His piercing shout ricocheted within the cramped hallway, nearly shaking the dust out from the ceiling. Locksmith King’s ears were still ringing when an old lady came tip-tapping down the stairs, tying her red arm-band around her arm as she shuffled over to the “crime scene.”
Whatever doubts the locksmith had left was vanquished by her righteous air, and following Mrs. Li’s repeated assurance that Xu Wang was for sure a promising youth that resided in the building, he finally stuck a small, metal bar into the keyhole. There was a clack, and the lock was opened. It happened so quickly that Xu Wang began to suspect if he had perhaps not locked his door at all.
He flew into his flat, shut the door, changed into a T-shirt, then reopened the door to pay the locksmith.
By the time he settled into the couch in his living room, the sun had already risen high in the sky. He first called in to work to request the day off, then headed off to the hospital to deal with his wound after grabbing the essentials: his phone, wallet, keys, and insurance card.
Xu Wang’s head was still spinning in dazed circles when the doctor asked him how he hurt himself. He had no idea what he responded — certainly, it couldn’t have been something that belittled the doctor’s intelligence like, “Oh, well, a black bear decided to say hi and pat me on the back in the middle of Beijing.”
It was already noon when he arrived home. He made his way over to the couch in the living room of his rented flat, his brain finally seeming to catch up and start functioning. He began to wade through the sequence of events in his mind.
He had gotten off work, gone home, and gone to sleep as usual. Then there’d been a dream; he’d dreamt of a snowfield, of his first love from high school–one-sided love, finally confessed ten years late, successfully nabbed himself a solid kiss, and then a black bear had clawed him on the shoulder. Then he’d woken up in the middle of an intersection.
Without the glaring wound on his shoulder, he could have forced himself to use “sleepwalking” to explain away the circumstances of his waking. But if everything had been real, then where did Wu Sheng go? Where did the bear go? And furthermore, even though he’d never been attacked by a bear before, he was pretty sure that it was not normal to get swiped by a bear claw and end up with just a simple flesh wound and no broken or fractured bones.
Xu Wang remained holed up in his living room all afternoon mulling over the fantastical events of the previous night. But by the time night descended and enveloped the unlit living room in darkness, he was still nowhere near figuring anything out.
Forget it.
He shook his head and leaped up, the sudden movement tugging at his wound. He stood still for a few seconds, recovering, then made his way gingerly over to the bathroom to wash his face and brush his teeth. The icy, cold water was refreshing and swept away the grime and haziness in his mind.
This was the real world, peaceful and orderly, a harmonious and thriving society. If he was a sleepwalker, he would treat it; if someone was behind this, he’d go to the police. He was a hard worker, patriotic, democratic, strong; what was there to be afraid of?!
Decision made, Xu Wang banished all misgivings from his mind, took off his shoes, and went to bed. Tomorrow would be a brand, spanking new day.
20:00
21:00
22:00
23:00
23:30…
Okay, he couldn’t sleep.
His shoulder still hurt, he still hadn’t figured out what the hell had happened — he wasn’t so sanguine in nature that he could just fall asleep!
He reached for his phone and turned on the flashlight, sweeping it in a circle around his bedroom. All was normal. He pointed the light at himself. Goose down parka, fleece pants, gym shoes; good. Reaching into his pockets, he felt for his keys and wallet and located them; perfect.
We’re sorry for MTLers or people who like using reading mode, but our translations keep getting stolen by aggregators so we’re going to bring back the copy protection. If you need to MTL please retype the gibberish parts.
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【Lbba tbba—-】
Pa kjr atja cblrf lc tlr fjgr jujlc!
We Qjcu ogbhf. Mgjuwfcar bo tjhs wfwbglfr mjwf yjmx ab tlw — Lf tjv vfolclafis tfjgv atlr rbecv gluta yfobgf tf ijcvfv lc atf rcbkolfiv ijra cluta! Ca atf alwf, tf tjv atbeuta atf cblrf mjwf ogbw tlr vgfjwr, yea gluta cbk, tf kjr jkjxf jcv kjr wbgf jifga atjc fnfg. Zbgf jifga fnfc atjc ktfc tf kjr ja kbgx. Pa kjr rbwf xlcv bo ylgv mjii. Pa kjr vloolmeia ab vfrmglyf, yea la kjr atf xlcv bo rbecv atja rffwfv ab yfibcu ab atf cluta, atja gbvf bc cluta klcvr jcv oibjafv lcab j oglutafcfv nlmalw’r fjgvgewr klat vfjvis wjilucjcms.
In his fragmented memories, a bird calling was not the only thing that had happened.
Xu Wang lept up from his bed, ignoring his wound. That was no longer important. He grit his teeth through the pain and charged out of his bedroom, running into the living room in the span of a breath. And then, he heard it again.
【Hoot hoot—-】
Following that, a strange rustling sound arose from within his bedroom.
Xu Wang stood two metres away from the bedroom door and strained his neck to peer into the room. He found that his headboard was still against the wall, but his bed had become a rectangular-shaped quicksand pit surrounded by a halo of light. There was no sign of his mattress or bedsheets; all that remained was sand shifting endlessly in a seemingly bottomless pit.
Thank goodness that bird call had jolted hazy memories of the night before into his brain, otherwise he would be back in that blasted place. Of course, getting to see Wu Sheng was a good thing, but it wasn’t real. Wu Sheng had moved out of the country with his parents a million years ago. Although… that bear strike had certainly been real…
Huh?
Huh???
Right as he was celebrating his escape, he suddenly felt a strong force pulling him towards the bedroom. In the blink of an eye, it had already dragged him to his bedroom doorway.
He clung to the doorframe with all his might, refusing to let go, but the force got stronger and stronger, until at last his entire body was pulled horizontal so that he looked like a human flag blowing in the wind.
His body felt like it was about to be ripped in two, and at last, defeated, Xu Wang let his fingers go slack.
Two thoughts crossed his mind as he got sucked into the quicksand pit: One, this was all way too bloody fantastical and he was definitely calling the cops even if he was going to be considered a lunatic. Two, if he saw Wu Sheng there again, he was going to find a place without a bear and keep kissing him.
Last time, he had been in deep sleep when he sank into that dangerous place, his brain obscured by fog throughout the entire journey. It hadn’t been until he saw Wu Sheng that his senses came back to him and his brain started functioning again. He hadn’t the foggiest idea how he’d gotten here, or how long he’d been fumbling around in the snow.
But this time he was awake to experience firsthand the weightless feeling of falling from a great height. It was like being dropped in a free fall simulator, pummeling endlessly down and evoking the feeling of one’s body being crushed and asphyxiated.
An incalculable amount of time later, Xu Wang felt cold against his cheek. First it was ice, and gradually it became wetness.
He remained dazed for some time before discovering that he had landed on the ground face first, his head buried in the snow.
He let out a deep exhale as his organs slowly returned to their rightful positions. How he landed was no longer a matter of priority; more importantly, he was still alive and the reassuring pull of Earth’s gravity was back as well.
The snow was about as thick as his dignity — after crawling up and brushing the snow from himself, he reverted back to the presentable young man he was. He observed his surroundings, then looked out into the distance. Fields of snow, dense forests, a vast sky, colossal mountains. Yup, this was the place from yesterday.
So was this a “dreamscape”?
Even he wanted to stubbornly believe that, his ten red fingers refused to let him. They were still twitching from the pain of clinging so desperately on the doorframe earlier.
Standing still in the snow made one colder, and sure enough, Xu Wang’s feet started going numb before long. He instantly started walking, unsure of the direction he was moving and having no idea where he was heading. All he could do was keep walking to keep his body temperature up.
Some time later, a short, crisp “Ding—-” sounded without warning.
Xu Wang felt himself tense up immediately.
The sound was reminiscent of the kind of bells restaurants used in their kitchens to signal the busboys that the food was ready. But very soon, he realised that no… this was different from the strange noise that seemed to come from within his ear canals. That “ding” just now seemed to have come from… his left arm?
His footsteps ceased immediately and he got to work right away, except he found it near impossible to pull the airtight sleeve of the down parka he was wearing. He tapped his arm through his clothing; all was normal. Despite that, he couldn’t relax. He ended up half-stripping himself of the jacket so his arm was hanging out with nothing but a layer of fleece, which he rolled up to reveal his forearm.
A second later, his eyes widened and he froze, cold wind blowing around him.
There on his forearm was a crosshatch image that looked like a faint tattoo. In the very centre of the image was the face of an owl, and right beneath that, the word “Owl.” It looked like the logo of a cellphone app.
Xu Wang swore — on the fact that he was a proper young real estate consultant who needed only to show prospective buyers model flats before zeroing in on buildings that were insulated from the sun and wind — that before he fell into the sand pit, his arm was clean as a lotus root. And more importantly, on the upper-right corner of the owl face, there was a tiny “1” signaling a notification.
No youth from the smartphone era could’ve resisted tapping on it.
Absolutely not.
With equal amounts trepidation and impatience, he relieved his fingertips of the need to click on the notification and made contact with the owl’s face. The crosshatch image disappeared immediately, replaced by four choices — <Roster>, <Stationery Box>, <Cheat Sheet>, <Score>
His small arm was like a cellphone screen in landscape mode, and the image worked like an app, the choices functioning as some sort of system menu. It was all so familiar that Xu Wang found himself navigating seamlessly through it, naturally drawn towards tapping the source of the notification: <Score>
The interface changed. Scrolling across the top of the screen were the words: <Su Mingzhan, Tao Anan, Wei Tianhang, Yue Shuai, 3/23 tasks submitted.>
Evidently, the dinging sound was alerting him of this message.
But what was 3/23? And what did “tasks submitted” mean?
Below the scrolling notification were two lists, one titled <Cumulative Scores> and the other, <Task Submission Speed>.
Before Xu Wang could tap on anything else however, he felt a sudden blast of cold wind behind him. He was not the type of person to fall into the same pit twice; without a second thought, he let himself fall into the snow and kept still, imitating a dead corpse.
One second.
Two seconds.
Three seconds…
“You should play dead when the bear comes, but there’s no need to do it with me,” came a voice from somewhere above him, the speaker clearly trying not to laugh. “Last night was everyone’s first time here and we all ended up in different kinds of chaos, but that kiss of yours was probably the most exceptional. You don’t have to be too embarrassed to face me though.”
It was Wu Sheng.
Xu Wang could distinguish that person’s voice with just his ears.
It was all real then. The strange place, meeting Wu Sheng again, plus that godforsaken confession and kiss. Xu Wang’s only wish in that moment was for the sky to fall, the earth to crumble, and to sink into the cracks in the ground.
But of course, his discouragement lasted only a second. In his dictionary, game over wasn’t an option. There was only counterattacking. Even if he failed once, he’d still dance to his own tune and drag everyone in to follow his beat.
“Wu Sheng?!” he cried out emotionally, leaping up and grabbing his old friend’s hands in his own. Pleasant surprise over the long-awaited reunion was written all over his face. “It’s really you?!”
Wu Sheng’s smile was frozen on his face; he found it difficult to respond. “Don’t you think this should’ve been yesterday’s line?”
Xu Wang ignored him, maintaining his composure and continuing his “one-man show”: “Didn’t you leave the country?”
“I came back to start a business.”
“In Beijing?”
“In Beijing.”
Xu Wang was dazed for a few seconds. Gradually, the joy he felt over this news of Wu Sheng coming back home was replaced by uncertainty. When he spoke again, his voice was void of all levity and held only a trace of confusion. “Then this place… where are we?”
…the duolingo owl. I only thought of it now. Haaa.
Thanks for the chapter! ♡
oh my god now I know what I’ve been unconsciously picturing in my head. It was the Duolingo Owl!!
+2
Duolingo owl never really left us huh 🤣🤣
That haunted being is everywhere 😂🦉
So everyone except Xu Wang stayed there that night? And he could leave early?
Thank you for the chapter 💛
So Xu Wang was the only exception that night?~
Thanks for the chapter<3
Thanks for your hard work!
Oh boy… 😆
TYPO – “ Xu Wang **lept [leapt] up from his bed, ignoring his wound.”
Lmao, just ignoring it ever happened is definitely the way to go 😂 this seems fun!!!
Thank you for the chapter!!
thanks for the chapter <3
Even when reading a novel the duolingo owl still won’t let me off…
Thank you for the chapter! 😆