Chen Qiufan

They were in a mass graveyard. A few random wooden plaques stuck into the dark-coloured soil indicated that bodies were buried in this plot of land. However, the plaques contained only the year of death; there was no year of birth or name. Scattered here and there were a few slips of ghost money and some bits of burnt incense and candles. In the pale light of the moon, the sight seemed especially ghastly. Mimi put her hands together, lowered her eyes, and muttered a prayer.
"These are..." Kaizong lowered his voice, as though afraid to disturb the nameless, homeless ghosts.
"They're anonymous bodies washed ashore by the tides; some were trying to smuggle themselves into Hong Kong; some were supposed to be women and children killed by the natives in their... ceremonies..."
Despite being a staunch atheist, Kaizong shuddered at this. However, he quickly calmed himself down: This is surely nothing more than an urban legend made up by the migrant workers to smear the natives.
"You dragged me all the way out here in the middle of the night just for this?"
"Of course not. Look! Over there!" Mimi tilted her head, indicating an immense shadow in one corner of the graveyard.
"Wow." Kaizen stopped in front of the object, stunned by its size and eerie appearance.
He took out his ruggedised mobile phone and wiped off the condensation. The screen emitted a pale glow that illuminated this Buddhist-Daoist guardian of the graveyard - an almost three-metre-tall exoskeleton robot, a mecha. The alloy armour was covered by Daoist charms so that it was no longer possible to tell the armour's original paint colour; from every protrusion in the armour hung strings of plastic or wooden Buddhist prayer beads that struck each other in the breeze like wind chimes; even the joints were covered with bright red ribbons representing wishes for good fortune.