Chapter 3
When Pei Jin approached with the grilled skewers, he found Ling Yu drawing in a small sketchbook. She worked with such concentration that even people passing beside her failed to disturb her.
He set the plate down gently. The movement still did not interrupt her.
Her hand moved quickly. In only a few strokes, an image took shape—the things she had seen when she approached the Line.
One stroke became a mountain, another the desert. Only the moon was missing, because it had seemed to play no part in what happened.
This was merely a rough sketch meant to record the event. What mattered were the black figures scattered across the desert.
"Miss Ling?" Pei Jin called.
She returned to herself and set down the pen. "Sorry. I was thinking."
Rather than take offense, Pei Jin opened the conversation. "About what happened in the desert?"
He did not look at the drawing. It was her private work, so he only guessed.
Ling Yu tucked her hair behind one ear. "If you aren't from here, Mr. Pei, then you shouldn't have as many taboos about discussing it, should you?"
She remembered what the old guide had said. Pei Jin had only lived here for a while, which meant he must have heard something about the legends from the villagers.
Seeing that she was finally interested, Pei Jin seemed to understand exactly what she wanted.
He smiled. "The desert hasn't been peaceful at night lately. Almost no one truly dares to enter."
"Then why did you go?" Ling Yu countered. After a pause, she smiled. "Don't tell me you're a good Samaritan who specializes in rescuing all the tourists Old Wang abandons."
"I'll take that as a compliment." The corners of Pei Jin's mouth lifted. "But most of what you want to know can be found in ordinary reports and online forums."
Thoughtfully, he poured her a glass of water and pushed it across the table.
"Still, the people Old Wang brings here rarely want to discuss these matters."
Ling Yu nodded, though that was not how she had learned about them. She had read of them in the notebook her parents left behind.
Only someone who experienced such a thing personally could understand how terrifying it was: a group of corpses wrapped in desert sand surrounding you on every side, ready to drag you beneath the dunes if you lacked the strength to escape.
The more she remembered the first scene, the more uncomfortable she became. She picked up a skewer and ate, using the food to settle herself.
"As I said, incidents have been common in the desert recently," Pei Jin continued. "At a particular time of night, a sandstorm rises. After it passes, countless shadows appear.
"Quite a few tourists have been frightened. The desert was eventually closed during that stretch of the night. Of course, young thrill seekers hear the rumors and go anyway. No one can stop them."
He spoke while watching her eat. It made him feel like an old storyteller performing for an audience who remained occupied with her own affairs.
He found her strange.
What happened tonight would have terrified anyone. Some people might even become ill from the shock; after escaping, they would curl up and hide somewhere safe.
Very few would sit here calmly eating while questioning a local.
Could Miss Ling know something too?
"That isn't strange," Ling Yu said. "People naturally chase excitement now. They won't stop until they get what they want."
Pei Jin did not reveal everything he was thinking. He knew it was better to keep something in reserve, and his posture never fully relaxed against the chair.
He looked at her again. "Where have you traveled for inspiration, Miss Ling?"
She answered unhurriedly, "Not many places. I spend most of my time in the city. Whenever I do travel, I learn what I should about the place, so... Mr. Pei, you can stop circling around the question of why none of this frightened me."
She had seen through him long ago.
At first she had not wanted to be so blunt. But after his repeated probing, she decided to order him to stop bringing it up.
Pei Jin knew he had crossed a line, though his testing clearly was not over. He merely found another angle.
"Are you certain you truly know, Miss Ling?"
She did not answer. Something was plainly wrong with this man. She had already given him an answer, yet he continued to press.
She should never have accepted his offer of barbecue.
Then again, she was the victim in this entire affair. Accepting a tiny bribe as compensation seemed perfectly reasonable.
Why did she feel guilty?
With that thought, she abruptly sat straighter. "There isn't much information online, so I wanted to ask more. It could add color to my work."
"If you have nothing else to do, Mr. Pei, you can leave."
After a pause, she took several more bites.
"I'm worried you might run into trouble here," Pei Jin said. "Consider it concern from a local."
Ling Yu laughed. "Then... can Old Wang still guide me tomorrow?"
Pei Jin shook his head. "Probably not. Whenever he returns like this, he stays inside for a while. I can be your guide in the meantime."
Did Pei Jin truly intend to keep following her?
Was he doing it only because he was determined to learn why she had not been afraid?
All these twists and turns for that one question?
What a boring man.
And yet, faced with someone this boring, she rather wanted to stay with him and see what happened.
She accepted without objection. "Where should I wait for you tomorrow?"
Pei Jin pointed to the barbecue shop. "Come down whenever you like. I'll wait here all day."
Ling Yu propped her head on one hand and looked at him with concern. "Were you born wooden-headed? Would any sane person really wait all day?"
He merely nodded without saying a word.
Fine. Confirmed. He truly was boring.
*
After finishing the barbecue, Ling Yu went directly upstairs. She had exchanged no contact information with Pei Jin. From her room, she could see what was happening below and determine whether he was truly good-natured enough to wait there indefinitely.
More importantly, she needed to organize what she had seen today. Her parents were the reason she had come, but she still had to devote some time to her career.
She had lacked inspiration for months. Her fans had already begun criticizing her beneath her blog posts, and some openly questioned her:
—Could A-Yu's art be plagiarized?
—A-Yu must be hiring ghost artists. She produces less every year, but her licensed merchandise keeps getting more expensive.
—She must make plenty from exhibitions too!
They were like rabid dogs online, biting everywhere. The instant they found the smallest opening, they lunged and tore it apart piece by piece.
The exhibition Ling Yu had planned had barely begun to sprout.
Now even that tiny shoot was gone.
It was as if spring had only just arrived when some malicious uncle poisoned the seedling to death. At least crops planted in spring were supposed to yield something by autumn.
So she had been forced to seek inspiration elsewhere. After traveling to numerous places, she ultimately chose the notebook her parents left behind.
She had believed maintaining silence might be best, but dreams over the past several days compelled her to come here.
The dream was connected to the accident that befell her parents.
She sensed it might be an opportunity. She quickly booked a high-speed train, then took a bus deep into the region until she reached Never-Night Village.
She lifted her pen again to record the day's events. The simple sketch made in the car was nowhere near enough to express what had happened.
She began outlining everything she had seen, trying to capture the entirety of the danger.
Those creatures were called desert stone corpses.
Her parents' notebook contained records of them. They were utterly trapped within the desert and could never leave.
Hidden inside their material shells were hollow frames, somewhat like the zombies described in films.
But they differed from zombies. The desert stone corpses had only bones; wind and sand had apparently eroded all flesh. Grains of sand slowly gathered around them to form a protective barrier.
That was how the notebook described them.
They also liked to seize people, dragging their victims entirely beneath the sand, devouring them, and transforming them into new "friends."
Ling Yu paused repeatedly to remember, her pen halting with her. When she finally looked up, the style of the picture in the little book had transformed. Flying sand filled the sky, nearly swallowing the entire drawing.
She suddenly thought of Pei Jin again.
His appearance had been too perfectly timed. Did he clean up Old Wang's mess every day?
Honestly, if Old Wang was that afraid, he should stop working as a guide.
If Pei Jin had not arrived in time, who knew how many people might have met with disaster beside the Line?
In short, none of it seemed reliable.
She sighed several times and secured the finished picture inside a large portfolio.
It held the inspiration she had gathered recently. The material was decent, but any artist wanted perfection. She still hoped to refine everything and present her finest work.
After recording it all, she washed, changed into pajamas, and lay down to rest away the day's exhaustion.
She had been out of the bathroom only seconds when the phone on the table rang at an inconvenient moment.
Wrapping her hair in a clean towel, she walked over and picked it up. She did not need to check the caller to know who it was.
"My great artist, when are you coming back?" A man's ingratiating voice emerged from the phone. "You've been gathering references for ages. Surely you've found something good by now?"
Ling Yu switched to speaker and set the phone down. "I sent you plenty of pieces. Not one satisfied you?"
She did not dry her hair yet, merely sitting at the desk and waiting.
The man laughed. "What I want is a complete storyline."
Ling Yu understood. "You want me to produce another comic?"
He immediately continued, "Of course. As long as the plot is good, with your reputation—"
"I'm not interested in making comics right now. We discussed this when we first signed the contract, didn't we?" Ling Yu did not want a fight; she asked calmly.
The man sighed. "Things aren't what they were when you started. Most of your fans now accuse you of cashing in."
"Oh? Didn't you sign that contract too?"
The person on the other end fell silent.
The room became utterly still.