***** Vol.2 Chap.58 A surprise welcome *****

When May-Ling finally came to, it was still dark all around her. She had no idea how long she had been out. More importantly, she did not know where she was and how she got there, and knew even less how to get out of where she was. She shouted as loud as she could, but there were no replies. She shouted some more, still no reply. Her heart was pounding fiercely within her. There were no echoes to her shouting. She tried shouting a single word: “Help” and then listened intently. No echoes came back. She tried it again, and again no echoes came back.

As her consciousness slowly returned, she felt pain. Her head hurt. She felt around her head with her hand and felt a goose bump on the top. She must have landed on her head. It was a good-sized bump. Fortunately, no skin was broken. Immediately, she started to rub and massage the bump gently. This made her feel a little better.

Slowly, her eyes adjusted to the darkness and saw the walls of her prison. The rocks are jagged. She felt it with her hands. They are rough. Perhaps this was why no echoes came back. The jagged rocks made the cavern into an anechoic chamber. She felt around the walls. Nothing but rocks.

How did she fall through this cavern? Of course, she had no idea how to get out either. She felt her way around the cavern. It was not an enormous cavern. As she walked around with her arms outstretched like a blind person, she felt nothing special.

She sat down on the ground, confused and dazed. For the longest time, she had her head drooped between her legs. She was not sure what to think and what to feel. For the past week, everything seemed so close, yet so far. Everything was almost at arm’s reach, yet completely unattainable. Even when she thought she had grabbed hold of something, it slipped away from her fingers as easily and effortlessly as water. It was as if someone was tempering iron to make steel by repeatedly heating and cooling down the metal.

Her eyes were finally adjusted to the darkness. She looked up towards the ceiling of the cavern. She thought she saw a wonderful display of colors shimmering on the roof. The colors were not bright but dazzling; more like colorful twinkling stars in the night sky. It was beautiful and mesmerizing. She deduced they must be fluorescent rocks. What a stupendous display. Some rocks gave a dim but constant color. Others seemed to flash with brighter colors. She stared at the rocks for a long time, wondering at the marvel she was seeing.

Slowly, she recognized that the color display was not random, but formed a distinct pattern. It seemed to form a rudimentary arrow pointing towards a particular corner of the room. She tried walking around the cavern. But no matter where she stands, the V shape display always seemed to point to the same spot. Her curiosity was piqued as she approached to investigate.

Guided by the overhead display, she gingerly approached the indicated corners. When the cavern ceiling got lower, she had to stoop down and eventually crawled on all fours. When she got to the end of the cavern, she felt a gust blowing past her. Her hair flew up with the current.

A breeze inside the cavern?

She felt around the rocks.

Click!

A trapdoor open and she slid down another long slide. Before she could gather her wits, the slide flattened, and she came to a soft landing.

Stunned. She sat at the bottom of the slide for a moment while she caught her breath.

At the back of her mind, she thought that this must be a secret hiding place for the villagers. Blessed the villagers. They must be hiding her here from the thieves. She should be safe here. Perhaps she could stay here and conduct her research about the flower and the tea. The thought comforted her.

The first thing that she noticed was that she could see. While the room was not bright like sunlight; it was not pitch dark as she expected either. She looked around for the source of light but found no light bulbs, lamps, or torches. She raised her hands and saw her fingers clearly.

She stared at the ceilings for the longest time but found nothing that can be even remotely construed as light source. She looked for shadows hoping that the shadows would give a hint to the direction of the light source. But there were none.

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Yet surprisingly she could see. Looking for a window, there were none. The floor, the ceiling, and the walls were all made of the same material as if the room was carved out from a solid rock. There was no single light source that illuminated the room, but there was just a general ambient light from all around.

As she was marveling the mysterious illumination of the room or cavern or whatever she was in, the slide seemed to have melted into thin air silently and unknowingly.

Perhaps the walls were fluorescent. She touched the walls. To her surprise, they felt soft. She tried to push on the wall, the hand made a slight impression. When she removed her hand, the indentation slowly disappeared. She pushed again and the wall gently gave a little. Again, she removed her hand and the mark she left gradually disappeared. She moved to another part of the wall and tried again with the same results.

She was convinced that she was dreaming.

Is this heaven?

She pinched herself real hard. In response she yelled out loud because of the pain. No, she was not dreaming.

Now the initial shock was over, she began to take time to explore her prison cell.

The room was about eight feet by eight feet. Walls were straight as far as she could tell. The room had to be artificial and not a natural phenomenon. The material making up the wall, the ceiling, and the floor was not like any material she was familiar with.

There was ambient light. The air was not stale even though there were no visible air vent. She thought life could have been sustained indefinitely.

This out of the world hideaway seemed too advanced for the villagers. She just could not convince herself this setup belonged to the villagers.

She felt a pang of hunger.

As she turned around in examining one side of the wall, before her eyes, a chair and a table mysteriously materialized on the other side of the wall. On the table, there was a platter filled with local fruits, a glass, and a chilled pitcher of goat milk.

As she approached the table, she saw a plaque engraved in stone bearing the inscription: “Doctor Chen, please help yourself with the refreshments.”

The plaque was beautifully decorated with flowers and designs. It certainly seemed that she was expected by an unseen but benevolent host.

Flabbergasted and hungry.

She poured some milk on the glass and took a sip. The milk was fresh. She selected a pear and bit into it. The meat of the pear was sweet and juicy. This was the best pear that she had ever eaten. In fact, she could not recall having eaten a pear that tasted so good. After she gobbled up the pear, she started on the orange. Just like a child, she made a hole in the orange and sucked on the juice. It was delicious and refreshing. Since there was all the time in the world, she took her time in enjoying the juicy fruit.

After the physical needs were satisfied, she began to ponder about her new environment. Was this room her hideout or was this a prisoner cell. Was she a prisoner? She looked around. She thought that the only way out of the room was the slide that came through a hole in the ceiling.

She remembered that the incline was steep but the slide was very smooth. As she looked back to the corner and around the room, there were no slide.

Her jaws dropped. In the shock, she dropped the orange also. Was this her cell for life?

The lack of furniture convinced her that this could not be her prison cell. There were no bed and no furniture. There were no kitchen facilities and no bathroom. Besides, the inscription addressed her as doctor. If she indeed was a prisoner, who would worry about her profession or rank? If this was a cell, who would care to provide such top-quality provisions? This could not be her cell. Her best conclusion was that this was a temporary waiting room.

If this was a waiting room, what was she supposed to be waiting for?

Clearly with the inscription, she had been expected. The provision was fresh. The goat milk was so fresh that it tasted like it was just freshly prepared. The fruits were so fresh that they must have been tree ripe and picked just minutes ago. Yet the inscription on the plaque could not have been “written” so quickly.

No doubt she was expected and her host had anticipated her needs and had provided for her physical needs.

Who was her host?

She was no doubt expected, but by whom or by what?

Her first thought was that the villagers were trying to hide her from the thieves. But there was no way that the villagers knew that she was coming and when she was coming. There was no way that they could make the inscription so quickly even if they have one of their engravers working all night. But the provisions were so fresh that only the villagers could have provided for her.

Certainly, the gangsters would not keep her imprison with such fanfare and provide her with such provisions. No one else knew where she was. The more she thought about this, the more she was confused. Eventually, she gave up pondering about her demise. Some things were just beyond her comprehension.

If she was indeed expected, then something would happen sooner or later. There was no point in trying to figure out what she could not know. Still, it was hard to face the unknown with perfect peace and calm. However, as she settled down from her pacing, she sensed an inner peace within. She was not afraid. She had been through too much already. She was ready to face whatever would come even though she had no idea what would come. She was just a simple peasant, a nobody, and a country doctor.

Just then, she thought she heard a knock. She swung around and saw a door on the wall. She was sure that she went through that wall and had never saw the door there. How a door had appeared quickly and silently in the wall.

There was another knock on the door.

“Doctor Chen?”

Her host has arrived, she thought to herself.

“Doctor Chen?”

She knew the answer was on the other side of the door. Without hesitation, she walked to the door and opened the door.