Doomsday Wonderland

Chapter 1562: A Brief Intersection in Life

Shoreis' warning, a heavy weight, presses down on that period.

He only warned her once, and that was enough: the time left for her to recover was so brief, so every time Qiao Yuansi deteriorated, she felt that she could be killed by him at any moment.

Her desire to survive when deteriorating was extremely strong, so she pleaded, cursed, lied, and threw tantrums at him, not caring about her appearance or words, as long as she could escape. As for trying to call the police for help or running away from home, she naturally did not hesitate to do so – but when facing a posthuman with a determined will, all the means she could use were like bubbles crashing on a reef, never moving him in the slightest.

When Qiao Yuansi was stable and clear-headed, she was completely different.

Her eyes or steps were always tightly following Shoreis; sometimes he just got up to take a sip of water, and she had to follow him to the kitchen, as if he would slip away from her life if she let go for even a moment. She couldn't explain why, but she was more afraid of sitting alone at home, her face gradually deforming, than being killed by him.

During this time, her intellect was never impaired; in fact, she was even smarter in some ways. For example, Qiao Yuansi quickly realized the difference in her behavior in the two states, so when she deteriorated, she began to deliberately follow Shoreis closely, talking about how afraid and sad she was, relaxing his vigilance and then trying to escape. The first time she did this, she almost fooled him.

Qiao Yuansi would never forget that scene: one day, she finally found an opportunity to secretly escape, nervously started the car, and in her haste to back out, she looked up to see Shoreis in the rearview mirror.

He stood there, arms folded, looking as if he had been waiting for a while.

The next second their eyes met in the mirror, Qiao Yuansi stepped on the gas pedal. The car reversed rapidly, hitting a rocky cliff with immense force – she was thrown forward by the shock, hitting her forehead on the steering wheel.

Dizzy, she looked back to see Shoreis retrieving his foot from the deformed trunk. He slowly came to the driver's side, and she suddenly realized the car was unlocked. It was too late, and she could only watch as he opened the door.

Shoreis bent down, his eyes hiding the ocean under a cloudy sky. There was no emotion on his face, his tone only stating a fact. "Come back with me."

As he spoke, a strand of hair slid down his cheek, swaying in the wind, just as when they first met on the coastal highway days before.

Qiao Yuansi stared at him, slowly realizing she was awakening from her deteriorated state. Even though her consciousness seemed continuous, often when she slid into her deformed self, she wouldn't notice until a trigger pulled her back, suddenly aware of what she had just done.

Seeing her silence, Shoreis sighed.

"I will try other methods." He looked wearier and softer than usual when he thought Qiao Yuansi wouldn't listen. "You still have time."

As he led her home, Qiao Yuansi kept silently wiping tears from her face. When they entered, she whispered, "When I was little, my family had a thrush... I named her Manmiao."

Shoreis turned his head, his brows relaxing.

Because of this, the injured bird in the living room's cardboard box, although suspected of being male, was still named Manmiao. Shoreis let her talk to Manmiao every day, cleaning and feeding it. Qiao Yuansi gradually became less reluctant, sometimes even gently stroking its warm, smooth feathers before leaving.

The mirrors were all taken away by Shoreis; such a small ring could fit anything, almost like a prop from a science fiction novel. Without the mirrors, she could only sometimes touch her face with her hand; it felt normal, with the nose still in the center, and no extra holes in her forehead.

Sometimes she felt as though her home had turned into a special rehabilitation center, filled every day with various training programs, and Shoreis was her doctor. If she was too rough in handling something delicate, he would imitate the action on her arm, asking her, "Does this hurt?" If there was a sentence in a book she couldn't understand, she wouldn't be allowed to move until she understood it, even if it meant analyzing and reassembling every single word.

"Why are you helping me?" she asked once after they finished training.

"I have to spend fourteen months here anyway," Shoreis said without looking up, busy with something. "What's the difference in what I do? In the rainy weather, I have time to spare."

Qiao Yuansi laughed, but the smile quickly left her face. Her recent state was becoming more stable, something she could feel without Shoreis saying it. "Qiao Yuansi" had finally returned to Qiao Yuansi's body, anchoring her form securely. However, another shadow was gripping her heart tighter and deeper as her condition improved.

She had worked so hard, fought to remain unchanged, and now she was close to success; but what then? This place had irreversibly become a world for the deformed. How long could she maintain her status, living alone among them? How long before she would be attacked again?

She had never verbalized her fears and worries, and Shoreis had never expressed similar thoughts, so she didn't know if he had thought about it too. Or perhaps, for him, it wasn't a concern, as he'd mentioned more than once that he wouldn't stay here forever, so he didn't think about the future. In fourteen months, he would leave this world; perhaps in a few weeks, he would leave her home.

There was only one person like this in the world, and he existed for such a short time.

"Posthumans are appearing more and more in this world," she said, a sign of her improved condition, as their casual conversations became broader, often revolving around posthuman-related topics.

Shoreis, still fiddling with a small box-like object, replied, "I've heard that some posthumans were careless and got infected, deformed. After deformation, their evolved abilities were lost. It seems they'll have to stay here for the rest of their life."

"Eh? You posthumans are so skilled, how could you be infected?"

Despite rarely leaving the house, Shoreis always seemed to know news about other posthumans. He coughed, a rare sign of embarrassment, and said, "Someone was tricked; who knows the details? His companion was vague, perhaps doing something unmentionable at the time."

Qiao Yuansi didn't ask further. She lowered her head and softly changed the subject. "What's that in your hand?"

"Oh, it's your picture."

Qiao Yuansi's head shot up. "What?"

Shoreis glanced at her from the corner of his eye, looking as if he wanted to smile but also trying to stay serious. "Yes, I took it. I won't always be here, and you can't become a posthuman and leave. You might be targeted again by the deformed after fully recovering. I've thought about this, so I prepared something for you. With this, they should believe you're one of them in the future."

Qiao Yuansi stared at him for a moment, then realized. "When did you—did you secretly take a picture of me when my face was deformed?"

"Secretly sounds creepy," he muttered. "You didn't hide it from me when you were deformed."

He had already thought about what to do in the future... this hidden worry had been resolved in this way. Qiao Yuansi was stunned, unsure whether to ask to see the picture. She wasn't afraid of seeing her deformed face, but she was afraid of what the picture represented for her future: a life alone, cherishing these memories, living cautiously, silently, and barely surviving among the deformed after Shoreis' departure.

"You guys don't even have personal computers, so no one will think that these photos have been Photoshopped. That's quite convenient," Shoreis said, speaking words that were hard to understand, as he pulled out a few photos from the box and handed them to her. "I've combined your facial transformation photos with some scenic ones. You can say they were taken while you were traveling, whether to send to friends or to put in the office..."

Was that her appearance?

With just one glance, Qiao Yuansi shivered and felt a wave of nausea. She quickly placed the stack of photos inside the tea table. She really couldn't believe that the person in the photo was herself—she felt that she would inevitably have nightmares tonight.

"Are you leaving soon?" she asked, rearranging her emotions and trying to speak calmly.

"Yes," Shoreis simply said, then continued to elaborate. "Actually, as long as you keep a low profile, it's quite easy to survive in this world. People like us are very sensitive to this kind of world, but unfortunately, there aren't many worlds like this..."

Qiao Yuansi carefully looked at him a few times, taking in his hair, eyebrows, lips, jaw, and Adam's apple before finally asking, "So... when are you leaving?"

"The day after tomorrow, you're going back to school, right?" Shoreis said softly, lowering his eyes. "I'll leave on that day."