14: Chapter 14 The "Miracle" of Automatic Drying

The rock walls of the rain shelter cave were seeping with dampness, and water droplets falling from the tips of stalactites pounded out tiny pits on the ground.

When Chen Jie spread the wet map on a flat stone slab, Zhao Kai was crouching by the campfire, roasting his phone.

The black screen was scorched hot by the fire, emitting wisps of white steam, looking just like a sweet potato that had just been fished out of the water.

"Can you stop messing around?" Chen Jie tugged at the corner of his clothes.

"How can you roast a phone like that when it's waterlogged? The motherboard will burn out—I've told you so many times, you have to power off and air-dry electronic products first."

Zhao Kai put the phone down on a stone in annoyance. "Air-dry? By the time it air-dries, we'll have long since starved to death in this cave."

He pointed at the heavy rain outside the cave, where the curtain of rain blurred the entrance into a patch of white.

"This cursed weather, even the fire won't burn properly. Why doesn't that piece of junk stone of yours absorb some of the rain?"

Chen Jie didn't reply, his attention fully on the map.

The paper, which had been wrinkled by the rainwater just moments ago, was now slowly smoothing out.

The damp marks on the edges were receding at a speed visible to the naked eye, and the blue lines that had blurred in the ink were retreating back into the text like a receding tide.

Even the three characters for "Suiyu Slope" marked by the local villager had become pitch black and shiny.

He reached out to touch it, and the paper was so dry that he could hear a "rustling" sound, as if it had never been soaked by rain at all, but rather carefully dried of its moisture by someone using pine needles.

"That's spooky..." Zhao Kai leaned in to look, his eyes wide.

"Did this map gain sentience? You could wring water out of it just a moment ago."

Chen Jie traced the edge of the map with his fingertips and felt a raised piece of hard paper—it was the spot that had previously been stained with dark green powder, but now it had hardened into a lump the size of a grain of rice.

When he crushed it and smelled it, there was a faint scent of walnut tree sap, the same smell as the tree sap by Auntie Wang's pickle jar.

His heart stirred. He took out the jade stone from his tool kit and placed it on the map.

The patterns on the stone's surface suddenly emitted a very faint green light, like sparks about to go out in a stove.

As the green light washed over the map, the undried water stains on the stone slab suddenly gathered toward the jade stone, forming tiny rings of water at the base of the stone.

After spinning twice, they vanished, leaving not even a damp mark behind.

The phone case that had been roasting by the fire for ages, the originally damp plastic casing, had also become dry.

Zhao Kai picked it up and weighed it, his voice changing pitch in shock: "It's actually dry! Is this stone a dryer that gained sentience?"

Old Liu was crouching at the cave entrance smoking, the embers on his pipe swaying in the wind.

He glanced into the cave and suddenly laughed: "What did I tell you? The stones from Suiyu Slope are imbued with the Spiritual Qi of the Jade God and can draw out water and repel dampness."

"Back in the day, my wife's embroidered handkerchief fell into the creek, and when she fished it out, it dried on its own."

"We found out later that the jade talisman embroidered on the handkerchief used pigment mixed with crushed jade powder."

Chen Jie stuffed the jade stone back into his tool kit.

When his fingertips touched the stone's surface, he suddenly froze—stuck in those horizontal and vertical patterns was some silver-white fine sand.

When he pinched it to look, it was exactly the same as the quartz sand in the mountain stream.

He remembered the way the jade stone had suspended water droplets by the pool that morning and suddenly realized: this stone wasn't absorbing water, it was making the moisture "disappear."

Just like Auntie Wang had said, the green stone her husband found could automatically perform Water purification on the water in the pickle jar.

"Look at my pants!" Zhao Kai suddenly jumped up, pointing at his wet pant leg.

The water marks on the hem were receding up the seam, revealing the dry fabric underneath.

"This is spooky! I didn't even roast them!"

Chen Jie looked down and saw that his own tool kit was resting against the stone right next to Zhao Kai's pant leg.

The outline of the jade stone was faintly visible under the canvas, and the green light emanating from the stone's surface was like a thin veil washing over Zhao Kai's pant leg.

Just as he was about to reach out to take it, the green light suddenly went out, and the receding tide of moisture on the pant leg also stopped, leaving a half-finished mark where it was clearly dry and wet, like an unfinished line.

"Why did it stop?" Zhao Kai stomped his feet in frustration. "Let it dry my whole pair of pants!"

"Don't mess around."

Chen Jie moved the tool kit to the side. "The temperament of this stone is like the fog in the mountains; it works sometimes and not others—look at this campfire."

He pointed at the campfire. The wet pine wood that had been emitting black smoke was now crackling as it burned, and the smoke was as thin as a veil, drifting up through the cracks in the cave ceiling.

"It doesn't just dry things out; it can also make the fire burn stronger."

Zhao Kai suddenly remembered something and took off his wet T-shirt, draping it over the jade stone. "Quick! Roast my clothes for me!"

Chen Jie was about to stop him, but he saw the water marks on the T-shirt vanish instantly, as if sucked away by a sponge.

The fabric became so dry it turned brittle, and when Zhao Kai put it on without paying attention, he ripped a hole in it with a "rip" sound.

He was so angry he punched the stone, but his hand recoiled because it was scalding hot. "Why does this piece of junk stone have a temper?"

Old Liu laughed so hard his pipe shook. "The Jade God's objects recognize their masters. You just cursed it as a piece of junk stone; do you think it would give you a pleasant look?"

He added a piece of dry pine resin to the fire. "The elders say that the stones of Suiyu Slope remember grudges and favors. If you treat it well, it can even help you block a mountain flood."

Chen Jie wrapped the jade stone in chamois leather.

The green light vanished completely, but the temperature of the stone's surface was higher than before, like holding a warmed-up spice packet.

He looked at the rain outside the cave, which was gradually easing, and his mind suddenly cleared—this jade stone could absorb smoke, stabilize time, and dry objects; it was likely truly related to the legends of the Jade God.

The stone Auntie Wang's husband found could perform Water purification, and this one of his could repel dampness; perhaps the stones from Suiyu Slope each had their own unique abilities, just like the components when repairing a radio, each with its own use.

"The rain is letting up." Old Liu pointed outside the cave, where the faint, blue-gray shadows of the mountains peeked through the curtain of rain.

"We can leave after resting a while longer. Follow the creek downstream, and we can reach a mountain villager's home to stay the night before dark."

Zhao Kai pulled on his torn T-shirt, still grumbling: "Once we get out, I'm going to sell this stone, get a new phone, and buy a dryer..."

Chen Jie ignored him, touching the map in his embrace; the paper was as dry as if it had just come out of the printing press.

He suddenly felt that this miracle of automatic drying was not a coincidence—just like when repairing a grandfather clock and a jammed gear suddenly meshes, there was always an invisible force pushing everything forward.

And this stone picked up from the mountain stream was likely even more important than he had imagined, just like the pendulum in an old grandfather clock—seemingly inconspicuous, but the key to keeping accurate time.

The rain outside the cave gradually turned into a drizzle, and the wind carried the fresh scent of pine needles.

Chen Jie shouldered his backpack, and the jade stone gently bumped against a wrench inside the bag, emitting a "clink" sound, as if in response.

He looked up toward the direction of Suiyu Slope; something seemed to be hidden in the clouds and mist, flickering in the faint light like someone had lit a lamp in the distance.