Chapter 14: The Purple Mist

The towering black palace in the distance looked especially eerie under the night sky. I definitely didn't want to sleep inside it, so we unanimously decided to rest in a mud-brick house near the city gate. If anything unexpected happened, we could quickly retreat from the ancient city. This seemed to have been a commoner's house. The furnishings were extremely simple, with only a few crudely made pottery pieces inside. However, Luo Hai and Liu Ziping's eyes lit up when they saw them—it seemed these were quite old artifacts. There was a long-dried oil lamp in the room. Seeing it, I suddenly had the urge to play around, so I took out my lighter and lit it. I thought the oil, having been exposed to the elements for so long, would burn out quickly, but to my surprise, it continued to burn. Even more bizarre, the solidified lamp oil inside slowly melted as it heated up. However, the flame emitted a ghostly blue light—I had no idea what kind of oil it was made from. Uncle Li also seemed quite intrigued by the lamp oil, observing it closely beside me for a long time. "Uncle Li, what do you think this lamp oil is made of?" I asked curiously. Uncle Li dipped his fingertip into the oil and brought it to his nose, taking a slight sniff. Then, he frowned and said, "It's mermaid oil! But this stuff was extremely expensive in ancient times, usually reserved for the eternal lamps inside the tombs of high-ranking officials. Why would it appear in a commoner's house?" The moment Liu Ziping heard this, he quickly moved closer for a look. "It really is mermaid oil! But using it as a lamp oil doesn't mean it will burn forever. The reason tombs have eternal lamps is that their sealed environment has limited oxygen. Once the wick burns up the available oxygen, the lamp naturally extinguishes. I've seen my fair share of tombs, but I've never seen an eternal lamp still burning—they usually burn out once the oxygen is gone, leaving behind the oil in a semi-solidified state, just like this one." Hearing him say this, I thought to myself—this guy really is a professional tomb raider. It seemed like everyone here had their own specialties. With that in mind, I deliberately asked Liu Ziping, "Liu, how old do you think this place is?" Liu Ziping glanced around and then said in a low voice, "At least two thousand years old. Look at these pottery pieces—the style is similar to Han Dynasty artifacts, but with some differences. Back in ancient times, there were many small kingdoms here, like Loulan and Ruoqiang. But I can't pinpoint which civilization this city belonged to. However, one thing is for sure—this place hasn't been discovered before. If it had, I would have heard about it." I trusted Liu Ziping's expertise in this area—he was probably right. What I wasn't sure about was whether we could become the first to officially announce this discovery. But I kept thinking about what Uncle Li had said earlier—this "Black City." I had a bad feeling that we weren't the first people to set foot here; it's just that no one who came before us had ever made it out of the desert alive… Suddenly, I felt the urge to pee. I looked outside—it was pitch black—and felt a little scared. So, I nudged Ding Yi beside me and said with a grin, "Hey… come with me outside for a moment?" Ding Yi didn't say anything. He just grabbed a Wolf Eyes flashlight from his backpack and motioned for me to follow him. After taking care of business outside, I didn't want to stay there for another second. But just as I turned around, I suddenly sensed something was off. I looked around carefully and finally realized—why wasn't there any wind in this ancient city? Even if the buildings blocked some of the airflow, I still clearly remembered the strong winds from last night. How could it now be completely still? Feeling uneasy, I glanced around again, and what I saw nearly made me pee myself all over again. Every single house in the city was glowing with the same eerie blue light—just like its long-gone residents had all returned home… Before I could make sense of it, Ding Yi suddenly grabbed me and started walking back at a rapid pace. "Slow down… Why are you walking so fast?" I almost lost my balance, but Ding Yi was incredibly strong. He easily steadied me and kept moving quickly. As he dragged me along, I suddenly noticed something strange beneath my feet. Looking closer, I saw that a thin layer of mist covered the ground, as delicate as a cicada's wings. But the most peculiar thing was its color—a faint, ghostly purple! Back inside, Ding Yi immediately bolted the door. Uncle Li saw the tense look on our faces and asked, "What happened? Did you see that gray shadow again?" I shook my head and quickly described everything we had just witnessed. The others all looked shocked. Uncle Li peered out the window and was so stunned he couldn't speak for a long time. A layer of faint purple mist hovered over the city's ground, adding to the eeriness of the whole place. I had no idea what kind of place this was. Before entering, I could feel a deep, overwhelming sadness. But once inside, I felt nothing at all. And then there was that mysterious shadow. If I wasn't mistaken, that was the very person we were searching for. But there was no way he could still be alive! His pocket watch already held a fragment of his soul, meaning he had to be dead. So why was he appearing here, in this long-lost city? Too many questions flooded my mind, and now, with the purple mist and the glowing mermaid oil lamps, the entire city looked even more terrifying. Then, a terrifying thought suddenly crept into my mind. Could it be that this entire ancient city was actually… a giant tomb? I voiced my suspicion, but Uncle Li was the first to shake his head. "What kind of tomb would be built like this? Haizi, Ziping, have you ever seen anything like this?" Both of them shook their heads. "This place is definitely strange, but it's not a tomb. Judging by the layout and the objects inside, everything seems to be from around two thousand years ago. But strangely, they don't look as aged as they should. Most ancient ruins are in shambles after centuries of wind and sand erosion. How could this city still be so intact?" "Could this be a movie set?" Ye Zhiqiu asked hesitantly. I shook my head. "That's even less likely. Who would build a set in such a desolate place? And even if they did, there would be workers maintaining it, right? Modern movie sets are built in areas with easy access. No one would be foolish enough to construct one out here in the middle of nowhere!"