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Wang

Wang stirred and woke up, his eyes scanning his surroundings. The room was dimly lit, shadows dancing on the walls as sunlight filtered through the curtains. When his eyes fluttered open, he saw his grandmother, Chang, hovering over him, her face a mixture of relief and worry.

"Wang," she whispered, her voice trembling. "Oh, how I miss you."

Wang blinked, stretching his limbs from a long, deep sleep. The overwhelming relief surged through him. He was back. He was alive. "I miss you too," he whispered, pulling his grandmother down for a hug, their bodies colliding in a warm embrace.

Chang's eyes were wet with tears, but they sparkled with joy. "Where's everyone?" Wang asked, sitting up and scanning the room, searching for familiar faces.

His grandmother looked around, her brow furrowed in confusion. "Why don't you wait for Meng to come and explain things to you? I honestly didn't understand her explanation," Chang sighed, her voice heavy with concern.

Wang's heart raced. He was desperate for answers. "What happened? Where's Zhan? How long has it been, my baby?" He instinctively touched his stomach, feeling the emptiness that echoed the loss of their child.

"You —" Before Chang could continue, the door creaked open, and Meng rushed in, followed closely by Duan Dan and Nie Ming Jue.

"Omg, Wang!" Meng exclaimed, her eyes wide with disbelief. She rushed to him, enveloping him in a tight embrace, tears streaming down her cheeks. "I'm so glad you woke up."

Wang returned the hug but quickly pulled back, his urgency surfacing again. "Where's Zhan?" he asked, his voice strained.

Duan Dan stepped forward, her expression serious. "Wang, you were attacked. Remember?"

"I... remember," Wang whispered, his mind racing. "There was someone... they looked like Zhan, but their eyes... their eyes were different. Darker."

Duan Dan leaned closer, her eyes probing Wang's for more information. "Can you describe them? Anything you can remember might help."

Wang hesitated, searching his fragmented memories. "No, they just looked like Zhan, but their breath smelled like prune," he replied, confused by the bizarre detail.

"Prune?" Meng asked, her brow furrowed.

"Yeah," Wang confirmed, frustration bubbling beneath the surface. "Now, where's Zhan?" he pressed, his impatience boiling over.

Duan Dan's expression shifted, her shoulders tightening. "We don't know where he is. We've been looking for him for eight months," she said, the weight of her words hitting Wang like a physical blow.

"What do you mean?" Wang shot back, standing up abruptly, anger and disbelief coursing through him.

"We haven't seen him in eight months," Feng Mian replied calmly, his voice steady but filled with a solemnity that cut through Wang's desperation.

"How long was I asleep?" Wang demanded, the reality of the situation crashing down around him.

"Eighteen months," Chang replied softly, her voice barely above a whisper.

"No, it can't be." Wang shook his head vehemently, a surge of disbelief flooding him. "It should not be more than eight or nine months. He said. Remembering the time he woke up as Wanji, leading to Cheng's wedding? After that..."

"It's been eighteen months, Wang," Chang insisted gently, her eyes filled with a mixture of sadness and resolve. "You need to understand what has happened."