Li Chengyi simply chose a self-service dessert package, paid, and then got up to fetch his tray, ready to pick up the desserts.
"....I can't stand it anymore, really, I just can't take it anymore!"
As he walked to the self-service dessert counter, he suddenly heard a voice laced with sobs.
"...It's okay, you just didn't get good rest last night, and the pressure from the exams has been a bit too much. Rest well for the next few days, do the meditation I told you about before, and adjust your mindset. You'll be fine." Another woman's voice said softly, offering consolation.
"It's no use.... I told you, it's not a hallucination, not a dream!" the previous woman's voice continued.
"I cut myself, look, the wound is still there, it was all real! Really!" The girl's voice sounded very young, probably just seventeen or eighteen, her emotions evidently veering towards a breakdown.
"Have you consulted an online psychologist? You could see the best one for a consultation. Tell them about your situation, maybe they have seen and known everything, they might be able...."
"I've told you, it's not an illness! It's all real! Really!!" The girl began to get agitated.
"I'm going to die.... sob... if I go back there again, I'll definitely die..." She started to cry.
"You're just too nervous, too exhausted. Nothing's going to happen, don't worry, I'll be with you," the other woman consoled earnestly and gently.
Li Chengyi picked up a piece of yogurt cake topped with strawberries and placed it on his tray, glancing in the direction of the voices from the corner of his eye.
To the right of the self-service dessert counter, and counting over to the second table, sat two young girls.
The one who was crying wore a white sweater with black dots, had shoulder-length curly black hair, and donned white glasses—a delicate-looking girl.
She was gripping the coffee spoon in front of her so tightly that her knuckles turned white, almost as if she was about to break the porcelain spoon, and her whole body was shaking.
Across from her, a short-haired girl wearing a dark blue hoodie seemed to be worriedly whispering words of comfort.
The two seemed to notice Li Chengyi's sidelong glance, and their voices quickly lowered.
Li Chengyi quickly grabbed another cake shaped like a banana, got a glass of milk, and instead of returning to his original spot, he sat down at another table not far from the two girls.
He was very interested in the topic the two had been discussing. What the white-sweatered girl had experienced reminded him of what he was currently going through.
However, his actions seemed to have attracted the girls' attention, as they glanced at him with sidelong looks then consciously lowered their voices until they were almost inaudible.
Li Chengyi bowed his head, eating the cake while hesitating in his mind.
He was pondering whether to approach them and ask about the situation.
But whether what he had seen was good or bad remained unknown. After hesitating, he decided to stay seated.
Not long after, the two girls at the neighboring table stood up, grabbed their bags, and quickly left.
Li Chengyi, until the very end, had not initiated a conversation and just sat where he was.
Reflecting on what the girl had cried about, he sat in silence, his brows slightly furrowed, when suddenly, an idea flashed through his mind.
'I'm such an idiot.'
In the era of information, he was foolishly sitting still, doing nothing. If there were problems, the best method was, of course,....
Pulling out his phone from his pocket, Li Chengyi unlocked it with practiced ease and opened the browser.
Then he searched: Dreaming about entering an unfamiliar place.
With a tap, links and information popped up on the screen all at once.
'Dream interpretation for a fee.'
'Comprehensive Dream Interpretation Membership Edition.'
'Su Lun, a Northern school psychology master, answers the unknown....'
'Dreamt my dad was going to chop me up.'
'Dreaming about falling into a strange toilet.'
The jumbled search results made Li Chengyi dizzy, all seemingly unrelated to what he was looking for.
But that's how information is, like finding a needle in a haystack, you can only sift through it bit by bit.
He patiently went through the links with the greatest potential, checking each one.
The light outside the window gradually dimmed, and the sun's rays became slanted; the café started filling up with people.
More and more people were coming after work.
Eventually, Li Chengyi finished the milk in his glass, stood up, and grabbed his phone.
With the rising number of people around, it was not conducive for him to quietly research, so he decided to find a different place.
Creak, as he pushed the café door open and passed by the clump of white flowers at the door, a stroke of black flashed over the back of his right hand, revealing a line of clear writing.
It was written in a language Li Chengyi had learned in his previous life.
The message was quite succinct.
'Loading has started.... Please continue to touch for ten seconds before releasing.'
Apart from Li Chengyi, no one else could see the black writing on his hand.
Yet he, holding his phone in his left hand, continued to search, completely unaware of the change on his hand.
As he moved further away, the distance between him and the cluster of flowers increased, and the righting on his hand faded rapidly.
'Loading failed, please maintain contact for ten seconds....' The writing vanished quickly, as if it had never appeared, reminiscent of a depleted battery.
At this moment, Li Chengyi's attention started to consolidate; he opened link after link on his phone and indeed came across some unusual items.
'Blind Spot forum?'
'Blind Spot Club.'
'Blind Spot Institute.'
One by one, related sites appeared before his eyes.
He casually clicked on Blind Spot Club.
Immediately, a pitch-black webpage popped up on the screen automatically.
'If you encounter the Blind Spot, don't be scared. Because whether you are scared or not, you will die.'