“You're awake.”

  Awake? Who's speaking? Jin San suddenly sat up, and the sand on his body scattered with his movement, falling back into pce. There was no one. Jin San didn't see anyone, but he thought he heard a voice. Maybe it was just a dream.

  “Aren’t you hungry?” The voice sounded again.

  Jin San's body froze. This time, he heard it clearly—there was definitely someone speaking, and the voice was coming from behind him. Cold sweat broke out on Jin San's skin. He didn't know who he would see this time, or perhaps, more accurately, what ghost he would see.

  Time passed slowly, but Jin San still didn′t turn around. He was afraid, terrified. He simply didn’t have the courage to look back. He still remembered the skeletal hand he saw before he passed out and... the rattle, which now seemed strangely eerie when he thought about it.

  “You need to replenish your strength.” The voice seemed harmless, though it carried a slight tone of mockery.

  It was a person—Jin San, relying on his instincts, was certain of this. He finally gathered the courage to turn around.

  Indeed, it was a person, and one who looked very honest. A round face, round body, round features, round limbs—everything about him was round. It was as if every part of him, when you looked closely, gave off a sense of roundness, like the smooth, rounded pearls that a woman wears around her neck.

  "You are..." Jin San remembered the dead. Although he didn't know them well, he had met them before. None of them looked like this man in front of him, so he was certain that the person standing before him was indeed human.

  "I'm just passing through," the man replied, taking a sip from his water pouch.

  Jin San licked his dry, cracked lips, his eyes never leaving the water pouch.

  The man tore off a piece of mb and stuffed it into his mouth, chewing vigorously, his cheeks puffing out as he chewed in all directions.

  Jin San swallowed hard, his stomach audibly growling.

  "It seems you really need this," the man said, tossing the water pouch to Jin San.

  Jin San was sure he had never tasted such sweet, refreshing water before, and he nearly forgot what water was supposed to taste like. Now, he tilted his head back, savoring the st drop.

  "Full now? Time to eat meat," the man said, unfazed by the fact that Jin San had finished his water. He tossed the whole chunk of meat to him.

  The meat nded on the yellow sand, kicking up a few specks of dust. It was dirty, but Jin San didn't care. Like a dog, he pounced on it, cursing himself for being too slow. Thankfully, no one else was trying to take it.

  The meat was fresh, and the tender fibers had a kind of smoothness to them. Though raw and unprocessed, in Jin San's eyes, it was better than any delicacy. He was certain that the meat had just been cut from the sheep.

  Sheep? Jin San suddenly realized he was in the desert—how could there be sheep here? As he pondered this question, he spotted a donkey, a donkey with only one ear. Jin San believed that if he used the donkey's hide, it would make the smoothest bnket in the world. Too bad he had never heard of making a bnket from donkey hide. The donkey's eyes were covered with a bck cloth, its limbs stiffly embedded in the sand, and its tail... the donkey had no tail.

  Jin San was sure it was a donkey, but he couldn't understand why it was here. Although he had never been to the desert before, he knew that donkeys didn’t belong in the desert, so he asked, “Is this a donkey?”

  “Yes, it′s a donkey.”

  “And this is the desert?”

  “Yes, this is the desert.”

  “How can there be a donkey in the desert?”

  “Why wouldn’t there be a donkey in the desert?”

  “What does the desert need a donkey for?”

  “To guide the way.”

  Jin San knew that one could easily get lost in the desert, and he also knew there was an animal in the desert capable of finding its way. However, it wasn′t a donkey; it was a camel. Jin San thought that what he should be seeing was a camel, as that made more sense.

  “How can a donkey guide the way?” Jin San ughed.

  “Who told you a donkey can’t guide the way?”

  “Even a child knows that.”

  “Just because a child knows something doesn’t mean it’s true.”

  Jin San was speechless.

  "Have you finished drinking?"

  "Finished."

  "Are you full?"

  "Full." Jin San suddenly realized that he had forgotten to thank the other person, so he quickly csped his hands into fists, waving them up and down, while constantly nodding his head and saying, "Thank you so much. You saved my life; you're truly my benefactor. I don't know how to repay you." Although Jin San had never actually thought about how to repay, he still felt the need to express it.

  The other person didn't say a word and lowered their head, pulling something out from their chest. Jin San looked closely and realized it was an ordinary abacus. The other person's round, chubby fingers moved skillfully between the abacus beads, producing a crisp sound that left Jin San speechless. He couldn't imagine how such fat fingers could move so nimbly, skillfully pressing each bead on the abacus.

  Jin San didn't interrupt, just sitting quietly and watching. He still wasn't sure what the other person was doing.

  "Alright, the total is 127 taels of silver," the other person finally stopped moving the abacus beads, looked up seriously, and said to Jin San.

  127 taels of silver? Jin San didn't understand what that had to do with him, so he looked at the other person in confusion.

  "Give the money!" The other person stretched out the big, chubby hand that had just been moving the abacus beads.

  "Money?" Jin San gaped, unable to find the words to respond.

  "You drank my water; that's worth thirty-four taels of silver. You ate my meat; that's worth ninety-three taels of silver. Together, it adds up to exactly one hundred and twenty-seven taels of silver." The other person smiled and leaned closer to Jin San.

  "Ah!" Jin San couldn't help but scream. He had indeed drunk the other's water and eaten the meat, but he never thought he would have to pay silver, and besides, he was already penniless.

  "What, you don't want to pay?" The smile on the other person's face instantly turned to a cold, icy expression. The other fat hand quickly pulled out a knife from somewhere on their body.

  The blood on the knife hadn't even dried yet, and the smell of blood filled Jin San's nostrils, making him shiver involuntarily. "I... I don't have any silver..." he stammered.

  Jin San didn't know how the knife came down, but he clearly saw a piece of meat from his leg fall off and nd right into the other's hand.

  He didn't scream—not because he didn't feel the pain, but because the pain was so intense that he couldn't scream anymore. He fainted, and in that moment before losing consciousness, he thought he heard the sound of a rattle drum, echoing through the desert, along with that dead hand—it seemed to be moving...

  It was moving! Jin San suddenly jolted awake.

  The sun rose, and the desert grew hot again. Jin San's leg... nothing was wrong, no flesh was missing, not even a hair.

  Jin San remembered clearly; there had indeed been a round person yesterday.

  Jin San remembered clearly; there had indeed been a donkey yesterday.

  Jin San remembered clearly; he had indeed drunk water and eaten meat yesterday.

  Jin San remembered clearly; there had indeed been an abacus yesterday.

  Jin San remembered clearly; there had indeed been a knife yesterday.

  Jin San remembered clearly that knife had indeed cut a piece of meat from his leg.

  …………...

  But now, nothing seemed to be wrong. Jin San couldn't help but stand up and walk a few steps.

  His throat was no longer dry.

  His stomach had stopped growling.

  Most importantly, his leg was intact.

  Whatever had happened, as long as he was still alive, it didn't matter. Jin San dusted off the sand from his clothes. A new day had come, and it was time for a fresh start. Jin San didn't want to look too miserable.

  The abacus appeared in Jin San's line of sight. As for how it ended up there, even Jin San couldn't expin—it just suddenly appeared. He picked it up, and the abacus made a loud cttering noise as the beads clicked together. Curious, Jin San fiddled with a few beads. Hmm? He thought something felt odd. The beads were smooth to the touch but unusually hard. They didn't seem like they were made of wood. Jin San lifted the abacus a little higher, holding it toward the sun, hoping to get a better look. But it was just an abacus, nothing unusual. Jin San chuckled at himself, realizing how paranoid he'd become over the past few days. He casually twisted one of the beads.

  The beads scattered easily, falling apart with little effort. Jin San bent down, picking them up one by one. One bead seemed a little worn, with a faint white spot showing through. He quickly picked it up and examined it carefully.

  What is this? Jin San used his slightly long fingernail to scrape at the bead, peeling away the outer yer. The bead, now exposed, looked like a newborn child—bare, without color or decoration. It was simply white, hard, and had an unsettling oily sheen to it, something inexplicably smooth and unnerving.

  "What is this?" Jin San was sure it wasn't a pearl.

  "It looks so smooth." Jin San was sure it wasn't any kind of gemstone.

  "How could something this smooth be made?" Jin San was certain he had never seen anything like it.

  "What exactly is it?" Jin San knew his questions would not receive any answers, but he couldn't stop asking himself.

  "Bone," a voice answered.

  "What bone?" Jin San continued to stare down at the "bead" in his hand.

  "Human bone," the voice replied again.

  "Human bone!" Jin San was startled, but then he began to wonder: who was he talking to? Or rather, who was talking to him?

  "You..." Jin San saw the person who had spoken to him. He recognized him. Although they had only met once, Jin San clearly remembered him because this person had given him water and given him meat. Although he had once asked Jin San for silver and although he had tried to cut off a piece of meat from Jin San's leg, in the end, he had taken nothing. In some sense, he was Jin San's savior.

  Jin San should have smiled when he saw his benefactor, but he couldn't. He couldn't smile because he saw a hand—a hand like that of a skeleton. It was holding a red rattle drum, its body swaying back and forth, sending out a soothing sound that echoed across the desert. And that hand belonged to the person with the round face, round body, round features, and round limbs...

  “You like what kind of wood?” Jin San had heard this question while he was fainting, but he couldn’t remember what he had answered.