DA chapter 83

Lin Jia turned off the smartwatch screen to save the little remaining battery.

He had been following the iron chain from the peach wood coffin for five or six minutes, but he still hadn’t seen the end of it.

The entire space was silent, with only the faint sound of his shoes landing on the ground. The cat stiffened on Lin Jia’s shoulder. “Lin Jia…”

Lin Jia lifted the cat off his shoulder but didn’t throw it to the ground—he held it in his arms instead.

The cat was afraid. All animals have the instinct to fear creatures larger than themselves, not to mention whatever was on the other side of the iron chain.

That was something that could even trigger megalophobia.¹Megalophobia is a type of phobia in which a person feels anxious, uneasy, or even panicked when confronted with objects that are extremely large in size.

—Dragon.

The peach wood coffin and the nine iron chains hanging from it instantly made Lin Jia think of the term “Nine Dragons Pulling a Coffin.”² “Nine Dragons Pulling a Coffin” (九龙拉棺) is a well-known trope in xianxia and supernatural fiction, especially popularized by the novel Shrouding the Heavens (遮天).

Dragons are creatures that live in legends. Talking about them doesn’t seem like much, but seeing one with your own eyes is a completely different matter.

Just like “Lord Ye Loves Dragons”—even though the beams, pillars, doors, windows, clothes, and utensils in his house were all decorated with dragons, even though his love for dragons was obvious, when a dragon actually appeared, he was still scared out of his wits.³ This story comes from New Anecdotes of the Warring States (《新序·杂事》). Ye Gong (Lord Ye) claimed to love dragons deeply and decorated his home with dragon carvings, paintings, and ornaments. However, when a real dragon heard about this and descended from the heavens to visit him, Ye Gong was so terrified that he ran away.

As soon as the cat thought of a dragon, it trembled. “The thing on the other side of the chain really is a d—”

Lin Jia blocked the word “dragon” back into the cat’s throat. He said calmly, “Don’t say that word. Maybe it isn’t.”

Lin Jia didn’t think the “dragon” on the other end of the chain was a living creature. Otherwise, the chain binding it wouldn’t be so still. With a dragon’s strength, the thick chain would surely shake violently and clatter loudly.

He believed the dragon was probably some kind of figurative structure or totem. But there was one thing that bothered him.

The Soup Surface announced by the Fishman was: “It is mottled. It died. It lived”

The words “it lived” sparked endless imagination. In the story Lord Ye Loves Dragons, Lord Ye’s fondness “reached the heavens,” and when the dragon heard of it, it appeared.

Therefore, Lin Jia deliberately avoided mentioning the dragon out loud, lest it be heard.

The cat didn’t dare make a sound, and Lin Jia quickened his pace. The battery wouldn’t support slow wandering—he had to leave before it ran out.

After walking for nearly two more minutes, Lin Jia stopped.

He raised his head.

The flashlight was set to the brightest setting. The beam pierced the darkness ahead but was blocked by something.

The light could only turn upward toward a higher place.

Under the illumination, part of the iron chain’s shape became visible. Like vines, the chain coiled around a massive stone sculpture.

The light followed the guidance of the chain, winding upward, illuminating along the way the scales carved into the stone.

The beam suddenly stopped. He had found the other end of the chain.

It was tightly clenched in a massive mouth. As the light swept across, a towering dragon head entered his field of vision.

Just as Lin Jia had expected, it was a dragon carved from stone—or rather, a giant dragon turned into rock. It stood in the darkness with its head facing the peach wood coffin as if confronting it.

Despite being made of stone, the dragon’s oppressive presence was not diminished.

“This d—” The cat quickly covered its mouth, afraid that careless words might bring the giant dragon to life.

The cat only said half the sentence, but Lin Jia knew what it wanted to say.

It was referring to the dragon’s eyes.

The dragon’s head was carved to look lifelike, with light, flowing whiskers. However, if one looked further up along the whiskers, it was clear—the dragon had no eyes.

Other than that, there was nothing else strange about the dragon, nor were there any clues indicating a way out.

The smartwatch issued another alert. The battery had dropped to 10%. With the flashlight on continuously, that 10% would last at most another ten minutes.

As for Lin Jia’s phone, it had been thrown into a puddle three days ago.

Lin Jia stared at the stone dragon for a while, then shifted the light, shining the beam straight ahead.

The end of the iron chain was a stone dragon, but this wasn’t the end of the space. If he couldn’t find a way out, he would have to keep moving forward and try his luck at the space’s end.

The low battery prevented Lin Jia from wandering leisurely to the end. He moved forward quickly. With each step, the cat’s cheeks bounced, but it didn’t speak. It nestled nervously in Lin Jia’s arms. It occasionally glanced at the battery level on the smartwatch, growing more and more tense as it continued to drop.

When the battery dropped to 7%, Lin Jia stopped moving forward. The flashlight beam formed a complete circle in front of him, meaning they had reached the end of the space.

The weak light couldn’t illuminate the entire area; only the shape of the beam was visible.

Lin Jia put the cat down and held up the smartwatch in one hand while using the other to touch the wall at the end.

It had a very strange texture—like touching fine silk, smooth and elastic. When he applied force, the “silk” deformed under his push.

Under the light, the “silk” pressed into the shape of his five fingers and bulged outward. Once the bulge reached its limit, it stopped.

The cat stretched out its paw and poked the “silk.” The man and the cat felt as if they were inside a swollen balloon—they could stretch its surface, but once it reached its limit, it wouldn’t change any further.

The cat asked uncertainly, “Are we inside some kind of barrier?”

It tried to extend its claws and scratch the “barrier,” but no matter how hard it tried, it couldn’t break through.

The cat grew anxious again. Not to mention, the battery was nearly depleted. Even if they had enough power, they would almost certainly die here.

This place was sealed like a coffin. The air was limited. If they couldn’t find a way out, they would eventually suffocate inside the barrier. Of course, hunger would claim their lives even faster than suffocation. Not to mention, the phenomenon of “Nine Dragons Pulling a Coffin” was occurring in this space—no one knew what would happen next. What if the dragon came alive? Wouldn’t they just become trapped food in a cage?

“No.” Lin Jia suddenly said. “We have to make the dragon come alive.”

The cat froze. “What?”

Wait!

“Y-you…” The cat trembled—Lin Jia had said the word “dragon” directly!

The cat turned to look at the giant dragon. Fortunately, it was still silent over there, with no signs of awakening.

The cat asked in confusion and fear, “Why bring that thing to life? Isn’t that just walking straight into the Soup Surface?”

“Otherwise, wait to die?” Lin Jia lowered his gaze, looking at the arms he and the cat had extended.

His strength was greater than the cat’s, so he had pushed the barrier outward more than the cat had.

Looking at the stretched surface they had created, the cat had a realization. He said in disbelief, “Y-you… are you trying to use the dragon to break the barrier?”

Lin Jia withdrew his hand, picked up the cat, and turned toward the dragon. “Let’s try.”

“Leaving aside whether the dragon can break the barrier…” The cat’s heart raced. “How do we make the dragon come alive?”

It didn’t avoid the word anymore, saying it directly.

If the dragon came alive with its body wrapped in chains, one end of which it held in its mouth, it would definitely pull the chains, making them crash loudly.

However, the space remained deathly silent, meaning simply calling “dragon” was not the way to make it come alive.

Lin Jia moved quickly as he spoke. Thinking about what he had said—“Let’s try”—the cat asked, “Do you have a way to make the dragon come alive?”

“Mm.” Lin Jia replied, “But it depends on you.”

“On me?”

The cat pointed at itself with its paw. “Me?”

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• 1
  Megalophobia is a type of phobia in which a person feels anxious, uneasy, or even panicked when confronted with objects that are extremely large in size.
• 2
  “Nine Dragons Pulling a Coffin” (九龙拉棺) is a well-known trope in xianxia and supernatural fiction, especially popularized by the novel Shrouding the Heavens (遮天).
• 3
  This story comes from New Anecdotes of the Warring States (《新序·杂事》). Ye Gong (Lord Ye) claimed to love dragons deeply and decorated his home with dragon carvings, paintings, and ornaments. However, when a real dragon heard about this and descended from the heavens to visit him, Ye Gong was so terrified that he ran away.