Su Man: “…”

She stood frozen for two seconds, then spun around at last!

Belatedly flustered, she fumbled: “You… you get changed, I’ll go get the bags and the map!”

And with that, she hurried out.

Lu Yuwen stared at her retreating back, then looked down at the clothes in his hands. He deliberated a while, but ultimately he couldn’t endure the sour stench on his body any longer. He steeled himself and decided: cold water bath!

…

The temperature carried the chill of early autumn — not yet truly cold, but bathing in cold water was genuinely miserable.

Lu Yuwen finished his bath and sneezed so many times he lost count.

Clean now, but his body was failing him — the beginnings of a feverish headache were creeping in.

He knew trouble was coming. He rummaged frantically through the clinic for cold medicine!

When Su Man returned with their things on her back, she found Lu Yuwen lying on the clinic bed with a flushed, feverish face, and was alarmed: “What happened to you?”

Hadn’t the wounds just been disinfected and treated? How could things be getting worse already?

Lu Yuwen suffered in silence.

Could he admit that he’d been so finicky — in his own way — that he’d given himself a fever by bathing in cold water?

When it came down to it, his constitution was simply too weak to survive in a world like this.

He had already taken medicine, and now asked Su Man weakly: “Did you get the map?”

“I got it.” Su Man held it out for him to see.

Lu Yuwen didn’t have the energy to take it, and simply read it from where he lay, then said in a hoarse voice: “If I’m well enough tomorrow, we’ll complete the rest of the map together. This labyrinth isn’t actually dangerous — once you fill in every square and rearrange them in the correct order, you can find the right path to get out… If I’m not well enough, go do it yourself. Understood?”

Su Man reached up and pressed the back of her hand to his forehead, brow furrowed deeply. “Why the sudden fever? Did you take medicine? I’ll get you some.”

“I already took some…” Lu Yuwen took hold of her wrist, his voice worn rough by the high fever. “I think it’s the wound on my leg that’s infected, plus the chill I caught… it’s going to take a few days to recover. If you can get out, do it as soon as possible. Don’t wait for me.”

Su Man’s brow knitted even tighter: “I will get you out with me!”

Lu Yuwen shook his head: “…Listen. I’m lame — my legs aren’t good to begin with. Being stuck in the labyrinth is actually safer for me. You don’t have to take me out with you. And besides — I don’t like owing people.”

“So what if you’re lame?!” Su Man cut him off, her tone sharpened by something like exasperated urgency. “Your leg is lame — one leg! I know someone whose both legs are lame! And she’s living just fine right now! Not just fine — everyone’s afraid of her! No one dares mess with her! You need to pull yourself together!”

Lu Yuwen gave a faint, involuntary laugh: “Thank you for the encouraging words, but I really can’t swallow them…”

“These aren’t encouraging words! This is a real person!” Su Man was quite earnest. “She has it far worse than you — you can at least walk. She can only sit in a wheelchair. She even needs help going to the bathroom! But she has never given up. She’s cleared all kinds of games! You shouldn’t give up either!”

Lu Yuwen thought to himself: How could anyone in a wheelchair possibly clear games?

Is it too much to ask for a shred of credibility in one’s inspirational speeches?

But let it go…

This girl was earnest, and had a kind heart — she was only trying to encourage him. Why would he want to crush that?

But on another note… being sick truly was miserable.

Lu Yuwen closed his eyes, let out a listless sigh, and spoke in that same hoarse voice: “If I can recover, we go together. If I can’t — you go on your own. Same as before: we were strangers to begin with, you don’t have to let me hold you back, and I don’t like owing people.”

With that, he said no more, shut his eyes, and lay still on the bed.

Su Man looked at him, her mood sinking.

Was this what happened when a person had a bad leg — they turned bitter and contrary, too?

—