Chapter 2

I'd just pressed Send.

Knock, knock, knock—

The sound behind me shattered the long silence.

Each knock struck straight at my heart, pulling my already frayed nerves tighter.

Knock, knock, knock—

“Rourou? Are you in there?”

Gongbu's gentle voice.

But now that gentleness felt like terror concealing a blade, ready to destroy me.

Cold wind whistled. I stared at the door, not daring to make a sound.

Knock, knock, knock—

The knocking continued. As the door began to open, I made a split-second decision and crawled beneath the altar table under the human-skin painting.

The door swung open with a gust. The altar cloth lifted, and I saw Gongbu approach and stop in front of it.

He was wearing the sneakers I'd bought him.

Only the cloth separated us.

I gripped my phone.

Then—

Click.

A sound came from it.

Damn it. I'd forgotten to mute the notifications!

Holding my breath, I shrank farther beneath the table.

Fortunately, almost at the same moment, a woman's voice sounded outside.

Gongbu's mother.

Through the gap beneath the cloth, I watched the sneakers move away. The two began talking outside the door.

They spoke Tibetan, which I didn't understand. Their tone sounded serious.

While they talked, I opened my phone.

Cardcaptor Sakura had replied.

One word:

[Run.]

Run?

Here on this desolate mountain plateau, with no idea of the terrain, where could I run?

Before I could ask, I suddenly felt an intense gaze beside me.

I turned.

Somehow, the cloth had been lifted.

Gongbu crouched there, smiling at me.

There was no warmth in that smile.

“Found you, Rourou.”

“Ah—”

I screamed and fell back, striking my head against the table. My phone dropped and skittered into the opposite corner beneath it.

He picked it up, then held out his other hand.

“You were so engrossed, I didn't want to interrupt. Did I frighten you?”

I forced myself to stay calm and let him pull me out.

“You're so annoying. You scared me on purpose.”

As I spoke, I reached for my phone.

He moved it lightly out of reach and smiled.

“Scaring you was my fault. But you've been on your phone all day, ignoring me. As punishment, I'm confiscating it.”

My hand stopped in midair.

That phone, and Cardcaptor Sakura inside it, were my only lifeline in this place.

I looked at Gongbu. He was still smiling and talking as though nothing were wrong.

I had no idea whether he'd seen the screen.

“My boss said something's come up at work. He still needs to contact me, so I can't give it to you yet. Tonight. I'll give it to you tonight, all right?”

I tugged his sleeve and shook it coaxingly, waiting for his answer.

Whatever the truth about the human-skin thangka, we hadn't openly turned against each other yet.

We were still an ordinary couple.

On the surface, at least.

He stroked the phone in his hand and considered for a moment, then said reluctantly,

“All right. But only calls from your boss. You're on leave today. You need to rest, not keep working.”

He handed it back and affectionately rubbed my head.

That doting gesture made me doubt Cardcaptor Sakura again.

I soon discovered how naïve I was.

After taking me to my room, Gongbu said he had to bring the cattle in and told me to wait there.

I opened my phone again.

After “Run,” Cardcaptor Sakura had sent another message.

[Head toward the highest mountain nearby. I'll find you. When the first sunlight appears tomorrow, your sacrifice begins. They'll skin you alive.]

It wasn't much of an explanation, and I still couldn't entirely trust a stranger online. I typed a message to ask her more.

It wouldn't send.

I refreshed several times and reconnected to the network.

Nothing changed.

No messages went out. No new comments loaded. Even calls wouldn't connect.

No wonder Gongbu had returned my phone so easily.

I went to find him and ask what was wrong with the connection.

The door was locked.

Both the door and windows were secured. My phone had no signal at all. The sunlight was fading.

I was cut off from the outside world.

A prisoner.

Now I had no choice but to believe her.

I had to leave. If I followed Cardcaptor Sakura's instructions, perhaps I still had a chance.

Fortunately, remote as the house was, its windows were glass.

I picked up a chair and hurled it at the window with all my strength, smashing a large opening.

I knew the noise would be enormous, but this was my only way out. I had to escape before his parents reached me.

I climbed through.

The instant my feet touched the ground, a voice spoke in halting Mandarin.

“Where are you going, young lady?”

My heart seemed to stop.

Stiffly, I turned.

Gongbu's mother.

She'd been outside the window all along, watching me.

I'd smashed the window, and she was still asking a question she knew the answer to.

I stopped pretending to be polite and silently backed away.

Her gaze sharpened.

For every step I took back, she took one forward.

As she reached to seize me, I shoved her hard and ran headlong for the gate.

She shouted toward it.

“Dorje!”

The goat's severed head from that afternoon still hung from the tree beside the gate. In the dim dusk, it seemed to stare at me.

Gongbu's father suddenly sprang from behind the tree and blocked the gate, arms spread, grinning.

His mother behind me.

His father in front.

There was nowhere left to run.

At that moment, his head looked more frightening than the goat's.

I had to gamble.

Stopping abruptly, I picked up a shard of broken glass and held it to my neck, warning them not to approach.

The thangka required skin taken from someone alive. If I died, capturing me would be useless.

All the years Gongbu had wasted on me would come to nothing.

Sure enough, his parents slowed and kept gesturing for me to put the glass down.

“Stay back!”

I made them stop while I retreated, step by step.

They could only watch as I crossed the courtyard and climbed over the fence.

Then I ran for my life.

Behind me came their shouts and pursuing footsteps.

Darkness deepened. Wind roared in my ears.

I picked out the highest mountain I could see and plunged into the woods, running toward its summit without looking back.

The deeper I went, the more cover the trees provided. I felt much safer.

But the plateau air was thin, and I'd run too fast. My head spun. I had to keep stopping to rest.

A little farther on, it was completely dark.

I couldn't even tell which path led upward.

Night. No food. No water.

No idea whether Cardcaptor Sakura would come.

I could only walk slowly on my own, alert to everything around me. Now and then, I even heard wild animals roaring.

It was ridiculous, really.

I'd entrusted my life to a stranger online whom I'd never met.

Why should anyone travel all this way into a deserted mountain wilderness for me?

But I had no other choice.

I could only keep going.

Keep going.

Hope I'd reach the summit soon.

Suddenly, something rustled in the woods beside me. A dark shape moved through the undergrowth.

Perhaps I'd wandered into a wild animal's territory.

I immediately hurried the other way.

The sound behind me drew closer.

And closer…

I was almost jogging.

“Are you Late March?”

A faint voice called from behind.

Slowly, I stopped.

Late March was the username I'd used for my post.

I turned.

A young woman stood a short distance away. Tanned skin. Large, round eyes.

It all felt unreal.

Hesitantly, I asked,

“Cardcaptor Sakura?”

She nodded, watching my reaction.

I was wild with joy. Tears nearly spilled from sheer excitement.

“How did you find me? Didn't you tell me to meet you at the summit?”

“You were taking so long, I was afraid something had happened. I came down to look. It's dangerous here after dark. Let's go.”

“Thank you. I'm sorry to trouble you.”

She led, and I followed.

She seemed to know the paths intimately. Without stopping to get her bearings, she brought me onto a level trail.

But she didn't seem keen to talk. Her replies were brief.

“Where are we going now?”

“Down the mountain.”

“You know this place well. Do you come here often?”

“I've been before.”

“Oh, why did you choose Cardcaptor Sakura as your username?”

“I like watching it.”

“Is your sister doing well?”

She stopped at once and turned, looking at me seriously.

“What are you talking about? My sister disappeared five years ago.”

“Oh, sorry. My memory's terrible. I got it wrong.”

I gave an awkward smile.

She waved it off.

“It's all right.”

Then she turned and continued downhill.

I stood still and watched her for a moment.

Then I rushed forward, knocked her to the ground, and held the broken glass to her throat.

“What are you doing?”

She pushed at me, trying to throw me off.

I tightened my grip on the glass.

“Don't move.”

“I came to save you! Why are you doing this?”

“Did you? Thank you, then, Yangjin.”

At the sound of her name, she froze.

Then she stopped struggling and looked at me coldly.

“How did you know?”

“Keroberos.”

She frowned, not understanding.

“Cardcaptor Sakura isn't your username. It's the profile picture. The username is Keroberos. Your brother must not have looked carefully enough.”

Gongbu had a younger sister.

Although he'd told me she was dead, I often saw Yangjin's name pinned at the top of his phone.

Before, I'd thought he simply missed her.

After everything that had happened today, I knew I couldn't trust anything about Gongbu—or my past with him.

A Tibetan-looking woman, intimately familiar with the paths, able to find me in the mountains in the middle of the night?

Whichever way I looked at it, something was wrong.

“Get me out of the mountains, and I won't kill you.”

She gave a cold snort.

“You really think you can escape?”

My breath caught.

I looked around.

From every direction, torchlight was converging on us through the trees.

I was about to pull Yangjin to her feet and use her as a hostage.

At that instant—

Thud!

A heavy club struck the back of my head.

The last thing I saw before everything went black was Gongbu's entire family, grinning viciously.

…

Fuck.

A family that really loved to smile.