Faint footsteps sounded in the room and Su Xiao opened her eyes. Everywhere was quiet and only snores were heard from the outer cave.
"Sorry. Did I wake you up?"
"It's fine. You're back?"
"Yes. Go back to sleep"
"No need. Have you eaten?"
Glancing at his hesitant face she knew he hadn't eaten.
"I'm fi..
"Sit down let me get the food"
Mu Wei was quite hungry, not insisting he sat down. Su Xiao went to the kitchen and got the food from the pot and came back.
"Here. Once you're done eating, I'll take you there"
"Aren't you sleepy?
"I'm already awake so let's just do it now"
"Alright"
They sat in comfortable silence as he finished his food. After resting for a few minutes, he stood up and went to the kitchen to drop the plates then came back.
"I'm ready. Let's go"
"Alright"
Taking a short corner the quickly arrived at the entrance of the tomb. Mu Wei looked at her and she nodded. Quickly finding the mechanism, she pressed it and the door rumbled open. The stepped in and closed it back. It was dark and they squinted their eyes before adjusting to the darkness. In the darkness, only their eyes were visible when they looked at each other.
Su Xiao took out a luminous pearl and the room was instantly illuminated. With the light, they walked further. Su Xiao warned,
"Watch your steps. There are hidden traps"
"Hm"
They walked cautiously till the reached the tomb. Mu Wei opened the tomb and read the inscription with an unreadable expression. Carefully examining the tomb he found a mechanism. With a click, a compartment opened at the left of the tomb. Su Xiao raised a brow in surprise as she completely missed that. Mu Wei took out the box from the compartment and fiddled with it for a while and then a click sound was heard. It has opened.
He took out a thick book from it which was written in bold inscription and the calligraphy matching the ones in the book she found in the room. That was to say that whomever wrote this book also wrote those calligraphy. There was a small note written beside the book. Mu Wei took out and read it aloud,
'I don't have enough time anymore. I wasn't expecting them to betray me. I will leave this book hidden in this compartment till it meets the right person. Please, do not let this book fall into the wrong hands as it could be disastrous"
They fell silent. Even from the note, one could sense the writer's desperation and sadness. Su Xiao took the note and placed it neatly in her bag while the box was placed back in the compartment and put back. They finally focused on the thick book and the content shocked them. Mu Wei looked at her with a solemn expression.
"This... This is..
"Hm. The secret of making weapons from the Mu lineage"
Su Xiao fell silent. This was unexpected and big. As the flipped the pages, the more solemn their expression became. Finally, Su Xiao broke the silence.
"Imagine what would happen if this fell in the wrong hands"
"They would destroy everything"
The book not only contained secrets to make weapons but also war strategies and forgotten martial arts more powerful than the ones taught even to the death warriors of the emperor. Mu Wei 's express was solemn the more he read so he turned to Su Xiao,
"These books are not safe here, we need a means to transfer them to a safer place"
"You're right. But we can't alert anyone, so the best thing is to wait till when we're leaving the cave and then take it with us"
"Hm. Thank you Su Xiao"
"For what?"
"For everything you have been doing for us"
Su Xiao chuckled before replying,
"It's nothing,we're all family. Come let's go back before anyone notices our absence"
As she started arranging everything back in order, Mu Wei was frozen in surprise.
'Family? She said we're family! Does that mean she is not leaving?'
The realization delighted him and his face softened. Just in time for Su Xiao to turn around after she noticed he wasn't moving. She was dumbstruck looking at the glittering eyes looking straight at her.
'Thump'
She could hear her heart beating loudly. She stared for awhile before Mu Wei coughed and she snapped out of it. Awkwardly shifting to the other side.
"Yes, let's hurry up"
"Hm"
The packed in silence then came out and closed the door. The atmosphere was still awkward as they walked into the room, and no one said anything to break the silence even as they laid on the bed. Su Xiao yawned tiredly after the stress of the day she was feeling drained. She closed her eyes and fell asleep quickly.
Mu Wei stared at their sleeping faces with a smile before dozing off too. In the silence only the breathing of people and occasional rustling was heard as everyone slept deeply unaware of the danger roaming around. The fog quickly gathered seeping quietly into some poorly closed holes. At first nothing seemed off, but as the night deepened the reaction started showing.
A man who woke up to urinate started screaming hysterically saying he saw a ghost. At his screams, everyone woke up including Su Xiao. Turning to look at the kids she saw their brows furrowed with tears in their eyes as if trapped in a nightmare. She tapped them to wake them up but they remained asleep.
Mu Wei had already gone outside at this moment to check what was going on. Outside was chaotic, some had to be forcefully held down to avoid harming themselves or harming other people. Su Xiao took out two pills and gave one to Mu Wei and took the other one. As she observed the situation her expression was serious.
"What's wrong with them"
Mu Wei asked her knowing she recognized the symptoms.
"Hallucinations and disorientation"
"What do you think is causing it?"
"The poisonous fog"
As they talked she observed the surroundings. Suddenly, she catches a whiff of a sweet, earthly smell similar to mushrooms and an idea came to mind.
"I might know what is causing the symptoms"
Mu Wei turned to her in surprise. That was fast. As expected of his woman, she was too good. Holding back his excitement, he asked
"What's causing it?
"Fungus"
"..."
Seeing he didn't understand, she elaborated more.
"Do you see that fog? Doesn't it look like it has a peculiar movement similar to breathing or pulsing?"
Mu Wei focused on the fog and was shocked. The fog seemed alive indeed, but how was that possible? Not knowing he has subconsciously blurted it out till she answered
"That's why I say it's fungus. It's actually a plant with a biological origin. It's known as Lumei( deceptive mist) that releases fog which causes agitation, hallucinations and disorientation"
"Is there a cure?"
"I need to observe first"
Everyone was told to tie a cloth to their nose to avoid inhaling more of the fog. Half of them had fallen victim to fog and needed to be restrained. Some where shouting in pain, others were laughing hysterically. Some where inflicting pain on themselves so they were promptly restrained before they killed themselves.
Su Xiao watching the situation knew she had to find a solution immediately.
(I'm back to school and unfortunately not able to post anymore. Please bear with me and I promise to update when as soon as I can. Thank you ❤️)