Chapter 2

"You have always been Yang Yi, haven't you forgotten again!"

The desk mate rolled his eyes.

A loud "boom" echoed in his mind, countless memories merging, and the young man's body stiffened.

It was just a dream!

He indeed was Yang Yi, eighteen years old, a student in Class 7, Grade 3 at Tancheng No. 2 High School. His desk mate and best friend, Zhang Zhen, was a slightly chubby boy with a large forehead, known as "Polar Immortal."

Zhang Zhen always covered for him when he slept in class.

"How long did I sleep just now?" Yang Yi asked.

"About half an hour!"

Glancing at the cheap digital watch on his wrist, Zhang Zhen looked puzzled: "It seems longer than usual."

Though he didn't know the content of the nightmare, he could tell something was off with his desk mate.

It usually lasted about twenty minutes, very punctual, but this time it was longer.

Without saying anything more, the sealed memories in Yang Yi's mind surfaced. After a long time, he sighed.

Three years ago, in a car accident, he was hit and flew into the air, landing on a mirror. He saw many fragments reflecting images pierce into his body.

Later, when the doctors operated to remove the fragments, they strangely found none!

X-rays were taken several times but found nothing, and they concluded it must have been a mistake!

At the time, he was healthy and didn't take it seriously.

But from then on, the nightmares began!

Every time he slept, he would fall into a dream like the one just now, killing himself once a day and forgetting his name, making him suspect he had some kind of mental illness.

He had undergone CT scans and MRI tests multiple times and even secretly seen a psychologist, but the results were all the same: he was very healthy!

He tried staying up late, running himself to exhaustion, taking melatonin, and even hitting his head with a brick...

None of it worked.

As long as he slept, the nightmare would appear on schedule, once a day, never missing a day. Today was the 1080th time!

For three consecutive years, he killed himself every day. If he didn't have a strong mental state, he would have surely broken down long ago. Even so, he felt he was reaching his limit.

He didn't know if he could continue.

...

...

About 400 kilometers above Earth, in the silent space, a steel satellite shaped like a castle flew at a constant speed.

The Tiangong Space Station!

Currently, the world's most advanced space exploration base.

At this moment, in the "Deep Space Exploration Room" facing away from Earth, two astronauts looked at the most advanced equipment, their brows furrowed.

The alarm had been sounding since just now, but after checking all the equipment, they found no issues.

"Could it be..."

The astronaut in charge of the experiment changed his expression: "Activate the imaging device!"

The telescope on the station was not a traditional optical device but the "Sky Eye VII," capable of collecting radio waves and radiation.

Without activating the imaging device, even they wouldn't know what was detected.

"Okay!"

The other astronaut pressed the button, and an image immediately appeared on the screen.

"This, this can't be!"

"Heaven, this isn't real!"

Their scalps tingled, and the two astronauts turned pale, their voices trembling: "Call Earth, quickly, call Earth..."

"It's a mirror, a mirror as large as the solar system..."

...

...

No longer lost in thought, Yang Yi picked up his book.

The nightmares were hard to endure, but for him, the bigger problem was not this, but the college entrance exam.

There was less than a month left, and with his grades, even a junior college was a stretch.

There was no way around it; who could focus on studying with nightmares like that, especially ones where he killed himself?

Others who failed the exam could find other ways, but he was different. His parents were farmers, and his tuition mainly came from part-time jobs. Though he didn't want to admit it, he knew the college entrance exam was the only fair chance to change his fate.

If he missed it, finding a similar opportunity would be almost impossible.

He soon noticed something was off.

Usually, after the nightmare, his mind was foggy, but this time, he was exceptionally clear, and his memory seemed better. He could remember things after one look, and many difficult problems became easy to solve.

He took out a test paper and started testing himself.

His problem-solving speed also increased, and he could clearly identify issues where he used to make mistakes.

Yang Yi was stunned.

What's going on? Doing nightmares and feeling energized?

Could he have a masochistic constitution?

If so, continuing for a while longer might not be bad...

Full of questions, he took out another test paper, intending to try again, but then he heard an urgent shout in the classroom.

"Look, what is that?"

"Ah, it's so beautiful..."

"Shouting during class!" The class monitor, Liu Lei, frowned, but his face turned pale: "Damn..."

His voice was even louder than the others.

Not just him, but other classes also echoed with shouts.

Curious, Yang Yi looked out the window. The sunlight was blinding, and he was also stunned.

In the sky, a series of buildings, streets, mountains, and skyscrapers were suspended, perfectly mirroring the ground, as if a duplicate city had appeared in the sky.

Many students, ignoring the class, rushed down to the playground, which was already crowded.

The discussions never stopped, and everyone stared upward, unsure if it was real or a projection.

"Let's go see!"

Seeing many students run out, Zhang Zhen followed closely behind.

He always loved watching the commotion, and such a big event couldn't be missed.

Curious, Yang Yi also went to the playground.

The buildings and mountains in the sky were the opposite of those on the ground, hanging upside down, giving a sense of impending collapse.

"It seems... it's a mirror!"

Someone shouted.

Yang Yi was stunned.

Indeed.

The scene before him was like a mirror hanging in the sky, perfectly reflecting the city.

"It's not a mirror, otherwise, why can't we see living things..." A skeptical voice sounded.

Not just him, others noticed too.

If it were a simple mirror, it should reflect not only the city but also animals and people. But what they saw was a quiet city with no signs of life.

It looked like an empty city.

"Can't see people? Then... can you see yourself?"

Yang Yi looked at his desk mate.

Zhang Zhen shook his head, his eyes showing confusion: "Can you see yourself?"

Yang Yi shook his head, denying it, but he was internally shocked.

Because...

He could see the reflection of life in the mirror.

But only his own.

Standing alone on the crowded playground, it seemed as if everyone around him had become invisible.

Despite the huge mirror floating high in the sky, his reflection was as clear as if it were right in front of him, even the pores on his face were visible, extremely eerie!

Looking around, he found that no one could see their own reflection or anyone else's, and Yang Yi was puzzled.

Could it be related to his past experiences?

But apart from killing himself 1080 times... there was nothing special!

Lifting his head again, just as he was about to observe more clearly, he saw his reflection in the mirror, with black eyes staring intently at him, a slight smile on his lips.

In an instant, Yang Yi's hair stood on end, and he felt a chill run down his spine.