When Ye Chu woke the next morning, he glanced at the alarm clock beside his bed. It was eight, and he heard his parents knocking outside his door.
"Xingxing, get up and eat. Your dad and I are going shopping. Do you want to come?"
Ye Chu rolled over, buried his face in the covers, and gave a muffled reply. "No."
"You little brat, always sleeping in," his dad said. "Your mom and I are heading out, then."
"Okay," Ye Chu called through the door, sitting up.
He picked up his phone and idly opened Bilibili. He had had a terrible nightmare last night, dreaming that he had fallen from a building and died. His heart still fluttered at the memory, and he needed a funny video to calm down.
That was summer break for a college student: no homework, no job, just holing up in his bedroom every day until he practically grew moss.
Ye Chu tapped around the screen. Suddenly, a streamer with medium-length hair caught his attention. He was playing one of the most popular horror games at the moment.
Ye Chu disliked horror games. He hated jump scares and terrifying chases, but for some reason, he couldn't stop himself from tapping into the stream.
There were barely any viewers in the stream, just a scattered few. After Ye Chu entered, the number in the upper-right corner changed to two.
The streamer didn't look particularly thrilled to see a new viewer. He merely raised his eyebrows and said casually, "Thanks for dropping by my stream, Ye Chu. What a rare guest..."
The moment the last few words left his mouth, both of them froze.
Ye Chu blinked hard. The streamer who had looked like a stranger just a moment ago was now unmistakably Su Fengzi.
Su Fengzi's gaze had changed as well. "Ye Chu, are you still there?" he asked on stream.
Ye Chu replied in the scrolling chat, "I'm here."
Su Fengzi's mouse and keyboard clattered beneath his hands. "If you have any questions, Ye Chu, just send them in chat. I've got a ghost curled up against my legs. Whenever I stop playing, it bares its teeth at me."
What? That's what's happening on your end?
Ye Chu's fingers flew over the keyboard too. "What's your situation? Can you talk about it? There's another person watching. Any news of the other three?"
On screen, Su Fengzi crouched on his gaming chair, muttering, "Stop pawing at me. I'm playing!"
Soon, Ye Chu's message scrolled across the computer screen. Su Fengzi spared it a glance. "Same identity as in real life. I'm a gaming streamer, but I have practically no followers. Don't worry about the other viewer. That's my alt. I haven't heard from the other three either."
As he spoke, Su Fengzi suddenly stretched out a long leg and kicked downward several times. "I told you! I'm playing! Can't you take a hint? Weren't you the one who wanted me to beat this game for you?!"
The ghost beneath his chair seemed to have been stunned by the kicks. It didn't make a sound for a long while.
Watching all this, Ye Chu was speechless.
"That was thanks to you just now," Su Fengzi said, his keyboard still clattering. "If you hadn't shown up, I wouldn't have noticed the paradox. How could I call anyone a rare guest when I didn't have a single follower?"
Ye Chu nodded, then realized Su Fengzi couldn't see him and sent a reply. "No, I only realized I was in an illusion after you said that. Where are you now? Can we meet up?"
Su Fengzi glanced at the message scrolling past. "235 Peace Street. You?"
"258 Peace Street."
"That's not too bad." Su Fengzi's expression suddenly grew serious. The game was reaching its climax, and his fingers struck the keys faster and louder. "Done!"
Ye Chu saw two enormous words appear on his phone screen: "Game Over."
"Should we meet halfway, or should I come to you?"
Ye Chu was considering the same question. He pulled the curtains open to check outside, only to freeze.
The street was packed with people. Their eyes were blood-red, glowing faintly. Their faces were vacant, their steps slow, their teeth opening and closing as though moving without conscious thought.
The instant he opened the curtains, that dense sea of heads turned toward him.
It was like being scanned by a swarm of infrared cameras.
"Ye Chu? Ye Chu! Don't look outside! Don't look out the window!"
Su Fengzi's shouting from his phone snapped Ye Chu out of his daze. He yanked the curtains shut, blocking those stares.
"I'm here." He sent the message to show he was safe for now.
Loud banging came from the door downstairs. The monsters had already gathered below.
"You gave me a scare." Su Fengzi crossed his legs. "I thought you'd gotten yourself killed already. If you had, I'd never have let you live it down. Some Peking University star student, huh?"
Ye Chu's lips curved. As if you weren't the one shrieking in panic just now.
"What do we do now?" Su Fengzi's smile vanished, his face turning serious. "We don't even know when we enter the illusion. It could happen after we sleep, or without us doing anything at all..."
Ye Chu pressed his lips together. "Do you think we could create our own paradoxes?"
Su Fengzi's brow creased unconsciously, and he brought his thumb to his lips. He always did that when he was deep in thought.
"We could, but we'd only recognize the paradoxes we created while we were in reality. In the illusion, we'd be lucky just to remember who we were."
Ye Chu scratched his head. It really was a tricky problem.
"Let's try it anyway. At least it's something."
"What do you have in mind?" Su Fengzi asked.
Ye Chu took out a stack of paper and a pen, then bent over his desk and began writing. He found a moment to reply to Su Fengzi. "I'm going to leave incorrect mathematical formulas everywhere. Then one look will tell me I'm in an illusion."
Su Fengzi was speechless.
[?? Is this how a top student thinks?]
[Judging by previous games, that really could work!]
[Ye Chu, you're amazing! Who knew you could do that!]
Su Fengzi frowned, trying to think of something he would recognize as false at a glance.
While he was still thinking, another message scrolled past. "But that isn't enough."
"Why not?"
Ye Chu kept typing. "That would only make us realize we're in an illusion. We can use paradoxes to get us out of our rooms."
Su Fengzi sat up straight. "How?"
"For example, I could put an incorrect mathematical formula in an envelope and write my destination on it: 234 Peace Street."
"But would you necessarily follow the instructions on the envelope while you were in the illusion?"
That question stumped Ye Chu. He really was the sort to throw an envelope away the moment he saw it. Too many people had confessed their feelings to him in middle and high school, leaving him with the habit of throwing away any unfamiliar envelope.
What could he write to make his illusory self take the envelope to 235 Peace Street, then open it and discover the paradox inside?
A girlfriend probably wouldn't work. His illusory self definitely wouldn't go.
After thinking for a while, he gritted his teeth and wrote a few words on the envelope: Your boyfriend is at 235 Peace Street. Remember to take out the love letter and give it to him.
He wouldn't go for a girlfriend, but the word "boyfriend" would definitely shock his illusory self. Even if it was a prank, knowing his own personality, he would go and get to the bottom of it.
Ye Chu folded the envelope closed and left it in the most conspicuous spot. With everything arranged, he sent Su Fengzi a message. "I'll come to you. Stay in your room."
Su Fengzi read the message, the corners of his mouth lifting. "Okaaay, big brother Ye Chu."
That "big brother Ye Chu" gave Ye Chu goosebumps. He lay down on his bed and quietly waited for night to fall.
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