Infinite Nightmares

After listening to what Tan Yougen said, Zhang Wenda didn’t quite understand what the other man meant.

"What are you trying to say? If you’re going to speak in riddles, I’m not going to waste my time trying to figure them out."

Tan Yougen simply smiled at Zhang Wenda, not explaining the meaning behind his words.

"You don’t need to guess. When the time comes, you’ll understand. Sometimes, external strength is important, but internal strength is even more so—especially in a strange world like this, where the boundary between the two isn’t so clear."

Not quite understanding, Zhang Wenda glanced at Tan Yougen, then turned and left.

As he walked out of the office, his earlier thoughts instantly came flooding back, weighing down on Zhang Wenda’s heart.

He had thought it was all in the past, that a new future was waiting for him, but he never expected them to come crashing back into his world.

Rage warred with an inexplicable panic in his heart, as if those childhood days of constant, unending dread had returned.

He didn’t want to live like that again. He would rather die.

Zhang Wenda drifted through the rest of the day in a daze. He hadn’t done a thing, yet he felt so, so tired.

That night, Zhang Wenda lay in bed, tossing and turning, unable to sleep. His mind churned with thoughts of the past, disturbing Song Jianguo, who grunted and mumbled from his spot under the bed.

He didn’t know how much time passed before he finally drifted into a heavy, troubled sleep.

"Wenda, Wenda?" Zhang Wenda stared, dazed, at his reflection in the mirror—a version of himself wearing children’s clothes. Just then, a voice emanated from a tall shadow beside him. "Look at these two outfits. Which one do you like? Go on, pick your favorite."

Two brand-new children’s outfits floated in front of Zhang Wenda. He hesitantly pointed to the blue one on the left, but a second later, the blue outfit vanished. The yellow one instantly appeared on his body as the familiar voice spoke again.

"What kind of choice was that? The yellow one is obviously much nicer. You’ll wear this one."

The scene shifted in an instant. The wall behind him bulged and became a blackboard. A large, cold hand pressed his head down, forcing him to apologize to someone else. "I did nothing wrong! He hit me first!"

But what followed was the sharp CRACK of a slap. It stunned Zhang Wenda. He didn’t understand why he was being hit when he hadn’t done anything wrong.

With that slap, the world around him changed drastically, and Zhang Wenda’s body suddenly grew taller.

When he looked up, he saw two scythe-wielding monsters standing before him, frantically attacking one another.

Just as one was being overpowered by the other, it suddenly turned and glared viciously at him.

Zhang Wenda was terrified. He was about to dodge, but in the next second, he was thrown violently to the ground. Belt buckles and clothes hangers rained down on him.

"Why can’t you be good! Why won’t you listen! Why can’t you understand what I’m saying!"

"Our lives are hard enough as it is, why do you have to make more trouble!"

The sound of children laughing drifted in from outside the window. "Look, Zhang Wenda’s getting beaten like a cornered rat! HAHAHA."

He didn’t know how much time passed before the inexplicable pain suddenly vanished. He saw two giant figures standing before him.

"We were wrong, but you’re not blameless either. If you weren’t always so disobedient, would we have to hit you? We’re doing this for your own good."

"Pull your collar up. Don’t let the neighbors see, or we’ll be completely humiliated."

"I’m doing this for your own good! How can you be so thoughtless!"

When the scene shifted again, the view outside the window was a starry sky, but the room was still the same cramped single in the tenement building.

THUMP! The larger monster kicked Zhang Wenda, sending him flying into the wall.

An enraged roar echoed in his ears. "This family is the way it is because of you! If I hadn’t had a talentless, worthless son like you, would I have been ’reassigned’?"

Zhang Wenda’s head was bleeding and his clothes were torn. He didn’t know why he was being beaten; he just instinctively said he was wrong, hoping to make the ordeal stop.

He cried out, scrambling to hide under the bed, but they dragged him out again. They hung him upside down and beat him until he passed out.

When it was all over, a bruised and battered Zhang Wenda struggled to lean his back against a nearby mattress, trying to bend over and untie the rope around his ankles.

But his legs were completely numb from being hung up. He was drenched in sweat from exhaustion, but he didn’t stop trying.

Hearing a CLICK from behind, Zhang Wenda turned his head and saw the smaller monster walk in through the door.

Zhang Wenda looked at it, his expression full of hurt, and said pitifully, "Mom, it hurts so much..."

Then Zhang Wenda watched it walk quickly to his side. It stood there, looking with great distress at the mattress, which was soaked with sweat and blood.

"You useless thing! I just washed these sheets!"

The next second, a high-heeled shoe kicked Zhang Wenda off the bed, sending him swinging into the wall like a human pendulum.

The moment he hit the wall, Zhang Wenda’s mind went blank. It felt as if something inside him had snapped. Black voids began to seep from his body.

As a wave of pain so intense it nearly made him faint washed over him, the tenement room around him dissolved, replaced by a pitch-black void so dark he couldn’t see his hand in front of his face.

Here, there was no more pain. Everything was utterly silent.

Just as Zhang Wenda thought it was all over, the sound of crackling electricity began to fill the air, accompanied by a low, soft laugh.

"No... don’t!"

Just as Zhang Wenda’s deepest fear was about to surface, a brilliant white light suddenly scattered the darkness.

A white rabbit stood before Zhang Wenda.

Zhang Wenda stared at it, momentarily lost. ’Uncle? Teacher Rabbit?’

Then he saw the white rabbit shake its head at him before taking his hand and leading him into the white light.

In the swirling chaos, Zhang Wenda had no idea how long he walked. It felt like an eternity and no time at all.

As he walked, Zhang Wenda realized the rabbit had led him to a mirror.

He looked into the mirror and saw an incredibly tall, massive, scythe-wielding monster.

It was enormous, several times his size, and it was staring at him with a bloodthirsty gaze, as if it wanted to burst from the mirror and devour him.

Zhang Wenda looked down at his own body and was shocked to find he was a child again. And yet, the mirror reflected the scythe monster.

Just as a bewildered Zhang Wenda was about to ask a question, he saw the scythe monster in the mirror abruptly turn red—a deep, visceral blood-red, as if it had been steeped in gore.

Next, the rabbit beside him began to change. A hint of blue crept up its fur from the bottom, and soon the entire rabbit was blue.

When Zhang Wenda looked down at himself, he discovered his own small body had turned completely yellow.

The monster, red. The rabbit, blue. The child, yellow. The three colors corresponded exactly to the Tri-Core of the Third Line.

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