Tales of the End of the Century

Bai Ye sat deep in the mine all night. Old Wei placed the enamel mug on the stone slab between them; the chalk writing on the bottom, traced countless times, appeared faintly under the sidelight of his headlamp. Outside the mine, Tie Niu and Lan Susu rested against the corner of the tunnel, a reflective rope stretching from their feet to the mine entrance. The oscilloscope was off; the pulsating signal on the screen wasn't inside the machine, but right there in the mine, separated by a stone slab, gently rising and falling opposite Bai Ye.

"You asked me what happens after I return to the center of light." Old Wei pushed the jar half an inch towards Bai Ye. "Yun Xu's master once told Sergei—'The light doesn't shine for itself, the mirror doesn't reflect for itself.' Sergei traced this sentence across an entire page, but on the last trace, he suddenly stopped. He wrote a small note in Russian in the blank space, saying: 'When tracing words, the pen tip is reversed. I thought I was learning Chinese, but actually, Chinese was learning me. Every mark the pen tip makes on the paper, its reflection follows on the opposite side. Before, I was afraid it would follow, but later I wasn't. Then I realized, it's not following—it's accompanying me as I trace. Without it, this page would always be empty.'"

Bai Ye looked down at the enamel mug on the stone slab. The chalk writing at the bottom of the mug shone faintly white under his headlamp—he had also traced the same character, in front of the Millennium Night's reflection mirror, on the chalk wall of the air-raid shelter. His pen trembled during the first few strokes, gradually stabilizing in the middle, but on the last stroke, the tip suddenly slipped, veering to the left—propelled by the reflection. He didn't pull his head back, but simply continued tracing. That crooked stroke was still at the bottom of the mug.

"Sergei finally got it right on the last page. Not that it looked better, but it looked worse—the reflection pushed his pen to the left, and he didn't correct it. He left that page at Yunlong Temple and told Yunxu's master that he could put down his pen. Mirrors aren't for tracing characters; they're for letting others see if you dare to continue drawing a second stroke after you've traced it wrong. I've sat here for so many years, watching everyone who comes in trace that character. Those who traced it correctly left quickly, while those who traced it incorrectly stayed longer. Later I realized—tracing it correctly is just the hand moving, while those who traced it incorrectly are turning the mirror upside down."

Old Wei stood up, walked to the pile of scattered chalk stubs in the corner of the cave, picked out an unused piece, and handed it to Bai Ye. It was brand new, the cheapest kind from the supply and marketing cooperative. He said there were many of these chalk stubs deep in the mining area, enough for them to use for a long time. Afterwards, they had to cross the dried-up riverbed behind the mountains and continue north of the old geological exploration line to the abandoned exploration camp. Bai Ye couldn't stay there long, but he left a small bundle of reflective rope and several new jars under the sheltered rock, covering them with tarpaulin. He dared not leave a lamp—the wind was so strong outside the exploration line, without any shelter, the lamp would be blown out if it were turned on. He only left the rope and jars, waiting for someone who could actually light the lamp to come.

"What did you bring?"

Bai Ye pulled out the newly compiled list of test subjects from his pocket. This list was thicker than Sergei's, and it not only registered all the test subjects who had emerged from the Aurora Project's rift period, but also marked the new signal frequencies and control coordinates tracked by Lan Susu. All the residual frequencies marked as "direction unknown" were now marked with the latest dotted lines in pencil. He took out the piece of chalk he had broken off from the outer wall of the cooling tower in the old industrial area—the kind that white doves use to draw arrows, the cheapest stuff from the supply and marketing cooperative—and placed it on the edge of the stone slab.

"The white dove's rope and jar were only placed under the sheltered rock because he dared not light a lamp. Along the old geological exploration line outside the country, there are at least two people who cannot distinguish directions. Their signals are very weak, and they do not know which way is the road. We need to bring light in—not a lamp, but an overturned mirror."

Old Wei picked up the chalk stub, examined it for a moment, and then placed it back on the edge of the stone slab. "Do you know when those three people under the cooling tower started moving outwards? It wasn't the day Bai Ge finished drawing the arrow. The arrow had been drawn for many years, and they had stayed in the same place. It was Zhao Zhiyuan who knocked three times on the fence of the overseas farm, and only then did they start moving. Not because of the arrow, but because someone knocked on the door."

Bai Ye recalled the three knocks Zhao Zhiyuan made on the cooling tower's outer wall, the rhythm exactly the same as the knockers echoing him from deep within the mine tunnels. He suddenly realized that the three men in the old industrial area had remained in place not because they couldn't see the way, but because they were afraid to open the door to the electrical room. Zhao Zhiyuan knocked on the door knocker—when the door was knocked from the outside, the people behind it dared to come out on their own.

"Those still observing from the outside world don't lack mirrors, nor do they lack arrows on the wall. What they lack is the back of a mirror that has been turned over and is no longer facing themselves, and a knock on the door knocker from the outside. With each knock, a new stroke is added to the bottom of the jar—not a word, but a direction. It's better if it's crooked. That crooked stroke is the reflection pushing you. It's not against you, it's guiding you." He paused for a moment, turning his gaze from the chalk tip to Old Wei's already calm eye sockets. "After we returned from the old industrial area, Lan Susu spotted a new signal. Not in the direction of the exploration line, but further to the southwest. In the folds of the mountains behind the old geological exploration camp overseas, there are probably still people whom Project Aurora has never registered."

Old Wei flipped the mirror over so his reflection looked at him, in sync, without delay. He ran his thumb lightly across the mirror's surface, the same motion as the gatekeeper deep in the mine, who had locked himself behind an iron gate, as he carved the final mark on the mirror's back. "Once the mirror is flipped over, it can't just sit on the stone slab forever; the kerosene lamp will go out if it burns too long. You pick it up and put it at the doorway. Everyone who pushes the door open will see light on the ground. Not illuminating themselves—it illuminates the threshold beneath their feet. When they see the light, they know someone has stepped over it." He picked the mirror up from the stone slab, back side up, and gently placed it beside the still-undulating light of the white night.

Bai Ye took his small round mirror, turned it over so the back was facing up, and placed it next to the reflecting mirror deep in the mine. Neither mirror reflected his image anymore. He stood up and walked to the natural rock crevice at the northernmost edge of the cave. The crevice was deep and narrow; last time, they had only reached the cut iron gate at the end of the crevice and discovered the old transport tunnel that Project Aurora extended into the depths of the mountains. That tunnel pointed north of the old geological survey line—the coordinates of the backup camp that Lan Susu had marked on the supplies list were on that line.

“Last time we only made it to the tunnel entrance.” He turned to look at Lao Wei. “That tunnel is the old route used by Project Aurora to send test subjects to the outer outposts. Back then, they sent batches of people who were being transferred here, with the last stop being the old geological exploration line camp. There are no records after that—but their signals are still there.”

Tie Niu came in from outside the cave and squatted down beside the stone slab, spreading out the supply route map that Lan Susu had redrawn on the ground. At the end of the dotted line marked "Old Geological Survey Line" on the map, there were two small circles—one circle showed the sheltered rock where Bai Ge had piled up reflective ropes and enamel mugs, and the other circle showed the last unopened outer reserve camp of Project Aurora. He pointed out the coordinates of the old camp on the north slope and the junction of the reserve camp to Bai Ye, saying that they had already replenished the explosives when they came out of the old industrial area, and the entrance on the outside of the old camp on the north slope that was blocked by falling rocks could be blown open, and the entire tunnel structure extending outward from the junction of the reserve camp had been cleared when they were testing the new supply chute.

Bai Ye crouched down, tracing the dotted line with his finger from the mining area to the backup camp, then lightly tapped it beside the sheltered rock—the last supply coordinate that Lan Susu had retrieved from the edge of the old supply list from the white dove. He stood up, looked at the two people in front of him, and handed the enamel mug back to Lao Wei. "Once the door to the backup camp is opened, the old geological exploration line outside will no longer be a broken point hanging on the back of the mountains. This old transport tunnel will connect the exploration line and the mining area—from now on, sending rope ends from Yushugou into the southwestern folds of the mountains will be several days faster."

Lan Susu walked in from outside the cave and turned the oscilloscope screen toward the stone slab. She marked the two extremely weak signals near the backup camp as two new dotted lines, and then drew a small circle in the southwestern fold of the mountains they both pointed to. "The two newly discovered southwestern signals didn't spread from the direction of the overseas transfer station; they surfaced on their own from the southwestern fold of the mountains—they're not on any list in Project Aurora, but their frequency characteristics are completely consistent with those of the subjects from the rift period. They were never found by any liaison officers; they're probably scattered survivors that were taken in by the outer outposts of Project Aurora. One of the signals has recently begun to slightly turn toward the resonant base of Elm Gully." She put down her pencil and looked up at Bai Ye. "They're not waiting for someone to knock on their door—they're preparing to knock on yours."

Bai Ye placed the enamel mug into the side pocket of his backpack and turned to walk out of the cave. Tie Niu followed behind, carrying his axe, the reflector cord swaying gently in the beam of his headlamp. Lan Susu packed up her oscilloscope and brought up the rear. They had set off from the camp in Chapter Fifty, continuing along the old tunnel toward the back of the mountains. The fault line, dormant deep within the exploration line, was waiting for someone to chisel it through again.