A Good-for-Nothing

284. The Gates of Hell

Translator: Dragon Rider

The Nalingrad Gorge, otherwise known as the Gates of Hell, was located in Kunlun Mountains on the Qinghai-Xizang Plateau. Bordered by Qinghai in the east, and Buluntai in the north, it was believed to be the fifth most dangerous death zone in the world.

Rumor had it that this area was covered in thick vegetation interspersed with beautiful wild flowers. It looked like a paradise, but in the swamp, roots of exuberant herbage ruthlessly penetrated the countless remains of animals and people, and on the floor of the gorge, collapsed stone houses, unmarked graves and weather-worn headstones could be seen everywhere. It was like a vast burial ground which filled the area with the air of death.

It was said that a long time ago, a herdsman’s cows and horses had run into the Nalingrad Gorge; the young herdsman had ventured into the gorge; after a couple of days, the cows and horses had run out of the gorge, but the herdsman had been found standing on a mound in the gorge, dead, his eyes wide open, his shotgun in his hand.

All herdsmen dwelling in this area knew a principle which had been passed down from generation to generation – even if there was no herbage left and the animals were starving, one should never allow the livestock to enter the Valley of Death.

Since early 1990s, many researchers had gone into the Valley of Death with the intention of unraveling its mystery. Several groups of people had entered it one after another, but none of them had returned. And their bodies had been found a couple of days later.

From then on, the Nalingrad Gorge had become a restricted area. Nobody dared go in there except for some audacious cultivators having no fear for death. Over twenty years ago, a couple of top-ranking officials of SMB had sealed the Demon King’s dismembered body in six locations, and one of it was in the Nalingrad Gorge.

Information about the locations of the six magic Circles had been classified top secret by SMB. Previously, Li Zong had not been aware of it. When He Zheng had told him that he had been to the six places in a dream, Li Zong had vaguely guessed something. Eventually, Zhang Yixing, the head Taoist, with the help of the Toulong Tube, had found that He Zheng’s lost soul was in this place, and it had been only then that Li Zong came to know that this place was one of the locations where the Demon King’s body parts were sealed.

Then he had linked it to another matter. Twenty years ago, the Kunlun Xu Special Action Group had specially stationed a couple of men in this area, who had joined forces with an army and encircled this place ring upon ring.

This was not a scenic spot. Li Zong and He Zheng, after disembarking from the plane, first joined a tourist group and reached somewhere nearby with the other members. After getting off the bus, Li Zong hired an old herdsman as a guide, who led him to the edge of the gorge.

The old herdsman was holding a long pole, which he used to drive livestock and gauge the direction of the wind.

“I’m afraid this is as far as I can take you, young man.”

“Thank you.” Li Zong nodded his gratitude at the old man.

The old man, having lived in Tibet for many years, had a conspicuous red patch on each of his cheeks, which lent an air of mingled simplicity and unsophisticatedness to him.

“The providence wants me to offer you help. Have a nice trip!”

He Zheng, gripping Li Zong’s collar, looked at the old herdsman. Somehow the old man reminded him of his grandfather, who was just as genial.

They were at the edge of the Nalingrad Gorge. There was gravel and sand all over the ground. In daytime the temperature was not very high, but the sunlight was so harsh it made He Zheng felt as though his skin would crack.

“Li Zong.” He Zheng was somewhat dizzy from the sunshine. After all, his body was made of mud. If he was exposed to sunlight for too long, the mud would dry out and his body would crack.

Li Zong unscrewed the lid of his Thermos bottle to let He Zheng drink some tea. The tea he had drunk in the past few days had tasted somewhat strange. He Zheng smacked his lips and said, “There seems to be some kind of fragrance.”

Li Zong also took a sip of the tea and then pushed He Zheng deeper into the pocket. “Stay out of the sunlight.”

He Zheng did not notice the obvious cuts in Li Zong’s fingers. Evidently Li Zong had done it to himself.

Li Zong did not set off right away. He stood where he was and observed for a long moment before he headed for a place where wisps of smoke were rising into the sky.

Unsurprisingly, after walking for over ten minutes, they saw a military encampment.

A couple of years ago, the government had built a military base in this area and an institution for nuclear arms tests in the Gobi Desert. This area was vast and deserted, which made it perfect for testing nuclear bombs.

Apart from that, some secret experiments had also been carried out in this place.

As a result, soldiers of the Republic of Hua were frequently seen in the Gobi Desert.

“Hey, where are you going?” Someone spotted Li Zong and was instantly on the alert. Seeing that Li Zong was wearing casual clothes, the man thought that he was a tourist and planned to escort him out of this area, but Li Zong was not carrying a backpack or any baggage, so the soldiers became suspicious. “Identify yourself and state your business! Now!”

The pitch-dark barrel of a gun was trained on Li Zong’s head.

“I’m Li Zong, vice-superintendent of SMB of NSA. I work in the SMB headquarters in Coastal City. My employee number is 008.”

“Nice to meet you, Sir. Please show your credentials,” said the man, saluting Li Zong.

Li Zong nodded and produced his employee’s card. The man checked it and confirmed Li Zong’s identity, but he still did not drop his guard.

Li Zong said, “There’s no iris scanner here. If Chen Weiguo the leader of the Kunlun Xu Special Action Group is available, you may call him here to confirm my identity.”

On hearing Li Zong say Chen Weiguo’s name, the man was almost convinced. He inclined his head and said, “Okay. Just wait here for a minute.”

He Zheng, sitting in Li Zong’s chest pocket, tilted his head to one side and looked up, but he could only see Li Zong’s lower jaw. “Why do they have to make things so complicated?” he asked.

“A couple of years ago, some Demon’s Attendants came here posing as NSA staff members. I’ve been wondering why they did that. Now it seems they had long since found out that there’s a magic seal in this place.”

“Those bastards got what they wanted?” He Zheng became a little nervous after hearing the story.

“No. Chen Weiguo, the leader of the Kunlun Xu Special Action Group, who was stationed in this place at that time, thwarted their plans.”

He Zheng bobbed his head, comprehension dawning on his face.

But after a while, He Zheng became suspicious again and asked, “How did that soul of mine end up in this place when the security here is so tight? Did it fly here on its own account?”

Li Zong shook his head and answered honestly, “I haven’t figured that out either.”

He Zheng was astonished. There were things that even Li Zong did not know about?

While they were talking, the soldier that had just gone inside to report returned with a middle-aged man, who was manifestly surprised to see Li Zong. “Supt. Li!” he called.

On hearing his words, the soldier came to know that Li Zong’s identity was unquestionable. He waved his hand and with that the soldiers blocking Li Zong’s way stepped aside to let him through.

“Group Leader Chen.”

“Supt. Li, what brings you here? Are you flying solo, performing some kind of task?”

“Yeah.” Li Zong nodded.

Eventually Chen Weiguo’s eyes fell upon Li Zong’s collar. He Zheng abruptly made eye contact with him and was startled. He subconsciously buried his head into Li Zong’s chest pocket, remaining silent.

“Let’s get inside and talk later.”

SMB staff members actually constituted government functionaries. Some secret experiments were being carried out in this military base, many of which required assistance from SMB staff members. A few years ago, Li Zong had also come here to help them with some experiments. Therefore, the base of the Nalingrad detachment of the second action group of Kunlun Xu was right next to this military base.

The so-called base consisted of merely two bungalows. One of them served as an office, and the other one, with several wide beds inside, was the dorm room of the staff members.

As chance would have it, Chen Weiguo was on duty this day, so Li Zong met him.

“Come and have a seat.” He invited Li Zong to sit down. There were four desks in the office, two of which were dusty. Chen Weiguo led Li Zong to a clean chair, in which the latter sat himself.

“Supt. Li, what kind of mission are you on? I don’t mean to pry, but I’m a little curious – that thing in your pocket, Sect Leader Zhang did that, right?”

Li Zong nodded, fished He Zheng out of the pocket and sat him on his shoulder.

“This is Chen Weiguo, the leader of the second detachment of Kunlun Xue Special Action Group. You may call him Uncle Chen.”

Then he said to Chen Weiguo, “Uncle Chen, this is my marriage partner, He Zheng.”

On formal occasions he would address Chen Weiguo as “Group Leader Chen”, but in fact Chen Weiguo and Li Tiangang were former comrades-in-arms. As Li Tiangang was nominally Li Zong’s grandfather, Li Zong indeed had to address Chen Weiguo as uncle.

He Zheng did as Li Zong said.

Beaming, Chen Weiguo nodded and said, “So your surname is He. Are you from the He family? He Changchun’s Welkin Upender is pretty powerful.”

In fact He Zheng was not very happy to hear the man mention his father, because he had hardly ever basked in his father’s reflected glory.

Li Zong said, “He did not learn how to use the Welkin Upender. He’s apprenticed to Xuanqing of the Qingwei Sect and has been trying to improve his lightning spells and swordcraft.”

On hearing that He Zheng was learning lightning spells, Chen Weiguo lifted his eyebrows. “Oh?”

Li Zong said, “Uncle Chen, this journey of mine is about a private task. You’ve seen it yourself – one of He Zheng’s souls was taken away. Right now, that soul is in the Nalingrad Gorge. I need to recover it for him. With a soul missing, He Zheng could easily be reduced to a Living Soul.”

Chen Weiguo had not bargained for this situation. After pondering for a while, he asked, “How much time does he have?”

“Five days.”

“You don’t need me to remind you how dangerous the Nalingrad Gorge is. To be honest, I’ve been here for many years, but I’ve seldom ventured into the depths of the gorge … if it’s only the outer area that you’re going to search, I can take you there.”

Li Zong shook his head, his eyes downcast, his countenance giving little away. “I don’t know where it is exactly either. I’ll have to search this gorge slowly. If it’s convenient for you, I’d like you to take me there; if not, just point me in the right direction.”

Chen Weiguo knew what Li Zong was capable of, but he was still a little worried. “Wait here for a minute. I’ll go and make some preparations. We should depart as soon as possible.”

At the same time. SMB.

Zhen Daoyuan, after hearing Tan Lubai’s words, immediately called Zhang Jingqiu in and asked him where Li Zong was at the moment.

Everybody knew that Zhang Jingqiu was on Zong Xian’s side, while Li Zong was on Zhen Daoyuan’s. Zhang Jingqiu was perplexed at the question, but he still made a phone call to make an inquiry.

Then he answered, “It’s said that he departed for the Nalingrad Gorge three days ago.”

“Was He Zheng with him?”

“Yeah. He brought He Zheng with him.”

Zhen Daoyuan’s eyes instantly became grave, and so did his face. He told Zhang Jingqiu, “Figure out a way to make contact with Chen Weiguo immediately. No matter what, Li Zong must not leave the Nalingrad Gorge with He Zheng! He Zheng must stay there!”