Chapter 47#

Temple of the Burning Lamp 18#

That night, first Bai Song and Molly kept watch, then the Scholar and Qiu Na.

Thought it would be a night full of crises, and no one slept deeply, but unexpectedly, nothing happened. It was terrifyingly quiet.

A third of the night passed peacefully. When the shifts were changing, Molly said timidly: “I… I want to go to the bathroom.”

Once these words were out, everyone was stunned. Yu Feichen also opened his eyes. Everyone else in the room were men. Being a woman herself, Qiu Na spoke first: “Can you… hold it a bit longer?”

Molly huddled by the bedside, clutching her stomach, and shook her head with difficulty: “I can’t… I almost can’t hold it anymore.”

“This…” Qiu Na didn’t know what to do either.

Hearing their conversation and seeing Molly’s pale face and sweating forehead, she indeed looked like she couldn’t hold on. The food and water in the temple were very special, and they had almost no physiological needs these past few days. Even if they did, they had resolved them in the public washroom outside during the day. But because of the fear of being caught, Molly had stayed inside the room and hadn’t dared to come out, let alone go to the washroom.

But at this time, the lights in other rooms had already been extinguished, and the corridor’s candles should have gone out long ago. They couldn’t let anyone out. Yu Feichen said: “Do it here.”

“Ah?” Molly bit her lip hard: “No, I… I can’t.”

Even for the sake of survival, she couldn’t do such a thing. Especially in such a small room, in front of everyone. Shame made her feel as if she were about to explode. She hugged herself tighter, trying hard to forget her physical feelings, and said softly: “I’ll hold it a bit longer.”

But she simply couldn’t.

Hold it a bit longer…

No, she couldn’t. If she didn’t go out now, she would die.

Go out, push open that door, the washroom is just five or six steps to the left after leaving the corridor—

She stared infatuatedly at that oak door. The door gradually enlarged in front of her eyes, getting closer and closer, closer and closer.

“Molly.”

A cold and indifferent voice was like a bucket of ice water poured over her head, making her suddenly clear-headed. She looked around and found that she had somehow already stood up and was walking towards the door.

Her heart was pounding, and she couldn’t help but look at the Knight Commander who had just called out to her. That knight surnamed Bai said his name was Yu Feichen.

Yu, Fei, Chen. A very nice name, as if all the past events in the world could be like dust, flying away with the wind.

“Molly?” This time it was that knight Bai Song who called her name. Her scattered thoughts were suddenly called back, and Molly was stunned for a moment, completely clear-headed. The next moment, the distending pain in her abdomen struck violently, forcing her to hold her belly and bend over slightly.

“Don’t push yourself, sigh,” Bai Song said. “We’ll all turn around and won’t look at you.”

Molly shook her head in collapse. The environment she grew up in and the education she received didn’t allow her to do such a thing. She couldn’t help but cry out.

“If you want to go, go. If not, then hold it.” Qiu Na now realized she had encountered the kind of teammate she least wanted to meet, and her tone became sharp and direct: “Who knows when it’ll be dawn. We don’t have time to waste on you.”

Molly said sorry but cried even harder.

Violating the rules, being caught, being rescued, dragging everyone down… she had lost a lot of face, but in this volatile world, this was the last bit of dignity she had left as a living person.

Bai Song was the first to soften his heart. He looked at Yu Feichen: “Brother Yu, what should we do?”

Yu Feichen had imagined many things that could happen tonight, but he hadn’t expected trouble to come from his own side first. And… it felt fishy.

After a moment of thought, looking at Molly, he said: “I’ll take you.”

Qiu Na and Bai Song spoke almost at the same time.

Qiu Na: “Something will go wrong.”

Bai Song: “How will you go?”

Yu Feichen took a candle with a large flame from a high place. He didn’t speak, just quietly studied the candle’s flame.

The Scholar whispered: “What is he spacing out for?”

“Shh,” Bai Song said, “Brother Yu is calculating.”

Two minutes later, Yu Feichen moved.

He pulled out his long sword, aimed the center of the candle’s base at the blade, and pressed down precisely. The lower half of the candle was split down the middle by the sword’s tip, but it didn’t break; instead, it was firmly fixed onto the sword.

He handed the hilt to Molly, letting her hold it with her right hand and hold the candle high above her head. He then positioned her right elbow inward until the candle, sword, and elbow joint were perfectly on a line vertical to the ground.

“Remember the angle,” he said to Molly. “No matter what you encounter, don’t move this.”

Then, he glanced at Bai Song, who voluntarily offered his Knight’s sword. Yu Feichen also stuck a candle on it for his own use. Then, under the gaze of the others, he pushed open the door and said to Molly: “Follow me. Turn left once you’re out. Be quick.”

After saying that, he stepped out and walked directly into the darkness beside the doorway.

Sure enough, all the candles outside had either been extinguished or were on their last legs, flickering weakly. But with his candle held high above his head, it was exactly from top to bottom, casting a circular black shadow on the ground, clearly demarcated from the things outside, just like the effect of the sun being directly overhead. And the elbow protruding from the body, which according to optical principles should have been projected onto the wall, became part of the darkness under the light because of the tricky vertical angle, projected into that small shadow on the ground.

“Whoa, this operation,” Bai Song praised, “not only is the whole body in the light and separated from the dark, but even the shadow is so small that it won’t touch other shadows. Why didn’t I think of that?”

While he was praising, over there Yu Feichen had already led Molly forward step by step. With a turn of their figures, they left this corridor.

The Pope on the bed also slowly opened his eyes, sat up, and looked around.

Bai Song diligently draped an outer robe over him: “Don’t catch a cold.”

“What happened?” he asked.

“Someone insisted on going to the bathroom.” Qiu Na crossed her arms coldly and briefly explained the situation.

Hearing this, the Pope looked at the half-open door.

“My Brother Yu,” Bai Song praised, “I want to be a person like Brother Yu in the future.”

The Pope said: “What kind of person?”

“Although he’s always a bit indifferent, Brother Yu is actually a good person,” Bai Song said. “And he’s very strong, the kind of person who will protect everyone. Really, don’t you guys feel particularly safe?”

Ludwig didn’t speak.

“Your Holiness, have some water.” Bai Song automatically took over his Brother Yu’s unfinished profession, being meticulous.

“Your Holiness? What’s wrong?”

Ludwig turned to look at him: “Is there something wrong with me?”

Bai Song said nothing, just that he felt the Pope’s gaze was a bit strange.

The always easy-going Pope pursued the question: “How is it strange?”

Bai Song scratched his head: “A bit like… not having been home for a long time… and seeing the grass in your own yard has grown tall. That… that kind of feeling.”

“Is that so.” Ludwig smiled slightly, “I’ve wondered if he’s too reclusive.”

—This makes it even more like that.

Bai Song was careful, imitating the tone of parents comforting each other after being called by a teacher, and followed the Pope’s meaning: “Perhaps he’ll get better slowly.”

The Pope leaned against the headboard and seemed to nod in agreement.

The corridor was pitch black, and nothing could be seen clearly beyond the candlelight. He didn’t know if it was an illusion, but Molly felt that the darkness had become tangible, living things, as if a giant monster were lurking in the darkness, slowly breathing in and out. As it breathed, the darkness also surged slowly. She could only keep looking at Yu Feichen beside her to remain calm.

Don’t be afraid, don’t be afraid. The washroom is right ahead.

When the candlelight illuminated the washroom door, she suddenly let out a cry.

“Ah!”

Her arm shook, and the candle almost tilted. Yu Feichen reached out and grabbed her elbow, stabilizing it.

Molly looked forward tremblingly, and Yu Feichen looked there too.

The dim washroom door had suddenly changed at some point. A pitch-black humanoid stood quietly in front of the door. No clothes, no hair, no details, not even any three-dimensionality, like a paper man or a standing shadow.

He tilted his head slightly and glanced back.

Behind them, in the deep shadows of the corridor, more than one such shadow stood vaguely.

Molly’s legs went weak: “What… what should we do?”

“Go,” Yu Feichen said.

Molly gritted her teeth and continued walking forward. But as she walked, she discovered something even more terrifying.

That black humanoid shadow seemed to have shifted backward. Although it was still in that standing posture, it was originally in front of the door and was now inside the door.

But she had to go in.

“They are afraid of light.” Yu Feichen said: “Keep walking. Close your eyes if you’re afraid.”

Thinking that these shadow monsters seemed to have the ability to affect people’s emotions, he added: “Don’t think about anything, don’t move your hands.”

Molly nodded and finally walked slowly into the washroom step by step.

Yu Feichen turned his back and looked straight into the deep corridor.

One after another, pitch-black human figures stood tall, all quietly facing this way.

At the moment he met their eyes, the salty smell of the sea breeze suddenly brushed past his nose.