V2C3

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Midnight.

A silent room.

Lin Jue suddenly woke, his eyes snapping open, nightmare lingering in his mind as he took in a few deep breaths, his neck and back sticky with cold sweat.

In his dream, he was running, running, running, unseeable enemies behind him, all around him, forcing him to keep on. Even though he was so tired he could faint at any moment, he still kept running.

That feeling of exhaustion carved itself into his brain, his heart not calming even after waking up.

Just what was that giant shadow chasing after him? That deep ominous feeling…

Cold moonlight shone into the small room from the gaps in the curtains, illuminating it with its dim light. Lin Jue stared dumbly at the ceiling, not moving for a long time.

For some reason, there was the feeling of being stalked. It was an unexplainable sensation, but he could feel something watching in the room. Watching him.

His heartbeat sped up again. Lin Jue slowly sat up to see Song Hanzhang standing next to the window, his back to him.

“Xuezhang?” Lin Jue thought he was still dreaming. It was midnight, so what was Song Hanzhang doing standing at the window and not sleeping? Was this some strange hobby of his?

“Mhm,” Song Hanzhang murmured in reply, barely audible.

A strange silence encroached the room. Lin Jue opened his mouth to ask him what he was doing, but didn’t say anything in the end.

Song Hanzhang turned around soundlessly, the moonlight softly falling onto his face. His side profile was like a stone statue, cold with perfection against the frigid light. He seemed abnormally thin at that moment; even though he was still the same calm, collected person, Lin Jue somehow felt his fragility and confusion.

He was like a string pulled taut, not knowing when it would snap.

“Did something happen?” he couldn’t help but ask.

“Nothing, I was just reminded of ‘The Truman Show’,” Song Hangzhang replied.

Lin Jue had watched the movie, but it hadn’t left a huge impression on him. He could faintly remember that the protagonist lived in a huge film set where his life was a reality show that had been arranged for him, and his parents, wife, friends, all actors, the billions of audiences outside watching his every move and enjoying every second of it.

“Living in a fake world, being watched at every minute, how sad…” Song Hanzhang held the windowsill as he looked outside.

The trees waved their dark, looming shadows like there were ghosts hidden among them, laughing at the ignorant humans.

“I hate being controlled,” Song Hanzhang said, his calm voice sharply outlining his disgust.

What? Lin Jue didn’t understand why Song Hanzhang had suddenly brought this up, but the deep disgust in his voice was real. What was he struggling against? Being watched, or…

——Sorry, I just don’t like being controlled by others.

Lin Jue suddenly remembered what Song Hanzhang had said last night in the library.

——especially when you had those detentions.

Lu Ren’s voice made its way into Lin Jue’s brain. Connecting that with the cold voice that Song Hanzhang had when mentioning his parents’ deaths, he couldn’t help but imagine up a web of tragic pasts.

“Stop overthinking it.” Song Hanzhang’s voice cut through Lin Jue’s imagination.

Lin Jue realized awkwardly that he had been seen through; even though Song Hanzhang wasn’t wearing his glasses, his eyes were still as sharp. “There’s no point thinking about it now, all you need to do is survive. That’s all.” Saying that, Song Hanzhang pulled close the curtain lightly and locked the moonlight out of the room.

“Sleep. It will all be better once the day comes.”

Lin Jue looked regretfully at the window. It was so rare for Song Hanzhang to show any human emotion to him and he had felt so flattered, but the moment he had closed the curtains, Lin Jue knew he wouldn’t be continuing.

Silently lying back onto the bed, Lin Jue savored the emotions that Song Hanzhang had let out in between lines.

‘The Truman Show’? Let’s watch that movie again another day, he thought.

&&&

Monday Night, 19:50.

Lin Jue and Song Hanzhang stood in the mostly empty Time Plaza, the other students all passing through the plaza hurriedly, making the two beneath the clock tower look out of place.

Lin Jue pulled on his backpack straps, his finger rubbing his wrapped-up machete. He and Song Hanzhang had already made preparations this time, but he was still terrified of the incoming game of death.

No, it wasn’t just terror- there was also an unnamed excitement, sealed deep down within his soul. Lin Jue took a deep breath and convinced himself that it was an illusion from the stress.

“Because we’re already at the plaza, we’ll be able to get the reward right after the game starts so it’ll be a lot easier this way, right?” Lin Jue asked optimistically, a strange feeling flowing through his chest as the students around them passed.

Even though they were living in the same school, they knew nothing about what was going to happen.

He didn’t know whether to feel jealous or sympathetic… but if he could choose, he would also rather live a normal life in ignorance.

“I doubt it,” Song Hanzhang cut smoothly through Lin Jue’s train of thought. “I don’t believe it will go that easily. We might be standing inside the dormitories without any weaponry once the game begins.”

Lin Jue sighed. “Maybe… It just wouldn’t let us have it easy. It’s the same as with gathering the easter eggs right? It’s already been three days but not even one good easter egg has shown up, they were all just normal craft eggs. Did that Lilith make sure to pass out the eggs on the last day? Or did she pass them out outside the school?”

Song Hanzhang stared at the clock tower, silent.

Lin Jue stopped talking as well. He secretly watched Song Hanzhang sit down on the flower bed, the distant lamp light illuminating his figure, casting down a long shadow.

For no apparent reason, Lin Jue felt a deep confusion and fear from him. He was like a lone prophet, shouldering the ominous future by himself but unable to reveal the truth to anyone else.

Lin Jue had been confused, had doubted, had struggled, but in the end, all that remained was a hatred towards his own uselessness, and a heartache for Song Hanzhang who had to bear the secret alone. If he had been stronger, would Song Hanzhang be able to trust him more?

“Xuezhang, I know it doesn’t make sense, but… I still feel like you’re hiding something very important from me.” Lin Jue finally asked the question that had been circling in his mind for the past three days.

“Don’t ask.” Song Hanzhang’s answer surprised him. If he didn’t want to say anything, he would use the most logical reason to fool him, or lightly dispel his doubts, but he only told Lin Jue to not ask.

“Is it something you can’t tell me?” Lin Jue asked again.

“… It’s only a hypothesis. Something that hasn’t been proven yet, so it will be fine for me to be the only one to know.” Song Hanzhang looked at his open palm and slowly retracted his fingers into a loose grip.

“…Is it very scary?”

“Mhm.”

Lin Jue hesitated, then said firmly, “If you do prove it, please tell me. No matter how scary it might be, I want to shoulder it with you. Don’t always try to be by yourself.”

Song Hanzhang seemed to have smiled, but it faded as quickly as it appeared, so quickly that Lin Jue thought it was an illusion. “Alright.”

The hands of the clock ticked their way towards the time of nightmare. Finally, they overlapped, and the booming of the clock tower rang dull and solemn.

White mist spread from beneath their feet, its origin unknown but becoming thicker and thicker. Lin Jue immediately unwrapped the cover on the machete and held it by its handle. “Something feels wrong.”

There was no reply from Song Hanzhang. Lin Jue turned around, only to be met with emptiness.

What happened? Lin Jue looked around in surprise but all he could see through the dense fog was the light from the surrounding lamps, the flowerbed and clock tower having already vanished.

It was empty around him apart from the rustling of leaves overhead. The can next to his feet rolled onto the road.

The fog decreased his field of vision, but Lin Jue was still able to sense that he was now in the northern business district.

Separated from him by the road, a row of shops lay opposite. Lin Jue was currently standing in a long patch of greenery, the other side being the electrical building and the council complex.

What happened? How did he suddenly get here from the plaza? Where was Song Hanzhang?

His phone vibrated. Lin Jue picked up the phone and as expected, he was met with Lilith’s sweet and familiar voice. “Good evening. Lucky survivor, welcome again to the devil’s hunting grounds. Tonight’s theme is ‘Insects’, with a wide variety of everything we have on offer. I hope you have a good time.”

“Where is Song Hanzhang?” Lin Jue no longer felt as nervous as the first time he had picked up and used the time he had to ask questions.

“I don’t know either, maybe you’ll meet him at the plaza. If he’s still alive, that is.” Lilith laughed, that spine shivering sound akin to having countless spiders crawling along his back. Before Lin Jue was able to ask further, she hung up.

Lin Jue stuffed the phone back into his bag and tightened his grip on the machete. Song Hanzhang had given him two knives, both military tools that he got from who knew where. One was a machete, suitable for newbies against any danger, and the other was a dagger with a blood groove. Both had been sharpened and were extremely dangerous.

Now that Song Hanzhang was no longer next to him, Lin Jue had to force himself to use his own brain. He was in the northern shopping district which wasn’t far from the plaza. As long as he kept walking forwards towards the north-west and then crossed the man-made water systems and the A-G buildings, he would arrive at the time plaza – if all went well.

As for the theme of ‘insects’ that Lilith had mentioned… What kind of insects?

Lin Jue tried to imagine the possible enemies, but all that came to mind were the terrifying zergs from sci-fi movies, or aliens. He couldn’t help but become depressed by his own imagination. If the enemies were truly like that, then there really was no point in continuing to play.

Calm down, he needed to calm down. He had experience, weapons and a direction, much more than the ignorant new players. The game had just begun, if even he was unable to make it to the plaza, then there would be no way for the new players to either.

Slowly unwinding, Lin Jue walked forwards cautiously, listening as he walked. The fog covered his field of vision greatly and he had to rely on his hearing. Unfortunately, he never had any special training for this aspect of his senses and the small sounds around him all sounded the same.

A small rustling noise came from the bushes. Lin Jue took a step back in alarm when a huge moth flew out from the shadows. It must have been the largest Lin Jue had ever seen; it was about the size of a washbasin, the eye-shaped patterns on its wings ghastly underneath the lamplight.

Lin Jue’s pupils dilated and the next second, the special training of the past days came into use. He gripped the handle of the machete and sliced upwards with one, clean strike- the moth was struck midair. Half of its wing fell onto the ground, and it as well.

The moth’s fat abdomen twitched a few times, the colourful fluff quivering in the wind as the siphon mouthparts of its jaw curled up and bounced uncontrollably. It struggled a few times on the ground, as if trying to continue flying with its mauled wings, the eye-shaped patterns on its wing even eerier from its new size.

Lin Jue immediately took another step and pierced its body, sticky, yellowish-green liquid splashing out from the wound.

Before he had time to breathe, the sound of wind flapping came from the darkness one after the other as moths of different sizes flew out from the bushes, their numbers staggering.

Lin Jue no longer hesitated and sprinted off, the skull-numbing sound of wings beating coming from behind him. Without turning around, he could already see what a horrendous image it would be- densely packed moths flapping their scaled wings, terrifying dust floating through the air, maybe even poisoned dust.

The opposite shopping street was lit up. After a brief thought, Lin Jue rushed into a dark shop and pulled the glass door closed.

Almost the next second, moths slammed against the glass one after another. The door shook, almost breaking apart.

The impacts ended and a few giant moths lay on it revealing their soft and fat abdomens, disturbing, disgusting.

Lin Jue scrutinized the mutated creatures from behind, calculating how long it would take before they became attracted by the lights- he had chosen a dark shop for that specific reason.

These moths were like some strange outer planet creatures, the dim light twisting their giant, eerie bodies. Rather than fear, Lin Jue felt revolted.

He rubbed his arm with his empty hand, a layer of goosebumps covering the bare flesh.

It was a horrible feeling to be trapped by those strange moths in a narrow and dark space.

A light crash came from behind him and Lin Jue’s strained nerves jumped.

In the silent darkness, it was as if some strange, gigantic creature was crawling along the ground, across the fallen plastic bag, around the storage racks, whispering using the faux-language of the insects, watching him.

Lin Jue suddenly remembered something he had been ignoring- the dark was where most insects enjoyed staying most.

Vera’s Notes:

THE TRUMAN SHOW, OH I HAVE SO MUCH TO SAY ABOUT THAT ONE. Lin Jue might not remember much about it, but I remember every single second! It was a pretty good movie honestly, and I didn’t mind watching it, even if it was an in-class text, but it was like a kick in the teeth reading that title again in this book. This… Chinese… webnovel… How popular is The Truman Show exactly!?

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