It was the twelfth year since Gao Yang had crossed over.
Before the crossover, Gao Yang had been an orphan, just turning six on his birthday at the orphanage. That evening, he ate a paper cup cake that the dorm matron had bought him and went to bed feeling content. Before he fell asleep, he made a wish: to find his parents. He then drifted into a drowsy slumber.
When he woke up, Gao Yang found himself sitting at a dining table with a bowl of steaming noodles in front of him. He was holding the noodles in his mouth, one half dangling from his lips.
The room, an old house, was bathed in the soft glow of morning light. Across from him sat a middle-aged couple he had never seen before. The elderly woman, sitting with her back to the door, wore a kind expression. To his side sat a little girl, about four or five years old, with big eyes.
"Don't just stare, eat quickly, you'll be late for school!" the woman urged. She was in her thirties, wearing simple pajamas, and though she had no makeup on, she was quite beautiful.
"Son, do you want me to give you a ride?" the man asked, smiling, with a toothpick in his mouth. He was tall and sturdy, with a slightly protruding belly and a receding hairline, but there was still a hint of the handsome features he had in his youth.
"No, I want Daddy to take me to kindergarten!" the little girl pouted, pushing away a bowl of millet porridge on the table.
"Hehe, alright, then we'll take your brother first, and then your sister, okay?" the elderly woman said, smiling gently as she patted the little girl's head.
Gao Yang's mouth hung open, and the noodles fell with a plop onto the table.
At six years old, he didn't understand what "crossing over" meant, nor did he know what a "parallel world" was.
He thought he was still dreaming, but he had no idea that this dream would last twelve years.
...
Now, Gao Yang had long since adapted to this new world and had fully merged with his host's identity. He was Gao Yang, 18 years old, a senior in high school, living in a warm family of five, with a kind grandmother, loving yet occasionally bickering parents, and a quirky little sister.
He lived a good life, like most teenagers his age. He focused on studying for the college entrance exam, sometimes daydreaming about which university to attend, what job to pursue, who to marry, and how many kids to have...
In short, Gao Yang's wish at six years old had come true—he had "found" his parents, and with them, a grandmother and a sister.
His life was happy, and he asked for nothing more.
Until the day of his 18th birthday, when everything changed.
After the evening study session, Gao Yang was riding his bicycle home. While passing through a dimly lit alley, a shadow suddenly emerged from the corner and crashed into him, knocking both him and his bike over.
Gao Yang fell to the ground but wasn't seriously injured. He grinned and stood up, then saw who had knocked him over. Under the dim streetlight stood a short, middle-aged man who looked emaciated, with a pale face and a terrified expression. He wore a tattered hospital gown, stained with blood.
"Uncle, are you alright..." Gao Yang began.
"Run!" The man grabbed Gao Yang's shoulders with terrifying strength. "Monsters! There are monsters everywhere! Run! Get out of here!"
His voice was filled with a sense of desperate bloodshed. "Don't trust anyone..."
Bang!
Before the man could say anything else, a bullet pierced his temple, traveling through his skull and exiting through the other side, blossoming into a blood-red rose.
Swish— The thick smell of blood and the pungent stench of decay hit Gao Yang's senses.
The man's hands, which were still gripping Gao Yang's shoulders, slowly loosened, his horrified expression frozen forever. His bulging eyes no longer moved, etched with despair, fear, and unwillingness.
Two seconds later, the corpse hit the ground with a heavy thud.
Gao Yang was stunned.
He stood there, his feet quickly soaked in the spreading pool of blood, feeling sticky and wet. The ringing in his ears from the bullet's impact began to fade, replaced by the thumping of his heartbeat: Thump, thump, thump-thump-thump...
"Child, are you hurt?"
"Don't be scared, you're safe now!"
"Close your eyes, don't look down…"
Several police officers rushed over. One of them took Gao Yang into his arms and covered his eyes.
...
The next day, Gao Yang was featured in the local news: "Severely mentally ill patient kills two nurses and flees, then takes a high school student hostage, killed on the spot."
Gao Yang took a day off and stayed home to rest.
The incident had left him a little shaken. Witnessing a life being brutally taken right in front of him was not something any ordinary person could handle. Furthermore, the situation with the mental patient was filled with questions, and something felt off about it—though he couldn't pinpoint what exactly.
That night, Gao Yang took a sleeping pill.
When he fell asleep, he dreamed.
The memories from his host's life before the crossover had long been absorbed, but there were still some blurry memories that seemed to have been forgotten.
In the dream, Gao Yang found himself back in the summer of when he was four years old, in the middle of the night.
He had eaten too much watermelon, and his bladder was swollen. He woke up in the middle of the night to use the bathroom. As he passed by his grandparents' room, he heard a strange noise.
Curious, he pressed his ear to the cold door. The sound became clearer, more unfamiliar. It sounded like the whimpering of a wild animal or the mournful wail of a giant whale from the deep sea. It was painful, mixed with a twisted excitement, and beneath that, he could hear the rough, muffled sound of something being torn apart.
A chill ran down Gao Yang's spine.
He had just heard the nursery teacher tell the story of Little Red Riding Hood. He thought to himself, "What if the big bad wolf sneaked into our house and ate Grandpa and Grandma?"
His heart raced, but he still gathered the courage to gently push open the door.
What he saw through the crack in the door made his heart stop!
Terrified, he ran back to his room, dove under the covers, and even forgot to address his bladder.
The next morning, Gao Yang wet the bed, thinking it was just a nightmare. But then, his mother came in, holding him tightly, her face filled with sorrow. She cried and said, "Gao Yang, Grandpa has passed away."
As he followed his mother out of the room, his grandfather's body was being carried away by medical staff on a stretcher, covered with a white cloth. By the time the funeral was held, his grandfather had been turned into an urn.
Throughout it all, Gao Yang and his sister never got to see their grandfather for the last time.
Looking back, many things didn't add up.
Grandpa had always been especially kind to Gao Yang and his sister. Why couldn't they see him one last time?
If his memory was correct, Grandpa's body, covered by the white cloth, looked strange—his upper body was oddly shaped, as if one of his arms was missing.
Wasn't Grandpa supposed to have died from heart disease? Why was his arm missing?
In the dream, Gao Yang stared at the body on the white stretcher, utterly confused.
Suddenly, the body on the stretcher sat up!
The white cloth was pulled away, revealing the mental patient from the previous night. His eyes had been gouged out, leaving two deep blood holes. Thick, black blood poured from his seven orifices, and he stretched out his bloody hands to firmly grab Gao Yang's shoulders.
—Monsters! There are monsters everywhere! Run! Get out of here!
—Don't trust anyone!
...
"Ah!"
Gao Yang woke up from the dream.
It was 10 AM, the sun was shining, and the April breeze stirred the curtains. Outside, the traffic hummed with the sounds of the bustling city.
"Big brother, did you have a nightmare?" His sister was sitting at the edge of his bed, tilting her head with a curious look and blinking her big eyes.
Gao Yang was stunned. "What are you doing in my room?"
His sister gave him an exasperated look. "The sun's already up! Mom asked me to wake you up!"
"Oh, alright."
His sister walked out of the room.
Gao Yang still felt a bit dazed. He got out of bed and took a big gulp of water.
At that moment, his phone rang. Gao Yang opened WeChat absentmindedly.
Pffft— He spat the water out.