Chapter 15

Ling Yu thought: something about this was odd. The old man had no idea why Pei Jin was here—he had said someone told him...

Who?

She looked up at Chen Mo.

Chen Mo's face did not exactly broadcast intelligence; he simply shook his head.

Or perhaps...

Were the people at that shop the ones keeping watch?

Going in circles, she could find no one who could confirm her guess, so she set the matter aside. Better to think about their next objective.

Chen Mo said, "Miss Ling, there's something I've been wanting to ask. If it's true that my girlfriend only has fifteen days after encountering one of those corpses, then... can the old man's daughter and the other missing people really be found?"

Ling Yu said, "Two groups of people going through something different would naturally have different processes and different outcomes."

She answered very seriously.

For a moment Pei Jin didn't know how to answer either. Back in the Ghost City, he and Gu Weidong had had no dealings with each other.

After the disaster, the two of them had each gone their own way, with no contact at all.

In short, they had merely weathered the same sandstorm.

He thought for a moment. "Right now we go into that village behind the desert and take a look. We might find something there."

Ling Yu gave a soft "mm." Privately she felt they ought to prepare properly first—running into something unprepared would be bad.

She knew this business was complicated; what she hadn't expected was to have to deal with it hands-on, directly.

Her earlier exposure had only been to protect herself.

Pei Jin was a clever man; he surely knew she was hiding her depth.

So she might as well stop pretending. After all, there would still be plenty of places that called for it.

...

Ling Yu had no intention of getting further entangled with Chen Mo's car, so naturally she took Pei Jin's. The two vehicles retraced the route back toward Never-Night Village.

She proposed stopping first at the Fallen Sun Inn, then splitting up to gather supplies.

"Mr. Pei, why don't I rent my own off-road vehicle later? Riding in yours all the time doesn't feel right." She leaned against his car; wind slipped through her hair, the tie came loose and went skimming on the wind, and landed in Pei Jin's hand.

Pei Jin handed the hair tie back to Ling Yu. "One fewer car is no problem. Moving together may work better."

"Right—these things I think are necessities. If you have them, bring them; if not, don't worry, I'll prepare them too." He passed her a slip of paper from inside his coat.

Ling Yu took it and read it over several times. "No plans to bring weapons?"

Pei Jin answered, "That, I can't say."

She nodded and raised the subject no further. Turning, she went back into the inn, packed away everything unrelated to her drawing board, then laid out what she would need.

Then, as if remembering something, she dug from the deepest part of her luggage a knife. She had bought it at a doorway before getting in the taxi—you could hardly carry a controlled blade on a high-speed train.

Whether it suited this kind of work she didn't know, but it would do for self-defense.

She put the knife in the bag beside her backpack, against unforeseen need, then packed all the laid-out gear into the backpack.

She was about to pin her hair back up when a call interrupted Ling Yu. She glanced at the caller's name, left her phone behind entirely, and went to the bathroom to comb her hair up properly.

The ringtone outside still hadn't stopped. Irritated by it, Ling Yu finally answered, striking first: "What now? What is it this time?"

Her agent's tone was civil enough. "I just got a call saying you're planning a collaboration with the people who make those figurines?"

Ling Yu's heart lurched. "No. I never planned to work with anyone over there—I just had some trouble at the time and stuffed that contract you gave me into their hands." Her tone stayed relatively even.

Privately she was also wondering whose phone number had been on that contract—but when no answer came, she let it go.

The agent said: "That man sounds like bad news from the word go. My dear ancestor, I know you don't want to put out the manga right now, but don't you go finding someone specifically to scare me half to death."

Ling Yu thought of the families at those shops—strange, yes, but surely not frightening enough for this.

Seeing she wasn't talking, the agent spoke again: "The moment I picked up, he started roaring—said he would absolutely expose this scam of yours."

Ling Yu didn't buckle under the pressure; she kept packing. "Then tell them I know what they've been up to, and if they're running a scam I'll call the police."

A pause, then: "If they keep it up, you call the police."

The agent asked, "Ancestor, whose toes did you step on exactly?"

Ling Yu joked: "This place is blessed ground. Nobody is going to trouble me—unless I troubled them first."

The agent had probably grown used to it; there was nothing to be heard but several long sighs, and in the end he resolved to handle it her way.

"If there's nothing else I'm hanging up. I'll probably be off gathering references in another village soon; I won't pick up if you call. In short... I'm going dark for a while."

"Going dark?" The agent frowned audibly. "How did you get mixed up in going dark again?"

Ling Yu said, "Perfect chance to hunt for inspiration. I'll be holed up in the middle of nowhere for half a month. Don't worry about company—someone will be with me. In half a month I'll hand you a complete storyline."

At that, the agent's tone turned nearly fawning: "So our great author finally has ideas of her own. Still—this going dark worries me a little."

"Don't worry, I'll come back."

"Is that what you think of me?" She zipped the backpack shut—

The agent's silver tongue worked overtime saying pleasant things, but Ling Yu's mind wasn't on it; she only changed into travel clothes and waited to set out.

She didn't want to keep Pei Jin waiting long.

"Fine, I know. I'll call first if anything happens; I'll look at things when I have time. It's urgent right now."

A few sentences brushed off the agent's silver-tongued performance entirely. She hung up, pulled on her black coat, and headed downstairs.

The streets here were crowded with stalls selling this and that; prices differed from shop to shop.

She opened the note Pei Jin had given her and shopped her way through the stores, buying nearly every item on it that could be had.

Shopping done, she returned downstairs to wait for Pei Jin and Chen Mo. Pei Jin's car still had the key in the ignition—left for her on purpose, presumably. In this weather, inside or out, it was hot either way.

...

Who knew how long she waited before Pei Jin and Chen Mo walked up almost simultaneously. By then Ling Yu was wearing a black hat, holding a milk tea nearly drained to the bottom, the big bag at the car's side.

"Sorry to keep you waiting." A flicker of question entered Pei Jin's eyes. "I left the key in the car. Why didn't you sit inside?"

As he spoke he opened the door, and before Ling Yu could say a word about the air conditioning, a cold draft shot up from her collar.

She blinked, momentarily stunned; by the time she turned to get in, Pei Jin had already loaded the luggage into the back seat, and Chen Mo had returned to his own car to sort his things.

The two of them stood outside the car talking.

He lowered his voice, joking: "My off-roader has air conditioning."

She scratched her head. "And here I thought it didn't."

He laughed. "Miss Ling, I modified this off-roader myself. So it has what a vehicle ought to have."

Ling Yu looked up at Pei Jin and genuinely felt like a woman of narrow experience.

She nodded lightly. "A few more rides and I'll know."