Chapter 36: In What World?  

The college entrance exam was three days away. I’ve been awake for a week now.

This was all because Xiaomei’s agreed to be my girlfriend on the condition that I enter the same university as her.

Shuo Men University.

A student would need an average of 629 points to be accepted.

This was her goal, and now, mine as well.

My average score was 550 but I’ve been improving tremendously over these past few days.

I’m not sure how many cups of coffee I’ve taken but I’ve been without sleep for a week.

I’ve basically memorized the whole syllabus of language studies.

I constantly pushed myself and I am on the verge of exhaustion.

I picked up a class photograph from my table.

Fourth row, eighteen from the left.

That’s my Xiaomei.

She’s really beautiful.

I’m all ready now and all that’s needed was a restful sleep.

But I wasn’t tired at all.

I slowly got up and walked toward my bed.

The moment I took a step, I experienced vertigo.

Everything turned black and I instantly lost my vision.

I couldn’t feel my limbs.

My body leaned forward slightly and I lost balance.

I was fully conscious but I had no control over my limbs.

I collapsed forward onto the bed.

My head slammed heavily onto the spring mattress.

I wanted to scream for help but realized I had no voice.

I was definitely clear-headed, however.

Am I paralyzed?

That was my first thought.

Soon after, a second thought popped into my head. What’s going to happen to Xiaomei and I if I can’t get into the university?

I had to recover.

I rationalized the situation. Was I dreaming? I had experienced something like this before in a dream.

I quickly dismissed the idea since my line of thought was too logical and clear.

All was black but I could still hear.

I was unable to move but I could feel someone pressing down on the bed.

Would everything be alright once I wake up from a sleep?

I sorted out my emotions and got rid of all negative thoughts.

I decided to assess the situation after a nap.

But I couldn’t fall asleep.

It’s been a week since I last slept, yet I simply couldn’t fall asleep.

Is this sudden death? The thing that happened to those who spend nights gaming in an Internet cafe?

I realized I was no different from those gamers.

While they were busy playing, I was busy studying.

The phrase ‘death from overstudying’ entered my mind.

I knew for sure that I was going to appear on the headlines the next day.

Just like that, I lay down for three hours until Mom came in to call me out for dinner.

She called my name repeatedly, flipping my body over.

Her shouts grew louder but I was unable to respond.

All I heard was my name.

She then tried strangling and slapping me.

It hurt so bad but I couldn’t do anything.

She pried open my eyelids and light entered my field of vision.

However, I was unable to focus and couldn’t get a clear glimpse of Mom’s face.

I wasn’t blind, just paralyzed and hence unable to open my eyes and see.

So, am I in a vegetative state?

Would I be okay when I’m awake?

Aye, wait.

What am I to do if I can’t wake up?

Two more days until the exam.

I felt my eyelids closing once again and I heard Mom calling for help over the phone.

Twenty minutes passed.

Dad brought a doctor over.

I was carried on a stretcher and sent to the hospital.

Inside the emergency room, I could hear the doctors whispering.

“Everything seems normal, what’s the problem?”

“He’s so young so it can’t be a stroke. Let’s wait for the lab results.”

My eyelids were being pried open again and my view was illuminated by a flashlight.

“Pupils unable to shrink. Braindead?”

“This isn’t uncommon. I heard from his mother that he’s been studying in his room for a long time. Could it be over exhaustion?”

“Let’s try resuscitating him first.”

“There’s been a lack of bed space recently. Will his family accuse us of shirking responsibility if we transfer him to another hospital?”

My back turned cold. Am I a lost cause?

But there was nothing I could do. I was a pig waiting to be slaughtered.

I heard the door closing.

“We can only try to cure him first. Put on the heart rate monitor. His breathing is regular. I have no idea what’s wrong.”

I started to panic since even the doctors couldn’t diagnose my issue.

“Look. His heart rate is increasing.”

“Yeah, it’s past 130 now.”

“Inject 1mg of Betaloc to reduce heart rate.”

I could feel a needle entering my vein.

A cold fluid spread throughout my body.

“It’s coming down.”

“Strange. Exceeding 130 bpm in a state of shock?”

“Alright, push him out when his heart rate stabilizes.”

“Wait, wait. It’s dropping too quickly.”

“What the? What’s going on?”

“Down to 63. Oh my god.”

“Remove defibrillator. Get the conductive gauze ready.”

“Down to 30. Prepare 0.1mg of adrenaline.”

“Defibrillator removed. Gauze in place.”

...

“Oh my god, I’m awake. Don’t electrocute me!” I shouted.

I could see everything clearly.

“Why are you shouting?” a girl’s voice sounded beside me.

I was lying in the middle of a vast grassland.

“You... I... this..? Where am I?” I stammered.

“Your doorway, you fool. Are you playing with me?” she replied.

I turned my head.

It was Xiaomei, except that she actually had a whole lot of freckles all over her face.

And her skin was much darker.

“You... you... you!” I shouted anxiously.

“What? Has your afternoon nap turned you silly?” Xiaomei laughed.

I looked at my hands. They were perfectly fine.

I stood up and surveyed my surroundings. Behind me was a cogon grass house.

“Where’s this place?” I asked Xiaomei with my arms opened.

“Shuozhou. Have you gone berserk or are you acting right now? Pretending to have lost your memory to avoid the exam this afternoon? It’s not the first time you’re doing this. Don’t think you’ll be able to get away with it,” Xiaomei chided.

“I did. I studied so hard for you,” I insisted.

“Alright, have you mastered Swallow’s nest?” she questioned.

“What nest?” I asked in shock.

Xiaomei wrinkled her brows before taking a few steps forward and made two and a half rotations.

She then made four air kicks as if she was flying in mid-air.

My jaw dropped.

Upon landing, she continued, “This is a perfect demonstration. It’s such a basic move but can you do it? Father warned me not to hang out with fools.”

“What was that move called? The one where you fly here and there?” I asked with my mouth still wide open.