Chapter Forty-Four: White Blossoms Once More

White flower?

Shen Lie was momentarily stunned when he saw the white flower, his throat reflexively swallowing. The shape of this flower was identical to the one that had drifted down the Red River, except its petals were not pure white, but streaked with blood-red lines.

“No, something’s wrong!” Shen Lie sniffed, realizing that the flower’s fragrance was not as pure as the one from the Red River, but carried a faint, metallic scent of blood.

Although this flower differed from the Red River’s white blossom, Shen Lie was certain that the flower on the river must have fallen from this tree. The bare branches and the crimson pool below told the tale.

“What is this, could it be the Flower of the Other Shore?”

A deep voice sounded from behind; Shen Lie turned to see Professor Liu emerging from the woods with Yang Weiguo, followed by the four hundred or so surviving town residents. At this point, the survivors had grown numb to all horror; even the strange sights before them could no longer astonish. They stared blankly, waiting for the awakened ones to decide their fate.

“A flower without leaves, leaves without flowers—this fits the characteristics of the Flower of the Other Shore. But legend has it that such flowers only grow along the banks of the River of the Dead. How could it appear here? Is this place connected to the underworld?” Duli Li muttered to herself after hearing Professor Liu, and her words drew Shen Lie’s gaze to the rift in the void.

That rift was undoubtedly a gateway to another world, the very cause of Dongfeng Town’s calamity. It would be simple to discover the truth—just step through the rift in reverse—but none of them had the courage.

“Look, over there, isn’t that a bridge?”

Shen Lie and Duli Li had been so absorbed by the bare tree and the rift that they hadn’t noticed the narrow bridge on the far side of the pool, near the edge of the mist. Only a small portion of the bridge protruded from the fog, the rest hidden within.

“Let’s go take a look!” There was clearly no way out here, and the bridge appeared at just the right moment.

Shen Lie and the others approached the bridgehead and found that the waters beneath flowed clear as they passed under the bridge, as though some invisible filter beneath it had stripped away all traces of red.

“What… what is that?” One of Yang Weiguo’s men cried out, pointing toward the bridge.

Everyone’s eyes were drawn to the bridge. Shen Lie glanced at the structure and let out a low gasp, echoed by cries of alarm from the others. This was no ordinary bridge—the entire span was formed from flocks of crows, gathered together to create its body!

“Is this a magpie bridge?” Shen Lie forced a joke, but no one laughed. The visible portion alone must have required hundreds or thousands of crows to form. Just a few dozen crows had already unsettled them earlier; if all these birds dispersed, there would hardly be a whole corpse left of any of them.

“What do we do?” Duli Li whispered to Shen Lie, afraid to startle the crows.

“How should I know? With these things here, who’d dare cross? But this is the only way out—otherwise, we’d have to retreat to town or brave the dense mist.” Shen Lie himself was at a loss, and the hope of escape seemed dim.

“Who knows what will happen if we return to town, but the mist is absolutely forbidden; to enter is certain death!” Duli Li said nothing, but Professor Liu took up the conversation, his tone no longer calm.

Shen Lie believed Professor Liu; the man had studied the town for three months, aided by a supernatural talent, and had thoroughly explored its mysteries. If Liu said the mist was deadly, it was.

“So what do we do? Even if we cross the bridge, the far side is still shrouded in mist.” With no one else to speak up, the three awakened ones discussed their options.

“It’s different. I suspect the end of the bridge lies outside the red mist. The danger in the mist is mainly hallucinatory—perhaps the bridge shields us from illusions, or even if it doesn’t, as long as we keep to the bridge, we might make it out.”

“Are you sure the bridge leads outside?” Duli Li hesitated.

“I can’t be entirely certain, but I’m ninety percent sure. Otherwise, the bridge’s appearance would make no sense. The only question is, what conditions must be met to cross?” Professor Liu spoke slowly, thinking aloud.

“Hey, look—the flower’s turning red, and the pool’s water is clearing!” Yang Weiguo, left out of the discussion, kept scanning his surroundings and suddenly cried out when he noticed the flower.

Indeed, as Shen Lie and the others looked, they saw the blossom on the bare tree growing redder by the moment, as if something were injecting color into its petals. As the flower deepened in hue, the pool below grew clearer, all its red drained away—clearly absorbed by the flower.

As the flower’s color intensified, the unstable rift twisted even more, and a massive suction formed. No longer did the fissure spill red water; instead, the river began to flow backward!

Cries of agony rang out. More than a dozen survivors, separated from the group and exploring nearby, had wandered too close to the rift, hoping for a closer look at its mysteries. Suddenly, they were caught unprepared, swallowed whole by the fissure.

This was no mere spatial rift, but the maw of a monstrous beast, terrifying the survivors resting at the entrance. Their screams drew Shen Lie and the others’ attention.

“This is bad, something’s about to happen. Everyone, onto the bridge!” Professor Liu glanced at the rift and issued a curt warning, then strode toward the bridge of crows without hesitation.

“There’s no way back—let’s go!” Shen Lie sighed, casting a reluctant look at the red flower. He had briefly wondered if he could pick it, but now realized such a notion was hopeless.

With the pool and red mist being devoured by the rift, everyone broke into a run. Not all headed for the crow bridge; some fled back toward the town.

Each for himself—no one could spare a thought for others. Shen Lie saw Yang Weiguo step onto the bridge, so he strode after him, with Zhang Jing leading little Tao Tao close behind.