Chapter 37: White Mist in the Woods 2
Zhuang Ningyu stood perfectly still. Even though the fleeting, warm touch was enough to send a tingle of numbness up his entire spine, he didn’t move. He found that in the many moments they spent together, the other man could always pick out the sliver of time with the most seemingly valid reason—like when he was crying, when his ribs were broken, when his stomach ached, or right now, just before he was about to leave for a mission—to recklessly tear apart their proper social distance.
Yi Ke asked, “Why aren’t you hitting me this time?”
Zhuang Ningyu replied without emotion, “My hand hurts.”
Yi Ke let out a laugh and finally decided to stand up straight. He was just about to playfully try and grab the pale, slender fingertips peeking from his sweater cuff again when the doorbell suddenly rang.
“Captain Zhuang, Xiao Yi.” It was Liu Xiaoyang’s voice from outside the door. He had rushed over as soon as he got the news from the team, carrying a tactical backpack with the unified logo of the Order Maintenance Department printed on it. These bags could be found all over the city, about as common as fire hydrants, specifically for dealing with sudden situations like this one.
The villa’s front desk also called, saying the car was ready and could depart at any time.
Yi Ke said his thanks, grabbed his phone from the table—which was vibrating so intensely it seemed to be screaming in Huang Huihuang’s roaring voice—and glanced at Zhuang Ningyu before turning and striding away.
Zhuang Ningyu asked, “What’s the situation with the missing law enforcement officers?”
Liu Xiaoyang answered, “We’ve found four of them. They likely lost their signal due to the influence of the Rule Zone, but we just re-established contact a few minutes ago.”
He handed his tablet to Zhuang Ningyu. It displayed the detailed information of the officers: four men and one woman. Because it was a joint enforcement action, the personnel were from different departments—three from the city traffic police, one from the district’s comprehensive law enforcement bureau, and one from the sub-district office. The one still missing was an intern from the sub-district office named He Yu. This young woman had been hired through a special recruitment program for people with disabilities and was said to have some difficulty with her leg.
Zhuang Ningyu was puzzled. “Her leg isn’t fully mobile, and they still had a young woman go up a mountain in the middle of the night with four old guys to catch street racers?”
“It’s a tiring job with no perks. Not many people are willing to do it, so interns are the easiest to assign.” Liu Xiaoyang also thought the arrangement was pretty rotten. “But I heard it’s just a slight limp. It might be… not very aesthetically pleasing, and she can’t run fast, but it doesn’t affect her daily work and life.”
“Alright, I understand.” Zhuang Ningyu nodded. “I’ll borrow the computer for now. Captain Ye and the others are handling the Rule Zone matter, so don’t worry about it. Go focus on your wedding.”
The entrances and exits of Qingquan Mountain were now blocked. Liu Xiaoyang still had to rush to discuss the route for the minibus with the wedding planning company for the next day and notify all the guests of the new departure time. He really didn’t have much energy left to follow up on a Rule Zone dozens of kilometers away. Zhuang Ningyu personally escorted the flustered groom-to-be back to his suite, then opened his phone to check Yi Ke’s location. The red dot on the map was currently moving toward Qingquan Mountain at 130 km/h. He hesitated in the hallway for a moment before finally returning to his room.
The deluxe suite was indeed luxurious, resplendent in gold and with excellent soundproofing. Once the door was closed, even the voices of the waiters in the hallway seemed to be sucked into a black hole, the silence so profound it made one’s heart feel heavy. Zhuang Ningyu was in no mood for a hot spring bath, even though a private one was right outside the suite, complete with essential oils, bath salts, and rose petals.
The hotel driver took Yi Ke all the way to the entrance of Qingquan Mountain. The traffic police had already arrived and set up a cordon. A few brave onlookers were scattered around, discussing the Rule Zone with great authority. Yi Ke overheard a bit as he passed by; after some embellishment by the local aunties, the number of missing people had already swelled from the original five to fifteen. It would probably become one hundred and five in a few days.
“Hello.” The traffic police officer recognized Yi Ke, shook his hand, and after checking his work ID, let him pass according to regulations. They had already prepared a patrol motorcycle for him. Yi Ke put on his helmet, revved the engine, and shot into the deep mountains like an arrow released from a bow.
In the deluxe suite, Zhuang Ningyu leaned against the headboard, flipping through a book in his hand, his gaze occasionally darting to the phone beside him. Based on the red dot’s coordinates, Yi Ke should have arrived near the spot where the white mist had previously dissipated.
“How is it?” he asked.
“Nothing for now,” Yi Ke replied. “Captain Ye is leading a team into the mountain from another entrance. They’re expected to arrive in about half an hour. I’ll search the area around here first.”
The temperature in the mountains was already very low. Just from the various sounds coming through the earpiece, Zhuang Ningyu could imagine the damp chill covering the dead branches and fallen leaves. Yi Ke didn’t like this kind of weather either; the misty water vapor was like an invisible ghostly claw, and the wind stirred it into a sharp sound that constantly interfered with his judgment.
“Don’t go too far,” Zhuang Ningyu instructed. “Be careful on your own.”
Yi Ke grunted in agreement. His attention was caught by a flash of brightness in the withered leaves. He walked over with his flashlight and picked up a red bow-shaped hair clip from the ground. It was very new; a light shake was enough to dust it off.
“We’ve confirmed with the sub-district office. This is indeed He Yu’s hair clip,” the investigation team quickly sent back the result five minutes later. “She was wearing it at work today. Because the color is so bright, everyone in the office remembers it.”
Zhuang Ningyu enlarged the image on his computer screen. The clip was made of plastic and showed no signs of damage. He used an image search on a shopping app to find the same model. The keywords mostly indicated “lightweight and sturdy,” and the product detail page even had a video demonstration by a model. It did seem to clip hair quite firmly. Logically, it shouldn’t have fallen out unless… He Yu had been running at the time.
To verify his guess, Zhuang Ningyu specifically consulted Wu Tao, who quickly replied with a voice message: “Boss, not necessarily. If her hair quality is exceptionally good and her hair is very heavy, this kind of clip can also slowly slide down on its own.”
Zhuang Ningyu knew what “exceptionally good hair quality” meant—the kind you see in shampoo commercials. But He Yu was clearly not that. In her staff photo, her hair color was yellowish, and it looked slightly frizzy. Her face was gaunt, her eyes deep-set. The overall first impression she gave was not very healthy, with a somewhat listless, sickly look.
Yi Ke rode the motorcycle through a sparse patch of woods. His earpiece maintained an open line with Zhuang Ningyu. At first, it was quiet, but as he went deeper, the silence began to be intermittently mixed with the faint, elusive static of a disturbed signal. Zhuang Ningyu noticed this as well. He placed his book face down on the quilt and sat up straight, concentrating on the sounds from the earpiece, from a very faint “hiss…” to a distinct “crackle…”, and finally to a piercing screech like an iron spoon scraping against glass.
“How is it?” he asked.
Yi Ke took a photo of his location. “There’s a deep pit, about ten meters high. In front of the pit seems to be a low cliff. The fog is too thick right now, visibility is low.”
The static tore their conversation into fragments. Based on experience, the Rule Zone was most likely nearby.
Yi Ke held his flashlight, illuminating every patch of mountain forest within his line of sight. The thick fog tangled in the shadows of the trees. The heavy leaves of the evergreen forest were wet with dew, and under the light, they glistened with a gem-like translucence. If not for the Rule Zone, a night like this would actually be quite beautiful. But now, Yi Ke looked at the mass of white fog hanging low on the branches and said into the microphone, “I’ve found it.”
The coordinates were uploaded simultaneously, and Ye Jianyue led the rest of the team to quickly converge on his position. Zhuang Ningyu kept his eyes on the display screen. Two dots, one red and one green, were gradually getting closer. Just as they were about to overlap, the red dot representing Yi Ke’s position suddenly shot forward—
“Yi Ke!”
The sound of an engine revving, the rush of wind, and the loud “whoosh” of branches brushing against the microphone came through the earpiece. Yi Ke’s breathing sounded a bit ragged. He must have just ridden his bike down into the deep pit at high speed. Finally, with a muffled thud and a very abrupt female scream, the world suddenly fell completely silent.
“Ningyu,” Ye Jianyue said, “Xiao Yi has entered the Rule Zone.”
Zhuang Ningyu pressed, “Only him?”
Ye Jianyue looked at the silent, wild forest before her, her tone somewhat helpless. “When we rushed over, we happened to see Xiao Yi riding his motorcycle into the pit. Qing Gang was closer to him at the time, but he still couldn’t see anything clearly. The fog was just too thick.”
And by the time the others had also rushed down into the pit, the Rule Zone, along with Yi Ke, had already disappeared.
…
Yi Ke patted the grass clippings off his clothes and sat down on the ground, propping himself up with his hands. He asked her, “Why did you get separated from your colleagues?”
The young woman in front of him was wearing the standard-issue uniform of the sub-district office. Her head was covered in dead branches and leaves, and her face was filled with terror. She was clearly so frightened that she couldn’t form a complete sentence for a long time, stammering, “Wh-what?”
Yi Ke reminded her, “You’re about to strangle that rabbit.”
“Oh, oh!” The young woman snapped back to her senses and quickly released her hands. The yellow wild rabbit she had been clutching in her palms struggled feebly a couple of times, revealing a bloody mess of fur on its leg. It seemed to have just escaped from a rabbit trap; the flesh wound was fresh and open, still bleeding continuously. Yi Ke pulled a hemostatic agent from his tactical pack and tossed it over. “He Yu?”
“Yes, you… you’re from the Order Maintenance Department, right?” He Yu asked tentatively as she applied the medicine to the injured rabbit. Seeing Yi Ke nod, she visibly relaxed.
Static returned to the earpiece, along with Zhuang Ningyu’s voice, which faded in and out. “Hello, can you hear me?”
“Yes, I’m fine.” Yi Ke stood up. “I just entered the Rule Zone. The signal is a bit unstable.”
Hearing that he was safe, Zhuang Ningyu relaxed a little. “What’s the situation inside?”
“It’s a dense mountain forest, just like Qingquan Mountain. He Yu from the sub-district office is with me. She’s not injured.” Yi Ke looked at the girl behind him and repeated his earlier question. “Why did you get separated from your colleagues?”
He Yu said with a pained expression, “I don’t know either.”
The joint enforcement team had entered the mountain around 6 p.m. Halfway up, He Yu needed to use the bathroom. The driver, Lao Yang, pulled the car over and let her find a spot in the wild woods to relieve herself. Although He Yu felt awkward, the limited conditions didn’t allow for pickiness, so she could only walk as deep into the woods as possible. It was probably less than ten minutes, but when she tried to come back out, she was lost.
He Yu continued, “I have a strong sense of direction, so logically there’s no way I should have gotten lost. But at that moment, it was like hitting a ghost wall. The deeper I walked, the denser the forest became, and there was this white mist everywhere. It was a bit scary. My bag and phone were both in the car. I waited in place for a long time, but I didn’t see Lao Yang or the others come in to find me. I had no choice but to keep walking based on my instincts.”
Zhuang Ningyu asked, “So you got lost and accidentally stumbled into the Rule Zone on your own?”
The phone was on speaker. He Yu glanced at Yi Ke and hesitated before speaking. “No, this handsome guy suddenly appeared and pulled me in.”
Yi Ke was speechless. He explained to Zhuang Ningyu on the other end of the line, “My vision was obstructed just now. I saw someone rolling down the mountain from a distance and thought there had been an accident, so I wanted to go down and grab her. But as soon as I moved, the Rule Zone, which had been stationary in the woods, suddenly started moving along with me.”
“Captain Ye saw you but didn’t have time to follow. The Rule Zone has already disappeared,” Zhuang Ningyu said. “She should be contacting you shortly.”
“Okay,” Yi Ke agreed and temporarily ended the call. He Yu had obviously heard their conversation and apologized sheepishly. “I’m so sorry, I thought you pulled me in… By the way, how should I address you?”
“Yi Ke. This spare phone is for you, the password is 520625. Let’s go, we need to find a place to shelter from the wind first.”
Hearing his name, a hint of surprise flashed across He Yu’s face. “So you’re… I’ve heard them mention you a lot.”
Yi Ke jumped down into a shallow pit where the wind was much lighter.
He Yu, holding the rabbit, slowly slid down after him, explaining as she went, “Teacher Yi, I wasn’t trying to kill myself just now. I just felt sorry for this rabbit and wanted to help it by prying the trap open.”
“It’s fine.” Yi Ke kicked away the dead branches and leaves in front of him. “You can call me by my name or Xiao Yi. Since you were able to get into the sub-district office, I probably don’t need to give you special reminders about the precautions for Rule Zones. Just be careful. If you get tired, you can tell me.”
“Okay.” He Yu nodded. “Don’t worry, I’m fine.”
The mountain within the Rule Zone was slightly brighter than the actual Qingquan Mountain, with visibility of about ten meters. After another ten minutes, Yi Ke’s communicator finally lit up as the signal connected. He put on his earpiece. “Captain Ye.”
Ye Jianyue had already spoken briefly with Zhuang Ningyu and knew that Yi Ke was currently with He Yu. She said, “The other four law enforcement officers have already driven to meet up with us.”
Lao Ou from the district’s comprehensive law enforcement bureau was still shaken, shivering as he blamed himself. “It’s my fault, all my fault. Otherwise, Xiao He wouldn’t have been left behind.”
A few hours earlier, the group of five had parked their car on the side of the mountain road to let He Yu go to the bathroom in the woods. With four men in the car, they couldn’t accompany a young woman, so they could only remind her to be careful as the path was dark and steep. After He Yu went into the woods, Lao Ou suddenly needed to use the bathroom too. So he had the driver, Lao Yang, continue driving for another fifty meters or so, thinking he’d drop himself off further away and then circle back to pick up Xiao He.
Lao Yang said, “But as soon as I started the car, I found white fog everywhere outside the windows. The brakes weren’t working well either. I could only let it coast slowly down the mountain road. All our phones had no signal.” After an unknown period of coasting in fear, the surrounding scenery finally returned to normal. Their phones began to chime incessantly, flooded with nearly a hundred messages in a minute from friends and their work units, all asking what was happening in the mountains.
As Lao Ou spoke, he was carrying a pink canvas tote bag covered in little animal patches and cartoon bows, which clearly didn’t match his style. Noticing Ye Jianyue’s gaze on the bag in his hand, Lao Ou reacted and quickly explained, “Oh, this is He Yu’s. According to regulations, should I hand it over to you?”
“Give it to Xiao Zhong. We’ll keep it for her,” Ye Jianyue said. “He Yu is safe for now, so you don’t need to worry too much.”
She arranged for a car and two team members to escort the four of them out. The sky was now beginning to lighten. After sunrise, the dense fog would dissipate significantly, making it much easier to find the Rule Zone.
“Captain Ye,” Yi Ke reported, “we haven’t found any danger for the time being, but He Yu’s leg…” He turned around and lowered his voice, “is not suitable for long-distance walking. The terrain here is complex, and I can’t carry her on the motorcycle.”
With the situation still unclear, there was no need to expend too much energy. Ye Jianyue told them to rest where they were and wait for daylight. Yi Ke led He Yu to a relatively flat and sheltered spot nearby. He took out a simple sleeping bag and a windproof blanket from his pack, handed them all to He Yu, and then gathered some dry branches to start a fire. The firewood crackled under the high temperature, and the leaping flames quickly dispelled the chill in the air.
As He Yu arranged the sleeping bag, she asked, “Where will you sleep then?”
“You don’t need to worry about me.” Yi Ke sat by the fire. His features had inherited all the best qualities of his parents, yet his lines were sharper. When he wasn’t smiling, he had an unapproachable air. Perhaps sensing that He Yu was observing him cautiously, as if she were very nervous, he softened his tone and comforted her, “Don’t be afraid. I will get you out of the Rule Zone. Go get some rest.”
“Thank you.” He Yu laid out the sleeping bag and took a pack of cookies and a bottle of water from Yi Ke. Her gaze fell upon a pink rabbit keychain hanging from his tactical backpack, and she asked curiously, “Teacher Yi, did your girlfriend put that there?”
Yi Ke was a bit stunned by her question. Following her gaze, he finally noticed the keychain on the buckle and guessed it must have been the handiwork of some kid at the hotel. He was about to deny it but promptly remembered that Zhuang Ningyu was also in the operations group chat. This golden opportunity could not be wasted. So, he cleared his throat. “No, I don’t have a girlfriend.”
His voice traveled through the earpiece to every member of the first team. Qing Gang marveled that Xiao Yi’s appeal to the opposite sex was on par with their Captain Zhuang’s. How could he be asked about his relationship status even on a mission? His luck with love was enviable.
He Yu hadn’t expected such a formal reply and didn’t know what to say, so she could only laugh awkwardly. “Oh.”
The other teammates didn’t think there was anything wrong with the conversation. Only Zhuang Ningyu felt a faint sense of foreboding. Sure enough, in the next second—
Yi Ke said, “But I have a wife.”
Zhuang Ningyu was speechless.
The teammates were greatly shocked, all wondering if they had missed some important intel. Where did young Xiao Yi get a wife? Zhong Mu, standing nearby, kindly explained that this was Xiao Yi’s standard line. Whenever someone pursued him, he would say he had a wife, and he would even bestow upon this wife a very dreamy persona.
Zhuang Ningyu wavered between leaving the group chat and continuing to work, but before he could make a decision, Zhong Mu’s voice reached his ears: “For every tear his wife sheds, another star appears in the sky.”
Amidst the team’s collective “Hahahahahahaha” and their jeers of “We have to tell this to Xiao Yi’s wife in person in the future,” Zhuang Ningyu took off one side of his earpiece, trying to reclaim half a measure of peace.
Yi Ke: Why did you suddenly go quiet?
Zhuang Ningyu ignored him. A moment later, Yi Ke sent another photo. This time it wasn’t a selfie, but a picture of the starry sky he had taken on a road trip to the northwest.
Yi Ke: I’ll take you to see it next time.
The starry sky was magnificent, a colorful galaxy stretching across the desert. But Zhuang Ningyu was in no mood to appreciate the beautiful scenery right now. His mind was filled with the line “For every tear his wife sheds, another star appears in the sky.” The psychic damage from that sentence was epic, far beyond anything he could tolerate in all of human civilization.
Yi Ke: [Wife]
Yi Ke: [Confetti]
Zhuang Ningyu couldn’t bear to look anymore. He narrowed his eyes and threw the person into his blocklist.
Yi Ke pressed the warm phone to his forehead, his shoulders shaking with laughter.
