As he approached the room with Xiao Yang's father, the doctor said,
"Of course. I've reviewed his tests, and he's fine. But he can't be exposed to that kind of cold again!"
After hearing the doctor's words, Xiao Yang's father paused for a moment and exclaimed,
"Yes, of course, doctor! Don't worry—he'll be kept away from the cold for a long time!"
While walking toward the room where Xiao Yang stayed with the doctor, his father couldn't help but think,
"Rest assured, doctor, I guarantee he won't be out in the cold for very long!"
The moment they entered the room, the doctor announced with a smile,
"I have great news! You can go home now!"
"Damn! Now they're really going to finish me off..." Xiao Yang thought upon hearing the doctor's words.
Still, keeping up the appearance of an obedient child, he asked,
"Really, doctor, can I go home now?" with a forced smile of happiness on his face.
"Of course! But you can't be playing outside until late at night again—especially not when it's cold!" the doctor replied, issuing a stern warning.
"Staying up late? Seriously? Couldn't those two come up with something better?!" Xiao Yang mused inwardly, finding the excuse his parents had concocted utterly ridiculous.
"Okay, doctor, I won't do it again," Xiao Yang replied, smiling while inwardly thinking,
"It'd be a miracle if I ever saw daylight again, let alone have time to play..."
After hearing Xiao Yang's seemingly cheerful response, the doctor handed him the discharge papers and left after bidding goodbye to Xiao Yang and his family. Soon after the doctor departed, Xiao Yang's father turned and said,
"Let's go, hurry up! I want to get out of this place right now!"
Xiao Yang glared at him with eyes brimming with resentment. He got up from the hospital bed and began changing his clothes. Once he was done, his parents whisked him away quickly—they passed by the doctor and the nurse in the corridor, bid them a hasty farewell, and headed for the exit.
"Doctor, don't you think their behavior is a bit strange?" whispered the nurse, watching them depart as she asked the doctor.
Recalling the many layers of their family charade, the doctor replied,
"Don't worry. I think they're really good people. They seem to care a great deal about their son, and the boy appears to love them too."
"But, doctor, where do all those poorly tended marks on the boy's body come from...? If I hadn't disinfected, those injuries would have probably led to a horrible infection. And the bruises..."
"The parents claimed those marks were caused by other boys at school. Apparently, this kid has been suffering through terrible bullying for some time now. Poor thing... it must be really tough," said the doctor, who truly believed Xiao Yang's parents.
After dismissing the nurse back to her duties, the doctor headed to his office. But before leaving, the nurse thought to herself,
*"I don't want anything bad to happen to you, little friend. Until the next time we meet—and I hope that next time we're not in a hospital,"* she mused with a sardonic smile as she watched Xiao Yang and his family drive away through the hospital window.
Some time later
"Come on, kid, hurry up!" exclaimed Xiao Yang's father, urging him to get out of the car.
When Xiao Yang finally stepped out, his father grabbed his arms and led him straight into a room, shoving him inside and ordering him to study to make up for the time lost in the hospital. Though angry, with few choices left, Xiao Yang sat down in a chair and began to read the medical book lying on the desk.
The room was almost completely empty, containing nothing more than a bed and the essential study materials. Upon entering, the first thing one noticed was the bed—positioned right beneath the window that looked out onto the sidewalk. After closing the door, to the right was a small desk with a few books on it, and to the left, a bookshelf lined with a vast array of medical texts.
While reading, Xiao Yang—drowsy from the medication he'd received at the hospital—felt his eyelids growing heavier and, without even realizing it, slowly dozed off at the desk.
"Yang'er, come to dinner!"
A voice that sounded just like his mother's called out. Even though Xiao Yang immediately recognized that the voice was nearly identical to hers, the way it addressed him—and especially its tone—made him not even consider that it might not be his real mother.
He left the room and walked down a corridor filled with photos of the medals he'd earned. Xiao Yang had come in first in every competition he participated in at school—even in athletics, curiously enough—including a photo from the one contest he despised the most: swimming. Forced to take part in every event his parents dictated, that competition was undoubtedly one of the worst.
During training for that contest, his father would wake him up every day at 5 AM without fail and make him train until lunchtime. If, by noon, Xiao Yang had finished that part of the practice, he'd earn a ten-minute break to eat; if not, he had to continue training until the afternoon, on an empty stomach, as he repeatedly couldn't complete the morning session on time.
After passing by the photos, Xiao Yang reached the stairs leading to the first floor—the level where the kitchen was located—without paying much attention to his surroundings. He simply descended the stairs, famished since leaving the hospital. As he went down, he once more heard a resounding voice:
"Yang'er, don't you want some? It's your favorite meal!"
The voice echoed along the steps, as if it filled the entire house.
But without and exclaimed,
"What's happening here?! I'm sure these stairs have never looked this enormous!"
When he glanced below, all he could see was a deep, sinister darkness.
Xiao Yang paused for a moment, looked at himself, and remarked,
"Well, it was obvious this was just a nightmare."
He noticed that his hand had an extra finger—more than normal—and, for some inexplicable reason, his hunger had completely vanished.
After that, everything gradually began to return to normal. The stairs no longer seemed endless; their end was now in sight. Beyond them, behind a door, a powerful blue light shone intensely.
Realizing that the house was empty, Xiao Yang opened the door and stepped out in search of the source of the light. But once he stepped outside, there was nothing—no houses nearby, not even that strange blue glow, which had completely disappeared the moment he left.
After checking to see if anything was there and surveying the scene, he muttered,
"What a strange dream..." and paused, his back turned towards the moon.
At that very moment, as he lingered there, a strong blue light began to shine and...
"What did I tell you to do, kid?!" Xiao Yang's father bellowed, irritated, after slapping him on the head.
"I...!"
`[Choose a body and a name!]`
"Ah... sorry, I just remembered something, and I think I got a bit lost... But I'll choose a name and a body right away—just give me a second," Xiao Yang said, emerging from what felt more like a state of being frozen for several minutes than a simple recollection.