The Dividing Line

Zhang Chenze's eyes widened, and she could not get a single word out. All she could do was back away involuntarily.

"What's wrong?" Qiao Jiajin's view was blocked by Zhang Chenze, so he had no idea what had happened.

The haughty lawyer stumbled back several steps, then landed on her backside on the filthy floor.

"You... you..." Zhang Chenze pointed at the shop assistant.

The others turned toward her voice and saw a tiny section of an arm resting in the shop assistant's open palm. The arm was far too small to belong to an adult. And with its clearly defined fingers, it certainly did not belong to an animal.

It seemed the shop assistant really had cooked a...

The arm was giving off an enticing aroma.

Qi Xia took in the sight, then thought back to the surroundings in this strange room. In an instant, he understood.

"Is this... a piglet?" Qi Xia asked cautiously.

"That's right." The shop assistant nodded. "Aren't you going to eat it?"

Qi Xia's expression darkened. "You said if we slept with you, you'd get to eat a piglet. You meant this kind of piglet?!"

"Yes." The shop assistant stared blankly at Qi Xia. "Piglets are delicious."

The smell of blood was strong here, and there were bloodstains on the shop assistant's thighs and bed. If Qi Xia was right, this woman had given birth not long ago, then taken her own...

A grotesque thought circled in everyone's mind-she wanted men to sleep with her just so she could eat the "piglets"?

"I only get to eat a piglet about once a year..." The shop assistant smiled, exposing dry, yellow teeth. "I just wanted to ask if any of you would sleep with me. I can trade you pig's trotters..."

"We... we don't eat that..." Officer Li shook his head.

"If you don't eat it... never mind, then..." She fumbled around and stuffed the boiled-soft arm into her coat pocket, then wiped the grease off her hands.

Seeing what had become of the coat she had draped over the woman, Zhang Chenze could not say a word.

Until now, she had never imagined that this kind of meat could leave so much grease.

Tiantian slowly walked over to the shop assistant and spoke with a conflicted expression. "Miss, what you ate wasn't a piglet. He was..."

"What was it?" The shop assistant's lifeless eyes shifted. "It was a piglet. It suddenly popped out and hurt me when it bumped into me."

Everyone exchanged glances. No one knew what to say.

"Hey... I'm hungry again." The shop assistant raised her eyebrows. "I'm going to have some pork soup. It's so nice to have enough to eat."

With that, she turned and went back into the staff room. Before closing the door, she seemed to remember something and gave them another vacant grin. "Please, help yourselves!"

Then she slammed the door shut.

They stood in silence for a long time, the atmosphere unbearably oppressive.

At last, Qi Xia broke the silence.

"Everyone, even if this shithole doesn't get destroyed in ten days, we still won't be able to return to the real world." Qi Xia rubbed his forehead. "If we have to stay here forever, sooner or later we'll go mad just like her."

This time, Officer Li did not argue with Qi Xia.

He, too, had begun to waver. In this clearly abnormal city, beneath this dark red sky and ocher sun, how long could a person stay sane?

The clatter of kitchen utensils came from the room. It sounded as though the shop assistant had served herself another bowl of her delicacy and was now feasting on it.

Just one door away, a woman was eating the child she had only just given birth to.

Everything about this place was wrong.

"I want to go outside and look around," Qi Xia said. "Aren't you curious? What exactly is this place? Who are these people? Does the city have an edge? What's beyond it? How did we get here, and how do we get out?"

Rather than curiosity, the expressions on everyone's faces looked more like fear.

"I just feel like there's danger everywhere..." Xiao Ran shook her head and said to Qi Xia, "Rather than go out and take part in those 'games,' I'd rather find somewhere safe to stay."

"Pretty lady, there's no food or water here," Qiao Jiajin said, rubbing his stomach. "If we want to survive, surely we can't actually eat those piglets?"

His position was obvious. Rather than stay here waiting to die, he wanted to go out and look around too.

The nine of them now seemed to have split into two groups. Some wanted to leave, while others wanted to stay.

Doctor Zhao looked at Han Yimo beside him. "There's nothing wrong with going out to look around, but someone who's injured can't go. He has no choice but to stay here. As a doctor, I should stay and take care of him too."

"Then I'll stay with you..." Xiao Ran said quietly.

"Have you got a death wish?" Qiao Jiajin shook his head. "A patient, a frail girl, and a doctor. The three of you are planning to live here?"

"I'll stay too," Officer Li suddenly said.

Doctor Zhao and the other two turned to look at him. They knew they would be safer with the strongly built Officer Li staying here as well.

Officer Li nodded to Doctor Zhao. "This thug is right. It's too dangerous for the three of you to stay here alone. Never mind those animal masks-even if that woman in there went berserk, you wouldn't be able to handle her."

With four people now choosing to stay, everyone turned their attention to Tiantian, Zhang Chenze, and Lin Qin.

The three women had yet to state their positions.

"Of course I'm staying." Zhang Chenze smiled faintly. "I'm a lawyer. I don't make a move until I have all the information. Otherwise, I could make the wrong judgment."

With that, she got up and walked over to Officer Li and Doctor Zhao.

Now Qi Xia and Qiao Jiajin seemed to be the odd ones out. Wanting to venture out and explore a world that appeared fraught with danger, they looked like children who had never grown up.

Tiantian glanced at Lin Qin beside her, then walked over to Qi Xia without saying a word.

She seemed to need no reason to join Qi Xia's group.

"Hmm?" Qiao Jiajin's lips curved upward. "I thought you'd stay."

"Stay?" Tiantian shook her head with a bitter smile, then pointed at the floor. "Can't you see it? There's a wall here. That wall leaves me no choice but to go."

"A wall?" Qi Xia and Qiao Jiajin looked down, but saw no "wall."

"On that side of the wall are a police officer, a lawyer, a doctor, and a writer. On this side are a con man, a thug, and a prostitute." Tiantian spoke calmly. She tucked a loose strand of hair behind her ear, then continued, "Our 'sides' were decided from the very beginning, weren't they?"

Qi Xia's and Qiao Jiajin's expressions shifted as they understood what Tiantian meant.

She was right. Even if all nine of them were ordinary people who had been forced to come here, they still had their own "sides."

Qi Xia, Qiao Jiajin, and Tiantian all lived in society's gray areas. They were bound not to fit in with the others.

Now Lin Qin was the only one who had not chosen her "side."

Given her identity as a "Psychological Counselor," she should have gone to the other side of the "wall" as well.

Yet, to everyone's surprise, she slowly walked over to Qi Xia and the others.

Qi Xia had a vague sense that something was off about this woman, but he could not put his finger on it.

"You're coming too?" Tiantian looked at her in confusion. "You aren't like us. If you went with them, maybe..."

"But I'm useful." Covering her nose and mouth, Lin Qin smiled at Tiantian and interrupted her. "I understand human nature. I might be able to help."

Qiao Jiajin stretched and drawled, "Great. With two pretty ladies along, me and Con Man won't get bored."

"Don't call me Con Man," Qi Xia said with a frown. "And I don't need any of you following me."

"All right, all right..." Qiao Jiajin nodded. "When are we leaving? Now?"

"I..."

Before Qi Xia could finish, Lin Qin spoke up. "It really is getting late. Personally, I suggest we wait until tomorrow to go out."

"Tomorrow?" Everyone turned to look out the window. Sure enough, it had already grown dark.

The sky had turned an even deeper red, constantly radiating a sense of danger.