My childhood friend is in her mature, sophisticated form again today. - Chapter 80

Cheng Ran came downstairs with a tablet in his hand. He sat down on the sofa and placed the tablet on the coffee table. The screen displayed a map, marking all the coordinates found over the past few days. The lines connected to form a curve extending southward along the coastline, with each point relatively evenly spaced, like a string of beans on a drawing connected by a line. “If you connect all the points found over the past few days, it forms a very smooth arc. Starting from point seven, passing through the small bay, the river mouth town, the gray buildings, the white distribution center, and about sixty kilometers further south, there’s another point.” Cheng Ran zoomed in on a corner of the map. “The ship we saw last night had a route that was exactly parallel to this line.”

“We’re heading in the same direction and moving at about the same speed. If we sail a little further south along the coastline during the day, we might be able to find a place where we can see where the ships are moored during the day.”

“Then let’s continue south today,” Lin Jiqiu said.

A-Zuo walked in, took the thermos from A-You, put it in the car, and then stood at the door waiting. Lin Jiqiu stood up, walked to the shoe cabinet to put on her shoes, and as she bent down, her fingers brushed against the edge of the shoe cabinet, revealing a thin layer of dust. “A-You, it shouldn’t be too late today.”

Ah You poked his head out of the kitchen, holding a soup ladle in his hand. “Remember to eat when you get to town, don’t go hungry.”

Ahua jumped down from the windowsill, walked to the door and squatted for a while. She watched Lin Jiqiu put on his shoes, looked outside the door, then turned around and walked back, jumped onto the windowsill, curled up again, and rested her chin on her overlapping front paws.

The car pulled out of the street and onto the coastal highway. Sunlight streamed in from the east, casting long shadows of the roadside trees. A thin layer of morning mist clung to the sea, not yet fully dissipated, like a semi-transparent veil hanging on the distant horizon. The temperature outside the car window was lower than a few days ago; dew clung to the roadside grass, shimmering in the sunlight. A-Zuo drove steadily, maintaining a uniform speed along the curve of the coastline.

Cheng Ran sat in the back seat, his fingers slowly swiping across the tablet screen. “The ship was traveling at about twelve knots last night. If it maintained that speed all night, it should be about a hundred kilometers away from where we saw it last night by dawn.”

“Then it might be docked somewhere during the day—for loading or unloading, or perhaps for resupply.”

“If it docks during the day, we should be able to find its berth. A ship docked near an unmarked pier or jetty during the day is more likely to be spotted than at night if it has a fixed berth.”

“Then let’s find its mooring place.”

A-Zuo continued driving south along the highway for over an hour. The villages along the road became fewer and fewer, the trees denser, and occasionally a side road leading to the sea appeared, its surface paved with gravel and much narrower than the main road. They passed several places that looked like fishing villages, but most were abandoned; the windows of the houses were empty, half-collapsed walls, and wild grass grew from the cracks, swaying slightly in the wind. On the exterior wall of one two-story building, faded advertisements remained, depicting a woman in blue holding a porcelain basin, next to which were four large characters—”Peace and Prosperity.”

As the car passed a fork in the road, Lin Jiqiu spotted a white outline on the distant sea. He told Azuo to stop, got out, and walked a short distance before stopping on a small hill by the roadside. He took out his binoculars and looked out at the sea. It was indeed a ship, white in color, not very large, with a shallow draft, suggesting it was partially loaded but not fully laden. The ship was moored beside a small pier.

“Found it.” Lin Jiqiu put down his binoculars.

Cheng Ran also got out of the car and stood next to him, raising another pair of binoculars to look in the direction of the ship. “The pier is very simple, with only one berth and a makeshift warehouse next to it, which looks like a temporary storage point for supplies. It’s much smaller than Point Seven.”

“But it is located further south.”

“If you continue south along the coastline, the network of transit points of Tenguji may become denser and their distribution will become deeper.”

The two returned to the car. A-Zuo drove to the shady side of the road and parked it without turning off the engine, leaving the air conditioning on so that the slight vibrations of the engine would be transmitted to the seats. Lin Jiqiu and Cheng Ran observed for a while longer, and only after confirming that there was no movement on the pier for the time being did they prepare to leave.

“Let’s write it down today and come back to it tomorrow,” Lin Jiqiu said. “This way we’ll have more time to observe and see when the people here appeared and when the ship will leave.”

“Okay. If the pattern of this line is consistent with those we’ve seen before, then this point is just one of them. There may be other smaller points distributed in more remote places.”

“Then let’s look for them one by one.”

The car turned around and drove back the way it came. Lin Jiqiu mentally reviewed all the locations he had found: Point Seven, the small bay, the river mouth town, the gray building, the white distribution center, and now this new pier. Each location had a different scale and function, like fruits growing on a line, some fuller, some smaller and more inconspicuous. But they were all part of the Heavenly Palace Division’s supply network.

By the time they returned to the office, it was already dark. A-You saw them come back but didn’t ask any questions, simply going to the kitchen to bring the food to the table. A-Zuo went to park the car, Cheng Ran imported today’s records into the tablet, and Lin Jiqiu stood by the window, watching the flower shop across the street turn off its lights. The proprietress pulled down the roller shutter, locked it, and pushed a small cart towards the street corner, the wheels crunching over fallen leaves. He watched her figure disappear at the end of the streetlights, then turned back to his desk.

“How far is this location from Hekou Town?” Lin Jiqiu asked.

“About 120 kilometers. If you connect all the points, the spacing does indeed gradually increase. It started at 70 kilometers, then 50 kilometers, and now it’s 120 kilometers.”

“The spacing is changing.”

“It might not be linear. When the Tengu Division set up these transfer points, they were not evenly distributed according to fixed distances, but rather selected according to the terrain and actual needs. But overall, it is extending southward.”

Lin Jiqiu picked up a piece of fish. The fish was very fresh, and the fish meat spread out in pieces on the chopsticks. “If the spacing changes with the terrain, then we cannot use distance to predict where the next point will be.”

“We can only search one by one.”

“Then let’s look at them one by one.”

After dinner, he sat on the sofa. Ayou placed a cup of tea beside him and sat at the other end, stroking Ahua’s fur. Her fingers ran through the hair on her back, the movements very light and slow, as if her hands were moving on their own. Ahua half-closed her eyes, making soft gurgling sounds in her throat.

Lin Jiqiu finished his tea, went upstairs to take a shower, lay down on the bed, and stared at the ceiling. The streetlights outside cast blurry patches of light through the curtains. He thought of the pier he’d seen today—small, rudimentary, and in a remote location. If he hadn’t followed the coastline all the way here, he would never have noticed it. But it existed, and its existence meant that the Heavenly Palace Division’s supply network was denser than he had imagined. Those ships departed from here, those boxes were loaded onto trucks from here. Each transfer point was like a tentacle of the Heavenly Palace Division, extending across the land, transporting goods from the deep sea to unseen places. He turned over, pulled the covers over himself, and closed his eyes. Tomorrow he would continue. That line was still very long.