After being taken away by the police, Xiong Yufang was held in a dark and damp detention center. The small space was filled with a stench of decay and despair, and water beads continuously seeped out from the walls, ticking down as if time was counting down mercilessly, each drop like a blow to her heart on the verge of collapse. The dim lights around her flickered, just like her wavering fate at the moment, making her feel endless fear between the bright and the dark.
She sat alone in the cold corner, her eyes empty and confused, her hands clasped tightly around her body, trying to draw a trace of warmth from herself, however, all she felt was the coldness that penetrated into her bones. Her body shivered incessantly, and that shivering came not only from the cold environment, but also from the deep-seated fear of the upcoming punishment. Her thoughts were as tangled as a jumble, recalling for a moment all the things she had done in the past to satisfy her selfish desires, and then fantasizing about the remote possibility of escaping from the law.
At first, she was full of luck, thinking that the police might not have enough evidence to convict her. She kept finding excuses and justifications for herself in her mind, trying to convince herself that there was still a chance for everything to turn around. "They're just scaring me, there must be holes in those so-called evidences, as long as I bite my tongue and don't admit it, there's nothing they can do to me." She thought this way, a hint of stubbornness flashing in her eyes every now and then. However, whenever it was late at night, the children's agonizingly struggling faces would appear in front of her eyes like ghosts, and the innocent eyes seemed to be silently accusing her of her crimes, causing her to snap out of her short-lived self-congratulation, and a cold sweat soaked her shirt.
As the police investigation deepened, more and more hard evidence was placed in front of her like a mountain of evidence. She began to fall into deep fear and despair, her inner defenses gradually disintegrated. She knew that she had committed an unforgivable crime, waiting for her will be severe legal sanctions. Endless remorse began to flow from her eyes, regretting that she had been blinded by greed, taking one wrong step at a time, and ultimately falling into this abyss of no return. "How did I become such a demon? Why did I do such cruel things for money?" She kept blaming herself in her mind, and her hands kept tearing at her hair, as if this would alleviate her inner pain.
However, in the abyss of despair, the instinct to survive made her unwilling to give up. She decided to make a final struggle, trying to find a silver lining. She began to watch out for every possible opportunity in the detention center, observing the daily patrol patterns of the guards and looking for loopholes in supervision. In her originally dull eyes, there was an occasional flash of cunning, the madness of her desperate attempts to escape even in desperate circumstances.
Xiong Yufang remembered the undesirable elements she had befriended in society, who might be able to become a helping hand for her escape. She racked her brain to recall their contact information, even if there is only a glimmer of hope, she does not want to let go. Finally, she took the opportunity of a release to secretly pass a note to one of the guards, on which was written a phone number and a request: "Help me contact this person, and I'll be thankful when it's done." Her heartbeat accelerated dramatically, as if she had done something extremely dangerous yet hopeful, her eyes staring intently at the back of the caretaker, silently praying in her heart that he would do as she had asked.
While waiting for the news, Xiong Yufang's heart was tormented. Every minute and every second was as long as a century to her, as she paced anxiously in the small space, and at other times nervously pressed herself against the door to listen to the movements outside. Her emotions were like a roller coaster ride, at times full of anticipation, at others in deep despair. She knew that she was taking a huge risk with this move, but she had no other choice but to throw her life away.
Finally, the caretaker brought her a response. The man agreed to help her, but needed a large sum of money as payment. When Xiong Yufang heard this news, her heart burst with ecstasy, and she felt that she finally had a ray of hope. However, immediately afterward she fell into despair, where did she have any money left? All her properties had been frozen by the police, and she was now penniless. Her eyes were once again filled with fear and helplessness, and the fire of hope that had just been lit was mercilessly extinguished.
But the desire to survive made her refuse to give up easily, and she began to think of ways to raise money. She searched her mind for all the people who might have money, even those whom she had cheated before, and she shamelessly tried to contact them. She wrote notes to those people and made up all sorts of lies to try to impress them and get them to send her money. However, most of them ignored her requests, and some even wrote back to abuse her and curse her to get what she deserved. Her mood was like falling into an ice cellar, getting colder and colder and more and more desperate.
During this process, Xiong Yufang's psychology underwent complex changes. She went from the initial fluke, to fear and remorse, to the madness of doing whatever it takes to survive, and finally to a deeper despair. She began to reflect on her life and realized that she had lost the basic bottom line of being a human being because of her greed and selfishness, not only hurting others, but also completely destroying herself. Her heart was filled with pain and self-blame, but it was too late.
As the police trial of her case drew closer, Xiong Yufang knew her time was running out. She became more and more frantic, even attempting to mutilate herself to elicit sympathy from the police in the hope of mitigating her crime. She banged her head against the wall and scratched her arm with her fingernails until it was dripping with blood, but the police were not impressed by her behavior. They knew clearly that these actions of Xiong Yufang were only her last resort to avoid punishment, and that she had to take due responsibility for her crime.
Xiong Yufang's final struggle in the detention center is like the struggle of a trapped animal, fierce but doomed to futility. Her human nature is gradually twisted in greed and despair, and ultimately, in front of the law, all her pretenses and resistance will be mercilessly crushed, waiting for her only a fair trial and severe punishment.