The answer came plainly, yet the falling snow from above did nothing to calm Wu Tianzhen.
He could barely believe it as he murmured the words again: "...You go in, and you can close the bronze door!?"
...It was too absurd, too absurd.
It wasn't that he didn't believe Zhang Qiling, but rather—
"But why you?" Wu Tianzhen suddenly looked up, wanting to move forward, yet afraid of provoking Zhang Qiling into entering the door directly.
"Why does it have to be you? What's special about you?" Wu Tianzhen's tone was highly agitated. "Even if, even if your blood is special, even if you, no matter what, don't the Zhang family have people like you?!"
"Can't they? Getting an inner clan member from Song Shuning isn't that difficult. Or does it have to be the Zhang family patriarch?"
"That's simple too. You just abdicate, pass the position to someone capable. Let those royalists or rebels, whoever wants to be the patriarch, be it. Whether they can't figure out if it's a burden, scissors, or hammer, or if they fight, we don't care!"
"It has nothing to do with those things."
"Then what does it have to do with? Tell me! What does it have to do with? We'll find it, we'll snatch it, anything is fine?!" Wu Tianzhen's emotions, suppressed for so long, seemed to have been ignited by this sentence. He rebounded like a spring pushed to its limit.
The countdown on the screen grew shorter, while Zhang Qiling simply watched Wu Tianzhen. In the wind and snow, his stillness seemed to offer companionship.
But this companionship also felt more cruel.
"It has nothing to do with those things, which means anyone will do?" Wu Tianzhen calmed down again. Ever since he learned about this damned bronze door, his emotions had been like this, jumping back and forth between extreme anger and extreme calm.
So he looked up, his eyes regaining a spark of hope: "Then I can do it too, can't we both go in!?"
"If you, Little Brother, must go in, fine, Fatty and I can go with you. If we die, we die together!"
"..."
Hearing this, Zhang Qiling remained silent for a long time.
For a moment, he seemed like an ice and snow statue standing quietly in the snow, his expression almost devoid of emotion. But upon closer inspection, the corners of his lips clearly trembled slightly before he pressed them together even tighter.
But soon, Wu Tianzhen saw very clearly that Zhang Qiling looked over and slowly revealed a gentle smile.
"Okay."
The Ghost Seal, which had always guided suffering, was held forward slightly by that pale hand, as if truly intending to enter the bronze door with them.
Wu Tianzhen almost couldn't believe it. He slapped himself hard, looked back and forth several times, and even held his breath:
"...Really?"
"Is it really okay, Little Brother? I mean—"
He was almost overcome with joy, wiping his hands haphazardly on his trousers. Not knowing what he was nervous about, he took a few steps forward, intending to stand before Zhang Qiling and pick up the Ghost Seal together.
As he walked forward, Wu Tianzhen looked back at Fatty, who had already driven away Old Man Pu and the others.
"Fatty, hurry up, we can go in together!!"
Fatty, however, did not hurry over.
He slowly wiped the blood from his hands, tossed the unloaded gun into the icy snow, and held a cigarette in his mouth, the white mist blurring his expression.
It seemed to be a look of grief.
...But why grief?
Wu Tianzhen suddenly realized something was wrong. He was too close to Zhang Qiling now, but just as he was about to retreat, he felt a sharp pain at the back of his neck.
His vision instantly plunged into darkness. Before losing consciousness, he only saw Zhang Qiling's gaze looking down at him.
The lips, which appeared too pale in the cold, moved slightly:
"I'm sorry."
...Damn it, Zhang Qiling, you were lying to me just now, you've been lying to me all along!!!!
Wu Tianzhen's final roar couldn't be uttered. Zhang Qiling reached out and supported his shoulder, preventing his unconscious body from falling to the ground.
He looked at Fatty, who was walking over.
"No need, Fatty, I won't stop you." Fatty was still holding the cigarette, a cheap brand from the roadside. The tobacco had long since burned out, leaving a shriveled butt, which he chewed before spitting it forcefully onto the ground.
"If you knock me out too, the two of us will just freeze to death in this ice and snow."
Fatty rarely looked so weathered. His expression was dejected, as if he had aged several years in an instant.
Zhang Qiling had nothing more to say. He could only silently hand the unconscious Wu Tianzhen to Fatty.
Then he turned, intending to take a step.
"Wait!" Fatty suddenly called out to him, for some reason.
Zhang Qiling was still wearing that yellow down jacket that seemed out of place on him, but he didn't feel cold, so he hadn't properly zipped it up.
Fatty looked for a moment, then zipped up the zipper, revealing a seemingly carefree smile.
"...Alright, let's go, Little Brother."
"..."
The moment he stepped into the bronze door, there was a searing pain enveloped by a powerful energy shield. Zhang Qiling's expression remained unchanged as he calmly raised the Ghost Seal.
The faint light of the Ghost Seal merged slightly with the rolling colorful light within the bronze door. A series of immense sounds erupted, and the massive door slowly closed under the power of the key.
In an instant, as if retracting all its power, the falling snow, the raging sand, the seawater, and the bizarre creatures all flew like iron filings drawn by a magnet, swirling into the doorway and creating an extremely powerful blast wave.
From a distance, it looked as if a giant firework had exploded here.
Fatty stood at the entrance, staring fixedly at the figure gradually being swallowed by the colorful light, the muscles in his face twitching uncontrollably as if in a cramp.
Under extreme pain, perhaps everyone becomes ugly, so ugly that they are unbearable to look at.
But it is in this ugliness that humanity can reveal the beauty of blooming flowers.
Zhang Qiling did not look back, but at the very instant the bronze door completely sealed, he heard Fatty's voice.
The voice was almost cracking, heart-wrenching, as if the person roaring was trying to vomit out their heart, liver, lungs, spleen, along with a series of bones and blood, through their open mouth.
Inside the bronze door, all external objects were annihilated under the colorful light, but that voice penetrated, reaching Zhang Qiling's ears.
What Fatty said was:
"Little Brother, remember to come home."