The middle-aged man took a deep drag from his cigarette, and the ember, which had been a mere two or three millimeters long, instantly flared to five or six millimeters, betraying how long he had been holding back the craving.

"What brings you to the hospital? Is someone at home sick?" The middle-aged man exhaled a plume of smoke with evident enjoyment, engaging in a sporadic conversation with Xiaoyu.

"A friend got hurt; we brought her over. What about you?" Xiaoyu asked in return.

"I'm visiting a friend. The city's security is chaotic; my friend was stabbed by an assailant on his way to work. All the downtown hospitals were overwhelmed, so I had to bring him here." Saying this, the middle-aged man took another hard pull on the cigarette; the five-or-six-millimeter ember immediately elongated to half the length of the smoke ring, and a long, curled ash threatened to drop, finally falling to the ground.

Hearing him mention the situation in the city, Xiaoyu suddenly perked up, asking anxiously, "I live in the city too. Everything seemed fine when I left; how did it devolve into this so quickly?"

"Word is, a deranged doctor first killed the community security guard, then fled to the countryside, killing anyone he saw and hacking at any dog in his path—absolutely savage. The police couldn't catch him and initially wanted to cover it up, but then many cases surfaced suddenly across the city where people's eyeballs were gouged out while they were still alive. People connected it to the doctor who went mad earlier, believing the police were just taking bribes and doing nothing. Naturally, anger erupted. Once the situation descends into chaos, it becomes hard to control." Having finished, the middle-aged man drew on his cigarette one last time; the ember rapidly shrank from the middle of the smoke ring to the very tip of the butt. He pulled out another cigarette, placed it in his mouth, positioned the burning butt at the front end, and lit up again.

"You sure smoke a lot," Xiaoyu remarked dryly; they had been talking for less than three minutes, and the middle-aged man was already on his second cigarette.

"Can't be helped. Life is just an entanglement of countless contradictions. If one day there were no contradictions, you’d complain that life was dull, like stagnant water, unable to stir even a ripple." The middle-aged man spoke to himself, but Xiaoyu couldn't grasp the depth of his heartfelt words, merely murmuring agreements, pretending to enjoy the chat while hoping to find a quiet corner elsewhere.

"Oh, by the way, young man." Just as Xiaoyu was about to stand up and leave, the middle-aged man slapped him heartily on the shoulder. Xiaoyu’s legs, which had just straightened, instantly bent again, settling him back into his original spot. "Someone asked me to give you something. It’s already inside your backpack."

Hearing this, Xiaoyu jumped, quickly shrugging off his backpack and rummaging through the jumbled contents inside. His hand suddenly brushed against something hard and ice-cold—a piece of iron. It was a sickle! Xiaoyu couldn't believe what was happening and moved to pull the sickle out for a closer look, but the middle-aged man clapped a hand over the backpack, zipped it shut, and slung it back onto Xiaoyu’s shoulders. "No need to look. It’s been with you the whole time, safe and sound. Life is singular; if you still have time to think, don't make a decision so hastily. Look at the rioters all over this city—under the guise of punishing criminals, they are engaging in arson, murder, and looting. Meanwhile, the true criminals might be more disciplined than them. The lines between good and evil are never clear. Sometimes, what seems evil doesn't necessarily bring about wickedness, and what appears righteous can be an atrocity against humanity. Live another ten years, and you will surely grasp the meaning of my words." With that, the middle-aged man crushed the cigarette butt, stood up, and walked straight into the hospital entrance, disappearing from view.

As Xiaoyu prepared to follow him, he heard Xiao Hei meow twice from the sewer drain. Turning back to look for the kitten, he discovered the small cat was trapped inside a snap-trap cage, barely twenty or thirty centimeters from the drain opening. Xiaoyu had no choice but to find a bamboo pole to hook the cage out, finally rescuing the entirely soiled Xiao Hei.