Outside the Beicheng Fifth Ring, there's a place similar to the slums of San Francisco, USA, where the buildings are narrowly spaced with no green belts, damp roads, and oftentimes junk piled up beneath them.
The residents here are mostly northern migrants working in the city. Those who can afford the rent dwell in well-lit rental rooms above, while those who cannot are relegated to basement apartments where sunlight is a rare visitor.
Inside one such basement, a woman entered, wearing a thick cotton coat, her cheeks reddened from the cold. She removed her mask, took off her hat, and revealed a delicate, pretty face, identical to that of Wei Anning.
However, unlike Wei Anning's tranquil demeanor, resembling a bundle of lilies, she radiated a wildness akin to a thorny rose.
