Stepping off the boat, David began searching the chaotic docks based on Liang Fa's specific instructions. He was told to look for a young man waiting near the official cargo scales, holding a blue-covered booklet in his hand.
After circling the crowded waterfront a few times, he finally spotted him.
The young man’s name was Hong Xiuquan. His English was indeed terrible, making even basic communication a struggle.
Just exchanging their names took considerable effort, playing out exactly like a cheap comedy.
Despite the massive language barrier, his desire to express himself was incredibly strong.
With a bright, sincere face, Hong gestured wildly with his hands.
Even when his words made zero sense, he remained eagerly determined to keep talking to David.
For the first time in a long while since arriving in China, David actually felt like he was being treated with genuine friendliness.
Maybe Huai'an is not so bad after all, he told himself, just like that American, Parker, had claimed.
Archie trailed along behind them all the way.
Glancing back over his shoulder, David suddenly felt a sharp spike of anxiety, worried that the old man might get lost in the dense crowd.
Perhaps the city's heavy, fortress-like atmosphere and the reality of stepping much deeper into the infected region were finally getting to him, forcing him to desperately cling to any familiar face he had left.
"Liang Fa, you Lo him?" Hong asked.
"What?"
"Lo, like, K, N, O, W."
"Yes." David must focus entirely on understanding his words.
"Me," the young Chinese man continued, beaming with excitement as he pointed to his own chest. "With him. Write things—very good."
David guessed he was trying to say he was a good assistant.
"What exactly do you write?" David asked.
"Essays," the young man replied. "Me, exams—essays, but no good, very bad. Fail many times. I, sad. And God." He pointed a finger straight up at the sky. "God, save me."
"No, no. I mean, what do you write for Liang Fa?"
"Ah—" Hong paused for a moment, scratching the back of his head. "Liang Fa, good man. He helped me, too."
Despite putting on a look of sudden realization, it was obvious he still had not understood David's actual question.
Deciding it was not worth the effort, David dropped the subject and stopped pushing for an answer.
Walking further down the street, an absolutely bizarre sight appeared ahead of them.
David glanced back at Archie, who was clearly finding the whole situation amusing, too.
"Bloody hell," the old Scot giggled.
Turning back to their guide, David asked, "Why is there an unguarded cannon just sitting in the middle of the street?"
"Huh?"
Quickly realizing the sentence was far too complex for Hong to grasp, David just frowned and stepped around the heavy iron barrel.
Archie, on the other hand, walked right up to it, practically sticking his head straight into the muzzle to get a better look.
"Christ, they've been using it as a bloody rubbish bin!" Archie called out and laughed hard.
"What?"
"Come see for yourself."
"I will take your word for it," David muttered.
They had barely entered the city, yet David already felt a tight weight pressing down on his chest.
The outdated weaponry was clearly just one of many pressing issues, and he seriously doubted his pathetic, newly learned Chinese vocabulary would ever be enough to convince the local officials to take the threat seriously.
Looking at the highly motivated Chinese man walking beside him, David figured Hong might actually become a valuable advantage.
The young man seemed bursting with enthusiasm and entirely willing to try anything.
Though his broken English made communication a struggle, having any help was still far better than fighting this battle completely alone.
Navigating through a series of narrow, muddy alleys and a chaotic market street, they finally arrived in front of a sprawling government compound.
It stood far more imposing than the cramped storefronts lining the main road, featuring a heavy wooden plaque above the gate and two sloppy, bored-looking runners lounging by the entrance.
After exchanging a few quick words with the guards, Hong led them straight into the inner courtyard.
Before entering, the guards had actually searched them, though it was nothing more than a perfunctory pat-down.
They were then left in a dim, drafty reception room.
After waiting for at least two solid hours without a single official showing up, Archie had even fallen asleep in his wooden chair again.
"What is going on?" David asked Hong.
Shrugging his shoulders, the young man simply replied, "Be patient."
"Patient," David muttered under his breath. Getting such a deliberate cold shoulder right upon arrival told him exactly what he needed to know. None of this was going to be easy.
After what felt like another few hours, David found himself leaning his head back, mindlessly counting the dark water stains spreading across the wooden ceiling beams.
Now, heavy footsteps suddenly echoed from the corridor outside.
Sitting up straight, David flicked a heavy copper coin across the room, hitting the sleeping Archie squarely on the arm to wake him.
Three exhausted-looking officials walked through the door, all dressed in formal official robes.
Their stiff silk clothes hung loosely on their frames.
One had dark, heavy bags under his eyes; the second kept coughing, while the third simply stared ahead with a practiced smile.
Rising to his feet, David greeted them with a standard Chinese bow, pressing his hands together.
He did not attempt to offer a handshake this time. Beside him, Archie stood up and mirrored the gesture.
Although the men were outwardly polite and plastered their faces with warm smiles, David's gut feeling told him these officials were absolutely no different from the rest of the hostile locals.
For some reason, thinking of this suddenly brought Xiao Yan back into his mind.
The mere name sent a faint spike of tension through his chest, even though the actual memory of their brief encounter had already begun to fade.
Hong Xiuquan immediately began speaking with the officials, looking confident.
However, he quickly turned back to David. "You should go with them. They like me not."
"What? I thought today was just supposed to be an introduction."
"No. They, uh, want to learn."
Genuinely surprised by this sudden eagerness, David nodded suspiciously.
After saying a quick goodbye to Hong, he followed the three officials out of the government compound.
The officials now released a strange sense of joy and relief, chatting casually among themselves as if they were entirely different people.
Either they really loved learning, or something was deeply wrong here.
A sharp sense of caution gripped David. Archie had clearly noticed it too; the old Scot's eyes grew cold and hard.
Hong, the only Chinese man in their group, had been deliberately dismissed, and now the two foreigners were being silently escorted to an unknown location without any explanation.
This was definitely not good news.
Taking a quiet, deep breath, David braced himself.
He had absolutely no idea what was waiting for them at the end of this road.