The Decaying Dream of America: I Assemble Corpses and Confront Madness

The blue of dusk seeped in through the huge floor-to-ceiling windows.

Emilia curled up softly beside Lin Zheng.

Her warm breath gently caressed his neck, carrying the sweet aftertaste of alcohol.

Silk sheets are cold and slippery, and the friction against the skin creates an unusual tactile sensation.

She spoke softly, her voice hoarse from passion and tinged with weariness.

"Lin, do you think I'm weird?"

Lin Zheng did not answer immediately.

He felt the body in his arms tighten slightly.

He could sense her unease.

The passion of last night has faded.

Emilia's aura calmed down.

She lifted her head slightly from his embrace, her bright eyes revealing a sense of vulnerability.

Outside the window, the vast courtyard gradually came into view under the pale sunlight.

The meticulously manicured lawns and the silently standing sculptures were so perfect it seemed unreal.

She gently stroked the skin on his chest with her fingers, as if searching for some kind of anchor.

They all say I have everything I need.

She spoke softly, as if she were whispering to herself.

"Yes, a house, a car, a degree—everything I want seems to be within easy reach."

There was no boastfulness in her tone; instead, there was a heavy numbness.

"Do you know? My birth already determined my path."

Her voice trembled slightly.

"They arranged everything for me, from what I learned in elementary school, what friends I made, what university I went to, and even what major I chose."

Her voice was bittersweet yet calm, as if she were telling someone else's story.

"Social psychology." She smiled, but there was no joy in her smile, only exhaustion.

"They want me to understand people, control people, and create greater value for the family."

Lin Zheng remained silent.

He felt Emilia's body leave him; she sat up and pulled the silk quilt to her chest.

As the morning light streamed into the room, her face appeared pale and weak.

"My life is like this house."

She looked around, her gaze falling on the spacious bedroom and its luxurious furnishings.

"It looks beautiful, safe, and flawless."

"But it's too big, so big that it feels empty."

"Every corner, every inch of decoration, precisely expresses the will of a certain family, but there is not a trace of my shadow."

She hugged her knees and buried her head in her arms.

The voice became low and muffled.

"I feel like a carefully fed canary, trapped in this golden cage."

Lin Zheng reached out and gently patted her shoulder.

She slowly raised her head, her eyes bloodshot.

"So when you appeared in front of me, I felt you were so different."

Her voice was low and slow, each word carrying weight.

"You are not someone they appointed, you don't care about my family background, and you don't flatter my surname."

"Your weariness, your silence, and the struggling light in your eyes felt real to me."

"I...I've been to your homeland."

She suddenly brought up something that seemed unrelated.

"The cities there, no matter how noisy, have a kind of vitality."

"People strive to live in order to survive and for their dreams. You can hear their laughter and see their tears."

"It's special there, unlike the monotonous places here."

She sighed.

"I felt a freedom there that I had never felt before."

"I came back later."

"I started paying attention to you when I heard that there was an international student from that country in Professor Finch's team."

"You're always alone in the lab, quietly doing your own thing, but your eyes tell me that you're struggling too."

Her gaze shifted to him, carrying a hint of honesty and dependence.

"I want to be close to you, and for no other reason than..."

"I hope that when I'm with you, I can feel like a real person."

Lin Zheng's throat tightened slightly.

He recalled his own passive struggle for survival.

In order to survive, he had to touch the darkest flesh and soul.

He was also desperately trying to break free from another invisible cage.

Emilia's fingers rubbed against his palm.

"Yesterday, I was very scared."

She lowered her head, seemingly unable to look him in the eye.

"Those sights...those things...they shouldn't exist."

"I never imagined that there could be such a terrifying thing in this world."

"They protected me too well."

Her voice was weak.

"It's like they've kept all the danger and filth out of this community."

Lin Zheng's heart sank.

Emilia's description was like a confirmation of his long-held perception.

This community, and everything it represents, is far more than just an accumulation of wealth.

It is a huge protective shield, isolating the inside from the outside.

It protects some people while leaving others in danger and filth.

He remembered the tree-lined path he had walked along the previous night, and the towering walls.

And there's that obsidian eye on the gate.

He thought of the blank space on the navigation screen.

It's as if it were an existence that has been erased.

He looked at Emilia, and her vulnerability was real.

Her pain was not just being dramatic.

She was a canary suffocating in a seemingly perfect lie.

He, on the other hand, was a maggot struggling to survive in the rotting swamp.

These two dilemmas, seemingly worlds apart, are remarkably similar at their core.

They are all manipulated by invisible forces, unable to control their own lives.

His suffering was direct and bloody, while hers was gilded with a dazzling golden light.

Emilia looked up, her eyes somewhat confused.

"Now, I feel much better."

She smiled, a hint of relief in her eyes.

"Thank you so much."

She nestled into his arms again, seeking warmth and comfort.

Lin Zheng gently held her, his heart no longer stirred by the desire that had previously stirred within him.

There is only a complex sense of heaviness.

He understood her.

He understood her lack of freedom, her struggles, and her loneliness.

For him, this was perhaps the first time he had come so close to experiencing how the "top" of this world perceives pain.

He felt himself being drawn into an even bigger vortex.

This vortex is not just about corpses, monsters, and conspiracies.

It concerns the entire structure of this society, from the mud at the bottom to the canopy at the top.

He closed his eyes.

He understood her, but found it difficult to sympathize with her; not that he didn't sympathize with her as an individual, but rather that he couldn't sympathize with the class she represented.

The moment he felt sympathy for her, he felt he had betrayed himself and others like himself, those who deserved more sympathy and help.

Emilia's even breathing echoed in his ears.

Sunlight streamed through the gaps in the curtains, casting long, thin bands of light into the room.

He felt a chill run down his spine amidst the seemingly warm atmosphere.

He was embracing more than just a girl who was bound.

Rather, it is the vast and cruel system that isolates the world.

He felt no sleepiness at all, even in his warm bed.

He looked out the window at the courtyard lights, which were as bright as day, and at the meticulously manicured trees and sculptures.

Those sparkling fountains still dutifully spout water in the early morning.

Those homeless neighborhoods he had passed through the night before, filled with decay and despair, now seemed so close.

He suddenly realized a problem: how far away is the suburb where those homeless people live from here?

How many kilometers is it?

Or... a world?