Transmigration

Today was the twelfth year since Gaoyang transmigrated.

Before the transmigration, Gaoyang was an orphan who had just spent his sixth birthday at the orphanage. That night, he ate a cupcake bought for him by the dorm supervisor, fell asleep in contentment, and made a wish before drifting off that he would find his mom and dad, then hazy and fuzzy drifted off into dreamland.

When he woke up, Gaoyang found himself sitting by a dining table, a steaming bowl of noodles placed right in front of him, and he had a noodle caught in his teeth with the other half still dangling outside.

Inside the hall of the old house, the morning light was soft. Sitting across the dining table was an unfamiliar middle-aged man and woman, while the seat of honor backed against the door of the room was a kind-faced old grandmother, and right beside him sat a little girl with big eyes, around four or five years old.

"Don't just sit there, hurry up and eat, don't be late for school later." The woman spoke up to urge him. She was in her early thirties, and despite wearing simple pajamas and no makeup, she was very pretty.

"Son, do you want Dad to drive you?" The man had a toothpick in his mouth and asked with a smile. He was tall and robust, with a slightly bulging lower abdomen, a somewhat receding hairline, and the handsome features of his youth could still faintly be seen between his brows.

"You're not allowed to drive him! Daddy is supposed to drive me to kindergarten!" The little girl shouted angrily, hunching over the table as she shoveled a bowl of millet porridge.

"Hehe, then we'll drop big brother off first, and then little sister, alright?" The grandmother smiled kindly and reached out to stroke the little girl's head.

Gaoyang opened his mouth wide, and the noodle dropped onto the dining table with a splat.

That year he was six years old, and he still couldn't understand what "transmigration" meant, nor did he know what a "Parallel World" was.

He thought he was still dreaming, but never expected that one dream would last twelve years.

By now, Gaoyang had long since adapted to this new world, and had long since fused into one with his host body. He was Gaoyang, eighteen years old, a senior in high school, living in a warm family of five, with a kind and affectionate grandmother, parents who loved each other and occasionally bickered, and a quirky little sister.

He lived a good life, and like most of his peers, buried his head in studying for the college entrance examination, occasionally daydreaming about what university he would attend in the future, what job he would find, who he would marry, how many children they would have...

In short, Gaoyang's six-year-old wish had come true; he had "found" his mom and dad, and even received a grandmother and little sister as a bonus.

He lived a happy life and had nothing left to ask for.

Until the day of his eighteenth birthday, when everything changed.

After evening self-study ended, Gaoyang rode his bicycle home. As he passed a dark alley, a black figure suddenly darted out from the mouth of the alley, knocking Gaoyang and his bicycle over together.

Gaoyang took a tumble, but he was unhurt. He stood up with a grimace, only then getting a clear look at the person who had hit him. Under the dim street lamp stood a short, middle-aged man. He was as withered as dead wood, his face pale, with a terrified expression, wearing a set of tattered hospital gowns stained all over with blood.

"Mister, are you alright..."

"Run!" The man grabbed Gaoyang's shoulders with terrifying strength. "Monsters! Monsters everywhere! Run! Get out of here!"

The man's voice carried a bloody reek of pure despair. "Don't trust anyone..."

"Bang!"

Before the man could say anything else, a gunshot entered his temple, pierced his skull, shot out from the other temple, and instantly bloomed into a bloody rose.

"Hiss--" A thick fog of blood mixed with a pungent, fishy odor rushed into his face.

The hands gripping Gaoyang's shoulders slowly loosened, and the man's terrified expression froze forever. His excessively protruding eyeballs stopped moving, completely carved with despair, hesitation, and unwillingness.

Two seconds later, the corpse collapsed heavily to the ground.

Gaoyang was stunned.

He stood frozen in place, his feet quickly soaked by the spreading pool of blood, feeling only sticky and damp. The slight tinnitus caused by the bullet piercing the man's skull was gradually covered by the heartbeat in his chest: thump, thump, thump-thump-thump...

"Kid, are you hurt!"

"Don't be afraid, you're safe now!"

"Close your eyes, don't look down at your feet..."

Several police officers rushed up, and one of the police officers pulled Gaoyang into his embrace, covering his eyes.

The next day, Gaoyang made the local news headlines: "Severely mentally ill patient kills two nurses and escapes at night, then hijacks high school student and is shot dead on the spot."

Gaoyang took a day off to rest at home.

He was indeed a bit shaken, having witnessed a life being brutally shot to death at close range; no ordinary person could take that. Besides, the matter of the psychiatric patient also had numerous suspicious points, making him feel very strange, though he couldn't put his finger on what exactly was strange for the moment.

That night, Gaoyang took a sleeping pill.

After falling asleep, he had a dream.

The host body's memories before the age of six had long been digested by the transmigrated Gaoyang, but some vague memories seemed to have been forgotten.

In the dream, Gaoyang went back to the late night of a summer when he was four years old.

He had eaten too much watermelon and his bladder was swollen. Waking up in the middle of the night to go to the bathroom, as he passed his grandparents' room, he heard a rustling sound.

Gaoyang was a bit curious, pricked up his ears, and pressed against the cold door. The sound became clearer, and also more unfamiliar.

He had never heard a sound like that before; it was like the whimpering of a wild beast, yet also like the wailing of a giant whale from the deep sea. It sounded very painful, mixed with a kind of distorted excitement, and when he listened even more closely, there was a rough and muffled tearing sound hidden beneath the noise.

Gaoyang only felt his hair stand on end.

At that time, he had just finished listening to the fairy tale of "Little Red Riding Hood" told by the kindergarten teacher. He thought, could a big bad wolf have slipped into his home and eaten his grandparents?

Gaoyang's heart hammered wildly, but he still mustered up his courage and gently pushed open the room door.

Through the crack of the door, what did he see!

He was terrified out of his wits, turned around and ran back to his room, burrowing headfirst under the covers, and even forgot to relieve his bodily needs.

Early the next morning, Gaoyang wet the bed, thinking it was just a nightmare. Right at that moment, his mother pushed the door open, pulled Gaoyang into her arms with a sorrowful expression, and cried as she said, "Gaoyang, your grandfather is gone."

When Gaoyang followed his mother out of the room, his grandfather's corpse happened to be carried away on a stretcher by medical staff, covered with a white cloth. By the time the funeral was held, his grandfather had already turned into an urn of ashes.

From start to finish, neither Gaoyang nor his sister got to see their grandfather one last time.

Thinking about it now, there were quite a few suspicious points about the matter.

While he was alive, his grandfather loved Gaoyang and his sister the most. They were his closest flesh and blood, so why couldn't they see him one last time?

If his memory wasn't wrong, the upper body of his grandfather's corpse covered by the white cloth at the time had a very strange shape, as if one of his hands was missing.

Didn't grandfather die of a heart disease? Why would he be missing a hand?

In the dream, Gaoyang looked at the corpse on the white stretcher and was utterly baffled.

Suddenly, the corpse on the white stretcher sat up!

The white cloth pulled down, and it turned out to be that madman. His eyes had been gouged out, leaving only two deep, bloody sockets. Viscous black blood spurted from his facial orifices, and he stretched out his blood-soaked hands, violently grabbing Gaoyang's shoulders.

--Monster! There are monsters everywhere! Run! Get out of here!

--Don't trust anyone!

"Ah!"

Gaoyang woke up abruptly from the dream.

Ten o'clock in the morning. The sunlight was just right, the April breeze stirred the curtains, and outside the window lay the bustling traffic and city hubbub.

"Bro, having a nightmare?" His sister sat at the head of Gaoyang's bed, tilting her head to look at him, her large eyes blinking.

Gaoyang was stunned: "Why are you in my room?"

His sister gave him a disdainful look: "The sun is already hitting your backside, Mom told me to wake you up!"

"Oh right, got it."

His sister walked out of the room.

Gaoyang was still somewhat dazed. He rolled out of bed and gulped down a large mouthful of water.

At that moment, his phone rang, and Gaoyang casually tapped open WeChat.

"Pfft--" He spat out a mouthful of water.