Despite his suspicions, Ding Yudie returned to his tent in good spirits.
After all, he had passed the test: if someone else had been asked to draw on short notice, who knows how poor it might have turned out? At least his work was presentable.
Though, Ding Panling keeping Yi Sa back made her seem so important, which annoyed him a bit.
The tent wasn’t lit – this was arranged earlier with Zong Hang: for discretion and keeping a low profile.
Ding Yudie unzipped the door and crawled in, casually turning on the headlamp hanging from the tent ceiling.
Zong Hang was lying obediently on the ground mat, not even lifting his head to avoid casting extra shadows on the tent for passersby to see. His voice was barely above a whisper: “What did they want with you right away?”
Ding Yudie answered: “Drawing.”
He raised his wrist in the air, making a flourishing gesture as if wielding a brush.
Drawing? Zong Hang was puzzled: “Drawing what?”
“Computers eating people, computers grinning evilly, basically computers coming alive.”
That scene… sounded familiar somehow…
Zong Hang froze for a moment, then suddenly realized and blurted out: “You drew those?”
“Yes,” Ding Yudie thought his question was strange, “Uncle Panling asked me to draw, so I drew. Of course, I drew them.”
Zong Hang’s heart was pounding non-stop.
Ding Panling wouldn’t have randomly asked Ding Yudie to draw these two pictures. Could he suspect the drawings were Ding Yudie’s work? No wonder when delivering the car yesterday, he repeatedly asked if there had been any “blackouts” after going underwater…
“Hey,” Ding Yudie looked at Zong Hang with disapproval, “What’s your plan anyway?”
What plan? His thoughts suddenly interrupted, and Zong Hang looked confused.
Ding Yudie irritably gestured around the tent: “I don’t like sharing accommodation with others. Given our good friendship, I can put up with you for a night or two at most—aren’t you here to win back Sa Sa? Though I don’t think you have much chance, couldn’t you at least do something? Just lying there won’t make flowers bloom.”
Oh, that’s what he meant.
Zong Hang crawled around on the ground mat, quietly lifting the tent zipper to peek outside.
Fortunately, this spot was relatively secluded with no one passing by.
“When you just went to see Ding Panling, did you see Yi Sa?”
Bringing up exactly what annoyed him, Ding Yudie rolled his eyes: “Yes, she was also discussing things with Ding Panling, hasn’t come out yet.”
“Could you help me with something…” Zong Hang pointed towards a lit camp light outside, “When she comes out later, could you find an excuse to talk to her over there?”
Ding Yudie leaned in, trying to see what was special about that spot: “Then what?”
“Nothing else, I just want to see her.”
What? Ding Yudie looked at Zong Hang like he was crazy.
Zong Hang awkwardly tried to express his feelings: “You’ve never been in love, you wouldn’t understand. A day apart feels like three years. Just being able to watch her from afar would make me so happy.”
“You’re happy while I freeze outside?”
This late at night, the plateau was as cold as winter. His having to make an awkward conversation with Yi Sa under the lights just to fulfill Zong Hang’s wish to “take a look”—just thinking about it seemed incredibly stupid.
Zong Hang sighed: “Aren’t we friends? These past couple of days, my heart feels shattered, I can’t even eat properly…”
More nonsense—he had eaten every last crumb of the food packed from the hotel.
“I’m just asking for this tiny favor, not asking you to go underwater or face danger. If you’re worried about the cold, just five minutes, would five minutes be okay?”
Those words reminded Ding Yudie of when the three of them fought together against Jiang Jun in the breathing nest under Poyang Lake.
They had faced life and death together; five minutes was just a small favor.
Ding Yudie softened but felt compelled to assert some authority and lecture Zong Hang first.
“Don’t just think about looking, that’s so pathetic!”
Zong Hang: “Yes, yes.”
“And another thing, a real man should know when to hold on and when to let go. If it’s not going to work out, then give up, don’t act all pitiful like this.”
Zong Hang: “Okay, okay.”
With such a cooperative attitude, Ding Yudie couldn’t say much more. Then he thought, well, heterosexuals are just so messy like this.
How many people could be as free and unencumbered as asexuals like them?
Yi Sa had just left Ding Panling’s tent when she heard someone calling her.
Looking towards the voice, Ding Yudie was standing beside a bright camp light, waving frantically at her.
Having just had such an intense discussion with someone as sharp as Ding Panling, her head was spinning. Chatting with Ding Yudie might help her relax.
Yi Sa walked over casually and asked: “Settled in? Which tent?”
Ding Yudie pointed to his tent. He had asked Zong Hang to keep the lights off earlier—pitch black was better for observation.
Yi Sa glanced over: it was quite far from her tent, they were at opposite ends of the camp.
“Did you need something?”
Ding Yudie had prepared his script, deliberately acting mysterious: “Just wanted to ask why Uncle Panling had me draw computers?”
“Not sure, but after Aunt Yunqiao arrives tomorrow, Uncle Panling will discuss everything with you all in detail. You can ask then.”
Okay, that question was done.
“How come I haven’t seen Zong Hang since I arrived?”
Yi Sa was silent for a moment: “He left.”
Ding Yudie exaggerated his surprise: “Why?”
Yi Sa felt irritated: “He’s not one of the Three Families, he had to leave sooner or later.”
Seeing she didn’t want to discuss this, Ding Yudie changed the subject to the drifting cave: “We came here for the drifting cave, but how do we find it? It hasn’t been opened for so many years.”
She had thought chatting with Ding Yudie would help her relax, but their information levels were so mismatched, with questions coming one after another. Yi Sa didn’t feel like explaining and quickly lost interest: “You’ve had a long journey today, get some rest first, we’ll talk tomorrow.”
No way, five minutes hadn’t passed yet. Ding Yudie quickly grabbed her and started rambling randomly about why Ding Haijin and Jiang Taiyue hadn’t come, how they seemed short-staffed at the camp, and how he didn’t like the plateau weather and wasn’t adapting well…
Yi Sa listened to him ramble with patience but felt increasingly that something wasn’t right. Midway through, she suddenly barked: “Ding Yudie!”
Ding Yudie jumped: “Huh?”
“Who else is in the tent?”
Damn, this was truly a thunderclap after silence. Ding Yudie stammered: “No… no one.”
Yi Sa laughed coldly: “Late at night, tent lights off—since when are you so energy-conscious? Randomly pulling me over to chat about nothing for several minutes, your eyes glancing over there at least ten times. If there’s no ghost in there, let me take a look.”
She strode towards the tent.
Ding Yudie panicked, jogging to catch up: “No, Sa Sa, really there’s no one, I just tend to look around when I talk, I…”
The more anxious he got, the more suspicious it seemed. Yi Sa ignored him, walked to the entrance, knelt on one knee, and yanked open the zipper.
Ding Yudie’s scalp tingled and he instinctively closed his eyes: if we’re caught, we’re caught—it’s not like it’s a matter of life and death…
The next moment, something felt off.
There seemed to be… no reaction.
He quickly squatted down to look inside, using the camp light from outside.
No one, really no one! Damn it, didn’t Zong Hang say he wanted to hide here and watch Yi Sa? Where did he go?
But this was good—the empty tent saved him. Ding Yudie got his confidence back: “See? I told you there was no one, right?”
Yi Sa frowned, didn’t immediately get up, but reached in to turn on the hanging headlamp instead.
Ding Yudie secretly rejoiced: fortunately he had the foresight not to let Zong Hang bring his luggage down—the sleeping bag and other things weren’t unpacked yet, so he wasn’t worried about her looking closely.
He muttered: “See, I said there wasn’t anyone. Why are you so suspicious…”
While complaining outwardly, he felt inexplicably confused inside.
Where was Zong Hang?
Where was he?
When Ding Yudie was dramatically waving Yi Sa over, Zong Hang had already slipped out.
He knew where Yi Sa was staying. Pulling up his jacket hood and pretending to be cold, he walked with hunched shoulders and lowered head, somehow making it there smoothly.
At her tent entrance, seeing no one nearby, he quickly ducked in, felt around, and sure enough found a soft notebook under Yi Sa’s sleeping bag.
Zong Hang tucked the notebook away and quickly retreated, hurrying to the nearest camp light. With trembling hands he took out his phone, carefully watching his surroundings while flipping pages with one hand and taking photos with the other.
There was no time to read carefully—efficiency was key. Though some photos came out blurry, it shouldn’t be a big problem.
The photographing didn’t take long, but was terrifying: the camp wasn’t quiet, sometimes there were coughs, sometimes footsteps. Several times he was startled, his heart pounding, sweat breaking out on his forehead and back.
After finishing, Zong Hang immediately returned the notebook, then continued walking with hunched shoulders and lowered head, hurrying out of the camp. Only after leaving the camp far behind with its lights in the distance did he finally let out a long breath, bending over with hands on his knees.
He wasn’t cut out for this sneaking around—those few minutes were more exhausting than fighting for his life in the drifting cave.
Finally catching his breath, he sniffed, turned up his collar for warmth, found a small windbreak slope to crouch behind, and shakily took out his phone.
He had taken quite a few photos, about twenty pages worth.
He opened the first page, zoomed in, then zoomed in further.
Would things be related to this notebook? What exactly had Yi Sa seen?
Ding Yudie sat in the tent with arms crossed, looking very serious: this way when Zong Hang returned, he would know he was angry, that this was serious—that Zong Hang, looking like such an honest person, actually lying and deceiving people, even making up that nonsense about a day apart feeling like three years.
But after being angry for a while, he started feeling uneasy.
Something wasn’t right—it was late, in this middle of nowhere there was nowhere to go except the camp, where could he have gone?
Ding Yudie poked his head out of the tent: it got colder as the night deepened, the wind howling, carrying sounds from dozens of miles away. Maybe it was just his paranoia, but he felt the wind carried whimpering sounds, like wolf howls.
Someone happened to pass by.
It was Ding Changsheng. Ding Yudie held grudges and put on an ugly face, not wanting to acknowledge him, but unexpectedly Ding Changsheng smiled at him first.
After all, he was an elder—since he took the initiative to be friendly, he had to respond. Ding Yudie went along: “Uncle Ding, are there wolves here?”
Ding Changsheng thought for a moment: “Hard to say, it’s the plateau—there could be wolves, bears, all sorts of things.”
He chuckled and reassured him: “But they’re afraid of people, won’t come near the camp. Besides, we have people on night watch, you can rest easy.”
Damn, there are wolves?
Ding Yudie’s mind exploded. After watching Ding Changsheng walk away, he quickly grabbed a flashlight and went out.
First, he searched around the camp, even making an excuse to “visit” Yi Sa. He initially wanted to tell her about the situation and have her help search, but hesitated and held back: what if he was being paranoid? Better to confirm first—if someone really was missing, forget about just Yi Sa, the whole camp would need to be roused, after all this was a whole person they were talking about.
He searched further outside the camp, going farther and farther. Fortunately, his luck was good—just as he was getting anxious, his flashlight beam swept across a small slope where someone was sitting.
The clothes and appearance looked like Zong Hang. Ding Yudie walked closer, shining the light directly on his face.
An ordinary person would have jumped up when hit with such strong light, but Zong Hang didn’t. He just sat there, looking rather dazed, hands on his knees, one hand tightly gripping his phone.
Ding Yudie felt uneasy, his anger long gone, carefully approaching: “Zong Hang? Hey, Zong Hang?”
He even nudged him with his toe, half expecting him to topple over like in a horror movie.
Fortunately, he didn’t. Zong Hang finally looked up: “Huh?”
A huge weight lifted from Ding Yudie’s heart, though he was very puzzled: “In the middle of the night, why aren’t you back at the tent? What are you doing sitting here?”
Zong Hang looked at him for a while, then suddenly seemed to come to: “Oh, nothing.”
He scrambled to his feet, dusted off his bottom, and smiled sheepishly at him: “Nothing, nothing, I just got lost in thought while sitting here, spaced out.”
Ding Yudie helped Zong Hang sneak back to the tent.
But he felt there was something wrong.
Honestly, throughout the journey here, Zong Hang hadn’t really acted like someone who’d been dumped, but now he truly did: he would fall unconsciously silent, then quickly smile when you looked at him—that kind of pre-emptive smile meant to tell you “I’m fine, don’t ask, nothing’s wrong.”
After the lights were out, he even heard Zong Hang sigh, very softly, yet somehow more heart-wrenching than a heavy sigh.
Ding Yudie was even feeling melancholic himself. Just as he was finally getting drowsy, he heard Zong Hang call softly: “Ding Yudie?”
“Yeah?”
“These next couple of days, Ding Panling will talk to you about the drifting cave. He’ll arrange for people to go down again.”
So? Ding Yudie perked up his ears to hear what followed.
“Whatever he arranges, please let me know. I don’t have bad intentions… just think of it as having a secret helper.”