00 Me

23:44.

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In the empty Light Rail Station, Gu Shen sprinted while glancing down at his watch.

Can I still catch the last train... He was a little worried, but a low hum immediately sounded in the distance.

"Rumble--"

In the dim Jet Black tunnel, thousands of brilliant light arcs burst out in an instant. The last Light Rail train slowly decelerated and steadily stopped in front of Gu Shen.

Seeing the train, Gu Shen breathed a sigh of relief, then frowned and held his breath.

The carriage door opened, and a smell of rust rushed towards him.

He took two steps back and looked at the train. The carriage was old, its exterior mottled and rusty, and three neat numbers were painted in white next to the window:

00 Me.

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

"Di Di Di--"

With no time to think, Gu Shen bent down and Ejected himself, squeezing into the carriage just as the doors were about to close.

He grabbed the handrail and breathed a sigh of relief.

His peripheral vision caught something.

"Whoa..."

Gu Shen's heart skipped a beat.

Usually, this Light Rail goes to remote suburbs, and there are often no other passengers on the last train, only himself, but today...

There was a girl in the carriage.

Gu Shen felt his heart melting. This girl was sitting opposite him, less than thirty centimeters away, with Almond Eyes and Peach Cheeks, her long hair scattered, wearing a thin, almost transparent, pure white Lace Dress, exposing her pink and white shoulders and large patches of snow-like skin.

That thin dress was very white.

But the girl was even whiter, so white that it was dazzling.

The girl was not wearing shoes, and lightly tiptoed on the carriage floor... A thick book, half-open, lay on her knees, and she was quietly reading.

This girl was too perfect, with an unspeakable unique temperament, not like a real person in the Real World. Looking at her, Gu Shen felt like he saw a beam of light.

Quiet, gentle, holy, ethereal.

Between page turns, the girl looked up.

Their Gaze met, and Gu Shen quickly looked away, rubbing his hands and breathing on them, hastily concealing his gaffe.

He wondered if he was dreaming.

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

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

I really want to lend her my coat.

[The second person... has boarded.]

The girl looked up, a flash of surprise in her eyes, then closed her book and began to seriously size up the boy who had boarded.

Although this boy was now huddled in the corner of the train, rubbing his hands and breathing into them, chuckling to himself, and didn't know what "boarding" meant.

But she knew very well that this couldn't be a coincidence.

"Woo--"

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

Although this train was old, it ran exceptionally smoothly.

The sound of the electric arcs ejecting outside the window, after penetrating the glass, was only left with a muffled, rustling sound like rain washing over.

Neither of them spoke, just maintaining the silence. If no one spoke, this light rail would pass through the long tunnel, silently traveling for about twenty minutes, and arrive at the Terminal Station.

But this peace did not last long, and was soon broken by the girl's clear voice.

"A very important question: Between 3 and 4... does a real Pi exist?"

Gu Shen thought he was hallucinating.

Was she talking to him?

He turned his head in surprise, looked around, saw the empty interior of the carriage, met the girl's Gaze that was seriously fixed on him, Gu Shen pointed to himself, and the girl nodded seriously.

He smiled awkwardly, she was really talking to him.

"Between 3 and 4... does a real Pi exist?"

What kind of question is that?

The answer, of course, is yes.

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

The reason was also very simple.

Because in the clear pupils of the girl who was looking directly at him, reflected an incomparably serious Wave Light, this Gaze made Gu Shen believe... that this seemingly simple question was not so simple.

The girl held out a hand and pointed behind Gu Shen.

Gu Shen turned his head.

The interior of this old carriage had been engraved with mottled murals at some unknown time... vaguely visible was an old Ruler, the scale was long, and it was unknown where the end extended to, but what could be clearly seen at this moment were the two numbers 3 and 4, which were marked in bold.

"If you touch this Ruler..."

The girl held out a hand and touched the Ruler in the air, her voice became lighter, like a gust of wind, sweeping through the carriage, with a faint sadness.

"Can you touch Pi?"

Gu Shen was stunned.

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

The precision of this number is infinite.

But the precision on a ruler is finite.

Even if this ruler were magnified billions of times, there would never be a point that belongs to the infinitely precise "Pi."

"Gu Shen... what's your answer?"

Gu Shen was a little dazed. Did she know his name?

The girl slowly opened her outstretched hand, and silver Cross patterns flowed in her palm, emitting a radiant glow.

The moment he saw the Cross radiance, Gu Shen felt familiar and warm, as if he had returned to some Old Dream. He couldn't help but make the same movement. The boy reached out his hand, wanting to interlock his fingers with the girl's.

"Puchi."

Seeing this action, the girl smiled.

There was no touch as he had imagined.

The girl in the pure white gauze dress retracted her hand and retreated backward, little by little, retreating to the end of Gu Shen's sight. The girl's smile disappeared bit by bit, and in the end, only solemnity and seriousness remained.

"Gu Shen..."

"...Live on."

The wind in the carriage suddenly dissipated.

"Rumble rumble!"

The Light Rail sped out of the tunnel—

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

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

But as the Light Rail drove out of the tunnel, the beautiful dream shattered.

He suddenly realized... everything had changed. The mottled train, at the moment it drove out of the tunnel, seemed to be washed and scoured by an invisible Strength.

The Light Rail began to tremble, and the entire carriage fell into violent shaking, like a section of curved steel snake body, bumping up and down. The arcs of electricity splashing outside the window were all extinguished at this moment.

The wheel hubs collided with the rails, and the piercing, ear-splitting friction sound shattered this beautiful dream.

Gu Shen looked at the scene in front of him with horror.

The light in the entire carriage dimmed, still empty.

But the girl's seat from before had been replaced by a tall woman in a black dress.

She wore a wide hat that was large enough to cover her entire face, and held a stack of yellowed, old newspapers in her hands, reading in the fragmented light. Even sitting down, she was almost as tall as Gu Shen.

If she stood up... she would probably be more than two meters tall?

23:59.

Gu Shen glanced down at the time, his face a little pale.

He might have encountered some kind of special event that defied conventional understanding... Although the lighting in this carriage was dim, it was still faintly visible that the seat armrests were brand new. The mottled rust he had seen everywhere before had all disappeared.

Had he actually been in this kind of train carriage for 15 minutes?

Every word the girl had said was imprinted in his mind, especially the last three words.

Survive.

Gu Shen felt a little numb. He carefully sized up the tall lady immersed in reading the newspaper, feeling a strong sense of danger in his heart.

Just as his gaze swept over.

As if with a 'telepathic connection'—

The black-dressed woman, who gave off a great sense of oppression, slowly raised her head. Gu Shen saw two dark and deep real red glows emanating from under the dark brim of her hat.

"This Mister."

The black-dressed woman folded the newspaper, raised her head, and politely asked in a low voice, "I have a very important question... that I would like to ask."

"You... please speak."

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

His reply didn't seem to matter.

Because after saying her words, this Madam took out a Bone Scraper and slowly wiped it on the newspaper on her lap, leaving bloodstains on the newspaper.

Then... she opened her formal dress, and a silver Ruler was hanging inside the inner lining of the dress. Two snow-white fingers, painted with red nail polish, rubbed back and forth between the 3 and 4 marks on the Ruler.

"Just now."

The tall woman, sitting upright, clenched the Bone Scraper in her other hand, tilted her head, and asked confusedly, "Did I... touch Pi?"

(New book release, two updates every day at 20:00 and 22:00~)