[“There are two ways to disappear from the world.
The first is to die.
The second is to step into a bathroom that was never supposed to exist.”]
He had never truly understood the psychological divide between men and women.
Of course, he understood the anatomy—the basic, cold mechanics of biology—but the intricate architecture of human emotion was an entirely foreign language to him.
He didn’t know what it felt like for someone’s touch to spark warmth, nor did he comprehend the fragile, ego-driven mindsets that governed normal interactions.
To him, people were just bodies moving through space.
And because of this profound emotional disconnect, on the rainy evening of October 10th, he found himself ensnared in a nightmare orchestrated by a beautiful, wealthy, and dangerously narcissistic woman.
Zhou Yuxuan was a twenty-year-old college freshman, a quiet part-timer trying to survive his first year in the city.
At 7:05 PM, the heavy, humid air of autumn hung low over the narrow streets.
Yuxuan sat behind the cramped checkout counter of a small, local grocery shop where he worked as a night-shift clerk.
The actual owner—a harsh man whom Yuxuan internally referred to as the shop’s lord—lived in the attached house right beside the storefront, always close enough to watch, always waiting to catch a mistake.
The shop was dead silent, devoid of customers.
Yuxuan sat heavily on a worn wooden chair, his chin resting in his palm, a characteristically gloomy, detached expression settling over his sharp features.
The flickering fluorescent lights overhead hummed a monotonous, irritating tune.
Then, the bell above the door chimed, shattering the silence.
A woman stepped inside, and the entire atmosphere of the dingy shop shifted.
Even a casual glance at her attire made it obvious she belonged to a completely different world.
Her clothes were immaculately tailored, and the designer emblem on her leather handbag gleamed under the cheap shop lights.
She exuded an aura of immense wealth and a suffocating, unearned pride.
“Welcome, ma’am,” Yuxuan muttered, his voice flat, standing up out of habit rather than genuine courtesy.
The lady didn’t even glance at him.
Treating him as though he were part of the furniture, she walked straight past the counter toward the back coolers.
Her high-and-mighty steps echoed through the empty store—a sharp, rhythmic clack…
clack…
clack…
of high heels striking the cheap tiled floor.
The sound was deafeningly loud in the confined space, grating heavily on Yuxuan’s nerves.
He despised unnecessary noise.
She opened the glass display case, pulled out ten cans of beer one by one, and shoved them carelessly into an eco-bag Yuxuan had placed near the aisle.
When she finally marched back to the counter to pay, she pulled a sleek, custom-cased smartphone from her bag.
Without stopping her frantic typing, she tossed the phone onto the counter and snapped at him.
“Hey, handsome.
Ring up the bill, fast.
I’m already feeling irritated just standing inside this pathetic little shop.”
Yuxuan’s expression didn’t change.
He silently scanned the items, his movements methodical.
“That will be the total, ma’am,” he said, keeping his tone entirely empty of emotion.
Hearing his voice, the lady stopped typing.
She reached into her bag, pulled out a thick wad of cash, and carelessly tossed several high-denominator notes across the counter.
They scattered onto the table like autumn leaves.
Yuxuan calmly gathered the bills, smoothing out the crumpled edges, and arranged them neatly inside the slots of the cash drawer.
When he looked back up, he realized she hadn’t moved.
She had stopped typing entirely.
She was staring at him unnaturally, her eyes wide and fixed, as if she had suddenly been struck by a bizarre spell.
“Is there something else, Ms.?” Yuxuan asked, his patience wearing thin.
“I’m Ling Meilin,” she said suddenly, her voice dropping into a demanding, unexpected familiarity as she revealed her identity.
“And who are you?”
“Zhou Yuxuan,” he replied, his voice freezing cold.
Ling Meilin hesitated, a sudden flicker of awkwardness crossing her highly attractive features.
She fidgeted with the strap of her bag, her eyes darting across his face.
“Um…
do you have any…
um…
I mean…
you know…”
The vague, stumbling hesitation only heightened Yuxuan’s irritation.
He didn’t have the time or the emotional capacity to decode whatever mind games she was playing.
“I am feeling quite irritated myself, ma’am,” Yuxuan interrupted, his voice cutting through her hesitation like a blade.
“I frankly do not care what is happening inside your head.
If you cannot express what you want to say, then please take your things and leave.”
Ling Meilin froze.
It was clear from her shocked expression that no one had ever spoken to her with such blatant disregard.
A sharp flush of anger creeping up her neck replaced her surprise, and she bared her claws.
“Do you have a girlfriend?” she demanded bluntly.
Yuxuan blinked, genuinely perplexed by the absurdity of the question.
“Huh?
Sorry, Ms., but I am not interested in girls.
I am not even interested in friendship.”
“Whoa!” Meilin gasped, a strange, frantic amazement twisting her expression before she blurted out, “Then…
will you be my boyfriend?!”
“Nope,” Yuxuan said without a single second of hesitation.
“Whaat?!” Meilin’s voice shrieked, echoing off the grocery walls as pure, unadulterated fury took over.
“You…
you just dumped me?!
Do you have any idea who I am?
Countless guys beg for just a moment of my time, and I ignore all of them!
I am rich, I am beautiful, and despite knowing that you are nothing but a poor, pathetic clerk, I practically proposed to you!
And you rejected me?!
A beautiful lady like me?!”
Yuxuan let out a long, exhausted sigh, rubbing the bridge of his nose.
“Go away, Ms.
I truly do not care how rich or how beautiful you think you are.”
Trembling with rage, Ling Meilin grabbed her bag of beer.
She didn’t say another word, but the look she burned into his eyes was pure venom.
She turned on her heel and stormed out, her heels clicking violently against the floor until the door slammed shut.
Left alone in the quiet, Yuxuan exhaled.
Heh.
The nuisance is gone,he thought, sinking back into his chair.
Now it’s just me and my silence.
But the silence did not last.
Later that night, at exactly 10:01 PM, just as Yuxuan was preparing to lock up the shop, the front door was violently shoved open.
Yuxuan looked up, his eyes narrowing as Ling Meilin stepped back inside.
This time, she wasn’t alone.
Flanking her were two large, heavily built men with cold, menacing expressions.
“What happened now?” Yuxuan asked, his voice steady but cautious.
“This is the consequence of rejecting me,” Meilin whispered, a cruel, satisfied smile stretching across her face.
Before Yuxuan could even step out from behind the counter, the two men lunged.
The confrontation was fast, brutal, and entirely one-sided.
A heavy fist collided with Yuxuan’s jaw, sending him crashing hard against the linoleum floor.
They kicked him repeatedly in the ribs and stomach, the blunt force tearing the breath from his lungs.
Yuxuan curled into a defensive ball, refusing to give them the satisfaction of screaming.
After what felt like an eternity, the beating stopped.
Ling Meilin stepped forward, looking down at his bruised, broken form with absolute disgust.
“You are incapable of feeling what normal people feel,” she spat, her voice ringing with malicious triumph.
“You could have just normally told me, ‘I’m sorry, but I don’t need a girlfriend right now.’ Instead, you chose the wrong way to handle me.
Bye.”
She turned and walked out, her hired thugs following closely behind.
Yuxuan lay flat on the floor, the stark fluorescent lights blinding him.
His body throbbed with agony, and a dark, warm stream of blood poured steadily from both his nose and mouth, pooling on the cold tiles.
Slowly, agonizingly, he pushed himself up.
He staggered to his feet, leaning heavily against the counter, and used the back of his sleeve to wipe the dark crimson from his face.
Despite the blinding pain, his eyes remained completely vacant.
“I still don’t care about people’s feelings,” he muttered to the empty room.
Suddenly, the side door banged open, and the shop’s lord stormed into the room.
He took one look at the blood on the floor and began shouting at the top of his lungs.
“That wealthy lady just called and told me everything!
You utter scum!
You good-for-nothing brat!
Look at this mess!
Clean up the blood immediately!
And…
and as your punishment, you are strictly forbidden from using the shop’s toilet for the entire week!
Do you hear me?!”
Without waiting for a response, the landlord turned on his heel and slammed the door shut behind him.
Yuxuan wiped his mouth again, letting out a weak, ragged breath.
He knew why the landlord hadn’t fired him or cut his meager pay—the man knew exactly how impoverished Yuxuan was and likely felt a twisted shred of pity, or simply didn’t want to lose a cheap worker.
“Thanks, Mr.,” Yuxuan muttered quietly to himself.
Getting into deep trouble was practically an expectation in Yuxuan’s life; he was chronically experienced in attracting problems.
It didn’t phase him anymore.
Because of his punishment, Yuxuan was forced to use the public restroom located on the opposite side of the dark, rain-slicked street.
He had been an awkward, quiet soul since childhood, a man who harbored a simple, distant dream since middle school—he had always wanted to play tennis while wearing a classic, crisp tennis shirt.
But life had a way of ensuring his dreams never came true.
The following night, the rain had settled into a persistent, icy drizzle.
Yuxuan was halfway through his shift when a sharp, unbearable cramp hit his stomach—a excruciating reminder of the internal bruising from the previous night’s beating.
Sweat beaded on his forehead.
Ugh!
I desperately need to use the restroom…
Clutching his aching ribs, he hurried out of the store and crossed the wet asphalt.
But when he reached the public facility, his heart sank.
The door was locked tight, and a crude, handwritten “OCCUPIED” sign hung loosely from the handle.
He groaned, leaning against the cold brick wall of the alleyway in absolute desperation.
Then, his eyes caught something strange.
Right beside the public facility stood another toilet structure.
It was an old, curiously built stall made of weathered stone and dark iron fittings.
Yuxuan stared at it, brow furrowing.
He had worked on this street for months, yet he had never once noticed this doorway.
A toilet here?
I’ve never seen this before…
Whatever, I have no choice!
Driven by sheer physical necessity, he pushed the heavy door open, stepped inside, and clicked the latch shut behind him.
The interior was stark, illuminated by a single dim bulb.
He relieved himself quickly, his breathing heavy against the pain in his abdomen.
Once finished, he reached out and pressed the metal handle to flush.
*FLASH!*
The moment the mechanism clicked, a strange, high-voltage hum vibrated through the small stone room.
The dim lighting shifted violently, turning into a blinding, iridescent silver that seemed to vibrate in the very air around him.
The air grew instantly crisp and cold, smelling distinctly of sea salt and old paper instead of urban smog.
Frowning, Yuxuan reached out, gripped the iron handle, and shoved the door open.
The outside world was entirely wrong.
This wasn’t his street.
It wasn’t his city.
It wasn’t even his country.
He stepped completely out of the doorway, his worn boots striking smooth, wet cobblestone.
He froze, his analytical mind struggling to process the scene before him.
The architecture surrounding him was breathtakingly archaic—towering stone spires, sweeping Gothic archways, and gas-lit avenues lined with dark timber frames.
Stranger still, the crowds of people sweeping past him were clad in heavy, Victorian-style wool coats and high-collared cloaks, conversing fluently in rapid, refined English.
None of them paid him the slightest mind.
Breath catching in his throat, Yuxuan slowly tilted his head toward the heavens.
The sun hanging above the spires was not the warm, golden star he had known his entire life.
It was a massive, glowing celestial orb of deep, brilliant sapphire—a haunting, radiant blue that looked precisely like the planet Neptune suspended in mid-air.
Panic, cold and sharp, seized his chest.
Yuxuan whirled around, bolted back into the stall, and slammed the heavy door shut.
He pressed his back against the wood, his heart hammering violently against his damaged ribs.
Calm down.
It’s a hallucination.
A concussion from yesterday.
He held his breath, waited three agonized beats, and then violently threw the door open again, praying to see the dirty, rain-washed alleyway of his grocery store.
The blue sun stared back down at him.
There was no escape.
The mysterious, alien realm remained absolute.
As he took a trembling step forward a second time, a low, mechanical shudder echoed behind him.
He turned just in time to see the stone doorway and the bathroom structure dissolve into fine, shadowy mist, vanishing completely as if it had never existed at all.
He was stranded.
Yuxuan began to walk blindly through the crowd, his stoic composure crumbling beneath the sheer absurdity of his reality.
Hours bled into one another as he wandered the labyrinthine, fog-draped avenues.
He hadn’t eaten since yesterday, and the unhealed injuries from the beating began to claim their toll.
His legs grew heavy, his vision swam with dark spots, and every breath felt like a burning blade in his chest.
Gradually, the dim radiance of the blue sun faded behind the heavy, twilight-colored clouds, plunging the sprawling metropolis into a deep, eerie night.
Stumbling into a vast, cobblestone plaza framed by looming clock towers, Yuxuan collapsed onto his knees, gasping for air.
The cold air burned his lungs.
With the last of his strength, he raised his head toward the night sky as the moon of this realm rose above the horizon.
His breath caught.
Every nerve in his body went dead quiet.
Floating high in the velvet sky was a colossal, swirling vortex of absolute darkness—a terrifying, cosmic black hole that looked identical to the central singularity of a galaxy.
It was a monstrous, churning abyss of gravity and shadow, sitting impossibly close to the world’s upper atmosphere.
Its dormant fury hung over the city like an executioner’s blade, so close that it felt as though one wrong step would pull the entire world into its bottomless mouth.
Staring up at the cosmic nightmare, cold sweat dripping down his neck, Zhou Yuxuan realized the truth.
The mundane, miserable life of a grocery clerk was gone forever.
He was trapped in a world where the very laws of reality were broken—and his survival had only just begun.