Chapter 25: A Dream Too Real

Darkness surrounded him, impenetrable and absolute.

He had no idea how long he had slept, but finally, Chen Lin regained consciousness.

A warm beam of light shone upon his body, dragging him back to where he belonged.

On his own bed, Chen Lin jolted awake.

Though his mind was still hazy, he instinctively reached for his stomach—it was perfectly intact.

Still shaken, Chen Lin felt this was not enough.

He pulled off his shirt and carefully examined his body.

He even ran to the bathroom, scrutinizing himself from head to toe, not missing a single detail.

His skin was flawless—not only were there no terrifying scars, but not even a thin line.

Standing before the bathroom mirror, Chen Lin pressed his hand against the tiled wall, breathing heavily.

‘Thank goodness—was it all a dream?’ Chen Lin tried to reassure himself.

But if it was a dream, it was far too real.

The sensation of each knife thrust into his body was still fresh in his memory.

The sound of the blade scraping against bone, the tearing of blood vessels and flesh like ripping fabric—just recalling it made his legs go weak.

Gag— The moment he thought of the intense pain as his stomach was slashed, Chen Lin couldn’t help but lean over the toilet and vomit. He didn’t stop until he had emptied all the bile from his stomach.

Chen Lin himself didn’t understand why he had had such a dream.

After finally steadying himself in the bathroom, Chen Lin returned to the bedroom and picked up his phone to check the time. In ten minutes, his alarm would ring, and he was supposed to go meet Shihan.

But how could Chen Lin, having just experienced a terrifying near-death sensation, possibly be in the mood to go to the aquarium?

He collapsed onto his bed, his mind in turmoil, and began to let his thoughts run wild.

Raising his right hand, Chen Lin thought of the curse placed on it. The price of this curse seemed to be that the cursed one could not die.

Could it be because of this curse that he hadn’t truly died?

Chen Lin felt his mind grow even more chaotic; it was now a complete mess.

Time flew by in a daze.

The noisy sound of his phone alarm rang in his ears again. Chen Lin deftly turned it off—this was the last-resort alarm.

When the final alarm went off, it meant that if Chen Lin didn’t leave now, he would probably be late for his meeting with Shihan.

Chen Lin slapped his own face, admonishing himself to stay calm.

Whether the curse had really saved him, or it was just a dream, was still just speculation.

To verify the truth, he only needed to go meet Shihan and find out.

If it was just an overly realistic dream, standing up Shihan would definitely not be the right choice. So Chen Lin immediately went out, not even bothering to change clothes, still wearing yesterday’s school uniform.

At a prominent spot in the station, he saw Shihan sitting there. Chen Lin was shocked, even a little incredulous. Not only was Shihan sitting in the exact same spot as in his dream, but she was also dressed exactly the same way.

For a moment, many possibilities raced through Chen Lin’s mind.

After a process of elimination, he thought it possible that after death, he had returned to a point in time before his death.

His so-called ‘immortality’ wasn’t about having an indestructible body—his body was still as fragile as a normal person’s. Rather, he seemed to have the ability to rewind time, a ‘save-load’ power, to escape the punishment of death.

Although this possibility seemed strong, Chen Lin couldn’t rule out the chance that he had simply had a ‘precognitive dream’. He vigorously pinched the flesh of his right hand with his left—it hurt a lot. At least he wasn’t dreaming now.

“You’re late,” Shihan said, walking toward him with a displeased expression, pointing at the watch on her wrist. Their meeting time was set for nine o’clock sharp; Chen Lin was already twenty minutes late. Moreover, Shihan noticed that Chen Lin seemed to take their date very lightly—he had even worn his shabby school uniform. It wasn’t a school trip—couldn’t he have worn his own clothes?

“How long have you been here?” Chen Lin asked her instead.

“Not long. But I definitely wasn’t late,” Shihan replied. To avoid making Chen Lin feel guilty, she didn’t even plan to tell him that she had arrived an hour early.

“Sorry, I must have kept you waiting,” Chen Lin said to her.

“It wasn’t that long,” Shihan responded.

Just then, another shuttle bus for the aquarium pulled into the station.

Shihan reached out and tugged at Chen Lin’s sleeve. “Let’s hurry. If we don’t go now, we’ll miss the dolphin show at the aquarium.”

Under Shihan’s pull, Chen Lin boarded the bus.

Perhaps because it was peak hour, the bus was packed with people, extremely crowded.

Under the press of the crowd, Shihan blushed and pressed against Chen Lin’s chest.

But Chen Lin’s gaze was fixed out the window, lost in thought, completely unaware of the flustered girl in his arms.

After arriving at the park, it was still crowded.

Chen Lin looked at the familiar aquarium facilities without any desire to play. He simply followed behind Shihan, letting her lead and choose the attractions.

When they sat down in the dolphin show venue, Shihan watched joyfully as dolphins leaped out of the water, admiring their smooth and graceful strokes. Chen Lin stared blankly, a stark contrast to the cheerful atmosphere. It was like adding a block of ice to a pot of boiling water.

Right now, Chen Lin was puzzled about one thing: why Yan would want to kill him. No matter how he thought about it, Yan should have no reason. Not only had he never harmed Yan, but he had even taken good care of her.

Shihan had been secretly glancing at Chen Lin the whole time, and noticed that he seemed completely uninterested in the show. “What’s wrong? You seem down. Not interested in the dolphins?” she couldn’t help asking.

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