When the dismissal bell rang, a light rain was falling from the sky.
The classroom suddenly came alive.
Some students packed their bags, some discussed tonight's mobile game event, and some complained about tomorrow's quiz.
Only Lin Ye remained seated.
His gaze fell on the bulletin board at the back of the classroom.
More precisely, it fell on the class seating chart.
Senior Year, Class 2. Thirty-five students.
He stared at it for a full ten seconds.
Then he lowered his head and wrote a line in his notebook.
**Thirty-five again today.**
The tip of his pen paused.
Then he added another sentence.
**But I remember there always being thirty-six.**
When he finished, he silently closed the notebook and shoved it into the very back of his desk drawer.
"Lin Ye, aren't you leaving?"
His deskmate, Wang Zhe, hoisted his backpack and waved a hand in front of Lin Ye's eyes.
Lin Ye came back to himself.
"Yeah. In a minute."
"Going to the library again?"
"Yeah."
Wang Zhe smiled helplessly.
"You're seriously weird. Every day, it's either the library or home. Don't you ever get tired of it?"
Lin Ye only smiled.
"I'm used to it."
"Whatever. I'm heading out first."
"Later."
The classroom emptied out quickly.
Only then did Lin Ye slowly get to his feet.
He didn't leave right away. Instead, he walked to the back of the classroom and looked at the seating chart again.
Thirty-five.
It hadn't changed.
But that sense that something was off in his heart grew heavier and heavier.
He couldn't shake the feeling...
That one desk was missing.
It hadn't gone missing today.
It had been forgotten by everyone a long time ago.
Everyone except him.
At that thought, Lin Ye gave a bitter laugh.
Not again.
From childhood onward, he had always experienced these strange sensations.
During his elementary school graduation trip, he remembered there being thirty-six students in his class.
But the teacher had shown him the roster and told him,
"There have always been thirty-five."
When he was in middle school, an old man with a cat had moved in next door.
Every day after school, the old man would sit at the mouth of the alley and feed stray cats. Sometimes, he would even give Lin Ye a piece of fruit candy.
A year later.
The house went up for sale.
But his mother had looked at him in confusion and asked,
"Wasn't the place next door always empty?"
Lin Ye had even taken out the box of fruit candy.
His mother had only said,
"Did you buy it yourself?"
No one believed him.
He had been examined at a hospital.
He had gone through psychological counseling.
He had even had his brain scanned.
In the end, the doctor had said only one thing.
"You're under too much stress. It's causing memory confusion."
As time passed,
Even Lin Ye began to doubt himself.
Maybe.
Maybe he was the one with the problem.
"Hey."
A voice interrupted his thoughts.
Lin Ye turned around.
A boy stood at the classroom door.
He was on the thin side, with slightly messy hair. A black backpack hung from his shoulder, and he had a carton of milk drink between his teeth.
"You haven't left yet?"
Lin Ye smiled.
"Neither have you."
The boy walked into the classroom and tossed the milk drink onto Lin Ye's desk.
"Last one at the school store. It's on me."
Lin Ye caught it.
"Thanks."
"Remember to pay me back tomorrow."
"Okay."
The boy flashed a grin.
"I'm taking off, then. My mom's making hot pot tonight."
"Yeah. Later."
"Later."
The boy waved and disappeared around the corner of the hallway.
Lin Ye lowered his head and looked at the milk drink in his hand.
The straw was still attached.
Condensation from the refrigerator still clung to the packaging.
He couldn't help smiling.
"Still the same."
That guy was always treating him.
Even though he didn't have much spending money himself.
Lin Ye put the milk drink in his backpack and left the classroom.
By the time the sunset had completely sunk behind the clouds,
The entire campus had gradually fallen silent.
He didn't notice.
At the end of the hallway,
A class information board.
The student photos of Senior Year, Class 2.
One of them.
Began to slowly fade.
As if an eraser were rubbing it away, bit by bit.
The next day.
The homeroom teacher entered the classroom ten minutes later than usual.
She looked exhausted.
Her eyes were red.
As if she hadn't slept all night.
"Everyone, quiet down."
The classroom slowly fell silent.
The teacher picked up the attendance roster.
"Wang Zhe."
"Here."
"Li Cheng'en."
"Here."
"Lin Ye."
"Here."
Attendance continued as usual.
There was nothing different from any other day.
Not until the last name had been called.
The teacher closed the attendance roster.
"Everyone's here today."
Lin Ye froze.
Everyone's here?
He instinctively looked at the spot in front of him.
Empty.
That seat...
Someone had definitely been sitting there yesterday.
He had even treated Lin Ye to a milk drink.
After staring for several seconds, Lin Ye couldn't help raising his hand.
"Teacher."
"Yes?"
"Is Chen Zi'an absent today?"
The entire classroom suddenly went silent.
The teacher looked at him in confusion.
"Chen... Zi'an?"
"Yeah."
"Do we have a student by that name in our class?"
Lin Ye stared blankly.
Before he could answer,
Someone nearby was already laughing.
"Lin Ye, did you sleep yourself stupid?"
"Hahaha, where'd this Chen Zi'an come from?"
"Is he a new transfer student?"
"We've always had thirty-five students in our class."
Thirty-five.
Thirty-five again.
Lin Ye shot to his feet.
"No!"
"He was still here before we left yesterday!"
"He sat in front of me!"
"He even bought me a milk drink yesterday!"
The classroom fell instantly silent.
Everyone looked at him strangely.
The teacher frowned.
"Lin Ye, have you been too tired lately?"
"No!"
Lin Ye immediately unzipped his backpack.
"The milk drink!"
"This is what he gave me yesterday—"
His voice cut off.
Inside the backpack.
Nothing.
The milk drink was gone.
It hadn't been finished.
It hadn't leaked.
It was as if it had never been put in there at all.
Lin Ye's breathing grew labored.
Impossible.
Yesterday...
Yesterday, obviously...
"Teacher."
He spoke in a trembling voice.
"I want to see the seating chart."
Though confused, the teacher still handed it to him.
Lin Ye snatched it up.
The first row.
The second row.
The third row.
Nothing.
The fourth row.
Nothing.
The fifth row.
Nothing.
Thirty-five names.
No Chen Zi'an.
He immediately rushed to the photo wall at the back of the classroom.
He scanned the photos one by one.
Nothing.
The graduation trip.
Nothing.
Sports day.
Nothing.
The school fair.
Nothing.
Just like...
The person who had joked around with him yesterday and bought him a milk drink
Had never existed at all.
Lin Ye stood motionless in front of the photo wall for a long time.
The laughter in the classroom gradually died down.
The students began whispering among themselves.
"What's wrong with him today?"
"Did he stay up studying until he lost it?"
"He was fine yesterday, wasn't he?"
The teacher walked over, her voice soft.
"Lin Ye, sit down for now, okay?"
"If you're not feeling well, I can take you to the nurse's office."
Lin Ye didn't answer.
His eyes remained fixed on the photos.
Impossible.
Before they left school yesterday, Chen Zi'an had definitely been standing here, complaining to him that he was sure to bomb the math section of this practice exam.
He had even joked that if he did poorly, he might as well graduate and start delivering food.
That expression, that tone...
How could it have been nothing more than a fantasy of his own?
"Lin Ye?"
The teacher called his name again.
Lin Ye took a deep breath and slowly returned to his seat.
But his mind was already a tangled mess.
For the entire morning,
He didn't hear a single word.
The formulas on the blackboard looked like a pile of meaningless symbols.
The teacher's voice drifted in and out.
Until the dismissal bell rang, when he was the first one to rush out of the classroom.
He had only one destination.
The Academic Affairs Office.
"What can I do for you, student?"
The director of Academic Affairs was organizing some documents.
Lin Ye got straight to the point.
"Teacher, I want to look up the student records."
The director raised his head.
"Whose?"
"Chen Zi'an."
The director paused.
"Which class?"
"Senior Year, Class 2."
The director smiled.
"All right. I'll look him up."
The keyboard began clicking.
A few seconds later,
The director frowned.
"Nothing."
Lin Ye immediately said, "Did you type it wrong? Chen, the one with 'ear' and 'east,' Zi as in 'son,' and An as in 'peace.'"
The director entered it again.
Still nothing.
He even expanded the search to the entire school.
The result remained the same.
"This student really doesn't exist."
Lin Ye shook his head.
"That's impossible."
The director looked at him, concern creeping into his voice.
"Did you get the name wrong?"
"No."
"Then maybe he's from another school?"
"No."
"He was still in our class yesterday."
The director didn't answer again.
He only gave Lin Ye a look that said, Is this kid under too much stress?
Lin Ye knew there was no point in continuing.
He turned and left the Academic Affairs Office.
But his heart sank deeper and deeper.
At noon,
He went to the school store.
"Ma'am."
The school store lady smiled at him.
"What would you like today?"
"Who bought the last carton of chocolate milk yesterday?"
The woman thought for a moment.
"Yesterday?"
"Yeah."
"The last one..."
She checked the register records.
"You did."
Lin Ye froze.
"Me?"
"That's right. You bought it yourself."
"No."
"I didn't buy it."
The woman couldn't help laughing.
"You even told me yesterday that you needed to pay your classmate back today."
Lin Ye went rigid.
Pay his classmate back?
Wasn't that what Chen Zi'an had said?
His memories... were starting not to line up.
It was as if someone were rewriting what had happened yesterday, bit by bit.
Suddenly, he felt sick.
His stomach churned.
Even breathing became difficult.
During the last period of the afternoon,
Lin Ye didn't stay for class.
He took the day off and left school.
When he got home, the first thing he did was rush into his room.
He locked the door.
Drew the curtains.
Then he dragged a locked metal box out from under the bed.
There were no valuables inside.
Only notebook after notebook.
Every cover bore the same four words.
**"Memo Records."**
Lin Ye opened the latest one.
It was packed with dates.
> March 12. > > I dreamed about that faceless girl again.
> April 3. > > Grandma Wang next door says the third floor has always been empty. > > But I remember an old man feeding cats every day last year.
> June 20. > > There should be thirty-six students in my class.
> July 1. > > If one day even I start to forget, > > Please believe this notebook.
Lin Ye quickly flipped to yesterday's date.
An entire page was filled with writing.
> Chen Zi'an. > > Senior Year, Class 2. > > Sits in front of me. > > Bought me chocolate milk today. > > Said we'd go get ramen together on Friday.
A sticky note was attached below it.
The handwriting had been written that very morning.
**If no one remembers him tomorrow.**
**That means this isn't the first time.**
Lin Ye's hands began to tremble.
So...
He had already been preparing for something like this.
He flipped through the earlier records.
Then he suddenly noticed.
Every few dozen pages,
A name would appear.
Every name had been circled in red pen.
Beside it was the same single note.
**"Disappeared."**
Lin Ye counted them.
One.
Two.
Five.
Eleven.
Twenty-three...
Thirty-seven names in all.
And he.
He couldn't remember a single one of them.
Except Chen Zi'an.
He didn't even know who those names had once belonged to.
Just then,
His phone vibrated.
Lin Ye lowered his head.
It wasn't a messaging app.
It wasn't a text.
It was an email he had never seen before.
The sender was only one word.
**Archive**
There was no email address.
No domain.
No sender information of any kind.
He stared at the screen, unable to bring himself to open it.
For some reason,
He had a feeling.
The moment he opened that email,
His life would never return to the way it had been before today.