"What's your plan? Hurry up and tell us, you're driving me crazy!" I urged. Tang Minghao remained silent again, and for no discernible reason, a wave of irritation washed over me. I stepped forward to shake him, trying to snap him out of his daze, to finish the half-spoken words and tell us what to do next. I had a strange conviction that his words carried the will of a god.

My body had been leaning forward, and just as my hand reached Tang Minghao's shoulder, he unexpectedly flinched away. Losing my balance, I stumbled forward, luckily catching myself against a small square table in front of me. On the table sat an incense burner, which overturned with the jolt, splitting in half, scattering ash all over my face.

I scrambled up in disarray when a strange, yet venomously hostile voice suddenly rang out: "Luo, you have overturned the vessel consecrated to the god. You must pay the price for this!" I jolted violently. It was terrifying—a completely unfamiliar voice. Was there another life form present? Who was it? A demon or a god?

I knew upsetting the incense burner was a grave omen; my calves began to tremble uncontrollably. The alien voice continued, "You will pay with your life for your mistake." I searched for the speaker, only to realize the voice was issuing from Tang Minghao. Only his lips were moving, his two thick lips resembling a pair of worms. I looked pleadingly at Yanzi, at Xu Zhiwu, at everyone in the room. A deep fear suddenly seized me: no one here would help me; I would be utterly abandoned.

Tang Minghao said coldly, "Restrain him." I saw Yanzi's and Xu Zhiwu's expressions darken; they turned to look for rope. I hadn't expected them to help me in the first place, but I never imagined they would so quickly become allies of this 'god.' A moment of sorrow for my own kind welled up. Of course, the dominant emotion was still sheer terror.

Yanzi actually found a length of rope in a shadowed corner; she was carefully smoothing it out strand by strand. Despair was nearly complete; all my struggles would be futile. I should simply surrender, yet I still begged pathetically: "Yanzi, haven't you all a shred of feeling left for me? We've been inseparable, how can you bear to lay cruel hands on me?"

Yanzi replied coldly, "Everyone is selfish. To stay alive, we can't afford to care." I shouted, "Despicable! You truly are despicable."

Yanzi retorted, "You're no better. If I had overturned the censer, you would have been just as brutal to me."

I insisted, "I wouldn't have. If you had tipped the censer, I would remain your ally, bound to you through life and death." Yanzi let out a harsh laugh, "Listen, Technician Luo, listen to the force in your own voice. Even you don't believe the words pouring from your mouth. Didn't Physician Ciren, who was just like you, lead the charge in abandoning him?"

Heavens, I cried out, "You're comparing me to Physician Ciren? I am your companion on this journey!"

Yanzi ignored my shouts. She had the rope sorted out and, along with Xu Zhiwu, each holding an end, they advanced toward me. I felt like a lamb led to slaughter. I had no retreat, and in fact, I couldn't move at all because Tang Minghao now held a gun, appearing from nowhere. I was certain that if I didn't yield willingly, he would blow my head apart. I didn't want to die and feared death, so I could only let them bind me obediently. What would happen next? Would a sliver of hope for survival remain? Yanzi pulled the rope painfully tight around me, as if fearing it wouldn't hold. Xu Zhiwu even kicked me, snarling, "Hold still!"

How was I being uncooperative? I knew Xu Zhiwu was just trying to impress, acting like a servant eager to please his master.

Yanzi clapped her hands, then suddenly knelt before Tang Minghao again, her face radiating piety. "My honored Master, what punishment does the wicked Luo deserve?" Tang Minghao spoke again in that distant, alien tone: "He defiled the artifact of the god. The god will not forgive him; he must bleed out all the sinful blood within his body!"

Ah, they intended to drain my blood! My face went instantly pale, yet a cold sneer touched my heart: "Claiming to be a god, yet practicing the devil's work. A god is more terrifying than a devil because a god possesses hypocrisy."

Tang Minghao continued, "Cut his radial artery and let his blood flow into three bowls." Yanzi asked, "Will this be the red water?"

Tang Minghao sneered, "Does this deserve to be called red water? This is merely the blood of a filthy Han Chinese." Some unknown courage surged through me, and I said, "Fine, I admit my blood is filthy. Just don't let my blood flow into bowls; that would defile them." Tang Minghao countered, "But a treasured sword must be sealed with blood. These three bowls have not tasted blood for centuries."

Old Li suddenly materialized from somewhere. I had been looking for him constantly, yet he had vanished without a trace until now.

"Old Li, Old Li," I grasped for him like a lifeline. "Save me! Among us, you are the most reasonable one."

But Old Li produced a knife, twenty centimeters long, from behind his back and advanced on me with a sinister grin.

Madness. Everyone had gone utterly insane. In a single instant, they had all been possessed by demons.

By sheer instinct, I retreated into the corner of the wall, but there was nowhere left to go. Yanzi rolled up my sleeve and began striking my radial artery with her hand, presumably to ensure the blood would flow out smoothly and freely.

Tears welled in my eyes, but I didn't know who I was crying for—perhaps for myself. This, I realized, was the state of mind when one faces imminent death.

Yanzi suddenly shifted her tone to one of profound distraction: "Before we draw the blood, shouldn't we disinfect the wound? We certainly wouldn't want the cut to become infected."

A chill ran down my spine hearing that. There was no more horrifying display of humane concern in the world. Simultaneously, I noticed the strange look on her face, like that of a sleepwalker. Although I had never seen a sleepwalker, the term flashed into my mind.

Wait! A sudden spark of insight ignited in my mind. I needed to retrace everything that had happened. I knocked over the censer—the ash scattered into the air—Yanzi, Xu Zhiwu, Old Li, everyone present inhaled some of the ash—this ash, perhaps from incense burned as an expression of reverence or sacrifice to the god, carried some form of curse, or maybe the ash was the residue of a hypnotic incense, thus naturally containing elements that fogged human nature.

That explained why Yanzi and Xu Zhiwu had their true natures obscured in an instant. I felt momentary pride in my own cleverness, but my body instantly plummeted into profound coldness. Yanzi took the knife from Old Li and was rapidly approaching me. Even if I understood the truth, what good was it? Bound as I was, I had no way to fight. In my meager knowledge system, one supposedly needed a bucket of water thrown in the face to wake someone up from hypnosis, but I was tied down, and there was no water nearby.

Yanzi advanced step by step, lifting my hand close to her face. After her series of strikes, my radial artery was massively swollen, resembling writhing earthworms.

Yanzi wore a satisfied smile. Looking at it filled me with revulsion. Not long ago, I considered her smile sweet and kind. I said to myself, Forgive Yanzi; she is only mesmerized. Like a sleepwalker, she doesn't know what she's doing.

The name of a bird about to die is mournful; the words of a person about to die come from the heart. I marveled at my own shift; I was making excuses for the person about to murder me.

Just as Yanzi raised the knife, Old Li barked out, "Wait!" A surge of hope flared in my chest. Finally, someone snapped back to reality at the critical moment.

I opened my eyes only to see Old Li nervously holding a bowl, carefully positioning it under my wrist. "Don't let the blood spill on the floor."

Yanzi made the cut. Though I kept my eyes closed, I felt the sharp blade slice across my skin. It wasn't the sharp pain I expected, but a chill—a coldness spreading from the wound throughout my body, into my heart, into every organ. I felt my blood gushing out happily like a small stream. I knew that in a few minutes, the blood in my body would be drained. What would a body without blood look like? How pale would the skin be without its life force!

I felt dizzy; I knew the reason was the large volume of blood draining from my head. Every beat of my powerful heart was forcing this blood out of my body.

I knew I was about to lose consciousness. I opened my eyes, wanting one last look at this mortal world I both loved and hated.

I saw Yanzi staring intently at the torrent of crimson pouring from my wrist, her face alight with exhilaration. Old Li was half-kneeling, carefully holding the bowl, his expression solemn and reverent. Seeing that look struck me as absurd. I must have smiled; I felt my dry, cracked lips, coated with white film, twitch slightly. What else could that be? I even suspected the smile originated deep within my soul—an incredible thought. Perhaps it wasn't just the assailants who had gone mad; the one being murdered was suffering a simultaneous mental break. Old Li, whom I always considered my right-hand companion, was collaborating with the others to use my blood for a divine offering... But didn't they know this ritual required incestuous blood? Mine was not.

The blood quickly filled one bowl—a bowl fashioned from a human skull. I saw the bowl of blood emitting wafts of hot steam; I knew they were on the verge of boiling, but they would soon grow cold, just like my body.

Old Li deftly swapped the bowl for another. He licked his lips, murmuring, "So much blood. I wonder if we can fill all three bowls?"

Yanzi said, "We should have a bet. What do you think, Professor Xu?" Professor Xu fell into deep contemplation, as he did with every profound philosophical question.

This world was truly absurd. I closed my eyes, feeling a hint of release, as if slipping free from the sea of suffering.