Daomu Biji: Restart

Even though Fatty had just gone to sleep, I woke him up again. He never had any problems sleeping and had actually managed to fall asleep after only a few seconds just now. When he woke up, he shouted in a daze, "Fuck, is it the heavenly gift again? Have we received the heavenly gift again?

I asked him to watch the video on my phone, but he ended up falling asleep in the middle of it. I had to shake him awake again before he fully woke up. After watching the clip, he remained very silent for a while. I also showed it to Poker-Face again, just like an elementary schooler showing their classmate a good comic they saw.

After watching it, we were all very quiet. Fatty looked at me, but I noticed that something in his gaze was off. "What's wrong?” I asked him. “Don't you find it strange?"

"I don't think it's strange," Fatty said. "There were four of us from the beginning. Mr. Naïve, did something happen to you?"

I gave Fatty a questioning look while saying to myself, what? Have you been heavenly gifted? Only three of us came in here.

"Are you still half-asleep?” He asked. “It’s been the four of us this whole time. Look!" He tilted his chin in a certain direction.

I turned my head and suddenly found that there was a person sleeping by the pile of corpses on the other side.

I instantly broke out in a cold sweat and glanced at Poker-Face, but he didn’t seem to care at all. It appeared I really was making a fuss over nothing. I crawled over to see who the person in the sleeping bag was, but at this time, I found that the person had a skinless dog face. Startled by my actions, they sat up and said, "You forgot me again!"

I woke up with a start. I was still watching the videos on my phone, Fatty was fast asleep beside me, and Poker-Face was sitting up on a high rock. It was all just a nightmare.

I raised my hand and looked at my phone. The video clip with that fourth suspected person was still there. I remembered that I had shown it to Fatty and Poker-Face last night, but we couldn’t come up with any conclusions. This whole heavenly gift incident had a great impact on us, and we were all exhausted. I kept watching that video clip over and over again and must have fallen asleep before I knew it.

It had been a long time since I had this kind of strange dream. Was it the remnants of my consciousness from when I had been under the heavenly gift’s influence? I looked at Poker-Face and wondered if he ever dreamed of those bits of memory from the countless heavenly gifts he had received before.

I rubbed my eyes and found that I couldn't sleep anymore, so I stood up and found a stone to sit down on.

The person in that video wasn’t actually in the frame, and all I could see was their shadow. Was it possible that this person was the young man in the strange Mongolian outfit?

If there really was a fourth person, did they leave as soon as the heavenly gift controlling us was interrupted? We didn’t have this guy’s equipment here, so he must have taken it with him. And if that were the case, then he should still be near us.

Following that train of thought, if he left because of the heavenly gift getting interrupted, then it meant that he knew what state we were in. So, he was deliberately staying with our heavenly gifted selves but unwilling to meet with us now. At this time, his best choice was to wait nearby for us to receive the heavenly gift again.

I was almost certain that this person was the young man from before since there wasn’t another living person around. But this person’s appearance was originally very bizarre. If it weren't for him, there would be a lot of people hiding here. I looked at the darkness on both sides and silently asked myself, where is he?

I found a high place, stood up, and shouted into the darkness, "Come out!"

The sound echoed in this space, the words "come out" reverberating for a long time before they finally disappeared. I decided to bluff and said, "I know everything about you and Jin Wantang. What do you want to do? You can just come out and talk directly."

There was no response from the darkness, so I thought for a moment and then said, "Are your mom and dad close relatives? I bet your eyes are spaced quite far apart. Did your mother eat too many crabs when she gave birth to you?"⁽¹⁾

Insulting one’s parents was the easiest way to get a rise out of someone, but there was still no response.

I sighed, but at this time, the satellite phone next to Fatty suddenly made a harsh beep. Then, it forcibly came on and I heard a strange, accented voice start talking. I didn’t know what it was saying, but it seemed to be a kind of chant.

After listening carefully, I realized that it was Jin Wantang's voice. He seemed to be chanting in a language I didn’t understand, but his tone sounded very scared.

"Tang Tang?"⁽²⁾ I asked.

The chanting on the other end of the line instantly stopped, as if the person were shocked. Then, he immediately shouted, "Little Master Three! Save me, save me!"

"Where are you, Tang Tang? Shouldn't you be eating mutton on the grassland and watching over the destruction you’ve caused?" Fatty, who had also woken up, started scolding him.

"I don't know where I am. It's very dark here." Jin Wantang's voice sounded like he was on the verge of tears, and even his fear could be heard over the satellite phone, which made the whole situation seem less funny. "I’m crushed under a stone. My ribs are broken.”

"Then do you have any last words to say? Give me your bank card password and your mistress’s phone number. This Fat Master will live for a hundred years, so you can feel at ease leaving them to me."

"Fat Master, are you Oboi trying to ransack my home?⁽³⁾ I’ll give it all to you, just save me! Save me quickly!"

"Where the hell are you?" Fatty rubbed his stomach. "Is there any food around you?"

"I don't know. I just woke up here. It’s dark and I can’t see anything. All I have is this satellite phone. But I heard you call me just now, so I prayed that the heavens would drop Zhang Qiling down here to save me."

Why do you hear my voice and pray for Zhang Qiling? It’s not like I’m some useless chess piece, I said to myself. But still, my heart was a little moved. I did call his name just now, so was he near us?

I looked at the rocks on the side. It was impossible for us to receive any satellite signals here, but Jin Wantang could still contact us, which meant that he must be somewhere in this black rock vein. How did he get in?

"Turn off the satellite phone first and then knock on the stone next to you," I said to him.

"Why?"

"If you ask again, then consider this goodbye," I replied. "Just do it."

Jin Wantang obediently turned the satellite phone off, so I told Fatty not to talk and just listen carefully. Sure enough, I heard the sound of something tapping on a stone coming from a gap about a hundred meters away from us.

Fatty glanced at me with a puzzled expression on his face, "How did he get in there?"

The satellite phone rang again, and Jin Wantang’s voice cried out, "Blood! Shit, I lost a lot of blood! Fat Master, I’ll be your servant. Is Little Brother there? I’ll build a temple for you! I’ll be your servant, too! Just save me!"

I looked at the distance, shined my flashlight over there, and saw a messy pile of stones. I cleared my throat and said, "This is to lead us away from here."

Then I heard the sound of coughing. Jin Wantang must have coughed up a lot of blood, for this coughing almost sounded like he was on the verge of death. I didn’t know if Jin Wantang had also received the heavenly gift, but he was definitely there and he most definitely had internal bleeding.

Fatty was a little anxious—he still had some warm feelings for Jin Wantang—so he pulled out the rope and tied it around his waist while saying to me, "Mr. Naïve, I'll go. If I wind up getting the heavenly gift, then you'll have to pull me back. Don't worry about anything I might say. I’ll tie a knot so that you can pull me back."

I moved to stop him, but Fatty acted so fast that he rushed out before I could do anything. I looked at my hand and found that it was empty. That fucking bastard had taken the other end of the rope and ran away!

****

TN Notes:

(1) He’s pretty much just insulting this person by saying they’re inbred.

(2) Tang Tang is Jin Wantang’s nickname.

(3)Oboi was a prominent Manchu military commander and courtier who served in various military and administrative posts under three successive emperors of the early Qing dynasty. In the wuxia novel, “The Deer and the Cauldron”, he was a cruel and power-hungry aristocrat who plotted to usurp the Kangxi Emperor's throne.