Reborn in 1993, Dark Sea

An Xiaohai let out a painful groan and woke up from his coma.

My whole body was burning with pain, especially my right chest, which was excruciatingly painful.

The stench of urine filled the air, and the damp, hard cement floor pressed against his cheeks. The slight coolness gradually brought a sliver of clarity to An Xiaohai's chaotic mind.

"Is this hell or the human world? Am I dreaming? Is this the afterlife?... "

An Xiaohai struggled to get up, but as soon as he managed to prop himself up, a sharp pain in his right chest made him see stars and feel weak all over. An Xiaohai fell heavily to the ground again.

No, this isn't a dream... This feeling, this memory, is just too vivid! So vivid that it tormented An Xiaohai for a full thirty years!

An Xiaohai has an exceptionally good memory, bordering on the pathological. In professional terms, he is a patient with mild hyperthymesia.

An Xiaohai has never told anyone about this.

An Xiaohai lived in paradise until he was nineteen. He was the only child in his family and was spoiled rotten by his elders from a young age.

Because of hyperthymesia, no matter how naughty An Xiaohai was, his grades were always among the best. In an era when academic performance was everything, everyone indulged him more and more.

In 1992, when An Xiaohai was 18 years old, he was admitted to the National University of Defense Technology. An Xiaohai suddenly became a celebrity in the surrounding area, the "other people's child" in everyone's eyes, and the most handsome boy in the small fishing village.

But from that moment on, it seemed that all of An Xiaohai's good luck in this life had run out, and soon after, he plunged headlong into an incomparably dark hell.

During the summer vacation of 1993, An Xiaohai returned to his village and got into a fight, where he accidentally stabbed someone to death. From then on, his life took a 180-degree turn and entered an endless dark second half.

The first instance verdict found An Xiaohai guilty of manslaughter and sentenced him to ten years in prison. An Xiaohai's family disagreed and naturally chose to appeal.

But on the second night after An Xiaohai was admitted to prison, an accident occurred. He was inexplicably stabbed in the lower back by a fellow inmate.

After countless rounds of treatment, one of his kidneys could not be saved, and An Xiaohai's health deteriorated rapidly from then on.

Meanwhile, An Xiaohai's family's appeal also failed, and because An Xiaohai was involved in fighting while in prison, his sentence was extended by three years.

The immense blow to both his mind and body completely shattered An Xiaohai's will. An Xiaohai fell into despair, and his hyperthymesia, once a source of hidden pride, became a hidden nightmare!

All the painful memories were deeply imprinted in An Xiaohai's mind. He remembered every detail clearly, and these terrifying memories would keep popping up and tormenting him.

Despite his family's tireless efforts for him, An Xiaohai began to give up on himself and developed various bad habits in prison, resulting in his sentence being extended again and again.

It wasn't until 20 years later, in 2013, that An Xiaohai was finally released from prison.

Twenty years of imprisonment transformed An Xiaohai from a spirited young man into a frail, middle-aged man who had just been released from prison.

His four elderly relatives—his grandparents and maternal grandparents—passed away one after another in the years following his imprisonment. His mother sold everything she could to help him with his medical treatment and to overturn his conviction, leaving behind countless debts.

When An Xiaohai was picked up by his mother, he saw a makeshift shack made of canvas and a yard full of garbage that his mother had collected.

Twenty years is enough to change a person's life, even enough to change the world; everything outside has changed.

An Xiaohai is nearly 40 years old, has no education, no work experience, is physically weak, and has a criminal record... This has left An Xiaohai with almost no ability to survive in society.

Fortunately, there were still people who didn't give up on An Xiaohai. Besides his mother, who supported him by collecting scraps, there were also Pan Zhuangzhuang and Lin Xuan'er, who were An Xiaohai's childhood friends from the same village and had grown up together.

Especially Lin Xuan'er, who was closely related to An Xiaohai's accidental killing.

With the joint efforts of the three, it took An Xiaohai nearly seven years to finally begin to slowly recover.

But that's how fate is. Once it's tricked you once, it seems to have tasted the sweetness and will start to trick you again and again.

Fatal blows followed one after another:

First was Pan Zhuangzhuang. He became addicted to drugs for some reason, and his personality changed drastically. Going in and out of the drug rehabilitation center became a regular occurrence. From then on, he deliberately avoided An Xiaohai and never appeared in front of him again.

Then there was Lin Xuan'er, who was hit and killed by a dump truck on her way back to the village in the early morning when it was drizzling.

The successive blows shattered An Xiaohai's already broken heart once again, almost causing him to plunge headlong into the boundless darkness.

Fortunately, his mother was still by An Xiaohai's side, calling out to him, and once again pulled An Xiaohai back to the world.

But by this time, my mother was already at her limit, and before we knew it, she was almost 70 years old.

"Xiao Hai, Mom really can't hold on any longer. You must live on and never give up..." These were the last words his mother left before she died.

An Xiaohai held his mother's withered body in his arms and sat in the shack all night. He knew very well that if his mother hadn't been so worried about him, she probably wouldn't have been able to hold on any longer.

The sheer number of people who come to collect debts several times a day is enough to drive anyone completely insane.

"Mom, I'm sorry, please forgive me, I really can't face this world alone..."

Utter despair overwhelmed An Xiaohai, who held his mother in his arms until he slowly stopped breathing three days later.

In his final moments, An Xiaohai saw a dark sea, and his mother, Lin Xuan'er, Pan Zhuangzhuang, as well as his grandparents and maternal grandparents, were smiling and waiting for him on this black sea.

An Xiaohai truly didn't have the courage to live on. As intelligent as he was, how could he not sense that everything he had suffered was not just fate?

In the darkness, it was as if an invisible hand covered the sky, obscuring the starlight above An Xiaohai's head!

However, by the time An Xiaohai finally realized what was happening, he had become a weak inmate who had lost a kidney and had been imprisoned for more than ten years. He had no chance to resist.

So let's end it here!

This is the tragic life of An Xiaohai, and the tragedy began in the summer of 1993!

-------

Moonlight streamed in through the small iron window, the bright light causing An Xiaohai to open his eyes again.

"This isn't a dream! Dreams can't be this real!... Could it be that I've been reborn?... Or perhaps, those thirty years of experiences were just a dream?... "

The pain continued to erode An Xiaohai's mind and body, making him increasingly clear-headed.

An excitement rose in An Xiaohai's heart. If none of the following events had happened, then he, An Xiaohai, would have a chance to turn the tide!

Excitement, like a warm current, instantly filled An Xiaohai's entire body, making his pain seem to lessen considerably.

An Xiaohai mustered all his strength and gritted his teeth to turn over.

Yes, it was that familiar prison! An Xiaohai even remembered every mold stain and every mark in the cell.

The pain in my chest and abdomen began to intensify again; it was from the two ribs that had been broken not long ago, from Liu Junqian, who shared a cell with me.

This same Liu Jun, just hours later, would use a sharpened toothbrush to stab An Xiaohai in the lower back, destroying one of his kidneys and ruining his life.

At this moment, none of this has happened yet!

An Xiaohai jolted awake, enduring the pain and gritting his teeth as he sat up. He had to do something, otherwise, if the tragedy happened again, he would be doomed once more!