Through the night, Lu Yuwen drifted in and out of a half-conscious haze.

He woke a few times:

Once, Su Man hauled him up to give him medicine — her technique was less feeding than forcing, roughly indistinguishable from pouring it down his throat.

Once, Su Man pulled off his upper garment to wipe him down with a cool cloth — her strength was such that the cloth felt like it was scraping off a layer of skin.

And once, Su Man insisted he get up to soak his feet. She had found the method in a nearby traditional medicine shop, she said — soak his feet and then press certain acupuncture points, and he would recover faster.

Lu Yuwen had a deep aversion to anyone seeing his feet — especially the congenitally deformed one. But Su Man was stronger than him and he was no match for her.

And afterward, he nearly passed out from the pain.

He had thought this woman was going to grind him down by half — but to his surprise, by the middle of the night, he gradually began to feel more like himself.

He was still drenched in sweat, but his head felt less heavy.

Lu Yuwen opened his eyes and slowly exhaled.

Su Man was asleep nearby.

She had dozed off slumped against the side of the bed, brow still faintly creased, as though she were worried about something. Her right hand was clenched around a thermometer, her left hand pressed over her right.

He hadn’t looked closely before, but now he noticed that her left hand had an odd shape beneath the thick layers of bandage — uneven, lumpy. Whatever lay under the wrapping, there was no telling what it looked like…

Lu Yuwen felt a quiet pang of sadness for her.

Such a striking woman, and her hand was injured like this. He hoped she could fully recover someday — not end up like him, forever moving through the world with a gait that drew people’s ridicule no matter where he went.

He sat up, reaching to get some water.

Su Man’s alertness was remarkable — she woke almost instantly. Two clear, black-and-white eyes snapped open, sharp as a cat’s in the dark — lucid, keen, without the slightest blur of grogginess!

When she saw Lu Yuwen, the sharp light in her eyes softened, and she asked: “Water?”

Lu Yuwen nodded, then asked: “Do you have anything to eat?”

Su Man rummaged through her bag and produced a packet of compressed biscuits. One hand couldn’t open the wrapper, so she used her teeth to tear it.

Lu Yuwen said: “Here, let me.”

Su Man handed it to him.

He took it, opened the wrapper, took seven or eight biscuits, and returned the rest of the packet to Su Man.

They ate the biscuits together with hot water, and for a while neither of them spoke.

In the room there was the soft sound of chewing, the rustle of the wrapper, and a small portable camping oil lamp quietly burning in the center of the room, its flame jumping gently.

After a while, Lu Yuwen said: “When it’s light, we should go back to the spot where they went down.”

Su Man paused, and asked: “You’re worried they’ll climb back out?”

Lu Yuwen shook his head slightly: “Xiao Ge and Yangzi were probably crushed. But Yangzi shouted Zhang Ke’s name just before the end — meaning Zhang Ke wasn’t yet at the very bottom. He might have made it back up. I want to go check.”

“Zhang Ke — is that the one who smashed a brick into your knee?” Su Man asked.

“Yes.” Lu Yuwen nodded. “That’s him.”

Su Man’s brow drew into a tight line: “People like these, it would be best if none of them survived!”

“It doesn’t matter if he survived,” Lu Yuwen said thoughtfully, slowly. “Once we’re out, he’ll be stuck in here alone — no direction to go, no one to call for help. That would be worse.”

“Not acceptable!” Su Man said firmly. “People like this need to be killed — otherwise the next person who wanders into this labyrinth becomes his next victim!”

Lu Yuwen paused, then gave a quiet, involuntary smile.

Su Man glared at him: “What are you smiling at?”

“Nothing…” Lu Yuwen said, still smiling. “You have quite the spirit of righteous indignation.”

Su Man stilled at that, and slowly lowered her head.

“I really do despise people like him — bullying the weak, petty and vicious… Every time I think that my friends might run into someone like that in a game or a labyrinth, and something might happen to them because of it, I want to wipe them all out.”

“Your friends?”

“Mm…” She looked out through the window. “I wonder how they’re doing right now…”

—