Chapter 49: 49, No living person allowed in

The convoy now moves swiftly, for the road is indeed gentler here, and all believe that speed alone will leave danger behind.

As dusk fell, when the setting sun slanted across the sky, the convoy finally emerged from the woods to behold the towering stone wall and the gorge ahead.

The cliff rose like a sudden staircase thrust upward from the earth, and after alighting, they craned their necks to glimpse its upper reaches, while the sides stretched endlessly, vanishing beyond sight.

It was nature’s own staircase, as if ascending it would grant passage to the heavens.

From afar, the Old Wind Gorge appeared a mere thread of black, yet upon nearing, they found it wide enough for five or six vehicles to pass abreast.

A mighty mountain wind howled through the gorge, its mournful whistle nearly toppling those who stood at its mouth.

The marvel and grandeur of nature revealed itself in full splendor then.

Suddenly, Liu Bu bellowed, “Come see this!”

He stood beside the gorge, pointing at the cliff face: “There are words here!”

All approached, and there, carved into the stone in towering characters, were four words: *Do Not Enter the Living*.

Xu Xianshu turned to Ren Xiaosu: “Who wrote this?”

Ren Xiaosu shook his head: “When I came here last year, these words were not here.”

“Why did you come here?” Liu Bu shouted: “How far is this from the settlement? Even for hunting, such a place is unfit. What are you, truly? You’ve hidden your identity!”

Ren Xiaosu nodded: “Yes, there’s something I’ve kept from you—I am… the heir of dragons.”

Liu Bu: “…”

Xu Xianshu: “…”

Lu Xinyu: “…”

“Too many doubts cling to you now,” Xu Xianshu leveled his gun at Ren Xiaosu: “You must explain why you came here last year. This place is rarely visited, and Block 113 has sent no one in years. This is the route from Block 112 to 113, yet no one from Block 112 has come this way in a year. It’s likely only you have been here. Did you carve these words?”

Ren Xiaosu paused: “The inscription is too high for me to reach without a stone to stand on. I was as startled as you to find them here, and I, too, wonder who left them.”

He spoke truly; the words were not his doing.

“You still haven’t answered why you came here,” Liu Bu roared: “Have you calculated the distance from the settlement?”

All stared at Ren Xiaosu. Though their vehicles lagged behind running speed, three days of travel had carried them far—why would he venture here?

Ren Xiaosu fell silent: “Last year, I was chased by a wolf pack to this place.”

This, too, was truth.

“You lie,” Liu Bu countered: “A child surviving a wolf pack? Tell me, why did they spare you?”

“The wolves weren’t after me—I merely happened upon them. I fled in panic into the woods, thinking they’d leave me be, but they pursued. As for my survival… once I entered the Old Wind Gorge, they ceased their chase. I hid there for two days. After they left, I emerged, but I never ventured further—I don’t even know the way.”

All froze. The wolves stopped here? Could some great terror lie beyond the gorge?

Perhaps the inscription was left by someone who discovered the secrets of the Sacred Mountain and warned others to turn back.

All believed Ren Xiaosu, though he had lied. He was indeed driven into the gorge by wolves, but they did not halt—they followed.

How he survived, he could not say. The moment he met the wolves, he lost consciousness. When he awoke, his body bore wounds, and the pack had vanished.

On his return to the settlement, he was spent, yet it was then he grasped the wolves’ horror—and the black mist that had begun to haunt his mind.

For a year, he pondered the link between the black mist and that fainting spell, what had transpired in those lost moments.

Someone suddenly spoke: “Do you know of the supernatural ones? These words might be their doing. Some have long transcended ordinary humanity, wandering the wilds freely.”

It was a private army soldier, earning Xu Xianshu’s glare: “That’s military secrecy.”

“What pretense? We’re all outcasts—you think your officer’s rank will last? Even if this mission succeeds, do you believe Ma Xin will spare you?” The soldier sneered.

Ren Xiaosu blinked. This private army was in chaos, soldiers daring to defy officers openly. Unbidden, his view of them soured. In Teacher Zhang’s tales, pre-catastrophe armies were ironclad in discipline, their collective will like steel.

Xu Xianshu fixed the soldier with a look: “If he won’t let me go, I’ll ensure you’re finished too. Now, hold your tongue, or I’ll treat you as a deserter.”

The soldier fell silent, but Liu Bu and Lu Xinyu’s curiosity flared: “What of the supernatural ones? Heard you captured three in our block recently?”

Xu Xianshu hesitated: “This concerns you not. We merely follow orders.”

“Shall we go in?” Liu Bu suddenly pleaded: “Sir, let’s return. It’s too perilous ahead!”

Xu Xianshu wavered at last, glancing at the dimming sky: “It’s late. We’ll camp here tonight, deliberate our choice together, then decide. Agreed?”

Of course they agreed. So long as they went no further, all was well.

Ren Xiaosu gazed into the gorge’s depths. Its sheer walls nearly met the sky, a sliver of light piercing the cleft above, yet within, the light seemed spent, fading into deeper darkness.