(1)
An ordinary morning, so ordinary it couldn’t be more ordinary.
Summer sunlight streamed into the classroom, but Zhu Ying, even wearing a jacket, still felt cold—the bright, glaring sun didn’t seem to carry any warmth.
She felt as if she were deep in the ocean.
Around her, the noisy, bustling classmates seemed to repeat the same words over and over, but if she listened carefully, each phrase was a new topic.
“Ha… hah…” An Jing let out a huge yawn. “I’ve been so tired lately.”
“Mm… feels like I can’t wake up.”
“You got early admission, and you still can’t sleep?”
“Even Xiao Jing feels stressed?”
“Of course I do—it’s the Zhong Kao, a test that can decide your fate in life.”
“Life’s fate isn’t that easy to decide.”
“But I still want to do well, so I can get into the same high school as Xiao Ying.” An Jing covered her mouth and yawned again. “Ugh, I’m so sleepy. I’m definitely going to bed early tonight…”
“An Jing!” A loud voice rang out from nearby, like an alarm clock in a dream, startling Zhu Ying. She looked up and saw a tall figure scratching his head as he walked over—it was Fang Qiang. “Did you watch that videotape I lent you yesterday?”
“Videotape? Oh, right… that videotape. I watched it, but couldn’t you have given me a DVD?”
“I specifically lent you the VCR too!”
“Do you know how exhausting it was to carry that thing home? And hooking it up to the computer monitor was a pain—I had to unplug and replug everything each time…” An Jing muttered weakly. “I stayed up too late watching that tape yesterday, that’s why I didn’t sleep well.”
“Hehe, you finished it, right? I’ve got the second part here. Want to watch?”
“Second part? Hmm… if I watch that, my sleep quality’s going to plummet.”
“No worries, no worries. Take it—you don’t have to watch it today, you can watch it over the weekend.”
“Oh… then let me return the one I finished. I almost forgot.” An Jing rubbed her temples. “I’m really too tired today.”
“Haha—don’t get too hooked!” Fang Qiang slapped An Jing hard on the back.
An Jing rested her chin on her hand and stared at Fang Qiang. For a split second, she felt like she wasn’t seeing his back, but another small figure—a weird sensation, like seeing her own back in a mirror.
She shook her head hard and pulled herself back. “Xiao Ying, do you want to take a nap at noon?”
“No, if I nap at noon, I won’t be able to sleep tonight. I need to fix my schedule today.” Zhu Ying propped her chin on An Jing’s shoulder. “What videotape did A Qiang lend you that was so good?”
“Videotape… uh, yeah… a movie…” An Jing’s expression suddenly grew dazed. “The plot was… the protagonist opened a whole bunch of doors, wandering in a corridor with even more doors…”
“And then?”
“Then it seemed like he opened one door… and then… and then, uh, I forgot.”
“No way?”
An Jing scratched her head awkwardly. “I might have fallen asleep toward the end, or I was just too groggy. Anyway, I don’t remember the plot.”
“Really, don’t watch it today, or you’ll be drowsy during the day again.”
“You too, remember to sleep early.” An Jing rubbed her eyes. “I’ll learn from you and tough it out until school ends. Then I can shower and go straight to bed, try to fix my schedule.”
“Mm~ Can you really do it?”
“Probably…”
“But you look like you’re about to fall asleep already?”
“I’m just resting my eyes…”
“Hey, hey, don’t sleep, don’t sleep. Seeing you sleepy makes me sleepy too.”
“Mm… mm? I wasn’t sleeping!”
(2)
An Jing knew very well she was dreaming.
Very clearly.
And she could feel that she could control this dream.
But even though she could control the dream, she couldn’t control much—at most, she could move freely through it, but she couldn’t easily help the dream’s owner.
In the corridor, a young girl was running frantically, as if fleeing from some monster.
“Xiao Ying!” An Jing passed through the wall—which was as insubstantial as air to her—and rushed in front of her. “Come with me!”
But Zhu Ying stared wide-eyed at An Jing, then, as if seeing a monster, her face turned pale, and she turned and ran.
“Hey? Xiao Ying? What do you mean, running? Why are you running? Xiao Ying!”
An Jing chased after her in a panic, but she was left far behind.
In the dream, she slowly raised her perspective and saw more and more corridors and more and more doors.
Yet there was nothing chasing Zhu Ying at all—she was just terrified and dodging, never stopping for a moment.
“What are you running from? The exit of this dream isn’t behind any door… I could take you out…” An Jing sighed, standing higher and tracking her figure with her gaze. “No one’s chasing you…”
…
(3)
Zhu Ying had kind of forgotten what she was doing before.
She only remembered this corridor and the countless doors.
Vaguely, she recalled she needed to open a certain door to reach a safe place.
Just as she pushed open a door, a familiar and reassuring figure walked out from behind it. It was An Jing.
“Xiao Jing!” She widened her eyes in surprise. “What are you doing here?”
The other person didn’t speak, just smiled at her.
Zhu Ying happily ran over, wanting to hug her tightly.
Even though she didn’t know why she was here, as long as she was around, there didn’t seem to be any problem in the world that couldn’t be solved.
But just as she ran toward her, the latter’s body began to distort. Her arms stretched impossibly long, her neck stretched like a giraffe’s—that cute head looked down at her from above, and a huge chill ran down Zhu Ying’s spine.
She turned and ran.
Another memory surfaced in her mind.
Or rather, a piece of advice she’d given herself: “Don’t trust the An Jing who appears here.”
But in a world like this, where she didn’t even know where she was, if she couldn’t trust An Jing, who else could she trust?
There were many things she hadn’t remembered.
But she felt very confused inside.
A strange emptiness.
The safe haven in her heart had vanished at that moment.
Opening one door after another… where was she supposed to go?
(4)
After opening who knew how many doors, Zhu Ying suddenly stopped.
The scenery had changed. It looked like a floating island in the sky.
The island was huge, as if it could hold an entire city.
When Zhu Ying looked behind her, all she could see were clouds floating beneath the island and the miniature-like mountains and rivers.
She stared warily at the small figure—because she felt it wasn’t An Jing, so she didn’t immediately run away.
“What the fuck are you running from?”
The small figure kept its back to her, as if it didn’t intend to turn around.
“Running from…?”
“You’re avoiding the person who wants to save you.”
“That was… that was a monster…”
“There’s no monster here. It’s your twisted imagination that turned her into one.”
“Impossible… wh-what does that have to do with me?”
“Because there’s a rift. You didn’t trust her completely. You’re afraid.” The small girl slowly turned around, her green eyes locking onto her. “What you’re afraid of isn’t someone else. It’s yourself.”
“Me… myself…?”
“When you think she can save you, she can. When you think she won’t save you, then she can’t.”
“But how could Xiao Jing possibly come into a world like this to save me…?”
“If you don’t believe in shit, then of course she fucking can’t!” The green-eyed girl glared at her in annoyance. “If you believe, she can cross a thousand mountains and rivers, break through all boundaries of time and space to save you! Face yourself!”
Zhu Ying felt herself trembling with fear—maybe she was afraid the girl in front of her would turn into something terrifying and grotesque. So she turned again and opened another door.
“Dumb fuck!” The voice behind her shouted in exasperation. “Then just keep running like that! In the world of the heart, the power of the heart is infinite. You have to fucking believe in yourself. If you believe, it can come true. If you want, you can see what you want to see!”
BAM!
The wooden door slammed shut.
Only the girl in the room was left shaking her head lightly. “Fucking hell, what kind of bullshit is this? No communication? She doesn’t listen and just runs? And here I was trying to help… If I help again, I’m a fucking dumb-ass…”
(5)
“Hey, don’t rush to find her yet. You can’t save her like this.” Just as An Jing was chasing after Zhu Ying everywhere, she suddenly felt someone trip her. She stumbled and nearly fell. Turning around, she saw a petite girl with her arms crossed, lazily leaning against the pure white wall. “Who… who are you?” An Jing studied the girl with emerald-green eyes like jewels, feeling she seemed like an outsider who didn’t belong here.
“Sigh, first think about why the fuck you came here. Don’t wander around like an idiot, alright?”
“This is a dream—Xiao Ying’s dream. She’s been having nightmares lately… and she has a fever. She didn’t come to school all day. I wanted to help her wake up in her dream, otherwise she might keep sleeping like this forever.”
“Isn’t it just an uncleaned fragment? How could it make you two forget so much?” The green-eyed girl sighed helplessly, then suddenly grabbed An Jing by the collar. “I said, what the bloody hell are you doing? Can you even tell what time it is now, and which is the dream and which is reality?!”
“This is the dream… right?” An Jing asked weakly.
“Then which is that goddamn reality?!”
“Reality… reality… reality is…”