Food Supplements - Chapter 3

When Qin Cheng woke again, she had been frozen awake.

Being frozen awake was a very strange thing.

After all, it should not have been this cold in April—and she should not have been alive.

Yet the fact that she could recognize these things was itself proof that she was still living.

She opened her eyes as if waking from a long dream. Her vision was blurry at first. Qin Cheng rubbed her temples and frowned, realizing that she was still lying facedown. However, what lay beneath her was clearly no longer a flat wooden floor, but a hard, broad curve that felt like… stone.

Once more of her senses returned, she pushed herself up slightly to check.

It really was a huge stone.

A single piece of round white stone, as pale and circular as a Go piece and just as smooth, yet countless times larger. It resembled a massive round dining table, the kind large enough for more than a dozen people to sit around.

She was lying on top of this enormous stone, slightly off-center, which meant her right leg had slipped beyond its curved edge. Her bare foot, with neither shoe nor sock, was submerged in… water.

Now fully awake, Qin Cheng shuddered violently. She quickly pulled back her dripping right foot and rubbed the numb, frozen skin, finally understanding where the chill spreading through her entire body had come from.

But that was far from the end of it.

One minor mystery had been solved, yet three much larger questions still circled in her mind.

Where was this place?

Why had she inexplicably ended up here?

Most importantly, why was she still… alive and completely unharmed?

Yes, she was alive.

Qin Cheng was not delusional enough to imagine that she had become the wandering soul of a dead woman. Her pulse remained. Her body was warm. Her heart was still beating.

When she looked down, she saw that she was still wearing her favorite pajamas.

The only difference was a small tear between the right side of her chest and abdomen. The fabric surrounding it was stained with large patches of dark red and had become cold and stiff, no longer soft or comfortable.

She stared blankly at the marks for a moment before suddenly remembering that when she fell from the bed, something sharp seemed to have pierced her there.

Whatever had injured her could wait. Judging from the amount of blood, the wound should have been severe.

So why did it not hurt at all?

She slipped her hand beneath her clothes and cautiously touched the area. The skin was smooth and intact, without the slightest sign of an external wound.

That was far too strange.

What exactly had happened?

Qin Cheng almost unbuttoned her top immediately to take a closer look, but just as her fingers touched the buttons, she stopped.

Instead, she raised her head and warily surveyed her surroundings.

Upon waking, the most baffling thing had naturally been the fact that she was still alive, so her attention had inevitably focused on her physical condition at first.

But no matter how confused she was, as a woman, she was not foolish enough to start undressing in an unfamiliar wilderness without first checking her surroundings.

Although, at present, there truly did not appear to be another person anywhere nearby.

How could Qin Cheng be so certain?

Because it was as obvious as a flea on a bald monk’s head.

The enormous stone was the monk’s bald head, and Qin Cheng was the only tiny flea sitting on top of it. There was nowhere for anyone to hide, and she could see the entire surface at a glance.

Beyond the stone was nothing but water.

The huge round rock was surrounded on all sides by water of unknown depth, making it a small, barren stone island.

As for the water farther away, she could not see it clearly.

Looking in every direction, she could make out only the area within a dozen or so meters. Beyond that, mist rose from the surface, forming a vast expanse of white fog.

In this godforsaken place of unknown coordinates, there were no people, animals, or plants to be seen.

There was only the empty wind, stirring faint ripples across the water.

This is completely insane…

Qin Cheng cursed inwardly and stamped her still-stiff foot. Feeling pain and numbness travel along her nerves, she once again confirmed that this was not a dream.

Then she drew a breath, opened her mouth, and tentatively called out several times.

“Hello—is anyone there?”

“Is anyone around? Please answer if you can hear me! Hello—”

Her voice drifted into the distance and disappeared into the mist, like a stone ox sinking into the sea, without the slightest response.

After several fruitless attempts, Qin Cheng quickly gave up.

It was not that she did not want to continue. Her body simply remained as useless as ever. After shouting only a few times, she began coughing weakly, leaving her unable to call out any louder.

At this point, she might as well set all her questions aside and focus entirely on escaping.

At the very least, she needed to get off this bare stone first.

That was what she thought.

However, she soon discovered that even this appeared impossible in her present condition.

The greatest obstacles were the water and the fog.

The water surrounding the stone was fresh and very clean. Qin Cheng dipped a finger into it and tasted it, finding no unusual flavor.

It was merely extremely cold, carrying a biting chill.

The surface was a dark, inky blue. This meant either some type of algae was affecting its color, or the water was extraordinarily deep.

Judging by appearances, it was likely the latter.

Wading through it was therefore impossible.

That left swimming as her only option.

Qin Cheng knew how to swim, and she was quite good at it. Under ordinary circumstances, this would not have troubled her.

But once the freezing temperature and heavy fog were taken into consideration, the situation became far more difficult.

The water was deep, the temperature was low, and her stamina was limited. At the same time, the entire area was covered in mist, making it impossible to determine direction.

She did not even know which way to swim.

If she rashly attempted to leave, the most likely outcome would be hypothermia, followed by total exhaustion and drowning.

Death itself was not much of a problem.

But dying in some inexplicable place and leaving behind no body for her family would be a problem.

And so, after circling the monk’s bald head several times, she could only sigh helplessly and admit that this little flea was truly trapped.

What was she supposed to do now?

Most people might panic in such a bizarre predicament, but Qin Cheng did not want to waste what little strength she had on anxiety.

After walking around several times, she was clearly exhausted. She returned to the middle of the round stone and lay down, not caring whether the curved surface was comfortable.

Curling into a ball, she soon fell into a deep sleep.

Strangely enough, perhaps because the surroundings were so quiet, she slept better than she ever had before.

When she finally emerged from that deep, dreamless darkness and gently rubbed her eyes, Qin Cheng realized with surprise that, for the first time in ages, she had slept naturally until she woke on her own—with no pain and no dreams.

Once she fully came to her senses, an even greater surprise awaited her.

While rubbing her eyes, she glanced around instinctively and suddenly realized that her field of vision had completely changed.

The view before her was wide and clear.

The surroundings were bright and open.

At some point, nearly all the white mist over the water had dispersed.

Her spirits immediately lifted.

Qin Cheng scrambled to her feet and looked in every direction once more.

Without the mist blocking her view, she could now see far into the distance, and everything that had previously been hidden within the fog was revealed clearly before her.

Unexpectedly, once the veil was lifted, the distant scenery was not nearly as mysterious as she had imagined.

The body of water she had thought might be endless was actually more like an artificial lake, the kind found in a park.

Its shoreline curved in a broad arc. Looking around, it appeared to be a circular lake of moderate size.

She could not estimate its exact area, but the important thing was that she could clearly see the distant shore.

Even better, Qin Cheng was not actually in the center of the lake.

The water to the east and west was clearly of unequal width, indicating that the round stone island was located closer to one side.

The shore lay to the east, where the stretch of water was narrower.

That meant a shorter swimming distance.

As for the broader side of the lake, she could vaguely make out another large circular stone rising from the water in the distance, similar to the one beneath her.

Perhaps the layout was symmetrical.

The color of the water there was also different. It looked much paler, suggesting it might be a shallow-water area.

There was no time to lament why she had ended up in the deep-water section.

After taking in the full surroundings, Qin Cheng made her decision.

She went to the edge of the stone and began swinging her arms and legs, warming up and stretching.

The water temperature was still a major risk, and her strength might not be sufficient, but at least she now had a chance.

She could not remain trapped on a stone in the middle of a lake forever.

Someone who was not afraid of death should not lack the courage to take a desperate gamble.

With that thought in mind, once she felt adequately warmed up, the woman in her thin pajamas drew a deep breath and resolutely leapt into the water.

The instant she entered, she nearly froze solid.

The bone-piercing cold attacked along with the icy lake water, surrounding her from every direction like countless fine needles stabbing into every pore.

Had she not warmed up thoroughly, her muscles might have cramped uncontrollably, turning her into a helpless stone sinking beneath the surface.

Fortunately, Qin Cheng had prepared herself.

She was also genuinely skilled in the water.

After enduring the initial shock, she hurriedly forced her arms and legs into motion and swam with all her strength across the narrower section toward the shore.

Swimming through freezing water with a frail, diseased body was every bit as agonizing as one might imagine.

Even Qin Cheng, who was accustomed to pain and possessed extraordinary endurance, could barely tolerate it.

At one point, she accidentally swallowed several mouthfuls of water. The cold and choking nearly suffocated her.

Even so, she continued moving her arms stubbornly, controlling her rhythm and swimming toward the shoreline she had fixed her gaze upon before she lost command of her body.

Her determination was rewarded—or perhaps she was simply lucky.

After struggling through the water for more than ten minutes, just as she was about to freeze into an icicle, she finally hauled herself out of the lake and onto solid ground.

Come to think of it, the fact that her ruined body had not rebelled and suffered some medical episode after all this abuse could be considered a miracle in itself.

Her thoughts wandered aimlessly as she lay on the shore like a dead fish, gasping for breath.

Her chest felt so tight it was close to bursting.

The exertion had been enormous, and for a moment, she almost believed she would faint right there.

Fortunately, the situation was not quite that bad.

After finally catching her breath, the woman slowly stood up. While wringing water from her clothes, she began examining her surroundings.

She had not been able to see clearly from the lake, but now, upon closer inspection, she found that not only did the lake resemble an artificial lake in a park, but the shore also looked somewhat like part of a park.

At the very least, there were obvious signs of human planning.

For one thing, the ground beneath her feet was perfectly level, paved with large stone slabs fitted together without the slightest gap.

They appeared to be stone slabs, anyway.

Although they differed somewhat from common marble tiles, the material seemed quite good. The section she had soaked when climbing ashore had dried almost immediately, leaving no visible water behind.

Looking around again, she saw that the paved road seemed to encircle the entire lake.

At regular intervals, slightly narrower branch roads split away from the lakeside path and extended in straight lines toward different directions.

She had no idea where they led.

That was right—she could not see where they led.

The mist over the water had dispersed, but fog still lingered over the land.

The end of every straight road vanished into a white haze, blocking her view.

At present, Qin Cheng had little interest in investigating further.

The air by the shore was not cold, but the chill remained in her body, and swimming had exhausted her greatly.

Her most urgent need was to find somewhere to rest, preferably while also learning where this place was.

After scanning the area and still finding no one, she paused only briefly before choosing the nearest branch road at random and walking down it without hesitation.

If there was a road, then it had to lead somewhere.

Fog might obscure vision, but it could not stop a person from walking.

No matter how thick it was, surely she could not get lost simply by following a straight road.

At first, everything happened exactly as Qin Cheng expected.

Nothing unusual occurred when she entered the white fog.

It was somewhat damp, but she was already soaked from head to toe, so that hardly mattered.

Although visibility was poor, she could still see three or five steps ahead. There was no possibility of straying from the stone-paved road beneath her feet.

Qin Cheng continued calmly, prepared to walk for quite some time.

Unexpectedly, after advancing through the whiteness for only two or three minutes, the view suddenly brightened.

With a single step, she emerged from the dense fog.

The sudden clarity lifted her spirits.

However, in the next second, the sight before her made her freeze in place.

The scenery beyond the fog was not particularly strange.

The narrow path beneath her feet continued straight ahead, ultimately leading to a circular artificial lake of moderate size.

Qin Cheng stood stunned for several minutes.

Then she suspiciously walked back to the shore and examined it repeatedly.

At last, she confirmed that this was not merely a similar-looking lake.

It was the exact same lake she had just left.

Although nearly all traces of the water from where she had climbed ashore had vanished, faint marks remained.

There was another peculiar detail.

The road from which she had emerged was not the one she had originally chosen.

Judging from their positions, the road she had entered and the one she had exited were not even adjacent.

What was going on?

Could all these branch roads be circular as well, interconnected with one another?

Testing the idea was simple.

The distance was short, so Qin Cheng immediately turned around and retraced her steps through the second road.

However, reality proved neither simple nor scientific.

When she walked back through the fog along the second road, she did not return to the first road.

Instead, she emerged onto a third branch path even farther away.

The lake directly ahead of this road was pale green.

It was the shallow-water area she had previously seen from a distance.

Unwilling to give up, Qin Cheng repeated the experiment several times.

The result was always the same.

There was no pattern and no logic.

At last, panting heavily, the woman abandoned the attempt and sank dejectedly onto the road circling the lake, rubbing her temples with a splitting headache.

After all that movement, at least her body had warmed somewhat.

Qin Cheng rubbed her swollen, aching head for a while, then simply changed from sitting to lying down.

She stretched out on the stone pavement and stopped moving, intending to recover some strength.

Come to think of it, she had no idea how much time had passed.

She had slept earlier, probably for several hours at least, yet she did not feel hungry.

Fortunately, her illness had not flared up either.

Actually, it was not merely the absence of hunger.

She had swallowed so much medicine before this. She clearly remembered the drugs taking effect, yet now her body seemed completely unaffected.

That was right.

The wound from her fall had also disappeared.

How had she ended up in this godforsaken place?

Had someone dumped her body here?

That seemed unlikely.

It had been suicide, not murder. Who would go through the trouble of moving her corpse and secretly abandoning it somewhere?

And why choose such a bizarre place, where she wandered in circles as if trapped by ghosts?

Her body was resting, but her mind continued running uncontrollably.

The tangle of thoughts caused her head, which had begun to feel better, to throb again.

The woman had no choice but to rub her temples once more.

Then she rolled closer to the lake, intending to scoop up some icy water and wash her face to clear her head.

However, the moment she submerged both hands in the gently rippling lake, her pupils contracted slightly.

She stirred the water several times, and her expression immediately became even stranger.

Because of her repeated attempts to test the roads, Qin Cheng was no longer near the place where she had originally come ashore.

She was now at the edge of the shallow-water section.

The lake here had a faint green tint, like a freshly brewed cup of green tea.

Through the clear water, she could even vaguely see the white sand and stones on the lakebed.

The sight was refreshing and peaceful, completely different from the dark blue water that had trapped her earlier.

Yet no matter how different it looked, it was still part of the same lake.

Qin Cheng had assumed the difference in appearance was caused simply by the depth of the water.

She had never expected the temperature to be entirely different as well.

That was right.

Only after placing her hands in the water did she realize the temperatures of the two sections were not the same.

This green water was nothing like the earlier bone-chilling cold.

Not only was it not freezing—it was warm.

After such a long series of events, it was difficult to say which was more unscientific than the last.

Qin Cheng’s brow furrowed more deeply.

The world was full of strange phenomena, and she knew that stratified lakes existed.

But those involved layers divided vertically by differences in water pressure and density.

How could a lake be separated from side to side like a sliced pie?

Moreover, the difference in temperature was enormous.

One side was nearly ice water, while the other could practically be called a hot spring.

It was too unbelievable.

Unable to restrain herself, Qin Cheng stood and hurried along the lakeside path toward the original dark blue section, wanting to confirm the situation again.

Perhaps the temperature of the entire lake had changed.

However, she rejected that possibility before she even reached the original location.

Several minutes later, Qin Cheng stopped again.

Before her was the boundary between the two types of water.

One was deep and one shallow.

One dark blue and one pale green.

It was as if they had been divided by something invisible.

The dividing line curved across the lake, yet the two sides remained perfectly distinct, almost like…

The separation of yin and yang.

Wait.

Yin and yang?

Qin Cheng’s heart suddenly gave a violent thump as she stared at the water.

She immediately turned around and looked at the broad areas behind her that she had previously ignored.

There was a road encircling the lake, along with multiple branch roads.

Naturally, the spaces between them could not be empty.

She had noticed them long ago without paying much attention: neatly planned plots of land arranged on both sides of the roads.

Calling them flower beds was not entirely accurate.

There were no flowers, nor were there raised borders.

They looked more like prepared but unused garden plots or landscaping areas.

Each rectangular section varied in size and contained nothing but dark, exposed soil, without even a trace of green.

The strips of bare earth had seemed completely ordinary, which was why Qin Cheng had ignored them.

But now, with a sudden feeling in her heart, she looked again and vaguely sensed that there was something unusual about their arrangement.

Excluding whatever might lie within the fog, there were eight large sections in total.

Each was positioned between two branch roads, forming a pattern that encircled the round lake.

Within every large section, the soil had been divided into three smaller rows.

Each was rectangular, but some were long while others were short.

They were not all the same.

At first, Qin Cheng had assumed the layout was merely decorative.

Now, the more she looked, the more astonished she became.

The contemplation in her eyes deepened, and she began muttering calculations beneath her breath.

She slowly looked, walked, and murmured, making almost an entire circuit around the lake before returning to her starting point.

“Short, short, long—that is Zhen…

“Long, long, short—that is Xun…

“Long, short, long—that is Li…”

The woman turned her head and once again looked toward the sharply divided waters, along with the two symmetrical round stone islands rising from opposite sides of the lake.

“…The yin-yang fish.”

“This is…” Qin Cheng frowned and pressed her lips together, as if suddenly understanding something.

“A Taiji Bagua diagram?”