Mountain God

Tu Ran switched on her flashlight, illuminating their immediate surroundings.

Fatty was shaking its head rapidly, flinging droplets of water from its feathers.

Naturally, some of it splattered onto Tu Ran.

She ignored it, focusing instead on whether the cave was safe.

"What's in there?"

Fatty shook its head. "Don't know. This is Fatty's first time inside. I've only passed by before and remembered there was a cave here."

Tu Ran aimed the flashlight deeper into the cave.

The walls were covered in dragon-scale-like patterns, rugged and uneven, winding deep into the darkness where even the light couldn't pierce.

It was as if a scaly dragon was coiled here, and they were its meal.

The hand holding the flashlight trembled involuntarily.

"Have you seen this kind of cave before?"

"No." Fatty shook its head. Honestly, it was a bit scared too—this felt like the lair of a giant snake, and it was afraid of snakes.

The rain outside grew heavier, forming a dense curtain at the cave entrance.

They had no other place to take shelter.

Tu Ran placed the flashlight on the ground, keeping the area lit. "Let's rest here for now. We'll leave once the rain lets up a little."

She found a spot near the entrance and sat against the wall, and Fatty immediately squeezed in beside her, curling into a small ball.

It was scared, so it pressed close to Tu Ran.

The Federation-issued combat suit was waterproof, and with the hood, Tu Ran wasn't soaked.

Fatty, on the other hand, was drenched to the bone. The temperature had dropped sharply with the rain, and it was shivering uncontrollably.

It was trembling so badly that Tu Ran pulled it against her and rubbed its body briskly, generating heat to warm it up.

The cave echoed with the sound of rain hammering against stone and the rumble of thunder, wave after wave.

This rain was truly heavy.

"The day the sun first rose from the west this year, it rained just this hard," Fatty recalled.

"How long did it last?"

"Two whole days and nights."

Daytime in the Threshold was much longer than in the human world.

Those two days and nights might equal three or four days in human terms.

That long made Tu Ran uneasy.

The unknown fear unsettled her even more; her thoughts instinctively drifted to the worst-case scenario.

Tu Ran stood up. It suddenly occurred to her that she had the "Memory Reading" ability.

She placed her palm on the rugged, scale-like stone wall.

"Are you alive?" she murmured, closing her eyes and focusing on feeling the wall's response.

It was a bit foolish, but it would rule out one possibility.

She got no response. The wall was cold and indifferent.

Tu Ran let out a small sigh of relief.

But before she could fully relax, a voice emerged from the depths of the cave where the light couldn't reach.

"It died long ago. Of course you can't read its memories."

The moment the voice sounded, Tu Ran reflexively raised her machine gun at the source.

At the same time, she kicked the flashlight on the floor, turning its beam toward the deep cave, but it revealed nothing—the speaker hadn't stepped out yet.

Fatty was equally startled, its feathers bristling, and it hid behind Tu Ran like a fluffy ball.

"Haha..." the thing inside suddenly laughed, a deep, low sound. "That little chick is adorable."

The voice was androgynous, neither male nor female, but it was clearly human speech.

Tu Ran stared at the dark depths.

First, a pair of curled-toe shoes appeared in her field of vision.

Then an old man in a white robe emerged, looking like an immortal from a painting.

Once fully visible, the old man stopped approaching.

"You should have heard that I don't like your guns and cannons," he said. "Pointing that gun at me is useless—you won't be able to fire a single shot."

Tu Ran refused to believe it and pulled the trigger.

The bullets in the gun seemed to have vanished; every shot was empty.

How was that possible?

Shocked, Tu Ran aimed at the ground and fired several rounds—they shot out without issue. When she pointed back at the old man, it was empty again.

Then Tu Ran remembered something Xie Xu had told her.

Inside the Threshold, there were not only visible aberrations but also higher, unnatural beings.

Against them, firearms and the like malfunctioned.

But hadn't Xie Xu said the chances of encountering such creatures were extremely slim? And yet, here she was, face to face with one!

However, something else forced all her scattered thoughts to a sudden halt.

"How do you know I've heard of that?"

"Hahaha," it laughed, voice hoarse. Its appearance was male, but its voice was neither quite male nor female. "You may not be able to read my memories through the dragon on the wall, but that doesn't mean I can't read yours through it."

It was too eerie.

Tu Ran forced herself to stay calm.

"We only came here to take shelter from the rain. We mean no harm. If you don't want us here, we can leave right now."

With that, Tu Ran grabbed Fatty's wing and made to step into the rain.

The cave entrance, however, slammed shut before her eyes, blocking her way.

It was a massive stone dragon head.

It sealed the opening completely.

Tu Ran turned back and stared at the old man.

"What do you want?"

It smiled—a smile so exaggerated that Tu Ran couldn't quite describe the expression. It wasn't something a normal human face could make. It was more like... like an ancient turtle grinning!

Though Tu Ran had never seen an ancient turtle smile, she felt it probably didn't look much different from this.

"I've been the mountain god of this peak for several thousand years, sleeping for millennia. And you woke me three times in a single day, shaking the ground so badly I couldn't sleep. Don't you think we should have a talk?"

Tu Ran: She had indeed thrown three bombs on this mountain today.

But she'd never imagined there could be such a thing as a mountain god in this world.

"I'm sorry," Tu Ran said, with a proper attitude of remorse.

"Squeak, squeak, squeak."

Fatty also lowered its little head and apologized.

"This little chick is really cute," the ancient turtle said, its attention fully on Fatty, eyes filled with affection. "After thousands of years with my eyes shut, such a cute little thing has evolved."

Tu Ran: She was truly guilty—the poor thing had been sleeping peacefully for millennia, and she'd gone and disturbed it.

She nudged Fatty. Since this old turtle clearly liked Fatty, she'd have Fatty sweet-talk and act cute to get them released.

Fatty understood her look.

"Squeak squeak squeak squeak squeak squeak squeak."

It wagged its head side to side, eliciting gasps from the old turtle, who was practically radiating pink hearts.

"This little one is adorable. Which mountain do you belong to? I'll ask to have you come here, and you can settle on my peak!" The old turtle flashed its turtle-like grin again.

Though still eerie, Tu Ran wasn't as frightened now.

"Just think—while I sleep, a bunch of little cuties like this running around on me. I'd smile even in my dreams."