Li Cu was pressed down onto the bed, his back facing up. Several strong men firmly held down his limbs, rendering him unable to move. His upper body was bare, and the boss was behind him, using a flashlight to illuminate the area, his eyes almost glued to Li Cu’s back as he examined the scars there.
Li Cu chose to submit because he realized he had no choice at all. No matter what decision he made, he had to take Liang Wan into account. Moreover, he felt that even if he insisted on resisting, it would be of little significance; provoking the other party might lead to even worse consequences. Additionally, he could sense that although this group of people looked like desperate criminals, they didn’t seem to be the type to take a life easily; otherwise, there would be no need for them to talk to him so much.
So he chose to surrender, like a roasted chicken being studied. He was also puzzled as to why they insisted on looking at his back when he had already provided them with photos of the strange and terrifying wounds there. Was there some secret hidden on his back?
While he was lost in thought, he suddenly felt the boss’s hand carefully pressing on his back. Since his wounds had not healed, the pressure caused a sharp, fiery pain. But he didn’t dare to cry out, gritting his teeth and enduring it.
At that moment, Li Cu heard Liang Wan say from the side, “You’d better wash your hands; otherwise, his wounds will get infected.”
The boss replied, “I washed them before making coffee.” After saying that, he reached behind his waist and pulled out something.
Li Cu wanted to lift his head to see, but he couldn’t. From the sound, it seemed like he took something off a keychain, and a sense of dread crept into Li Cu’s heart. Sure enough, he immediately felt a cold object sliding over the areas where the boss had pressed. It seemed to be a knife.
“What do you want to do?” Liang Wan immediately scolded, “His wounds are freshly stitched and have been cleaned; there shouldn’t be anything.”
The boss completely ignored her. In excruciating pain, the stitches on the wounds on Li Cu’s back were being picked apart one by one. Liang Wan could hardly bear to watch and shouted angrily, “What the hell do you want!” Just as she was halfway through her sentence, someone grabbed her by the neck, silencing her.
“Don’t hurt her; this isn’t a big deal,” the boss said. “The map on his back is crucial. The main issue is that not every scar on this map is accurate. When this person carved into his back, some scars were deliberately made to confuse our judgment. So I need to unravel these stitches to understand which scars are meaningless cover-ups.”
“How will you determine that? Aren’t all these wounds similar?” Liang Wan asked.
“The secrets of heaven cannot be revealed,” the boss said slowly as he completed the task. He then took out the photo Liang Wan had given them earlier and made some annotations on it. Finally, after clapping his hands, the strong men released Li Cu. However, Li Cu still didn’t dare to move, thinking that his back had been completely opened up.
“Call 120,” the boss said as he prepared to leave. “We’ll set off in three days; you should get ready.”
“Who? Me or him?” Liang Wan said from the side.
“Of course, it’s him.”
Liang Wan breathed a sigh of relief, and Li Cu asked, “Ready for what?”
“To go to the desert. We’ll prepare special equipment for you; just bring a few changes of underwear.”
“Why do I have to go too?”
“I don’t want to take you along as a burden, but the situation on your back is too complicated. I’m afraid relying solely on photos won’t be sufficient; it’s more reliable to have you by my side,” the boss said. “Three days from now, I will pick you up from the hospital. Running away won’t help; I can find you no matter where you go.”
After saying this, the boss left with his men, leaving only Liang Wan and Li Cu. The two of them listened to the elevator doors close, and once they knew that group had really left, they both sighed in relief.
“Listen to him, hurry up and call. My back hurts like hell,” Li Cu said weakly. “God, what kind of sin have I committed? I need to get out of town immediately; these people are crazy.”
Liang Wan, however, didn’t respond to him. Instead, she looked at his wound with great interest, deep in thought. It wasn’t until Li Cu called her a few times that she finally reacted and asked, “Where do you plan to hide?”
“I don’t know. I’ll buy a ticket and get on any random bus—Tibet, Miaojiang, wherever remote, I just need to hide somewhere they can’t find me.”
“I advise you not to think too much about that,” Liang Wan said slowly while touching his wound. “You absolutely can’t escape his grasp.”
“Why?”
“He left a photo on your back. You might be too hurt to feel it.”
Li Cu struggled to lift his head and grabbed the photo. He almost immediately cried out, not sure if it was from pain or from seeing what was in the photo.
It was a family photo of Li Cu’s, taken at Houhai. He looked small in the picture, probably still in elementary school. At that time, his parents hadn’t divorced, and the three of them seemed particularly close, standing together.
“These are your parents, right?” Liang Wan said.
“Yes, what does he mean by this? How could he have this photo?”
“It’s to tell you that if you run around recklessly, it’s best to take your parents with you. Otherwise, if you run away alone, your family will suffer in your place.”
Li Cu stared at the photo, feeling an icy chill in his heart, unsure of what to do.
Could he run away with his parents? Impossible. Not to mention that his strong-willed father wouldn’t listen to him, his mother now had her own life. How could he tell them about this? They wouldn’t believe him, just like when he was a child; if they had valued him and believed in him, they wouldn’t have ended up divorced.
He stared blankly at the photo, sighed, and tightened his grip on it in his palm.
He hadn’t made a decision; rather, he decided to do nothing and just watch how things would unfold.
