The map Lu Yuwen had drawn stretched east to the overpass crossing the Long-Hai Railway, west to Xuzhou Park, south to Quanshan Forest Park, and north to Yangtun Station — the entire area divided into 100 equal grid cells.

In the southwest corner, 18 grid sections were already correctly connected. Su Man suggested starting from there.

Lu Yuwen, however, thought they should start from the northeast corner. It was concentrated with machinery plants, coal yards, fertilizer factories, and electrical equipment plants — an industrial district with distinctive landmarks, which would make locating individual sections much easier.

It was one thing to plan on paper. The reality, when it came to it, was incomparably grueling.

Lu Yuwen and Su Man spent an entire day — and managed to correctly place exactly two grid sections.

It wasn’t that they were being idle. The problem was that every time a section was moved one step, they had to return to an adjacent section at the original position, move it to create a vacant space, and then use that space to move the target section further along.

Just getting the first section into its correct position had cost them thirty kilometers of walking.

Su Man quietly did the math. At two sections per day, fitting all 100 sections into place would take exactly fifty days. And subtracting the eighteen that were already correct, it would still take at least forty days.

Adding the time she had already spent in the maze — that would put their exit nearly two months away.

This conclusion filled Su Man with dread.

In two months, who knew what the world would look like. Would Yan Ge and Zhu Shu and the others still be in Shanghai? Where would she find them?

Lu Yuwen reassured her, saying that in a 10×10 sliding puzzle, the first few sections were always the slowest because the paths were the longest. Once they had made some progress, the pace would pick up.

For example: once the outer ring of 36 sections was in place, the puzzle would shrink to 8×8. After another 28 sections, it would become 6×6. And so on — the map would grow smaller and smaller, and the assembly work easier and easier.

Su Man trusted him and kept calmly moving sections.

The next day, their progress was —

Two sections.

The day after —

Still two sections.

…

Su Man began to feel anxious.

She badly wanted to work through the night without stopping, but Lu Yuwen’s physical condition was far below hers, and ten hours of work each day was already his limit.

Lu Yuwen reassured her again: “It’s all right — I’ve reviewed the map. At this rate, tomorrow we should be able to place at least four sections.”

Su Man managed a thin smile.

Four sections — more than before, but…

Four days of work, ten sections moved. By no measure was that an encouraging pace.

There were still 72 sections left…

…

The following day, Su Man and Lu Yuwen worked from dawn to dusk, and, just as Lu Yuwen had predicted, they placed four sections.

As the sun went down, they made camp beside the road.

Lu Yuwen said to Su Man, “Tomorrow should be four sections as well. The pace is slower at the beginning, but don’t worry too much — there’s plenty of food and water here. Taking more time means doing it more safely.”

Su Man nodded and said sincerely, “I trust you.”

Lu Yuwen paused for just a moment.

He found he couldn’t quite meet her eyes. He looked away and said vaguely, “Let me go over the map again…”

With that, he retreated into the tent.

“I want to scout the path ahead,” Su Man called to him through the tent wall. “That way we’ll make better time when we set out tomorrow. You rest — don’t overtax yourself.”

Silence from inside the tent.

Su Man looked up at the darkening sky, added a few more sticks to the fire, and set off.

She simply couldn’t sit still.

The glacially slow progress was maddening. By nature she was impulsive and impatient — but now she had no choice but to rein herself in and match Lu Yuwen’s pace, step by careful step. It was absolutely torturous.

And worse, the two of them weren’t close enough for her to do what she would have done with old companions — tell him to hurry, demand to know his plan, complain openly. No matter how anxious she felt inside, she had to sit on it, accommodate and understand his difficulties.

Ugh.

Su Man had gone maybe a hundred meters when she realized she’d forgotten her knife. The frustration in her already-fraying mood flared even hotter, and she turned back the way she came.

She had barely made it halfway back when she spotted figures at the tent — it sounded like an argument!