Chapter 73 Snake Marsh Ghost City (Part 3)

The stone was relatively dry, so I set A Ning’s body down on it. We were all exhausted, so we sat down to rest.

Everyone then took off their clothes and spread them out on the stone to dry. Fatty wanted to light a smokeless stove, but he couldn’t find one after rummaging through our bags—it seemed to have fallen out during the chaos last night. There was no way to light a fire either, so he made do by sticking a lantern wick into one of the fuel canisters and lighting it.

To my surprise, the water in the swamp actually turned out to be saltwater—it seemed that the water system here was connected to a large salt marsh nearby. Fortunately, the rainwater had flowed down from the canyon above, so the salt was very diluted. Otherwise, we’d have to worry about finding drinking water. I put a few disinfectant tablets into a pot and made some tea before fetching some water to clean myself.

My whole body had been soaking wet all night, so my skin looked very wrinkly. I took off my shoes and found that my legs were white from all the moisture, and the skin easily peeled off when I scratched it. Despite how tightly my shoes had been tied, I saw some leech-like things stuck to my skin when I took my socks off. After burning them off with my knife, I picked one up to examine it but still couldn’t tell what it was.

But if the swamp was full of saltwater, then that meant that the number of insects should be relatively small. At least, it was unlikely we’d find any saltwater leeches here, which was good for us since we’d soon be venturing deeper into the swamp.

Pan Zi handed me a cigarette and said that it had opium in it. He had asked Tashi for some when we parted ways so that he could remove excess water from his body.⁽¹⁾ With how damp it was here, we’d be so bloated that we’d fall apart within a week, but a few puffs of this would help prevent that.

I took it and started smoking it, but although the cigarette had been wrapped in a plastic bag, it couldn’t survive last night’s ordeal and was also wet. After taking a few puffs, I choked hard enough to bring tears to my eyes, but I really did feel something. I didn’t know whether it was physical or psychological, but after taking another puff, I suddenly felt more clear-headed and less fatigued.

Fatty asked for one as well, so Pan Zi pinched half of a cigarette in half and gave it to him. It was gone after a few puffs, so Fatty asked Pan Zi for more, but Pan Zi wouldn’t give it to him. At this time, we noticed Poker-Face silently staring at the swamp on one side, a thoughtful expression on his face. Pan Zi probably felt embarrassed about leaving him out, so he handed him the other half of the cigarette. I thought he wouldn’t take it at first, but to my surprise, he actually did, although he put it in his mouth and chewed it rather than lighting it.

“Damn, Little Brother, if you don’t know how smoke, at least don’t waste it,” Fatty protested. “This thing isn’t for eating.”

“You don’t know anything. You get more of the effects from chewing tobacco than you do smoking it. In Yunnan and Myanmar, most people chew it.” Although Pan Zi said this, he still gave Poker-Face a puzzled look. “But… Little Brother, you don’t look like a heavy smoker. How did you know you could chew tobacco leaves? Have you ever worked on a boat?”

Poker-Face shook his head, chewed a few more times, spit the tobacco into his hand, and then smeared it over a wound on his palm. I took a closer look and saw that the flesh there was white and ragged. Although it wasn’t bleeding, it was obvious that the warm temperature here made it difficult to heal. After he was done smearing the tobacco on, he looked at Pan Zi, who was staring at him with suspicion and distrust, but still didn’t say anything. He then turned back to look at the swamp, completely ignoring us.

We were used to this behavior by now. Poker-Face seemed to be very secretive about himself, but I understood that even he didn’t know the answers to most of these questions. “A man from nowhere, with no past and no future, who seems to have no connection with this world.” This was how he saw himself, and every time I remembered it, I realized how accurate of a description it was.

As we sat there naked, letting the moisture evaporate from our bodies, we finally felt more comfortable and relaxed. Fatty took out some beef jerky and handed it out to everyone. We ate it with our tea, and while I couldn’t say what it tasted like, it at least filled our stomachs. Everyone felt sleepy as soon as our stomachs were full, so Pan Zi used his backpack and its contents to make a shelter to block out the sun. He stood guard while the rest of us crowded under it to rest. Everyone knew that this might be our last chance to rest before entering the swamp, so we should take advantage and get some sleep while we could. My mind was quiet for once, so I quickly drifted off as soon as I lay down.

I didn’t know how long I slept, but I woke up in a daze. Our surroundings were dark and my whole body felt sticky. I rubbed my eyes and looked around, finding that the sun had set and it was raining again. Pan Zi had fallen asleep leaning against the equipment bags, Fatty was snoring beside me, and Poker-Face was sleeping deeply with his face turned inward.

The fuel canister in the distance was still burning, but the flame had turned blue from the rain and wasn’t shining very far. I took out a lantern, lit the flame, and moved to wake the others up, but at that moment, I noticed that something was wrong.

The sleeping bag I had wrapped A Ning’s body in was open, and her upper body was exposed.

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TN Notes:

(1) This might be a TCM thing. Idk about drying the whole body out (I was only finding things that say it can dry out the mouth and mucous membranes in the nose), but opium does relieve symptoms of dysentery and malaria, and helps with fatigue, hunger, and cold.