Chapter 12 Night Rendezvous (Part 1) A familiar, indifferent tone, carrying…
After finishing her meal, Shen Mi realized a serious problem—she had carved the agreed-upon location on the abandoned rock, but forgot to write the time.
Will Danheng understand what she means? Will he wait for her there and then leave?
A series of questions swirled in Shen Mi's mind, but there was nothing she could do. She could only lie in her tent, pretending to be as exhausted as everyone else. However, the snoring that filled the tent reminded her of the danger, and her heart pounded wildly with the snores.
As night deepened, a heavy curtain enveloped the labor camp, awaiting the unfolding of an unknown story.
Shen Mi held her breath, slowly lifted the covers, and quietly landed barefoot, trying not to make a sound. She tiptoed around the other people's beds, even deliberately keeping her breathing soft. Every step she took felt like walking on the edge of a cliff, afraid that the slightest sound would wake someone.
When they finally stepped out of the tent, a cold night wind rushed towards them, carrying the metallic smell unique to the mining area. Chen Mi shrank his neck and carefully made his way along the route he had taken that night.
Patrolling security personnel moved around in twos and threes, their searchlights casting blinding beams in the night. Upon seeing this, Chen Mi immediately held his breath, crouched down, and quickly slipped away under the shadow of the ore pile.
The mining area was even more eerie at night than during the day, the only sounds being the glowing broken bracelet against the sky and the low chirping of unknown insects buried in the sand. Chen Mi's palms were sweating, but she dared not stop, running wildly along the route she had taken that night.
Chen Mi walked with extra caution in the night, almost stepping on her own shadow. The cold wind, carrying the metallic smell unique to the mining area, sharply brushed against her cheeks and disrupted the jumbled thoughts in her mind.
The path was littered with scattered fragments, so she didn't dare run too fast, only walking and running, carefully stepping on the sand. There were also pits covered by yellow sand under the sand, and if she stepped into one, she would accidentally fall in, and her scream might attract the attention of patrolling security personnel.
Shen Mi could only move in the shadows, like a small animal groping its way in the dark.
Her heart pounded in the night, her palms were already soaked with sweat, but her steps did not falter in the slightest.
Finally, after turning the corner of that familiar rock face, she saw the building in the distance.
The abandoned sentry tower remained deserted; in the desolate night, its shadow was as quiet as an abandoned tomb. Chen Mi held his breath, his heart pounding even faster than before.
Looking up, the small house that had been lit up that night now resembled the embers of a candle that had been extinguished, its grayness like a dark cloud, and Chen Mi felt a sense of despair.
Hasn't he arrived yet?
Or... did he come and then leave?
Shen Mi's heart pounded in her ears as she stared at the tightly closed door, her hands instinctively clenching the hem of her clothes. The night was deep, and the shadow of the sentry tower was stretched long and narrow by the moonlight, as if the entire world was cold and hard, devoid of any warmth.
She stood there, hesitating for a moment.
What if Danheng has really left?
Would he think she was toying with him? Or did she simply not understand the meaning behind that discarded rock? After all, she hadn't even written the date...
The more she thought about it, the more confused she became. She bit her lip and tried to take a few steps forward, but as soon as she lifted her foot, she heard a very light footstep.
Shen Mi's nerves tensed instantly, and he almost instinctively shrank into the shadows, his fingertips touching the small pickaxe hidden at his waist.
"Don't move."
A deep voice broke the silence of the night.
The familiar, indifferent tone carried his usual restraint and vigilance.
Shen Mi froze, his breath catching in his throat.
She looked in the direction of the sound—Dan Heng was standing a few steps away from her, his figure half-hidden in the shadow cast by the mine wall. The night blurred his expression, leaving only his deep gray-blue eyes, quietly gazing at her.
Clearly, he had been waiting for a while. No, judging from his resentful look, it must have been a long time.
Shen Mi's heart skipped a beat, and the anxiety that had been hanging in the air for so long finally subsided. She suppressed a smile and said softly, "You've come."
Dan Heng lowered his eyes slightly and said calmly, "You didn't write down the time."
Chen Mi: "..."
It's over.
Shen Mi was speechless for a moment, stammering, "I...I forgot..."
This bland and matter-of-fact reply made her suddenly feel like a reckless fool.
He lowered his eyes, as if regretting the alliance he had made through a momentary mistake, and sighed helplessly: "So I had no choice but to come ahead of time."
Shen Mi's face instantly fell. She pursed her lips and subconsciously straightened her body, as if this would salvage some of her remaining dignity.
Danheng looked at her quietly without saying a word.
Shen Mi felt a little uneasy under Dan Heng's gaze and was about to say something to ease the tension when Dan Heng suddenly moved.
He took a step closer and stood in front of her. The cold night wind, carrying his scent, brushed past Chen Mi's ear, with a faint, refreshing smell of water.
"Next time," Dan Heng's voice was soft, like a thin line etched in the night, "remember to write the time clearly."
Shen Mi was startled and looked up at him.
In this desolate ruin, his tone was so calm it was unfathomable, like a cold moonlight, without blame or emotional fluctuation, just a simple reminder.
But it was precisely this calmness that made Shen Mi's heart skip a beat.
Is he implying... there will be a next time?
Shen Mi's lips parted slightly, as if he wanted to ask something, but he swallowed the words back down.
Finally, she smiled and said, "Okay, I'll remember next time."
Danheng glanced at her, but didn't reply. Instead, he raised his arm, gesturing for her to follow: "Let's go."
"Where to?" Shen Mi asked instinctively.
Dan Heng didn't turn around, but walked towards the back of the sentry tower, his voice low: "You asked me to meet you, you didn't just ask me to stand here and keep you company in the wind, did you?"
Shen Mi paused for a moment, then realized that he hadn't gotten to the point yet, so he quickly composed himself and followed.
The night wind howled, and the mining area was silent, with only the sound of two footsteps echoing on the abandoned road.
Shen Mi followed behind Dan Heng, the two walking side by side toward the back of the sentry tower. The night was deep, and the wind whistled through the abandoned tower, making the old iron gate creak, as if the whole world was holding its breath to listen to their footsteps.
A moment of silence lingered between the two until Shen Mi finally couldn't help but speak up: "Manager Mei, I found something in the mine today."
Dan Heng stopped and tilted his head slightly: "What is that?"
"At the end of an inconspicuous path, there was a pile of ore covered by a black cloth." Shen Mi frowned, recalling that eerie scene. "There were also burn marks nearby, but no blood or corpses. I found a piece of mechanical debris there."
When Dan Heng heard the last sentence, his gaze instantly sharpened: "Mechanical fragments?"
Shen Mi took out the fragment he had carried all the way from his pocket and handed it to Dan Heng by the faint moonlight. It was a piece of shard about the size of a palm, with irregular edges, as if it had been violently torn apart. It had slight burn marks and a faint smell of engine oil.
When Shen Mi handed the mechanical fragments to Dan Heng, he thought they were just some kind of equipment parts.
Dan Heng glanced down, his fingertips brushing the charred edge, and after a moment slowly said, "It's a GPS positioning device."
"On the equipment?" Shen Mi asked tentatively.
“No.” Dan Heng looked up at her, his gaze calm. “These are tracking devices worn by labor camp personnel.”
Shen Mi was taken aback: "What?"
Danheng flipped the fragment over and pointed to a small, burnt-blurred label with his fingertip: "All registered personnel in the labor camp are forced to wear this tracking device, usually hidden in their tool belts or work clothes, and sometimes even embedded under their skin, to ensure that their whereabouts are always under the surveillance of security."
Shen Mi suddenly felt a chill run down his spine: "So... this is from someone else?"
“Yes,” Danheng said calmly. “Someone took it down and deliberately burned it—which means that person didn’t want their whereabouts to be tracked.”
Shen Mi frowned, several possibilities flashing through his mind: "Escaped laborers? Or... missing persons?"
“If it were an escape, the traces of destroying the locator wouldn’t be so well hidden.” Dan Heng tilted his head slightly, his tone as calm as if he were discussing something extremely ordinary. “Most people who try to escape are more likely to just tear off the locator and throw it away, they wouldn’t bother to burn it like this.”
Shen Mi immediately realized: "So, someone has a specific purpose in mind, wanting to destroy this thing without being discovered?"
Dan Heng nodded, his fingertips tracing the edge of the fragments, and calmly concluded: "Either someone wants to escape surveillance and move freely in the labor camp; or—someone is deliberately covering up the whereabouts of another person."
Shen Mi's heart skipped a beat: "...In other words, someone may already be dead."
Shen Mi suddenly thought of the women who had recently disappeared from the labor camps, and a chill ran through her. She quickly recalled the details of those disappearances—several female laborers vanished without any warning. She couldn't help but wonder if these missing women were all connected to GPS tracking devices?
She frowned slightly, a sense of unease rising within her. She whispered, "Manager Mei, do you think it could be one of those missing women?"
Dan Heng looked at her, a hint of doubt flashing in his eyes, but he quickly regained his composure. He didn't answer directly, but instead looked down at the fragment, lost in thought.
Shen Mi continued, "If this GPS locator really was worn by those missing laborers, then... is it possible that they lost the locator while trying to escape some kind of control?"
Dan Heng's gaze sharpened, and after a moment of silence, he spoke: "If that's the case, then the reason those women disappeared is no longer a simple escape, but may involve some deeper conspiracy. They may have deliberately cut off contact with the outside world when they escaped, or they may have been forcibly removed and destroyed."
Shen Mi's heart pounded faster as the scene before her grew increasingly surreal. Images of the missing women flashed through her mind; they seemed to have vanished without a trace in this desolate mining area. Shen Mi felt a nameless dread; this wasn't just a simple disappearance, but something far more terrifying might be unfolding behind it all.
The wind blew past her back, and Chen Mi immediately got goosebumps all over her body.
Dan Heng put the fragments into his pocket and said to Chen Mi, "The evidence we have now is not enough to prove our conjecture. We still need to go to the mine tunnel to take a look."
“Mm.” Shen Mi nodded in agreement.
Dan Heng suddenly stopped and turned to look at Shen Mi, a thoughtful glint in his eyes. "Shen Mi, do you still remember the exact location of the mine tunnel?"
Shen Mi nodded, feeling a little nervous. "I remember. I'll take you there."
Danheng led her around the abandoned area, carefully avoiding patrols, and headed towards the mine in Sector E.
A note from the author:
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I didn't get any... I'm late to the preview, everyone. Anyway, wish me luck in getting tickets to the Star Iron Concert.
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