In the early morning, lead-gray daylight filtered through the gap in the curtains and lazily spilled across the messy bed.
Xia Mi felt as though some invisible force had completely sealed her inside the warm blankets. Even lifting a single finger felt impossibly heavy.
A fair, almost translucent arm trembled as it reached out from the edge of the covers, groped around, and finally smacked the alarm clock on the nightstand that was making such an irritating racket.
The world returned to Silence.
"Just one more minute... just one minute..." she mumbled to herself, as though that promise possessed some sort of magic.
Her heavy eyelids closed again, and she immediately sank into a deeper, darker sleep.
When she struggled awake again, the hands of the alarm clock were already pointing at seven thirty.
Half of morning self-study had already passed. Even if she rushed at top speed from this remote rented apartment to school, there was no way she could make it into the classroom before the first-period bell rang.
"I'm done for!"
With a jolt, all her drowsiness was instantly scattered by panic.
She sprang up like a startled rabbit, hurriedly pulled on her school uniform, grabbed her backpack, and stormed out of her room like a whirlwind.
As she passed the dining table in the living room, she did not even look at it. She casually snatched up the cup of soy milk that had gone completely cold, two stiff fried dough sticks, and a cold steamed bun, then turned and rushed for the front door.
The moment her gaze swept over the living room, her movements abruptly froze. The figure sitting on the old sofa... was Amon.
He was reclining in an exceedingly relaxed posture, idly playing with a dark gold coin at his fingertips. The