011

The next day, Lian Pu still participated in the scheduled activities, but seemed on the verge of collapsing at any moment. The content shown in the dark room that day was still related to AIDS, and Lian Pu stared at the screen, lost in thought.

Before the combat grouping, Lude found a moment to exchange a few words with Lian Pu. "You have a fever," Lude noted as he touched Lian Pu's forehead and then firmly held his arm. 

Despite the unorthodox methods of correction within this compound, common ailments could still be effectively treated.

"I'm fine," Lian Pu insisted, pulling Lude's hand off his arm. "It's not safe." 

Lian Pu couldn't free himself from Lude's grasp, but he could hear his words: "Lian Pu, if you're already in this condition, how will you endure what lies ahead?"

Listening to Lude's words and meeting his unwavering gaze, Lian Pu ultimately chose to yield. Lude was right; they were not yet at the end of their time here, and their fight for freedom required healthy bodies.

Under Lude's guidance, Lian Pu fainted due to a high fever and was carried to the regular treatment room for fever reduction therapy. The subsequent intense fighting for survival was led by Xing, facing the remaining six individuals on the stage. This made the punishment crystal clear - either six individuals would be penalized, or one individual would bear the consequences. 

Lude was no stranger to such gameplay, yet he ultimately succumbed to Yu Guoliang's blow. While Yu Guoliang felt puzzled, Lude patted his shoulder as he passed by him. 

He had deliberately lost. 

The punishment of one person was deemed more worthwhile than penalizing six individuals, and they emerged victorious in this fight for survival.

Lude's punishment inflicted no physical harm but tested one's mental fortitude. He was isolated in a small dark room, watching footage of surgery involving white matter removal for subject 0001, chemical castration for subject 0004, electroshock therapy for subjects 0005 and 0009, and the video of Lian Pu's aversion therapy from yesterday. 

Despite being familiar with each method, when presented in such a straightforward manner, Lude's gaze at the screen remained unchanged, only clenching his hands tightly in his pockets, almost piercing his palm with the Swiss army knife he held.

Upon exiting the dark room, Lude appeared nonchalant and carefree. "Is that all there is to it?" he tilted his head and asked Wang Yi, who stood guard at the door. "Or is there more to come?"

Lude hung a few worthless unruly strands in his mouth and returned to the dormitory before heading to the reading room. Lian Pu had already been brought back, still slightly feverish but not in serious condition, just looking a few shades paler than usual. 

Lude boiled some water, the sound of the wardrobe opening and closing, the clinking of stainless steel a few times, then climbed onto Lian Pu's bed.

Without a word, Lude pinched Lian Pu's cheeks and slipped a few slices of ginseng into his mouth. "Hold it," a simple command that was rarely refused. 

Lian Pu sat up on the bed, leaning against the back wall. 

"Can you drink it yourself?" Lude handed over a stainless steel cup. 

Lian Pu had never liked bitter things since he was young, but the bitterness of the ginseng seemed more tolerable on his tongue. Peering into the stainless steel cup, he saw it was filled to the brim with rice porridge, made with milk powder, the strong milky fragrance almost suffocating.

Holding the stainless steel cup in both hands, Lian Pu smiled at Lude. "I'm just sick, not disabled." 

The milky rice porridge, fragrant and warm, flowed down his throat, gradually warming his body. He remembered when he was sick as a child, his mother would make a bowl of egg congee and feed it to him spoon by spoon. After eating, he would feel warm all over.

"Next time I get sick, it will be when I'm away," Lian Pu called out to Lude, then in a rare moment of vulnerability mixed with a hint of stubbornness, he said, "I want you to feed me rice porridge." 

"Okay," Lude, who had been suppressing his emotions all day, finally showed a slight change in his expression. 

Though the space was confined and narrow, it was filled with a love that reached deep into their hearts.

The reading room that night had two pieces of paper with different handwriting, yet both containing the same paragraph in English. It reads:

Article 1 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights (1948) states, "All human beings are born free and equal in dignity and rights." Article 2 continues, "Everyone is entitled to all the rights and freedoms set forth in this Declaration, without distinction of any kind, such as race, colour, sex, language, religion, political or other opinion, national or social origin, property, birth, or other status."

However, no one took the time to seriously read this passage.