Li Cu woke up.

The pain prevented him from sleeping deeply, and the dryness in his throat along with the salty taste at the corner of his mouth made it hard for him to breathe. He touched his body and found it covered in blood.

In his sleep, he had coughed up blood again. He didn’t know if this was a good or bad thing, or whether expelling this blood meant that there would be no more blockage inside his body.

He moved his hands and feet a bit, and the feeling of being completely powerless due to excruciating pain faded away. The pain was still there, but it seemed manageable with gritted teeth.

He felt no sensation in his knees; only when he moved did he feel a piercing pain with every inch he shifted. He cut open his pants to take a look, and his leg was swollen like a radish, with a horrifying scab forming at the knee wound.

It was a dark blue-black, of course, due to the green light, and the bruising extended from the wound all the way down his leg.

It felt as if cutting it off wouldn’t be a loss at all.

“I’m done for. I can’t play forward anymore. I wonder if there’s a football event in the Paralympics,” he thought to himself.

He looked up at the hanging rope and tree roots, feeling that climbing to the roots should be safe.

Alright, Bale taught in the documentary how to use simple gear to slowly climb a rope.

Li Cu pulled out a hook and a carabiner from his backpack, grabbed the rope, shouted loudly, and tried to pull himself up, wanting to stand.

He didn’t move an inch.

He stayed tensed there for a long time before finally relaxing.

Aside from the pain all over his body, he didn’t even feel a hint of his butt dropping down, which meant he hadn’t gained any height at all.

Frustrated, he lay back, wondering if this was impossible. Without strength in his legs, could he really not climb higher?

He sat up, continued to look up, and pondered what to do.

After thinking for more than ten minutes, he lay down again and fell asleep.

This time he slept longer, and when he woke up, his head felt much heavier.

His beard had grown out, and his nails had lengthened; his body was undergoing intense metabolism. He pushed himself up again and felt much better.

There was no improvement in his legs, and many parts of his chest felt strange, with breathing being very constricted. But compared to before, it was still a bit better.

He ate some food and felt his mind sharpen a little. His short leg emitted a strange smell, as if it was about to die. He poked at the swollen, bruised area with his finger and still felt excruciating pain. He felt slightly relieved.

He tried again, pulling on the rope for support. This time, after a few attempts, his butt lifted off the ground by half a meter. He managed to put his uninjured leg down and finally stood up.

Cold sweat covered him, and he gripped the rope tightly to avoid fainting. He gasped for a long time before he could recover. He felt that climbing up any further was definitely out of the question.

He leaned against the rope, dazed and resting, and soon fell asleep again. Before he drifted off, he had fought against the strange drowsiness, but his body truly needed rest. The rope hanging from his arm gradually loosened, and he slid back down to the stony beach.

When he woke up this time, he found that he couldn’t move at all.

His body was completely paralyzed; he could not feel his hands or feet, only an intense pain radiating from his chest. It felt as if something was stuck in his throat, making it hard to breathe. He forced himself to take a breath, and suddenly he felt a rush of air, but thick, viscous blood sprayed from his nose.

He realized that his frantic movements had led to serious consequences, and his condition was far more than just a broken leg. His neck was immobilized, and he could only look up at the ceiling of the cave, illuminated by a faint green light.

Did he ever imagine he would die such a pathetic death? It was truly pathetic. Li Cu began to cry, overwhelmed by an inexplicable sorrow.

Before, he thought it didn’t matter if he died; life was just like that. But now, faced with the imminent end, he suddenly felt that all the notions of parental love, self-worth, and resentment toward the world were nonsense.

He wanted to live. But he realized that he was surely going to die.

Li Cu had read a story about a person who fell into a well, detailing every moment from the beginning to death—the mental journey, just like in Lionsgate’s “Buried.” He didn’t know whether he would die from organ failure, hunger, or infection, or if he would lose control of his bowels and die in his own excrement.

He cried for a while, then felt an overwhelming urge to sleep. He sensed that he might not wake up again. As he struggled, he suddenly noticed something was off—he began to float.

“Eh? Am I finally kicking the bucket?” Li Cu was startled, feeling himself slowly lift off the ground.

Is there really such a thing as a soul? Am I going to heaven?

Li Cu was both shocked and delighted; he never expected to have consciousness after death. He should have died long ago, and now he was floating upwards, his soul leaving his body—was he really going to heaven? Oh, mama mia, if only he had known earlier, he wouldn’t have wasted time being confused about the college entrance exam.

Ah, God, have you finally shown me some mercy? I promise to be a good little angel.

He floated higher and soon reached the area tangled with tree roots, drifting toward them.

I’m going to pass through these roots, like a ghost, floating layer by layer, through the sand, then to the surface, up into the air, into the clouds, out of the atmosphere, and towards the legendary heaven.

Li Cu closed his eyes, accepting it all; everything in the human world no longer mattered to him.

He inhaled deeply, not noticing anything unusual until a root pierced his nostril.

He realized he was not a ghost; the roots were very solid. He was forcibly dragged into the roots, losing his balance as his head began to tilt downward.

He immediately understood that he hadn’t died, nor was he on his way to heaven; he was just being pulled up by someone.

His body felt numb, but he knew it must be twisted at a terrible angle. He was slowly being pulled into the mass of roots.

Could these hanging roots move, just like those snake-like cypress trees?

Then he realized something was wrong; he saw a hand among the roots. Next, he spotted three men, scattered among the roots, staring at him.

These were three completely unfamiliar strangers.

Li Cu was puzzled. Why had he encountered strangers in such a hidden place?

One person lifted him up, placing him over their shoulder, and then they began to climb the tree roots like monkeys, quickly ascending. With his head dangling below, Li Cu felt blood begin to flow from his nose again. In a semi-conscious state, he noticed that these people’s fingers were much longer than those of ordinary people.

“Monsters,” Li Cu thought to himself. “Well, it’s better than dying in a place like this. If I’m eaten by monsters, at least it’s a relatively better option.”

They climbed swiftly, and in no time, they reached the top of the cave. The three of them crouched and squeezed through a gap formed by the tree roots at the top. One of them lit a lantern and used a knife to cut open their hand, scattering the blood into the air. Li Cu heard the sound of countless tiny insects retreating. Then Li Cu also entered the cave at the top, which seemed to be a well, already filled with tree roots.