After rushing through a full day of classes, Lin Sheng turned down Shen Yan's invitation to grab some snacks that afternoon.
It wasn't because he didn't want to go. He liked a lot of the snacks sold on the school's food street. Unfortunately, he could only spend an average of three yuan a day, so he had to be frugal.
He boarded the free bus home.
Lin Sheng sat by the window, watching the old streets on the right flash past.
The winding folk-style patterns of flowers and birds, carved into the edges of shop signs and the corners of walls, made him think of last night's nightmare again.
"Ding. Next stop: Old Town Textile Factory." The standard female announcement in Celine Language brought Lin Sheng back from his thoughts.
He picked up his grayish-white backpack and stood, giving his seat to an elderly woman who had just boarded. Then he gripped an overhead handrail and slowly squeezed through the crowd toward the door.
"Quit shoving! Are you trying to get yourself killed?"
"Watch it, young man! Don't bother everyone else."
"My foot! You stepped on my foot! What's wrong with you?"
The people around him who had been jostled complained in all sorts of ways, like children's toys that squeaked at the slightest touch.
Lin Sheng paid them no mind. He was 1.75 meters tall, with an average build and healthy, strong muscles hidden beneath his school uniform. Aside from his skin being a little as pale as a white person's, he had no flaws.
Pfft.
The doors opened automatically. Lin Sheng hopped down and took a deep breath, then glanced back inside.
Seven or eight more people had boarded. The bus was like an expired can packed so full it was about to burst. The doors slowly closed, and it pulled away.
A dozen or so meters to the right of the bus stop stood his residential district: Huilian Residential District.
The entrance was a rounded arch of iron bars, with the blocky characters for "Huilian Residential District" hanging crookedly above it.
On both sides of the gate, older men and women stood selling vegetables from baskets slung over their shoulders. Residents stopped at the stalls to haggle.
By afternoon, the sweltering temperature had dropped to the twenties. It was no longer as hot as it had been during the day.
Lin Sheng passed through the somewhat rusty red iron gate and walked straight down the slope, deeper into the residential district.
At the fifth building, he turned right and entered the stairwell of Unit 11.
The walls in the hallway were plastered with all sorts of flyers: locksmiths, drain repairs, moving companies, and all kinds of other things.
As he climbed the stairs, he suddenly felt something sticky underfoot. He lifted his foot and saw that he had stepped in some ice cream someone had spilled. Quite a bit of milky-white ice cream clung to the inner sole of his white sneaker.
Frowning, he scraped it against the edge of the step again and again. Once he had managed to clean most of it off, he continued upstairs.
On the third floor, he took out his key and deftly unlocked the security door of the first apartment on the left before stepping inside.
"Dad." Standing by the entrance, Lin Sheng called out.
No one was home. Not a sound.
Silently, he changed into his slippers and shut the door behind him.
He walked down the hall, through the living room, and into the bedroom.
Lin Sheng couldn't help glancing at his desk. The figure from last night's dream seemed to be sitting in the chair in front of it.
He fell silent for a moment, then walked over, gently pulled out the chair, and sat down. The soft cushion and hard backrest surrounded him.
After a full day of classes, as soon as he sat down, a wave of deep sleepiness washed over him.
Lin Sheng stood up. He didn't quite dare fall asleep at his desk; last night's nightmare was still fresh in his memory.
He usually took a half-hour nap after getting home each afternoon. Last night's nightmare had frightened him, but it had only been a dream.
With that thought in mind,
he hesitated, then went over to the bed, took off his school uniform jacket, and climbed in. He pulled the covers over his stomach.
The sunset outside poured into the bedroom like blood, falling across the desk and the tiled floor.
As he drifted off, Lin Sheng's consciousness slowly faded.
He had no idea how long he had been sleeping when—
A faint sound of crying suddenly reached his ears, jolting him awake.
Wuwu.
It sounded like a woman sobbing, or perhaps singing something.
It was mournful, desperate, and high-pitched, punctuated by occasional, hurried breaths.
Lin Sheng slowly opened his eyes.
He was lying in bed again, unable to move.
In the corner of his eye, a figure in a white dress still sat in front of the desk.
Unlike last time, the girl in white was now trembling, her shoulders twitching as she let out little gasps of fear. She looked like someone in a panic after being horribly frightened.
Tap.
Tap.
Tap.
The footsteps had come again.
Lin Sheng could feel someone approaching step by step from the hallway, passing through the living room and nearing the bedroom.
The indistinct footsteps grew clearer and louder.
The woman at the desk was crying more urgently now, her shoulders twitching faster. It was as if she might bolt from her seat at any moment.
The footsteps drew closer and closer.
Click.
The bedroom door slowly opened.
Lin Sheng's scalp tightened. For some reason, a powerful surge of fear welled up inside him.
Everything was quiet for a brief moment.
Pfft!!
Suddenly, the covers were flung up.
Lin Sheng felt his whole body go numb. His eyes flew wide open, pupils constricting.
At some point, the person had already reached the foot of the bed. They yanked away the thin covers and lunged at him.
"Ah!!!"
Lin Sheng abruptly lifted his head and sat up in bed. His mind was still hazy.
Huff. Huff. Huff.
He panted rapidly, drenched in sweat. His T-shirt was completely soaked through.
"I—I..." He wanted to say something, but no words came out.
His mind was completely blank.
He sat there in a daze, half upright in bed, without moving for more than ten minutes.
He did his best to steady his breathing until his heart finally slowed and stopped pounding like a drum. Only then did he look around.
The bedroom was empty. Outside the window, a silver crescent moon cast a delicate, gauzy glow.
Lin Sheng wiped his forehead. His hand came away covered in sweat.
"Damn it. I even dreamed about that during a nap..." He slowly leaned back against the headboard and took a deep breath.
Was it the same dream as before? This time, it was closer... A deep sense of panic churned inside him.
But his usual calm nature helped him keep suppressing his racing heart.
"Being afraid won't solve anything. I have to stay calm."
Ever since he was little, he had understood one thing: the more panicked he was, the easier it was to make mistakes—and the more time and energy he wasted.
Only by staying calm could he find a way to overcome difficulties as quickly as possible.
Lin Sheng kept taking deep breaths against the headboard, steadying his heartbeat again and again.
About five minutes later, he finally cleared his mind and let his emotions return to normal.
"This dream gets closer every time. Before, the footsteps were only outside the door. Now they've come into the room—and even pulled back my covers!" Lin Sheng felt it was like some kind of premonition.
He had a feeling that if he let the person behind those footsteps pull back his covers and grab him,
something unimaginable might happen afterward.
He had a premonition—a sinister one.
I'll see what happens. If I have the same dream next time, I'll have to think of a way to deal with it... Lin Sheng decided. He had even awakened memories from a previous life. What else couldn't happen?
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