The Creatures that We Are

Gao Yang firmly believed that he had fallen into a powerful illusion or a dream the moment he opened the Gates.

To break out of it, the only way was to spot the flaw!

Miss Bo stopped and turned around. “What’s wrong?”

“We got to the year 05 too quickly. We haven’t been walking for so long. There were several skips of dates.”

“Yes.” Miss Bo smiled like she wanted him to think further. “You spotted it finally.”

“That’s the flaw of the dream!” Gao Yang repeated.

“And you are in your dream.” Miss Bo blinked.

“Don’t try to trick me. I’m saying that you and everything here is a dream!”

Miss Bo sighed softly. “If that’s the case, and you’ve spotted the flaw of the dream, why aren’t you waking up?”

Miss Bo kept walking. Gao Yang’s wheelchair followed automatically.

Thirty seconds later, Miss Bo stopped at a door on the left. “Look.”

Gao Yang looked up to see 4/1/06 on the door.

He paused. He couldn’t be more familiar with the date.

“Mr. Liu, I’m going to open the door for you. May I?”

Gao Yang stared at the door silently.

“If you believe all of this to be a dream, Mr. Liu, what do you have to fear? Whatever’s inside the room will be fake, right?”

Gao Yang remained silent.

“Sometimes, it’s painful to face reality, especially when you’ve received love in your dream.” Miss Bo sighed. “From a purely sentimental point of view, perhaps it won’t be so bad to die in your dream.”

“But Mr. Liu, you’ve been questioning and seeking the truth. That’s how you get here. At this moment, you feel conflicted, scared, wanting to escape. That’s because you’re going to wake up soon. You’re on the path to recovery. People always say that exhaustion comes from you going upward. Your condition’s improving.”

Gao Yang scoffed. “I don’t want you to open the door because I know what’s inside. I don’t want to face that memory now. It’ll shake my will and make me weak. I don’t believe a word out of your mouth. Don’t try to misinterpret my intention. The trick doesn’t work on me.”

“The most difficult and important step in recovering from any mental illness is to accept that you’re sick.” Miss Bo nodded. “I’m only an AI who’s serviced many Jupiter Travelers, Mr. Liu. it’s only natural you don’t find me convincing. Be patient. You’ll walk the first ninety-nine steps. Then you can take the final step on your own. I believe reality and time will be your best remedies.”

Miss Bo lifted her hand, opening the door marked 4/1/06.

Inside was a small world.

It was the orphanage Gao Yang remembered. The messy dorm was dimly lit. The dorm keeper and about a dozen children sat around a wooden table.

Turning six, Gao Yang sat beside the dorm keeper with a birthday fashioned from cigarette packs. Placed on the table at his chest level was a cupcake with a burning candle. ʀâ𐌽ỔᛒËs

The boy pressed his hands together, his face sunken from malnutrition cast in a warm light. He squeezed his eyes shut, his lips pursed, making a wish with full devotion.

Outside the door, Gao Yang stared at his six-year-old self. He knew very well what wish the orphan was making. He remembered all of it.

Soon, the boy opened his eyes, which sparkled like stars.

He puffed out his cheeks and blew out the candles. The room plunged into darkness.

“Yay!”

“Oooh!”

The other children clapped and shouted.

The dorm keeper rose to switch on the light. A yellow bulb lit up in response, like a magical umbrella shielding the children in a dark forest, shrouding them in golden magical power.

“Happy birthday to you!” The dorm keeper pulled Gao Yang into her arms happily, starting the song.

“Happy birthday to you…”

The children followed suit.

After finishing the song, there was another ruckus. The dorm keeper took a handful of cheap chocolate candies from her pocket, handing each child one.

“Alright, alright. The cake is small, but you all get candies.”

The children cheered like they received treasure.

The dorm keeper took the candle off before lifting the cupcake. “Eat, Liu Li.”

“Yeah!”

Gao Yang happily took a big bite, finishing half the cupcake.

“Is it good?”

“It’s good!”

Cheeks bulging, Gao Yang felt a joy he’d never known as he said loudly, “You have some too, Auntie!”

The woman wiped his mouth gently with a hand. “Auntie doesn’t eat sweets. I need to go on a diet, or I won’t be able to get married in the future.”

“I’m going to marry Auntie when I grow up!” a boy shouted.

“Me too!” another boy said.

“Me three!” chimed in a little girl.

“And me! I wanna marry Auntie!” The children joined eagerly.

“Hahaha, once you grow up, Auntie will be a granny!”

Bam! The door closed. Gao Yang’s memory of his sixth birthday was again sealed behind the door marked 4/1/06.

He maintained his poker face, but couldn’t stop a tear from silently falling down his face. He turned away and wiped it with the back of his hand, exhaling a long breath. “What else have you got? Go on.”

Miss Bo resumed her walk. The wheelchair followed along.

“The Corridor of Thousand Dreams displays snippets of your dream, not every real moment. That’s why there aren’t that many rooms.”

Gao Yang stayed silent.

“The Mist World is your dream, and the edge of the Mist is the edge of your cognition.”

“The Jupiter Virus forced your brain to create a perfect dream. The information, memories, experience, self-identity, cognition, concepts, and various feelings in your head combine to create every part of the Mist World. Every building block and life came from your thoughts.”

“Our data showed that you were an orphan named Liu Li. When you were six, you were adopted by the Gao Family and renamed Gao Yang. You had a grandmother, a father, a mother, and a younger sister.”

“The Corridor stores everything from your dream. This isn’t necessarily part of your dream realm. Consider it a transit point we created in your subconscious. It’s supposed to be a buffer for you before waking up, preventing a mental breakdown as soon as the dream ends.”

“We only finished developing the technology two years ago. Before, the patients came under tremendous impact when they woke up. Most had forgotten about the real world while at the same time creating a perfect dream world based on the real world…”

“I’ll finish the explanation for you,” Gao Yang interrupted her impatiently.

Houseau3's Thoughts

Huh, I don't think we knew he was born on April Fools'.

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