Volume One, Chapter Fifty-Four: The Wind and Sand Open the Door

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"Ah... so that guy really does have a cousin?" As if a shocking secret she had discovered had just been debunked, Ji Keqing's excitement deflated in an instant. However, sensing something from Su Ziwen’s words, Ji Keqing pressed on, "Ziwen, have you met Mo De's cousin? Do the siblings look alike?"

"Not at all. His sister is much more attractive." Even though that woman had been wearing a pair of tea-colored sunglasses at the time, shielding part of her face, Su Ziwen was still certain that the word "stunning" hardly did her justice. Judging by looks alone, she and Mo De seemed impossibly far removed—so distant as to be cousins in name only.

Yet, what was strange was that, though it was the first time she had seen that woman, Su Ziwen had felt an inexplicable sense of familiarity from her. Adding to that, her intuition told her the woman would not harm Mo De. That night, Su Ziwen had simply let the woman take Mo De away.

"Mo De isn’t exactly drop-dead handsome, but he’s definitely the clean-cut, pleasant-to-look-at type. If his sister's that much more attractive, is she not a real beauty?" Ji Keqing paused from painting her toenails, screwed the cap back on the bottle, took her phone off her shoulder, and continued her questions with growing enthusiasm.

Her long legs stretched out, swaying left and right, toes spread as she waited for the polish to dry.

"She really is a beauty—lovely face, and... great figure too." Su Ziwen suddenly realized she was grasping for things to say. How had the topic circled back to figures again?

"Wow... a gorgeous big sister with a killer body... I wish I had a sister like that. Or even a brother would do." As an only child, Ji Keqing had never hidden her longing for siblings. Unfortunately, her parents had no intention of giving her a little brother or sister.

"Oh right, Ziwen, isn’t your brother coming home soon?" Ji Keqing suddenly remembered that Su Ziwen's brother was about to go on holiday.

"My brother said he’d come home this break. He’ll probably confirm the date after this lunar tide ends." Seeing the black cat sleeping soundly, Su Ziwen stopped petting it, stood up, and took a small blanket from the cabinet to cover the feline. "But I’ll have to figure out how to deal with him and the cat."

"The cat? What cat? I didn’t see any cat the last time I visited. Your family finally let you have a cat?" Ji Keqing knew well about Su Ziwen’s love of cats, but thanks to her brother’s severe allergies, it had always been out of reach.

"Uh, I just got it a couple days ago." "Send me a picture, quick!"

Ji Keqing's curiosity was at its peak. Really, what girl could resist a cute kitten?

Su Ziwen obliged, opened her phone’s camera, and aimed at the desk.

To her surprise, the black cat had somehow kicked off the blanket and now lay sprawled atop it, using it as a cushion, sleeping soundly.

Turning off the flash, Su Ziwen snapped a photo of the cat and sent it to Ji Keqing.

"Aww, what a tiny, adorable black cat! Is it asleep?" came Ji Keqing’s hushed exclamation over the still-open call, her voice lowered as if afraid to disturb the cat’s dreams.

"Yeah, sleeping like a log. The little one’s eyes are beautiful too—black with golden flecks." Turning off her desk lamp, Su Ziwen lay back on her bed to continue the conversation.

"Have you named it yet?"

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"Not yet." Lacking experience with pets, Su Ziwen wasn’t great at naming things, so she turned to Ji Keqing for suggestions. "What do you think would make a good name?"

"I have no idea. I’m not good at naming pets either. My two little lords at home are completely indifferent to the names I give them." The more Ji Keqing looked at the photo of the fluffy black ball, the cuter she found it. Compared to her own pets, who only responded to her calls when it was time for food, this kitten seemed extra charming.

"That’s true..." Su Ziwen recalled Ji Keqing’s pets’... rather embarrassing names and couldn’t help but feel a little awkward.

In her family, Ji Keqing kept a cat and a dog—a Ragdoll named "Pudding" and a Golden Retriever named "Cookie." Those were their current names; their former names could fill a dim sum menu. Whenever inspiration struck, Ji Keqing would rebrand her pets with new names.

The frequent renaming left her cat and dog wholly unable to tell if she was calling them for a midnight snack or by their actual names. Her parents eventually gave up and simply referred to the animals by their species.

There was no rush to come up with a name, after all—there was plenty of time. With that in mind, Su Ziwen continued her girl talk with her close friend.

Outside, night had fallen and the moon hung high. The boundary wall of the Safe Zone kept all things strange at bay, while the patrol unit scoured the vicinity, clearing away the freshly spawned alien moons, ensuring peace within the city.

...

Beneath this same night sky, under the same bright moon, Mo De and Mu Qing were dashing desperately across the wasteland, the difference being the towering tornado behind them—a dragon’s column of sand and storm.

"This really is what a full-moon-level lunar tide is like—always something massive," Mo De remarked, glancing over his shoulder. The desert stretched out like an ocean, sand swirling like water, dunes being sucked into the wind’s embrace and swept toward them by the tornado.

Unlike the sandstorm cyclone they’d encountered when first arriving in the desert, this one had formed right next to Mo De and Mu Qing. By the time Mo De noticed the tornado taking shape, it was already too late to shatter its core.

Fortunately, the hundreds of tons of sand slowed the tornado’s advance. As more and more sand was pulled into the current, the gigantic desert tornado gradually ground to a halt, rooting itself in place. It expanded its wind field, digging deeper into the earth, hurling sand skyward.

Finally escaping the tornado’s pull, the two stopped to catch their breath, watching from a distance as the sand pillar grew.

"It’s truly spectacular," Mu Qing said. No matter how many times she saw these awe-inspiring displays of natural power, they always sent her heart racing.

A violent wind carried clouds of sand straight into the sky, the roar echoing endlessly, earth and sky connected by this singular, towering column, as if the whole world had faded to a dusty yellow with only this pillar standing tall.

"Judging by its scale, this tornado will grow to a terrifying size. When the wind column finally collapses, it’ll make quite a scene," Mo De said, hands tucked into his sleeves, standing atop a dune.

The larger the tornado, the more sand it could lift. But no storm lasts forever; even the so-called "Elemental Tempest" that once devoured an entire continent eventually died out. In the end, the crushing weight of the sand would overwhelm the tornado’s core, and then the suspended sand sea would come crashing back down.

Under the burial of a sandstorm, all would be swallowed.

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"Let’s go. Before dawn breaks, we should find a place to camp and rest," Mo De said, motioning for Mu Qing to get up. But she, mimicking his posture with hands tucked in her sleeves, crouched on the dune as if waiting for something. "What is it?" Mo De asked, puzzled.

"Watch your step. Three, two..." Only then did Mo De feel the tremor coming from deep beneath the ground. It was as if the tornado had triggered something. A surge of force, as if from the earth’s core, suddenly erupted, shaking the entire desert.

"One." As Mu Qing uttered the final number, Mo De instinctively grabbed her arm and pulled her into his embrace, momentarily forgetting that this woman hardly needed his protection.

The solid ground beneath their feet instantly became a yawning abyss. Together with the surrounding dunes and sand, Mo De and Mu Qing plummeted downward, swallowed by a chasm that opened like the maw of a giant. When it closed again, the nearby tornado unraveled, the yet-unformed sand sea cascading from the sky, returning to Mother Earth. The sandstorm burial sent dust clouds drifting for kilometers, lingering long before settling.

...

In the darkness, something dreadful crept closer, while something cherished slipped away little by little. The past, once discarded, now whispered in his ears, as if softly reminding him that the only companion he could rely on was solitude.

He jolted awake, finding before him the glow of a small campfire and the now-familiar silhouette beside him. Mo De breathed heavily, slowly calming his unsettled heart.

"Are you okay? Had a nightmare?" Mu Qing asked, handing him a cup of hot tea, her concern evident.

"I’m fine." Mo De took the cup of rooibos, blowing on the steam before sipping it slowly. The warm, sweet tea soothed his parched throat and chased away the lingering chill in his heart.

"Where are we now?" After finishing the tea, Mo De rubbed the back of his head and surveyed their surroundings. Beneath him was a bed of soft sand, above, impenetrable darkness. He vaguely remembered falling into a fissure that suddenly opened in the desert with Mu Qing, but everything after that was hazy.

"You really are something. After falling from that height, you’re just fine, and only out for two hours," Mu Qing said, checking her phone before marveling at Mo De’s resilience. "We’re beneath the desert now."

"Under the desert? Is this a ruin?" Mo De asked, massaging his still-dizzy temples in surprise. "Did the tornado trigger the ‘opening’ of the ruins?"

Mu Qing nodded, raising her cup of tea to her lips once more.