Chapter 10 A Dream

The atmosphere in the car was heavy. In less than 20 minutes, the car stopped.

The door opened, and everything outside was blurry.

Fortunately, Jiang Cheng and the others were used to it. They had already experienced the weirdness of this bus. The inside and outside of the door were completely different worlds.

If you didn't pass through the door, you couldn't see the other side at all.

"Doctor," Fatty stared at the outside of the door suspiciously, "are we getting off now?"

Jiang Cheng didn't answer. After more than ten seconds, the door still showed no sign of closing, as if it was determined to wait them out. It was as if it was saying, I won't leave unless you get off.

"Let's go." Jiang Cheng sighed, "Follow me."

After leaving the door, his feet touched the ground, and it was as if the fog suddenly dispersed, revealing another world.

Light shone on his face. He looked up and saw a street lamp above his head.

The surrounding scenery looked familiar.

It was the street they had left.

And it was still dark.

"We're back!" Huai Yi said in surprise. Although it was customary for nightmares to return to the real world after completing a mission, for some reason, this time felt different.

Maybe it was because they had been suppressed for too long...

After finding the car and returning to the studio, it was already late at night. Jiang Cheng asked Huai Yi if he was going back to find his girlfriend or staying with them.

Huai Yi firmly insisted on staying, saying that he would leave at dawn and that he wasn't in a hurry.

Jiang Cheng slept soundly. He dreamed of many people, but he couldn't see their faces, only their backs, one after another, walking in front of him.

But just looking at their backs, he felt familiar, the kind of familiarity that was etched deep in his mind. He wanted to catch up and see their faces clearly.

The figures were just walking slowly, but he couldn't catch up no matter how hard he tried.

Finally, he chased them to a door.

Everyone entered this door, but by the time he arrived, the door had already closed.

It was a black door, very tall and large. On the right side of the door, the number 13 was written in white paint.

He waited outside for a long time, wanting to wait for those people to come out.

It was a very large building, surrounded by a wall.

The lead-gray wall was so high that it seemed to pierce the sky.

Jiang Cheng had an indescribable feeling about this place.

It was both familiar and terrifying. He wanted to knock on the door, but he raised his hand and hesitated, afraid that something terrible would happen if he knocked.

He faintly heard a song coming from inside.

Jiang Cheng's pupils slowly contracted.

The song was ethereal, seeping out from the cracks in the door, from the walls, from every place it could pass through, accurately entering his ears like the most ancient mass.

He couldn't quite make out the lyrics, but he could feel the sadness in the melody.

A funeral was being held inside the building.

...

The next morning, Jiang Cheng, who hadn't rested well, pushed open the bedroom door. Huai Yi was sitting on the sofa outside. When he saw Jiang Cheng come out, he said, "Brother Jiang, you have to talk to Brother Fugui. He's been acting strange since he woke up this morning. I asked him what was wrong, but he wouldn't say anything. You didn't see his eyes... his eyes are swollen this big!" Huai Yi gestured with his hands.

"Where is he?" Jiang Cheng asked, lowering his hand from rubbing the bridge of his nose.

"Downstairs."

After going downstairs, Jiang Cheng saw a person huddled on the sofa, only showing his back, but he could already feel his sadness.

This Fatty couldn't hide anything in his heart; his worries were written all over his face.

Jiang Cheng knew that he must be thinking about Wang Qi.

Before he could walk over, Fatty seemed to sense something and slowly turned his head. Jiang Cheng was really taken aback by his face. His eyes were swollen as big as peaches.

Jiang Cheng glanced at Huai Yi, whose face was saying, "See, I didn't lie to you."

Seeing Jiang Cheng, Fatty stood up from the sofa and walked towards the kitchen like a zombie, "Doctor, wait a moment, breakfast is ready, I'll go get it."

Jiang Cheng hurried over and stopped him. After a pause, Jiang Cheng said, "Fatty..."

Just this one sentence seemed to open the floodgates, and Fatty suddenly choked up, "Doctor, last night... last night I dreamed that I went home. Something happened at home. Many people were missing. I asked the remaining people, where are the others?"

"They... they didn't say anything, just looked towards a room."

"I walked over and pushed open the door. Inside was a black table, very large and long, with candlesticks placed around it. The candlesticks had white candles on them."

"In the very center of the table, there was a white cloth covering something. Under the cloth was a raised human shape."

"I slowly pulled back the white cloth, and the face... it was Wang Qi's face!" Fatty suddenly cried out, "It's Wang Qi, Doctor, I remember now, he's my family!"

"I remember now, it's him!"

Although Huai Yi didn't quite understand why Fatty was like this, or why he mentioned Wang Qi, he could completely feel the overwhelming sadness.

"Brother Fugui." Huai Yi consoled in a hoarse voice, "Don't be too sad, you have to cheer up."

Huai Yi opened his mouth again, wanting to say that the dead can't be brought back to life, but he swallowed the words back.

Thinking about his own dream last night, Jiang Cheng couldn't help but feel fear. He was almost certain that the building he saw last night was the one Fatty mentioned... his home.

That light-gray building marked with 13 was Fatty's home!

And it was also his home.

He was Zero.

Wang Qi had said that this wasn't his number in Scarlet, but his name.

"You're different from us, I don't like you, none of us like you, only he is the exception."

"We are imprisoned there, and the reason for our imprisonment is because of you."

"It is because of your existence that all this misfortune has happened."

"You are the origin, and also the abyss."

...

The scene of Wang Qi saying these words played in Jiang Cheng's mind like a slideshow, like a curse, imprisoning him.

Black mist surged before his eyes, his pupils gradually dilated, and an unprecedented sense of loneliness and despair spread, as if demons were whispering in his ears.

An invisible hand reached out from within him, from a place deeper than Wu's hiding place, and grabbed his arm.

The hand was icy cold, gradually increasing its grip, trying to tear out his soul.

In that instant, his world darkened.

He felt everything was leaving him. He seemed to be sinking into the depths of the ocean, or walking into a tunnel with no end.

Born in darkness, and returning to darkness.

The abyss... was his final destination.

But the next second, a sharp pain came from his other arm, and a warm feeling rippled out like water, instantly tearing through the darkness.

"Doctor!"

"Doctor, what's wrong with you?"

"Don't scare me, say something!"

...

Amidst the wailing, Jiang Cheng suddenly woke up. The light was dazzling, and following the first ray of light was Fatty's face.