Chapter 15

In Jiang Shan’s memory, only one night had passed.
She had looked at the photos in the camera, remembered the shock and nausea, then seemed to have drunk a big gulp of water… After that, nothing.
She had woken to a group of strangers staring at her like a zoo exhibit.
She could see Wei Yuan’s mouth moving. Her head was buzzing. She couldn’t take in his words. Were these people from a prank show?
Or some hidden-camera segment from the tour?
“What date did you say it is today?”
Finding Jiang Shan—a survivor—was a major breakthrough. But her reaction was so disconnected that Wei Yuan felt they had hit another dead end.
Wei Yuan said: “Have you noticed how you look right now?”
She looked down. The “blanket” she had been lying under seemed to belong to one of the women from the tour.
She reached for her phone—she had left it beside her last night—but couldn’t find it.
She got up and grabbed her backpack, dumping everything out.
The same two sets of clothes—but now ragged, as if worn for a long time, dirty and full of holes.
The camera looked even older. One corner seemed to be rusting.
She shivered. Something flickered in her mind.
Wei Yuan noticed the change in her expression. “Do you remember what happened?”
How had she survived? Why was she the only one?
Too many unanswered questions.
Jiang Shan didn’t respond.
She looked at her palms. The skin, once thin and fine, was now covered in thick, dark calluses. There was a strange smell.
The tent didn’t look the same as when she had arrived “last night.” Many things had changed.
She seemed more confused than any of them.
Just as Wei Yuan was about to ask something else, the pill bottle rolled out of her overturned backpack—from the inner pocket—and came to rest at Wei Yuan’s feet.
His gaze fell on the bottle. Faded glass, a yellowed paper label. He could just make out the words “Kefan Biotech.”
A bright gleam flashed in his eyes.
When he looked up at Jiang Shan again, his expression had changed.
“Look,” the tall thin man said, “shouldn’t we get out of here?”
Before finding Jiang Shan they had finished searching the cave hotel. They had been about to leave this place as fast as they could.
Every second they stayed, their nerves were stretched.
Wei Yuan turned his wheelchair and, as if casually, covered the bottle on the ground. He said to Jiang Shan: “Come with us. It’s not safe to stay on this mountain.”
The others were too focused on Jiang Shan to notice the gesture.
Jiang Shan looked at the strangers. “Who are you?” Why should she go with them? To her, Wei Yuan and his team were the ones who had appeared out of nowhere. Their identities were unknown.