Everyone else reacted calmly to Roman's departure.
Shen Yiwen watched Lu Mi with concern for a long while and only said, "Come to us anytime if you're feeling down."
Zhong Zixian didn't ask any questions either. He picked up the guitar he'd spent a pile of gold coins on and played and sang a folk song.
Cheng Cheng was as carefree as ever. Fighting the crabs on the beach interested him more than noticing someone was missing.
After leaving Wonderful Dream, they checked the time. Sure enough, only seventy-two minutes had passed.
But Lu Mi was exhausted, body and mind, and wanted some time alone.
He had rotten luck on his way back, running into two people he disliked in quick succession. He merely waved them off. "Let's argue next time. Thanks."
Jin Bi and Xu Zhi, who had geared up to trade barbs with him: "?"
Back in Dormitory 710, Lu Mi let all his strength drain away and slumped onto the edge of his bed.
"Lu Mi," he told himself, "you only get today to be sad. You'll need to be in a good state of mind when you enter the next instance."
What had happened in Wonderful Dream, Cheng Cheng's tears, Roman's lips-all of it rolled over his heart, wave after wave.
There were no changes in daylight here. At seven in the evening, the sky would abruptly turn black, and then the entire Public Rest Area would blaze with lights.
Lu Mi never looked up to check the time. Only when darkness swallowed the space around him did he realize how long he'd been sitting motionless.
Darkness... Lu Mi reached toward the hollow of his neck.
If he'd reached out like this back then, he could have touched Roman's face, the face that had always been