Emerging from Hibernation
In the second week of the fourth month, the winds shifted.
When Shen Mo entered the courtyard along the side road at noon one day, he didn't go inside and sit down as usual. He stopped by the well, bent down, scooped up some water, and drank a couple of mouthfuls. When he straightened up, water was still dripping from his fingers. He spoke a sentence, his pace slightly faster than usual. "Two of the coastal observation posts have been withdrawn. The remaining three have moved about ten miles north, completely withdrawing from the section of the waterway between Longfish Bay and the Light-colored Zone."
Long Tian squatted on the threshold, clutching a withered grass stem in his hand. He twirled the stem around his fingers twice and then released it, listening as Shen Mo described the exact location of the new sentry post. He mapped these locations against the routes he had traversed, confirming that the gap was wide enough to cover the entire voyage from Longfish Bay to the entrance of the light-colored zone. He stood up, walked to the well platform, placed the withered grass stem on it, and said, "The length and width of that gap are sufficient for a one-way trip. From Longfish Bay to the boundary of the light-colored zone, it won't pass through the effective observation range of any sentry post."
Shen Mo nodded, not asking any more questions. He stood by the well for a while, wiped the remaining water droplets on his hands on his trousers, then turned and walked along the fork in the road. The sound of horses' hooves gradually faded away on the slope, drowned out by the wind.
Long Tian stood by the well without immediately returning to the house. He gazed for a moment in the direction where Shen Mo had disappeared, feeling the wind blowing from the sea—it was warmer than it had been two months ago, with a slight increase in humidity, as if the air currents above the sea were gradually adjusting their temperature and humidity parameters with the changing seasons. He held his hand in the wind for a moment, confirming that the wind force and direction were suitable for navigation, then turned and went into the house. He took the leather bag down from the wall, rechecked the order of the silk map, tide record, and the thin slice, and put them into the bag. He tied the water bag, already filled with water, to the outside of the leather bag, sat down at the table, finished his last meal of dry rations, washed the bowl in the basin, and put it back on the dish rack.
Yu Jin walked in from the side of the house, picked up his bundle from the corner, slung it over his shoulder, and stood by the doorframe. Long Tian sat at the table for a moment, making sure nothing was left behind, then stood up and paused at the threshold. Long Tieshan was squatting by the stove, wiping the rim of a small iron pot with an old cloth, without looking up. His movements paused briefly as Long Tian passed the doorframe, as if wiping away the last trace of water from the pot's rim, then his hand fell back to his knee, not raised again.
They walked along the official road for nearly a day and a half. The road surface was slightly hot under the bright sunlight, and the dust left shallow marks after being compacted by their boots. They passed the edges of several villages along the way. The crops in the fields were already taller than they were three months ago, and the rice ears were filling out. The entire field formed a continuous wave in the afternoon wind, a deep, somber green. Long Tian stopped outside the second village he passed, squatted down under an old camphor tree by the roadside to rest for a while, took out his water bag, took a couple of sips, tightened the cap, stood up, and continued walking.
As evening fell, they turned at the fork in the road onto the slope leading to Longfish Bay. The wild grass on both sides of the slope had grown to more than a foot high, covering most of the edge of the road, with only the narrow path in the middle, repeatedly compacted by ruts and footsteps, still showing its earthy color. Long Tian slowed down for a moment when he reached the top of the slope, standing there and looking at the bay that was unfolding in the twilight.
The outline of Longfish Bay takes on a different texture in the evening light than during the day. Fishing boats near the shore have all returned to their docks, their sails furled, their reflections in the water forming a dark, striped array. The cliffs on either side of the bay's entrance form two symmetrical silhouettes in the twilight, their surfaces draped with dark vines that sway gently in the wind. Several old trees along the shore, their height shrunk by the sea breeze, their crowns leaning towards the land, seem to have adjusted to the most energy-efficient growth angle under the constant wind pressure. The water's surface ripples finely in the evening breeze, like an old fabric being continuously smoothed.
The man at the stern was squatting on Shitou by the dock, mending an old rope. Beside him lay an old earthenware pot and a small roll of spare hemp thread. A worn section of rope lay on his lap. He was threading the new hemp thread through the broken end of the old rope, twisting the end tightly with his fingertips, making a knot, and then flattening it with his palm to check its tightness. He then stood up, wrapped the repaired section of rope around the bow of the boat, tied it to an iron ring, and tested its tightness. He saw the two men come down the slope, but didn't ask any questions. He simply rolled up the remaining hemp thread and put it back in the cabin. After they boarded, he untied the mooring rope, used a pole to propel the boat away from the shore.
After leaving the bay, the boat bypassed the dark waters and cut diagonally from the outer channel near the shore towards the lighter-colored area. The people at the stern adjusted the rudder after leaving the bay, guiding the bow along a straight line at an angle to the nearshore line. Long Tian crouched at the bow, his gaze sweeping along the shoreline—the locations of several sentry posts were clear in his memory, but now there were no people, flags, boats, or traces of campfires in those areas; it was as if they had been completely evacuated. After confirming this, he looked away and continued to crouch at the bow.
As night fell, the ship passed through the light-colored zone. The seawater gradually changed from deep blue to light gray, transitioning for a while before returning to its darker color. The ship continued moving forward. Long Tian squatted at the bow, unfolded the map, glanced at it, then closed it again and put it back in his leather pouch. Moonlight shattered into uneven patches of light at the edge of the clouds, spreading and then receding on the water's surface near the bow, like an old cloth repeatedly folded and unfolded.
The ship arrived at the sea area at the end of the long wall around midnight. Long Tian stood up at the bow and saw a faint fluorescent light slowly seeping from beneath the water to the surface, as if a light source was shining continuously from deeper within, transmitting the light upwards along the texture of the water. The sea surface remained flat in this area, and the top of the arched protrusion revealed a small patch of dark, curved edge under the fluorescent light.
Long Tian off the boat and swam around the top surface of the arched protrusion. He ran his fingers along the direction of the serrated lines, confirming that the pattern and depth were consistent with three months ago, and the surface condition had not changed. He sank a short distance further and checked the surface condition along the side walls of the arched structure, confirming that the structure was stable and that no new cracks or sediment layers had appeared. After confirming that everything was normal, he floated back to the surface along the same path, flipped back onto the boat, and squatted down by the gunwale to wipe the water off his face.
The ship continued its journey along the long wall in the darkness for a while. Before reaching the spot where the pillar of light had risen, Long Tian noticed that the fluorescence on the sea surface ahead was becoming more pronounced, as if a shallow reflection was accelerating its brightness adjustment. He didn't stop the ship where the fluorescence appeared, but instead continued at its original speed, passing through the area of fluorescence. Then, he adjusted the ship's orientation along its Light Core, directly below the projection of the Light Core, and stopped the ship. Long Tian stood at the bow... He glanced down at his reflection in the water amidst the ever-increasing fluorescence. The layer of light on the Dragon Shadow's forehead behind him kept aligning with the fluorescence below the surface. He crouched down and dipped his hand into the water, feeling the fluorescence rising steadily from the deeper water, its temperature slightly higher than the surface seawater as it passed his wrist. He withdrew his hand, water droplets dripping from between his fingers onto the deck. He stood up, pulled his coat collar up, and stood at the bow, illuminated by the continuous fluorescence. The Dragon Shadow's light clung to his back, like a burning wick nearing its ignition.