Chapter Forty-Three: The Demon and the Gates of Hell

“Aiden, say something!” The deep sorrow in Ander’s voice made Camille, who was bandaging her own wound, feel a sting at the tip of her nose.

She had just been helping Aiden dig through the rubble. With her great strength, she managed to move some of the larger stones. But when she discovered that massive boulders, weighing tons, were at the very bottom, despair crept over her as well.

At that moment, ripples suddenly spread across the wall of a building to their southwest. A figure stepped out from those shimmering waves: a woman with long, jet-black hair loosely tied behind her, clad in a strangely styled hooded cloak. Though fatigue lingered on her face, her eyes shone as luminously as the moon reflected in a well.

It was Liu Shiqin. Using the Pathway abilities granted by her guest, she had traversed straight through one building after another. The shortest distance between two points, so only about ten minutes had passed since the earthquake, and she had already arrived.

The moment she emerged, she spotted several familiar faces from the orphanage. A delighted smile broke across her lips, but she quickly realized that something was wrong with the mood among them.

Hmm… Miss Lily, with the wavy brown hair, isn’t here. But that handsome young man who knows what Sisyphus means is. He should recognize me. Still, what’s going on with this atmosphere?

Liu Shiqin observed for a couple of seconds. Suddenly, she heard a young man, about her own age, sitting atop a pile of stones in the distance, shout hoarsely, “Aiden! Say something! Are we just going to leave Lily behind?”

Liu Shiqin started in alarm. What happened? He’s talking about Lily, isn’t he… If only my English listening weren’t so poor; I really regret not practicing it more.

At that moment, Sandro, who was scanning the area out of instinct, suddenly spotted Liu Shiqin. His eyes widened and he shouted, “There—there’s someone over there!”

The orphanage children all turned to look at her. Liu Shiqin reflexively raised both hands to indicate she meant no harm.

For a couple of seconds, Dunn’s eyes lit up. He hurried forward, exclaiming, “Miss Shiqin? It’s really you! Oh, God, this is incredible—we thought we’d never see you again.”

Liu Shiqin, a bit awkward, replied in halting English, “It’s… complicated. I… explain… later. What… happened? You… fighting?”

Dunn was momentarily confused by her strange grammar, but quickly understood her question. His eyes dimmed as he pointed at the ruins of the collapsed building behind him. “Lily is trapped underneath. We’re helpless.”

“What?” Liu Shiqin was stunned. “How could this be?”

Dunn pointed at the cracks still visible on the ground and briefly explained the situation.

“So, there’s a pit underneath?” Liu Shiqin confirmed.

“Yes, but that was before the building collapsed. I can’t be sure now,” Dunn replied, then, realizing something, asked urgently, “Miss Liu Shiqin, do you have a way to save Lily?”

The moment Ander, still sitting atop the rubble, heard the words “save Lily,” he scrambled down like a madman, ignoring the rocks that scraped his legs and tore his pants. He rushed to stand in front of the black-haired girl, staring straight at Liu Shiqin. “Can you save my sister?”

Dunn quickly pulled Ander back and apologized to Liu Shiqin. “He’s Ander, Lily’s closest friend at the orphanage. I’m sure you can understand his state of mind.”

Liu Shiqin didn’t quite understand the phrase “state of mind,” but she grasped the meaning and nodded. Then she said, “I… can’t promise… but I’ll try.”

Without further delay, Liu Shiqin strode to a spot near the ruins, searching for an area with less debris—the same place Camille and Aiden had desperately dug out. She knelt, focused her mind, and began probing the situation below.

To the orphanage children, the black-haired girl first crouched down, then her unusual cloak began to shine. The patterns on it seemed to come alive, gliding slowly across the surface.

“Hm… There really is a pit underneath, but it’s not very big. I can’t be sure, for now, if I can bring someone out through all these heavy stones,” Liu Shiqin quickly assessed, relying on the feedback from her ability.

She stood up, offering no further explanation, and performed a fist-salute toward the air.

Ripples appeared beneath her feet, and a bizarre, rusted iron door slowly materialized.

The moment she saw the door, Liu Shiqin’s expression changed dramatically. Without hesitation, she pushed off the ground with her toes and executed a flawless backflip.

She landed and stared fixedly at the iron door, as if some evil spirit might burst through at any moment.

None of the orphanage children dared to speak. They simply watched the eerie, rusted door with Liu Shiqin. The door gave off an unmistakable sense of dread; none of them were fools—they knew this was not a good sign.

Finally, perhaps lacking the strength to open or perhaps nothing lay behind it, the eerie iron door slowly faded away and vanished.

Liu Shiqin let out a long breath.

But her face soon grew dark. She turned to the orphanage children and asked in a heavy voice, “How many people died, in Dunlun City?”

“Huh?” None of them understood the question at first, staring at her in confusion and bewilderment.

Seeing their expressions, Liu Shiqin realized there was no point in asking. She sighed deeply, tears threatening from the dread that still lingered.

That door belonged to a demon.

A demon in the Western sense, which in Xia Country was called Hell.

It was an outward manifestation of the breeding ground for an evil god’s descent—a “gate” that could only appear when a sufficient accumulation of resentment and dead souls had gathered.

What exactly had happened in Dunlun City’s Sisyphus? Rampant supernatural beings, partially failing Guest abilities, and now a hell gate that refused to open downward.

Liu Shiqin felt as if she had stumbled into a vast, swirling vortex she could neither see nor control, weighed down by countless incomprehensible and uncontrollable forces.

Ander, too, understood now. Perhaps the black-haired girl named Liu Shiqin could not save his sister after all. He slumped to the ground, staring blankly at the collapsed ruins and the mist drifting through the air.

At last, he began to pray to a god he wasn’t sure even existed, hoping his sister would be safe, hoping she would appear before his eyes at that very moment.