The man was tied up inside the trunk of his own car.
When they opened it fully and saw the entire compartment, they were astonished. It must have undergone concealed modifications; from outside, there was no telling how much space it contained.
His position made moving difficult. Looking at the two of them, he spoke in something close to a plea. “Sorry, you two heroes. I... I wasn't trying to attack you!”
Leaning against the car, Ling Yu glanced casually at him. “Are you sure? I distinctly saw you pull out a knife!”
He looked helplessly at her. All he could think was that she had clearly been the fiercest one just now, yet somehow she was blaming him.
Unable to stop himself frowning, he forced a conciliatory smile. “Um... ma'am, you've misunderstood. I really am looking for someone. She disappeared in the desert yesterday, so I thought you'd kidnapped her.”
“And that's why you wanted to go all Fast and Furious on us?” She did not sound as though she was joking.
“No, no!” He immediately smiled. “It wasn't Fast and Furious. I was only protecting myself.”
Ling Yu pressed him. “You chased us without explaining why. Naturally, I assumed you were a bad person. So you'll understand if I'm suspicious of what you're saying.”
After a moment, she huffed and let down her hair, which drifted in the wind. There was an indescribably bandit-like air about her.
Apparently realizing he wouldn't get the answer he wanted from Ling Yu—and that she seemed difficult to reason with—the man quickly turned to Pei Jin.
Seeing him look over, Pei Jin promptly asked, “Did your friend really disappear in the desert?”
The man nodded hurriedly. “Yes, in the desert. We video-called several times last night before going back into the desert. Later, when I was at a nearby stall with some other friends, I couldn't get through.”
“How do you know she disappeared in the desert?” Pei Jin quickly noticed something amiss in his account.
Afraid of leaving anything out, the man answered at once. “Things happen in the desert all the time, don't they? That's why I figured she must have disappeared there.”
He wasn't wrong. This desert was a very strange place.
Ling Yu considered it. “What if she's already gone back? Or she's resting somewhere else? Or her phone ran out of battery?”
She wasn't sure whether this counted as concern for another person. Most of what she really wanted was for the man to apologize for what he had done at the beginning.
“I called more than a few times. And ever since that first call yesterday... I've felt something was wrong.” He frowned. “She went out with a guide. Later, I found the guide, but they said they couldn't remember anything about last night.”
“Which guide?” Pei Jin asked.
“They said it was the most famous guide around here. A Miao.”
Pei Jin repeated the name silently, then quickly shook his head. “I've never heard of A Miao. Do you have a photo?”
With the man tied up, he couldn't hand over his phone to show them. Ling Yu reached straight for his side pocket and finally found it in his back pocket.
Watching her, he thought this woman really was formidable. She wasn't afraid he might attack her. Then again, even if he tried, he couldn't beat the two of them.
Before Ling Yu could ask, he helpfully supplied his passcode. She smiled as she unlocked the screen. “Seems you're a smart man.”
“Yes, yes, yes... I'm a smart man...” He rushed to flatter her without pausing. “Just open the gallery, Miss Ling.”
But Pei Jin said, “Miss Ling, isn't this a little improper?”
Ling Yu had no intention of answering the question. Following the man's instructions, she opened the gallery. At a glance, she saw three categories.
The first was “Handsome Photos of Me”; the second, “Her at Her Most Beautiful”; the third, “Miscellaneous.”
After a glance, she opened the last category. There weren't many pictures, and she barely had to search to get a clear view of the person's face.
She stood and moved closer to Pei Jin, humming as she showed him the photograph.
Pei Jin raised an eyebrow at the image. He really had never seen that person among the guides. Ling Yu grew still more certain the man had been deceived.
“I really was tricked?”
Noticing something wrong in Pei Jin's expression, the man guessed wildly before asking.
Pei Jin nodded honestly.
The man's heart sank. His body, which he had just managed to straighten, suddenly slumped against whatever was behind him.
He sounded close to tears. “If I'd known, I'd have gone into the desert with her yesterday. Then none of this would have happened.”
Ling Yu glanced at him, then asked Pei Jin, “You've really never seen this person?”
“At least not in the guide groups I usually use, or among the people I've helped,” Pei Jin said, giving the only answer he could. “Of course, there may be private guides who take their own clients. But I generally don't help those people.”
“People without qualifications to lead tours like yours wouldn't ordinarily get involved in things like this. More likely... they're connected to the village's original plan?”
“Plan?” That was outside Pei Jin's knowledge.
He knew nothing so detailed, which made him still more certain that Ling Yu might indeed have a connection to that expedition team.
After thinking, Ling Yu said, “Don't legends like these usually involve people being chosen as sacrifices?”
The man grew even more anxious. So anxious he could barely get the words out. “Wait... How did human sacrifice get into this?”
Naturally, his first concern was for the friend he had mentioned. If anything really happened to her, he would never forgive himself.
He had brought her here specifically to clear her head.
Ling Yu felt that calling the police would be useless. Knowing these things gave her no way to solve them. Like this man, she wanted to know whether there was any practical way to find the person she was searching for.
A thought stirred in Pei Jin. “I'd still suggest asking around the village. The desert is so vast, you're hardly likely to find what you're looking for.”
It took the man a long time to collect himself. “She disappeared in the desert. I can only search here. I don't know anyone in the village. There's nobody I can turn to for help.”
That did seem to be how things worked when traveling away from home. Finding the right person to help was difficult.
Ling Yu was still considering the circumstances. Her expression faded as she turned, lost in thought. Pei Jin put his hands on his hips and lowered his voice. “From the look of you, Miss Ling, you want to help?”
She came back to herself and answered frankly. “You're clever enough to have guessed what I'm after, Mr. Pei, so I won't beat around the bush... Yes. I want to know about those expedition teams.”
After a pause, she continued, “And I want to know what the truth behind all this really is.”
Pei Jin smiled. “At last you're willing to say it.”
Ling Yu frowned. “Then why do you want to know all this, Mr. Pei? Are you looking for answers too?”