Salvation through one another × Self-destructive tendencies × Addiction to wounds × Using pain to numb pain × Salt and Rust
Seventeen-year-old Yan Yan has a secret: she is used to rubbing salt into her wounds.
Her chemistry teacher says salt kills bacteria, but makes healing hurt more.
But for Yan Yan, pain is the only thing that proves she’s alive: the bruises left by her drunken father, the address her mother never left behind when she ran off, and the dignity corroded by school rumors... Every festering memory goes numb the moment salt mixes with blood.
Until she meets Shen Yu.
“Have you heard? Salt crystals have a cubic structure. The most orderly shapes often hide the sharpest edges.”
“You say salt makes wounds hurt more? But my records show that when your pain reaches level eight, you smile 37% more often.”
“My dad says salt keeps things from spoiling, but our family rotted from the inside long ago... Want to try preserving me with your formula?”
Can the scars pickled in salt find true healing before their time runs out?
