Never provoke those who suddenly seem very relaxed, because such people harbor a kind of indifference after death deep in their bones. If you have someone like this around you, they suddenly become relaxed and at ease, speak gently and confidently, smile at everyone as if they’ve never been troubled by worries, at this moment, you must not mistakenly think that they are the lucky ones favored by fate. They are just someone who, at an unknown moment, in a hell where no one answers calls and nothing responds, crawled out by their own strength. In that abyss where no help was available, they were stripped of a layer of skin by reality. They then picked up each shattered bone one by one, and reassembled themselves.

So now, they are polite to everyone, but deep inside, they have already become hardened and cold. They no longer complain about the unfairness of fate with cynicism, nor do they foolishly believe that someone can reach out and help them out of nowhere. They only understand one truth: the only person who can unconditionally pull themselves out of the abyss is themselves. Looking back at their past self, the only comment left is innocence. Now, standing in front of you, is merely a survivor who has lived through despair. They have shed their emotions, stopped complaining, abandoned self-pity, and no longer indulge in self-punishment. They only blame one person—the person who lacks the ability to handle bad people and bad things: themselves.

From then on, in their world, they only ponder two questions: one, is what’s in front of me important? two, is the person in front of me important? If the answer is no, they will silently choose to withdraw, never wasting a single ounce of energy. The gentleness you see is never their weakness; it’s just a mask they wear on their face. Truly tough people never show their ruthlessness on their face. When a crisis comes, while others are busy panicking or venting their emotions, they will focus on one thing: blocking out all irrelevant trash people and all irrelevant trash matters, fixating only on issues related to their life and safety, protecting only those they care about. As for everything else, to them, it seems insignificant, inconsequential. Calm and relaxed not because they are born with it, but because after falling into the abyss and crawling out, they put on this armor for themselves. They are not immune to pain; they have just learned to hide their wounds behind their back, beneath thick clothes. They are not without vulnerabilities; they simply know how to leave their true feelings for those who are worth it.