Chapter 43 — The Blooddrop Cave

Bili was taken aback for a moment; then her eyes flickered and she smiled. "You misunderstand me. I mean that we're in a deathtrap now—if there's no way out, we really will die here. But there's a Blooddrop Cave right before us. If we can find what lies inside, there may well be another way out!" Zhang Qingyue thought it over and had to admit there was some sense in it. To survive, finding this so-called Blooddrop Cave was as good a way out as any; otherwise there was nothing to do but wait for death.

But he was stubborn by nature, and he pointedly ignored the rations Bili held out. He rose and looked at the red stones again. Bili was not offended; she only watched his figure and smiled faintly, then stood as well and looked up at the ceiling.

The seven red stones, ranged like a spoon, were set thus within the ceiling rock; apart from their crimson color they were wholly indistinguishable from the stone around them. Zhang Qingyue looked for a long while and got nowhere at all. He was tempted to climb up and strike them one by one, but the memory of how Bili up there had tried every method there was made him give it up.

The two of them went from gazing upward at first, to sitting on the ground once they tired, to—in Zhang Qingyue's case—casting aside all propriety, as befitted a man under sentence of death, and simply lying down on the ground, staring at the ceiling. How much time passed, he could not say; still nothing turned up, and in the end he drifted into a drowsy sleep.

How long he slept in that haze he did not know; when Zhang Qingyue woke and opened his eyes, he saw that Bili was still there, her bright eyes fixed unblinkingly on the seven red stones.

At that moment Zhang Qingyue felt a measure of admiration for this woman. He sat up—but no sooner had he moved than his stomach gave another "gurgle." He was evidently desperately hungry, and his belly had no regard at all for its master's dignity.

Apart from the sound of dripping water, there had been no other noise in the cave; the "gurgle" rang out and carried straight to Bili's ears. She turned her head.

Zhang Qingyue was mortified past bearing. A man might die, but face must never be lost; he turned his head sharply to the other side so as not to look at Bili, though his face still burned. With two dry, embarrassed chuckles he walked over to the little pool, meaning to scoop up some clear water to ease his hunger and thirst.

The water in the pool was likely all mountain spring welling up from below—icy cold, clear and refreshing, with something almost sweet about it. But after two mouthfuls, Zhang Qingyue's hunger only grew fiercer.

After all, water could not fill a belly. Zhang Qingyue sighed softly and stared blankly at the water's surface, watching droplets fall from the ceiling rock and strike the water, raising ring upon ring of ripples that drifted outward. And beneath the surface was mirrored his own somewhat haggard face, faintly red…

Faintly red?

Zhang Qingyue was suddenly alarmed—how could there be red in his reflection? He looked hard, and indeed saw several red patches on the face in the water. But then he sensed something was off; peering closer, then raising his eyes to the stone wall, he realized it was the red stones in the ceiling reflected in the water, overlapping with his own reflection, that produced the effect.

Zhang Qingyue breathed a sigh of relief—but just then something stirred in him. He stepped back and stared at the water. The ripples were settling, and there, slowly emerging in the pool, were the reflections of the seven red stones. Being reflections, their arrangement was no longer that strange spoon shape; instead they somewhat resembled a human hand.

Zhang Qingyue stood where he was and said nothing for a moment. In that instant he hesitated—as though he had suddenly found himself standing at a crossroads, unsure which way to go.

The feeling passed in a flash. He turned. "Hey!" Bili was still gazing at the stone ceiling and answered carelessly, "My name isn't Hey—that's what you said when we first met." Zhang Qingyue was stumped; the words he had meant to say nearly went back down his throat. But somehow, with this woman who seemed so careless, he found unusual patience. "Then what is your name?" Bili turned her head, a smile surfacing on her face. "My name is Bili."

Zhang Qingyue repeated it twice in his mind, then shook his head. "Come over here and take a look." Bili was a little surprised; she rose and came over. "What is it?"

Zhang Qingyue pointed at the water's surface. Bili bent and looked; the water rippled, but as she concentrated, she slowly made out the reflections of the seven red stones, like a hand, in the water.

Bili's body gave a start. She turned quickly. "This is…" Zhang Qingyue shook his head. "I only saw it by accident. Maybe it's nothing after all…"

Before he could finish, Bili cut in, "Whatever it is, we have to try." With no further words, she splashed into the water.

Zhang Qingyue was startled. In moments the falling droplets had soaked through Bili's clothes, yet she paid them no mind at all, only holding her breath and waiting.

The water, disturbed by her wading, gradually stilled again, and Bili waited quietly for the reflections of the seven red stones to reappear on the surface. Watching from the bank, Zhang Qingyue saw pearl-like crystalline droplets drifting gently down through the air, lighting on this beautiful woman's hair, her shoulders, her face, her clothes.

The clear, transparent droplets slid from the ends of her black hair, ran slowly across her snow-white skin, and seemed to make even her face so lovely as to be almost translucent.

Zhang Qingyue suddenly stared, entranced. The splashing of the water in the cave seemed to recede into the distance; in his eyes there was only this woman standing in the water before him, pure and lovely as a lotus rising from the shallows, her breathtaking beauty rushing at him and overwhelming him.

The reflections of the seven red stones slowly surfaced, like a hand, drifting quietly in the water. Bili took careful aim, slowly opened her right hand, and pressed it down upon the spot where the hand lay.

Her jade-like hand passed through the gentle ripples and reached downward. The reflections of the red stones wavered faintly in the water; the surface glittered with light reflected from some source unknown, illuminating the beautiful woman's face with a faint brightness.

The pool was shallow, and Bili's hand soon touched the bottom, where a thin layer of sand and gravel lay. As her fingers touched it, she felt five slightly raised places beneath her hand, right at the tips of her five fingers. Her heart leaped; she brushed lightly with her hand, and indeed, beneath the sand and gravel, five small stones set into the floor gave off a faint red glow.

Without further thought, Bili pressed down hard with all five fingers—then raised her head.

Not the slightest stir.

The delight on Bili's face froze at once. Her eyes met Zhang Qingyue's on the bank for a moment, then turned back.

Zhang Qingyue was just about to offer her a few words of comfort when he saw her expression change, as though she had thought of something. She fixed her gaze on the water and searched carefully around the reflections of two other red stones, and indeed found two more small stones. This time she seemed more nervous; cautiously she pressed her left hand down as well, then pressed all seven small stones at once.

For one instant, both Zhang Qingyue and Bili thought they had failed again. The cave was utterly silent; apart from the dripping water there was no sound at all.

Yet after that long, waiting moment, a harsh, heavy "clack, clack" rang out through the cave.

Bili and Zhang Qingyue looked at once. Behind the curtain of falling water, the stone wall—once seamless, hard beyond measure—was sliding backward as a single whole, slowly, but at last revealing a new opening.