Li Zhou immediately put out the mosquito coils and pulled Lin Xiaoman into the shadows. A flashlight beam swept across the wall, revealing someone climbing the stairs through the puddles.
"Is that the girl?"
"It's for sure. The surveillance camera caught them running this way."
Lin Xiaoman held her breath. Li Zhou's hand was on top of hers, their clasped palms wet with sweat.
The footsteps stopped on the next floor, and then there were sounds of rummaging.
"Shit, no one."
"Let's retreat, this damn place..."
After the sound of the car faded away, they realized that the bun had been kneaded into a ball of dough. Li Zhou picked out the clean part and fed it to Lin Xiaoman.
"Is it sweet?"
She nodded, tasting the rust on his fingers.
Late at night, Lin Xiaoman suddenly sat up and said, "Let's run away."
Not hiding, but escaping.
Li Zhou looked at her in the moonlight: "Where are you going?"
"A place without starlight."
The phone screen glowed faintly in the darkness, its battery level showing 4%. Lin Xiaoman swiped his finger across the map, searching for a place beyond the reach of Starlight.
"Here." She clicked on a small county town in the southwestern mountains. "There's no Xinghui Bank, no smart community, and even takeout only accepts cash."
Li Zhou leaned in closer, his nose almost touching the screen: "It's too far away."
"It's safer to stay away."
"We can't even afford train tickets."
Lin Xiaoman bit her lip and said, "Let's walk."
Li Zhou stared at her and suddenly laughed: "Are you serious?"
"It's better than dying here."
The phone screen flickered twice, the battery down to 3%. They quickly took a screenshot, saved the map, and turned off the phone.
Darkness once again enveloped the unfinished building, with only the occasional searchlight from the distant construction site sweeping across.
Before dawn, they burned everything that might reveal their identities - Lin Xiaoman's teacher qualification certificate, Li Zhou's design drafts, and even supermarket receipts.
The flames licked the paper, devouring the names "Lin Xiaoman" and "Li Zhou" bit by bit.
"From today on," Li Zhou wrote two new names on the cement floor with charcoal, "I'm Zhang Zhao, and you're Ding Xue."
Lin Xiaoman—now Ding Xue—wiped the writing away with the sole of her shoe: "We need some cash."
They took their final inventory:
37 yuan in cash (including five coins)
Half a bag of toast
Two bottles of mineral water
A box of mosquito coils
Li Zhou's Swatch watch (street stall goods)
Lin Xiaoman's silver necklace (an 18th birthday gift from her mother)
"This is the only thing I can exchange for money." Li Zhou weighed his watch.
Lin Xiaoman touched the necklace around her neck: "Add mine."
The alleys in the urban village are like a maze, and the damp corners are covered with moss.
They followed the marks left by the person who delivered the buns last night and found a pawnshop - it was very small, with a sign that read "Lao Wang Grocery", and second-hand mobile phones and old watches were placed in the glass cabinets.
The old man behind the counter, wearing reading glasses, squinted as he took the necklace. "It's silver-plated, eighty at most."
"This is pure silver!" Lin Xiaoman said anxiously, "It's worth at least five hundred."
The old man sneered: "According to Xinghui's rules, jewelry of unknown origin is 80% off."
Li Zhou slammed the counter: "How do you know us?"
"Young man," the old man pushed up his glasses, "this chain has 'LXM' engraved on the clasp. There's a city-wide wanted poster for him."
In the end, they traded the necklace and watch for three hundred yuan. The old man lowered his voice as he handed over the money: "Go out the back door, turn right, there's a truck going to Guizhou. The driver, Lao Liu, accepts cash."
They had just left the pawn shop when they heard sirens.
"Go separately!" Li Zhou pushed Lin Xiaoman into a narrow alley. "See you at the usual place!"
Lin Xiaoman hid behind a fish stall in the wet market for half an hour, the stench making her dizzy. The stall owner, a wrinkled woman, handed her a headscarf and said, "Cover your face and go through the back door of the cold storage."
She sneaked out of the market among the ice trucks and found that security guards in Xinghui uniforms were standing at every street corner. They were holding facial recognition devices and checking pedestrians one by one.
There was no going back to the unfinished building. Lin Xiaoman thought of the "old place" Li Zhou had mentioned—the abandoned railway bridge behind the university.
The weeds beneath the railway bridge grew waist-high, and the cicadas' chirping was deafening. Lin Xiaoman waited until sunset, and finally saw a figure in a baseball cap.
Li Zhou's T-shirt was torn, and there were scrapes on the right side of his face. He pulled out a wrinkled ticket: "Tomorrow morning at six o'clock, truck."
"Where did you get the money?"
"I sold some blood." He rolled up his sleeves and saw a Band-Aid on his elbow.
Lin Xiaoman grabbed his arm, blood seeping from the edge of the Band-Aid. Li Zhou pulled his hand back. "400cc for two tickets, a good deal."
As night fell, they lay on the grass beside the railroad tracks. Li Zhou counted the stars: "The Big Dipper, over there is Orion..."
Lin Xiaoman suddenly turned over and hugged him, her tears soaking his collar. Li Zhou patted her back and said, "Don't be afraid. When we get to Guizhou, I'll farm, you'll teach, and we'll get a dog..."
The sirens of a patrol car blared in the distance, and they both held their breath. The lights swept through the grass and gradually faded away.
At four o'clock in the morning, they arrived at the freight station in the dark.
Dozens of trucks were parked in the parking lot, their "Xinghui Logistics" logos spray-painted on their sides. Li Zhou pulled Lin Xiaoman to squat behind the tires and said, "No, it was supposed to be 'Shunda Freight'..."
"There!"
A rusty blue truck was parked in the corner, with "Shun Da" scribbled on the door. The driver, a heavy-bearded man, was squatting beside the truck, eating instant noodles.
"Old Liu?" Li Zhou asked tentatively.
The big man looked up and scanned their faces: "Zhang Zhao? Ding Xue?"
They nodded.
"Get in the car." Lao Liu threw away the instant noodle bucket. "Remember, no matter what happens, don't make a sound."
The cargo box was filled with frozen chicken, and the cold air was oppressive. Li Zhou took off his coat and wrapped it around Lin Xiaoman, and the two of them huddled in a corner. With the roar of the engine, the truck slowly pulled out of the parking lot.
Lin Xiaoman watched the city skyline recede through the gap. The star logo on the tall building was still lit, like an eye that never closed.
"Go get some sleep." Li Zhou held her frozen hand. "When you wake up, it will be a new life."
The truck drove into the morning mist, its tires rolling over the speed bump, shaking off a drop of water condensed on the roof of the car.
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