00 Me

23:44.

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Inside the empty light rail station, Gu Shen sprinted while lowering his head to glance at his watch.

Would he still make the last train... He felt some worry, but a low rumble immediately sounded in the distance.

Rumble—

In the dark and pitch-black tunnel, tens of thousands of strands of brilliant light arcs instantly crashed through, and the last light rail train slowly decelerated, coming to a smooth stop right in front of Gu Shen.

Seeing the train, Gu Shen just let out a breath, then immediately furrowed his brow and held his breath.

The cabin doors opened, and a wave of rust odor hit him straight in the face.

He retreated two steps and sized up this train. The carriage was old, its exterior mottled and rusted, and three neat numbers were stenciled in white paint next to the window:

00 Me.

"If I remember correctly, Da Teng City... didn't it phase out this kind of train long ago?"

Beep beep beep—

There was no time to think more. Brushing against the final moment when the carriage doors closed, Gu Shen crouched and sprang forward, squeezing into the carriage with a thrilling near-miss.

He grabbed the handrail and let out a breath.

His peripheral vision took an inadvertent glance.

"Oh whoa..."

Gu Shen's heartbeat skipped a beat.

Usually, this light rail headed to remote suburbs, and the last train often had no other passengers, with only himself aboard, but today...

There was still a girl in the carriage.

Gu Shen felt as though his heart was about to melt. This girl was sitting directly across from him, separated by less than thirty centimeters, with almond eyes and peach cheeks, long hair scattered loosely, wearing a pure white lace dress thin enough to be nearly transparent, exposing her powdery, delicate shoulders and large patches of snow-like skin.

That thin dress was very white.

Yet the young girl was even whiter, dazzlingly so.

The young girl was not wearing shoes, lightly tiptoeing as she stepped on the carriage floor... Resting on her knees was a thick book half spread open, quietly and calmly reading the heavy tome.

This girl was far too perfection personified, possessing a unique temperament that was hard to put into words, not looking like a truly existing person in the real world. Looking at her, Gu Shen felt as though he were seeing a beam of light.

Quiet, gentle, holy, ethereal.

In the gap of turning a page, the young girl looked up.

Their gazes met, and Gu Shen hurriedly averted his, rubbing his hands together and puffing out breath to hastily mask his awkwardness.

He suspected he was dreaming.

How could there be such a good-looking girl in this world?

And... wearing so little, didn't she feel cold?

He really wanted to lend her his own coat to wear.

The second person... had boarded.

The girl looked up, a flash of surprise crossing her eyes, and then she closed the book, earnestly appraising this boarding youth.

Although this youth was currently cowering in the corner of the carriage, rubbing his hands and puffing breath, smiling foolishly to himself, and had no idea what the act of "boarding" meant.

Yet she knew very well that this could not be a coincidence.

"Woo—"

The light rail slowly started moving, and electric arcs sputtered, scouring back and forth against the tunnel walls.

Although this train was old, it traveled unusually smoothly.

The sound of electric arcs snapping outside the window, after piercing through the glass, was left with only muffled, rustling fragments like rain washing over surfaces.

Neither of the two spoke, maintaining this quietness. If no one broke the silence, this light rail would pass through the long tunnel, traveling silently for about twenty minutes to reach the terminal station.

But this tranquility did not hold for long, soon broken by the young girl's crisp voice.

"A very important question: between 3 and 4... does a true pi exist?"

Gu Shen thought he was experiencing auditory hallucinations.

Was she speaking to him?

He turned in surprise, casting a glance around the empty interior of the carriage, and locked gazes with the young girl's earnest stare fixed on him. Gu Shen stretched out a finger to point at himself, and the young girl earnestly nodded.

He smiled awkwardly; the other party was actually conversing with him.

"Between 3 and 4... does a true pi exist?"

What kind of question was this?

The answer, of course, was yes.

Yet at this moment, Gu Shen hesitated and did not answer directly.

The reason was also very simple.

Because within the clear pupils of that girl gazing straight at him, boundless and earnest wave-like lights were reflected. This look made Gu Shen believe... this seemingly simple question was not so simple after all.

The girl extended a hand, pointing behind Gu Shen.

Gu Shen turned back.

The interior of this old carriage had somehow been carved with mottled murals... faintly visible was an old scale ruler, its markings stretching long and extending to some unknown end, but what could be clearly seen at the moment were the two numbers 3 and 4 marked with bold lines upon it.

"If you were to touch this ruler..."

The girl extended a hand, touching the ruler from a distance, her voice growing lighter like a gust of wind sweeping through the carriage, carrying a faint sorrow.

"Would you be able to touch pi?"

Gu Shen was stunned.

He suddenly understood the true meaning of this question—an infinite, non-repeating number, a number that existed only in theory.

The precision of this number was infinite.

Whereas the precision on the ruler was finite.

Even if this ruler were magnified billions of times, there would never be a single point belonging to the infinitely precise "pi."

"Gu Shen... what is your answer?"

Gu Shen felt somewhat dazed. Did she know his name?

That hand extended by the young girl slowly spread open, silver cross patterns flowing across her palm and emitting a radiant glow.

The moment he saw the cross glow, Gu Shen felt it was both familiar and warm, as if returning to some old dream. He couldn't help but make the same movement; the youth stretched out his hand, wanting to interlock his fingers with the girl's.

"Pfft."

Seeing this action, the girl smiled amusedly.

There was no touch as imagined.

The young girl in the pure white gauze dress retracted her hand and retreated step by step, backing all the way to the limit of Gu Shen's line of sight. The girl's smile vanished bit by bit, leaving behind only solemnity and seriousness.

"Gu Shen..."

"...Survive."

The wind in the carriage suddenly dissipated.

Rumble, rumble, rumble!

The light rail rushed out of the tunnel—

The light source hovering above Gu Shen's head instantly shattered.

If there really were such a thing as daydreaming in this world, then what Gu Shen had just experienced was the most wonderful daydream of his eighteen years of life, even though this daydream had occurred at night.

Yet as the light rail rushed out of the tunnel, the pleasant dream shattered.

He abruptly perceived that... everything had changed. The mottled train, at the very moment it rushed out of the tunnel, seemed washed and scoured by an invisible force.

The light rail began to tremor, the entire carriage plunging into violent oscillation like a curved iron snake's body, jolting up and down. The electric arcs sputtering outside the window completely extinguished at this moment.

The collision of wheel hubs and iron rails, a bone-chilling, ear-piercing grinding noise, shredded this pleasant dream.

Gu Shen watched the scene before him with creeping horror.

The light in the entire carriage dimmed, still empty.

Yet the seat where that young girl had previously sat was now replaced by a tall woman in a black dress.

She wore a wide-brimmed formal hat large enough to conceal her entire face, holding a stack of yellowed, old newspapers with both hands, reading them amidst the shattered flickering lights. Even while seated, she was almost equal in height to Gu Shen.

If she stood up... she was probably over two meters tall, right?

23:59.

Lowering his head to glance at the time, Gu Shen's complexion turned somewhat pale.

He was likely encountering some anomalous event inexplicable by conventional cognition... Although the lights in this carriage were dim, it was faintly visible that the seat handrails were all brand new, and the mottling and rust that he could see everywhere earlier had completely vanished.

Had he actually stayed in such a carriage for 15 minutes?

Every word spoken by that young girl was branded into his mind, especially the final three words.

Survive.

Gu Shen felt his scalp tingle slightly as he cautiously sized up that tall lady immersed in reading the newspaper, feeling a strong sense of danger in his heart.

Right at the moment his gaze swept over—

As if sharing a telepathic connection—

That black-dressed woman, who exerted immense oppression, slowly raised her head. Gu Shen saw two dark and profound, genuine red radiances emanating from beneath the gloomy brim of her hat.

"This gentleman."

The woman in the black dress folded the newspaper, looked up, and politely asked in a low voice, "I have a very important question... I would like to ask."

"Please... go ahead."

Gu Shen clenched his fingers, took a deep breath, and tried his best to keep calm.

His reply did not seem to matter.

Because after finishing her sentence, this lady took out a Bone Scraper of her own accord, placed it on the newspaper in front of her lap, and slowly wiped it, leaving the newspaper stained with patches of blood.

Then... she opened her dress, and hanging inside the lapel was a silver ruler, while two snow-white fingers painted with red nail polish stroked back and forth between the 3 and 4 graduation marks on the ruler.

"Just now."

Sitting upright, Tall Woman clenched the Bone Scraper with her other hand, tilted her head, and asked in confusion, "Did I... touch pi?"