After marriage, Liu became a military engineer. During military service, he often made trips between Yunnan Province and Burma. On such treks the road was often lined with rotting corpses that no one had bothered to bury. His clothes, unwashed for months at time, were infested with lice that would bore their way in and out of his buttonholes.
婚後轉任軍政部兵工署技術人員的劉其偉，經常要往來雲南與緬甸之間，看著路邊發爛的屍首無人掩埋，看著自己經久未洗的衣服裡，白蝨在鈕釦洞裡出將入相，鑽進鑽出。