At 12:07 a.m.
Jiang Yu wasn't asleep.
The room was dark.
Only the light from his phone illuminated his face.
The chat app was still on the search screen.
He typed:
Lin Zi'an.
Nothing.
He searched again.
Class group chat.
Nothing.
Last year's school festival.
Nothing.
Basketball club.
Nothing.
It was as if the world truly had no record of that name.
Jiang Yu slowly lowered his phone.
"You're still looking for him."
A familiar voice.
It came from the window.
The girl sat on the windowsill.
The night wind stirred her white uniform.
She was even more transparent than she had been during the day.
He could even see the window frame passing through her body.
"You didn't leave."
"I had nowhere to go."
Jiang Yu looked at her.
"You really don't remember anything?"
The girl shook her head.
"I only remember one thing."
"What?"
She looked at Jiang Yu.
Very seriously.
"I've been waiting for someone."
"Who?"
"I don't know."
Jiang Yu gave a bitter smile.
"How do you not know anything?"
The girl didn't answer.
She only asked in return,
"If one day, you forgot what Mom looked like,"
"would you still know she was your mother?"
Jiang Yu froze.
The girl lowered her head.
"That's what my memories are like."
"I know I've forgotten something."
"But I don't know what I've forgotten."
At one in the morning.
Jiang Yu finally fell asleep.
In his dream.
He stood in a very, very long hallway.
There were doors on both sides.
Every door had a name.
Someone was crying.
Someone was laughing.
Someone was knocking.
Someone was begging for help.
At the very end of the hallway.
There was one door.
It had no name.
Only a single number.
0.
Someone stood in front of the door.
Slowly, they turned around.
It was a boy.
He wore the exact same uniform as Jiang Yu.
He was smiling.
As if he had known Jiang Yu would come.
"You finally made it."
Jiang Yu tried to move closer.
But the boy held out a hand.
"Don't come any closer."
"If you get any closer."
"You'll be erased too."
Jiang Yu jolted awake.
His entire body was covered in sweat.
It was daylight outside.
"Bro."
His younger sister knocked on the door.
"Mom says get up."
"Okay."
Jiang Yu opened the door.
His sister stood outside.
But she didn't leave right away.
Instead, she kept staring at him.
"What is it?"
His sister furrowed her brow.
"Bro."
"Yeah?"
"Did you..."
She stopped.
As if she were struggling to remember something.
"Did you get a haircut yesterday?"
Jiang Yu froze.
"No."
"That's weird."
His sister tilted her head.
"Why do I suddenly feel like..."
"You seem a little unfamiliar."
After saying that.
She laughed at herself.
"Ha-ha, I'm just making things up."
But Jiang Yu couldn't smile.
At breakfast.
Mom set a glass of milk on the table.
"Yu."
"Yeah."
"Come straight home after school today."
"Okay."
Mom turned around to fry the eggs.
Then she suddenly stopped.
She turned back.
And looked at Jiang Yu.
"Sorry."
"Can I ask you something?"
"What fruit do you want today?"
Jiang Yu froze.
Mom knew every day.
He liked guavas.
He didn't like bananas.
But today.
She had actually asked.
As if she were meeting him for the first time.
Jiang Yu lowered his head.
He looked at the number above his mother's head.
Yesterday.
98.
Today.
97.
It had gone down by one.
He immediately looked at himself again.
-1.
It hadn't changed.
On the way to school.
The girl followed him the whole time.
She made no sound as she walked.
The passersby couldn't see her at all.
"You're following me?"
"Yeah."
"Why?"
"Because..."
The girl thought for a moment.
"Right now, you're the only one who remembers me."
Jiang Yu said nothing.
The girl suddenly stopped.
She stared ahead.
"What is it?"
"Someone's watching you."
Jiang Yu turned around.
Across the street.
An old man stood there.
He was in his sixties.
He wore a hat.
And he kept staring at Jiang Yu.
The number above the old man's head.
It wasn't the usual white.
It was.
Black.
The number was.
-18.
Jiang Yu's heart clenched.
This was the first time.
He had seen a negative number.
Besides his own.
The old man suddenly smiled.
His lips slowly parted.
Across the entire street.
He said something.
Jiang Yu couldn't hear it.
But.
The girl's face instantly went deathly pale.
"Run!"
For the first time, she grabbed Jiang Yu's hand of her own accord.
This time.
She could touch him.
Cold.
Bone-chilling.
Jiang Yu went completely rigid.
"You... can touch me?"
The girl didn't answer.
She only pulled him desperately.
And ran in the other direction.
Behind them.
The old man didn't give chase.
He simply stood where he was.
Then slowly raised his right hand.
And made a gesture.
Exactly the same as Jiang Chengyue's.
His index finger.
Held in front of his lips.
Shh.