The bulging diving suit deflated, fitting snugly against her body again.
"What about now?" Nono spread her hands and turned halfway around on the spot.
"A lot slimmer."
"Shut up."
Nono detached the end of the line from her diving suit and hung it on a bronze ring protruding from the wall.
"From now on," she said, clapping her hands, "it's just the two of us."
"Look at those snake-faced figures." Lu Mingfei pointed at the statues lining the passage ahead. "I think we'd better destroy them. They're probably a kind of Living Spirit too. Last time, there was a smaller snake-faced figure, a few dozen centimeters tall, following Aki. Then Aki cut her own Lifeline and nearly took off her helmet to kill herself. It was really creepy."
"That sinister?" Nono clicked her tongue and shone her flashlight ahead.
Countless bronze statues stood along both walls, all dressed in ancient robes and headgear, with broad sleeves and Ivory Tablets held in their hands. Yet slender snake necks emerged from their collars, their cobra-like heads bowed as they bent toward the center of the passage in greeting.
"These statues are pretty big. I'm worried a brute like you will wake Norton up again if you destroy them," Nono said.
Lu Mingfei took out a coin and flicked it away. It had been left by the person who had eaten their barbecue earlier: a chrysanthemum one-yuan coin from 2000, with a 2 missing from the date. Zero had said it was a mint error coin that could fetch several thousand or even ten thousand at auction if the market was good, and told him to keep it on him.
The coin flashed as it spun through the air, then plunked into the water in the middle of the passage.
"What are