Reboot 01
Something felt off.
Tian Xiao glanced at the teacher on the podium, who was passionately lecturing, then looked around at his classmates in various postures.
Everything was exactly as usual, no different at all.
Yet Tian Xiao couldn’t shake the feeling that something was wrong.
This sense of something being off had been with him since he opened his eyes this morning.
But no matter how hard he searched, he couldn’t pinpoint what exactly was wrong.
The sky was blue, dotted with white clouds, and pedestrians hurried along the streets, rushing to work or home.
Under the sunlight, a lazy kitten lay sunbathing atop a courtyard wall, while elderly people in the park remained energetic as they exercised.
At school, everything seemed just as it always had been.
In crowded places, he could still occasionally spot strange Shadows mingling among the people.
So what exactly felt off?
Sitting by the window, Tian Xiao shifted his gaze outside.
It was winter, and this spot by the window was drafty on gloomy days, but on sunny days like this, the warm sunlight made one drowsy and comfortable.
Cen Shishi had transferred schools as she said she would, not long after.
Her departure was quiet—the teacher suddenly moved her desk and chair to a corner, and only then did the classmates learn that Cen Shishi had transferred.
At first, a few classmates would occasionally mention Cen Shishi’s name while playing games, but soon, everything returned to normal.
Yes, everything was just as usual.
So why did he keep feeling that something was off?
Tian Xiao looked up at the sky, and after a long while, he blinked uncertainly.
He saw a brilliant white light appear in the sky.
Even in broad daylight, this light was so dazzling it was impossible to ignore.
Yet aside from Tian Xiao, no one else seemed to notice the white light.
It was falling at an incredible speed, trailing a long tail behind it, like a comet.
Straight… straight… it was flying directly toward Tian Xiao’s school.
Tian Xiao: “…?!!”
Tian Xiao abruptly stood up from his seat.
“Tian Xiao? Is something wrong?”
Tian Xiao’s sudden movement interrupted the teacher’s lecture, and the other classmates turned their attention to him.
Tian Xiao pointed out the window at the impossibly fast white light. “Can’t you see that?”
“See what?”
The teacher’s question and the confused gazes of his classmates were the only responses.
Tian Xiao: “…”
Faced with such answers and stares, Tian Xiao didn’t know what to say.
Normally, he thought he should try to get everyone to run, but he glanced out the window at the white light, now terrifyingly close.
It was just too fast.
It was hard to believe that when he first noticed it, the white light had been far off in the sky.
An utterly absurd feeling rose in Tian Xiao’s heart.
Even during the Apocalypse, he had never encountered such an absurd situation.
There was simply no time to escape.
Even if he had said nothing and just run, with the strength in his current seven-year-old body, he wouldn’t have been able to escape the range covered by the white light.
So, under everyone’s gaze, Tian Xiao shook his head and said nothing more.
There was no need for him to speak anyway.
Because the white light had already landed.
The entire school was engulfed in blinding white light.
Everyone finally saw the white light—in the final moments of their lives.
Watching his body gradually melt and disintegrate in the white light, Tian Xiao flashed an international hand gesture toward the radiance.
Indeed, today felt extremely off.
……
Indeed, today was extremely off!
The moment Tian Xiao stepped into the school, he froze in place.
Looking around, he saw students everywhere, heading to class, and the direction of the teaching building was bustling with noise.
With class about to start, many late students were running, yet Tian Xiao remained rooted to the spot, his face filled with confusion.
He distinctly remembered that he had just died moments ago.
A beam of white light from the sky had descended at an unimaginable speed, enveloping the entire school in its brilliance.
And then…
Then everyone died.
Tian Xiao had not only witnessed his own disintegration but also that of his classmates and the school itself.
Time seemed to slow down in that instant, and the students whose bodies disintegrated and vanished were completely unaware of what had happened before it was over.
Only Tian Xiao had the presence of mind to flash a hand gesture while cursing inwardly.
The next moment, everything had changed to this.
Standing among a crowd of running classmates, Tian Xiao looked up toward the wall of the teaching building.
On the wall of their school’s teaching building, facing the main gate, hung an enormous clock.
The school’s time was perfectly synchronized with the clock on the wall, reminding everyone of the class schedule.
The clock showed 7:58 a.m., with just two minutes left before class began.
Everything happening before his eyes was identical to when Tian Xiao had arrived at school that morning.
Including the classmates running past him.
Tian Xiao had an excellent memory, and he could clearly match each of these running students to the images in his mind.
Truly… exactly the same.
Had time rewound?
Tian Xiao hesitated slightly before following the running students to his classroom.
The class bell rang the moment he stepped inside, and the previously noisy students quickly returned to their seats.
Tian Xiao walked unhurriedly to his seat, pulling out his books one by one.
Just as he remembered.
The math teacher for the first period arrived a bit late, grinning as he entered the Door.
The student sitting by the window in the fourth row kept dropping their pencil case.
The math teacher’s chalk flew with pinpoint accuracy.
After class, several students from the neighboring class gathered outside the Door, calling for someone.
During the second-period Chinese class, every student called upon to recite from memory did so flawlessly, exactly as Tian Xiao remembered.
By the end of the second period, Tian Xiao stood up and left his seat. Weaving through the running crowd, he looked up at the sky while pondering what to do.
It seemed he was the only one with memories related to the white light.
The other students remained completely unaware.
If Tian Xiao wanted to, he could leave the school early on his own.
That way, he could avoid being struck dead by the white light, but…
“It’s not entirely impossible.”
Tian Xiao took the initiative to enter the teachers’ office.
When he walked in, several teachers were chatting, preparing lessons, or grading papers.
For an ordinary elementary school student, this place held a certain authority, and few would venture into the teachers’ office without reason.
Tian Xiao walked in with remarkable calmness, even greeting a familiar teacher. He found the math teacher's desk, reached out to pull open the drawer, and effortlessly found what he was looking for.
—A lighter.
The math teacher smoked.
Of course, the math teacher wouldn't smoke at school or in front of students.
But items like lighters could still be found in the math teacher's pockets or desk.
After obtaining the lighter, Tian Xiao casually grabbed a few blank sheets of paper and left. Not long after, before the third class had even begun, someone in the school screamed in panic.
"Fire—!!"
A fire had broken out.
Before the flames could even be seen clearly, thick smoke billowed through the school.
Due to the dense and overwhelming smoke, the students couldn't stay in their classrooms. They were all organized by their teachers and led out of the school.
All the fire hydrants in the school were opened, and the fire was quickly brought under control, but the smoke showed no signs of dissipating.
Coupled with the terrified, wailing children and the soot-covered faces of the principal and teachers, the atmosphere was heavy.
Tian Xiao blended in with the crowd of children, watching the principal and teachers huddled together, discussing something, and the firefighters who had rushed to the scene. He calculated the time in his mind and looked up at the sky.
"Can you see it?"
Tian Xiao pointed to the dazzling white light that had abruptly appeared in the sky.
Hearing Tian Xiao's voice, the classmates who looked up gave him the same confused expressions he remembered.
"See what?"
"There's nothing there…"
Tian Xiao scanned their faces, once again confirming that no one else could see the white light from the sky except him.
So, time had indeed rewound.
The good news was that the school where the white light was about to land should now be empty.
Thinking this, Tian Xiao continued to gaze at the sky.
The white light was as swift as ever. In such a short time, it had gone from distant to right before his eyes.
But when the white light was "right before his eyes," Tian Xiao finally noticed something different from his memory.
This white light…
"Are you fucking coming straight for me??"
Yes, just before landing, the white light made a slight turn, heading directly toward Tian Xiao's location.
Once again, Tian Xiao saw the image of his body disintegrating within the white light.
…
Tian Xiao abruptly sat up in bed.
He blinked, then looked at his intact body and hands.
Glancing at the clock, he placed a hand over his chest and let out a soft sigh.
"So… it was all a dream…"
Wiping the cold sweat from his forehead, Tian Xiao shook his head with a smile. "Scaring myself for nothing."
As he spoke, Tian Xiao got up on his own.
First, he opened the window and looked at the sky outside, then tidied his bed and washed up, taking care of himself.
He was the picture of a child who didn't need parental supervision, fully deserving of the title "someone else's child."
After finishing all this, Tian Xiao heard a knock on the Door.
"Knock, knock… knock, knock…"
Five knocks in total—his Mom's habitual rhythm.
Accompanied by his Mom's call: "Xiao Xiao."
Mom didn't have much to say to Tian Xiao, but after spending some time together, Tian Xiao knew she was calling him for breakfast.
Mom's insistence on cooking for Tian Xiao was as unwavering as her desire for Tian Xiao to go to and from school every day.
Any other child would probably have been terrified by now, but fortunately, it was Tian Xiao standing here.
"Mom!" Tian Xiao responded to Mom's call, naturally raising a hand to open the Door. Just as Tian Xiao looked up, about to say something, the smile on their face froze instantly.
It should have been Mom standing in front of the Door.
But usually, Mom always appeared gentle and beautiful when facing Tian Xiao.
Yet now, standing before the Door was a terrifying presence—tall and gaunt, its height almost reaching the ceiling, its entire body twisted and distorted.
Tian Xiao had seen Mom transform before.
When Tian Xiao was "disobedient," Mom might transform out of anger or sadness.
When Tian Xiao first started interacting with Mom, they had once caused Mom to transform due to disobedience.
Only that one time—Tian Xiao never let Mom transform again.
But this was different…
Mom's transformation had never looked like this before.
The Mom before them now… seemed to be in great pain.
Faced with such a terrifying version of Mom, Tian Xiao did not run away but instead reached out toward Mom.
Tian Xiao's hand passed through Mom's body.
The gaunt, twisted, towering figure dissipated like an illusion as Tian Xiao's hand passed through, and Tian Xiao grasped Mom's real hand.
Mom, who looked no different from usual, made a puzzled sound, "Xiao Xiao?"
Author's Note:
I've been sick these past couple of days—stuck at home but still caught a cold and fever, my brain just wouldn't work. After taking medicine, I've been sleeping nonstop.
For years, I've never had a day where I could just sleep like this, not even during the pandemic OTZ.
Luckily, I'm feeling much better today~
When I went to see the doctor, they said the flu is really severe right now. Remember to stay warm, little cuties~ Wear a mask when going to crowded places~