Li Cu emerged from the desert, his body still not fully recovered and undergoing continuous treatment. His mind was completely clear; it was the third day since he had woken up in a hospital in Beijing, and for the first time, he recalled everything that had happened.

Miraculously, the wound on his back had successfully scabbed over, and the slight itch was quite uncomfortable, bringing all the details back to his mind. He remembered the phone. That blind man had told him, after giving him food and water, that he had to survive and needed to make a call to inform someone on the other end of what had transpired.

Li Cu dared not say that he had just remembered everything. After enduring the scorching sun, all his energy had been spent on walking. He had tried countless times to recall these details, but the blinding sun in his mind caused his memories to stop whenever he thought of the desert.

Even now, he didn’t immediately make the call. He suddenly realized that he had moved past this incident; if he didn’t reflect on it, everything would fade away. The only thing reminding him of what had happened was the scar on his back. At that time, Wu Xie had said that the reason for taking him to the desert was because of that scar.

If he made the call, and the person on the other end decided to go into the desert to rescue Wu Xie and the blind man, would they come looking for him too? If the scar on his back was truly as important as Wu Xie believed, then the person on the other end would definitely come to find him. In that case, everything would happen all over again.

No, he couldn’t go through that again. Lying in bed, all the muscles in his body felt numb. The texture of the cotton blanket, the foul smell and comfortable temperature of the air conditioning, and the voices of people around him suddenly made him aware of the beauty of “civilization.”

He couldn’t just simply make this call.

Deep down, Li Cu felt a sense of fear: he remembered that too much time had passed since he had been found. If the blind man and Wu Xie died because of it, would the other party blame him for his “delay”?

He sneaked back home, where everything he had brought back from the desert was still in his room, untouched, not even unpacked. Clearly, his father had no idea what his son had been through.

He opened his bag and found the phone inside, but it was dead. He went to a phone shop at the corner of the street and got a new battery. Just as the blind man had said, the phone’s contact list contained only one number.

He copied the number down, found a payphone, and dialed it. No one answered.

The call connected, but no one picked up. Did he need to use this phone to call, so that the other party would recognize the familiar number and answer?

Considering Wu Xie’s identity, Li Cu thought this was indeed possible.

He squatted by the roadside, pondering for a long time. For a moment, he thought it might be better to just let it go; as long as he didn’t make the call, everything would surely pass. After all, no one knew about the blind man’s situation, and no one would come to blame him.

Yet he still felt uneasy. In that fleeting moment, he realized that if he didn’t make this call, he would never find peace for the rest of his life.

He clicked his tongue, thinking that if worse came to worst, he could just hide for a while after the fight was over. In the past, he was in the open while Wu Xie was in the dark, making it difficult for him to guard against him. Now, he was in the dark and could act according to the situation. If it really came to it, he could let his father and himself stay in the police station. He didn’t believe that those tomb raiders had such great powers.

With that thought, he dialed the only number on his phone. As the screen displayed that the call was being connected, all the hairs on his body stood on end. However, the phone rang at least thirty times without anyone picking up. Li Cu didn’t hang up; he stared intently at the screen, waiting for the call to automatically disconnect, leaving the screen dark.

Li Cu breathed a sigh of relief. “Alright, the other party is unreliable and won’t answer the phone; it has nothing to do with me.” He paused for a moment, squatting by the roadside for a while, still feeling uneasy, and dialed again. The call still didn’t go through.

Only then did he feel completely at ease. He thought to himself: I’ve been taken hostage by you, threatened that I’d be killed if I left the desert. I’ve put aside past grievances and made two phone calls. I took a significant risk with these calls, and now you didn’t answer. I’ve done all I can; if there are any issues in the future, they naturally won’t have anything to do with me.

With that thought, he suddenly sat down on the ground, feeling relieved—completely relieved.

Before his backside could warm the cold ground, his phone suddenly vibrated, and he almost dropped it. Looking down, he saw that the phone was ringing. The only number had called back.

Li Cu picked up the phone, trembling, and reflexively pressed the answer button, bringing the phone to his ear. After a moment, he finally heard a voice on the other end: “Who? Who was looking for me just now?”

“Uh, I’m a messenger,” Li Cu stammered. “Someone asked me to bring a message to you.” He thought that after hearing this, the other party would respond in a low, solemn voice, appropriately saying “Speak!” or “Wait a moment, I’ll find a private place.”

However, the other party spoke in a rather dismissive tone, saying, “I’m a bit busy right now. Can you call back in thirty minutes?”

Li Cu was taken aback, thinking to himself that the other party was actually putting on airs. He replied, “But this message is very important.”

“What I’m dealing with is also quite important. If he’s really that anxious, why doesn’t he come find me himself instead of sending you to convey a message?” the other party continued. “Call me back in thirty minutes; it doesn’t matter if you don’t.” With that, the person actually hung up the phone.

Li Cu stared at the phone, thinking, Black Glasses, did you really make arrangements with someone else to come rescue you? This is just too unreliable.

What to do? He suddenly felt like he had been played again. It seemed unlikely, though—did Black Glasses come all the way to the desert just to mess with him? But if he wasn’t being played, why would the other party have this attitude?

Sitting by the roadside, his thoughts were chaotic. He stared blankly for over thirty minutes before finally picking up the phone again, telling himself, “This is the last time. If this time they don’t answer or I get the cold shoulder again, it’s your own bad luck, Black Glasses; it has nothing to do with me.”

He dialed again, and this time, it was answered quickly. Li Cu said, “I’m the one who just conveyed the message to you.”

The voice on the other end was no longer the same as before. Now, a woman answered the phone and said, “You don’t need to say anything. The moment this number appeared, it told them everything. They have already set off. Thank you very much; you can keep this number, it will not connect again. Goodbye.” After saying that, the call ended.

Li Cu was stunned; this time he understood. It seemed that as soon as the other party received the call, they already knew what he wanted to say. He suddenly felt a bit disappointed—was that it? They didn’t properly thank him, nor did they come to kidnap or threaten him? They didn’t even ask for a clear account of what had happened. Could they really find the black bear like this?

At the same time, he felt a sense of relief; the weight in his heart finally lifted. He thought to himself: I have finally become an ordinary person again. I have no connection to the desert or those crazy people anymore. For the first time in his life, he felt that fate was indeed quite mysterious.

However, he also felt that things were developing too quickly; it seemed like it shouldn’t end like this. But at that moment, even with this premonition, he didn’t know where to go to verify it.