Chapter 67 Part Two [An Yanling]
One day, Xun suddenly stopped playing with me.
Perhaps she was angry, because I never managed to catch her during hide-and-seek.
Even when playing games, I was a bit too competitive. It always makes the losing party feel uncomfortable.
So I thought I would just let her win the next day, but I never got the chance.
Or rather, she never spoke to me again.
Even when I called her, she wouldn’t answer. I thought she was ignoring me because she was angry, but after a while, I realized it might not be the case.
No matter how good her acting was, she wouldn’t just pretend not to see someone walking right in front of her, someone she could touch.
Finally, on the sixth time I tripped Xun, and she just thought she’d stumbled on flat ground, I knew that Xun wasn’t deliberately ignoring me, but had truly become unable to see me.
At first, I didn’t realize the seriousness of the situation, and I even felt a little excited.
Just like a child with a new toy, becoming like an invisible person felt like something out of a sci-fi movie, wasn’t that interesting?
But first, I had to confirm if others could still see me.
Unfortunately, Axue wasn’t here. Otherwise, I could have just asked her to test it out.
Axue would often disappear for a while, saying she had work to do, and then return after four or five days. She was also special; she didn’t have a maid accompanying her when she went out, but if she didn’t return within a week, a maid would go look for her.
When she returned, she’d have… I thought Axue was probably doing some dangerous work, like being an assassin!
That must be so cool!
Although I wanted to follow Axue to see what the scene was like, I had promised my father not to do anything dangerous again. If I were discovered, I would definitely be severely punished. So I never dared to suggest it.
But now it’s different!
Perhaps now, no one can see me!
Finally, through the maids who passed by, after various tests (pranks), I finally came to a conclusion… just as I expected, no one could see me!
I was very excited.
Because this meant that all the things I had been forbidden from doing before could now be done!
No one would scold me, no one would supervise me; no one would punish me.
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I’m free!
I was overjoyed and ran around like a wild horse that had broken its reins, playfully teasing the maids everywhere.
Then, I quickly got bored.
The point of pranks was to see the embarrassed and angry reactions of the people being pranked, and being chased was also part of the fun.
But with no reaction, it only made me feel like I had been happy for nothing.
It felt like an idiotic thing to do, not fun at all.
I started to wish someone would see me. If the maids ignored me, then I would go find my sisters and father.
With that thought, I started searching the vast mansion.
It was like playing hide-and-seek.
When we played hide-and-seek before, because of Xun, Axue, and the maids who played with us, no one had ever found me, so I had never been “it.”
This time, it was finally my turn to be “it.”
Search after search, disappointment after disappointment, no one could find me at all.
The few sisters I found couldn’t see me. No matter what I did to them, I couldn’t get their attention.
It was then that I realized the seriousness of the situation.
No one could see me, no one remembered me, no one would know I was gone.
Perhaps even Dad doesn’t remember me…
I felt dejected and cried sadly. But no one cared about my feelings as I sobbed uncontrollably.
After crying until I had no more tears left, I felt I was too tired, my eyelids kept getting heavy, and a tune like a lullaby drifted into my ears.
Unconsciously, a soft chair appeared beside me. I slumped into it, hugged my legs, and no longer wanted to think about anything.
My heartbeat gradually steadied, and I seemed to have fallen asleep without realizing it…
In my dream, I recalled bits and pieces of the past. Ever since I met Dad, he had always taken care of me… we lived together.
We played together, he always protected me.
Vaguely, I felt someone pick me up and lay me in a warm place. Cuddled up inside, it felt incredibly soft and comfortable, so comfortable that I didn’t want to get up.
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The person stroked my head and tucked me in.
Like Dad, supporting me, protecting me, guiding me…
“Xiao An…”
“Dad!”
Dad’s voice was like an alarm clock, urging me to wake up. It was as if he were saying it was too early for me to give up thinking, I couldn’t just sleep like this, or I might never wake up.
Maybe, maybe Dad would still remember me! No, if it’s Dad, he’ll definitely be able to see me! He must still remember me!
With that hope, I forced my eyes open, finally overcoming sleep, and sat up with great effort.
I rubbed my eyes, yawned, stretched, and then looked around.
Why was I here?
Where was this place?
Was I dreaming?
Why did this happen?
You mustered the courage to take a step, nervously beginning to examine the room.
There was nothing here, just emptiness. Not even the faintest sound could be heard. It was a dim and cold little room.
There was a door in the room, and only this door led outside.
Now, all I had to do was open this door. Adhering to the common sense that “doors are meant to be opened,” you got up and walked to the door.
Still groggy from just waking up, your limbs were weak, but to escape this suffocating room as soon as possible, you pushed the door with all your might. The door opened without hesitation.
I hadn’t expected it to be so smooth, and the fact that I wasn’t locked up relieved me.
The door opened, and you walked in… or rather, walked out?
It’s hard to say, because outside the door wasn’t another room.
Outside was a barren land. The air became very dry. The ground was so lacking in moisture that it cracked. The cracks were so wide that it felt like you could get stuck if you weren’t careful.
You felt a bit bewildered.
This wasn’t “outside,” you instinctively judged. Nothing but words?
For some reason, you felt very guilty, but this situation wasn’t your fault.
Says.
You didn’t know where to go next, so alone and without any protection, you walked aimlessly in this wilderness.
Looking up, you could see ten suns in the sky, blinding and incredibly dazzling. Just looking at them directly made your eyes feel like they were on fire, and the surrounding air seemed to be burning.
But as you gradually moved forward, the suns in the sky began to…
You suddenly felt terrified, so scared that you dared not move, only hugging yourself and trembling in place. The suns turned black one by one, until only one was still shining.
You were extremely scared, and finally, you couldn’t bear this feeling of waiting to die. You rushed out in one go.
You ran until you were dizzy, breathless, and your legs were weak, but you didn’t stop, you just kept running.
Run, run, run, as if trying to escape a nightmare, you kept running.
The scenery began to change. The wilderness turned into steep mountain peaks, which then turned into deserts, endlessly.
Enduring such pain, you continued to move forward. What awaits you ahead? Perhaps nothing. You would eventually collapse from exhaustion….
However, you persevered in the end. Even you didn’t know how you were still standing. Your body was hot, as if you had a fever. You wiped your sweat and panted, struggling to climb the sand dunes.
Finally, you reached the highest sand dune, where there was a door, exactly like the one you had opened before.
But there was no joy in your heart. Your initial hope seemed to have been extinguished unconsciously. You no longer knew why you were moving forward… perhaps it was just by instinct.
You opened the door and entered a new world.
It was like a late night after the rain, surrounded by silence and moisture.
You picked up a small umbrella by the roadside and continued walking, feeling your mood unconsciously calming down.
Sometimes, there were small ponds underfoot. The clear water surface was right beneath your feet, reflecting other scenes like a mirror, but not your face.
You felt a little angry and stomped hard on the water, sending splashes high into the air, even hitting your cheeks.
You gently wiped the water droplets on your cheeks with your hand. The water surface rippled, distorting the reflection into a strange shape.
Strangely, the distorted reflection remained distorted and could no longer return to its original form.
Continuing forward, you saw an apartment building. There were no other buildings around, or rather, there was nothing besides this tall, strangely shaped apartment building.
Looking up, you couldn’t see the top. You couldn’t judge how tall it was. In the sky, there were only dense dark clouds and the faint flashes of setting suns between them.
By this point, you no longer remembered who you were. You had forgotten everything, even what you looked like.
You were completely confused.
You knew nothing anymore.
You remembered nothing anymore.
The apartment was full of mirrors, but like the water outside, they couldn’t reflect your image.
It was like a funhouse mirror maze; once you entered, you couldn’t find the exit.
Why do people look in mirrors? To see their appearance, confirm their expressions, check their hairstyles, apply makeup.
To examine oneself, to correct someone who is not oneself, yet infinitely close to oneself.
The moment you look in the mirror is the moment you face someone identical to yourself.
Being able to observe and touch oneself from the outside… this is a rare opportunity.
“Stop.”
I decided to get straight to the point. I couldn’t just stand by and watch anymore.
“The mind is generally divided into two levels: ‘consciousness’ and ‘unconsciousness.’ The surface personality is ‘consciousness,’ which is connected to reality. The depths of the mind are ‘unconsciousness.’ When ‘consciousness’ rests, the unconscious begins to act… that is, dreams.
You are in my dream.
However, ‘you’ are not my unconsciousness.
“You are not my unconscious, and if this continues, you will be merged by me.”
I stared at you and warned.
“Go back, turn around and leave this place, return to where you first came from. That is your normal life, and I hope you continue to exist well.” I just need to look at you… I couldn’t say this sentence out loud.
You said nothing, just kept staring at me intently.
You suddenly gave a strange smile.
“I found you. It’s your turn to be ‘it’ now?”
