Chapter 1, The Long Journey

Clothes, suitcase, floor, partition... Even the lights in the airport seem to be shrouded in a faint gray hue

This is the last conversation between the father and son

Qin Wenyu did not turn back; he saw the man behind him through the mirror

The sky has not yet brightened; in the cold gray expanse above, there are no stars to be seen, nor the light of dawn.

He is neither tall nor short, neither fat nor thin, wearing a gray down jacket, with a buzz cut, looking unlike himself, his hair long and messy, appearing gloomy

Ah?

Qin Wenyu, dragging her suitcase, arrived at the waiting hall just in time to see Zhang Lu waving at her with Li Ling at the boarding gate

He gazed at the mirror in this manner, and the reflection of himself in the mirror gazed back at Qin Wenyu in the same way

I asked the same question! Zhang Lu glanced in the direction of Qin Wenyu, who was already out of sight, and said, "But he said that if a person who cannot swim goes into the water to save someone, the probability of both of them dying is almost one hundred percent. I thought about it, and it does seem to be true."

A recent rain has further lowered the already low temperatures. The morning fog enveloping the airport is illuminated by lights, creating clusters of grayish-white halos.

Zhang Lu muttered to himself

Hey, where are you going

Behind the two individuals stands the Japanese man who appeared to be around forty years old.

If more than six months pass without receiving the postcard sent back from Japan, go to Japan immediately

He washed his face and looked at himself in the mirror

When Qin Wenyu pressed for an explanation, Qin also hung up the phone

He pulled his suitcase away from the restroom, as the plane was about to take off

The middle-aged man was taken aback and shook his head: "I truly wish... everything could be explained by science..."

Zhang Lu, with one hand around Li Ling's shoulder, said enthusiastically: "You find him strange too, right? Once I asked him, if I were to fall into the river and was about to drown, and he couldn't swim, how would he save me? Guess how he answered?"

Qin Wenyu withdrew her gaze and walked over

Is it a coincidence

Contrary to what Zhang Lu thought, going to Japan was not a spur-of-the-moment decision

Perhaps ... ... is a fear of heights

Why would you ask Classmate Qin such a question? Shouldn't this question be one that I ask you?

"How should I respond?" Li Ling looked at him in confusion

Gloomy, somber, oppressive, as if it were a world from a silent film

Path

This girl is Zhang Lu's girlfriend and also his classmate

This is the dual effect of the Gestalt collapse and the uncanny valley effect. Qin Wenyu turned around and said, "When you look at a Chinese character for a long time, it becomes unfamiliar; the same goes for looking at your face in the mirror for an extended period."

"You don't need to follow me." Qin Wenyu glanced back at Zhang Lu.

Yes

This person is around forty years old, wrapped in a black down jacket, carrying a large gray backpack on both shoulders, and one can see a strong sense of fatigue from their brows to their temples

The call that came from behind startled Zhang Xiaolu, "Hey!"

Qin Wenyu turned to look at him and said, "Moreover, this flight is headed to Tokyo."

Today is very cold, and although it is due to the rain, at this moment, Qin Wenyu feels particularly cold

"Ha, do you speak Japanese?" Zhang Lu glanced at him and asked with a sense of pride

Li Ling tugged at Zhang Lu's sleeve and whispered, "Xiao Lu, the Eiffel Tower is in Paris, and Tokyo has the Skytree..."

He was slowly walking towards the direction of the airplane, his pale face reflected in the black glass

Frayed hair, gray-black pupils, a high nose bridge, drooping corners of the mouth, combined with pale skin, form a face that appears somewhat somber

No wonder it feels particularly cold today

This is a Japanese person

Zhang Lu is positive and proactive, enjoys sports, and loves life; apart from not performing well academically, everything else is commendable

His father, Qin Ye, the man who has made a mess of his life, has not sent a postcard back home for six months

The old man said that the person in the mirror would steal one's soul; the longer one looks, the more unfamiliar one becomes with the self in the mirror, even to the point of... fear

Is there?

He left the restroom

Zhang Lu murmured

Zhang Lu turned around with a smile, and a girl in white, who was half a head shorter than him, was standing under the grayish-white light across the road. He crossed the road and talked with the girl for a while. When they came over, he said to Qin Wenyu, "Don't get me wrong, I'm not worried about you. Lingling wants to see the snow, and we plan to go to Hokkaido to see the snow."

It's all the same, as long as you understand what I mean

Qin Wenyu looked at him—his only friend and confidant, Zhang Lu

He said... he would use everything available around him for rescue, and if nothing worked, he would watch me drown, as a warning to himself not to play carelessly near the water if he couldn't swim... interesting, right!" Zhang Lu became more and more animated as he spoke.

Qin Wenyu, dressed in all black casual attire, stood outside the airport with a suitcase in tow, almost blending into the surrounding dark environment

In other words, Qin has also gone missing

Li Ling glanced in the direction of Qin Wenyu, caught up with Zhang Lu, and quietly asked, "Xiao Lu, I have actually been wanting to ask... how did you become friends? Classmate Qin... has such a peculiar personality."

He walked slowly, the thick down jacket seemed unable to provide him with warmth—he was trembling slightly

While speaking, Zhang Lu dragged his luggage and entered the airport

He spoke in a strange dialect of Chinese to Qin Wenyu

Qin Wenyu nodded slightly to Li Ling, as a form of greeting

Zhang Lu saw Qin Wenyu dragging a suitcase and quickly asked.

Zhang Lu was taken aback; he knew the character of this friend of his. This person never jokes, and whenever he speaks, it is generally the truth.

A strange sound broke the silence of the restroom

... ...

Did he not say he would come down to save you? Li Ling asked

But where did this kid learn Japanese? Could it be the same as me?

Qin Wenyu lowered her head to glance at her black casual outfit and pants

Sir, do not gaze too long at yourself in the mirror

Restroom

Qin Wenyu replied calmly

Since arriving at the airport, the colors that surrounded me were surprisingly limited to only black, white, and gray

Is there something terrifying waiting for him ahead

This day was supposed to be just like the more than 7,000 days that had passed before it

Zhang Lu straightened his neck and said: "First, let's go to Tokyo to see the Eiffel Tower, then to Hokkaido to see the snow, is that not possible?"

Qin Wenyu left without looking back

Moreover, such a disappearance seems to have been anticipated by that irresponsible individual long ago

Qin also said this

However, in order to maintain friendship, friends need not speak so bluntly, even if it is the truth... Li Ling increasingly did not understand, "When Classmate Qin first entered the school, he was very popular, but gradually, everyone realized that he was quite strange; he... was too rational..."

"Huh... you really are crazy," Zhang Lu said, shrinking his neck and exhaling frost. "I thought you were joking when you said you were going to Japan, but you actually went through with it!"

A humanoid figure, unfamiliar, with a face identical to one's own, is the optimal choice to trigger the uncanny valley effect

Qin Wenyu gazed at his back and suddenly realized something

Li Ling's gaze became sharp