Su Xiao felt herself lying on the bed. Her consciousness was clear, yet she couldn’t even lift her eyelids.
A cold sensation began to spread from her ankles, like a slippery snake coiling upward and slithering into her body.
She wanted to scream, but no sound came from her throat. She could only shout fruitlessly in her mind.
‘Move… open your eyes…’
She used every ounce of willpower to fight that heavy restraint, desperately trying to regain control of her body.
‘Open… Open!’
A faint, extremely blurry glimmer of light filtered through.
She could vaguely see the familiar outline of the ceiling…
A face flashed by.
Old, haggard, and covered in fine lines that didn’t belong to someone of that age. The eyes were filled with complex emotions she couldn’t understand — worry and exhaustion.
‘Who was that?’
‘Was it… Mom?’
‘No, she looks even older, more humble…’
“Gasp!”
Su Xiao jerked violently, her eyes snapping open. The clearer sense of reality allowed her heart to settle slightly.
She was awake.
She looked around. Outside the window, the final glow of the setting sun coated the room in a golden-red layer.
She glanced at her phone. It was 7:00 PM.
The screen was clean. Aside from a few insignificant push notifications, there were no new messages.
Luo Tiantian hadn’t replied again.
An indescribable sense of irritability and emptiness flooded her heart.
The house was too quiet, so quiet that she could hear her own heartbeat.
‘So annoying.’
She threw off the covers and got out of bed, threw on a light jacket, grabbed her phone and keys, and headed out the door.
The early summer evening wind blew against her skin, carrying the lingering heat of the day and a hint of coolness.
The setting sun stretched her shadow very long. The streets were filled with heavy traffic, hurried pedestrians, and the bustling noise of the world, which pulled her slightly out of the lingering fear from her nightmare.
However, the hollow feeling inside was not filled.
She walked aimlessly, not knowing where she was going.
She just didn’t want to go home; she didn’t want to stay there alone.
She really wanted… someone to be by her side.
The kind of person where they could just be together quietly, not needing to say anything to feel at peace. Someone she could hug, someone she could kiss, someone whose warm embrace she could bury herself in the moment she turned over after waking from a nightmare.
The cool breeze seemed to blow away some of her irritation and cleared her head a bit.
Su Xiao stopped and stood on the sidewalk, staring at her phone screen, looking at that name.
She hesitated for a long time, so long that the screen automatically went dark before she pressed it bright again.
Finally, she hit the call button.
The phone rang five or six times.
“Xiao Xiao?” Su Xiao’s mother’s voice came from the receiver, sounding somewhat surprised. “What’s wrong? Why are you calling at this hour? Did something happen? Have you eaten?”
“I’m just asking what you’re doing. Have you eaten?”
“I just got off the operating table; I haven’t had a chance to eat yet.” Her mother’s voice paused as if she weren’t used to her daughter proactively showing concern. “Have you eaten? There are still leftovers in the fridge; you can just heat them up. Don’t always order takeout. It’s unhealthy.”
“Yeah.”
“You should be heading back to school in a few days, right? Do you want me to drop you off? You should talk more once you’re at school. Don’t keep things bottled up. Chat more with your friends. Having one more friend means one more path in life. You should also stay on good terms with your teachers. It’s fine if they say a thing or two to you…”
Her mother stopped mid-sentence and immediately shut her mouth, not daring to continue.
A string of questions and that familiar tone of concern felt like a conditioned reflex.
Su Xiao gripped her phone.
It was like this again.
In reality, it was just a normal conversation.
But as soon as she heard it, she felt nothing but hatred and disgust. She couldn’t help but lose her temper.
“Yeah.”
“That’s good. About… that friend you mentioned last time, Luo Luo. How is she? She…” Her mother seemed to be searching for a topic and circled back to this.
Su Xiao’s patience evaporated instantly.
“Mom, I’m hanging up.”
“Xiao Xiao, Mom is just worried…”
“I’m hanging up. Go back to whatever you’re doing.”
Without waiting for her mother to say anything else, she ended the call.
Stuffing the phone back into her pocket, Su Xiao felt even more frustrated.
Every attempt at communication seemed to end in a worse result.
Just a moment ago, she clearly had a fleeting desire to have a proper conversation.
But she just couldn’t hold it back.
***
Without realizing it, she had walked to Riverside Park, which was not far from home.
The sun had completely sunk below the horizon. The sky was a blend of deep blue and crimson-purple, and the newly lit lamps cast fractured reflections on the river’s surface.
Several seven- or eight-year-old children were still chasing and playing near the shallow banks of the river while their parents watched from nearby. The children’s laughter was crisp and loud, filled with carefree vitality.
Su Xiao leaned against the railing by the river, watching them quietly.
An absurd and dark thought surfaced in her mind.
‘What if… what if one of these children accidentally fell into the river?’
The water looked quite deep. At this time of year, the temperature should still be very low.
If it really happened, would she jump in to save them?
She stared at the shimmering surface of the river, her eyes somewhat vacant.
Maybe she would. And then what? Her swimming skills were actually mediocre; perhaps they would just sink together.
Ending it like that didn’t seem too bad.
Just like before, when she was beaten by her mother, she had been desperate to jump off the building and just die, just to make her regret it.
Su Xiao leaned her body forward slightly, her hands resting on the cold railing, imagining the sensation of falling and being submerged.
Just then, the phone in her pocket vibrated.
She snapped back to reality and pulled out her phone. It was a message from Shen Xixi.
“LMAO, I hired a playmate today. Their tongue is even sharper than yours.”
“Sharper than mine? How reinforced must that mouth be? Their ancestors must have been professional debaters.”
After sending it, she leaned against the railing again, her gaze returning to the river.
The sounds of the children playing seemed a bit further away now, and the twilight had deepened.
The phone vibrated again soon after.
“Hahaha, seriously. They roasted the marksman until he questioned his life choices. They didn’t even use swear words, but every insult hit deep. The key thing is that their voice is actually quite nice — soft and sweet. The contrast is amazing. They’re much more interesting than a straightforward, hot-tempered type like you.”
Su Xiao curled her lips, wanting to reply with, ‘None of my business.’
For some reason, Luo Tiantian’s face suddenly flashed through her mind.
Luo Tiantian’s voice was also quite soft.
Though she had never heard her roast anyone.
She typed.
“What’s the use of a nice voice if they’re trash at the game and have to rely on their mouth to deal damage? Why are you hiring playmates like that? Do you have too much money to burn?”
“As long as I’m happy. Hearing that sarcasm… are you acting emo somewhere again? You didn’t run off to Riverside Park again, did you?”
Su Xiao was startled and looked around.
How did Shen Xixi know? Was she nearby?
“Are you stalking me?” she typed quickly.
Shen Xixi replied instantly with a rolling-eyes emoji. “Stalk you? Please. Anyway, get home quickly. The riverside isn’t safe at night. Don’t go making trouble and forcing me to come fish you out.”
“None of your business.”
“As if anyone wants to bother with you. By the way, your mom actually asked me how to play *Huaxia Divine Realm* today.”
Su Xiao froze when she saw the message.
‘Mom… asked Shen Xixi how to play the game?’