A City, Counter-Extraordinary Bureau Headquarters.
Lin Du opened his eyes. The air smelled faintly of disinfectant.
The white light was a bit harsh. He squinted, taking a moment to adjust.
It felt like a piece of red-hot iron had been stuffed into his head. His temples throbbed, each pulse sending pain across his entire forehead.
“You awake?” Ju Zhang’s voice came from the side.
He stood by the bed, raising an eyebrow at him.
“Ju Zhang? What…?”
Lin Du tried to sit up, but as soon as his arms pushed against the bed, a wave of dizziness washed over him.
“Hey, wait.”
Ju Zhang reached out and pressed down on his shoulder.
“Don’t rush to get up. First, I need to confirm something. Are you the Lin Du I know?”
Lin Du was taken aback, finding it absurd.
“What do you mean?”
“You don’t remember what happened that night?”
Lin Du frowned, trying to recall. The images in his mind were fragmented.
A pure white space, the Meng Mo disguised as White Li and Li Ya, his body pinned by some force…
And then the words: “Sleep. Goodbye forever.”
After that, nothing. The rest of the memory was blank.
“I can’t recall clearly,” he shook his head. “I only remember having my consciousness taken by the Meng Mo. After that… I have no memory at all.”
Ju Zhang’s expression turned serious, his eyebrows knitting together.
“At the time, your consciousness was fluctuating abnormally. Without any external awakening, you woke up on your own. And it wasn’t a normal state of waking.”
He paused, as if choosing his words.
“You fell into some kind of… unconscious state. It was very destructive. You smashed the experimental equipment. Bo Shi and I had a hell of a time pinning you back down and giving you a sedative shot.”
Lin Du looked down at his hands. There was a faint red ring around his wrist, as if something had been tied around it.
Medical tape was stuck to the back of his hand, with an IV needle faintly visible underneath.
“…Was anyone hurt?”
“No.” Ju Zhang shook his head, his tone lightening. “Luckily we reacted in time. Only one piece of equipment was damaged. But Bo Shi was heartbroken—that machine cost him a lot of effort.”
“I’m sorry.”
Lin Du sighed and lay back down.
As soon as the back of his head touched the pillow, the dull pain surged up again, like someone was drumming inside.
“Oh, right,” he turned his head. “What about that Meng Mo?”
“Escaped.” Bo Shi’s voice came from the doorway.
He walked in slowly, holding a cup of steaming tea. “She was too fast. We couldn’t capture her. However…”
He set the teacup on the bedside table and pushed up his glasses.
“She took heavy damage in the dream. It’ll be a while before we see her again. With that level of injury, any ordinary Abnormal would have been done for. She was lucky to escape at the last moment.”
Lin Du nodded and was silent for a moment.
“How long was I out?”
“Two days.”
Lin Du sat up abruptly, reached for his phone on the nightstand.
As the screen lit up, a flood of messages popped up.
All from White Li.
[Didn’t you go running this morning?]
[Brought you breakfast, want some?]
[Which room are you in?]
[?]
[???]
[You’re not sick too, are you?]
[Reply when you see this]
[Hey hey hey?]
[You’re not dead, are you?]
[Ignore me and I’m calling the cops]
[Fine, I’ll give you one more day]
[Squeak if you’re alive]
“……”
Lin Du stared at the screen, a slight twitch at the corner of his mouth.
Ju Zhang leaned over, peeking at the screen, his eyes lighting up.
“Girlfriend?”
“Guy.” Lin Du didn’t look up, his tone flat.
“Boyfriend?!” Ju Zhang’s voice raised a notch.
Lin Du shot him a glare. “Just a friend.”
“Didn’t you usually not like socializing?” Ju Zhang shrugged, a hint of teasing in his voice. “When did you get a friend who cares about you this much?”
“A classmate I know.”
Lin Du pocketed his phone and got out of bed.
As soon as his feet hit the floor, his legs gave way. He grabbed the edge of the bed to steady himself and casually pulled the IV needle out of his hand.
“Feeling okay?” Ju Zhang’s voice returned to seriousness. “Want another check-up?”
Lin Du stood up and stretched.
His bones cracked a couple of times. When he raised his arms above his head, he could feel the lingering ache in his muscles.
“I’m fine. No problems.”
He picked up his jacket from the back of the chair, put it on, and headed for the door.
“Uh… we’ll find a way.”
Ju Zhang’s voice came from behind, lower than before.
Lin Du stopped and looked back.
The old man stood by the bed, hands in his pockets, his smile gone.
“But until then, you might… need to reduce the number of times you transform.”
His eyes fell on Lin Du’s arm. Though hidden by the sleeve, both of them knew what was there.
“From what we can see now, the degree of [Erosion] isn’t high yet. But continuously using your power might accelerate the process.”
Lin Du lowered his head. “You saw it.”
His voice was very soft, as if talking to himself.
“I was planning to tell you later.”
“Do you think I don’t know your temper?” Ju Zhang let out a laugh. “You’d probably only tell us when you couldn’t hide it anymore.”
He stepped forward and patted Lin Du on the shoulder.
“Make sure to come in for a check-up every month.” He lowered his voice. “Also, don’t tell anyone about your condition.”
Lin Du looked up, meeting those aged yet sharp eyes.
“I understand.”
“Go on.”
“Yeah.”
Lin Du pushed open the door, then looked back once.
The old man walked to the window, clasped his hands behind his back, and stared blankly at the dusk outside.
Walking out of the building, he pulled out his phone, glanced at the dense messages on the screen, and typed a line.
[I’m fine. My phone was broken the past two days.]
After sending it, he read the line again and added another.
[See you at school tomorrow.]
The moment the message was sent, the other side showed “typing…”
But after waiting a long time, nothing came through.
Lin Du stared at the jumping ellipsis on the screen for a few seconds, then put away his phone and walked down the steps.
Wind blew from the street corner, lifting a few fallen leaves.
He pulled his jacket tighter and headed home.
……
White Li was lying on the bed in her rented room, staring at those two messages for a long time.
“Phone broken?”
She muttered, flipping the phone over and pressing it into the pillow, then flipping it back to look.
“Broken is broken. Who hasn’t broken a phone before?”
White Li buried her face in the pillow, her tail swishing behind her.
‘Hmph. And here I thought that Meng Mo had sucked you dry. Worried for nothing.’
She stuffed the phone under the pillow, rolled over, and stared at the ceiling.
‘Two days without replying, and then suddenly the phone was broken?’
‘That excuse was way too lame. Even if a plane had broken down, it wouldn’t take two days to fix.’
‘Couldn’t she borrow someone else’s phone to let me know she was okay, or at least show her face downstairs like before?’
She rolled over in bed, wrapping the blanket into a ball and hugging it.
‘Strange. Am I angry?’
‘Why would I be angry?’
‘He’s not that important to me. No relation at all.’
‘Just… just a regular friend under the identity of “White Li.”‘
White Li lay on the bed, facing away from the ceiling.
‘It’s just… just concern between ordinary classmates. If a classmate disappears for two days, anyone would ask, right?’
‘Yes, that’s it.’
‘She just did what any normal person would do. What’s the big deal about sending a few messages?’
‘And they weren’t even that many… just, uh, forty or fifty.’
‘That’s normal. Totally normal.’
“Ahhhhhh——”
White Li sat up abruptly, grabbed the pillow, and slammed it onto the bed.
“Why am I so worried about him?! Who does he think he is?!”
The pillow bounced a couple of times and rolled onto the floor.
White Li panted heavily, staring at the lonely pillow on the floor. Suddenly, she felt a bit guilty.
She picked up the pillow, dusted it off, and put it back on the bed.
‘Forget it.’
‘At least he’s okay.’
The phone buzzed under the pillow.
White Li reflexively pulled it out. It was a message from Lin Du.
[I’ll bring you buns tomorrow morning.]
White Li stared at the line, the corners of her mouth rising uncontrollably, then quickly pressing them down.
Her finger hovered over the screen for a long time. She typed a line, deleted it, deleted it, and typed again.
Finally, she sent:
[Whatever.]
After sending, she felt it was too cold and added another:
[I want the beef ones.]
Lin Du quickly replied:
[Okay.]