I finally understood the entire sequence of events. Nyon had repeatedly claimed he was guarding a secret, building up our anticipation, only to refuse to disclose it directly, leaving both Xu Zhiwu and me rather frustrated.

Xu Zhiwu finally couldn't hold back and asked, "Nyon, forgive my presumption, but what secret did the Emperor task you with protecting?"

Nyon looked genuinely apologetic. "I sincerely regret it, but this is not something I can speak of lightly. To reveal it now would surely plunge the world into chaos. I hope you two can understand."

If he hadn't added that line about "plunging the world into chaos," my curiosity might not have peaked so fiercely. But hearing that only made me desperate to pry the secret from his lips.

Of course, I couldn't actually do that. Instead, I decided to frustrate Nyon in turn. I told him about Zhuoma Yangjin’s previous remark: "If the matter of the Faceless One ever gets back to Japan and is reported domestically, it will certainly cause a massive upheaval."

"You see," I said, with a touch of playful irony, "two different people have mentioned two different things, and both predicted chaos... What am I to do now?"

Nyon grew thoughtful, tapping his finger lightly on the table, repeating my words: "What am I to do... do?"

He seemed about to say something more, and Xu Zhiwu and I watched him in silence, waiting for him to continue.

"How about this," Nyon said, rising and making a gesture of invitation. "Mr. Xu and Mr. Luo have traveled a long and dusty road from Lhasa; you must be exhausted. You should rest early tonight. I won't keep you any longer with pointless talk..." He led us toward the guest rooms.

...What Nyon told us seemed clear and straightforward enough. Yet, he left such a huge dangling thread that I couldn't stop mulling it over, tossing and turning sleeplessly. I wanted to discuss it with Xu Zhiwu, but he fell asleep instantly, giving me no chance whatsoever.

Eventually, morning broke. I woke up early, hearing Danzeng Zongji moving about quietly preparing breakfast, the occasional clatter of pots and pans filtering through. Interspersed with that was Nyon's suppressed coughing, as if he were terrified of disturbing us.

Before long, Nyon came to invite us for breakfast. Danzeng Zongji, playing the perfect, virtuous hostess, had cooked congee in the Han tradition, serving it with a couple of side dishes. Though not the most exquisite fare, their meticulous care and consideration for their guests deeply touched me.

After the meal, Nyon asked us, "Would you like to take a look around the Guge ruins? Since you've come all this way, it would be a shame to miss it. Besides..." He paused deliberately there, waiting for our reaction.

Truthfully, even without his prompting, I was determined to visit the Guge ruins. I was profoundly drawn to the desolate, lonely atmosphere I had glimpsed the night before.

Xu Zhiwu hadn't found the answers he sought either, so naturally, he wasn't leaving. Thus, the three of us slowly set off toward the Guge ruins.

The morning in Tibet was quite cold; even the bright sun shining upon us offered no real warmth.

It took us no more than half an hour to walk from Nyon's home to the main gate of the Guge ruins. As soon as we arrived, a dark-complexioned, powerfully built Tibetan man in his thirties approached Nyon and greeted him in Tibetan. I still couldn't understand a word, but it was clear the man held Nyon in high regard.

After a brief exchange, Nyon introduced the man as Tashi, the gatekeeper of the Guge ruins, who was also skilled in painting thangkas. His work was famous near and far; I heard that tourists had traveled thousands of miles from as far as Beijing just to purchase his thangkas.

Hearing Nyon praise him so highly, Tashi grew quite shy, smiling sheepishly at us, rubbing his hands together, looking somewhat at a loss.

Nyon then briefly introduced us to Tashi. He made a point of telling Tashi in Mandarin that I had directly encountered the Faceless Demon. At this, Tashi immediately grew agitated. However, being seemingly inarticulate and unfamiliar with Mandarin, he could only look at me with excited anticipation, waiting for me to elaborate.

For some inexplicable reason, I took an immediate liking to this thangka painter, Tashi. Perhaps it was due to things I had read about him in travelogues. One visitor had written that Tashi remained in this ruin as a solitary gatekeeper purely out of his devotion to the Guge heritage, refusing to leave despite everything. Reading that had deeply moved me at the time, and now, here was the chance to meet this celebrity, described as lonely, weathered, and utterly captivating. Yet, my intuition strongly suggested that Tashi was no mere common man; absolutely not.

This realization only made me more eager to speak further with Tashi. However, Nyon, being exceedingly hospitable, insisted on showing us around himself, telling Tashi not to trouble himself but to stay by the gate to welcome any other potential visitors.

It was hard to refuse such hospitality, so we followed Nyon into the Guge ruins. The moment we stepped inside, a wave of desolate grandeur washed over us, immediately coloring my mood with melancholy. I thought: nothing endures forever; empires rise and fall. Everything we considered eternal and rock-solid, whether blossoming in glory or collapsing into ruin, ultimately faces the same fate: becoming debris for future generations to contemplate.

Perhaps sensing the sorrow reflected in my expression, Nyon became much quieter, only pointing out things occasionally: "This is the Red Temple," "This is the Dharmapala Shrine," "This is the Summer Palace," "And this is the Temple of Reincarnation."

There's no need to describe the Guge ruins in detail; they are well-documented in countless travelogues and guides. Nyon seemed pressed for time, leading us through a quick general tour before emphatically urging us toward the Cave of Mummies, claiming it was the single most worthwhile sight in the entire complex.

The Cave of Mummies lay about six or seven hundred meters north of the ruins, situated on a cliff face. I had heard whispers about it—that it was evidence of the power struggle that led to Guge's downfall, though some scholars argued it was merely a unique burial custom or ritual sacrifice. Xu Zhiwu should have been the authority on this, so I asked him whether the cave was a sacrificial site or something else. He, however, played the mystery man, telling me to ask Nyon, as Nyon was the true expert.

Nyon didn't answer directly. First, he asked me once again if I had truly seen the Faceless Demon. Xu Zhiwu had already recounted this tale countless times, and Nyon himself had mentioned it when introducing me to Tashi earlier... His repetition left me speechless.

"Yes," I replied flatly, too weary even to nod.

After receiving my second confirmation, Nyon fell silent and led us at a leisurely pace toward the Cave of Mummies.

Seeing the entrance of the cave from a distance sent a shiver down my spine. Xu Zhiwu felt it too, constantly murmuring to me that it felt chilling and wrong.

Nyon walked with practiced ease, completely composed, not engaging us in conversation. A short while later, as we neared the edge of the cliff, he finally spoke. "Zhiwu, Little Luo..." Having become familiar with us, he had started calling us by the nicknames Laba used. "Don't let your imagination run wild. There's nothing sinister about it; you're just scaring yourselves. If there were ghosts, how could we have lived here safely for over a hundred years?"

"That's not necessarily true," I countered. "I’ve seen corpses crawling out of coffins, and zombies—killing without blinking..."

"Corpses crawling out of coffins?" Nyon asked, highly intrigued. "Were they all wearing Qing soldier uniforms?"

His question made me even more suspicious. "How did you know?"

Nyon let out a loud, dismissive laugh, saying he had just guessed wildly.

I realized instantly that since he was descended from Shengtai’s former subordinates, he must know the details of Shengtai’s arrangements concerning the zombies, the Qing soldier corpses, and the chambers. Since he clearly didn't want the matter known, I pretended to be obtuse and stopped asking. It was a shame that Xu Zhiwu's grandfather had searched so many places across Tibet, expending so much effort trying to locate Shengtai's remnants, only to find that thirteen of them were guarding this very spot.

"Ah," I couldn't help but sigh, thinking how capricious fate could be.

Upon reaching the lip of the Cave of Mummies, Nyon asked us, "Do you dare step inside and take a walk around?"

Xu Zhiwu and I exchanged glances, unsure how to respond. That cave was filled, layer upon layer, with corpses!

"Haha..." Nyon laughed, a touch smugly. "I've been inside. And I carefully turned the entire cave upside down."

I was utterly stunned. I hadn't expected Nyon to possess such audacity. Furthermore, why on earth would he go poking around in the Cave of Mummies just for sport?

"Let's go, in, in," Nyon chuckled again and led the way into the cave. Having already witnessed things like zombies, I had become somewhat numb to fear. Despite the heavy, foul odor that streamed out as soon as we reached the entrance, I kept my expression neutral and followed Nyon inside. Xu Zhiwu followed me, and the three of us filed in one after another.

The cave was indeed filled with corpses. White bones and withered flesh lay piled thickly on the ground, soft and yielding underfoot, sinking slightly with a strange sponginess. An indescribable sense of terror gripped me. Realizing that I was stepping on what were once living people made me truly afraid, terrified that if I stumbled, an arm, a leg, or a head beneath my foot might suddenly burst forth from the layers of decayed bone and tissue with a whoosh, just like those zombies.

The stench inside was overwhelming, compounded by the nature of the ground beneath our feet. Xu Zhiwu and I moved timidly, barely daring to breathe as we followed Nyon deeper into the cavern.

The cave was deep, the floor densely packed with bodies. The further we went, the more intense the dread became, as if countless furry insects were crawling up our spines—uncomfortable, terrifying, and nauseating all at once.

Xu Zhiwu’s face was ashen; he must have been badly frightened. I suspected I looked no better, despite having faced so much horror before, but... I had never walked across layers of soft, weathered human bones and flesh.

Nyon moved forward with utter ease, as if strolling down a sunlit avenue. He kept looking back periodically to see if we were keeping up, and if we slowed down, he would stop and wait for us to catch up before proceeding.

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