Su Xun's Memories

A low, deep sob, still tinged with confusion and bewilderment.

"Haah... haah..."

Su Xun gasped for breath, tears streaming uncontrollably.

He felt as though he was about to drown.

It was as if great torrents of water were pouring in through his nose and ears.

His throat burned with searing pain, and... there was a constricting pressure, as if something foreign were wrapped around it?

Su Xun suddenly sensed something was wrong.

His hands instinctively reached for his neck, and he lowered his head.

The angle made it impossible for him to see anything.

His hands found nothing, leaving them grasping at empty air.

But the foreign sensation around his neck was growing stronger.

"Haah... haah..."

He had been crying so hard that he could barely breathe, but now a genuine feeling of suffocation was invading his mind.

He staggered over to the full-length mirror.

His face was streaked with tears, his eyes red-rimmed, his expression frightened and confused. He had never looked so utterly disheveled.

He looked at his neck in the mirror.

His knuckles stood out, and thick veins bulged grotesquely across the backs of his hands.

His five fingers were tensed into claws, but they had nothing in their grasp.

Just as his hands had felt, his neck was bare.

So what was this suffocating sensation, as if something were choking him?

Unwilling to give up, he widened his eyes and stared at his neck in the mirror.

Hm?

Su Xun felt as if the corners of his eyes were being torn open with pain.

Something... had appeared?!

He couldn't help reaching up to touch the spot on his neck in the mirror.

A blurry black shadow flickered in and out of view.

Slowly, its outline began to sharpen.

The instant he made out