feet. Without a second thought, I ran forward, tripped on something, and everything was black
before me.
“Ouch.”
My backpack fell next to me from the big boulder, bringing me back to the hellish reality.
I had lost track of time, but it definitely had to be at least a week since I was separated from
my research team. I was sure I was heading west, but the village I was looking for seemed to be
moving away as I got closer to it. I also tried sending out SOS, but received no return. It was a
man-less land.
I was running out of water, so I was seriously dehydrated. As the days went by, my body felt
weaker and weaker, like I wasn’t even able to walk.
I began questioning myself: will I be able to get out alive?
Looking at the sand behind me, there were no longer in firm, clear marks on the ground but a
trail of dragged footsteps.
Focus. Keep walking. I told myself.
Keep walk—
My feet went wobbly and crack! I landed sideway on the ground, and my ankle was in
tremendous pain. It was that kind of pain that came from the inside of your ankle, like your joint
was bathed in fire. I couldn’t move it.
My throat was dry. My mouth tasted like blood. My skin was sun burnt. My stomach was
empty. I was dehydrated. And above all, I felt like my consciousness was slowly dying away.
My tears burst out like waterfall in that split second.
How can I even go on with a broken ankle? Is this really my fate? Dying alone in the Gobi
Desert at the age of twenty-six? Maybe I could never make it to the imaginary village, and maybe
it was best for me to lie quietly on the ground and wait for death to come…
The sun was still burning against my skin. My eyelids were falling heavier and heavier. I
couldn’t fight it.
But wait. Did I just see a green light glowing off in the air?
I opened my eyes to the welcoming warmth, my skin no long tingling. I had no idea where
I was. I was lying in a fetus position on the uneven brick-red ground. I tried getting up and
although my ankle was still in pain, I was able to move it.
I panicked. Where was I? I could remember that a moment ago I was sinking into
unconsciousness. So, where was I – was it heaven?
I pushed myself up and my muscles complained with sore. The landscape around me was flat,
stretching into the unseen infinity. The sky was dimmed with a beautiful shade of indigo.
So I was still stuck in the middle of nowhere even when I die? I laughed at the foolishness of
the thought, and I regretted it immediately. I missed the sound of laughter.
Did I really die?
Still wondering in curiosity, the ground around suddenly lit up from a faint silver layer to
* * *
* * *
