Doomsday Wonderland Vol. 13: Sleepwalking in Dreamland

1554: College Student Wu Yiliu

Lin Sanjiu knew that she was still trapped within Wu Yiliu, this stranger's body, having just escaped into the stormy forest with him, still talking to Abby—but in the next instant, the scene suddenly changed.

The vivid, real dream of being trapped in a mountainous pocket dimension had gone away like a receding tide. When she came to her senses again, she was sitting in a university classroom.

It was the last row of seats in the classroom, with students scattered sparsely in groups of twos and threes. Some had their heads buried down, some lifted up, making it hard to tell if anyone was really paying attention to the old lady droning on at the front. The air conditioning was somewhat unstable, humming along with the airflow, rising and falling. The windows were scorched bright by the summer sun, and vague shouts occasionally drifted in from somewhere outside, where a PE class was being held.

What was most peculiar was that Lin Sanjiu's perception seemed to be divided into two layers. In the first layer, she was sitting in a university classroom; beneath that, she was still standing in the pouring rain in the forest, talking aloud to Abby.

It was as if two televisions were playing two different images, and only she was not watching from afar, but in the midst of it. The two events were happening simultaneously, utterly unimpeded by each other, and she didn't find it strange or unnatural at all.

Of course, whether sitting in the classroom or standing in the forest, neither was her but Wu Yiliu. When Lin Sanjiu looked down at the textbook on the desk, the hand resting on the Concise Introduction to Logic was lean and sinewy, clearly a man's hand.

She couldn't say why, but just like a dream that didn't make sense, she knew that this was a memory of Wu Yiliu attending college in his home world.

During this time, while the apocalypse had not yet destroyed the human world, Wu Yiliu's world was on the brink of falling apart.

He didn't know when his problems began, and he had tried countless times to trace back and find the root cause, but it was like probing into fog without even a hint of possibility. It's how most of life was lived, in a muddle, and when you looked back, all you got was confusion.

He reached this point in his thoughts and deeply pinched the corners of his eyes. He had to transfer schools on time, apply for law school on time, and follow his family's planned path... He had no room for error.

"The feedback on your last assignment has been sent back. This time, look at the assignment layout. The deadline is before next Friday..."

Even though the subject had long since lost its status as a required course and the students taking it were few, the old lady still prepared and taught the class with dedication. As soon as she finished speaking, the other students stood up and left, leaving only Wu Yiliu sitting still, unmoving.

When he could avoid being close to others, he would. His classes were almost all during unpopular timeslots, and he always wore a hooded sweatshirt and earphones. If he saw someone coming from a distance, he would detour around them. The friends he had played with last year had gradually drifted away, no longer associating with him. No girls wanted to talk to him either, because even Wu Yiliu found his reflection gloomy and reclusive.

"Your last paper was very good." The old lady suddenly smiled at Wu Yiliu as he finally stood up to leave. "I'm looking forward to your next assignment."

Wu Yiliu froze, quickly sneaking glances at the old lady from under his hat. Her thin, curly hair and pale skin were no different from usual. But he still didn't dare to approach and thank her, so he stood far away and mumbled an "okay," waiting for her to turn and leave.