A Cycle

"A man from the sky?"

Li Jialing twisted the third prisoner's fist hard, turning his arm from the elbow to the shoulder blade into a screw. "Why does it sound like a tale to me?"

"It's true. In fact, the environments we grew up in are really quite similar. They are both living dog-eat-dog hells where there are absolutely no laws and one has to do anything one can, such as draining every bit of physical and mental strength, just to see the sunrise tomorrow."

Li Yao said, "As far as my eyes could reach, wolves, tigers, leopards, and jackals in human skins were everywhere. It was not unusual to search the garbage for an entire day without finding any food to eat. Days of starvation and homelessness were routine. Broken bones and blood-vomiting because of other people's beating were more than occasional, too.