The person who emerged from the tent was Zhang Ke.
He had gotten up in the middle of the night to relieve himself, and had vaguely noticed some movement near where Lu Yuwen was — he cast a suspicious glance that way.
— Lu Yuwen was tied to the tree, head drooping, apparently having passed out.
From the nearby tent came the steady rhythm of snoring.
Zhang Ke looked away, telling himself he must have been hearing things.
He walked to the roadside to relieve himself, and on his way back, adjusting his belt, he happened to glance over at the motorcycle and noticed that the cargo box lid wasn’t properly closed.
It was close by, so he walked over, lifted the lid, and started to push it shut.
But when he opened it, he found that the stack of papers inside was gone.
Zhang Ke froze.
His first instinct was that one of the other two had taken the map into the tent to study it.
But after taking a few steps, something felt off.
The tent was pitch dark — no light source. And what would be the point of looking at the map without light? Besides, the map had always been kept in this spot; there was no reason to suddenly move it.
Zhang Ke looked back toward the bound Lu Yuwen.
Tied up with that item, there was no way he could have stolen the map.
The remaining possibilities were either Xiao Ge or Yangzi — unless… there was a fifth person here?
At that thought, Zhang Ke’s eyes swept alertly around him —
The surroundings were too dark, too dim, too still. Even if someone was hiding, it would be nearly impossible to detect them.
Though he thought the possibility was small, he was cautious enough to approach the tent and ask: “Xiao Ge… Xiao Ge? Do you have the map in there?”
A few seconds later, a groggy male voice came from the tent: “Middle of the night, what map…”
Yangzi had also been woken up, turned over, and snapped irritably: “What’s got you losing your mind in the middle of the night?”
Zhang Ke said: “The map isn’t on the motorcycle, so I figured I’d ask if it was with you.”
—
Both men inside went silent for a beat — then sleep completely left them!
Xiao Ge crawled out of the tent and demanded: “What’s going on?! You’re saying the map isn’t on the motorcycle?”
“I just checked.” Zhang Ke pointed toward the motorcycle. “Everything else is there — but the map is gone.”
Xiao Ge didn’t believe it and strode over to the motorcycle in a few quick steps, slapping the cargo box open!
Sure enough — gone!
Everything else in the box was still there — only the map had vanished!
“Yangzi! Did you touch the map?” Xiao Ge asked, scowling.
The short young man snapped back in annoyance: “Why would I? You said yourself it’s useless until we’ve covered all 100 squares, didn’t you?”
He glared at Lu Yuwen. “I’m telling you, it’s got to be him. I said from the start that this guy is trouble!”
He was already moving to go teach Lu Yuwen a lesson.
Xiao Ge grabbed him irritably and held him back. “He’s tied to a tree — how could he have taken the map?! And even if he had, where would he hide it? A stack of paper that thick? There’s no way he’s hiding it on his person!”
Zhang Ke scanned the surrounding darkness alertly. Every shadow among those dark shapes suddenly seemed suspicious.
“Xiao Ge, looks like this place isn’t as safe as we thought,” Zhang Ke said.
“What do you mean?” Yangzi frowned. “You think an animal dragged it away?”
“What kind of nonsense is that — since the world turned into this mess, have you seen a single animal?” Xiao Ge said coldly. “And even if there were animals, have you ever seen one that only eats paper?”
Yangzi finally caught on: “You’re saying… there’s someone else here?”
He swept his gaze around. “That can’t be right… ever since we came in here, other than mannequins, we haven’t run into a single living person…”
“Either way, we should post a night watch,” Zhang Ke said, looking at Xiao Ge. “The map being gone isn’t a big deal — we can just draw it again. But we can’t afford to lose something more important without even knowing it.”
Like their lives.
Xiao Ge’s expression darkened. He gave a nod.
—