Plop! Plop! Plop!

The water droplets fell, occasionally sliding slowly down the curved surface of the wall in the room where Jun was trapped. They were few but vital, keeping Jun clinging to the fragile thread of life. With an almost animalistic desperation, he licked the wall, trying to catch each drop.

"The thirst never stops." Jun thought as he felt his tongue go numb from licking the wall in search of water.

The doubt about how long he could survive this way stirred in the deepest recesses of Jun's mind, a place he avoided thinking about at all costs.

The water, though scarce, slightly eased his hunger, and with each sip, his mind began to regain clarity.

Jun leaned his back against the cold wall, letting out a deep sigh.

The small amount of water he had managed to ingest began to revitalize his exhausted body, restoring some strength to his tired and weakened muscles.

Jun slowly moved his limbs, feeling his joints loosen, allowing a faint return of strength as his blood began to circulate.

A few hours later, he decided it was time to stand up.

"Argh..." Jun groaned in pain as he tried to get to his feet. He knew that part of the discomfort he felt was due to his unfamiliarity with his small body, and knowing what he had to do, he attempted to stand, using the wall for support.

The veins on his forehead swelled, reflecting the titanic effort required for something as simple as standing after being laid out on the floor for so long.

The pain was nearly unbearable, but Jun knew that if he gave up, he would never rise again.

"Come on!" Jun's legs trembled, and cold sweat drenched his body.

All the water he had drunk seemed to evaporate in the form of sweat, but despite the torment, he stood firm, clinging with all his might to his precarious center of gravity.

"Argh!" Finally, after much effort, Jun managed to stand on both legs.

"Hoo..." Jun exhaled forcefully, as if he had been holding his breath for ages.

He had to take a long moment to dispel the heat before he could reactivate his body.

The darkness that surrounded him was complete, impenetrable, but Jun, who had been in that place for so long, had learned not to trust his eyes but rather what his ears could hear.

For someone who was deprived of sight, Jun discovered a remarkable enhancement in his auditory senses, one that most others did not possess.

Jun had slowly developed this ability so brilliantly that he could even hear his own heartbeat.

"I am strong..." As a second survival instinct, Jun forced himself not to cry. Every drop of water in his body was hard to come by in this place; his tongue hurt from licking the wall so much, so he would cherish every drop in his body.

That was his initial fuel; the water was keeping him alive.

Still, he knew he had to do more, staying like this all the time wouldn't get him anywhere.

That's why, taking advantage of the fact that he still had the strength to move, Jun reached out, touching the wall in front of him.

The surface was damp and slippery, covered in a thin, spongy layer.

"What is this?" Jun was surprised as he slowly slid his fingers over the surface, trying not to exert too much pressure, and felt something peel off the wall.

"This is... moss?" Jun recognized the forest-like scent of the damp thing he had peeled off the wall after much thought.

In the constant humidity of this place, moss was inevitable.

Jun knew that some types of moss were edible, but others could be poisonous or carry infectious diseases that could kill him in this place within hours.

Of course, Jun didn't know how to identify all these things, putting him in a rather worrisome position.

In this critical situation, without being able to see, the only information he had came from the sensation in his fingers and the smell.

The hunger he had managed to ignore for a while by licking the wall that dripped a drop of water from time to time resurfaced with fierce intensity.

The idea took root in his mind, slowly seizing control of his actions.

"I have to eat..." Jun's mind began to erase all doubts, and at some point, he made a desperate decision.

He put the moss in his mouth.

The taste, while wet, was something he didn't despise being hungry, this thing that felt like wet grass wasn't so bad.

It didn't taste delicious, but this was how he was filling his stomach.

As he chewed, Jun forced himself not to cry, but at this point, it was somewhat inevitable.

This time, to ignore thoughts about the taste of the moss and avoid further tears, he began to think while chewing: "I am Jun; I am nine years old; I am alone in this world; and I have to survive."

In the process of eating, Jun didn't detect any immediate abnormalities in his body, which meant that the moss wasn't poisonous, or at least, not lethal. So he continued to pick and eat more, enduring the taste because he knew that, though it barely sustained him, the moss would allow him to survive a little longer.

If there was anything he feared more, it was death, his instinct was precisely that, but the torture of being alone with no one but himself was also suffocating.

His mother, where was she?

He knew she would worry about him, but in this dark place, he had to rely on himself.

For her, whom he barely remembered, Jun had to survive.

"I am Jun; I am nine years old; I am alone in this world, and I have to survive." He walked, feeling along the wall, trying to gauge the size of the space he was trapped in.

After about ten steps, his hand encountered an obstacle, another damp stone wall. He turned and repeated the process, discovering that the space was about six square meters.

Jun continued exploring, and suddenly, his fingers found something different: a thin, long line, a texture unlike the moss.

It was an iron door, massive and with no visible mechanism to open it from the inside.

Jun knocked on the door, listening to the dull sound that echoed in the darkness.

Clang! Clang! Clang!

There was no way to open it, but Jun did not despair.

Now he had water and moss, which would allow him to cling to life a little longer, even if it was in a state of constant suffering.

This time, to further develop his hearing and not go mad, he decided to think of his mantra only: "I am Jun, I am nine years old, I am alone in this world, and I have to survive."

He sat with his back against the door, ready to rest and conserve his strength for whatever might come.

In the midst of the darkness, Jun's mind began sending him sensations of danger.

No matter how much he thought his mantra to avoid losing his sanity, he began to hear things that didn't seem to be in his cubicle.

Soon, in the darkness, he imagined himself sitting, his body beginning to take shape, his complexion forming, and a silhouette drawing itself in his mind like a reflection in a faceless mirror.

It was himself, thin and emaciated, filled with madness, a reflection of what he could become if despair took hold.

His inner self whispered temptations, inviting him to give up and embrace death to escape the pain.

The easiest way out would be to bite his tongue, this was the only option he had to die here without many complications.

But Jun clung to his desire to know why he was here, his will to live was stronger than the words of his inner demon.

He resisted the temptations, determined to survive to discover the purpose of being tortured this way, especially as a child.

At least, that's what he thought, but with slaves present here, anything could exist in this place.

His inner self, smiling, disappeared, and Jun awoke, feeling he had overcome yet another trial in his struggle for survival.

Suddenly, a metallic sound pulled him from his thoughts.

Clang!

The small window in the iron door opened, allowing a faint light to enter the place where Jun was.

By instinct, he placed his hand in front of his eyes and slowly opened them, gradually taking in the light coming from that small opening.

And after a few more seconds, a small plate was pushed inside before the window was shut again.

Though Jun couldn't fully grasp what had just happened in this tiny place, he recognized the smell, it was food.

Whoever was keeping him here had decided to feed him, so Jun began to imagine the real purpose of this.

Being in an ancient era where slaves were sold and people, including himself, spoke Mandarin, the only reason a child would be locked up like this was probably some kind of test.

In ancient times, kings had their own group of royal guards, Jun knew about this, so he thought there must be some connection.

Whatever it was, he needed to survive first to find out.