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墨書 Inktalez
I fell into deep thought once again.
It seemed that this line of reasoning had issues. He wasn't here for smuggling, and it might not even be related to smuggling at all, but it definitely had something to do with that village. The fact that this village was near Vietnam might be a red herring; the key to the problem lay not in its proximity to the border, but in the village itself. Clearly, Fatty and I couldn't stay here to investigate this matter; it seemed we would need to ask Liu Squad Leader for help.
I patted Liu Squad Leader on the shoulder. "How's your shoulder injury?"
"It's better now. Thanks to you for taking care of me back then."
I relaxed my tone. "What are you thanking me for? At least I didn't end up ruining you."
Liu Squad Leader chuckled a few times, a bit awkwardly. "I was really immature back then, suspicious of everything. I dragged everyone down with me."
"That's all in the past; let's not dwell on it." I forced a smile. "I need your help with something. Did Xiao Guolin come to you specifically to go to that village?"
"Yeah, I was surprised too. I didn't even know there was such a village. It's a small natural village with fewer than twenty households, and it's not even in my jurisdiction. How did he find out about it? I checked the map, and there's no record of this village." It seemed Liu Squad Leader was puzzled by this as well.
"This matter is quite strange. I'd like to ask you to investigate this village. I can't provide too many specifics, but it would be best if you could gather detailed information about its history, demographic structure, especially recent migrations in and out of the village. The more detailed, the better. Oh, what is the name of this village?"
"Rooster Head Village. Quite an imaginative name, isn't it?" Liu Squad Leader finished with a laugh.
Upon hearing that name, I couldn't help but think it was utterly ridiculous.
As dusk approached, Liu Squad Leader dropped Fatty and me off at a town. I reminded him once more before he headed back.
I washed my hair in a stream on the edge of the town, and the water immediately turned a murky brown. Looking at it made me angry. Fatty wisely kept his distance. The town wasn't large, and we took the first long-distance bus to Dali in Yunnan. Our destination wasn't really Dali; we just wanted to leave this troublesome place as quickly as possible. My plan was to decide based on the situation once we got to Yunnan, whether to transfer or rest for a few days, depending mainly on how well I recovered. Right now, riding this dilapidated bus along the rugged mountain roads was jarring, making me feel like I was falling apart. There was no choice but to endure this difficult stretch.
Early the next morning, while I was dozing off on a highway near Jingxi, my phone rang. It was Jack calling. The line was filled with static, and the call quality was terrible; his voice came through in fits and starts. I couldn't shout over the noise in the bus, but Jack seemed unconcerned and kept shouting to communicate with me. I gathered that Bai Ta had tried to call me several times without success, and then he mentioned their current location and situation, which seemed complicated. The call quality was so poor that I couldn't make out the details clearly. I asked Jack to speak louder, and I heard him curse in English before he switched phones. The call ended.
The long-distance bus was nearly full, and my whole body felt like it was falling apart, especially my head, which felt like a bowl of scrambled Tofu Pudding from all the bumps along the way. The back of the bus bounced even more violently; given my condition, I didn't dare sit there and chose to sit in the second row with Fatty instead. There were too many people around; not only was it inconvenient for me to speak loudly, but I also had to be wary of eavesdroppers. After Jack hung up, I glanced around; most passengers were either sleeping soundly or pretending to doze off, with no one remaining alert.
Fatty shot me a glance and said, "Stop worrying so much; if you can't hear it clearly, neither can anyone else."
I rolled my eyes at him and ignored his comment. My mind was already in turmoil from that phone call. I looked at my watch; it was two in the morning—Jack wouldn't have called at this hour unless there was something urgent. What could be so complicated? Suddenly, I forgot about my pain and felt wide awake. Judging by the call signal quality, Jack and Xiao Ting were likely near the edge of the desert where signal towers were sparse; that's why the call quality was so poor—Xi'an wouldn't have such issues. They must have moved quickly; they hadn't stayed long in Xi'an before heading straight for the desert—what kind of pace was that? The key issue was that Jack hadn't mentioned Xiao Ting at all during our conversation; while I wasn't worried about them going to Xi'an, not knowing about Xiao Ting's situation now that they were entering the desert made me anxious.
Waiting for both the phone call and for people felt equally nerve-wracking. After what felt like an eternity, my phone rang again; this time it was a landline number from Xinjiang. The first thing I said when I answered was, "Is Xiao Ting okay?"
After receiving a positive response, I asked again, "Where are you?"
"Wutong Ridge," Jack replied. The call quality on the landline was much better; he didn't have to shout for me to hear him clearly. Earlier, I had worried about poor signal reception on my end; if that were true, even if he switched to a landline we still wouldn't be able to communicate normally—seems like the main issue lay on their side.
I knew that place—it was near the edge of Taklamakan Desert; north of there lay Loulan Ancient City. However, that area was still quite far from Lop Nur. If they were looking for clues about Xiao Guolin there, they would have no hope; I estimated that even Xiao Guolin's second expedition base camp would be closer to Lop Nur than where Jack currently was. A sigh of relief washed over me—this was better; at least Xiao Ting wouldn't be in danger.
"How did you get there? Didn't you go to Xi'an?" I leaned closer to the receiver and lowered my voice.
"Don't even mention it; this is currently the deepest area allowed for entry—Lop Nur has been sealed off entirely as a restricted zone," Jack said anxiously. "We got news in Xi'an that this area might be designated as an uninhabited zone; we rushed here but still didn't make it in time. However, someone has gone in."
Hearing that made my heart skip a beat as I blurted out, "Who? Who went in?"
The busy tone echoed in the receiver, and the call was disconnected. I turned my phone around to see that there was no signal. I shouted to the ticket agent, "Why is there no signal on the phone? It was fine just a moment ago."
The ticket agent was a plump woman in her thirties. When she spoke, it sounded like she was married to the driver; they were a couple running this bus together. She sat at the front, leaning her head to the side and dozing off. When I asked, she seemed unfazed and replied, "This is a mountainous area. Sometimes the phone signal is good, and sometimes it’s completely gone. Once we get over this mountain, it should be fine. Just wait a bit."
If it weren't for the few sentences I had exchanged with Jack earlier, I might have been able to keep my composure. But his last comment about someone going in left me puzzled. The only ones heading to the desert were him and Xiao Ting. If he hadn’t gone in but was so eager to call me, did that mean Xiao Ting had?
As soon as that thought crossed my mind, it gripped me like a spell, making me increasingly anxious. I couldn't sit still; my eyes were glued to my phone, yet there was still no signal in sight. I felt like I was on the verge of breaking down.
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