Lu Yuwen: “…”
“What are you standing there gaping for?! Go!” Yangzi cursed. “You expect me to get up and waddle out to find paper myself?! Hell!”
The rope was long enough — looking for paper in a bathroom wouldn’t be a problem.
Lu Yuwen lowered his head and opened the next stall.
“Any paper?” Yangzi called.
Lu Yuwen paused for two seconds, pulled out the half-roll remaining in the toilet paper holder, tucked it under his arm, and said: “None…”
“No paper, keep looking! Hurry it up!”
Lu Yuwen made a show of searching for toilet paper, and when he reached the very last stall, he took the pen from Su Man’s hands and scrawled out a quick message —
“Follow close behind us. When you see me give you the signal, flip all the arrows around! Which direction — watch my hand signal when the time comes!”
Arrows?
Flip them around?
The enormous arrows stretching for hundreds of meters were certainly impossible to reverse — the arrows Lu Yuwen meant had to be the small arrows scattered near the large ones.
But what would reversing the arrows accomplish?
Su Man read the message with a puzzled frown.
From inside the stall, Yangzi started cursing again:
“What the hell! Such a production over finding a piece of toilet paper! Did you find it or not?!”
“Found it.” Lu Yuwen slapped the paper holder next to him, thump thump — “Roll’s stuck inside, almost done.”
“Hurry!”
Lu Yuwen dared not waste another moment, and with no time to let Su Man ask her questions, he moved away briskly and handed the toilet paper to Yangzi.
He wasn’t entirely sure this intelligence-challenged, short-fused creature wouldn’t come storming out in desperation if he felt a pressing need to wipe — because honestly, the man had no lower limits.
After Yangzi finished his business, apparently eager to escape the smell himself, he hurried out of the bathroom without troubling Lu Yuwen further.
Su Man read the words Lu Yuwen had left behind, puzzled over them for a moment, and then also left the bathroom.
Outside, Xiao Ge and Zhang Ke had already returned. They had found some gasoline, but the motorcycle was still back where they had camped the previous night, so the fuel was useless for now — they slung it along and continued on foot.
“Walk two more squares and then we turn back,” Xiao Ge said. “We’ll ride the motorcycle for the rest — much more efficient.”
“Riding still won’t be that efficient,” Zhang Ke said, glancing in Lu Yuwen’s direction. “One motorcycle seats three at most. Unless someone gets off and lets him on — otherwise it’s dragging him the whole way, and the bike can’t go fast.”
Yangzi let out a cold laugh: “Give him a seat? And we run behind the bike? You’re really that soft on this pretty boy, huh?”
“Then what’s your bright idea?” Zhang Ke said without bothering to be polite. “That brain of yours — got any ideas in it?”
“I’ll tell you what, I genuinely don’t get it! It’s just drawing a map — can’t we do it ourselves?! Do we really have to depend on him for everything?!”
Yangzi roughly yanked the rope binding Lu Yuwen, sending him stumbling and nearly toppling over!
“We’ve been stuck in this hellhole for three days! Other than drawing maps, what useful thing has he actually done?! Even if he draws a hundred of them — there’s no guarantee we get out! You all really trust him that much?!!”
“That’s enough — stop fighting!” Xiao Ge snapped, losing patience with both of them. “If you’ve got the energy to argue, use it to cover more ground in this labyrinth! Find the exit!”
The two fell quiet, though neither looked particularly pleased.
Lu Yuwen held his map in his hands and followed in silence at the rear.
From time to time, when those up ahead weren’t paying attention, he stole a glance behind him —
No sign of Su Man.
He felt a twinge of anxiety.
They were almost at the right spot, and he had no idea whether that woman had managed to keep up… When he could see her he worried about the group discovering her — and now that he couldn’t see her, he worried she had lost them!
Lu Yuwen subtly slowed his pace, silently praying: let this plan work!
—