Was I born to die

"So, it's come to our agreed-upon time, hasn't it?"

Chen Guan said vaguely, "I don't think so."

The old man nodded. "It seems you're planning to break the agreement."

The child's face turned pale. He tightened his grip on Guan Jinyue's hand, his nervousness obvious.

The old man finally glanced at him.

"Qi Kou, you've grown taller again."

The child didn't answer. He didn't like this man.

Every time the Bone Collection Team came, it was by the City Lord's command. Every time someone was pushed to the Bone Well's edge, it was the City Lord who held the bowl and personally scattered bone dust into the well.

The old man didn't mind his silence. "You weren't meant to live past today."

The child's throat moved. "I know. My teacher saved me."

The old man raised his hand, pointing at Chen Guan. "He saved you because he also wants to open the door."

Guan Jinyue looked at Chen Guan. Could it be that even the Robed One, whom Chen Guan was playing, wasn't a good person in this story?

Which was why the mural showed what it did. The more she thought about it, the more she felt she was right.

The old man continued, "Sir, do you remember? When you first arrived, carrying that coffin, everyone in the city thought you were a dead traveler. You sat at the city gate for three days, without eating or drinking, just studying the door patterns."

Chen Guan's ears perked up. He loved it when good people handed him clues like this.

The old man spoke slowly, as if reminiscing about an old acquaintance for the sake of this ancient city. It made it much easier for Chen Guan to remember.

"On the fourth day, you said the door pattern was wrong."

Among the crowd kneeling by the well, someone let out a very quiet gasp. The old man looked over, and the person immediately pressed their forehead to the ground.

After settling that minor disturbance among the people, the old man continued, "Our ancestors guarded this well, guarded this door, generation after generation. Whenever a wind disaster came, we would offer bone and seal the door to gain its protection. After the wind passed, we would offer bone and open the door so the caravans from outside could enter the city. You said the door pattern was wrong, and no one in the city believed you."

"Later, you altered a single stroke on your own."

"That year, the door opened."

"No bone was offered, yet the door still opened."

"So the people of this city respected you, feared you, and hated you."

They respected him for resisting the wind disasters, feared him for his ghostly powers, and hated him for unsettling their hearts.

Chen Guan understood now.

The real Robed One had come here, altered the door pattern, and saved this city.

But he hadn't destroyed the man-eating Bone Well. Maybe he couldn't, or perhaps for some other reason.

The tall, thin man kneeling on the ground gritted his teeth and interrupted the old man's lengthy reminiscence. "City Lord, he wants to take Qi Kou away today. If Qi Kou leaves, who will open the door during the next wind disaster?"

"Sir no longer has the power to change the door pattern. He will leave soon too. That boy Qi Kou is the only one left who can open the door."

The old man ignored him and looked only at Chen Guan. "Sir, do you truly mean to take him away?"

The child looked up at Chen Guan. He didn't ask aloud, but his eyes were full of hope. Those eyes held so many things.

Half a hard flatbread, a small piece of dried meat, a house with half its roof collapsed, and a word he had written over and over but never seen.

Home.

Chen Guan glanced at him.

"Today, I am taking him away."

As the words fell, the crowd kneeling by the Bone Well raised their heads. Some faces showed terror, others bore resentment in their eyes.

The old man sighed, straightened his back. "You won't succeed."

Guan Jinyue stepped forward with her sword. "Who dares to stop us?"

The old man looked at her, his eyes falling on her blade. The cloudiness was gone, replaced by wisdom. "Outsider, this is not your city, nor your era. You kill the Bone Collection Team, you kill me. But the Bone Well remains. When the next wind disaster comes, these people will still push Qi Kou in."

Guan Jinyue didn't sheathe her sword.

The old man continued, "Because they want to live."

That statement seemed to be a signal. Among the kneeling crowd by the well, a middle-aged man suddenly lifted his head.

"We don't want this either!"

His voice was hoarse, his face covered with cracks left by wind and sand.

"But if we don't open the door, the grain brought by the people from Central City won't get in. If we don't open the door, the well water will dry up. If we don't open the door, the wind will tear off our roofs. Who would be willing to watch their own children starve?"

The child looked at that man.

The man met his gaze, then quickly looked away.

Another woman, choking back tears, said, "Qi Kou, child, I'm sorry. But one person, for a city's chance to survive..."

The child's hand slowly dropped. The piece of dried meat fell to the ground and rolled to his shoe.

He didn't pick it up.

Chen Guan watched the scene in silence.

Guan Jinyue's gaze turned cold. The blade of her sword reflected the white of the Bone Well.

What she hated most was one person who wanted to live being forced to die by another crowd of people who also wanted to live.

No one was born to be someone else's savior.

The old man stood up from the stone platform.

"Sir, you taught him to read, gave him food, held off the Bone Collection Team for a year. Back then, you called it humanitarianism. But you can't let the whole city die with him."

"Now, the caravans are waiting outside the gate. The city has run out of time. Forgive my offense, Sir."

A dark red light crept up from the bottom of the well, illuminating the shadow of a door standing upright deep within.

The old man raised his bone bowl and scattered the bone powder into the well's mouth.

"Qi Kou is a living door-bone. When his bones enter the well, he dies once, and it opens one path."

The child stepped back in fear.

The tall, thin man raised his head, his eyes burning with fervor.

"City Lord, please open the door!"

Many by the well joined in kowtowing.

"City Lord, please open the door!"

Soon, the voices grew louder, nearly merging into one.

"City Lord, please open the door!"

Standing amid the crowd of voices, the child's helpless figure seemed as if it might be swept away by the wind at any moment.

Was I... born to die?

Guan Jinyue stepped in front of him, her expression growing darker.

Her remaining rationality made her look at Chen Guan. "What are you going to do?"

Chen Guan set down the coffin on his back.

In an instant, the world fell silent.

The old man's face changed. "Sir, have you forgotten the city rules?"

Chen Guan placed his hand on the coffin lid.

"Your city rules have no sway over my coffin."

The old man said sharply, "That coffin must not be opened! You yourself said back then: if the coffin opens, the door falls into chaos; if the door falls into chaos, the city falls!"

Chen Guan paused in his action. So that was it.

The previous Robed One had also brought a coffin. His coffin contained his own essence. What could be inside that other Robed One's coffin?

Judging by these people's reactions, it seemed to be something terrifying.

The tall, thin man, sensing something was wrong, suddenly lunged from the ground, reaching for the child.

Guan Jinyue swept her sword sideways, the flat of the blade striking him in the chest.

The tall, thin man flew backward, crashing into the edge of the Bone Well. The bone token at his waist shattered with a crack. But the fragments didn't fall. Instead, they hung in the air, the red symbols on their reverse side lighting up one by one.

The old man's face darkened. "You leave me no choice."

He raised the bone bowl and pressed it against his own forehead.

The bowl shattered. A ring of bone dust slid down his face and into his collar.

The door pattern beneath the stone platform lit up, connecting to the entire ancient city.

Deep in the streets, every door panel began to rattle.

Chen Guan turned to look.

Behind those sealed doors, children were crying, old people were coughing, and men were muttering curses under their breath.