Ten Years of Nightmares

The nights in Tianlin City are always a bit noisy; even at midnight, the streets are still brightly lit.

But this liveliness doesn't belong to the working class; they're already asleep.

The apartments, which resemble cages, act as charging stations, replenishing the necessary but insufficient energy of the workers after a long day's work.

But just when he didn't even want to exert the strength to turn over, a voice suddenly rang out—

"You're the fake one!"

With a gasp, the woman, who looked to be in her mid-twenties, sprang from the bed, dazedly wiping the sweat from her forehead, her eyes quickly regaining focus from their vacant state.

"That dream again? But this one seems a little different?"

Lin Jiaxin rubbed her chest, trying to recover quickly from the palpitations brought on by the dream.

Ever since that car accident ten years ago, this nightmare has tormented her. Every night, she would return to Tianlin City Station, board that train, and then die for various reasons.

As one of the survivors of the K7 Train disaster, she felt trapped in those seven days of travel.

What was supposed to be a carefree trip after graduating from university turned into the source of her nightmares.

I thought time would heal all wounds, but with each midnight revelation, the experiences of those seven short days—from train robbers and terrorists to snow-blocked roads and the final train accident that nearly wiped out 90% of the passengers—have not faded at all. Instead, they have become clearer and clearer due to the repeated nightmares. Eventually, even the trash cans, train windows, train attendants, and birds flying by outside the window have become incredibly dangerous.

Even details that shouldn't have been noticed before began to emerge. Even the shape drawn by the fluid that burst from Xu Ruyi's head, which was crushed by the overturned train, and even the sweet and pungent smell, were so clear.

"Vomit..."

As Lin Jiaxin subconsciously recalled those details, a wave of nausea washed over her. As usual, she rushed into the bathroom and gagged violently. Only after her memory had slightly faded did she turn on the Dragon Head, cup her hands, and begin rinsing her mouth with water.

"Whoosh, whoosh..."

Her heavy breathing was like that of a bellows. She looked up at her reflection in the mirror, which, though somewhat gloomy, was not much different from her face ten years ago, and her expression remained solemn.

For a woman, an ageless appearance seems to be a pursuit worth sacrificing everything for, but she doesn't actually like this "gift."

"Maybe, just like what some people online say, my time really has stopped ten years ago."

Lin Jiaxin frowned slightly as she looked at the face of someone who was clearly over thirty but still had no wrinkles.

She had looked at this face for ten years, but today, it felt somewhat unfamiliar.

"Why do I look better?" Lin Jiaxin frowned, trying to tell herself it was just psychological, but as someone whose appearance hadn't changed in ten years, she would never mistake her own face for anything else.

"The dark circles under my eyes have faded, the corners of my eyes have lifted slightly, and the bridge of my nose has narrowed... Is it because of that strange dream I had today?"

Lin Jiaxin stood in front of the sink, carefully examining the changes in her reflection in the mirror, and couldn't help but recall the absurd dream she had earlier that day.

Compared to my old dreams, which had a fixed routine despite some changes each time, tonight's dream was exceptionally bizarre. Not only was there a man in the private room that originally housed only three women, but there was also a strange process where anyone who accepted a business card would be sent to school.

While it's normal for a dream to suddenly shift to a different scene due to a single thought, for over 3,600 nights in the past ten years, Lin Jiaxin's nightmares have never left that train.

Moreover, the further into the dream went, the more bizarre it became. For example, there were suddenly many versions of herself in the train carriage. Yet, after she woke up, she remembered the perspective of each version of herself. The feeling was as strange and absurd as if she were arguing with herself about who was fake.

But even stranger than that, in the latter half of the train journey, she actually turned into a man! Not only did she have sex with the female ghost at night, but she also stuffed a whole train of passengers into sacks, even transformed into Kamen Rider, stormed into the locomotive, hijacked the train, and even cast spells!

"Why does this feel like a strange dream that only a teenage boy would have?" The more Lin Jiaxin recalled, the stranger her expression became, but her eyes, which had been dull due to neurasthenia caused by long-term nightmares, began to brighten slightly.

"Could this change be a sign that I'm gradually escaping that nightmare?"

Lin Jiaxin's face even began to show ecstasy. She reached for her phone, disregarding the fact that it was midnight, and dialed a number.

She wasn't the only survivor of that car accident, but everyone who survived it gained an ageless appearance, along with nightmares that would haunt them every night.

Over the past decade, many have succumbed to the torment and committed suicide, but all of them survived, merely existing.

Complete paralysis, vegetative state, necrosis of ischemic areas, even starvation only makes him skin and bones...

Lin Jiaxin felt a chill run down her spine whenever she thought of those who attempted suicide but ultimately could only eke out a living.

This even led to many outrageous comments online. Some said they were actually dead long ago and were just a bunch of walking corpses. Others said they were living in place of the more than two hundred passengers who died and wouldn't die until they had used up the lifespans of those two hundred people. Even Lin Jiaxin herself cooperated with the medical school's research, but apart from a sum of money that kept her from working herself to death like a corporate slave, she didn't get any results.

"Hello? Lin? What's up?" The call connected, and upon hearing the voice on the other end, Lin Jiaxin immediately replied:

"Sister Wang, did your dream change tonight?"

"You dreamed about other things too?" the person called Sister Wang asked instinctively. Then, both fell into a brief silence, until after more than ten seconds, Sister Wang finally spoke:

"Wait a moment, let me go ask the others. Judging by the time, everyone should be awake by now."

As fellow survivors who shared the same fate, Lin Jiaxin and the others naturally kept in touch. However, Sister Wang's single word "also" revived Lin Jiaxin's numb spirit.

"Could the curse really be lifted?" Lin Jiaxin poured herself a glass of water, trying to calm her somewhat excited heart, while also preparing herself for possible disappointment.

However, just as she lowered her head and subconsciously glanced at the water glass, she was horrified to see that next to her blurry reflection in the glass, there was another figure.

It was a man, a man exactly like the one in my strange dream tonight!