Chapter 1: Nightmare On The Screen


    Eleven years ago.


    Lin Lan.


    The wind in the cold winter night felt like a knife on the face. On the deste and dirty dirt road in the Toyoda district, there was only the man’s urgent and heavy breathing.


    The tall figure disappeared into the darkness, and one could vaguely see the man’s sturdy arms sping a small body, struggling incessantly.


    “Damn it, don’t move.” The man, drenched in sweat in the cold night, had wolf-like eyes soaked in sweat, fierce and impatient. He kept cursing, “Move again, and I’ll kill you!”


    Damn it, if he couldn’t deliver the ‘goods’ by tomorrow, the loan shark would take off his arms. He wouldn’t do such desperate work otherwise.


    Zhi Qi woke up being jolted around, her mouth tightly sealed with tape. She couldn’t make a sound, only silently shedding tears, which quickly froze on her face in the winter night. She was cold and scared, not understanding why she woke up like this after sleeping well. She unconsciously struggled, only to be fiercely shouted at by the man holding her.


    Zhi Qi immediately dared not move.


    Although she was young, she was already ten years old, a fourth-grade “big kid.” The little girl vaguely understood that she might have been kidnapped. But after realizing this, an even deeper chill spread from the soles of her feet to her hair.An indescribable, inexpressible sense of fear surged into her heart. It wasn’t just because of the external cold; the girl’s hair stood on end. In Zhi Qi’s memory, the man had been running with her for a very long time.


    Almost to the point of nausea from the bumps, she was roughly ‘thrown’ down.


    The man intended to move Zhi Qi out of the city but was hindered by the patrols and inspections at various toll booths in the middle of the night. He had to temporarily ce the girl in an old truck used for transporting cabbages. Afterward, he ignored her life and death, wrapped himself in arge cotton coat at the back of the truck, and went to sleep in the front seat.


    Zhi Qi was terrified, her teeth sealed with tape, making a creaking sound. The girl’srge and bright eyes, washed by tears, appeared even more pure in the pitch-ck trunk of the truck. But she couldn’t see anything clearly, only vaguely smelling a cold, decaying smell of cabbage leaves on her nose.


    That was the first time Zhi Qi remembered a taste so vividly.


    From then on, she didn’t particrly like eating cabbage.


    That night was the most terrifying and lengthy in Zhi Qi’s memory. Her hands and feet were securely bound, numb and swollen from a long period of immobility. She could only lie stiffly… waiting to die. Meanwhile, the desperado who tied her up snored loudly, sleeping soundly.


    A ten-year-old child wouldn’t ponder deeply on why misfortune had struck so profoundly. They would only feel fear and tremble helplessly. Zhi Qi couldn’t remember how many times she had cried. Her face was frozen from tears, and her big eyes stared fixedly at the top of her head—presumably the roof of the carriage, but she couldn’t see anything.


    After what felt like an eternity, there were faint rustling sounds outside the carriage. This cabbage transport truck wasn’t sealed with steel; instead, it had curtains and cloth hanging around. Now, a corner of the curtain was gently lifted, allowing a dim ‘light’ to filter into the carriage.


    Terrified, Zhi Qi immediately curled up her body, her gaze still haunted.


    She was afraid it was the man who threatened to ‘kill’ her.


    For a moment, it seemed like her ears were ringing, forgetting that the thunderous snoring continued. It wasn’t until she saw a person’s head poking through the lifted corner of the curtain.


    That was the first time Zhi Qi saw Jiang Qi. She would never have imagined that the ‘world-saving hero’ who rescued her from peril would be a boy almost her age.


    But that’s exactly what happened.


    A young boy with a paleplexion but sharp eyebrows and eyes saw a girl tied up inside a truck. Surprisingly, his expression remained calm and unaffected.


    “Don’t make a sound.”


    Jiang Qi’s voice was low, almost a whisper, yet his hands skillfully untied the girl’s restraints. It seemed he was ustomed to dismantling things, disying great proficiency. At the moment of gaining freedom, the stagnant blood rushed back into the girl’s hands and feet, causing a tingling sensation. Fortunately, Jiang Qi seemed to anticipate this and did not remove the tape from her face.


    With his back turned to her, the boy gently said, “Climb onto my back.”


    Zhi Qi’s hands and feet were almost numb, but driven by survival instinct or perhaps sheer fear, she managed to climb onto Jiang Qi’s back.


    It felt like a dream.


    The boy, slightly taller than her, carried her on his back through the deserted and chilly streets of the Ind District in the early morning, running as if his life depended on it.


    The farther away from here, the better.


    Leaving this ce seemed to distance her from the nightmares and the pain associated with it.


    The first time Zhi Qi met Jiang Qi, he saved her.


    In every dream since then, from a boy to a young man, there was only Jiang Qi. His handsome face, with sharp features, and his dreamlike, intense ck eyes.


    As the boy ran with her on his back, Zhi Qi’s arms encircled his neck, even though they were in a perilous situation, she felt an inexplicable sense of security. Suddenly, as the jolting motion intensified, Jiang Qi’s body jolted, his expression bing sinister and fierce.


    Zhi Qi was taken aback, instinctively pulling her hands away, only to realize her fair hands were covered in warm blood – Jiang Qi’s blood.


    “Jiang Qi!”


    Zhi Qi suddenly sat up, drenched in cold sweat, her chestnut-colored hair almost soaked with perspiration on her forehead. At the same time, the dormitory lights came on, and the soft warm-toned light instantly shattered the heavy and stagnant atmosphere in the darkness.


    Roommate Meng Chunyu vaguely heard Zhi Qi exim and abruptly sit up. Subconsciously, she turned on the bedsidemp, rubbing her eyes and asked in a drowsy tone, “Qiqi, did you have another nightmare?”


    Zhi Qi was still immersed in the relentless nightmare just now, and after a while, she blinked sluggishly.


    “Sorry.” She turned her head, and her usually gentle and bright voice now sounded hoarse. Slowly, she said, “Chunyu, you can go back to sleep.”


    Apparently, she had not fully recovered; Zhi Qi’s limbs still felt numb.


    It wasn’t until the deskmp dimmed, and the dormitory plunged back into darkness that Zhi Qi slowly curled up, hugging her knees with her arms – like a baby seeking the protection of its mother.


    Muttering like in a dream, Zhi Qi said, “Jiang Qi…”


    She really missed him.


    Every time she dreamt of Jiang Qi, Zhi Qi couldn’t sleep, almost staring at the ceiling until Chunyu, on the adjacent bed, woke up and went about her morning routine. Then she would realize that Zhi Qi had ‘also’ awakened.


    “Qiqi, are you awake?” Meng Chunyu sat at the table, applying various cosmetics from the pile on it, and seeing Zhi Qi open her eyes, couldn’t help but smile. “You had a nightmare against night.”


    The reason for using ‘again’ was that over the three years in university living with Zhi Qi, such urrences were frequent, and Chunyu was quite used to it.


    “No, it’s okay.” Zhi Qi didn’t exin that she hadn’t slept at all. Instead, she sat up straight, and with a gentle and serene smile on her pale face, she said, “Did I disturb you again?”


    “Not at all.” Meng Chunyu waved her hand dismissively, seizing the opportunity to tease Zhi Qi by pinching her face yfully. “Tsk, so tender. You know, my sleep is as deep as a dead pig’s; it doesn’t bother me.”


    Therefore, they lived together for three years, and Meng Chunyu never heard clearly the name that Zhi Qi shouted when she had nightmares. Zhi Qi smiled, lowered her eyes, and remained quiet. Perhaps having such a good roommate was her luck because she didn’t want to escape her nightmares. Being able to see Jiang Qi in her dreams was also good.


    “Qiqi, today is the weekend. Are you going to the library?” While having breakfast, Meng Chunyu, with a bun in her mouth, vaguely asked her, “How about rxing this week? I think you have nightmares because of too much pressure. How about watching a movie? I heard that Shen Lei’s new work has just been released. Although the theme is niche, it’s especially good!”


    Meng Chunyu was a genuine star-chasing girl, and her eyes lit up whenever something rted to the entertainment industry was mentioned.


    As this kind of girl, Zhi Qi was curious about how she had chosen the same major, “Wildlife and Natural Reserve Management,” as herself.


    This major was only offered by Lin Lan’s Forestry University, admitting only around forty undergraduate students each year, with very few female students. In their batch, there were only Zhi Qi and Meng Chunyu. But Zhi Qi felt that the major of ‘Media’ would be more suitable for Meng Chunyu.


    “Sure.” She didn’t want to dampen Meng Chunyu’s enthusiasm and thought that it had been a while since she rxed. So, she agreed, “What time?”


    “Um, there’s a screening at noon. Let’s go for that one.”


    Meng Chunyu lowered her head to buy tickets quickly. When she finished, she looked up and saw Zhi Qi sitting by the window, reading a book with her head down. Her porcin-like white teeth were biting a straw in a cup of porridge, showing intense concentration.


    The sunlighting through the window perfectly illuminated the girl, reflecting on her porcin-like skin, almost transparent. Her face, with a pped face like milk, had extremely ck pupils, and her features were delicate.


    It seemed like a princess in an ivory tower where the light rarely touched. For some reason, whenever Meng Chunyu was amazed by Zhi Qi’s beauty, the adjective “stunning” woulde to her mind. She knew that Zhi Qi was different from her, even different from all the other girls in the school, and the longer they spent time together, the stronger this feeling became.


    Zhi Qi appears obedient, gentle, and won’t refuse others, but Meng Chunyu knows that, except for herself, she always has a bit of reluctance to engage deeply with others, like… apleteck of security.


    In the three years of college, Zhi Qi has mostly spent her time studying.


    She holds a full schrship, and her credit GPA is astonishingly high. Because of the special nature of her major, which falls under the category of ‘demanding profession,’ she has to take many elective courses in other majors, including going on external internships, flying from south to north, conducting experiments…


    So, Zhi Qi never focuses her thoughts elsewhere, being a truly dedicated nerd.


    Meng Chunyu, while admiring her achievements, also understands well—she will never be like Zhi Qi, who could easily y the role of a princess based on her looks but is, in reality, a hardworking and diligent fairy. However, she can be the ‘female knight’ protecting the fairy.


    Meng Chunyu, with a smiling expression, hooked Zhi Qi’s arm and led the girl out of the door.


    On the way to the cinema, Meng Chunyu kept talking about how amazing the emerging director Shen Lei is, mentioning the movies he directed that were shortlisted for numerous film festivals, expressing obvious admiration. Zhi Qi doesn’t understand all this, although she listens attentively, asionally asking questions that leave Meng Chunyu speechless.


    For example—


    Zhi Qi asked seriously, “You said the movie we’re watching today is about the murder story of a seven-personality schizophrenic criminal. With strict censorship nowadays, will there be any bloody scenes in such a movie? Even if they are cut, wouldn’t it lose its meaning?”


    …


    Meng Chunyu, who had never investigated this aspect, was left speechless.


    After a while, she weakly said, “There should be… right?”


    In a suspenseful and thrilling crime film with a protagonist who is a twisted schizophrenic criminal with seven personalities, what’s the point if there are no bloody scenes?


    Upon hearing this, Zhi Qi, who initially had a casual attitude, became somewhat interested. For her, this kind of movie is more enjoyable to watch than any romantic film.


    The road was a bit congested, and the two arrived at the cinema just three minutes before the screening started, almost running all the way to the projection hall. Perhaps the movie directed by Shen Lei is indeed quite appealing, as the pitch-dark projection hall is crowded with people.


    The two sneaked quietly to their seats, and as Zhi Qi sat down and lifted her head, a close-up of a stunningly handsome young man suddenly appeared on therge screen, almost filling the entire field of view.


    On the screen was an extremely beautiful youth.


    His hair and features were pitch-ck, orderly and sharp. The ssy-colored eyeballs were hollow and emotionless, with a paleplexion, yet his lips were vividly red. He exuded an almost devilish charm.


    Zhi Qi, upon seeing this, was momentarily stunned. Her brain seemed to have a momentary glitch, and her whole body felt as if it had been electrified.


    Her breathing became heavy, and she forcefully closed and opened her eyes. Yes, the face on the screen was something she would never forget—it was unmistakably Jiang Qi!


    Zhi Qi suddenly stood up. With her unconscious movement, there was an immediatemotion behind her.


    “Ah, Qiqi, why did you stand up?” Meng Chunyu was startled, quickly pulling her down and whispering, “Sit down quickly.”


    Zhi Qi, like a puppet being controlled, mechanically sat back down.


    A thinyer of sweat quickly formed in her palms as she stared, unblinking, at Jiang Qi on the screen. Her voice, however, asked Meng Chunyu beside her, “Who is this… who is he?”


    “It’s said to be a neer actor named Jiang Qi, discovered by Shen Lei.”


    Meng Chunyu, well aware of Zhi Qi’s nerdy tendencies, exined in a low voice, “The industry has always praised Director Shen for having a good eye. This guy is incredibly handsome, and this movie is his debut. People spected he had connections, but guess what? Some time ago,izens dug up that he had actually been in jail before!”


    “Oh my, this news is too explosive. At first, I didn’t believe it, but the evidence is too solid, and no one has denied it… tsk tsk, this world really focuses on appearances.”


    Meng Chunyu’s voice lingered in Zhi Qi’s ears, like a tangible rope pulling her back to the obscure past.


    Suddenly, Zhi Qi felt extreme pain. This pain made her want to close her eyes, yet she hesitated, reluctant to miss any scene involving Jiang Qi.