The woman's face was ashen, like the dense black clouds in the sky.
The feeling of oppression seemed to appear out of nowhere. She couldn't understand how much pain one must endure to reveal such a despairing expression.
Even in the pitch-dark garbage dump, she never saw such despair in the eyes of those homeless men; there was mostly daze.
The woman before her felt like a puppet whose soul had been hollowed out, bones holding up the skin, sustained by some unknown force keeping her alive.
A profound sense of powerlessness rose within Xu Xiaoyou.
"It's dangerous outside, and since you don't seem hurt, go back to wherever you were hiding," the woman said. "Children shouldn't run around..."
"What about you?"
"I'm leaving."
"Where to?"
"To find my daughter; she's still somewhere in this city."
Xu Xiaoyou watched the woman silently walk away, further and further, until she vanished from sight.
