Reality Programming Association

Chapter 2: Chapter 1: An Abnormal Disappearance Case

But Yu Zhengze was a materialist, and Yu Xian was no different.

’That’s why he’d made sure to get the most basic facts straight. Why would he bother his cousin otherwise?’

Yu Zhengze mulled it over for a moment.

”If your memory is correct, then this is indeed quite strange.”

His cousin paused, his tone softening a bit.

”Let’s wait for the property management office to open tomorrow, and we’ll go ask them together. After this happened, have you been completely unable to get in touch with Xia Li?”

Yu Xian lowered his gaze. The tea stem in his cup had gone soft and was now floating on the water’s surface, spinning gently.

’Unable to get in touch?’

’How was he supposed to define ”unable to get in touch”?’

His mind had been a total mess when he’d first run out of that apartment building.

A few elderly men and women were standing under an awning, watching the rain and chatting about trivial household matters.

He didn’t know many phone numbers by heart, but Xia Li’s was one of them.

As he pressed the call button, he was already braced for a ”cannot be connected” or ”the user’s phone is off” message.

But the automated voice that followed still sent a chill down his spine, raising goosebumps all over his skin—

”The number you have dialed is not in service.”

His finger lingered on the call screen for two seconds before he remembered something else and hurriedly, tremblingly, swiped back to his home screen.

The touchscreen was unresponsive from the water, and it took him several tries to open the green icon.

Then his phone’s contact list, and even that fat penguin icon he hadn’t used in ages.

”Her contact info was gone?” Yu Zhengze frowned. ”What do you mean?”

”I mean I couldn’t find her in the contact list of any app on my phone. Even when I searched my old chat logs, I found nothing at all.”

He had stood in the rain, the sounds of the downpour, the traffic, and the city noise all fading into the distance. A loud ringing filled his ears.

A powerful sense of absurdity made him dizzy, and he even began to wonder if he was dreaming.

”When I couldn’t get ahold of Xia Li, I started calling our mutual friends. But they all told me the exact same thing.”

”What was that?”

”Who is Xia Li?”

Raindrops beat against the glass, and the office was thick with smoke.

Yu Zhengze said nothing, merely looking up at him with a deeply furrowed brow.

After a long moment, Yu Zhengze forcefully ground his cigarette out in the ashtray and asked,

”When you called them, was there anything off about their reactions? Like, did they pause for a long time, as if they were reading lines? Or was there anything weird about their tone?”

”No.”

’If only there had been an obvious flaw.’

’If they had hesitated for even a second, he could still have chalked it all up to some kind of group prank.’

’But there was nothing.’

”Their tone was perfectly normal, as if they genuinely had no idea who Xia Li was. I even showed a picture of me and Xia Li together to a classmate. You know what she said?”

”What did she say?”

If he weren’t living through it himself, he would’ve felt like he was telling a terrible joke:

”She said the person in the photo looked photoshopped.”

He could feel his cousin’s gaze on him, and he felt like a student being watched by a proctor, suspected of cheating on an exam.

Yu Zhengze pulled out his phone and opened his contacts.

”Send me her phone number. The photo, too. I’ll forward them to a colleague in the tech department to take a look.”

Yu Xian picked up his phone and unlocked it. The photos app was still running in the background.

But as he swiped to zoom in and show Yu Zhengze, his hand suddenly froze.

It was the same photo. The background was the grimy wall of the club room, with discarded cardboard boxes stacked in a corner. Light poured in from the window to the left, making the dust motes glitter like gold.

Yu Xian remembered it clearly: when they took the picture, Xia Li had intentionally stood in a way that covered a spot on the wall where the paint was peeling.

But now, that peeling, mottled patch of wall was completely visible right beside him.

The photo showed only Yu Xian, and the section of wall that should have been blocked from view.

”What is it?” Yu Zhengze seemed to sense something was wrong and looked up.

”The photo... it changed.”

Yu Xian’s scalp went numb as a chill shot straight up his spine.

Yu Zhengze snatched the phone from him. The screen was glaringly bright. On it was a boy with a radiant smile—the familiar face of Yu Xian.

No Xia Li.

The rain outside fell harder and harder, and the warm air from the room’s heater seemed to lose all effect.

”Yu Xian...” Yu Zhengze’s voice dropped, laced with concern.

”Have you been under a lot of stress from your studies lately?”

A wave of helplessness washed over him.

”You don’t believe me, do you?”

That question drew a clear line between him and Yu Zhengze.

He watched as Yu Zhengze opened his mouth, looking as if he wanted to say something, but ultimately said nothing at all.

The room fell silent for a long time.

”Forget it.”

There was no point in saying more. He knew he must look utterly pathetic right now.

”Just pretend I never said any of this. I’m leaving.”

”It’s raining so hard right now, just wait a—”

Before Yu Zhengze could finish, Yu Xian had already turned and was heading for the door in a bit of a panic.

’He had to get out of this office, had to escape that look of concern—the kind of look you’d give a psychiatric patient.’

Yu Zhengze shot up from the sofa.

”The rain’s too heavy. I’ll drive you.”

Yu Xian tried to refuse, but Yu Zhengze had already grabbed his jacket and was putting on his shoes.

”Let’s go,” Yu Zhengze said, grabbing his car keys. He added,

”I’m not comfortable letting you go by yourself in your current state.”

Yu Xian didn’t argue. Or rather, he no longer even had the strength to refuse.

Head down, he silently followed behind Yu Zhengze, avoiding his cousin’s gaze.

...

The car was a sealed metal can, shutting out the downpour.