My childhood friend is in her mature, sophisticated form again today. - Chapter 78

“Um.”

“Going to the beach again?”

“Along the coastline. Cheng Ran said there might be other points along this line.”

Ah You sat down on the sofa next to him, not leaving immediately. His gaze also fell on the nautical chart, his fingers slowly tracing the rim of his teacup. “These dots that Brother Cheng mentioned… are like seashells washed up on the beach. If you see one, follow the tide line, and you’ll see the next one.”

Lin Jiqiu glanced at him, picked up her teacup, and took a sip. “Why are you up so early today?”

“I went to bed early last night.” Ayou picked up his teacup and took a sip. “Is Brother Cheng still upstairs?”

“Organizing equipment.”

Ayou nodded and didn’t ask any further questions. He sat on the sofa and watched the street scene outside the window with Ahua for a while, then got up and went back to the kitchen. Lin Jiqiu folded the nautical chart and put it back in the file folder, then stood up and walked to the window. The florist had just opened her shop and was carrying a potted green ivy to the steps outside. The morning light slanted down from the gaps in the buildings, making the water droplets on the leaves sparkle.

By the time they set off, the sun was already high in the sky. A-Zuo drove, Cheng Ran sat in the passenger seat, and Lin Jiqiu in the back. The car drove through the city during rush hour and onto the coastal highway. The trees on both sides of the road grew denser, their branches and leaves weaving a green tunnel above the car, sunlight filtering through the leaves and casting dappled shadows on the vehicle. A-Zuo would occasionally slow down to let a cat or dog cross the road before accelerating again.

After driving for about forty minutes, a small town appeared by the roadside. It was slightly larger than Hekou Town, with a main street and several side alleys. The main street was lined with various shops—a pharmacy, a hardware store, a barbershop with a sign, and a small general store with its doors and windows tightly shut. There weren’t many pedestrians on the street; occasionally, an electric scooter would drive by, its back carrying a vegetable basket or fishing net. A-Zuo didn’t stop and continued driving. According to Cheng Ran’s calculations, the next destination should be about fifty kilometers from Hekou Town, while the town they had just passed was less than thirty kilometers away. Not there.

After driving for about twenty more minutes, a bridge appeared by the roadside. The bridge was narrow, allowing only one-way traffic. The river beneath the bridge was narrow, and the water was grayish-green, its depth indiscernible. After crossing the bridge, the road conditions worsened; the asphalt surface turned into concrete, with cracks appearing in some places, and the wheels made a dull thud when they rolled over it.

“There’s a fork in the road ahead.” Cheng Ran looked at the map on his tablet. “The left is the old road along the coastline, and the right is the provincial highway leading inland. If the Heavenly Palace Division is going to set up a transit point, they will probably choose a place close to the coastline.”

“Go to the left.”

Ah Zuo turned the car onto the left-hand road. The road narrowed further, barely wide enough for two cars to pass each other. On one side of the road were low hills, and on the other side were farmland and scattered villages. In the distance, the light reflected from the sea could be seen, flickering through the gaps in the trees. After driving for about ten more minutes, a building appeared by the roadside. It was gray, two stories high, and not very tall. A white van was parked in front of it. There were no signs, no house number, and no markings on the exterior of the building. The curtains were drawn in the windows, so you couldn’t see inside.

“This could be the next turning point,” Lin Jiqiu said.

A-Zuo drove the car behind a clump of bushes and stopped. Lin Jiqiu and Cheng Ran got out of the car, walked along the roadside drainage ditch, bypassed a patch of wild bushes, and approached the building from the side. There was a yard behind the building, with a low iron fence that revealed a truck parked inside—similar to the one they had seen in Hekou Town, its cargo bed covered with a tarpaulin, the edges of the tarpaulin fluttering in the wind. Several white boxes, the same kind they had seen at point seven, were piled up in a corner of the yard.

“It’s still those boxes.” Cheng Ran lowered his voice.

“Still that kind of truck.”

The two observed the courtyard from outside for a while. There was no one in the courtyard, and no lights or sounds from the building; it was as quiet as the one they had seen in Hekou Town. Like a closed door, no one was coming out, and no one seemed to want to go in.

“Shall we go in?” Cheng Ran asked.

“Don’t go in.” Lin Jiqiu turned around. “Make a note of the locations first, and organize them when we get back. If there are really many such points along this line, we can’t possibly investigate them all one by one. But as long as we know their locations and distribution patterns, we can find their source.”

The two retraced their steps and got into the car. A-Zuo started the car, turned around, and drove back. Lin Jiqiu leaned back in her seat, looking out the window. The buildings gradually shrank in the rearview mirror, becoming just gray dots on the roadside.

“Chengran, how long do you think this line is?”

“I don’t know. It could be very long.” Cheng Ran paused. “The Heavenly Palace Division couldn’t have established these transshipment points along the coast just to serve one or two bases. The further south this line extends, the larger their network becomes.”

“When will we finally find the end of that road?”

“Until the pattern is discovered.”

Over the next few days, they continued southward along the coastline. Each day they set off, found a point, recorded its location, and then retreated. Sometimes they found one point in a day, sometimes they drove all day without finding anything. Some points were very conspicuous, like point seven, which had a small dock and several buildings; others were very hidden, like the container yard behind an old factory in Hekou Town, which would be completely unnoticed unless you knew it was nearby. But every time they found a point, Lin Jiqiu marked it on the nautical chart, connecting it with the previous points to form a line.

On the fifth day, Cheng Ran connected all the marked points on the tablet, resulting in an irregular curve—starting from point seven, winding south along the coastline, passing through the small bay, the river mouth town, and that gray building, and extending south for about a hundred kilometers. The curve was very smooth, with roughly uniform spacing.

“This line is not random.” Cheng Ran zoomed in on the marked points on the map. “The spacing between these points is consistently between forty and seventy kilometers, which is very regular. If this regularity is fixed, then this line should still be extending southward.”

“We must find its end.”

“It might take a long time. Or it might not even have an end.”

Ayou came out of the kitchen carrying a pot of tea. Hearing Chengran’s words, he placed the teapot on the coffee table. “No end? Doesn’t that mean we’re always on the road?”

Lin Jiqiu didn’t answer. He looked out the window at the flower shop across the street, where the proprietress was moving a pot of jasmine to the shelf by the door. The daily routine continued: the flower shop opened and closed, the café lights turned on and off, and he searched along a seemingly endless coastline for those hidden transfer points in the corners. He didn’t know how long the road was, but he knew that with each stretch southward along that line, the face of the Heavenly Palace Chief became clearer.