Daomu Biji: The Southern Archives

He Jianxi thought that he had his own philosophy of survival. For so many years, he had a clear conscience. Although the world was full of unhappiness and unfairness, the little world in his heart had never been invaded or shaken. In addition, his greatest confidence was that he had never met any bad guys doing bad things that he didn’t see coming.

As a result, this world couldn’t scare him.

Unfortunately, this confidence was destroyed in a single moment. Ever since he had met Zhang Haiyan, he had been unable to foresee any of this series of illogical incidents. Plus, the way things were developing kept getting more and more absurd. He didn’t know what he would see the next time he opened his eyes.

His grievances and fear rushed at him like water breaking a dam, and he started to cry. He wasn’t wailing, but crying in a low voice because he was so scared.

Zhang Haiyan was exhausted, so he lay in the bathtub and rested for a while. Then, he slowly stood up and turned on the hot water so the sound would mask He Jianxi’s sobbing.

Zhang Haiyan stepped out of the bathtub, grabbed a clean towel, and wiped himself clean.

Steven’s dinner had been placed on the side of the sofa, untouched. There was borscht soup and bread, which Zhang Haiyan used to dip into the soup. He took a few bites and thought for a while before drinking the rest of the soup. He left only two slices of bread for He Jianxi, but after thinking about it again, he ate another slice, leaving only one left.

This was a very well-planned operation. The other party definitely wasn’t full of amateurs, and he didn’t expect them to have so many people.

Those killers must have seen him escape to the first-class cabin and knew he was hiding there, but they probably didn’t know which room he was in, let alone that he was in Steven’s room.

They wouldn’t risk starting an attack in the first-class cabin, but it wasn’t because they couldn’t kill the passengers. If it were him, he would set up secret sentries at all the passages in the first-class cabin to wait for the target to come out, which meant that he was already trapped.

There were killers among the waiters, so they would definitely check each room.

What to do? If it were him, he would act immediately and kill the target tonight.

The only good news was that he was on the third floor and the shipowner’s daughter was staying on the fourth floor.

Miss Dong. She's also difficult to deal with, but she has lots of firearms.

Zhang Haiyan originally wanted to kill the assassins before he abducted Miss Dong to make the ship turn around so that he could save Zhang Haixia. But based on the situation now, it was impossible for him to kill the assassins by himself.

He thought for a while. Since he was alone and didn’t have any backup, he could only rely on his shamelessness.

He dragged Steven out of the bathtub, tore off his bath towel, and tied him to a chair. Then he walked back over to the bathtub and pulled He Jianxi out of it before finding a lamp and ripping the chord out.

When Steven woke up, he found himself tied to a chair with both feet in the bathtub.

Zhang Haiyan was holding the lamp cord, which was resting on the edge of the bathtub and cushioned with a towel. The end of the cord was wrapped around a glass with whiskey in it.

The edge of the bathtub wasn’t flat, so the whiskey glass could slip into the water at any time.

“If you dare scream for help, I’ll kick the bathtub as soon as you make the first sound,” Zhang Haiyan said.

“Mr. Zhang.” Steven was very calm. “You’re still on the ship. Have you found the bad guys that you mentioned?”

Ever since he was a child, Steven had a mental state that almost seemed like an illness. It was extremely difficult for him to be nervous. No matter what happened, it was hard for him to feel scared or anxious. This made him a very good surgeon, but it also made it difficult for him to develop bad habits such as drinking, smoking, and being a racist. He didn’t need those habits.

He had been pursuing a sense of nervousness all his life, so he went to the battlefield. He then met Warner, followed him on expeditions in East India and Southwest China, participated in the Tusi (1) riots in southern China, and sold firearms.

Having no anxiety meant that he was free of good and evil, faith and morality. He easily succeeded at everything he did. At a young age, he became Warner’s most promising student.

But Zhang Haiyan didn’t care about that at all. He flipped through the passport and documents that he had found in Steven’s luggage.

“Let’s keep things short. I know you and Miss Dong don’t trust me, but I’ve really found the culprits. They chased me here.”

Steven looked down at himself. “Can you let me go so we can go and investigate together?”

Zhang Haiyan laughed “Do you think I’ll believe you?” With that said, he read what was on the passport. “Steven. American. Professor Landon Warner’s student. You’re funded by the Fogg Museum of the United States and are going to China to purchase ancient documents and murals. You serve as the expedition team’s doctor and secretary,” Zhang Haiyan continued flipping through the passport. “You’re the shipowner’s VIP guest.” Zhang Haiyan kicked the suitcase on one side and opened it. There were bullets and guns inside, as well as various surgical instruments and field equipment.

“You’re accompanying Ms. Dong to protect her. I read through your luggage list. There are more than thirty people in your team, with eighteen machine guns and tens of thousands of bullets that you had to pass through special customs. It seems that Miss Dong has a large number of enemies, and the firepower is very fierce. Will a team doctor suddenly start shooting people as soon as a deadly attempt is made?”

Steven seemed to be plotting something and remained silent.

“I don’t care if you’re a doctor or not, but you must have ulterior motives for going to China. Whether it’s smuggling or really protecting Miss Dong, I’m not interested. I’m telling you that this ship is in extreme danger right now. There’s no way the marine police can handle it. I need your help.”

“We’ll help you. Well, I’ll at least help you negotiate. But not like this.” Steven looked down at himself again.

“Steven, that Miss Dong won't help me.” Zhang Haiyan said. “I only trust myself. You have to find a way to get her to your room. I want to communicate with her in person.”

“Get her to my room?” Steven laughed heartily as if he had suddenly heard a funny joke. “No, Miss Dong won’t go anywhere. She’ll only stay in her room.”

“You’re her person. You should know her well. There’s always a way.” Zhang Haiyan flicked the whiskey glass and smiled as it started sliding towards the bathtub. Steven froze for a moment. He seemed to notice the blades in Zhang Haiyan’s mouth.

“Wait a minute,” He said. “Are you the plague god of the sea?” Zhang Haiyan didn’t have time to talk nonsense with him. As the whiskey glass fell closer to the bathtub, Steven continued, “Mr. Plague God, I think you’ve misunderstood. Up to now, no one knows anything about that woman. We’ve never seen her real face. No one can tell her to do anything.”

“What do you mean?”

Steven told Zhang Haiyan a brief story.

When Steven first met Miss Dong, he was digging up Buddha statues in Johor (2). The British had been interested in the center of Malacca’s tropical rainforest for the past ten years. Although they didn’t understand what was inside of it, his teacher Warner still fought for the funds to compete with the British.

Johor was even poorer than Perak. The excavation site was a rebuilt site of a Buddhist temple. A lot of sixteenth century Buddha statues had been discovered while the foundation was being excavated. Since they didn’t know what the British were looking for, Warner had no choice but to find some decent monuments so that he could report to the top.

The ancient temple was actually a day away from the town and three hours away from the nearest village.

Usually, no one came to the excavation site except for the local porters. They cut down the rainforest and built a small workstation that consisted of four wooden houses, two dormitories, a warehouse, and an office.

One night at dusk, that woman appeared at the construction site without any warning. When she appeared, there were a dozen hands hanging from her body. The woman’s petite body was wrapped in an Indian sari, and her face was also wrapped. She came out of the rainforest and passed by the ruins of this ancient temple.

At that time, all the workers stopped what they were doing. Since the plague was running rampant, the smell of those rotting hands on the woman scared everyone.

The woman saw the unearthed Buddha statues and stopped. She could tell from the details that they had been carved by Chinese craftsmen who must have come here some time during the sixteenth century. The woman put the hands down in front of the Buddha statues and chanted sutras so that the dead would be blessed in the afterlife.

Then she went to a fireplace on the construction site where workers could dry their bodies and threw the severed hands in it.

It was dusk at that time. The light of the setting sun shone through the gaps of the rainforest and illuminated this horrible sight. The woman’s enchanting and exquisite curves presented a great sense of story. Steven was leaning against the door of the dormitory with a beer in hand, completely dumbfounded.

At that moment, the woman saw the Americans who had heard the news and gathered around to watch her. She glanced at their guns and walked towards them.

The Americans had heard the rumors about sorcerers before. When the terrified locals started shouting, “Witchcraft! Witchcraft!” and scattered and retreated, the Americans also raised their guns, fearing that there was some aboriginal witchcraft on the woman.

They didn’t expect the woman to speak in fluent English. “I want to make a deal with the person in charge here.” 

Warner was a very dedicated person with far-reaching ambitions and execution capabilities. He was absorbed in his own research, so it was usually very difficult for him to be interrupted and persuaded. But it only took the woman twenty minutes to make him completely change his ideas.

Since this wasn’t normal storytelling, Steven didn’t tell Zhang Haiyan what Miss Dong said to Warner, since he didn’t know what their conversation was about.

He was a secretary, so he was only there afterwards when the woman unreservedly made it very clear that she needed people to protect her on her way back to China. Otherwise, she would be killed halfway during the journey. She hoped everyone involved would be made aware of this.

Those who wanted to kill her were very skilled. She needed plenty of weapons and foreign faces, because those who wanted to kill her were able to steal other people’s appearances and pretend to be those close to her. But it was more difficult for them to imitate foreign faces.

That woman also told them that she was the shipowner’s daughter, and the Na’an was hers. As long as she arrived in Xiamen safely, she could provide Warner with something as payment.

At that time, Warner wanted something from China. They discussed it for three hours before Warner finally believed the woman and agreed to the deal.

As a result, they used the remaining funds to buy arms, abandoned the construction site and Buddha statues, took the woman, and boarded the Nan’an. But so far, the woman seemed to have never taken off her mask and rarely communicated with them except in front of Warner.

Of course, they still obeyed Warner’s orders. Warner hoped that their only job was to protect the woman. Since the condition was limited to protection only, the price would need to be increased if the woman had any other ideas. As a result, the relationship between the two parties was also very delicate.

After Zhang Haiyan listened to Steven’s words, he looked down at his hands and thought to himself, a Bodhisattva who chopped hands off.What does it mean? This Miss Dong isn’t ordinary. She’sreally different from others.

“Are you sure she’s the owner's daughter?”

“How do you think we could get on the ship with so many weapons?” Steven asked. “All the crew know her and she arranged all the customs procedures.”

Zhang Haiyan was deep in thought. “If it’s as you said, then this woman isn’t all that difficult to cooperate with. Didn’t she reach an agreement with your boss? Moreover, she’s so persistent in going back to Xiamen. I just need to tell her that there are accidents occurring on this ship that will prevent her plan from going through. She should pay attention to them.”

At least it would be like how she took his words seriously when they first got on the ship.

“I already told you that she won’t come to my room.” Steven said. “You can go and find her. Even if you perform a show or make any moves, she won’t open the door for you. You can’t see her at all, so how can you talk to her about cooperation? You need me to be the messenger.”

Once Steven finished his words, he looked at the notes sitting nearby.

Telephones on ships hadn’t yet become popular, so there were small notes that could be sent between the cabins to transmit messages.

“I can pass through the guard post on the fourth floor, put the note between the newspaper, and get it to her room. This is her only way to communicate with the outside world now. Asian people can’t walk past the guard post.”

Zhang Haiyan looked at Steven, who had a cunning look in his eyes. Foreigners really can’t hide anything, he thought to himself

“She actually doesn’t trust us, either. In order to prevent people from poisoning her food, she prepares it all herself. She’s kept enough food in her room.” Steven continued, “Mr. Plague God, I don’t think you can verify if what I’ve said is true no matter how hard you try. You can only trust me and take a risk. The result will basically be the same to you anyways, right?”

Zhang Haiyan looked at Steven and laughed. “I’m sorry, but I actually can verify if what you’ve said is true. Which room is Miss Dong in?”

“444, but—” Steven hadn’t finished speaking before Zhang Haiyan pinched him, making him pass out. Zhang Haiyan then put a hand towel in Steven’s mouth.

Ordinary people were capable of spitting out hand towels, but Zhang Haiyan was very experienced. He pressed the towel firmly to Steven’s throat and tongue, and then tied a bath towel around his face so that he could only make a noise that sounded like a mosquito.

He Jianxi watched it all silently.

Zhang Haiyan walked over and threw Steven’s pants to him before leaning against the wall and peeking out the window.

It was pitch black outside, and nothing could be seen. He didn’t know where the killers were.

Zhang Haiyan closed the window and turned off the light before tying the lamp cord to the window handle and putting a chair against the door.

He Jianxi had just put on the pants when he saw a bath towel lying nearby. He silently took off his shirt, wrung out the water, and then set it aside. After he had dried his body with the towel, Zhang Haiyan came up and pinched his neck, causing him to pass out in an instant. Zhang Haiyan caught him and then threw him onto the bed.

“How come I’ve unknowingly picked up so many things?” Zhang Haiyan looked at the two people and sighed.

Under the lamplight, Zhang Haiyan spread out his personal package that contained a set of special equipment.

This kind of equipment was used to make different faces. Human skin masks were the core technology of the Southern Archive’s secret service, after all.

Zhang Haiyan began to measure Steven’s face carefully. He had different models that could quickly be revised, but it was indeed more difficult to imitate foreigners’ faces. As a result, he gradually became absorbed.

When he was in Xiamen, he had learned the basics of making masks and putting on disguises, which was essentially just drawing.

“Zhang Hailou, what is this?”

“Godmother, this is a Chinese Huamei (3). I drew it for you.”

“Why did you draw a Chinese Huamei?”

“Because it’s beautiful?”

“Zhang Haixia, what happened to your eyebrows?”

“Zhang Hailou did this.”

“Godmother, since I was drawing a Chinese Huamei, of course I had to paint the eyebrows. I painted his for practice.”

“Zhang Haixia, go and wash your eyebrows.”

“Ok,” Zhang Haixia said. As he turned around to wash his face, their godmother quickly drew a giant snake beside the Chinese Huamei.

Zhang Haiyan asked, “What’s this?”

“This is your true form.” His godmother said. “You have to overcome it.”

****

TN Notes:

(1) Tusi, often translated as “headmen” or “chieftains”, were hereditary tribal leaders recognized as imperial officials. They ruled certain ethnic minorities in southwest China on behalf of the central government. Wiki link here

(2) Johor is a state of Malaysia in the south of the Malay Peninsula. It has land borders with the Malaysian states of Pahang to the north. Wiki link here

(3) The Chinese hwamei or melodious laughingthrush is a passerine bird of eastern Asia. The name “hwamei” comes from the Chinese 画眉 (huà-méi) and means “painted eyebrow”, which refers to the distinctive marking around the bird’s eyes. Wiki link here