the ‘spouse’ side of this equation. Naturally, I follow through to the end.”
He hadn’t even finished the sentence when Lian abruptly turned his head and shot him a look—cold as a knife dipped in winter.
Hua’s neck shrank instantly. He coughed twice, swallowed hard, and wisely shut up.
The gray-clad men burst into raucous laughter, like they’d stumbled on the scandal of the year. Someone even whispered:
“Should we have them bow as a wedding couple before they go down? Maybe consummate the marriage at the tomb entrance?”
“Hahahaha—!”
Mockery rippled through the entire group.
The Boss, delighted by the spectacle, swung his arm forward with a vicious grin.
“Good! Since you’re all so eager, you’re all going! Move!”
Me: …
—Perfect. My grand “tragic-lover act” was supposed to provoke Lian into stopping this madness.
But wonderful. Absolutely wonderful.
Not only did it fail, it dragged Hua in too, and turned the whole ordeal into a “volunteers fighting for the privilege of dying in a tomb” edition.
