The young man searched for the stairs to continue upward within the felt, but this place was just too warm. After walking for many days in the cold, he couldn’t help but stop, wanting to warm his body.
At that moment, he heard a faint sound of breathing coming from within the felt, seemingly from a woman. The young man pondered for a moment, then cautiously followed the sound, crawling through several pieces of felt until he saw something lying in the center among four pieces of felt.
These four pieces of felt were hung very neatly, forming a square area that resembled a room. The object was on the floor in the middle, moving slightly. It was a woman, or rather, a segment of a woman.
Because all of this woman’s limbs had been severed, only the skin was hanging on her body. The woman had long hair and a typical Tibetan facial structure, and she was covered with something resembling felt.
As the young man approached, he discovered that the woman’s eyes were also blind, her gaze clouded. He quietly crouched down and found that this woman had a very delicate face; she was quite a beautiful girl.
It was unclear what had caused this girl such immense suffering. It was evident that her hands and limbs had been broken by someone, the flesh torn apart. Externally, she appeared unremarkable, but the excruciating pain and the torment of not allowing her bones to heal were immense. In ancient times, during the sacking of cities, many women had their hands broken for the purpose of being raped.
It seemed that her eyes had also been burned blind; this girl must have endured great torture.
The young man did not feel pity. He had seen too much of the world’s ugliness and understood well that emotions were the most useless things.
He turned to leave, but after taking a few steps, he heard the girl say something in Tibetan; he couldn’t understand it. When he looked back, he saw that the girl had lifted her head and was gazing in his direction. Although she couldn’t see, she had still detected the direction through sound.
The young man stopped and saw the girl struggling to sit up, constantly moving her head. Suddenly, she spoke in Mandarin, “Who are you?”
The young man paused and remained silent. The girl kept turning her head. After waiting a moment, he took a couple more steps, and she said, “If you don’t speak, I’ll call out, and then you won’t be able to escape.”
The young man stopped again, turned around, and saw the girl facing him, a sly smile on her face.
He had never seen such a smile on someone who had lost their hands and feet and could not see. Yet, in this room, she seemed to hold the advantage.
The young man knew he could knock this girl unconscious in seconds; in front of him, such cleverness would be utterly useless. But he realized something was off; perhaps her attitude could be useful to him.
“Do you know who I am?” he asked.
The girl nodded.
“You know I’m Han?” the young man asked softly.
“I can smell your scent. Only one Han has been here, and your scent is like his, but you are not him. Are you also from the mountain below?”
“Yes,” the young man replied. “Then who are you?”
“Are you here to find him?” the girl said. “That Han person mentioned that there would definitely be others coming here.” Her Mandarin was a bit awkward, but there were no pronunciation errors. She didn’t answer the young man’s question but continued, “You need to be careful; they don’t like Han people.”
“I don’t know who you’re referring to,” the young man replied.
The girl said, “Never mind that, hurry and take me away from here.”
“Why?”
“Since you’re Han, you must be curious about what this place is. If you take me with you, I’ll tell you everything.”
The young man looked at the girl, who wore an expression of hope and urgency. After a moment, he nodded and said, “Alright,” then moved beside her and pressed his hand on her neck, causing her to faint.
Those who enjoy threatening others would certainly not reveal their secrets easily, the young man thought; it’s better to rely on myself.
He gently set the girl down and was about to continue moving forward when he suddenly heard footsteps approaching from the other side. Someone was speaking in Tibetan, seemingly having come to check after overhearing their conversation.
The young man quickly stepped aside and retreated behind a few curtains, catching a stronger scent of Tibetan incense. He saw two Tibetans carrying a stove, passing in front of his hiding place, and moving things next to the girl, beginning to arrange items around her.
The Tibetans were very respectful, and the incense grew even stronger, but the young man slowly began to sense something was off. He detected another familiar foul odor within the incense that shouldn’t be there.
A smell associated with death.
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