Chapter 12: The Line of Life and Death
After this ordeal, Wu Hen had a hard time falling asleep; perhaps the mat below was too hard, hard all night long.
Su Li's breathing was very steady, and it was unclear whether she was asleep.
Her hand still gently embraced Wu Hen's arm, as if only in this way could she feel a trace of peace in this turbulent world.
But it didn't take long for Su Li to notice something unusual about Wu Hen's right hand.
"What is your right hand doing?" Su Li's voice sounded softly.
Wu Hen felt immensely awkward, and not knowing how to explain it to Su Li, he could only confess, "Eating a pistol."
In the pitch-black tent, Su Li widened her eyes, glanced at Wu Hen's trembling body, and finally turned over in annoyance, saying, "Then solve it yourself slowly."
Wu Hen looked at the delicate curvaceous back pressed against him and felt even more helpless.
It's not what you think!
Listen to me explain.
My right hand, that black miracle material, is really consuming the handgun you gave me!
I don't know what to do either.
For a long time, Wu Hen's arm remained still.
After a moment of silence, Su Li, thinking Wu Hen was done, spoke in a gentle voice:
"When he was eight, he was wounded by a Silent Ghost, and afterward, he lost his soul. For many years, he appeared to others as if he had a mental disability. The Divine Mother of Nuwa wouldn't let an unrelated soul dwell in another body without reason; I will follow the Divine Mother's will, and you are him when grown."
"You've always been traveling in anotherworldly realms?" Wu Hen asked, somewhat surprised.
Su Li and Xiao Yun seemed not to live in the world he was familiar with.
"You are lucky, pure; not every soul can receive the Divine Mother Nuwa's protection," Su Li said.
"But there, they just announced that Nuwa God will not hold out for long," Wu Hen said.
"Then use everything you have to guard the Divine Mother Nuwa; your tribe must become strong and save yourselves," Su Li stated.
"We still don't know anything about this place," Wu Hen said.
"No one dares to claim they understand Desert Dust," Su Li replied.
"Then…"
"Sleep, tomorrow morning we fight for our lives."
"Oh." Wu Hen nodded understandingly, not asking further questions.
"Do you know the girl who was startled?" Su Li asked with her eyes closed.
"Not well."
Wu Hen had exceptionally keen hearing.
Even in this small tent, he could clearly hear the conversations of everyone in the subway car.
Those two words, "not well," were not first spoken by Wu Hen.
Yang Qin was already trying to curry favor with the bespectacled man.
...
A pale day slowly rose from the seaside.
The city, in the light, though looking somewhat desolate, didn't carry the same terror as the night.
Wu Hen and the others in the subway began to cautiously check their surroundings.
The subway car was a sealed space, capable of keeping them safe, but the subway station was dim; they had to be wary of things lurking in the shadows.
"Anything there?" Su Li asked, turning to Wu Hen.
"Yes, at Exit A; we should leave from Exit B," Wu Hen said with certainty.
His powerful sense of hearing played a major role at this moment too.
"Alright, everyone follow me. Once we're outside, make sure to stay in the sunlight!" Su Li instructed.
"Are there things during the day too?"
"Shadow Evil Spirits can act within daytime shadows."
The group Su Li led had about thirteen or fourteen people; they mostly obeyed and were clear-minded.
Each person had a strong will to survive, following Su Li's commands.
Once they exited the subway station, sunlight bathed them, and everyone felt like they had seen daylight anew.
Wu Hen instinctively turned back, noticing the sun gradually rising from the seaside, soon to climb the tall buildings.
But quickly, Wu Hen sensed something was off.
Wasn't the sun also setting from the seaside yesterday?
"Keep up!"
Su Li, holding a weapon, swiftly led the way ahead.
The group formed a line, eyes fixed on the sunlit parts of the road.
"We need to move quickly; after ten o'clock in the day, shadows from buildings will crisscross the street, making it hard to move," Su Li said.
...
At first, Wu Hen didn't quite understand what crisscrossing shadows meant.
But as the pale day moved, elongating the shadows of tall buildings and casting them as black gullies diagonally on the long straight street, Wu Hen realized why it would be difficult to move past ten!
If they couldn't step into the shadowed areas, there would be no path ahead.
Luckily, someone in the group knew the way, advising which streets to take first for sufficient sunlight, and which to avoid tall building shadows.
Viewed from above, the group seemed like ants in a giant maze, the shifting shadows were like ever-changing lethal blades they constantly had to dodge.
From morning till noon, this time was still manageable.
Even if they reached a dead-end in shadows, waiting a while for the sun to rise higher would allow them to continue.
But after noon, as the sun reached its peak and began to descend, the paths grew fewer, their pace slower.
At this moment, after noon, they stopped in an open park, waiting for the sunlight to shift, heading towards the train station.
"There is sunlight on this side!" the bespectacled man pointed out a path.
It was a bike lane on the side street, with low buildings allowing two-thirds of it to bathe in sunlight.
"That's not the direction to the train station," Su Li shook her head.
"Cross the side street, walk along the perpendicular main street, and you'll reach the Black Shirt Organization's shelter," said a woman with a broken eyebrow in the group.
Su Li understood the implications of the man's and the woman's words.
She sneered, "Jiang Wang, Xu Yan, if you want to seek refuge with Black Shirt, then go ahead."
"Su Li, it's not that we don't want to follow you, but what's the use of escaping this city? The outside may not be safer!" an older woman said.
"You need to decide quickly; soon the side street won't have sunlight," Su Li said.
The side street's alignment relative to the sun's movement meant shadows would soon cover the entire street, though they'd find sunlight again once on the main street.
The street was long, at least two kilometers; they needed to hurry, for the sunlit area was shrinking.
"Go, follow me!" Jiang Wang ordered.
Jiang Wang stepped out first.
Soon four or five people followed, clearly having planned this the previous night.
Several others hesitated; they had benefited from Su Li before, but seeing the path ahead fraught with danger, they sought safety with the Black Shirt Organization.
Soon, a few more left.
The group was instantly halved.
"Quickly, run, everyone, hurry up, run!" Jiang Wang commanded loudly.
Seeing half follow him, Jiang Wang's tone changed, as if leading them.
"I… I'm hurt, I can't run fast, help me!" Yang Qin called out to Jiang Wang.
However, Jiang Wang ignored her, soon running into the sunny part of the side street.
Others followed, accelerating.
Two kilometers was taxing, requiring full speed.
"Don't leave, didn't you promise to take me?" Yang Qin, pale as powder, cried out.
She hobbled, trying to follow, but found herself left behind.
Even a high schooler, Yang Qin realized she couldn't cover two kilometers in time.
She stopped at the side street, watching the despicable man's back, tears streaming down.
She wobbled back, pleading with Wu Hen, "Can… can I follow you?"
"As you wish," Wu Hen replied indifferently.
Yang Qin, eyes red, piteously said, "Just because I refused his indecent request last night, he did this to me…"
Yeah, yeah, you'd rather die than comply.
Wu Hen was too tired to retort.
At least Yang Qin wasn't foolish enough to be exploited and abandoned!
"Little Hen, listen carefully." Su Li, beside Wu Hen, pointed to the shadowed area.
Wu Hen nodded, ignoring Yang Qin.
He gazed down the two-kilometer long side street, seeing its end from his vantage point.
Wu Hen focused on his hearing.
He wasn't sure what Su Li wanted him to hear.
She must be trying to teach him something.
But even after a while, Wu Hen heard nothing.
However, Wu Hen's naked eye soon saw a strange scene in the shadows!
The shadows looked like a long yin river, where something was surfacing, causing ripples, even boiling!
Wu Hen was shocked by what lurked beneath the shadows.
Why couldn't he hear anything?
"You only synesthetized hearing, but in Desert Dust, some species don't make a sound, like these Shadow Evil Spirits. You must observe more, not rely solely on one sense," Su Li explained.
Wu Hen nodded, instinctively wanting to cling to his aunt's leg.
Desert Dust was chaotic, and Hen Bao was scared!
...
"Run faster, don't panic, they won't dare enter the sunlight!" Jiang Wang exclaimed.
The sunlit area shrank rapidly.
The buildings on the side street were uniformly high and close together, with no other refuge on the path.
They were like ants fleeing a maze, with a wall slowly closing in, threatening to kill if they couldn't escape!
The boundary between light and shadow was stark, with the shadow tide encroaching on their shrinking territory.
The sun moved faster than they expected.
Before reaching halfway, shadows occupied two-thirds!
Seemingly sensing human vitality, even though they ran in sunlight, shadow creatures like vile water ghosts lurked at the edges, ready to pounce!
"Run faster, run faster!" Xu Yan, the broken-eyebrow woman, shouted.
"I… I can't… I can't run…" wheezed the older man.
"Wait… wait for me…" panted the obese man at the rear.