WOOY Chapter 20

Undoubtedly, the first to wake up the next day was Ye Liuxi.

Chang Dong initially wanted to help her, but she moved too quickly, like a stumbling yet untamed wild horse.

To maintain a sense of mystery, it was best not to be around constantly. No wonder mysterious characters in stories always appeared and disappeared suddenly, with no mention of their daily routines.

In the communal sleeping area, waking up was like flipping pancakes. One after another, people rose. Chang Dong rolled up his mat and came out, seeing Ye Liuxi in the distance, limping back while supporting herself on a Yadan soil platform.

With the main issue resolved, her foot injury became a priority again. Chang Dong looked at Fei Tang, who was noisily rinsing his mouth, and said, “Didn’t you say you wanted to impress Sister Yexi? Not helping her?”

Fei Tang wiped his mouth and eagerly went over.

Even this den of thieves had a touch of homely warmth. Breakfast was a big pot of porridge and pancakes. It wasn’t unusual to have the complete set of tools like rakes, spatulas, and oil brushes, but having fresh eggs was rare—they usually brought only boiled eggs because fresh ones would crack on the bumpy road.

The boss and the guests had their portions delivered, while others lined up.

Chang Dong sat next to Hui Ba and asked, “Can I ask you something?”

Hui Ba quickly put down his bowl, “Sure, go ahead.”

Although Chang Dong wasn’t listed in that booklet, Hui Ba could tell he didn’t take orders from Ye Liuxi.

“Have you been camping here long?”

“For a while. It’s remote and hard to find. But,” he lowered his voice, “to be cautious, we’ll do one or two more jobs and then take a break.”

“Taking a break” had two meanings. One, in a while, it would be too cold for activities here. Two, they’d do some legitimate work, like road repairs, mining, or transportation.

This was also to lay low. If their activities attracted attention, they’d scatter and reconvene when things calmed down.

“Since you’ve been here a while, has anything… unusual happened at night?”

Hui Ba understood, continuing to sip his porridge, “Don’t listen to their nonsense. They’re uneducated and superstitious, always telling dirty jokes or ghost stories. They talk nonsense every day, but who has really seen a ghost?”

Chang Dong said, “Just ask them if they have seen anything strange while getting up at night.”

Hui Ba, though puzzled, helped to ask. He banged his spoon on his bowl and shouted to the group squatting nearby, “Hey, listen up! Anyone see anything really scary during your night-time trips? Speak truthfully, if anyone makes stuff up, I’ll knock their teeth out!”

The threat of having their teeth knocked out was effective, and the usual chatterboxes were now hesitant to speak up.

“No, but the Yadan soil mounds look like ghosts at night. Really creepy.”

“And that noise! Damn it, I sleep with cotton in my ears.”

“One night, something jumped on my foot while I was doing my business. Damn! There are rats here… hey, can you eat those? Meat’s meat, no matter how small.”

…

Nothing significant was reported.

Chang Dong pondered in silence, but Fei Tang, “Dong ge, why are you asking? Did you see something last night?”

Chang Dong, avoiding the question, replied, “If we move quickly today, we’ll reach the town by noon.”

Lop Nur Town, known as the desert odd town, was established in 2002. It covers an area of over 50,000 square kilometers, larger than Hainan Island. For a long time, it had no permanent residents and consisted of three tin houses serving as the town government, which were empty inside. In recent years, to develop the potash mine, they finally established a town government, police station, and road maintenance station. Besides these, there were also small supermarkets and eateries operated in ramshackle mud houses and makeshift shacks.

Fat Tang was confused, “Huh?”

Chang Dong said, “You, me, and Ye Liuxi all know what you’re trying to do and that you won’t succeed. The road ahead is tougher. I’ll give you a way out—there’s a road that goes straight to Hami, almost like a paved highway. You can follow the road back home. If you keep following us, you might lose an arm, leg, or even your life. Think about it.”

He patted Fei Tang’s shoulder and got up to find Ye Liuxi.

Fei Tang felt a chill in his heart, losing his appetite for pancakes. Roughly calculating: the rent for the small supermarket’s stoppage, the travel expenses from Xi’an to Naqi, and the cost of renting a four-wheel drive…

All these were sunk costs, but what about the gains? Just a trip to Lop Nur, only to return home dejectedly?

Nearby, a man was whispering to Hui Ba, “We should cut back on robbing. The stuff we get isn’t worth much. Think about it, who brings money boxes to Lop Nur? If you ask me, real money’s in digging… Last time I heard…”

His voice dropped further. Fei Tang almost strained his ears to catch the broken phrases, “…that burial rug… a palm-sized piece… worth eight thousand…”

……

 

——

 

Ye Liuxi sat in the passenger seat, frowning as she peeled off the tape from the gauze on her wound. She might have rushed too much in the morning and walked carelessly, causing the wound to not heal properly, since blood was seeping out.

Suddenly, she heard Chang Dong’s voice: “What are you doing? The wound is bandaged, you open it every day to check—do you dig up the seeds every day when you plant flowers to see how they’re doing?”

Ye Liuxi ignored him. Eating, sleeping, going to the bathroom, he was everywhere.

Since the gauze was already soaked with blood, she decided to just tear it all off: “When will it heal?”

Chang Dong reached over and lifted her ankle to check.

It looked similar to how it did when she was first injured, with the good part now just seeping blood, and the bad part now covered with dirt and sand.

Chang Dong measured an inch from her wound, slicing his hand across, “Let’s amputate from here.”

Ye Liuxi said, “Do you want to die?”

Chang Dong sneered, “A little salt or a knife cut, wounds like yours take two to three months to heal if fast, half a year if slow. It’s normal to have some bleeding in the first few days. You’re not taking it seriously, looks like you want an amputation—yeah, right. With a visible physical trait like that, you’ll be memorable in any registry. Left hand holding a knife, right hand with a crutch, people won’t need to check a photo album to recognize you.”

Ye Liuxi bit down, then relaxed, smiling nonchalantly, “Then help me bandage it up?”

“And then you’ll just peel it off for fun?”

Ye Liuxi swore, “I won’t do it again this time.”

Finally, Chang Dong took out the foldable canvas stool and first aid kit, sitting down to re-treat her wound.

The sun gradually rose higher, not yet unbearably hot. The wound itched a bit but wasn’t painful.

She could bandage it herself, but not as professionally and precisely as Chang Dong. He twisted the cotton swab into a fine tip, gently sweeping away the dirt. Such patience was rare, but not surprising, considering he handcrafted shadow puppets that required over three thousand precise cuts each. He could sit calmly for more than two years, and each cut indeed tempered his character…

Ye Liuxi suddenly remembered something: “Later… are we leaving directly?”

“Yes, we’ll be in town by noon. You can take a bath; I heard the hotel in the town government building has water.”

“Just leave like that?”

Chang Dong didn’t even look up: “What else?”

“Last night’s incident, just ignore it?”

Chang Dong wiped her wound again with disinfectant: “Lop Nur is full of strange occurrences. Should I investigate every single one? Didn’t Hui Ba and the others say, pull the blanket over your head, sleep it off, and it will be gone.”

He was here for Kong Yang and the others, aiming for Longcheng, just wanting to move forward. As for the scenery along the way, no matter how bizarre, he wasn’t interested.

“The shadow puppet… has nothing to do with you?”

“There are many who can carve shadow puppets. Just because it’s a shadow puppet, it’s related to me?” This time, Chang Dong used two more pieces of tape to secure it, preventing it from loosening again. “If it shows up again, I’ll take a proper look.”

Knowing the camp’s conditions were basic, Hui Ba didn’t keep them long. Before the car left, Ye Liuxi wrote her phone number for him: “I’m very particular about my reputation. Next time you meet industry people, help me find out what they’re saying about me. I’d like to know.”

Hui Ba readily agreed, assuring her it was a done deal.

The road to Lop Nur Town was relatively smooth. After about 20 kilometers, they reached the Red Willow Well water source. The water here was slightly salty but good enough for daily needs. From here, a water pipeline led to the lake area, keeping them on track.

The best part was, even though it was still salt-crust land, a bulldozer had cleared a road leading to town. So before noon, they reached the town.

As the only place in the lake area to refuel cars, dine, and buy supplies, the small town was bustling. Many off-road vehicles on cross-country routes were parked on the street. Even the simplest eateries were packed—encountering industry acquaintances here was even more likely than in Dunhuang.

Chang Dong drove to the town government; the hotel was upstairs. He rented a room, not to stay but to shower—desert sand was pervasive. Despite wrapping all electronics in plastic bags, sand still found its way inside, leaving a fine layer of grit inside the bags.

People were no exception; sand was in their hair, ears, everywhere. Eating occasionally meant tasting sand.

Ladies had the advantage, so Ye Liuxi showered first.

While she was showering, Chang Dong took Fei Tang to the gas station to fill up the car. On the way back, they stopped at a general store.

This store, housed in a prefab building with a cellar, was convenient for storing vegetables, and it even sold meat. As a result, it attracted a fair number of customers. Chang Dong went in and bought a slab of ribs and a couple of yams.

If all went well, they’d be staying in Longcheng tonight—a truly barren and deserted place. If they could manage to have a meat dish and a hot soup there, it would be a great comfort.

While paying, he asked Fei Tang, “So, have you made up your mind?”

Fei Tang responded smoothly, “Dong ge, even if it’s just for a trip, let me see the whole place before I leave. I heard there’s still Loulan, Xiaohe, and the Sun Tomb further west. I’ll follow your car for a bit longer.”

His eyes darted nervously, his expression a bit unnatural.

Chang Dong noticed but didn’t comment, picking up the bags and heading out. Just as he stepped outside, he saw someone sitting on his car’s hood.

The man was in his thirties, tall and robust, witha braid at the back of his head and a stylish beard trimmed in the Western style. He exuded a carefree demeanor, munching on a carrot.

When he saw Chang Dong come out, his eyes lit up.