A week later, Li Cu was discharged from the hospital and returned to school to continue his studies. As he stepped through the school gate, he thought to himself: In this world, even though I have experienced things that these teachers could never encounter in their entire lives, at my age, I still can’t escape their grasp.

He walked along with the flow of students entering the school, seeing various students in uniforms just like any other day. However, as he walked among them, he began to feel different from them.

So weak! He looked at those people and silently muttered to himself: I was kidnapped and went through an extreme journey in the desert, and now I’ve ended up as just another uniform-wearing student. Damn! It’s a pity that I can’t talk about those experiences much. Otherwise, I would definitely be the most impressive person in this school.

As he passed by the teaching building and glanced at his reflection in the glass door, he felt that his back looked weathered. Indeed, he was different from these ordinary classmates, and a small sense of superiority rose in his heart. But this feeling of superiority vanished immediately when he sat down at his desk.

He saw that his seat was piled high with clutter. Opening his drawer, he found it full of trash—moldy banana peels, crumpled paper, and a lot of strange tissues. After cleaning up the garbage, he suddenly realized that not a single person in the class had noticed he was back. His classmates were all clustered together chatting, as if he didn’t exist at all.

Damn! Shouldn’t they have rushed over to ask about my legendary story? he thought. That way, he could shake his head with a melancholic expression and pretentiously tell them, “I can’t say.” This would whet their appetite. Maybe a girl would walk home with him after class and ask, “Can you tell me in secret?” Then he could recount his story by the roadside or on the playground, standing like a wandering hero in the sunset. Then, then he could…

There was no “then.” Not to mention girls, even his old buddies didn’t notice he was back. Should he go report to them himself?

Frustrated, Li Cu decided it was better to be a bit reserved. He quietly sat in his chair, gazing out the window, hoping for someone to notice him. He longed to hear someone exclaim, “Hey! You’re out of the hospital!”

After four classes in the afternoon, no one had noticed him, as if even the teachers hadn’t realized he was there. It wasn’t until lunchtime that Su Wan, sitting in front of him, turned around. Everyone else had left the classroom, and Su Wan looked at him indifferently. Li Cu looked back at Su Wan. The two of them stared at each other in silence.

It was then that Li Cu realized something was off; it wasn’t that others hadn’t noticed him, but rather that they simply didn’t want to talk to him.

“What do you want?” After a long silence, Li Cu finally asked.

“Pay me back,” Su Wan replied.

Only then did Li Cu remember that he had borrowed money from Su Wan. He patted his empty pockets; the money was long gone. He looked at Su Wan, thinking about how to explain, but after a moment, he felt angry: You bastard, I went through so many terrifying experiences, and as my best friend, the first thing you say to me is to ask for money back. Even if you want me to pay you back, couldn’t you at least ask how I’ve been first?

“I’ll pay you back tomorrow!” Li Cu said irritably.

Su Wan continued to look at him and, after a long while, asked, “Are you feeling better? It’s not contagious, right?”

Li Cu looked at him and said, “What illness? What contagion?” He was injured during a kidnapping, not sick. How did it turn into an illness that could spread?

Su Wan replied, “Our homeroom teacher said you have a lung disease that’s contagious, so you took a few weeks off from school.”

“Damn it, I’m injured, not sick!”

Li Cu suddenly understood why no one was paying attention to him; he almost jumped up. His legendary story of being kidnapped and then rescued was apparently unknown to anyone, and everyone just thought he had a contagious disease.

There were only a few people left in the class, and Li Cu felt frustrated. He kicked a few chairs and tables to vent his anger, then turned to look at Su Wan. Su Wan, holding a lunchbox, asked him, “It’s really not contagious?”

“If you ask me again, we’re done!” Li Cu pointed at him, thought for a moment, and then lifted his T-shirt to show him his back. When he turned back around, Su Wan was staring at him with his mouth agape, clearly taken aback by the scars on his back.

“What happened?”

“It’s a long story,” Li Cu replied. “Let’s go to the playground to eat lunch, and I’ll tell you in detail.”