After surviving that ordeal, Wu Hen found it hard to fall asleep. Maybe the mat beneath him was too hard. It stayed hard all night.
Su Li's breathing was steady. Wu Hen couldn't tell whether she was asleep.
Her hand still gently held his arm, as if only that could let her feel a trace of peace in this storm-tossed world.
But before long, Su Li noticed something strange about Wu Hen's right hand.
"What are you doing with your right hand?" Su Li asked softly.
Wu Hen was terribly embarrassed, and he had no idea how to explain it to Su Li. He could only be honest. "Eating a handgun."
In the pitch-black tent, Su Li's eyes widened. She glanced at Wu Hen, whose body was trembling, then simply turned over and said irritably, "Then take care of it yourself."
Wu Hen stared at the curving silhouette pressed close to him and didn't know whether to laugh or cry.
That's not what you think!
Just hear me out.
The black Divine Trace Material in my right hand really is eating the handgun you gave me!
I don't know what to do either.
After a long while, Wu Hen's arm finally went still.
After a moment of silence, Su Li figured Wu Hen was done. Her gentle voice rang out again:
"When he was eight, the Silent Ghost injured him, and he lost his soul after that. For all these years, everyone saw him as a simpleton. Nuwa Divine Mother wouldn't let an unrelated soul dwell in another body for no reason. I'll follow her will. You are him, grown up."
"You and Xiao Yun have been walking through other dimensions all this time?" Wu Hen asked in surprise.
Su Li and Xiao Yun didn't seem to live in the world he knew.
"You're lucky, and your souls are pure. Not every soul can earn Nuwa Divine Mother's protection," Su Li said.
"But a message was just announced where we come from. Nuwa Divine Terminal won't last much longer," Wu Hen said.
"Then do everything you can to protect Nuwa Divine Mother. Your people must grow stronger and save themselves," Su Li said.
"We still know nothing about this place," Wu Hen said.
"No one can claim to understand the Desolate Dust," Su Li said.
"Then..."
"Go to sleep. We'll be fighting for our lives first thing tomorrow."
"Oh." Wu Hen nodded and wisely asked no more.
"Do you know the girl who woke up?" Su Li asked with her eyes closed.
"Not well."
Wu Hen's hearing was far sharper than normal.
Even inside the small tent, he could clearly hear everyone talking in the subway car.
But Wu Hen hadn't been the one to say those two words, "not well."
Yang Qin was already trying to ingratiate herself with the Glasses Man.
A pale sun slowly rose over the coast.
In the city's daylight, everything looked only a little more deserted. It no longer had the terrifying feel of night.
Wu Hen and the others in the subway began cautiously checking their surroundings.
The subway car was an enclosed space, so it could keep them safe. But the station was dark, and they had to watch out for things lurking in the shadows.
"Is there anything out there?" Su Li asked Wu Hen.
"There's something at Exit A. We'll leave through Exit B," Wu Hen said with certainty.
His keen hearing came in handy at a time like this.
"Good. Everyone follow me. Once we're out, stay in the sunlight!" Su Li said.
"Are there things out during the day, too?"
"Shadow Evil Spirits can move around in the shade during the day."
The group Su Li led numbered around thirteen or fourteen. Most of them were obedient, and all were clear-headed.
They all had a fierce will to survive, so they followed Su Li's instructions.
When they left the subway station and the daylight fell on them, they felt as if they had returned to the world of the living.
Wu Hen glanced back without thinking. The sun had already risen above the coast and was climbing toward the tops of the high-rises.
But soon, Wu Hen realized something was off.
Hadn't the sun set over the coast yesterday, too?
"Keep up!"
Su Li led the way, holding a gun and moving swiftly.
The others formed a line, their eyes fixed on the parts of the road lit by the sun.
"We have to hurry. After ten, the buildings' shadows will crisscross the streets, and we'll barely be able to move," Su Li said.
At first, Wu Hen didn't understand what it meant for the buildings' shadows to crisscross the streets.
But as the pale sun moved, stretching the shadows of the city's buildings into long, black ravines that slanted across the straight roads, he finally understood why it would be hard to move after ten.
If they couldn't step into the shadows, there would be no road ahead.
Luckily, someone in the group had scouted the area before and knew which streets to take to stay in the sunlight, and which ones to use to avoid the shadows of the high-rises.
From above, Wu Hen's group would have looked like insects in a giant maze. The shadows shifting with the sunlight were enormous, ever-changing blades, and they had to dodge them at every turn.
The time from morning until noon was manageable.
Even if they ran into a dead end blocked by shadows, they only had to wait a little while. Once the sun climbed higher, they could keep going.
But after noon, when the sun reached its highest point and began to sink, fewer and fewer paths remained open, and their pace slowed.
Now that the afternoon had passed, the group had stopped in an open park. They had to wait for the sunlight to move before they could head toward the train station.
"There's sunlight over this way!" the Glasses Man suddenly called out, pointing to a road.
It was a side street, just wide enough for a single lane. The buildings were fairly low, so two-thirds of the street was bathed in sunlight.
"But that doesn't lead to the train station," Su Li said, shaking her head.
"Cross the side street and follow the main street. That'll take you to the Black Shirt Organization's shelter," said a woman with a notched eyebrow.
At that, Su Li understood what the Glasses Man and the woman with the notched eyebrow were thinking.
She gave a contemptuous smile. "Jiang Wang, Xu Yan, if you want to join the Black Shirt Organization, go ahead."
"Su Li, it's not that we don't want to follow you. But what good will it do to leave this city? Outside might not be any safer," said an older-looking woman.
"You'll have to decide quickly. The side street won't stay in the sunlight much longer," Su Li said.
The side street ran perpendicular to the sun's path, and the shadows were indeed covering it. But if they made it to the main street, they could bask in the sunlight again.
The side street was long, at least two kilometers. If they wanted to leave the group, they had to hurry—the sunlit area was shrinking fast.
"Let's go. Follow me!" Jiang Wang, the Glasses Man, said.
Jiang Wang stepped out of the group first.
Soon, four or five people followed him. They had clearly planned this the night before.
Several others in the group hesitated. They had probably received help from Su Li before, but the road ahead seemed more dangerous to them. To be safe, they still wanted to join the Black Shirt Organization.
Soon, a few more left.
The group was suddenly half its original size.
"We have to run! Come on, everyone, move! Run!" Jiang Wang shouted.
Now that half the group was following him, his tone changed, as if he were their leader.
"I... I hurt my leg. I can't run fast. Help me!" Yang Qin called to the Glasses Man.
But Jiang Wang didn't pay her any attention. He soon ran into the sunlit part of the side street.
The others hurried after him, picking up speed.
Two kilometers was a long way to run. They had to go all out.
"Don't leave! Don't leave! Didn't you promise to take me with you?" Yang Qin cried when she saw that not one of them was willing to help her.
Hobbling, she tried to catch up with the group, but soon realized they had left her far behind.
Yang Qin had at least finished high school, so she knew there was no way she could cover the two kilometers at her pace before time ran out...
She stopped in front of the side street and watched the back of that shameless man as tears streamed down her face.
Then she staggered back and looked pleadingly at Wu Hen. "C-can I stay with you?"
"Up to you," Wu Hen said flatly.
Yang Qin's eyes were red, and she looked utterly pitiful. "Just because I wouldn't agree to his unreasonable demand last night, he treated me like this..."
Sure, sure. You'd rather die than give in.
Wu Hen couldn't even be bothered to mock her.
At least Yang Qin wasn't stupid enough to let him have his way and then get abandoned anyway.
"Xiao Hen, listen carefully." Su Li came over to Wu Hen and pointed toward the shadows covering the side street.
Wu Hen nodded and stopped paying attention to Yang Qin.
He looked down the two-kilometer-long side street. From where he stood, he could see all the way to the end.
Wu Hen focused on his hearing.
He wasn't sure what Su Li wanted him to listen for.
She must have wanted to teach him something.
But after a while, he still couldn't hear anything.
Then, to his surprise, his eyes caught something strange in the shadows of the side street!
The shadows looked like a narrow river of darkness. Something beneath them was pushing up to the surface, making the shadows ripple and even boil!
Wu Hen was shocked. What was hiding in that strip of shadow?
Why couldn't he hear a thing?
"You've only attuned your hearing, but some species in the Desolate Dust don't make any sound. Shadow Evil Spirits, for example. From now on, you need to observe your surroundings more. Don't rely on just one sense," Su Li explained.
Wu Hen nodded and instinctively reached to hug his Aunt's long legs.
The Desolate Dust was terrifying. Hen was scared!
"Run faster! Don't panic! They won't come into the sunlight!" Jiang Wang, the Glasses Man, shouted.
The sunlit area was growing narrower and narrower.
The buildings along the side street were all the same height, and they stood close together. There was nowhere else to step along the way.
At that moment, they were like ants fleeing through a maze, while a wall slowly pressed in from the other side. If they couldn't get out of the street, they would all die!
The boundary between light and shadow was sharply defined. Like a line of surf, the shadow was swallowing up what little space remained.
The sun was moving faster than they had expected.
They hadn't even run halfway down the street, but the shadows already covered two-thirds of it!
As if they could smell the living warmth of humans, the venomous Water Ghosts lurking at the edge of the sunlight writhed restlessly. They could spring out of the shadows at any moment!
"Run! Faster!!!" Xu Yan, the woman with the notched eyebrow, shouted.
"I... can't... keep running..." the older man panted.
"Wait... wait for me..." the extremely obese man at the back of the group gasped.
Before you continue