WOOY Chapter 16

The salt flat terrain was enough to make one’s soul feel as if it was leaving the body. Fei Tang couldn’t even spare a glance at Ye Liuxi’s bag.

Only at that moment did he appreciate the greatness of the road workers. The world was vast, but road workers were the greatest. Could this even be called a road?

Every second there was a jolt, as if countless hands were pushing the car from below, making it sway back and forth. Eventually, his body went numb. When the car wasn’t bumping, their bodies convulsed left and right as if shocked by electricity.

What was even scarier was that in all directions, 360 degrees, everything looked exactly the same. They completely lost their sense of direction. If he turned the steering wheel even a little bit and then drove for ten miles, they would absolutely get lost. He had heard that two cars traveling together got separated in a sandstorm within a quarter of an hour—at first, it seemed like an exaggeration. He thought that they could have just easily retraced their steps. But now he realized that there was no original path to go back to.

A pathless maze: there were no winding side paths here, yet it had trapped so many people. It really was the world’s largest labyrinth.

Fei Tang’s palms were sweating as he kept his eyes locked on Chang Dong’s car in the distance, never relaxing. Despair set in as they drove, barely reaching seven kilometers per hour.

Ye Liuxi was also shaken to the point of dizziness, her stomach churning, feeling like she could vomit at any moment. She hit the door of the car and said, “Stop, stop, stop. You’re driving slower than I could walk. Let me take a break; I’ll get out and walk alongside the car.”

Fei Tang envied her. He also wanted to get out and walk, but he couldn’t. But if he left, there would be no one to drive the car.

——

Chang Dong was feeling a bit indecisive.

His car was partially modified for this type of terrain, so traveling wasn’t too difficult. This path was seldom taken, and there was another route through the salt marshes, which was longer, but less challenging…

They chose this route for its proximity, aiming to cut directly into Lop Nur. However, Fei Tang’s car was problematic, probably because it was rented, and he was afraid of damaging it and having to pay for repairs. This slowed their progress significantly, as his speed was greatly hindered by Fei Tang’s car. So now, should they continue, or would it be more suitable to take the longer route?

He glanced in the car’s side mirror.

Wait, why was there a person walking on the salt crust?

Chang Dong immediately stopped the car, half-opened the door, and leaned out to shout, “Ye Liuxi! Don’t walk on the ground!”

The vast open space dispersed his voice, making it hard for Ye Liuxi to hear clearly. She looked up and saw him waving. Suddenly, the salt crust under her feet cracked with a sharp sound. Caught off guard, she lost her balance, and her foot slipped. A thin, sharp piece of salt cut across her ankle.

She hadn’t even felt the pain yet, but blood was already flowing out. Ye Liuxi sat down, hissing in pain.

Damn! The first mishap in Lop Nur, and it was her who got hurt! She had thought that if anyone were to die, it would be Fei Tang first, Chang Dong second, and she would be the one mourning.

Chang Dong saw her stumble and knew something was wrong. He got out of the car, grabbed a thick stack of medical gauze, and hurried over.

The salt flat terrain was notoriously difficult to walk on. Some professional hikers believed it was even harder than the most dangerous Wolf Tower C-line¹check the end of the chapter for photos and a video . First, the uneven terrain made it easy to sprain an ankle if you weren’t careful. Second, although the salt crystals were hard, years of erosion could cause sudden cracks, making one lose their footing. Third, the salt crystals were incredibly sharp, and due to the various elements they contained, wounds from them healed very slowly. In other words, being cut by salt crystals was worse than being cut by a knife.

Chang Dong navigated the ‘Fish moving in water Path,’ a narrow gap between the raised salt crusts. Experts disdainfully said it was so narrow that only fish could swim through it, hence the name.

When he reached her, he heard her hissing in pain, pressing a tissue to her wound. The tissue was soaked, blood was seeping through her fingers, and the ground was a mess of spots and stains.

Chang Dong quickly squatted down, moved her hand away, and pressed the gauze onto her wound. He asked, “Can you walk?”

He knew in his heart that she probably couldn’t walk, but he asked anyway. In this kind of terrain, hopping on one foot wasn’t an option.

Ye Liuxi held down her wound, her anger bubbling without an outlet. She laughed bitterly, “I can fly if you want to see.”

“Then show me.”

In the distance, Fei Tang stopped the car, but Ye Liuxi didn’t fly off the ground.

Chang Dong crouched down, lowered his neck slightly, and reached out to support her waist without saying a word, waiting for her to understand. Ye Liuxi hesitated for a moment, then wrapped her arms around his neck, feeling herself being lifted.

He walked carefully, trying to speed up, but blood still dripped down, splashing on the edges of the salt crust.

As they walked further away, the initial pool of blood left behind suddenly sizzled and boiled.

——

Chang Dong placed Ye Liuxi in the car, pulled off her sock, and used a cotton ball soaked in alcohol to clean her wound.

The cut from the salt crust was uneven, with blurred edges and dirt. If not properly cleaned, it would be troublesome, and the healing process would be even more difficult.

Chang Dong frowned, silently focused on his task.

Ye Liuxi observed Chang Dong for a while, thinking that although he was a scoundrel, he was serious about his work. When he led a team, he always did what needed to be done thoroughly and efficiently.

She liked men who were serious about their work.

Fei Tang finally came over and saw the bloodstains on her ankle. His voice trembled as he spoke, “Sister Yexi, are you okay?”

The trembling wasn’t due to the sight of blood.

It was dizziness, excitement, and uncontrollable emotion.

He had taken so long to come over because he was busy sneaking a look into Ye Liuxi’s bag. It was stuffed with many things: notebooks, pens, an outdated broken camera, and a small velvet pouch. The bulging shape of the pouch almost took his breath away.

When he opened it, the smooth, silk-wrapped agate jade inside made Fei Tang’s eyes almost wet. He coild feel the opulence.

She really did have it.

Thanks to the ancient 《Book of changes》²ancient Chinese divination text, used to predict the future passed down by the ancestors, thanks to the tortoise shell divination tools, thanks to the Qianlong divination coins, and most of all, thanks to his keen sense of smell—after all, opportunities always favored those who were prepared and brave enough to take risks.

Ye Liuxi said, “How could I be fine… Go, put a pole there. Next time I come back, I’ll level that piece of salt to the ground.”

Chang Dong’s car had poles and flag fabric, used as navigation markers to avoid getting lost. Fei Tang, still in a daze, really wanted to go fetch them. Chang Dong scolded him, “Go back to the car. If you get hurt, crawl back yourself.”

Fei Tang quickly dashed back to the car.

 

——

With an injured person on board, continuing on the salt flat was not an option. After all, an injury needed rest, and traveling on the salt flat was akin to constant jumping up and down.

Chang Dong used the GPS to check their position and found a previously traveled turning point. Gradually, they left the salt flat and took the longer route through the salt marshes. Here, the salt crusts were much less uneven. After driving for a while, scattered small yardangs appeared in the distance, either standing alone or in small clusters. Because they were far apart and not in groups, they looked rather frightening.

With dusk approaching, some of them looked like heads emerging from the ground, while others resembled monstrous insects. It wasn’t just Fei Tang who was startled; even Ye Liuxi felt a chill.

Only Chang Dong remained silent, accustomed to it.

They camped outside for the night.

To shelter from the wind, Chang Dong chose a large yardang cluster. The two cars and the yardang formed a triangle, with three single tents set up against each side.

A fire was lit in the open space in the middle, and dinner was dry rations with a pot of radish soup, which had dried mushroom slices and vermicelli added.

Although it was simple, it was quite good for a place like this. Ye Liuxi, having not slept well the previous night, ate and then laid down in the tent, ordering Fei Tang, “Bring me my bag.”

Fei Tang, smiling on the outside but unwilling on the inside, had to obediently bring her the bag.

He had imagined countless scenarios, but none would work: if only this were a city, he could take the items and disappear into the crowd. He could abandon the shop in Fenghua Alley, since it wasn’t worth much, sell the goods, get plastic surgery, change his identity, and live a life of luxury…

But here they were in Lop Nur, and without Chang Dong to guide them, Fei Tang couldn’t even find the way. If they got lost, it would add another dried corpse to the desert—so he had to patiently wait for the right opportunity. The animal-headed agate was right in front of him, seen and touched but unattainable, making him feel incredibly frustrated.

Ye Liuxi took her bag and, in front of Fei Tang, pulled out the small pouch containing the agate, then stuffed it into her sleeping bag and lay down comfortably.

Fei Tang felt sour inside: she even knew to stash it in her sleeping bag, her vigilance was quite high.

The campfire crackled, and Ye Liuxi slept fitfully. Once, she woke up groggily and saw Fei Tang hunched in the tent, boredly playing a single-player game on his phone. Meanwhile, Chang Dong, with his head down, was using string to connect the head, torso, and limbs of a leather shadow puppet. The colorful cowhide pieces, once connected, formed a puppet with overly active joints, swaying in the light of the campfire…

Chang Dong would surely become an old folk artist when he gets older.

The next time she got woken up by the sound of a zipper, it was already late at night. The air smelled of dust and sand. She looked up to see Chang Dong closing her tent flap—before going to sleep, she had left it open for ventilation.

Fei Tang was already snoring. Who would have thought that such a thin, monkey-like person could snore so loudly?

Seeing she was awake, Chang Dong lowered his head and explained,”IIt looks like a sandstorm is coming. Let’s close it up.”

Ye Liuxi looked at him, her question loaded with meaning, ‘Will people die in a sandstorm?’

Chang Dong’s face revealed no expression, “No, this isn’t a desert, It’s just a big dust storm.”

“That night, why did you think I was Kong Yang?”

She was indeed persistent, but Chang Dong deliberately ignored her, pulling the zipper all the way up. “We’ll reach town tomorrow, rest there, and if we hurry, we’ll be in Dragon City by tomorrow night…”

Just as the zipper was about to close, Ye Liuxi suddenly reached out, grabbing the width of the zipper with her palm.

Her fingers were long and slender, with oval, rounded tips—definitely not the hands of someone who does manual labor. However, her sudden reach through the zipper was quite startling.

After a while, the zipper was lowered slightly, revealing her two eyes.

“Chang Dong, there must be some kind of connection between us, it’s just that I don’t remember for now and you don’t know yet. If we want to move forward, you are the left leg and I am the right leg; shouldn’t we be honest with each other?”

“What you said isn’t wrong,” Chang Dong replied calmly, “Then you, the right leg, go first.”

It took Ye Liuxi a while to understand. She rummaged around for a moment, then tossed out a small notebook. “It’s all in here.”

The campfire had already gone out. Chang Dong turned the camping lamp towards himself and sat down by her tent.

Opening the first page, the first line read—

‘All-natural, no plastic surgery’

What… does that mean?

Before he could say anything, Ye Liuxi explained, “You see it a lot in TV shows, where the protagonist loses their memory, then the mastermind gives them plastic surgery to interact with certain people and deliberately plan schemes… I’m definitely not one of those.”

Turning the page—

‘My skills are decent, no set patterns.’

She explained, “I mean, I only know fighting techniques I’ve seen online, not any specific martial arts styles.”

Turning another page—

‘Relatives are heartless, or dead. Friends are disloyal, or dead. Boyfriend is a scumbag, or dead.’

Chang Dong glanced at her.

Ye Liuxi said, “Otherwise, why has no one looked for me after all this time? There isn’t even a missing person notice.”

She suddenly lost interest.

 

 

Wolf Tower C-line photos and video:

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TLs note: I saw these youtube videos recently. Although they aren’t really connected to the chapter or the book, they really give me the same vibe. You can check them out if you’re interested. This woman travells through the Taklamakan desert, which is mentioned in the novel 😊:

 

• 1
  check the end of the chapter for photos and a video
• 2
  ancient Chinese divination text, used to predict the future