Chapter 3

Chapter 3

We finally set off without a hitch. Our convoy had five trucks in total, and the moment the loading was done, we hit the road. Wang Cheng and I were in the last truck.

As we were leaving, we passed Wu Defa’s truck, and I glanced inside.

Wu Defa was still outside smoking, but on his driver’s seat sat a small black jar, like some kind of ornament.

It was only about the size of a man’s fist. I had no idea what it was.

Once we got onto the highway, the view opened up completely. Gobi wasteland stretched out on both sides, a sight you would never see back in the inland provinces.

But after staring at it for too long, your heart started to feel empty too. Especially on a dead-straight road like that, it gave you the feeling you could drive forever and never reach the end.

Wang Cheng and I took turns driving through the morning and afternoon, and around ten that night, we arrived at Kuli.

It got dark late out here, and there was a time difference from the inland regions. Even at that hour, the sky had not gone fully black.

Kuli was not much of a rest stop. There were only a few two-story stone houses, where a group of herders sold some food and drinks.

Private cars rarely came through here either. Most of the people stopping by were long-haul truck drivers.

Not long after we arrived, Wu Defa and his people got there too.

Wu Defa still had that old man with him. When he saw me, he even smiled, but the moment he ran into Shao Xing, his expression turned sour.

Shao Xing was a prickly bastard too. Holding the meal he’d just picked up, he stood right in the way and refused to move. Only after I called out to him did he shift aside a little.

Wu Defa glared at him, then turned and walked away.

That night, we left one group of men on the trucks to watch the coal, while the rest of us rested in the stone houses.

Old Zhang and I shared a room. I was sleeping when I suddenly woke up in the middle of the night.

I didn’t know what time it was. The moon outside was huge. I didn’t take my phone and just used the moonlight to head to the bathroom.

I had just pushed open the bathroom door when someone suddenly called out from behind me, “Brother Long!”

I spun around, but there was nothing behind me.

Old Zhang was still lying in bed, breathing evenly, deep asleep.

Everything around me was quiet. Maybe I’d misheard?

Thinking that, I turned and stepped into the bathroom. But before I even had time to close the door, I heard it again. “Brother Long-”

The voice was clear, as if it were right beside my ear.

This time, I heard it clearly. It was Dashun’s voice!

But Dashun was supposed to be sleeping in a room on the first floor. Why would he suddenly be calling me?

A bad feeling rose in me at once. I quickly picked up the Soul-Whip and headed outside.

The Soul-Whip had been given to me by an old Taoist priest when I was a child.

I had saved him from a drainage ditch, and he told me, “The face of an asura, the heart of a bodhisattva. In this life, you are destined to make your living between yin and yang.”

Over the past few years, in order to earn money and pay off my debts, I had taken on plenty of sinister jobs. This Soul-Whip had helped me many times as well.