Lu Yuwen waved off her words politely. “You’ve helped me plenty too.”

Su Man felt genuinely grateful. She glanced down at his knee. “Let me carry you. I’m strong — I won’t get tired.”

“No — no need!” Lu Yuwen waved his hand even more emphatically. “I’ll walk on my own just fine! You still have the bags to carry, don’t you? We’re not in a rush — going slowly, we can observe more carefully!”

“You have a point,” Su Man considered it seriously. “But there are so many small arrows nearby, and I keep fighting the urge to look at them. It’s like when you’re told not to think of an elephant — your brain immediately thinks of an elephant.”

She caught sight of a small arrow in the grass and instantly turned her face away.

Then a thought struck her like a flash of inspiration —

“Ah! I’ve got an idea!” Su Man’s eyes lit up, and she turned to Lu Yuwen with excitement. “We can flip the arrows around to face different directions! Some pointing east, some pointing west — a few in each direction — so they won’t be able to control me anymore!”

If all the arrows pointing the same direction exerted the greatest influence on a player’s willpower, would their influence diminish once every arrow faced a different direction?

Su Man couldn’t believe she was actually having a clever idea for once. Her spirits soared, and she rolled up her sleeves ready to get started!

Lu Yuwen called her back. “The arrows’ directions can’t be scattered. Let’s just keep moving.”

Su Man paused, puzzled. “Why not?”

Lu Yuwen thought for a moment, then looked up at the sky. It was still early — explaining it to her wouldn’t waste much time.

“Tell you what — flip just one small arrow around first, then I’ll explain,” he said.

Su Man gave him a half-skeptical look and walked over to the roadside, where she flipped a small arrow on a lamppost so it faced the opposite direction.

“It should be possible to change the direction — remember? You let me flip them once before, and once enough small arrows changed direction, the large arrows all changed too…”

Lu Yuwen gave a quiet smile, leaned on a tree branch he’d been using as a walking stick, and said from beside the road, “Don’t rush — wait a moment and you’ll see.”

Su Man stared suspiciously at the small arrow.

She waited just as Lu Yuwen had said — and after a short while, the small arrow suddenly twitched!

Her eyes went wide in astonishment. She watched as the arrow slowly turned back around on its own, reverting to its original direction!

“How is that possible?!” Su Man gasped. “It worked the last time! Why is it going back now?”

Lu Yuwen gave a slight, knowing lift at the corner of his mouth.

“Stop being mysterious — tell me!” Su Man demanded, eyes wide and imploring, her clear black-and-white eyes bright and unclouded, not a trace of anything hidden in them.

She was always so direct — her every feeling written plainly on her face.

Lu Yuwen cleared his throat. “Flip the direction of a few other arrows nearby — no need for many, four or five should be enough.”

Su Man did as he said, flipping the arrows on the lamppost, to the left, to the right, and the ones in the grass.

“And then?” She turned her head toward him, waiting eagerly for the answer.

Lu Yuwen pointed at the arrows. “Then — just watch.”

“Watch?” Su Man looked suspiciously back at the arrows.

In roughly three to five seconds, the small arrow on the lamppost gave a gentle sway — and then changed direction, aligning itself with the nearby arrows!

“Ah! …That’s exactly what happened last time I changed them!” Su Man said immediately. “Once enough arrows have their direction changed, it influences all the surrounding ones — so I was able to flip all of them in almost no time at all!”

Lu Yuwen thought to himself: even so, her speed really was impressive.

Su Man had pieced together the lesson from both arrow changes, and spoke thoughtfully. “I understand now — each arrow is influenced by the state of those around it, so there’s no way to make them all face different directions.”

“Exactly.” Lu Yuwen nodded with a quiet smile. “It’s the same principle as blindly following the crowd — going along with what everyone else says.”

—