10:37 PM.
Iraq-Turkey border.
The night was as thick as unyielding ink.
Song Heping sat in the passenger seat of the third vehicle, watching the road ahead.
Outside the car window, everything was pitch black, with only the headlights illuminating a short stretch of the road ahead.
The asphalt surface glowed in grayish-white under the lights, with cracks and patches clearly visible, like wrinkles on an old man's face.
In the distance, occasionally, headlights from oncoming vehicles would flash by.
First, it would be a small dot, then growing larger, transforming into two glaring lights, roaring past, and disappearing into the darkness behind. Each time a vehicle passed by, the cabin would shudder slightly, the vibration transferred from the tires to the chassis, then to the seat, and finally into Song Heping's body.
He stared at the receding taillights, watching them grow smaller until they were swallowed by the darkness.
