Daomu Biji: The Southern Archives

The drawing that day was still fresh in Zhang Haiyan’s memory. There was a giant snake beside the bird that was staring at it as if it wanted to swallow it whole.

His godmother had met many people, so she must’ve had a reason for saying those words to him. From what he could remember, his godmother had never been wrong about people. But she never explained in detail why she said things like that, and she often only gave a general statement. She said that it was because reasoning with others was pointless.

But the hidden meaning in that picture kept flashing in his mind throughout all stages of his life. The most profound moment was when he discovered that Zhang Haixia couldn’t walk anymore.

Is the Chinese Huamei Zhang Haixia? He often wondered whether his godmother had foreseen that this day would come and knew that his character would end up hurting the people around him.

Even if the person next to him was agile and had amazing skills, the slightest negligence would result in that person dying because of him.

If Zhang Haiyan had talked less nonsense with Zhang Haixia and acted more cautiously, the situation might not have been so tricky.

Zhang Haixia actually had a better understanding of what life was about. He would tell Zhang Haiyan that the things people had been through would grow seeds in their hearts. Zhang Haiyan’s childhood was full of pain that ordinary people couldn’t endure. His experiences were what made him do all those strange and illogical things when he grew up. In addition, the hell on earth he saw not only gave him pain, but also gave him various desires that tempted him in his heart.

It took Zhang Haiyan a long time to understand that he would eventually need to face the snake in his heart. It also took him a long time to realize that He Jianxi felt an incredible fear when standing beside him, as if he was lying in a snake cave.

It didn’t take long for He Jianxi to pass out. It was still very important to take a break, but after he woke up, his whole body felt paralyzed and sore. When he breathed, he felt as if he could smell blood in his lungs. Fortunately, he was resilient and no longer felt frightened after he had calmed himself down.

The sun rose early at sea, so it was a little bright out already.

Zhang Haiyan had already finished making the mask and put it on, and was now drawing by the window. It was easy to see that his sketching ability was excellent. Since he had to make human skin masks all year round, he had to ensure that he could remember people’s details quickly.

All his drawings were pasted on the wall, and turned out to be various kinds of faces. These were the Nepenthes killers he had identified when he was patrolling the steerage area in the third-class cabin.

He had drawn all the features he could remember with just that one glance.

These were the notes he wanted to give Miss Dong.

Miss Dong was very cautious. She had given him three days even though he was lying to her, so she would definitely look into it if he gave her these clues. One killer may be able to hide their identity, but she would definitely find something as long as she investigated more people.

He was already very curious about her. The first time they met, she had shown that she wasn’t an ordinary person. Now he could only believe in his own judgment that she was capable of doing this.

Zhang Haixia, ah, Zhang Haixia. It seems like it will take me a while before I return to Malacca. You have to rely on your own ingenuity to keep yourself alive.

The room's curtain had been drawn so that only a gap was revealed. The sun was rising above the sea outside, shining in on the foreigner that he had knocked out last night. The man hadn’t woken up, and even looked like he was dead.

He Jianxi tried to remember everything that had happened. The bootleg business had been legalized, so he lost his job and planned to take the severance pay to go to San Francisco to find his cousin. He bought a ferry ticket, got on the Baoen, fell down on the deck, and then went to wash himself in the toilet.

Well, I can’t remember what happened after that. I really shouldn’t have gone to the toilet.

Zhang Haiyan heard He Jianxi’s snores soften and knew that he was awake. When he looked at him, He Jianxi was stunned.

When Zhang Haiyan turned around, He Jianxi found that his face wasn’t Zhang Haiyan’s face, but the foreigner’s.

He looked at Steven again, and saw that he was still tied to the chair.

He Jianxi froze for a moment as he tried to figure out what was going on. He had a sudden thought: Zhang Haiyan was gone. There were two foreigners in the room, and they looked exactly the same.

Suddenly, He Jianxi couldn’t tell which incident was more outrageous, coming to his senses and finding that he was with two naked men in the bathtub, or waking up and finding that there were two foreigners who looked exactly the same.

But he was sure of one thing—he must never close his eyes. If he closed his eyes and opened them again, his worldview would collapse all over again.

“By the way, what’s your name?” The foreigner by the window asked him in fluent Chinese. He had the same voice as the plague god from before.

Ah, the general logic of things hasn’t collapsed. The plague god is behind this.

Can this plague god become anyone at will?

“My name is He Jianxi. The idea of my name comes from a line in a poem, ‘When can we trim wicks again by the west window and talk all night?’ (1)” He Jianxi once again proved that he was a resilient man. He sat up and decided to accept everything so that things could get back on track.

Zhagn Haiyan saw that He Jianxi kept looking at his face, so he explained, “This is magic. Don’t worry. My name is Zhang Hailou. You can call me Zhang Haiyan. The idea of my name also comes from a line in a poem, ‘The moon casts on the waters a reflection of a heavenly mirage; In the sky at dawn, clouds gather to build a castle in the air.’ (2) Malaysians call me Haiyan.” Zhang Haiyan stood up. “We’ve met each other by chance. I believe you already know what I do. It definitely wasn’t my intention to bring you here, but I really had no choice. Now, if you want to get off the ship safely and go to San Francisco, I need your help.”

He Jianxi silently looked at Zhang Haiyan without answering. He figured Zhang Haiyan didn’t care whether he would agree or not. He’s really just issuing an order. If I don’t agree, he’ll throw me into the sea.

Sure enough, Zhang Haiyan immediately started to give him a task. “First of all, what I need you to do is to keep an eye on this person. There’s a knife here. If he tries to escape, kill him from this position. Remember, you must stab him from this place. You have to insert the knife directly and reach this depth. I already made a mark. You can only penetrate the heart by reaching this depth. That way, he’ll die immediately.”

Steven’s eyelids twitched.

As He Jianxi sat there shocked, Zhang Haiyan looked at him, “You have to remember one thing, if you don’t kill him, he’ll regain his freedom and kill you. I have to go somewhere else on this ship.” With that said, Zhang Haiyan slashed Steven’s calf with a knife. Steven immediately opened his eyes in pain and struggled for a while, but Zhang Haiyan ignored him and continued to speak to He Jianxi, “Also, he’s been awake for a long time. He’s just been pretending to be asleep. Remember to keep some distance from him.”

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TN Notes:

(1) He Jianxi’s name comes from a poem in the Tang Dynasty. “He” means “when”. “Jian” means “trim”. “Xi” means “west”. The link to the English translation of the poem is here

(2) Zhang Hailou’s name also comes from a poem in the Tang Dynasty. His name is in the sentence ‘Clouds gather to build a castle in the air.’ The “castle in the air” in the poem is pronounced as “Hailou” in Chinese. It also means “mirage” in the poem. The link to the English translation of the poem is here