Recap
Shen Ji’s heart sank for that Wonderland which never existed. “There are no eighteen levels. The hell you speak of may not exist at all.”
“I’ve never lied to you, teacher.”
“But you’ve hidden things from me.”
“Don’t drive me away, and I’ll tell you.” His neighbor’s true intent was clear, certain Shen Ji would agree.
Shen Ji stopped probing. “I refuse.”
Unable to obtain any useful clues from his neighbor, Shen Ji set his sights on the sixth floor.
On the sixth floor lived a homeless man whose greatest wish was to eat candy. Before going up, Shen Ji passed the third floor, where he saw an actor wearing a rabbit mask, red eyes staring into a pitch-black bedroom, an axe in hand, chewing something in his mouth.
Passing the old woman’s home, he saw red paper figures rise from the ground. The old woman climbed onto the altar, her white hair hanging loose as she faced the god inside, as though she wanted to be embraced by the god.
On the fourth floor, a married couple bit at each other like wild dogs, their bodies covered in wounds, yet their eyes kept secretly darting to one direction. Like clowns forced to keep dancing, they would die if they stopped.
After the couple ran out, Shen Ji entered a young man’s bedroom and demanded for the candy in his palm.
On the fifth floor, he saw a woman sever Alice’s head. The ragged doll’s body lay in pieces. The madwoman mistook Alice for a dragon and hacked at her without restraint, but even after cutting off her head, she still could not escape Wonderland.
In a single night, the world had turned upside down. What had happened? Why was everyone no longer normal? The neighbor must be hiding something. Since no answers could be found, Shen Ji resolved to uncover the truth himself.
Clutching the last piece of candy, he pushed open the safety door on the sixth floor.
The world spun, and when Shen Ji opened his eyes again, he was lying in a strange room — white walls surrounded him on all sides.
He sat up from the bed, now dressed in blue-and-white striped hospital clothes. Four single beds were neatly arranged beside him, the sterile whiteness pressing down with suffocating weight.
His movement startled the man on the bed next to his. The man’s body was rigid, pinned by some invisible frame. His limbs did not move; only his eyes rolled desperately toward Shen Ji.
Shen Ji approached, finding no straps or restraints. The silence was so heavy that even the slightest sound felt dangerous.
He checked the other two patients — they were the same, lying as if bound by something unseen, though Shen Ji himself could not perceive it.
The door frame, painted white, stood farthest from Shen Ji’s bed. Counting from left to right, Shen Ji was in the fourth bed.
He returned to the third bed and tried to speak: “Can you hear me…”
Before he finished, the man’s eyes widened with ecstasy, as though hearing the sweetest sound in the world. His hands shot out, dragging Shen Ji close, and he bit savagely into Shen Ji’s neck.
Skin tore, an artery burst, blood gushed. Shen Ji clutched his throat and collapsed, the man’s hunger-red eyes the last thing he saw before he died.
…
Shen Ji jolted awake, clutching at his neck. The pain of being bitten still burned, his breath ragged, the terror too vivid to be just a dream.
Feeling his intact throat, relief washed over him — alive again, as if snatched from the jaws of death. He nearly wept with joy.
But then, in the corner of his eye, that blinding white returned. His heart plummeted.
The same scene surrounded him: white walls, four beds, men in striped hospital clothes, unmoving, bound by invisible restraints.
Fear twisted into hatred. Shen Ji leapt from his bed, hands tightening around the man’s throat until he choked to death. Only then did Shen Ji realize what he had done.
His trembling hands looked alien to him.
The door burst open. Two orderlies rushed in and restrained him. Doctors in white coats followed, scribbling notes, speaking words Shen Ji could not understand.
Face pressed to the cold floor, Shen Ji saw them shake their heads in unison, as if determined to prevent such incidents from happening again. Together, they made a decision.
One doctor produced a syringe. The silver needle pierced Shen Ji’s neck, liquid flooding his body. Darkness fell once more.
…
Shen Ji awoke again, staring at the pale ceiling, feeling only the aftermath of survival.
The terror of killing had driven him mad. Even now, he could not believe he had murdered someone. The horror clung to him like a shadow. He thought he would never wake from the nightmare — but it was only another dream.
Turning to the next bed, his heart lurched. The man who should have been there was gone. Only the restraints lay across the mattress.
Shen Ji’s eyes widened. His mind spun.
The man… was gone!
He touched the cold straps, forcing himself to stay calm, piecing together what had happened.
He had entered the sixth floor, opened the safety door, and fallen into layer upon layer of dreams.
In the first dream, he was cautious, but speaking triggered the man’s frenzy, and he was bitten to death.
In the second dream, consumed by hatred, he strangled the man. The orderlies broke in, the doctors euthanized him.
In the third dream — now — the man had vanished, leaving only the straps. Was this true death, or liberation?
Shen Ji could not know the rules of this hospital. So far, he had uncovered three:
- In these layered dreams, any rash action could bring unimaginable consequences, ending in death.
- Each death meant losing something. Only by killing the culprit could that thing be regained.
- After the first death, Shen Ji lost his reason.
- In the second dream, he killed the culprit and regained it.
- A patient’s death summoned orderlies and doctors. The rules were absolute, and doctors had the authority to enforce them — by euthanizing the guilty patient.
Yet these were only the rules he had discovered. Many more remained hidden.
He stared at the straps. Their appearance raised questions. If the invisible binding only became visible when one side died, then what did his own situation mean?
He was neither bound nor was he dead. Did the straps not exist — or does he not exist?
His thoughts spiraled into a dead end. He stopped thinking too much. The only choice was to adapt.
Between the first and second beds, he found two patients with eyes shut tight, refusing all communication.
Having learned from bitter experience, Shen Ji dared not speak. With no clues inside the ward, after careful thought, he decided to step outside.
___
T/N: dw, I’m as confused as you are.
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