My Way To You [PingXie Fanfiction]

Chapter 18 - Scratch

"Stay close." Zhang Qiling whispers to the person next to him before naturally taking his hand.

"Hmm." Wu Xie replies with a single hum and practically glues himself to Zhang Qiling. Well, not only his hand but his body is hugging is practically hugging the other person.

With the arrangement completed, the two proceed forward toward the big iron door on the opposite side. Every step is taken with great caution to their surroundings. Zhang Qiling pays most of his attention on protecting Wu Xie more than the path in front of him. Yet strangely they can reach the destination without any misfortune. There were no traps which seems rather abnormal. One of the possible scenarios is that beyond this door ... they may be running for their lives the whole way. But, oh well, let's leave that for the future.

Wu Xie goes left then right to see what he can find out about what's in front of him. However, the pattern shown did not seem to resemble any of the dynasty, in particular. So, it is hard to identify the age of this unknown tomb.

On the other hand, Zhang Qiling is looking around to find the switch to open this big door; there is no way to directly open this 4 meters high and thick door. Thus, there must be a trigger hidden somewhere. Using his hand to feel the surface, Zhang Qiling can distinguish a certain area with slightly different texture. It cannot be seen so it could be easily missed.

"Wu Xie." Zhang Qiling signals.

When the person has reached his side, Zhang Qiling touches the focused area again and finds a small spot that can be pressed. As the switch has been activated, the mechanisms and gears start to twist and turn. Soon, the heavy and large door moves bit by bit to reveal a small opening. Yet, cool air flows out from the pitch darkness behind the gap. Wu Xie could not help but to shiver, not sure whether it is from the coldness or the unknown future. But then suddenly a person comes between him and the entrance who made his heart feel warmth. No matter what is up ahead, there is this person beside him.

Then the two walk through the door. Behind it is another long corridor about the same size with the door. Either the tomb owner loves extravagance, or he is a giant. Even the torch holders are almost 2 meters high. It is a good thing that both of them are quite tall. Otherwise, they would need to do acrobatics just to light up the hallway. When there is light, they are able to better see the surroundings.

On the wall, there seems to be some sort of murals. Based on the story painted, between an emperor and a very rich and powerful family ... Wu Xie is inclines toward the latter. It seems to be a record of a certain clan, an important clan probably in the Jin dynasty. Although, not much can be deciphered from the door outside, the murals have more information, and he believes that he can run out to compare the art between outside and inside several times to confirm his assumption.

As if the thing can read Wu Xie's mind, the slightly ajar door just decides to close itself with a loud bang from behind them.

'Okay ... forget about comparing the mural's art style ... my dear, were you afraid that we won't go forward?' Wu Xie asks in his mind though he has no idea who the question was meant for.

While Zhang Qiling is still the poker face like before as if nothing happened and continues to follow Wu Xie like a shadow. However, after a few steps on the dirt, the ground changes into tiles where Zhang Qiling instantly stop Wu Xie from taking another step.

Based on the novel cliché, stepping on the wrong tile would send arrows or daggers flying or maybe the ground could collapse again. Therefore, Zhang Qiling cannot let the innocent Wu Xie walks without caution. As the bodyguard, he needs to make sure the client is safe. So, he moves forward and have Wu Xie behind him instead.

"Follow my steps." Zhang Qiling tells the person behind. If any trap is trigger, he can react faster and keep his little life. Although, he is nervous, but nothing is shown on his poker face. This may be one of the few good points in having a poker face. No one would know the truth.

Cautiously, Zhang Qiling steps on few of the tiles. So far, he has been lucky and have not trigger any hidden mechanism. After ensuring the safety, he signals for Wu Xie to step on the exact same tiles until reaching where Zhang Qiling is at that time. Only then would he proceed forward. In this way, it may expose Wu Xie to more risk, but if he were to leave Wu Xie too far ... Zhang Qiling just can't do it. Risking together is better than leaving him behind and too far out of sight. He would feel more assuring if Wu Xie is nearby. This way, if there is any emergency, he will just toss the person over his shoulder and sprint out of there.

The 2 people continue safely until about mid-way where Wu Xie slightly lost balance and steps on a different tile with a ... click ... the air instantly becomes stagnate as they wait for whatever would attack them. As promised, the gears of the mechanisms start to operate. Without waiting to see what it is, Zhang Qiling grabs Wu Xie and rush forward. At this point, there is no need to be careful of where they step anyway. The important point is to rush out of the attacking range.

Along the path, Zhang Qiling would block the arrows from time to time while covering for Wu Xie to escape. Luckily, the path is not to long only about a 100 meter. Hence, sprinting through it is still within human capabilities.

Pant ... pant ... pant ...

The young master of Wu clan, who rarely exercise feels like he just ran a marathon, is now on all four on the ground. However, no matter how tired he feels, he remembers to pounce on Zhang Qiling, who is nearby, and knocking him to fall.

'I need to check if Xiao Ge has any injuries ..., okay!?!?' Wu Xie explains in his mind because he is panting too much to speak ... but then realizes ... who was he explaining to ... there was no one around ... right?

Anyway, now Zhang Qiling is lying underneath Wu Xie who is checking the former's body and found that an arrow has scrape Zhang Qiling's left arm. It is not too bad, but it still bleeds.

"You're hurt!!!" Wu Xie blurts out.

"A scratch." Zhang Qiling corrects him. Compare this to what he has experience before ... this is nothing. However, there is one difference.

At the time in the hellish facility, no matter how hurt there is no one that cared. But now, with just a small wound, there is this person sitting on him with a distressed expression as if the wound is life threatening. To be honest, this is rather foreign to Zhang Qiling but in a good way. With a good mood, he sits up, which close up the distance, causing their chest to almost be only a bit apart. And somehow Zhang Qiling's body seems to gain life of its own, when he reaches out and ruffles Wu Xie's hair then pulls him in for a hug.

"Good that you're safe." Zhang Qiling whispers into Wu Xie's ear.

Maybe it was because he was still tired from running for his life since at this time Wu Xie can feel his heart beating very fast.

'I should exercise more ... running this bit and my heart is about to jump out.' Wu Xie analyzes the cause of his pounding heart. Of course, it is not because of the hug from Zhang Qiling and definitely not from the whisper that is making his ear hot. He always does these things with Fatty and never felt anything. So, this time is the same. He is just too tired. 'But it's sooooo good to be close to Xiao Ge.'

"Ahem, cough, cough, ... of course, I'm safe! Isn't it because I have the best in the world bodyguard. Come on, I'll bandage you up." Wu Xie feign oblivious and opens his backpack to get the medical kit.

'Should I remind him that he's still sitting on me?' Zhang Qiling wonders for a moment but then choose to ignore it.

However, before Wu Xie can start his first aid practice, he was stopped by Zhang Qiling.

"I'll do it." Zhang Qiling tells Wu Xie while leaving out the most important part. 'If I let him do it, it's likely that I'll become a mummy.'

You can imagine that Wu Xie has master leveled bandaging technique that Zhang Qiling even fears.

***************

A/N

Writing about tomb exploring is harder than I thought ...

is it because I'm afraid of ghost ...