After riding back to Red Cherry Villa, Wang Yiyang spotted the dog-owning woman who lived in his building again.
She wore a black wool dress with a white fox-fur shawl draped over her shoulders, walking her golden retriever slowly around the residential complex.
The big dog that had left such a strong impression on him last time was now hanging its tongue out, dazedly nosing around.
Wang Yiyang looked away and calmly entered the elevator, then went upstairs.
He unlocked the door, locked it behind him, took off his coat, and turned on the air conditioner.
The clock on the wall read 11:12.
He sat down, took out his phone, checked his messages, and browsed the web.
He did nothing else. He had already made all the necessary preparations. Now he only had to wait.
Time passed, second by second.
Unusually for him, Wang Yiyang browsed some celebrity gossip, then news about military and political affairs in various countries, a general encyclopedia of society, and some basic, practical science.
At last, the clock hands slowly reached 12:12.
Click.
The second hand passed precisely over twelve, then moved a little farther.
Wang Yiyang suddenly felt his vision blur.
In a daze, he was horrified to find that the scene around him was like a kaleidoscope. All the furniture seemed to dissolve like paint.
It melted, broke apart, and flowed across the floor, quickly turning gray before solidifying and hardening into a new floor.
In just five seconds, the surroundings changed from his apartment in Red Cherry Villa into a vast, dim, and antiquated parking garage.
A faint lamplight glimmered somewhere inside.
Far off in the darkness, fireflies flickered in and out of sight.
And at that very moment, a tall, bald man in a red garment stood before Wang Yiyang.
"Red