DA chapter 85

At the moment his vision fell into darkness, the peach wood coffin let out a loud rumble. Then, as if riding a roller coaster, it shot upward suddenly.

The dragon broke through the barrier.

Lin Jia abruptly opened his eyes. What filled his vision was a dim yellow glow.

He turned his head and saw that the source of the light was the bedside lamp. The cat had been frightened to the point of collapse and was lying limply on the bed.

They were back.

Lin Jia wasn’t in much better condition than the cat. He felt heavy discomfort throughout his body. The sudden darkness and brightness made him teeter on the edge of stress.

He took several deep breaths to steady his irregular heartbeat.

His gaze fell on the crack in the door, and he suddenly remembered something. He turned over, got out of bed, and pressed one hand against his chest, rubbing it to calm his heart. He quickly walked to the door.

He pulled it open. Before he could step outside to check the situation, he looked up and met Yan Xu’s eyes.

It was still pitch dark outside. Yan Xu stood in the corridor, catching the breeze. Hearing the door open, he immediately turned around.

The dusk was heavy, and Yan Xu’s figure blended into the dim night. The yellow light from the room spilled out and fell onto his face.

When their eyes met, Lin Jia clearly saw the worry on Yan Xu’s face.

“What’s wrong?”

Yan Xu’s gaze swept over Lin Jia, searching for any sign of what was wrong. Finding nothing, he asked anxiously again, “What’s wrong?”

From Yan Xu’s two questions, Lin Jia noticed something. He raised his right hand. The back of it was smooth as before, and the injury from smashing the mortise-and-tenon joint had disappeared.

Where exactly was that space?

“You.” Lin Jia suppressed his doubts about the space and asked Yan Xu, “Were you outside the whole night?”

Yan Xu admitted, “Yes.”

He scanned Lin Jia a few more times, feeling uneasy. Then, he shifted his gaze into the room and saw the exhausted cat hanging limply off the edge of the bed.

Now, he was certain that something had happened to Lin Jia. Yan Xu took a breath and tried to hide the hurt in his voice. “Didn’t we agree that you’d call me no matter whether you could solve it or not?”

But Lin Jia hadn’t agreed at the time—how could that count as an agreement?

“It’s not that I didn’t call you,” Lin Jia said, looking Yan Xu straight in the eye. “It’s just that I didn’t have the chance.”

Yan Xu looked at Lin Jia as he briefly explained what had happened in that space.

“So Captain Yan stayed outside the whole time and didn’t fall into that kind of space,” Lin Jia said.

Yan Xu fell silent for a moment, then turned and walked toward the room next door.

If only Lin Jia and Yan Xu were there, and if one of them was pulled into the space and the other wasn’t, perhaps it was because Lin Jia entered a dream while Yan Xu stayed awake. However, with such a small sample size, this conclusion was unreliable.

Next door were Lian Ye and Lian Xin, siblings. Yan Xu went to check on them.

Leaning against the doorway, Lin Jia watched as Yan Xu knocked on their door.

Lian Ye opened it. Startled by the sudden knocking, he asked nervously, “Brother Yan, what happened?”

Lin Jia returned to the room. The cat had recovered a little. It had also heard Yan Xu knocking and asked Lin Jia, “What is Yan Xu doing?”

Lin Jia: “Checking if falling into that space was an isolated case.”

“Oh.”

After a while, the cat finally reacted. “What do you mean? You mean Yan Xu wasn’t locked in the coffin? Then what about Lian Ye and Lian Xin?”

Lin Jia said calmly, “Isolated case.”

Lian Ye’s question had already made it clear—during the night, Lin Jia was the only one locked in the coffin. The reason wasn’t because he had been sleeping. Lian Ye and Lian Xin had been asleep, too, but they were just sleeping.

“Isolated case?” The cat was shocked. “They weren’t locked in the coffin? The awake Yan Xu wasn’t, and neither were the sleeping siblings—only you?”

Lin Jia didn’t care. “Otherwise, why call it an isolated case?”

The cat sprang up and jumped to Lin Jia’s side. “Was being locked in the coffin random, or were you chosen?”

Lin Jia: “Don’t know.”

The cat asked again, “Did you do anything today that they didn’t?”

Having just escaped that space and with his body still not recovered, Lin Jia didn’t want to answer anymore—it was too tiring. He only needed to know that Yan Xu and the others hadn’t fallen into the space and that he was the only one affected.

Lin Jia planned to rest.

As he bent down to tidy the bed the cat had messed up, his arm was suddenly grabbed. His vision shook, and he saw Yan Xu’s face, full of concern.

“What did you do today?” Yan Xu asked in a low voice.

Although the wording wasn’t exactly the same as the cat’s, the meaning was the same.

Lin Jia replied, “After entering the Fish Belly, I ran into you all.”

In other words, he hadn’t done anything to deserve being locked in the coffin.

But Yan Xu didn’t let go. He tightened his grip on Lin Jia’s shoulder and said hoarsely, “Think again.”

It seemed that Yan Xu wouldn’t let go unless Lin Jia thought carefully.

Watching from the side, the cat thought that Yan Xu still didn’t understand Lin Jia. If Lin Jia wanted to speak, he would. If not, prying open his mouth wouldn’t get a word out of him. Besides, this concerned Lin Jia’s own safety—he wouldn’t put himself in danger.

Lin Jia looked at Yan Xu calmly without speaking.

The cat thought again that Lin Jia didn’t have much patience with people. Pushing him step by step might anger him. If Lin Jia got angry, that would be bad. Now, it seemed that Lin Jia’s patience with Yan Xu had run out. Since Yan Xu was the original self, the cat should say something to ease the tension.

The cat cleared its throat. “Um—”

“I’ve thought it over.” Lin Jia said, “I’m sure I didn’t do anything.”

Cat: “…”

The worry on Yan Xu’s face became even more obvious. Lin Jia broke free from his grip. “It’s probably a problem with the room.”

But there was no need to change rooms. He had already returned from the coffin and would most likely not be sealed inside again. However, if they changed rooms, it would be uncertain.

Clearly, Yan Xu thought the same. Still, he couldn’t relax. After withdrawing his empty hand, he said, “Let’s stay together.”

Lin Jia neither refused nor agreed. He only said, “You need to rest.”

The bed in the room wasn’t big—there wasn’t enough space for two grown men.

Yan Xu often worked day and night without rest. He wanted to say that he didn’t need to rest. However, in the Fish Belly, he didn’t push himself. “I’ll go to the dining hall and grab a chair.”

Lin Jia watched Yan Xu leave the room.

After a short while, he came back carrying two chairs, one in each hand.

Lin Jia caught a glimpse of Yan Xu’s right arm trembling slightly as he carried them.

It seemed the injury hadn’t fully healed.

Lin Jia lay back down on the bed, and the cat returned to sleeping at the foot of the bed. Yan Xu placed the chairs facing each other, not far from the bed. He sat on one and stretched out his legs, resting his feet on the other chair.

It looked uncomfortable.

Lin Jia thought.

Just as he was about to look away after seeing Yan Xu finally find a somewhat comfortable position, their eyes suddenly met.

Lin Jia looked at Yan Xu, and Yan Xu looked at him. Neither of them spoke. The room was quiet, except for the soft snoring of the cat at the foot of the bed.

They stared at each other for a long time until, at a certain moment, they both spoke at the same time.

“You…”

“You…”

Lin Jia stopped and waited for Yan Xu to speak.

But Yan Xu also stopped.

Lin Jia said, “If you’re uncomfortable sleeping like that, I suggest you go back.”

“I’m not that delicate.” Yan Xu leaned against the backrest and said. “I’ve slept in worse conditions than this.”

To outsiders, the captain of the inspection team seemed powerful and imposing. In reality, however, he lived a miserable life, risking himself for others.

Lin Jia wanted to know just how miserable Yan Xu’s life had been. He asked, “For example?”

“For example?” Yan Xu narrowed his eyes as he recalled, “On the roadside, under bridges, and in drainage ditches.”

Lin Jia: “Could you even sleep?”

Yan Xu laughed. “When you’re exhausted enough, you naturally fall asleep.”

Lin Jia glanced at Yan Xu. He was wearing another hoodie. He seemed to like hoodies, especially ones with cute patterns. “Did you study abroad?”

Yan Xu raised his head.

“Before entering the Underwater World.” Lin Jia added, “If you don’t want to say, then don’t.”

On the day he played the piano at the café, Yan Xu had given him a tip—a pound sterling. Later, he confessed his love to Yan Xu in English.

“There’s nothing I can’t say.” Yan Xu put his hands in his kangaroo pocket and said, “I was studying abroad.”

Still a student back then, yet he encountered Lin Jia, this thousand-year fox, and foolishly offered up a sincere heart.

Lin Jia rarely felt reluctant. He turned over, facing away from Yan Xu.

Without seeing Yan Xu’s face, Lin Jia’s voice stiffened again. “What I said that day still counts.”

He didn’t specify which day or what he had said exactly.

But Yan Xu accurately recalled the promise Lin Jia had made that day.

At the time, Lin Jia had said, “After leaving the Underwater World, I’ll give you compensation. Name your price.”

People with great wealth often like to settle problems with money, and Lin Jia was no exception.

“This money—is it compensation for me,” Yan Xu stared at Lin Jia’s back, “or to send me away?”

Lin Jia replied, “Define it however you want.”

“If I define it…” Yan Xu withdrew his gaze and looked up at the ceiling. “I hope it’s…”

After a long while without hearing the rest of Yan Xu’s sentence, Lin Jia turned back to look at him.

He clearly understood what “compensation” and “sending away” meant in Yan Xu’s context.

“Compensation” meant making up for hurting someone’s feelings, while “sending away” meant putting an end to everything that had happened, carrying an unmistakable sense of disgust and rejection.

The two words were similar, but the difference was that “compensation” implied that Lin Jia had some heart, while “sending away” meant that he had none.

Despite hearing the rustling sound of movement from the bed, Yan Xu kept his head tilted back. This position strained his neck, muffling his voice.

“Let it be for sending me away.” After thinking about it for a long time, Yan Xu finally made up his mind about the money.

An unexpected answer. Lin Jia couldn’t help but ask, “Why?”

That wasn’t how he had thought about it. In fact, the money Lin Jia intended to give was compensation. He wasn’t very sincere. He admitted that using emotions to achieve his goal was the most convenient way to control Yan Xu at the time and the mose base method.

“Cut the Gordian knot.”¹ A Gordian knot refers to a complex or seemingly unsolvable problem, often resolved through bold or unconventional action. Yan Xu didn’t blame Lin Jia at all. “That way, I won’t think about unnecessary things.”

Lin Jia suddenly fell silent. The blanket on his body slipped to the floor without making much sound.

He sat up to pick it up, but Yan Xu was faster. He got up from the chair and picked up the blanket for him.

Yan Xu patted the dust off the blanket.

Perhaps it was as if dust from the blanket had entered his heart—Lin Jia felt a dry, sour sensation deep inside, with a faint sting.

“Here.”

Yan Xu handed the clean blanket back to him.

Lin Jia reached out to take it. The blanket felt as light as a feather, almost weightless.

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  A Gordian knot refers to a complex or seemingly unsolvable problem, often resolved through bold or unconventional action.