Chapter Two: Another Me
Lin Ye stood in the middle of the road.
Rainwater streamed down his hair.
Yet he didn't feel cold.
Not because his body wasn't cold.
But because there was only one thought in his mind at that moment.
—Who was that person?
The traffic lights on the corner were still completely dark.
The flow of traffic slowly came to a stop in the darkness.
Someone honked.
Someone cursed.
Someone pulled out a phone for light.
The city had found its voice again.
But Lin Ye couldn't hear any of it.
His gaze was locked straight ahead.
The person who looked exactly like him was already gone.
As if he had never appeared at all.
Lin Ye rushed to the spot where the person had just been.
There was only standing water on the ground.
No footprints.
No raincoat.
No trace that could prove the person had ever stood there.
"Impossible..."
Lin Ye crouched down.
He pressed his palm into the water.
Cold rainwater ran between his fingers.
He stared at his reflection.
The face in the water looked exactly as it always did.
Short black hair.
Tired eyes.
A slightly pale face.
Nothing unusual.
But that person just now...
Had the same face.
Lin Ye took out his phone.
A long crack ran across the screen.
The time in the upper-right corner was still frozen at:
00:17.
He frowned.
"Seventeen minutes?"
He clearly felt as though only a few minutes had passed.
But his phone told him that seventeen minutes had already passed since midnight.
He opened the time settings.
The time synchronization function displayed:
[Sync failed.]
Lin Ye tried again.
[Sync failed.]
A third time.
Still the same.
He looked up at the electronic billboard on the street.
The giant screen that had originally displayed advertisements was now completely black.
Suddenly,
the screen lit up.
There were no ads.
No news.
Only a number.
00:17:42.
Lin Ye stared at it.
The numbers began ticking down.
00:17:41.
00:17:40.
00:17:39.
It wasn't the time.
It was a countdown.
Lin Ye's phone lit up at the same time.
[Countdown initiated.]
[31 days, 23 hours, 42 minutes remaining...]
He abruptly shut off his phone.
"Who's behind this?"
There was no answer.
A taxi pulled up beside him.
The window rolled down.
The driver stuck his head out.
"Hey, kid, are you trying to get yourself killed? What are you doing standing in the middle of the road?"
Lin Ye froze for a moment.
"Did you... see someone just now?"
"See who?"
"Someone wearing a gray raincoat."
The driver thought about it.
"Nope."
"He was standing right there."
The driver looked toward the corner.
"There's no one there."
"Really?"
"Really."
Lin Ye fell silent.
The driver's expression grew strange as he looked at him.
"Are you drunk?"
Lin Ye shook his head.
"No."
"Then get home, quick."
The taxi drove away.
Lin Ye stood in the rain.
He suddenly remembered the last thing his father had said.
—After midnight, don't trust anyone.
He hadn't understood it back then.
Now he was beginning to realize what his father might really have meant.
Not "don't trust other people."
But—
after midnight,
the people you see
might not be the people they were before.
Lin Ye took out his phone.
The message from the unknown sender was still there.
[If you still remember me, go to the Old Research Center immediately.]
[Don't bring anyone.]
[Don't trust the police.]
He stared at the first line.
If you still remember me.
The sentence was incredibly strange.
It didn't say, "If you received this text."
Nor did it say, "If you saw this text."
It said—
if you still remember me.
As if the sender knew
that some kind of force could make people forget certain things.
Lin Ye suddenly thought of the convenience-store clerk.
He really didn't remember anything.
The person standing behind him.
That voice.
That stretch of darkness.
He had forgotten all of it.
But Lin Ye hadn't.
Why?
Was it because he was an exception?
Or...
because he didn't belong to this world in the first place?
Lin Ye didn't dare think about it anymore.
He turned around.
Then walked toward the Old Research Center.
12:41 a.m.
Lin Ye returned home.
He lived in an old apartment building.
On the sixth floor.
There was no elevator.
Two of the lights in the stairwell were broken.
Water stains covered the walls.
He took out his keys
and inserted one into the lock.
He stopped for a second.
For some reason,
he suddenly didn't want to open the door.
A strange instinct told him
there might be something on the other side.
He took a deep breath
and turned the key.
Click.
The door opened.
The living room was pitch-black.
Lin Ye didn't go in right away.
He used his phone as a flashlight.
The living room.
The sofa.
The coffee table.
The TV.
The bookshelf.
Everything looked normal.
He slowly walked inside
and closed the door.
Click.
The instant the lock clicked shut,
the living-room lights came on by themselves.
Lin Ye spun around.
There was no one there.
"A faulty light?"
He walked over to the switch
and pressed it.
The light went out.
He pressed it again.
It came back on.
Normal.
He let out a breath of relief.
But just as he was about to go to his room,
the TV turned on by itself.
Static.
Ksssssssh...
Lin Ye stopped.
There was no channel on the screen.
Only black-and-white static.
He picked up the remote
and pressed the power button.
Nothing happened.
He pressed it again.
Still nothing.
The static suddenly stopped.
The screen changed to a room.
Lin Ye froze.
It was a room he'd never seen before.
The walls were gray.
A metal table stood in the center.
Twelve black boxes sat on the table.
Each box had a red indicator light.
The first was lit.
The second was lit.
The third was lit.
The eleventh was lit.
The twelfth
was dark.
Text appeared at the bottom of the screen.
[ZERO Project]
Lin Ye moved closer to the TV.
His heartbeat began to quicken.
On the screen,
a man walked into the room.
Lin Ye recognized him at a glance.
His father.
"Dad..."
His father looked much older than he remembered.
He hadn't shaved.
His eyes were bloodshot.
He was wearing a research uniform.
He sat down at the table
and picked up the first black box.
"Experiment Zero has failed."
His father's voice was low.
"Time hasn't been changed."
"Time itself... is dying."
Lin Ye's breath caught.
His father continued:
"We always thought time was a line."
"But it isn't."
"Time is a kind of memory."
"As long as everyone remembers something, it exists."
"If everyone forgets..."
His father raised his head
and looked straight into the camera.
"Then that thing never happened at all."
Lin Ye stood in front of the TV,
his entire body turning cold.
His father continued:
"ZERO isn't a machine."
"ZERO is a filter."
"It searches for those..."
The image suddenly began to warp.
"Those who won't be corrected by the world."
Lin Ye took a step forward.
"Dad!"
The father on the screen suddenly turned his head,
as if he had heard him.
He looked into the camera.
"If you're watching this recording..."
His father paused.
"It means I've already failed."
Lin Ye's eyes reddened.
"Where are you?"
"If you're Lin Ye,"
"don't come looking for me."
"Leave this city."
"The sooner, the better."
For the first time, fear appeared on his father's face.
"Because they've already realized you still remember."
The screen suddenly went black.
Lin Ye stood in the living room.
The TV returned to static.
Ksssssssh...
He slowly sat down on the sofa.
His father was still alive.
At least the video hadn't been recorded three years ago.
Because a date had appeared in the lower-right corner of the screen.
Today.
August 15.
12:03 a.m.
Lin Ye stared at the date.
If this was real,
then his father had recorded the video at 12:03 tonight.
But...
he had disappeared three years ago.
"How is that possible?"
Lin Ye murmured.
Suddenly,
footsteps came from outside the door.
Thud.
Thud.
Thud.
Someone was walking down the hallway.
The footsteps were slow.
They stopped outside his door.
Lin Ye didn't move.
The hallway remained quiet for several seconds.
Then came a knock.
Knock.
Knock.
Knock.
Lin Ye's phone vibrated.
A text message.
[Don't open the door.]
Sender:
"Dad."
Lin Ye's breath stopped instantly.
A voice came from outside the door again.
"Little Ye."
His whole body went rigid.
It was his father's voice.
"It's me."
Lin Ye stared fixedly at the door.
"Open the door."
The voice was gentle,
exactly as he remembered it.
"Dad knew you'd come back."
Lin Ye slowly clenched his hand.
"Little Ye."
The person outside laughed.
"Don't you want to see Dad?"
Lin Ye didn't answer.
His phone vibrated again.
[Don't answer.]
[Don't let it know you're home.]
Silence fell outside the door.
Ten seconds.
Twenty seconds.
Then—
"Little Ye."
The voice suddenly changed.
It was no longer his father's voice.
It had become Lin Ye's own voice.
"You really don't want to open the door?"
Lin Ye took a step back.
The person outside began to laugh.
"I know you're in there."
"Because I am you."
The next second,
the doorknob began to turn.
Click.
Click.
Click.
Lin Ye immediately rushed into the kitchen.
He grabbed a kitchen knife
and pressed his back against the wall.
The lock kept making noise.
Click.
Click.
Suddenly,
silence.
Lin Ye held his breath.
There was no sound outside.
He waited a long time.
Finally,
his phone vibrated again.
This time it wasn't Dad.
It was an unknown number.
[It's gone.]
Lin Ye frowned.
The next second,
[You can breathe now.]
Lin Ye suddenly looked up.
Someone was breathing in the living room.
Not outside the door.
Behind him.
Lin Ye slowly turned around.
Someone stood in the kitchen doorway.
A gray raincoat.
The hood hung low.
Lin Ye's hand began to tremble.
The person raised his head.
He revealed a face exactly like Lin Ye's.
The other Lin Ye looked at him.
"Hello."
Lin Ye said nothing.
The other one smiled.
"First time meeting."
Lin Ye clenched his teeth.
"Who the hell are you?"
The other Lin Ye didn't answer.
He simply walked into the kitchen.
One step.
Two steps.
"You shouldn't have come back."
"Why?"
"Because once you start looking for answers..."
He stopped.
"The world will start looking for you."
Lin Ye tightened his grip on the knife.
"Where's my dad?"
The other Lin Ye was silent for a long time.
Then he said:
"He's dead."
Lin Ye's pupils contracted.
"You're lying."
"No."
"He just appeared on the TV."
"That isn't him now."
"Then what is it?"
The other Lin Ye looked at him.
"That's him from three years ago."
Lin Ye froze.
"Impossible."
"The date you saw can be changed."
"Time can be changed, too."
"Even your memories can be changed."
Lin Ye stared at him.
"What about you?"
"What?"
"Are you real?"
The other Lin Ye smiled.
"That's an important question."
He held out his hand.
There was a scar on his wrist.
Lin Ye saw the scar and froze.
Because on his own wrist,
there was a scar in the exact same place.
The same scar.
The same shape.
The same length.
"This scar..."
Lin Ye said quietly.
"I got it three years ago."
The other Lin Ye nodded.
"Me too."
"So which one of us is real?"
Silence.
The sound of rain drifted in through the window.
The other Lin Ye looked at him.
"I don't know."
Those three words
were the first thing that truly frightened Lin Ye.
Because if he couldn't even prove that he himself was real,
then what in this world was real?
The other Lin Ye spoke slowly:
"I came to find you because there are still twenty-seven people who haven't been found."
"What twenty-seven people?"
"People like you."
Lin Ye frowned.
"Like me?"
"People who remember what happened before midnight."
"There are twenty-eight of them in the entire world."
"You're the twenty-eighth."
Lin Ye fell silent.
"What about the others?"
The other Lin Ye looked out the window.
"Some are dead."
"Some have been captured."
"And some..."
He paused.
"have already become things that aren't human."
Lin Ye felt his stomach twist.
"What do you mean, things that aren't human?"
The other Lin Ye didn't answer.
He only took out a photograph
and placed it on the table.
Lin Ye picked it up.
The photograph showed a group of people.
Twenty-eight of them.
They stood in a white room.
At the front of the photograph
stood a man wearing a research uniform.
Lin Ye's father.
And on the far left of the second row
stood another person.
Lin Ye.
The Lin Ye in the photograph was wearing a black jacket.
There was a scar on his face.
But Lin Ye was certain
he had never been there.
"What is this...?"
"Three years ago."
"The place your father took you."
"No."
Lin Ye shook his head.
"I didn't even see my dad one last time three years ago."
The other Lin Ye looked at him.
"Are you sure?"
Lin Ye didn't answer.
His memory suddenly began to blur.
Three years ago.
August 15.
Night.
His father.
The living room.
23:59.
Power outage.
Disappearance.
These images were crystal clear.
But...
before his father disappeared,
had nothing else really happened?
Lin Ye closed his eyes.
A violent headache suddenly struck him.
He clutched his head.
"Ah..."
Deep inside his mind,
it was as if a door had opened.
He saw a white hallway.
He saw his father.
He saw twenty-eight people.
He saw a massive metal door.
Written on the door was:
ZERO.
Then
he saw himself.
Not standing outside the door,
but standing inside it.
His father grabbed him by the shoulders.
"Little Ye, remember."
"If the door opens,"
"don't look inside."
Lin Ye's eyes flew open.
He gasped like a beast.
The other Lin Ye stood across from him.
"You remember now?"
Lin Ye looked at him.
"I... went there."
"Yes."
"But why don't I remember?"
"Because you asked to forget."
"I did?"
The other Lin Ye nodded.
"That day, you saw what was inside ZERO."
"Then you begged your father"
"to delete your memories."
Lin Ye stood there, dazed.
"What exactly is inside?"
The other Lin Ye didn't answer.
He glanced out the window.
The sky suddenly lit up.
It wasn't lightning.
It was an enormous white light.
The entire city was illuminated as if it were broad daylight.
Every electronic device sounded an alarm at the same time.
The phone.
The TV.
The computer.
The microwave.
They all lit up.
The screens showed only the same symbol.
A gigantic:
0.
The other Lin Ye's expression changed instantly.
"They found you."
Lin Ye asked:
"Who?"
The other Lin Ye turned around.
"Time."
The next second,
all the clocks across the city outside
simultaneously jumped to:
00:00.
Lin Ye looked sharply at his phone.
The time wasn't 12:57.
It was—
00:00.
The date had changed, too.
August 15.
It had returned to August 15.
Lin Ye stared at the screen.
"Impossible."
The other Lin Ye said quietly:
"It's not impossible."
"It's starting over."
The lights in the room went out one by one.
The living room.
The kitchen.
The hallway.
The bedroom.
At last, only the phone screen remained.
The countdown appeared again.
[31 days, 23 hours, 59 minutes, 59 seconds]
Lin Ye looked up.
His other self had already disappeared.
Only the photograph remained on the table.
In the photograph,
all twenty-eight people still stood in the white room.
But now,
the number of people in the photograph had become twenty-seven.
The spot on the far left
was empty.
Lin Ye picked up the photograph.
A line of writing appeared on the back.
It was his father's handwriting.
[The twenty-eighth person has awakened.]
Below it was another sentence.
[Now find the first person.]
Lin Ye stared at the words.
Suddenly, hurried footsteps came from outside the door.
A lot of people.
At least ten.
Twenty.
Thirty.
They were all running up the stairs at the same time.
The footsteps drew closer and closer.
Someone shouted:
"Sixth floor!"
"He's on the sixth floor!"
"Don't let him get away!"
Lin Ye's face instantly went white.
He rushed to the window.
The sixth floor.
Jumping would mean certain death.
The people outside had already reached the fifth floor.
"Six-oh-one!"
"Six-oh-two!"
"Six-oh-three!"
Lin Ye lived in 603.
The footsteps stopped.
Silence fell outside for one second.
Then a man's voice rang out.
"Lin Ye."
"We know you're in there."
Lin Ye recognized the voice.
It was his uncle.
The police officer who had handled his father's disappearance three years ago.
"Little Ye."
His uncle stood outside the door.
"Open up."
"Come home with your uncle."
Lin Ye stared fixedly at the door.
His phone lit up.
His father's final message appeared.
[Now you know.]
[Don't trust him.]
The next second,
the door was smashed open.
Boom!
Lin Ye turned around.
In the darkness,
a group of people in black uniforms charged into the room.
And at the front stood his uncle.
His face held no expression.
He looked at Lin Ye
and slowly said:
"Number Twenty-Eight."
"Welcome home."
Lin Ye finally understood.
Three years ago,
it wasn't his father who had found him.
His father had been running all along.
Running from
not an organization,
not the police,
but something that had already existed outside of time.
ZERO.
Midnight.
And—
his other self.
Somewhere in the world,
it was waiting for him to return.
End of Chapter Two