The first story is about two people and a corpse.

As usual, I want to start with a small detail. The Malay indigenous people of Perak consist of thousands of tribes scattered throughout the southern jungles. This southern jungle is broadly defined, encompassing areas all the way to Johor. This vast, pristine rainforest has nurtured several fleeting civilizations.

Among these thousands of tribes, there is one tribe whose people bear a unique tattoo pattern. This pattern has been passed down for over 2,000 years and is extremely complex. Western explorers who study tattoos and local customs have been unable to trace the origins of this pattern. It is neither a symbol of production activities, nor a mythological story, nor obscure spells or symbols.

In the 17th century, a piece of human skin bearing this pattern was sold to England, where it was accidentally seen by a priest from the cardinal court. Before devoting himself to God, this priest was a cartographer, and he was astonished to see advanced cartographic traces in the tattoos that had been passed down through generations among the indigenous people for 2,000 years.

Yes, these tattoos are a map from 2,000 years ago, depicting the islands near Borneo as they were before the rise in sea levels.

By the late 17th century, research on glacial periods emerged in Europe. During the third glacial period, the sea level was much lower than it is today, and the shapes of all the islands were different from what they are now. This information is enough to prove that the map was created a very long time ago.

In the local indigenous language, this tattoo is called “Gonka.” Gonka is a local hallucinogenic drug; after consuming it, the indigenous people would dance into the fire, continuing to dance until death. Gonka is highly addictive, and after three years of use, many people tend to commit suicide. It is said that if a person who has attempted suicide is rescued, they will see this map in their mind. Thus, a saying arose that this map is seen in the underworld.

The hallucinogenic drug Gonka has virtually disappeared for the past 800 years, and it is rarely seen in the rainforest anymore. Perhaps it still exists deep within the rainforest, but no one can confirm this. The techniques for making and consuming Gonka are remembered only by a few, and whether one can see this map in a hallucination remains an unresolvable mystery.

What is particularly intriguing is that there is a strange mark on this human skin map. The person who created this map 2,000 years ago made a mark at a specific location on the map, which lies deep within the rainforest. What could be there?

Starting from the 17th century, a total of five expedition teams entered the southern rainforest of Perak in search of this location. Three of the expedition teams did not reach the site before the rainy season, while the remaining two entered the rainforest and never reappeared, leaving their fate unknown. Subsequently, people referred to that location as the “Ghost Point,” but exploration ceased.

It wasn’t until the late 18th century that Western interest in the Gonka map was reignited, as the hallucinogenic drug Gonka was rediscovered in western Perak. These powders were experimented with by Westerners, and at the brink of death, they saw that map. Moreover, it is said that they also witnessed scenes that could never be passed down through generations.

Arriving at the “ghost point” on the Gongka map to verify whether those images are real gave rise to the Gongka Prize. In the end, the prize was exchanged for 2,000 photographs, after which the Gongka Prize was canceled, and these photographs were sealed in the archives.

Well, our story is intricately connected to the Gongka Prize.

At the end of the 18th century, in Perak, Malacca, there was Zhang Haiyan, historically known as the most despicable person in Nanyang. His behavior was eccentric, his words unrestrained, and he had no credibility. His famous saying was: “The skin is thick enough to support a big tree, and a man’s knees are as dirty as dung.”

After going to Nanyang, unlike other Chinese people, he didn’t settle down or engage in business, but instead mingled in the marketplace. No one knew what he did every day, and there were times when he would disappear for three or four months. When he did act, it often shocked passersby. Zhang Haiyan had countless notorious deeds, all of which were unsightly and unmentionable, the most famous being his robbery of a sewage truck, where he looted the city for six consecutive weeks without anyone knowing what he did with the stolen goods.

Some said he was quite dignified in private; people had seen him sitting alone in a big tree, gazing out at the sea, which was in the direction of China. No one knew who he was missing.

In terms of physiognomy, Zhang Haiyan had a crescent moon shape in his brows, alluring yet not superficial, with eyes deep like a bottomless pool. When the heavens do not pour rain, the surface remains calm; when feelings arise, the ripples sink to the bottom of the pool. To put it simply, his emotions were directed inward, but his alluring brows made him appear both charming and sinister. Huqingzi, a fortune teller among the Chinese, the founder of the first Taoist temple in Nanyang, said that Zhang Haiyan’s face indicated he held great secrets but said nothing. However, the herbalist from the nearby Chinese medicine shop, Fangcaotang, said that this face indicated he was suffering from kidney deficiency, melancholic thoughts, and damage to his heart and spleen, affecting his Yangming channel.

The implication was clear: despite his handsome appearance, he was not capable.

Today, these rumors and evaluations no longer mattered, as Zhang Haiyan was now watching the crowd gathered below the execution platform. He was completely naked, his buttocks raised high, with his head trapped in the guillotine. This guillotine had been used for a long time; it was essentially a dirt mound in the town square, and it was said that a wooden base would be built here in a few years.

Indeed, he was about to be executed, although the executioner had not yet arrived. However, based on Zhang Haiyan’s previous experiences watching beheadings, he knew that the sun was too strong today, and the executioner would probably arrive an hour late. By that time, most prisoners would have been exhausted from the heat, dying in a dazed state, and there wouldn’t be much desperate action. If the audience was not satisfied, they would leave quickly, allowing the executioner to return home sooner.

Beneath his head, there was a broken basket for holding his head. Without this basket, his head would roll into the crowd after being severed. The area around the guillotine was swarming with flies; although blood would spray forward after the beheading and the guillotine would be washed, the wooden seams always retained years of unsanitary blood, attracting swarms of flies that buzzed incessantly in his ears.

There were definitely enough flies today; several had been executed this month, Zhang Haiyan thought, as he understood the reason he was here.

Three months ago, a group of Chinese individuals was caught smuggling foreign liquor here. Two weeks later, four accomplices were released and continued their smuggling business. Zhang Haiyan knew that they must have made an arrangement with the white people in prison regarding the ratio. Later, someone in authority found out about the situation, and the four individuals were arrested again and sentenced to beheading, but only three were executed. It was clear that one of them had bribed the sheriff. After all, it was a gang of four, so it would have been fine to execute all four. The white authorities couldn’t distinguish the faces of the Chinese people very well anyway. As a result, he, who had been involved in transporting liquor for the gang a few times, was arrested to fill the gap left by the three.