Late at night, in the supermarket.
The emergency light had only one battery left, and the light was shining on the shelves, dimly.
Su Wan sat on the folding chair on the inner side of the roller shutter door, with the gun on her leg, and her knees resting on a small notebook the size of a palm.
She had this habit when she was a special police officer – keeping track of the number of trips: who could pass through several walls in a few seconds, who could carry someone and still run at a high speed.
The numbers never lie.
She turned back to the page from the day before.
Lu Chen moved the two-hundred-kilogram freezer out of the aisle with one hand in less than two seconds.
On the previous page, the day before, with the same freezer, his shoulders sank slightly, and it took him three to four seconds.
Further back, on the first day, he lifted a box of water, and his back sagged by half an inch.
Su Wan’s fingertips stopped.
She arranged the three sets of numbers together.
The weight printed on the freezer was the fixed number.
What she wanted was just the time.
It wasn’t a recovery of his condition, but rather lifting in chunks, with the lifting amount being approximately the same.
Like the moment of sunrise every day, someone was pouring water into his body, filling one unit at a time.
She closed the notebook and walked over to the shelves.
Lu Chen was facing away from her, using a cloth to wipe a crowbar, doing it very slowly.
“The freezer machine,” Su Wan said, “Your strength was different yesterday and today.”
“Which one was different?”
“The one that went bigger, one section at a time.” She stared at his side face.
“I’ve recorded the numbers.”
Under the light, his hand that was wiping the crowbar paused for half a second, then continued.
“Having enough to eat and sleep well means having energy.”
“You also didn’t have enough to eat the day before.”
“…”
“Old Feng gave you this rice.
Give him half a bowl every meal.” Su Wan pushed forward and lowered her voice.
But if you have something to hide from me -”
Outside the sliding door, the wind swept past a piece of cardboard, making a rustling sound.
Lu Chen turned his head.
The lamp tilted, and there was no sign of emotion in his eyes.
He simply said, “People who have lived this long have all had some strange things happen to them.”
He neither admitted nor denied.
Su Wan stared at him for a long time but eventually didn’t press him.
She returned to her chair and flipped the notebook back to the last page.
She popped open the cap of the pen and wrote four words at the bottom of the page –
He is getting stronger.
After finishing, she unconsciously raised her eyes and looked at the open crack of the sliding door.
In that instant, a shadow at the base of the wall on the opposite street shrank.
It was very light, like a person suddenly turning sideways to avoid the light.
Su Wan’s gun was already in her hand.