Chapter 839: You’re Finally Awake
A dream.
A dream of the past.
A dream long in the distant past.
A time when a boy still had his father and mother together with him... Then it all shattered into pieces.
Father disappeared. Mother wept. Everybody was gone. No one is by their side. But slowly, they dug themselves out of the hole.
Rebuild back up from the grave. A never-ending nightmare that repeats over and over again with no escape.
Until the boy woke up.
---
"Fuck, my head!"
As Xiaoyun managed to instinctively open his eyes, everything around him had completely changed.
He was no longer on the bathroom floor. A soft bed behind his back and a warm blanket rested over his body.
A bright ceiling light right directly above him. Everything felt familiar, but he couldn’t put his finger on it.
The dizziness soon made everything spin in place, forcing him to close his eyes once again as darkness consumed his vision.
"Honey!"
"Babe!"
Xiaoyun could hear the noises running towards him, but he couldn’t say anything back. Not a single part of his body could be moved.
It was a complete paralysis.
"Xiaoyun, don’t fall back asleep now. Try to open your eyes and move your body. You can do this."
"Please don’t give up!"
The familiar voices around him rang in his ear over and over again. He tried his best to move a single muscle, only to no avail.
"Why can’t I open my eye again?"
Fear began to grow as darkness continued to consume everything around him. He had lost control of his body.
"Don’t give up, you dickhead!"
"Ow!"
The sudden sharp pain immediately gave a rush of control. Although Xiaoyun couldn’t tell which part of the body, he could still flex it slightly.
"His elbow moved!"
"Keep punching his body."
"Let me do it."
As more and more sharp pains appeared throughout his body, Xiaoyun could start moving each part of the muscle piece by piece.
From his arms to his legs up to his torso. Everything was being awakened from its sleep as he got a punch in the face.
"Fuck! That hurts!"
"Honey!"
The moment Xiaoyun spoke out loud in pain, a warm hug rushed into his face, suffocating him before he was freed.
"Honey, you’re finally awake! You know how scared we are?" Leyan questioned, looking down at him from above.
"What happened?" Xiaoyun questioned, not noticing that his voice suddenly sounded much higher than usual.
"You forgot everything?"
Looking over to the right, Tianci was standing there in a lab coat. Her hand was holding a clipboard and a pen.
"What did I forget——Fuck it hurts!"
As soon as Xiaoyun tried to think back on the past, a sharp pain immediately appeared throughout his entire body.
"Honey, stop thinking. Just take a deep breath. Don’t think of the past anymore."
Slowly, the pain disappeared. Xiaoyun still couldn’t remember anything as he took a deep breath.
"Can you guys tell me what happened? Why does my body hurt so much when I try to think about the past?"
"You went to save Houqin, and by the time I found you in her bathroom, only a corpse of you was there," Tianci answered.
"A corpse? I died?" Xiaoyun questioned, his head still confused by everything that had happened so far.
"No. I mean, you had no pulse and no heartbeat when I found you. But then your heartbeat magically reappeared again."
"Okay... How about Houqin? Is she okay?"
"She’s..."
Tianci fell into silence. Unable to speak up, Leyan quickly took over to answer Xiaoyun’s question.
"Houqin is still alive. But I’m not sure if you want to see her again."
"Why wouldn’t I? She’s my——Fuck!"
Once again, the sharp pain immediately made him collapse onto the bed again. His head was feeling dizzy again as he tried to think of what had happened.
"Xiaoyun, just lie down and stop worrying about it. She’s still perfectly fine and alive. You had done enough."
Tianci’s comment only made Xiaoyun resist her suggestion to lie back down as he slowly got up again.
"If she’s alive, why wouldn’t she want to see me again?"
"Honey, you’ll see her when you’re feeling better, okay? Just focus on yourself first before thinking about anything."
Leyan softly murmured as she reached her hands out to his back, forcing him back down onto the bed.
"I’m perfectly fine... What day is today?" Xiaoyun suddenly asked.
"Friday," Tianci answered.
"Friday... Shit, I missed my meeting—"
"Yiming has already finished the meeting for you. All you need to do now is to focus on yourself, okay?"
As Leyan’s hand slowly patted him on the head, he suddenly noticed something a little off about the size.
Her hand was way bigger than his face. Way bigger than his head. Even bigger than his very own hand that tried to push it away.
"Why is my hand so small... Wait, my elbow is so skinny. And my biceps and shoulders! What the hell happened to my body?!"
Both Tianci and Leyan stood there in silence as Xiaoyun flipped the blanket over, revealing a body barely half his original size.
By half, it really meant more of a kid-size body. The same size back when he was only a middle schooler.
"Your regeneration didn’t go far enough... You should try to change it back." Tianci murmured.
"I’m trying... I can’t do it. My ability... I-It’s not there anymore. No, no, no, this can’t be happening to me."
Seeing the panic begin to appear on Xiaoyun’s face, a sudden warm hug rushed into his face once again.
"It’s okay, honey. You probably just lost it temporarily. Give it a few days, and you’ll regain your ability again."
"Leyan is probably right," Tianci murmured.
"Let me go, I can’t breathe!"
"Oops! Sorry!"
As Xiaoyun sees the light of day again, he has no choice but to take their words. He just couldn’t use his ability at all.
No matter how much he tried to think, nothing appeared on his fingertips. Not even a simple water bottle or a tiny bit of dust.
"How many days has it been since I was unconscious?" Xiaoyun suddenly asked as he finally leaned down onto the bed on his own.
"Today is the 11th, and you went to Houqin’s place on Tuesday morning, so it’s been three days."
"Shit, I need to get prepared for—"
"Where do you think you’re going with this body?"
Xiaoyun fell into silence. He couldn’t argue back with Leyan’s comment as he looked down at his small, tiny hands.
"I need you to tell Yiming if I can’t make it. He’ll need to—"
"Yueyue and Yuqi already got everything sorted out. You don’t have to worry about a single thing at all."
Leyan’s interruption helped Xiaoyun let out a small sigh of relief. Still, he really didn’t want to lie down in the bed.
Not after learning how long he had been unconscious.
"Leyan, I’m going to head over to make a phone call. Tell me if you need anything." Tianci murmured as she turned around towards the exit.
"I got everything. You can go do your stuff."
As Tianci headed out of the room, it left only Leyan and Xiaoyun in the room. The two looked back and forth at each other until one side spoke up.
"Honey, you don’t want to sleep?"
"I’m not tired... Whose bed is this?" Xiaoyun questioned.
"You’re in Nami’s room. Do you want to go for a walk? Or are you hungry? I can go bring you lunch right now."
"I’m fine. Can you help me up? I want to go to the bathroom."
Leyan quickly helped Xiaoyun up, walking out into the hallway before going inside the bathroom.
"You need me to help you take off your—"
"I can do this myself."
Leyan headed back to the hallway, leaving him all alone in the bathroom as he slowly walked over to the sink.
Looking at the mirror, Xiaoyun could see his face for the first time. It was a baby face with a little bit of fat on the side.
The same face he had in his dream. The one when the old man first picked him up in the first year of middle school.
A stickman body with barely any muscle. A haircut that looked so short as if he had newly signed up in the military.
"Why is my body so tiny... And my voice... Why did my regeneration stop here?"
Unable to understand what had happened to his body, Xiaoyun didn’t try to think any further as he headed towards the toilet.
After taking a short piss, he headed back to the sink. Then he washed his hands before splashing a bit of cold water onto his face.
"Honey, are you done?"
"I’m coming out."
Back in the hallway, Leyan was standing there. Her towering height overshadowed him completely in the darkness.
"Never once have I thought I’d say this, but I never realized you’re this tall," Xiaoyun murmured as he headed towards the staircase.
"Sorry, honey."
"I’m not criticizing you or anything... You’re taller than me even before I become tiny like this, aren’t you?"
"Yeah... Honey, are you hungry?" Leyan suddenly asked as she followed right behind him down to the living room.
"I already said I’m fine," Xiaoyun answered again, his voice started to get a little irritated by her tone shift.
"Hehe..."
