Chapter 14: Destination

Tian Yuqing opened the car door and tossed me a black backpack from Lao Gen’s hands. “Pack the Jade Casket well. No matter where you go, you must take the casket with you. If you find the journey too boring, you can try to crack it to pass the time.”

I packed the Jade Casket, slung the backpack over my shoulder, and got out of the car. He Yu was waiting for me in front of the second vehicle, smiling as he approached. “Hey, I didn’t peg you for a tough guy. How’d it go? Judging by your look, you must have gotten quite a bit out of Tian Yuqing, right?”

On the surface, He Yu seemed the most straightforward. I actually believed he didn’t care much about the truth of this trip; he was just carrying out an ordinary mission, indifferent to any details along the way. Although he seemed younger than me, who knows, he might have experienced far more than I have.

“Don’t worry, there’s no need to be too tense. You can treat this as a rare adventure. At most, we’ll be there for a month. When we get back, we can have a hotpot feast; it won’t delay your return to school,” He Yu reassured me casually.

To be honest, his words did have a calming effect on my mind.

If I were to make friends in this peculiar team, He Yu would be the only one I could trust. Not just because he was more honest, but also because I realized he was so clean-cut that he seemed out of place with the rest of the team.

The previous night, I first clashed with these big shots and then got trapped in a ghost wall, leaving both my body and mind severely traumatized. As soon as I got in the car, I fell asleep shortly after.

I slept deeply, from the afternoon straight through to the early dawn of the next day, perfectly missing the service area and two meals. When I woke, my stomach was growling. Lu A’yao, surprisingly, hadn’t slept and was wide awake, gazing out the car window.

“Do you always sleep like this?” he asked out of the blue.

I don’t have any strange sleeping habits—I don’t kick, steal blankets, or snore. I might grind my teeth occasionally, but it’s usually very quiet. Could it be that I was just too exhausted this time and did something to disturb him?

Feeling a bit embarrassed, I was about to apologize when Lu A’yao turned his gaze back, picked up the backpack from the ground, and tossed me a few pieces of bread and sausages. “Sleeping too deeply isn’t good.”

I tore open a bread bag. “That’s not something one can control, right?”

Lu A’yao glanced at me, smiled, and turned back to look out the window.

I suddenly felt belittled; his expression was more insulting than if he had outright scolded me.

He Yu was dozing off in the back seat with his notebook in his arms. I bit into my bread, helped recline his seat, and set aside his notebook and pen. Looking at the notebook, I wondered why he treasured it so much. Ever since I met him, I’ve never seen him without it.

“That guy He is a direct descendant of the old-school Record Keeper of the Heard. They document all the strange and unusual things they’ve encountered in their notebooks, treating those records as priceless treasures. Of course, they carry them everywhere,” Lu A’yao explained.

I glanced at him. “I know you know a lot. Thanks for the info, but I’m not that curious.”

With that, I stopped engaging with Lu A’yao, quickly finished my bread with some water, wiped my hands with a wet wipe, and pulled out the glowing Jade Casket from the backpack to study its complex lock.

The Jade Casket had two locks, top and bottom, similar to a nine-ring puzzle. The front was fully embedded in the locks. I’d never seen this design before and guessed that the entire lock must be removed from the lock core before using a method similar to solving a nine-ring puzzle to crack the Jade Casket.

I took a thin wire from the flat box and probed the upper lock core, fiddling with it while listening intently. This helped me understand the mechanism inside the lock. If I could fully imagine the mechanism’s operation, I should be able to find a way.

After listening to the Jade Casket for ten minutes, I straightened up and shook my head, feeling like my brain was a muddled mess. The sounds clashed like someone smashing my head against countless stone walls. The wire in my hand had reached its end, yet it hadn’t touched the bottom.

How many layers does this mechanism have inside?

I realized that cracking this casket might not be a task that could be accomplished overnight. Tian Yuqing wasn’t exaggerating; the complexity of this casket far exceeded my imagination.

“Did you hear anything?” Lu A’yao asked.

I took a deep breath and organized my thoughts. “It’s very complex. I can feel each layer of rolling iron beads, like a modern combination lock. Those beads act as the code, but I don’t know how to arrange them or what the pattern is. My wire is too short; I need a new one.”

Lu A’yao didn’t react much. He said, “No rush. You’re smart. Maybe by the time we reach Gansu, you’ll have an idea.”

His confident tone eased my anxious heart. I calmed myself, put the Jade Casket back in the backpack, and though the highway was smooth enough, there was still too much noise for me. My hearing wasn’t exceptional yet.

Having eaten and drunk my fill, with a long journey ahead, I wrapped myself in my coat and closed my eyes. For me, sleeping is one of life’s greatest pleasures.

When I woke again, I didn’t know how many hours had passed, but the scenery around us had completely changed. The convoy had left the highway and was now on a national road. Outside the window, low buildings and distant mountains dusted with snow began to appear.

It seemed to be a town. The road signs and shop information along the road indicated that we had arrived somewhere in the Tianzhu Tibetan Autonomous County, but I wasn’t sure of the exact location. While I was asleep, the convoy had turned off all navigation, and all the vehicles were following the lead car.

The convoy moved along the mountain road, the scenery constantly changing. Through the window, I could even see the endless snow-capped mountains on the horizon. The saying “a horse dies running towards the mountain” came to mind, and I wondered how far the actual distance was.

“How much longer are we going to keep winding around? This is killing me. If we keep going, I’m going to be sick,” He Yu said, opening the window and leaning his head out for air.

The winding mountain road was making my head spin too, so I crawled into the back seat, leaning on He Yu to get some fresh air from the window. That little bit of fresh air was somewhat helpful for both of us.

The driver saw us squeezed into the same window and laughed. “Hang in there a bit longer; we’re almost there.”

Sure enough, right after he said that, I saw a row of low white houses halfway up the mountain. The courtyard was already filled with many cars, their license plates suggesting they were from various places, parked here for resupply and rest.

The convoy stopped. Tian Yuqing got out, handed a cigarette to the owner, who then cheerfully waved us to park in the backyard. As we passed by, I heard them chatting in the local dialect, but I didn’t understand a word.

Lu A’yao started packing his backpack in the front seat. As soon as the car stopped in the backyard, he got out, still in his pajamas, with his backpack in hand. He Yu and I also began gathering our things, silently zipping up our down jackets and jumping out of the car with our luggage.

“This place is a bit remote, Little Gan. Remember to lock your doors and windows at night, or the ghosts might get you,” He Yu teased, wrapping an arm around my neck and trying to scare me with ghost stories.

I rolled my eyes at him and pushed him away. “I’m just rough and tough; no ghost would want me. Ghosts prefer your delicate skin. Don’t worry, I’ll stay far away and not disturb you.”

“You bastard, leaving me behind—are we still brothers?” He Yu slapped me, and I retaliated with another slap. The two of us tussled our way upstairs, making the guys packing their gear laugh.

This guy was reserved when we first met, but once he got familiar, he was like a wild donkey.