Chapter 23: Returning to Reality (Revised)

Splash—

Is it raining?

Su Mian's head was in extreme pain. She felt like she had been suffering from sleep paralysis; her consciousness had recovered, but her body couldn't move, and it took a good while before she came to.

She propped up her body, squinting as she looked around.

She was in the dormitory bed?

She had just woken up? Su Mian asked herself uncertainly, turning to take out her phone, finding it was already 12 o'clock at night. She felt like she had had a very long dream.

But... was it really a dream?

Su Mian sat on the bed for a good while before suddenly lifting her eyes.

That's not right, shouldn't she be on her way to play the script murder game right now?

Su Mian opened a certain group-buying app, found the Nai Bu Dong Ni Detective Agency, and swiped her fingertips, her heart sinking slightly.

There was no such script as "Orphan's Grudge" at all.

That game... was not a dream at all.

Wen Zirui was right; anyone who gets dragged in can't get out. Perhaps after an unknown amount of time, she would enter that terrifying world again, enter that infinite script murder.

Su Mian closed her eyes in exhaustion, finding her state of mind much better than she had imagined.

Since you're here, be at peace. If there's no way to escape, then take it one step at a time.

Su Mian rubbed herself off the bed limply, swaying twice when she stood on the ground.

Only then did she discover it wasn't raining, but someone was taking a shower in the restroom.

Su Mian's dormitory was originally a four-person room, but because her student ID and Qiao Yinuo's happened to fall at the end, they were accidentally assigned to a rare double dormitory.

But this was precisely the beginning of the two's nightmare.

At first, Qiao Yinuo's feeling about Su Mian was that she was very good-looking, even deserving of being called perfectly modeled, but slowly she discovered this person didn't like to pay attention to her at all.

Su Mian was the kind of person who made people feel "living is very tiring" at a glance.

Her skin was pale all year round, the corners of her eyes drooping slightly, as if she hadn't woken up, or as if she was too lazy to wake up.

She didn't speak much, her tone was flat, her emotions, to put it nicely, were stable, and to put it bluntly, were world-weary; she had no interest in grades, interpersonal relationships, or the future.

She was always quietly curled up on the bed or by the window, headphones on, and the world had nothing to do with her.

Qiao Yinuo couldn't stand this point the most.

In her eyes, Su Mian was simply like a walking source of negative energy.

Clearly young, yet she had that dead look of "whatever, anything is fine," and even living seemed like she was just going through the motions.

Qiao Yinuo had a straightforward personality, a loud voice, and her emotions came and went quickly. She liked liveliness, liked the night, and liked the music in bars that made people's hearts go numb.

She felt that people should live happily, not rot quietly like Su Mian.

And Su Mian's hatred for Qiao Yinuo was entirely physiological.

Qiao Yinuo was too noisy.

She never looked at the time, coming back at two in the morning, mixed with the smell of alcohol and strange perfume, sitting on the chair and starting to rummage through things.

Her life had no sense of boundaries for Su Mian.

Chaotic schedule, friends could be brought back to the dormitory at any time, parties went on endlessly, and the noise came wave after wave.

Thus, they didn't like each other.

But Su Mian never argued with Qiao Yinuo. Although she was irritable to death inside every time, her heartbeat rose rapidly due to emotions, and she couldn't stop coughing, she hated, or rather, disdained to express this emotion.

Just like in the instance, in fact, every point that made her unhappy, especially Zhou Yichen, had been scolded thousands of times in her mind, but she never expressed it.

Calling it world-weary is better than calling it a disease, but Su Mian already had many diseases, so she didn't care about one more.

Counting by this time, Qiao Yinuo was probably taking a shower.

She loved going to bars to dance, and it wasn't strange for her to sway back at two or three in the morning. Today was actually considered early.

Su Mian didn't care, just stretched, intending to go to the balcony to wash up.

But the moment she pushed the door open, her whole body suddenly stiffened.

The restroom was pitch black.

"Qiao Yinuo?"

The empty silence was stretched by the steam, but there was not a shred of response.

Su Mian's heart jumped violently.

Who was in there?

Who was in the shower stall, using the shower head, but didn't even turn on the light?

She stood frozen in place, her throat tight.

If it were in the past, she would never let her imagination run wild.

But ever since experiencing that absurd and cold "game," she had to admit that perhaps she had begun to waver in the materialism she once firmly believed in.

Su Mian held her breath, reached out, and pushed the door open.

Her chest tightened suddenly, then slowly relaxed in the next second.

There was only a faint light in the restroom.

It was a water card inserted into the machine slot, the screen glowing slightly, illuminating the remaining balance clearly.

Her phone vibrated twice; it was a message from Qiao Yinuo.

【Oh my good roommate, I forgot to take out the water card when I went out!】

【It'll probably start running water automatically again in a bit】

【If you see it, remember to help me take it out, thanks~】

Su Mian rolled her eyes speechlessly, took out the card, and then turned to go to the balcony to wash up.

The next few days were very normal, so normal that Su Mian almost forgot about the script murder.

During this period, she checked online for similar things, but found nothing. She originally wanted to go to Zhou Yichen's school to see if he had really disappeared, and how the remaining few people were doing.

But Su Mian sensed that she was being blocked by something. Whether taking the subway or a taxi, as long as she wanted to find the truth, it would inexplicably end up with nothing.

For example, taking a taxi would lead to a large traffic accident, causing the originally passable road to be blocked.

When taking the subway, she could never wait for the subway, while others changed to other lines like nothing had happened, leaving only herself waiting bitterly in place.

After waiting for nearly an hour without seeing the subway enter the station, it returned to normal after she gave up.

Finals week arrived, and she had no time to care about other things, throwing everything behind her and turning to invest in intense review.

The memory of that script murder gradually faded, just like a dream, becoming blurry after waking up, and finally disappearing into the dust of time.

Su Mian returned to the dormitory, and what met her eyes was Qiao Yinuo vomiting until she was out of breath, her whole body exuding the smell of alcohol.

Su Mian froze for two seconds before reacting and rushing over to support her: "You went drinking?"

Qiao Yinuo lifted her head, her eyes red as if smoked by smoke, her whole body extremely weak, carrying a kind of angry-from-embarrassment ruthlessness.

"I went to clear my head, don't know which grandson drugged me... vomit... fuck, I'm never going to this shitty bar again, the security is as bad as a maggot nest!"

She cursed exhaustedly, clutching the trash can while cursing loudly.

Su Mian bent down and tucked Qiao Yinuo's hair behind her ears: "You still have the energy to curse, can you stand up? I'll take you to the hospital."

Qiao Yinuo still wanted to continue cursing, but her legs went soft and she was grabbed by Su Mian, muttering unclearly: "Damn... does no one care about the bars next to this school..."

She cursed all the way to the hospital.

Emergency registration, blood draw, simple induced vomiting, after a round of tossing, Qiao Yinuo leaned on the seat, her breath as thin as a thread.

"I'm lucky, otherwise I would have died in that shitty place tonight... fuck."

Su Mian patted her shoulder lightly, her head aching from Qiao Yinuo's loud voice, her tone carrying fatigue: "Wait until I get the medicine back and we'll leave, don't fall asleep."

Qiao Yinuo gave a vague "um" and buried her face in her knees.

Su Mian got up and walked toward the medicine pickup window. The hospital's air conditioning was turned on very high, and the corridor was quiet. She looked as she walked.

Even though it was an emergency at night, there wasn't even the sound of footsteps.

She stood in front of the window waiting for medicine, and suddenly heard the light sound of a wheelchair rolling behind her.

Very light, very slow, but Su Mian heard it, and it was rolling toward her direction.

She turned her head violently, the corridor was empty.

Su Mian couldn't help but frown, turning back to confirm the medicine list with the nurse, but there was no one in the window.

Su Mian froze for a second.

The nurse was clearly there just a moment ago.

Something's not right, not quite right.

She lifted her head to look toward the service desk, the light flickering on and off.

Qiao Yinuo was still sitting on the bench with her head drooping, but her hands were no longer on her knees, but hanging straight down.

Su Mian's fingertips began to turn cold.

She took a step back, preparing to go back to find Qiao Yinuo.

She quickened her pace back to the waiting area, only to find the chair was empty.

Qiao Yinuo was gone.

Su Mian sobered up instantly, her breathing tight: "Qiao Yinuo?"

No response.

The whole floor was as if there were no people, the empty sound echoing several times.

She ran forward, searching all the way, when suddenly her shoulder was patted.

Su Mian turned her head violently, Qiao Yinuo was still pale-faced.

"What are you shouting for? I just went to throw out some trash."

"Shouting like a ghost in the middle of the night."

Very good, still had the energy to bicker with her, meaning nothing serious, but Su Mian always felt something was wrong, she pulled Qiao Yinuo.

"Let's go back to school quickly."

She said, walking quickly toward the elevator and pressing the first floor.

There was heating in the elevator, the door closed slowly, and the warm airflow hit her face.

That sense of unreality gradually decreased, she let out a long breath, looking out the door casually, but froze violently.

On the bench in the distance, there was still someone sitting, a Qiao Yinuo with her head drooping.

She broke into a cold sweat instantly, turning her head only to find she was the only one in the elevator, so she pressed the open button desperately.

"Qiao Yinuo!" ===== CHAPTER 24 =====