Although Su Bai had been away for seven days, everything at home was still fine when he left the Nightmare World and returned to the Real World.
When he left the Nightmare World, Su Bai lingered in the pitch-black space he suspected was the Void Sea, just as before. This time, however, he did not fall into the bottomless Rift, and the passage of time was unaffected when he returned to the Real World.
The caregiver at home knew Su Bai's exams were approaching and that he often attended the intensive exam-preparation sessions arranged by Rainbow Locust No. 1 High School, so she was not particularly surprised when he disappeared for a few days and suddenly returned. Su Bai did not go out of his way to explain anything, either. After all, Rainbow Locust No. 1 High School did have a habit of arranging all kinds of intensive training sessions; he simply had no need to attend them.
His mother's condition was unchanged from when Su Bai had left. She could still remain awake for only a few minutes each day, and every time she finished speaking with Su Bai and the caregiver, she became utterly exhausted, her face even paler and more haggard than when she was unconscious. Even when she struggled to stay awake, his mother Lin Wan's eyes alternated between clarity and confusion, as though she were drifting between reality and dreams.
Although the doctors said his mother's readings were stable at every follow-up, Su Bai knew perfectly well that some of what was happening to her lay beyond the explanatory scope of medical science in the Real World. Whenever his mother forced herself to speak, he gently reassured her that she should rest easy and close her eyes. Su Bai did not want to see her