Chapter 41 A Dream

Chapter 41: A Dream in the South

"At home? What do you mean?" Chen Xian was the first to stand up.

"I mean at Zhou Liao's current residence. The location you provided is here, right?"

"That's impossible." Chen Xian turned his head to look at Uncle Lin. "Has Zhou Liao come back?"

"No." Uncle Lin was also baffled and completely lost. "Forget it, let's go back and talk about it. Maybe he came back without anyone noticing. As long as he's here, that's what matters."

Sitting in the police car, Chen Xian felt the whole situation was suspicious. It made sense for these three people not to know, especially Zhou Liao's parents, who barely communicated with him. They would naturally think it was a misunderstanding, but only Chen Xian understood why it was strange, because he had been handling the investigation from start to finish.

Zhou Liao didn't usually live with his parents and rarely returned to their house. When they arrived at the door, it was Uncle Lin who unlocked it with the password.

The house was quiet but very clean. Someone regularly came to clean, so Chen Xian couldn't see anything particularly unusual.

"Where is he?" Zhou Jianlin frowned.

"Maybe in his room? Is he still sleeping?"

"What time is it to still be sleeping?" Zhou Jianlin walked over and knocked on the door, but there was no response.

Just as Chen Xian was about to speak, Zhou Liao's mother, Liu Mingzhu, pushed the door open with a cold face. "Knock what?"

The door wasn't locked. Chen Xian had assumed no one would be there, but he saw Zhou Liao's phone charging nearby, and Zhou Liao himself was curled up under the covers, asleep.

"Zhou Liao!"

Chen Xian couldn't remember how long it had been since he last saw Zhou Liao. He ran forward and shook him. Zhou Liao woke up quickly, his eyes initially dazed, but after a few seconds of focus, Chen Xian could see his pupils suddenly constricting violently.

"When did you come back?"

Chen Xian still couldn't believe it. He was both surprised and suspicious. Zhou Liao's hair had grown longer than before, and he had dark circles under his eyes. Since he was under the covers, Chen Xian couldn't tell if there were any physical changes, so he couldn't be sure if something had really happened.

"Instead of going to school, all you do is play and sleep." Liu Mingzhu's tone was harsh, more out of frustration. She had wasted the entire day on this misunderstanding, only to find him still sleeping.

Zhou Liao's mind felt like it had crashed. The scene in front of him made him feel like everything was spinning.

Why were his parents here? Why were Chen Xian and Uncle Lin here? And why were there police officers?

Where was Qin Zhan?

Just now, hadn't he and Qin Zhan been...

In those nearly frozen seconds, Chen Xian saw Zhou Liao suddenly grab a glass decoration by the bedside and smash it against the cabinet. The glass shattered into pieces, and before Chen Xian could react, Zhou Liao picked up a shard and tried to cut his hand.

"What are you doing!" Chen Xian grabbed Zhou Liao's hand. "Are you fucking crazy!"

Zhou Jianlin immediately stepped forward and pressed Zhou Liao's shoulder down, while Liu Mingzhu gasped in shock.

"Let go!"

Zhou Liao felt everything was an illusion. He must be hallucinating again; otherwise, why would the scene be like this? Why had he come back? Where was Qin Zhan?

He gripped the glass shard and started struggling wildly under the pressure of several people.

"Let go! I said let go!"

Chen Xian fought to take the broken glass away from him, but Zhou Jianlin and Uncle Lin's hold almost immobilized him. Yet Zhou Liao fought like a madman, elbowing Zhou Jianlin in the cheekbone, causing him to grunt in pain.

Being separated from Qin Zhan was worse than death.

"Calm down, Zhou Liao! Did you have a nightmare?" Chen Xian was terrified by Zhou Liao's behavior.

As soon as he spoke, a slap landed on Zhou Liao's face.

"Smack."

The person's head snapped to the side, and Chen Xian saw Zhou Liao's eyes filled with anger and panic. After the slap, the room fell silent.

"Don't act crazy here." Liu Mingzhu had reached her limit. "Not going to school, unreachable, and now trying to commit suicide when you wake up?"

"Who are you trying to show this to?"

"Aunt..." Chen Xian knew she always spoke harshly, especially to Zhou Liao. He didn't want Zhou Liao to be further agitated, and something must have happened for him to act so bizarrely upon waking up.

"Get up and clean yourself up. I don't have time for your theatrics." Liu Mingzhu had been frustrated all day, and her temples throbbed from the stress. Because she couldn't reach him, the banquet had been postponed.

She usually let Zhou Liao do whatever he wanted outside, giving him money and freedom. Now, finding him awake and trying to commit suicide? She didn't care what had happened in the past few days; she had no patience for Zhou Liao's antics anymore.

With that, Liu Mingzhu walked out of the room in her heels.

"Clean up. There's a banquet tonight." Zhou Jianlin glanced at Liu Mingzhu, showing no emotion, and released his grip on Zhou Liao.

"Since he's here, let's go through the formalities and register. We'll leave then."

The police officer handed his phone to Zhou Jianlin, who nodded.

"Thank you for your hard work."

"No problem. It's good that nothing happened."

Seeing Zhou Jianlin leave, Uncle Lin said a few soft words to Zhou Liao, urging him to clean up, and then followed Zhou Jianlin out.

Chen Xian watched Zhou Liao standing there motionless. He kicked the glass shards out of Zhou Liao's reach. "What happened?"

Zhou Liao didn't answer. After a moment, he asked an unrelated question: "Is Chinese New Year over?"

"It's already the first day of the lunar new year."

Chen Xian looked at Zhou Liao and suddenly clenched his fists.

"What's wrong? Where were you on New Year's Eve? Are you really back from City Z?" Chen Xian had too many questions to ask; everything seemed so strange.

"Are you real?"

Another odd question. Chen Xian felt a chill run down his spine as he squeezed Zhou Liao's shoulder. "Was the feeling when we stopped you just now real?"

He had originally wanted to ask if his face didn't hurt, but held back. Chen Xian straightened up.

"Why am I here?"

A sudden pain shot through Zhou Liao's head, intermittent and intense, making it hard for him to think. Hearing this, Chen Xian stiffened. He found Zhou Liao acting strangely, each question sounding bizarre. Now that he looked closely, there were significant changes in his facial expressions. Though it was the same person, he didn't seem like himself.

The old Zhou Liao was arrogant and flamboyant, exuding sharpness and vigor.

Now, with the same features, there was an added sense of "humble" and "soft," indescribable yet decidedly un-Zhou Liao-like, like a lost dog drenched in rain.

"This is your home. Why wouldn't you be here?... What happened during the time you disappeared?"

Zhou Liao suddenly felt short of breath, struggling to understand Chen Xian's words. Ever since that slap, he knew it wasn't an illusion. Chen Xian's probing questions only made him more aware that he was indeed back.

But why was this happening? Why was he here? Where was the person who had been with him day and night?

Why had he been left alone?

Seeing Zhou Liao silent, Chen Xian's mind raced. The current situation could make a great episode of "Science Uncovered."

"Zhou Liao, what happened? Why did you change like this? You don't even know you're back?"

"... Was that guy just now a cop?"

Chen Xian was taken aback by this non sequitur. "Yeah."

"Why was there a cop?"

"You disappeared, and we couldn't reach you. Moreover, the voice messages you sent were AI-generated. We couldn't find you in City Z."

Zhou Liao felt a pang of anxiety, swallowing the question about Qin Zhan.

He knew asking would lead to more probing questions from Chen Xian.

"I didn't disappear. I've always been here."

"Forget it, it's too weird. Were you being monitored? Let's not talk about this now. Go get dressed." Chen Xian didn't want to continue chatting while one stood and the other sat on the bed, especially with two others waiting outside.

Zhou Liao numbly got up and started dressing. This place where he had lived for eight years now felt so foreign.

The clothes folded beside him were the ones he wore when he first woke up. There was no Qin Zhan's jacket draped over his blanket, no underwear of his own to wear.

Zhou Liao felt like he had been in a long dream, one that felt more real than any previous illusion.

He picked out a suit for the party, standing before the mirror, barely recognizing the person within.

When he stepped out of the bedroom, the atmosphere outside was tense and oppressive. Zhou Jianlin put down his phone upon seeing him, while Liu Mingzhu merely glanced away indifferently.

Only Chen Xian noticed something odd about Zhou Liao's gait, a slight limp that wasn't very noticeable unless observed closely.

"Zhou Liao, what's wrong with your foot?"

"What?"

"Your leg looks a bit off."

"I twisted it accidentally."

"Really?" Chen Xian was skeptical.

"Young Master Zhou, when did you come back? Young Master Chen said he couldn't find you in City Z," Uncle Lin interjected.

Zhou Liao paused for a moment. "... A few days ago."

"You didn't go home. No one was at your place?"

"I stayed at a friend's house for a few days."

Chen Xian raised an eyebrow, sensing something off. "Do you have friends in City C that we don't both know?"

"I met them drinking. You haven't seen them."

Zhou Liao lowered his gaze, still adjusting to having so many people around, to the warm colors of the room, and to moving freely in such a large space.

"Let me meet them someday."

"Sure."

"Chen Xian, ride with us. Your parents messaged me," Liu Mingzhu stood up, pausing briefly near Zhou Liao before walking out the door. "Get ready to leave. We have half an hour until the event starts."

For the past few days, Zhou Liao had been like a machine running a pre-programmed routine, mimicking his past actions and speech.

He had tried to find Qin Zhan but had no way to contact him. He knew who had his number but also knew he had no right to reach out to her. These few days felt like a series of nightmares, filled with anxiety and insomnia, sometimes leading to breathing difficulties. Each day, he had to pretend to be the Zhou family's young master, smiling and socializing.

Qin Zhan felt like a dream from another life.

"May all your endeavors next year be successful."

The dazzling chandelier reflected off the clinking wine glasses as Zhou Jianlin made a speech and raised his glass.

Zhou Liao stood below, listening to Liu Mingzhu's laughter and conversation from a few meters away, feeling as if his head was about to split open.

"Hello, Young Master Zhou."

An executive from another company approached with a glass of wine to schmooze. Zhou Liao, hearing Liu Mingzhu's sharp laughter during her conversation, suddenly felt nauseous. The headache that felt like it was splitting his head seemed to have reached his stomach, and he couldn't help but retch.

The person holding the wine beside him felt somewhat awkward.

"Sorry, I drank something cold and my stomach feels uncomfortable. Excuse me for a moment."

Zhou Liao nodded in apology and immediately headed towards the restroom, not noticing the woman a few meters away whose hand holding the wine had frozen and whose face had turned somewhat sullen.

"He's been a bit under the weather these past few days," Liu Mingzhu said, stepping forward to smooth things over. "Don't mind it."

"President Liu is too kind; of course, your son's health comes first."

The lighting inside was dim, and a faint scent of incense permeated the air.

Zhou Liao locked the restroom door. He leaned on the marble sink with both hands, repeatedly retching into the basin, unable to vomit anything out but causing his stomach to suffer from the repeated contractions.

Each retch was accompanied by uncontrollable coughing, and his head throbbed in sync with the coughs.

After an unknown amount of time, he finally lifted his head.

The person in the mirror looked exceptionally aristocratic, dressed in a well-tailored suit and with hair perfectly groomed. If it weren't for the terrifying expression on his face, he could be considered a true gentleman. However, Zhou Liao looked extremely haggard, with bloodshot eyes and tears from the retching around his eyes, making him appear incredibly miserable.

What was he doing at this moment? Waiting for Qin Zhan to come home, waiting for him to cook dinner, waiting for him to silently blow-dry his hair.

He thought of Qin Zhan again, inappropriately. He suddenly wondered if Qin Zhan really existed or if he was just a figment of his imagination.

Outside came the sound of knocking, and Zhou Liao heard someone asking who had locked the restroom door.

But he didn't panic and ignored it. In front of the warm yellow light of the mirror, he suddenly took off his suit jacket and began unbuttoning his shirt one button at a time. The light cast deep shadows across the contours of his muscles.

He saw the small diamond shining on the inflamed and swollen area.

Before anyone came to open the door, Zhou Liao looked at it and then gave a grotesque smile in the mirror.