Diao Zhuo finished his cigarette, stubbed it out underfoot, and lifted the lid of the pressure cooker. Steam billowed up, carrying the fresh, savory aroma of mutton.

Everyone crowded around. “Smells amazing!”

Not hearing Ba Yunye’s usual boisterous chatter, Diao Zhuo instinctively looked around for her — and found only her stainless steel lunch box sitting alone on a black canvas bag, with several large pieces of flatbread torn apart haphazardly inside.

“Where did Master Ba go?” He Ma also noticed someone was missing. He looked around, then saw that her vehicle was gone and Xiao Zi was nowhere to be found either. He figured the two of them had probably driven somewhere farther off to use the restroom.

“Come on, eat up, eat up!” Da Qin called out. Having not eaten all day, everyone was famished. At the sight of the mutton soup, they each clutched their lunch boxes with hungry, gleaming eyes, looking like starving ghosts.

“Too bland…” someone said, having taken an eager first sip, and went looking for salt.

He Ma called out, “You’d better leave some for Master Ba — when she gets back and finds you’ve eaten everything, she’ll…”

Diao Zhuo heard a car horn in the distance — one long blast, three short.

That was a distress signal.

“Three people with me, now!” Diao Zhuo was already running toward his vehicle before he finished speaking.

The pack of wolves was tightening its circle. Two wolves had already moved in close, ready to trip Xiao Zi — once she fell and struggled, the pack would swarm in, and the lead wolf would lunge to snap her windpipe.

Ba Yunye had ten thousand urges to take on the whole pack single-handedly, but years of military training told her that without weapons and without backup, recklessness was not the answer. She looked left and right, then grabbed the fire extinguisher from under the passenger seat, jumped out of the vehicle, took aim at the lead wolf’s position, and blasted it with full force.

The sudden white powder startled the wolf pack again. They retreated several steps in alarm, and Xiao Zi finally let out a loud wail, gasping and throwing her arms around Ba Yunye.

“Stop crying and get in the vehicle!” Ba Yunye commanded.

The pack began to realize the continuous spray of white powder posed no actual threat.

Xiao Zi turned to run back but stumbled — the high-speed running had left her brain deprived of oxygen, her vision went black, and she suddenly collapsed to the ground.

“Hey!” Ba Yunye called to her.

Seeing prey go down, the wolves took on an aggressive stance again. Fortunately, Ba Yunye heard the sound of vehicle engines — they had arrived.

Two SUVs pulled up behind Ba Yunye. Diao Zhuo, Xiang’an, Da Qin, and He Ma stepped out one by one. Diao Zhuo and Xiang’an flanked Ba Yunye on either side, while Da Qin and He Ma worked together to carry Xiao Zi.

The pack knew the hunt had failed, but still didn’t leave immediately — they lingered, eyes fixed and predatory.

Diao Zhuo stepped forward. His tall, powerful frame planted itself in front of Ba Yunye. He spread his arms wide, lifted his right leg, and brought it down hard on the ground with a thunderous stomp. His expression turned fierce, and he let out a sharp, commanding roar. The wolf pack recoiled as one, their collective courage instantly crumbling. After the lead wolf turned and fled, the others immediately wheeled around and scattered in all directions.

The danger had passed.

Ba Yunye collapsed heavily to the ground, unconscious.

This gave everyone quite a scare. Xiang’an quickly checked her for wolf bites and found her clothing intact, with no bite marks or bloodstains on her hands or feet.

“Master Ba!” Xiang’an shook her.

Diao Zhuo waited until the wolf pack had dwindled to mere gray specks in the distance, then walked back.

“Look at this…” Da Qin pointed at Ba Yunye, who was sprawled in a spread-eagle position on the ground, his voice tense.

Diao Zhuo said nothing, but mouthed the words to them: “She’s faking.”

Even Xiao Zi hadn’t been injured — how could she herself be gravely hurt? Nine times out of ten, she was playing dead again.

Everyone relaxed, their expressions a mix of exasperation and amusement. He Ma patted Diao Zhuo on the shoulder, as if to say: in situations like this, only you can handle it.

“Master Ba sacrificed her own life to protect Xiao Zi,” Diao Zhuo said, standing perfectly still and raising his voice. “The ground here is too hard to dig a grave — perhaps we should just leave her here, and each of us bow three times to pay our respects. Come on.”

Ba Yunye silently cursed his ancestors ten times over in her heart, while keeping up her death performance on the outside.

“I’ll go first.” Diao Zhuo actually bowed a full ninety degrees.

He Ma said, “We still need to take Xiao Zi back to rest. Diao, as team representative, please bow a few extra times on our behalf. See you.” With that, everyone piled into the vehicles and drove off.

Diao Zhuo crossed his arms. “Still not getting up?”

Ba Yunye had tremendous willpower — if she was going to play dead, she would see it through to the end.

Unfortunately, this obliviously straightforward man hadn’t even considered that she was playing dead in hopes he’d carry her.

“Really dead?” He gave her arm a light nudge with his toe.

Ba Yunye thought: Damn it, shouldn’t this be the moment for mouth-to-mouth resuscitation?

“In that case, farewell forever, my comrade.” Diao Zhuo turned and got into his vehicle, shut the door with a firm bang, waited a few seconds — she still hadn’t moved — then coolly pressed the accelerator without the slightest hesitation and drove away.

He was actually leaving? Ba Yunye ground her teeth in fury. She sneaked one eye open for a peek and confirmed he had already driven far, far away. She drew a deep breath, then let it out slowly, and opened her eyes. Stars glimmered faintly above; a fierce wind gusted in waves. Along the horizon’s edge glowed a strange, spectral shade of deep blue — like the eyes of those wolves just moments ago.

Venturing alone into an uninhabited wilderness — it was probably something like this. Just oneself between heaven and earth. Loneliness and pride coexisting. Walk out of it, and it becomes glory.

Far away, the long howl of a wolf drifted over. The wind battered her head with a dull ache.

Ba Yunye sat up. She wasn’t the sort of overly sentimental type who would stubbornly wait for Diao Zhuo to come carry her. She pulled out her small pocket flashlight and set off toward camp. After only a few steps, her toe kicked something — a soft thud. She shone the light down: a dirt-brown kraft paper envelope, almost the same color as the ground. Had it not been kicked up, she might not have noticed it at all.

She crouched down and picked it up. Flipping it over, she saw several large characters on the front:

A gift for the destined one. — Zou.

Zou?! She froze. A gleam of excited light flashed in her eyes.

Headlights cut through the darkness in the distance, the engine sound unusually distinct against the vast, silent wilderness.

Diao Zhuo had turned back.

“Diao Zhuo!” Ba Yunye raised both arms and waved them hard. She tossed the whole embarrassing episode of trying to con him into carrying her completely out of her mind. “Look what I found!”

Diao Zhuo lowered the window and took the envelope, opening it. She stood on her tiptoes and leaned over the car door, craning her neck to look — though not at the envelope’s contents, but at him.

His facial features were sharp and defined. Several days without shaving had left stubble pushing through, a shadowy gray-green spreading from his jaw up toward his temples, looking quite prickly.

I really want to touch it.

Diao Zhuo hadn’t noticed her brazen stare. He was absorbed in the contents of the envelope — an MP4 player.

“Is it Zou Kaigui’s?”

Diao Zhuo was silent for a moment. “Back to camp first.”

“If it’s his, it proves our route is correct — he passed through here before he…” Ba Yunye swallowed the word “died,” nearly choking on it herself. “…before he disappeared.”

“Get in.” Diao Zhuo gestured toward the passenger seat with his chin.

Ba Yunye climbed in with a self-satisfied swagger, like a triumphant fox. “If I’ve earned merit, how is the team leader going to reward me?”

Diao Zhuo set the envelope on the console. “What reward do you want?”

“I…”

“One chance — if I don’t agree with what you say, the reward is canceled.”

“And how do you know in advance that I’ll name a reward you won’t agree to?” Ba Yunye sighed. “Forget it — you’re a grown man who goes back on his word. I won’t say it.”

Diao Zhuo coaxed her, “Go ahead, I’m all ears.”

Ba Yunye reached out directly and gave his chin a firm, rough squeeze.

Mm. Prickly, as expected.

After one second of stunned silence, Diao Zhuo calmly continued driving. He realized he still hadn’t fully figured out her patterns — or perhaps she simply was a woman who never played by the rules.

When word got out that Ba Yunye had found something that might belong to Zou Kaigui, everyone’s spirits soared. Ba Yunye watched as Diao Zhuo put on gloves, took out the MP4 player, and received something from someone else that appeared to be a fingerprint chart. He studied it in the light for a while, then frowned and stared at the MP4’s screen intently. After a long moment, he said: “The prints match — it’s Zou Kaigui’s.”

Ba Yunye was stunned. “You… you compared fingerprints with the naked eye?!”

Diao Zhuo gave a light hum of acknowledgment.

“How is that possible?” she said in disbelief.

Da Qin chuckled and pulled out a length of clear tape. “Want to try, Master Ba?”

Ba Yunye pressed her fingerprint onto the back of one piece of tape for Diao Zhuo, then had Da Qin, He Ma, and Tan Lin each press one onto another strip, and carefully pinched it over to him. “Find which one is mine.”

While Diao Zhuo was comparing fingerprints, the others used a solar charger to power up the MP4 player for a while and managed to turn it on successfully. Inside was a large collection of classic old songs — evidently, by the time Zou Kaigui had reached this point, he had felt music could no longer serve as entertainment to pass the time. Whether it was because Qiang Tang’s scenery genuinely surpassed the appeal of beautiful melodies, or because something had shifted psychologically, was unclear, but even his music player showed signs of an unusual change.

At this point, Diao Zhuo pointed to one of the fingerprints. “Yours?”

Ba Yunye’s eyes went wide — he had guessed correctly. “You… you can actually do that? Where did you learn it?”

“Never learned it. I just have a sensitivity to visual textures.”

Ba Yunye stared at him blankly for a moment, then asked carefully: “If you were given a photograph… never mind, forget it.”

“What were you going to say?” The wind was strong — Diao Zhuo thought he might have misheard.

“Nothing.”

He Ma glanced between her and Diao Zhuo, a thoughtful look on his face.

Ye Xun seemed remarkably unfazed by the MP4 player. Once he confirmed there were no audio recordings on it, he refocused his energy on filling his stomach. After Xiao Zi was lifted out of the vehicle she had come around, still shaken and dazed, mumbling “So terrifying” over and over and crying that she wanted the rescue team to escort her back — she refused to go on.

Ba Yunye cradled her lunch box, eating her makeshift mutton-flatbread stew that was bland and tasteless. She scooped a few mouthfuls absently, then, as if she’d completely forgotten what had just happened, brought up old business again: “Team Leader Diao, I’ve earned a real merit this time — you need to reward me properly.”

“That thing from a moment ago — wasn’t that already the reward?” Diao Zhuo asked.

“Which thing? Oh…” Ba Yunye smacked her forehead. “That thing… doesn’t count.”

Which thing? Everyone’s chopsticks froze mid-air. They involuntarily held their breath. Keeping their expressions carefully neutral on the surface, each heart silently posed a question. Their gazes drifted one by one toward Diao Zhuo, sizing him up from head to toe.

Diao Zhuo cleared his throat pointedly and looked at Ba Yunye. “Explain yourself clearly.”

“If I’m too clear about it… wouldn’t that be awkward?” She scratched the back of her head sheepishly. “Besides, didn’t you tell me not to say it just now, in the vehicle?”

Everyone exchanged glances, their expressions growing even more suggestive.

He Ma held back a laugh. “Master Ba, just say it — restore Diao’s good name.”

Ba Yunye stretched out her hand, flexed her five fingers, savoring the memory of his prickly stubble against her palm. Her eyes darted around, and she sighed, “…So long.”

Five or six people choked at the same moment. Diao Zhuo looked as if he had lost the will to live.

After a long pause, she rubbed her own chin. “I meant the stubble.”

No, she definitely didn’t mean the stubble — everyone thought.

No, she genuinely meant the stubble — Diao Zhuo swept his gaze around the group, unable to defend himself to any of them.

He Ma burst out laughing and fell over sideways. “So what other reward do you still want?”

Ba Yunye explained: “That earlier touch was my reward to him for rushing over to help and for driving off the wolves. The reward I’m talking about now is for successfully navigating the route and personally finding Zou Kaigui’s belongings.”

Da Qin fanned the flames. “That second merit is even bigger — you should ask for an even bigger reward.”

“Team Leader Diao probably won’t agree,” Ba Yunye said with a pained expression.

Diao Zhuo narrowed his eyes, utterly unafraid of where this was going. “You’ve earned a great merit. Whatever demand you make, I’ll satisfy it. Go ahead.”

She stretched lazily, then slid a glance sideways toward the tent not far away.

His tent was sturdily pitched, sparse of the miscellaneous clutter men accumulate — inside sat one solitary sleeping bag.

Diao Zhuo was deliberating: was she going to go through with it, or was she simply stirring up trouble?

She was probably just stirring up trouble.

Ba Yunye didn’t open her mouth; Diao Zhuo didn’t take the bait either. The others, however, were on the edge of their seats — they all knew that in these conditions nothing would actually happen, but they sat there with the relish of spectators watching a riveting show.

At that moment, Xiao Zi — who had absolutely no talent for subtlety — couldn’t help pointing at the tent and blurting out, “Master Ba, you’re not thinking of spending tonight with Team Leader Diao, are you…”

Ba Yunye burst out laughing. The atmosphere had been so perfectly fun, but Xiao Zi had gone and punctured it — now it was flat and dull.

Diao Zhuo pulled out a cigarette, flipped open his lighter, and a flame leaped to life. He said in a low, unhurried voice, “You’re welcome.”

She shook her head. “Team Leader Diao is too lacking in enthusiasm.”

“What’s the damn point of being enthusiastic now?” He held the cigarette between his fingers. Through the drifting smoke, his brow and eyes were strikingly handsome — the composure and solidity of a mature man conveyed in that one calm glance. No matter what tricks you brought, he accepted them all and held his ground. “Come on then — tonight I’ll see you off properly.”

“The way you say that makes me so frightened…” she said, feigning a shiver.

The adult banter was too much for Xiao Zi to process. She looked at Ba Yunye, then at Diao Zhuo. “Master Ba, can you stay and sleep in my tent? I’m really scared.”

“Alright, alright, I’m done!” Ba Yunye waved it off. “I don’t have any other demands anyway — it’s just that I’ve been driving for days and I’m exhausted. Tomorrow I’d like to ride in Team Leader Diao’s passenger seat.”

“You’re welcome.” This time, Diao Zhuo gave her a sincere, genuine round of applause.