A huge, round eyeball appeared on the wall just about a meter from her, the surrounding area soaked in black blood. It didn’t flinch or move away it just stared straight at Qi Bai.
The cloudy eyeball suddenly grew excited. The blood vessels in the whites of its eyes bulged thick and red, the corner veins burst, and pus-stained blood streamed continuously.
“Got it!” Qi Bai thought, finally understanding that this was the culprit tormenting her.
Her anger flared up she almost wanted to rip that giant eye off and use it as a ball!
Perhaps her gaze was too audacious, because the once largely immobile eye suddenly narrowed slightly, the corners of its eye socket curved, and, impossibly, it seemed to smile at Qi Bai.
For a brief instant, all Qi Bai could see were those strangely smiling eyes.
In a small park of an old residential complex, groups of children chased each other while elderly residents strolled and chatted. Some more energetic elders donned loose traditional coats and practiced Tai Chi.
“Hey, it’s that dirty kid!” A little boy with red lips and white teeth suddenly pointed at Qi Bai.
Hearing the commotion, everyone turned their gaze toward her.
“Oh no, Xiao Yu, don’t go over there. Dirty kids have fleas! Let’s go home!” someone scolded.
“Where are her parents? Could she be an orphan?” an old man walking by couldn’t resist asking.
“Can’t be. I often see her picking up trash around here. Probably a local kid.”
“No way! That dirty kid’s a wild child. Her parents don’t care about her!”
The little boy’s words clearly triggered the children’s natural curiosity.
“Really? It’s her again? So filthy… she never takes a bath?” a little girl asked, her stark black-and-white eyes fixed on Qi Bai in puzzlement.
Through the girl’s clear eyes, Qi Bai saw a child with hair in a tangled mess, clothes ragged like a beggar’s outfit.
For a moment, she didn’t even recognize herself.
Had she ever been this dirty?
A shiver ran through Qi Bai, as if ants crawled over her skin, a strong sense of dissonance rising within her.
Something felt off…
She sensed she had grasped some important information.
But the next second, the scene shattered like a fragile illusion.
As the image “cracked,” it felt like a blow to her head. Pain exploded in her skull, and she sank into a deep, heavy sleep.
A dim, damp alley. A girl of about thirteen or fourteen, wearing faded white denim, rummaged through a trash bin.
“Not this one!” she tossed a milk carton aside.
“Not this one either!” she threw away a drink bottle.
The girl covered her nose with a clean sleeve, puzzled.
What am I doing here? What am I looking for?
Qi Bai’s mind was blank. Upon waking, a voice had instructed her to search in this alley.
She only remembered it was near her home, where her father always gambling and never caring was completely indifferent to her actions. Could it be her mother who sent her here?
Qi Bai’s mind felt sluggish. She followed the guidance to search the trash carefully, wrapping her hand in clean plastic, moving as if conducting a delicate experiment.
But…
Nothing!
There was nothing here!
How could the thing she was looking for be here?
This world was absurd! Qi Bai couldn’t help muttering to herself.
Above her small frame, the once-clear blue sky seemed to fracture like a fist had punched a hole, slowly forming a black void.
From the void, a massive eyeball appeared, slowly revealing most of its iris. Seeing that the girl below didn’t react, it finally exposed the full eye.
It carefully observed the girl’s every movement. When she didn’t act as it expected, the entire eye seemed to flood with blood.
Qi Bai remained unaware. The more she thought about it, the stranger it felt but trusting her mother, she simply threw the bottle aside and ran abruptly in one direction.
The giant eye saw the little girl break free from its intended control, like a puppet escaping its strings. It panicked and raged, trying to use its trick again.
Qi Bai ran toward what she remembered as home, scanning her surroundings with her eyes.
A small street-side shop caught her attention, and tears glimmered in her clear eyes.
How wonderful! The little store was still here! The elderly shopkeeper from childhood… I wonder how she’s doing now. She was always worried I’d go hungry. Did her family come to get her?
How wonderful!
The old cement path, biking to school in a hurry as a child I had complained so much about those potholes!
The tall trees along the road, the shade on the path, the sunlight filtering through leaves into dappled patterns all so familiar.
So familiar that she blinked, unable to hold back the intense longing, and her face instantly dampened with tears.
She knew this place… a land that made her soul tremble yet drew her heart.
She thought she wouldn’t miss it…
She thought she could be carefree…
But here and now, all memories surged at her. The paths one walks are inevitably walked again in unexpected ways.
All her past actions had shaped who she was today and she could never forget them.
Qi Bai greedily took in her surroundings, until the scenery nearby began to slowly fragment, like a prelude to a shattered illusion.
“Is that you?” Qi Bai finally asked.
“What do you want me to do?”
The giant eye, no longer hiding, hung blatantly in the bright but false sky, replacing the sun.
It unleashed its malice without restraint, the surrounding black void expanding, staring straight at Qi Bai.
“You should be afraid!”
A voice from beyond suddenly appeared, seemingly answering her question.
Qi Bai had already noticed the giant eye, but recalling her past experiences, she dared not look directly at it.
“Afraid? Why should I be afraid? All of this is fake. You use my memories to create this, yet you think I will fear it?”
Qi Bai smiled, piecing together all she had endured when facing the eye, speculating wildly but dismissing every notion in turn.
“What people fear most is themselves. I can clearly sense your disgust at filth, your resentment toward the cruelty of relatives, and your regret for past foolishness!”
The giant eye gazed down at the tiny girl, issuing its judgment “Facing the past, you should hate, resent, and fear it to the extreme!”