Seeing Doctor Tsering’s pathetic state, all traces of his earlier arrogance were gone. My attention wasn't on him; the goats and yaks thrown to the ground were far more worthy of study. After all, how could a few utterly ordinary people like us manage to fell a yak—just by gripping its horns and applying slight pressure, they all went down. This situation suggested either we weren't normal, or they weren't, and judging by the lack of blood from their wounds, these beasts were almost certainly abnormal.

Of course, Doctor Tsering was also an extremely abnormal human being now. Given the beasts he commanded, he should have been recognized as such, but we had underestimated this abnormality before. Before I could even formulate a conclusion, Doctor Tsering’s back was bent almost to the breaking point, his eyes rolled back, his throat raspy as he shrieked for Yanzi to save him, reaching out frantically to grab Tang Minghao, who stood woodenly, seemingly unaware of what to do. The situation shifted so abruptly that I almost forgot the agonizing, ant-like biting and itching sensation consuming my left hand.

“Brother Hao, hurry over here! What are you standing around for!” I yelled, waving at him. The moment I moved, I realized my left hand was almost entirely numb, which shocked me greatly. I quickly called for Old Li. Old Li was preoccupied trying to drag Tang Minghao over and couldn't attend to me at all.

Xu Zhiwu rushed over upon seeing my distress, asking what was wrong. I pointed at my left hand, too frightened to speak, unsure what affliction had befallen me. Over there, Doctor Tsering was wailing miserably, begging Yanzi for mercy. Tang Minghao was being pulled by Old Li but seemed reluctant to leave, gazing longingly back at Doctor Tsering. Then, seizing a moment when everyone was distracted, Doctor Tsering scrambled at surprising speed and lunged, clamping his teeth onto Tang Minghao’s leg!

“Aargh—” Tang Minghao finally snapped back to reality, kicking Doctor Tsering away and pulling Old Li as they bolted toward Yanzi. Yanzi quickly positioned herself to shield them both, stepping forward and asking Doctor Tsering in a chilling voice, “If the deity has punished you, you must obey. Do not try to drag anyone down with you as a scapegoat.”

Doctor Tsering could only lie on his side, his body forming a grotesque, sharp triangle. He watched Yanzi silently for a moment, sighed, and said, “You won’t even help your own people, choosing instead to aid a few detestable Han Chinese… I get it now, you bitch. You must have taken a liking to them… You must have… Hahaha…” He likely intended a grand, defiant laugh, but his body wouldn't cooperate, and he couldn't lift his head, managing only a dry, strangled sound like a dying drake.

Yanzi remained silent, watching him with a profoundly complicated expression in her eyes. I wanted to ask her to look at my left hand and tell me what was wrong, but she wouldn't spare me a glance. I worried she might mock me for being unable to bear minor pain, perhaps calling Han men weaklings. So, I just gritted my teeth and endured it.

Doctor Tsering choked out a few more fits of laughter, but the sound abruptly ceased. His mouth continued to move, yet no sound emerged. Terrified, he pointed frantically at his own throat, pleadingly looking toward Yanzi. Yanzi remained cold and motionless.

Doctor Tsering closed his eyes, clutching his neck in agony, writhing on the ground. After a period of struggle, he suddenly stopped, his eyes snapping open to stare blankly at Tang Minghao and me. He managed a sneer, which quickly morphed into a look of utter misery. He pointed at a yak carcass near my feet, then pointed to his own head. No one understood what he was trying to communicate.

Seeing that we all remained impassive, Doctor Tsering became enraged again, struggling to crawl toward us. Instinctively, I retreated a few steps, but Yanzi said, “Don’t be afraid. His rampage won't last long.” Just as she finished speaking, Doctor Tsering bared his teeth, glaring fiercely at Yanzi, and with a final burst of effort, spat out, “Traitorous bitch!” With that, his eyes rolled back, and he lost consciousness.

Seeing this, Yanzi breathed a sigh of relief and urgently told us to jump away and not touch the carcasses on the ground. She then first checked Tang Minghao’s color; he seemed a bit clearer now, asking her what she was looking at. Yanzi let out a worried sigh, told Old Li to watch him closely, and then, with her fingertips pointed, lifted my left hand to examine it carefully. “Luo Lian, you have been chosen by the deity. The deity intends to keep you,” she stated expressionlessly.

I blinked. “What do you mean?”

“You have caught the deity’s eye; he wants you to stay here and replace Doctor Tsering.” A flicker of emotion—pity and regret—finally crossed Yanzi’s face.

I still couldn't quite believe my ears. Why would the Tibetan deity favor me, an utterly useless Han man with no religious faith? “You must be mistaken,” I said. “My left hand just feels a little off. It can’t be that serious.”

Yanzi turned back to me. “Then what do you consider serious? Is your hand currently numb and itchy, feeling like countless ants are biting and crawling on it? Does it feel like it’s spreading up your forearm toward your palm?”

That was precisely my condition. Her words drained the color from my face. “You… you… how do you know?” Yanzi replied, “This is the deity’s will. I am a subject of the deity; how could I not know?”

The more she said it, the more unbearable the biting and itching in my left hand became. I desperately wanted to chop the hand off. “I… I…” I couldn't stop scratching the wound through the gauze. The combined sensation of pain and intense itching seemed to shoot straight to my heart, exploding in my chest.

“Yanzi, you must have a way to help Luo Lian. Look at him now; if your Princess saw him like this, she would be heartbroken,” Xu Zhiwu pleaded. “Besides, I know your deity would not trouble an innocent Han man. Luo Lian… he is a good person. He has even helped your own people before, like Nijiang in Zhabu Village, or Laba in Lhasa. You can go back and ask; these are all verifiable facts.” He became agitated toward the end of his plea.

I felt as if ants were drilling and biting inside my skull. My right hand frantically pulled at my hair, but it offered no relief; the discomfort persisted. I lunged toward Old Li, intending to bury my head in him. Old Li quickly clamped down on both my hands, shouting at Yanzi, “You used us, and I won't hold it against you, but if Luo Lian dies like this, I swear I will drag his body, take Minghao and Brother Zhiwu, and return immediately. No matter what ghosts we encounter, I won't look back, and I won't take you with us! If you doubt me, just try it. See if we Han people are as cowardly and death-fearing as you claim!”

Hearing Old Li and Xu Zhiwu speak, Yanzi suddenly let out a long sigh. “I’m afraid you won’t even be able to take his body with you.”

The tormenting biting sensation was driving me mad. If I really died, perhaps it would be a release. My stubborn streak kicked in; I gritted my teeth and refused to make a sound, though cold sweat poured down my face.

Old Li knew my temperament and quickly began placating Yanzi again. Suddenly, I remembered something: they were only begging Yanzi, but did she actually possess the ability to save me? What if she was powerless? The idea of several strong men groveling before her seemed utterly ridiculous. So, I burst out laughing: “Hahahaha… Hahahaha…” My voice was slightly off-key, but I kept laughing desperately.

“Technician Luo! Technician Luo!” “Little Luo!” Old Li and Xu Zhiwu were stunned by my display and stood there helpless.

“Forget it. He wasn't a good person to begin with,” Yanzi sighed dismissively. “He was never perfect.” I hadn't claimed to be perfect, and hearing such glib remarks now, if she hadn't been a woman, and a Tibetan woman at that, I would have physically lashed out. At least in death, I would have enjoyed beating her until she was unrecognizable. But for years, the army had drilled into us the need for harmonious relations with Tibetan compatriots—it was discipline. Annoyingly, at this precise, critical moment, that cursed discipline surfaced.

“Fine.” Just as I was stewing over how rigidly strict my sense of discipline had become, Yanzi suddenly walked over, grabbed my left hand, and pulled out a small, gleaming silver knife from who knows where. With a quick shing, before I could react, she slashed through the gauze. With a gentle flick, shreds of the ghastly green bandage fell to the ground. “You?” I stared at her, astonished. She sneered, “Are you Han people always this cowardly?”

I immediately clamped my mouth shut, waiting to see what she would do next. Old Li and Xu Zhiwu, at least, wouldn't stand idly by. Yanzi didn't say more, glanced at me again, and then swiftly gripped my left hand. Knife down, I felt a bone-chilling cold, followed by a snap. A piece of flesh—a finger-wide strip of greenish human tissue—dropped to the ground.

“Aargh—” I immediately started howling, but it wasn't pain; in fact, there was no pain at all, only a sense of profound relief, as the itching vanished instantly. It was fear—I had never seen flesh fall from my own body. “Aargh—” I continued to yell. Yanzi didn't even blink. She grabbed my hand again and drew the knife tip in a circle along the cut. Another thin piece of flesh fell, and this time I felt pain—a piercing agony. I instantly leaped up, screaming, while blood gushed violently from the wound—an abnormal red, dull and tainted with green. This terrified me further. “Aargh—” I kept screaming.

Old Li repeatedly shouted, “Don’t move around! Technician Luo, you’ll bleed even more!” He started to move toward me to restrain me. Yanzi quickly stopped him. “Let it bleed out a bit more; that’s better!”

In such pain, I had no attention to spare for her reasoning. I hopped around clutching my left hand. After a long time, perhaps the pain had numbed me, and I stopped jumping around. Then, with surprising composure, I walked over to Old Li and asked him to staunch the bleeding and bandage the wound. I also turned to Yanzi and said thank you. She had saved me because that finger-wide piece of flesh that had fallen was already completely green in that short time, devoid of any trace of blood. Moreover, the blood that had started flowing was now tinged with a ghastly green, and at a glance, it seemed to be flowing strangely.

Yanzi said faintly, “Don’t thank me. It’s a good thing if you don’t blame me for disfiguring your hand.”

I was just about to say that the flesh on my hand would probably grow back in a few years when a gurgling sound erupted from the ground near where my flesh had bled and fallen. I looked down to see Doctor Tsering struggling and crawling toward the exact spot!