Chapter 170 Two Travelers, One Bad Idea

Chapter 170: Chapter 171: Two Travelers, One Bad Idea

Daniel had a speed stat of one hundred and twelve.

He had never actually tested it. Running from a giant lizard in the desert with a speed of 5.2 didn’t count, and neither did strolling through Silverbrook with his hands in his pockets. But now there was a twelve-kilometer gorge in front of him and a girl who might be a monster somewhere up ahead, so he finally let his legs off the leash.

The gorge turned into a smear.

Grey stone streaked past on both sides. The wind hit him like a wall, tore at his hair, and pressed his Shadow Cloak flat against his back. His boots barely touched the ground. For the first time since waking up in this world, he felt like he was actually good at something that didn’t involve talking.

"Level four!" he shouted into the wind, delighted. "I’m level four and I’m fast!"

Nobody heard him. That was fine. He would say it again later, to someone who had to listen.

His Keen Sense pinged at the edge of his awareness, a cluster of heat signatures at the fifty-meter mark. Seven bodies, all standing still. He slowed to a jog, then a walk, and the second gate rose out of the mist.

It was made of bone-white stone. Two pillars held up the arch, and from each hung a bronze bell as big as a barrel. Beneath the arch lay a circle of pale sand. Carved into the stone at its edge were two lines:

THE SWIFT ARRIVE LAST. BE STILL FOR ONE HUNDRED BREATHS.

The woman in white robes from slab five was standing in the circle with her eyes closed and her hands folded. Around her, six other runners watched with the grim faces of people who had been here a while.

Daniel leaned against a pillar and watched too.

At breath thirty-one, the left bell shuddered. At breath thirty-two it rang with a boom that rattled his teeth. The sand heaved like a startled animal and flung the woman backward out of the circle. She landed on her feet, hair frazzled, jaw tight.

"Again," she said through her teeth.

"That’s your fifth try," said a boy nearby. He looked about twelve and he was furious about it. "I can do it. I’m the stillest person in my family."

"Then do it," said the woman.

The boy marched into the circle, folded his arms, and shut his eyes. At breath four, the right bell rang. The sand threw him out and he rolled four meters down the path, shrieking with outrage.

"It reads intent," the woman said to Daniel, as if explaining a bad smell. "The gate doesn’t care if you move. It cares if you want to move. Every time I think about the others pulling ahead, the bell rings."

Daniel considered this.

"So you can’t pass by thinking ’I must pass.’"

"Obviously."

"Then I should be great at this," Daniel said. "I have no urgency at all."

He walked into the circle, yawned, cracked his neck, and sat down cross-legged in the sand. The seven runners watched him with open disbelief. He closed his eyes.

One.

Two.

Three.

The sand was warm under him. The mist smelled like wet stone. Somewhere far behind, a horn blew faintly, the main start. Hundreds of people were charging into the gorge. He did not care. He breathed in and breathed out.

At breath twenty-six, he thought about the Harem quest. Three out of ten. Seven more to go. The left bell trembled.

Nap, Daniel told himself firmly. Think about naps.

The bell stilled.

At breath forty-eight, he thought about Su Wan’s jawline and the way she had said his name like a curse. The right bell gave a small, warning shiver.

Nap. Pillows. A very big pillow.

The bell stilled.

At breath seventy-one, he thought about Yun Xi. The blank brown eyes. The single thread of Curiosity leaking through a wall the system couldn’t climb. What was she? How was she walking? Both bells shook so hard that sand jumped off the ground in little spurts.

Pillow, Daniel thought desperately. Pillow, pillow, pillow, pillow.

The bells went quiet.

At breath ninety-four, his stomach growled, and he thought dumplings. The left bell gave a single, offended clang, cut off halfway.

Not hungry. I am a stone. Stones don’t have stomachs.

At breath ninety-nine, he thought: I’m winning.

Both bells swung back as if they were about to strike.

Boring, Daniel told them, in his calmest inner voice. This is boring. I am a boring man doing a boring thing.

The bells hung there for a long moment.

Breath one hundred.

"RESTED," said the gate.

The arch glowed. The sand beneath him cooled and went still, and the mist beyond the arch parted like a curtain.

Daniel opened his eyes and stood up. Behind him, the woman in white robes was staring at him with her mouth slightly open.

"How?" she whispered.

"I stopped caring about everything." He brushed off his trousers. "It’s my best skill."

He stepped through.

---

POV Switch: Lyra

The main horn blew, and four hundred runners poured into the gorge like water through a broken dam.

Lyra ran at the front of the pack with Paul beside her and Brick Head thundering behind. By the time they reached the first gate, the iron-grey giant was still standing there with his fists clenched, a thin line of drool at the corner of his mouth, shouting something about honor.

"LIE," said the gate.

"I want to be the best!"

"LIE."

Lyra stepped around him and looked up at the carved face. The pale gold eyes opened.

"WHAT DO YOU WANT MOST?"

She had expected the question. She had not expected it to feel like a hand reaching into her chest.

She thought about the Prick family estate. About her father’s smile, the one that had never reached his eyes. About being a bargaining chip, a prize to be handed to a man with a thin mustache and oily hands. About a boy in a silk shirt who had stood in front of her with a stupid grin and said, "You’re my first harem member. I would never leave you."

"I want to never be anyone’s prize again," Lyra said quietly. "And I want to be the one standing next to him when he gets everything he’s ever wanted."

The giant gasped like he had been slapped. "Him? Who is he?"

"TRUTH," said the gate.

Lyra’s face went hot. She marched through the arch without looking at anyone.

Paul stepped up next, adjusting his collar. "I want people to stop talking about my face," he said, "and start talking about my wind."

"TRUTH," said the gate, sounding slightly amused.

"That’s it?" Brick Head asked. "That’s all it wants?"

"Just be honest."

Brick Head approached the arch and stared up at the face. The gold eyes stared back. He took a deep breath, squared his shoulders, and spoke with all the gravity of a man giving a vow.

"Chicken."

The gate was silent for a long time.

"...TRUTH."

"And a hug," Brick Head added, after a moment.

"TRUTH."

Paul looked at Brick Head. Brick Head looked at Paul.

"Don’t," Paul said.

"I wasn’t going to," said Brick Head. His eyes were suspiciously shiny.

---

POV Switch: Daniel

The third gate was the smallest so far.

Daniel found it half a kilometer after the stillness gate, standing across a narrow stretch of canyon where the walls pinched in tight. It was a low arch made of grey stone, and carved into its keystone were two open hands, reaching toward each other without quite touching.

Beside the arch stood a plaque. He read it twice.

NO LONE TRAVELER MAY PASS. TWO MUST CROSS TOGETHER, HAND IN HAND.

Below that, in smaller letters, the plaque kept the record of the fastest crossings. He scanned the list.

1. Yun Xi. 00:00:19. Companion: ---

The line for the companion’s name was blank.

Daniel read it again. Then he walked around the arch, looked behind it, peered at the ground, and checked his own pockets for no reason.

"She went through alone," he said out loud. "Alone. And the gate counted it."

The arch stayed silent.

"That’s cheating."

"THE GATE DOES NOT CHEAT," said the arch, with the affront of something that had been accused of it before.

Daniel jumped. "You can talk?"

"THE GATE CAN COUNT."

"What did she bring with her?"

"THE GATE DOES NOT SAY."

Daniel stared at the blank line for a long moment. A cold, interesting feeling crept up his back, the same one he’d felt standing on slab seven. Whatever Yun Xi was, she was not alone, even when she was.

He tried the arch anyway. He walked in with his hands out and nothing happened. The mist behind the arch stayed thick and sullen. He jogged back and tried again with his arms stretched wide, as if inviting an invisible friend. Nothing.

"This is a problem," he muttered.

His Keen Sense pinged.

A heat signature, fast, closing from behind. Forty meters. Thirty. Whoever it was ran with the clean, ruthless rhythm of someone who had never wasted a step in her life.

Daniel turned.

Su Wan came around the bend in the canyon at full speed, golden armor flashing, her long braid whipping behind her. Her face was pale. Her eyes were sharp. A fresh scratch ran along her forearm and a little blood stood out on her chin.

She stopped ten paces from him and drew her sword.

"You," she said.

"Me," Daniel agreed. "That was fast. How did you get through the first gate?"

"The gate called me a liar three times." Her mouth twisted. "On the fourth, I told it the truth. ’Revenge.’ It accepted that."

"Good for you. Honesty is healthy."

"And the second gate?"

"I assume you stood very still."

"I haven’t wanted to hurry in six years." Her grip tightened on the hilt. "Move."

"I’d love to." Daniel gestured at the arch. "But it says two. And we both have to cross hand in hand."

Su Wan went very, very still, much like she had at the stillness gate.

"No," she said.

"I didn’t say anything."

"I know what you were going to say."

"I was going to say the dinner offer still stands."

"I will cut off your hand."

"Then I couldn’t hold yours." Daniel smiled sweetly. "Think about it. We have the same problem. The gate won’t open for a lone traveler. If we stay here, Yun Xi gets further ahead and the rest of the field catches up. Fifteen more minutes, and we’ll be buried in runners."

Su Wan said nothing. A muscle ticked in her jaw.

Behind them, far down the canyon, came a faint rumble. It might have been footsteps. It might have been a hundred runners from the main pack, coming fast.

She looked at the arch. She looked at Daniel. She looked at the arch again.

A screen flickered into being in front of his eyes.

[Affection Level: Su Wan: -41%]

[Notice: Hostile target. Bond impossible.]

Daniel ignored it. He lifted his right hand, palm up, and held it out across the gap like a gentleman at a ball.

"Shall we?" he said.

Su Wan stared at his hand as though it were a snake that had learned to speak.

"If you tell anyone about this," she said slowly, "I will kill you."

"There’s a rule against killing."

"I will find a loophole."

"I’m sure you will." Daniel wiggled his fingers. "The clock’s ticking, Su Wan. And so is the gate."

Behind them, the rumble grew louder.

Su Wan sheathed her sword with a click like a closing coffin.

Then, with an expression of profound and personal suffering, she reached out and took his hand.