Nightmare Despair

Chapter 36 Rest Day

In the early morning, Zhou Kai woke up naturally and comfortably.

I opened my phone and started cleaning up messages while washing up.

The first piece of good news of the new week came from Ma Yifan.

Although it was a message, Zhou Kai could imagine his excitement.

"Brother Kai, I've got the guys! Four of my buddies are interested!"

"We can finally set up our own martial arts club!"

……

Ma Yifan sent a lot of messages in a rambling manner.

Zhou Kai gave a brief reply.

Next, he began processing another message—

Lu Yan: "Good morning, Xiao Kai."

As always, a very punctual good morning greeting.

Zhou Kai's replies depended on his mood; sometimes it was just a perfunctory emoji, and sometimes he simply read it but didn't reply.

But today, the reply that popped up on the screen made Lu Yan wonder if she was still half asleep: "Good morning, Sister Yanzi. Have you eaten yet? Want to eat together?"

Lu Yan: "???"

Lu Yan: "What happened? Was your account hacked?"

Zhou Kai looked at the screen, shook his head, and typed with a smile on his face: "What could be wrong?"

Lu Yan: "...Your sudden enthusiasm is seriously deviating from your usual persona, little brother."

"..."

"Personal persona? What kind of persona could I possibly have?"

After agreeing on a meeting place, Zhou Kai turned off his phone screen.

Lu Yan was right; he was indeed behaving strangely at that moment.

But it's actually perfectly normal.

"After all... I made it back from hell safely!"

He narrowly escaped death and survived a calamity, and slept soundly through the night.

Zhou Kai changed into a neat set of casual clothes and walked out with light steps.

He walked through the narrow, dark alley, and even the lingering musty smell in the corner of the wall and the twin-tailed sprite peeking out from the crack seemed endearing and lovable.

As he stepped out of the alley, the warm sunlight shone down on him, golden and dazzling.

Zhou Kai squinted, a surge of impulse churning within him, an urge to roar at the sky.

'I fucking survived!!'

Of course, most of the time, Zhou Kai is like a stone thrown into a deep pool when facing the outside world. No matter how big the waves are in his heart, only a tiny ripple spreads on the surface.

At this moment, his face was beaming with an uncontrollable smile, the epitome of unbridled indulgence.

……

"This kid, he's usually so serious, why is he suddenly grinning like a man with a 300-pound stomach today? Did he win the lottery?"

Behind the food cart at the intersection, Huang Zhang was holding a scallion pancake, watching Zhou Kai walk out of the alley with longing eyes.

When he saw the smug, almost punchable smile on Zhou Kai's face, he stopped eating his pancake and became somewhat lost in thought.

He suddenly remembered his daughter.

Wenwen... used to always ask, "Daddy, why don't you smile more?"

But after she left, Huang Zhang had forgotten what it felt like to truly laugh heartily.

He tried to grin, but his muscles were as stiff as frozen zombie flesh. After struggling for a while, all he could manage was a forced, insincere smile.

After trying it so many times, my lips started to twitch.

So Huang Zhang had no choice but to lick his greasy fingers and wipe the corner of his mouth.

He stared at Zhou Kai's departing figure and said in a voice only he could hear:

"Congratulations, you're still alive."

As long as Zhou Kai was still alive and hadn't been dragged into the nightmare, Huang Zhang felt a little more at ease... That's good.

With his small task completed, Huang Zhang prepared to call it a day.

He glanced down at the half-eaten scallion pancake in his hand, took a deep breath, and swallowed it whole in two or three bites.

The scalding sauce and pork tenderloin made him jump up and down, panting and spitting out gasps.

"Dude, eat slowly! Are our pancakes really that good?"

The food stall owner stared in disbelief; it was the first time he had ever heard that his homemade scallion pancakes could elicit such a strong reaction from someone.

"It's nothing... haha, it's nothing."

Huang Zhang's eyes were almost scalded with tears. He suppressed his embarrassment and staggered away.

……

Zhou Kai and Lu Yan arrived at the agreed location almost simultaneously.

She wore exquisite makeup today, with perfectly drawn eyeliner and a peach-red lip gloss that made her look even more pure and beautiful, intentionally trying to reduce the age difference between her and Zhou Kai.

It's clear that they put in the effort, but they were still on time, down to the second.

"Tell me, what do you want to eat?"

As soon as Lu Yan saw Zhou Kai, she put one hand on her hip and waved her bag in front of him with the other. "I was supposed to treat you to the meal after you passed the quiz, but Brother Ma beat me to it."

"I absolutely have to make up for this meal today!"

Zhou Kai's lips twitched almost imperceptibly.

When it comes to being treated to a meal by others, Zhou Kai has always believed in the philosophy of life that it is impolite to refuse.

He gave Lu Yan plenty of face, thought for a few seconds with an air of seriousness, and then said, "Sister, let's eat at the botanical garden."

A question mark almost materialized above Lu Yan's head: "What kind of food is there in that godforsaken place?"

Zhou Kai smiled mysteriously: "You'll find out when you get there."

"I've got some information about Little Ma's club this afternoon, I need to go over there. I'm free this morning, so I might as well have lunch and then stroll around the park, wouldn't that be nice?"

Eating was just a pretext; his real purpose was to take the opportunity to obtain some plant seeds.

The more rare and precious the better.

Online shopping records and express delivery packaging are both clues that can be easily investigated.

Lu Yan's ears were a little pink, but they were well hidden behind her hair.

She herself didn't realize it, she just muttered a few words and then stopped objecting.

So the two of them picked a breakfast shop to fill their stomachs, and then went to the botanical garden.

The park is clearly divided into zones and features a wide variety of exotic flowers and plants.

Zhou Kai suddenly developed a great interest in these flowers and plants that he had never paid any attention to before.

He looked at it very intently, and every now and then he would take out his phone to take pictures of the plants and search for them.

Lu Yan had prepared a whole host of topics, but seeing Zhou Kai so engrossed in his research, she couldn't bear to disturb him and could only quietly follow behind him like a dutiful assistant.

After a dozen minutes, she suddenly burst out laughing.

Zhou Kai turned around: "What's wrong?"

Lu Yan waved her hand: "It's nothing."

Her eyes smiled like two crescent moons, and I just felt that this quiet companionship, each with their own thoughts, was quite interesting.

……

Chu Siwen slept for a long time, a very deep sleep, and miraculously, she didn't dream at all.

But after waking up, my body didn't feel as energetic as it usually does after a deep sleep.

Quite the opposite.

Weakness, pain, exhaustion, and a damp, cold sensation that seemed to seep from her very bones enveloped her.

"you're awake?"

A gentle voice sounded.

Park Hyo-yoon pressed Ye Zi's shoulder, making the young girl stand in front of her. The two, one tall and one short, were smiling and looking down at her.

Chu Siwen's body twitched as if she had been electrocuted. Then, the fragmented and terrifying images from last night and her current predicament pieced together in her mind.

She forced a smile that looked more like a grimace, closed her eyes, and then suddenly opened them again.

"The nightmare... is real."

...In the end, Chu Siwen contacted her supervisor by phone and quit her job. Although she desperately needed the money, it didn't matter anymore.

At least for the foreseeable future, she shouldn't have to worry about money anymore.

Chu Siwen forced a smile that looked more like a grimace onto her pale face: "Are you telling the truth?"

"Special funding for patients with nightmares?"

Looking at her feigned strength, Park Hyo-yoon felt a strange tightness in her chest, but still nodded vigorously: "Absolutely true."

"As long as you cooperate with us... you'll have a monthly allowance of 10,000 yuan. You can buy whatever you want and do whatever you want."

Giving these poor patients some money so they can be more comfortable in their final days... this is a tradition of their second team.

Chu Siwen struggled to sit up in bed: "Then I'll cooperate."

Seeing that she seemed to be in good spirits, Ye Zi opened her laptop and prepared to start working.

She cut to the chase: "What are your nightmares like?"

Chu Siwen's face fell instantly, her pupils trembled violently, as if she had fallen into that terrifying abyss again.

After a long silence, she gripped the hem of her clothes tightly, her voice hoarse: "Xishan City... Metro Line 1."

"I dreamed about Metro Line 1!"

Ye Zi, who had been calmly recording, suddenly stopped.

Upon hearing the words "Xishan City," her expression changed drastically.

Xishan Metro Line 1 has been operating smoothly since its opening and has never had any accidents.

However, it appeared in Chu Siwen's nightmare...

Ye Zi gave Park Hyo-yoon a subtle look, then closed her laptop and walked out of the bedroom as if nothing had happened.

She stood in the corridor for a full half minute.

Then, she dialed Ding San's number: "Third Sister, she is 'Real Nightmare'."

There was a moment of silence on the other end of the phone before Ding San's voice came through, eerily calm.

"I see."

(End of this chapter)