That same night, someone else lay awake until dawn.
…
Su Man sat before her vanity mirror, unwinding the bandages from her left hand — loop by slow loop.
Because her right hand was injured too, the process was difficult. Undoing the fine wrapping was far too hard for her like this; her movements bordered on clumsy.
She gritted her teeth, and finally loosened the last knot, letting her entire left arm be exposed to the air. Then she exhaled — a long, slow breath.
To conceal the abnormality of her left hand, she had wrapped it in far too many bandages, thick as a blanket around her arm.
Now that it was finally off, the burden and the sweat came off with it, and she felt lighter.
But her heart couldn’t feel lighter.
Her mother’s voice came from outside the door: “Manman, are you asleep? You didn’t eat dinner — I made you some noodles…”
“I’m asleep!” Su Man bit her lip and quickly switched off the lamp. “You and Dad go ahead and eat — I’m going to sleep now!”
The voice outside fell silent.
The silence lasted a few seconds before it returned: “Manman… you haven’t left the house in days. When Li Li came, you wouldn’t even see him… Did you two have another fight?”
Su Man’s brow pinched together. She bit her lip and said nothing.
“Li Li is a simple-hearted child — easily led by the nose. Don’t bottle up your feelings over that. It’s not worth it.”
“It has nothing to do with him!” she snapped irritably. “My wound hurts, so I don’t want to see anyone! It’s not just him!”
“…The medicine your father brought last time — did it help after you applied it?”
Su Man looked down at her hand. Even with the lamp off, she could make out the grotesque shape of it in the darkness.
She closed her eyes. Her eyes ached. “It helped… a little.”
“Then the next time he goes out, I’ll have him bring more. He’s in the medical unit — if they find any of that medicine, he’ll know before the others.”
“Mom, I’m genuinely tired… can we talk tomorrow?”
“All right, all right… go rest. Don’t let the injury get you down. Even if your left hand has lasting damage, you still have your right.”
Su Man gave a soft murmur of acknowledgment.
The footsteps outside gradually receded.
Only when they had faded completely did Su Man switch the lamp back on.
She picked up the medicine bottle, bit off the cap with her teeth, and slowly, carefully applied the medicinal oil along her left arm.
It was a twisted arm — from the forearm to the fingertips, all of it wrenched and distorted. The fingers had been wrenched until they tore and broke, and while the body’s natural healing ability had knit them back together, they had healed wrong. The positions were off.
Or rather, the entire arm’s alignment was off.
It was *twisted*. The fingers were bent outward at unnatural angles.
Even as the wounds closed, the nerves were all displaced — her fingers could not respond to her commands. This left hand was completely, irreparably broken.
Su Man closed her eyes in anguish, steadied herself, then opened them again. She took fresh gauze and bandages from the cabinet and, teeth clenched, began rewrapping the arm — loop by loop, all over again.
If it were only one hand, perhaps she wouldn’t feel quite this hopeless.
But her right hand was injured, too.
She couldn’t tell her family. She couldn’t tell her friends. She only told them she was getting better soon.
But the truth was… she would never get better.
Su Man pressed her lower lip hard between her teeth, her eyes burning red.
She refused to accept that she had become a useless cripple.
Had Bai Youwei spent the most precious of her puzzle pieces to save a useless cripple?!
What was she supposed to do?!
She stared out the window. Darkness shrouded the sky, and seemed to shroud her as well — wrapped in blackness without a trace of light, she could not breathe.
And yet…
Yet there was still a way.
There was one method — and the only method — that could save her.
Su Man stood at the window and stared out into the boundless, lightless dark.
*— As long as she entered the labyrinth one more time, she would recover.*
—