Deep Sea Embers

The boundless thick fog rolls outside the window, thick as if the whole world has disappeared beyond the fog, only the chaotic and unknown skylight penetrates the fog and shines into the room, making this quiet room maintain a kind of half-darkness. bright light.

In the slightly messy single apartment, Zhou Ming leaned over the desk, and the sundries on the desk were roughly pushed aside, and he was writing like a haggard:

"On the seventh day, the situation didn't change at all. Thick fog covered everything outside the window, and the window was blocked by an unknown force... The whole room seemed to be 'cast' into some kind of abnormal space by something...

"No way to communicate with the outside world, no water or electricity, but the lights are always on and the computer can be turned on - even though I have unplugged it..."

As if there was a slight sound of wind coming from the direction of the window, Zhou Ming, who was writing in his diary, suddenly raised his head, his haggard eyes lighted up slightly, but the next second he realized that it was only his own. Hallucinations, there is still only a lingering pale thick fog outside that window, and a dead and silent world indifferently envelopes his small dwelling place.

His gaze swept over the window sill, and he saw the wrench and hammer that had been discarded indiscriminately—there were traces of him trying to leave the room in the past few days, but now these hard and crude tools just lay there quietly, as if in mocking his embarrassment.

After a few seconds, Zhou Ming's expression became calm again—with this abnormal calm, he lowered his head again and returned to his writing:

"I'm stuck, completely clueless. In the past few days, I even tried to tear down the roof, walls and floors, but with all my strength, I couldn't leave a trace on the wall. The room becomes like... like a box 'cast' with space, with no way out...

"Except for that door.

"But what's going on outside that door...is even worse."

Zhou Ming stopped again. He slowly examined the handwriting he had just left, and flipped through the diary casually, looking at what he had left in the past few days—repressed words, meaningless thoughts , fidgety doodles, and cold jokes written when forced to relax.

He didn't know what was the point of writing these things down, and who would read these nonsense things in the future. In fact, he was not even a person who was used to keeping a diary—as a middle school teacher with limited leisure time, he But not much energy is spent on it.

But now, like it or not, he has plenty of free time.

After waking up, he was trapped in his room.

Outside the window is a dense fog that will not dissipate. The fog is so thick that you can’t even see anything other than the fog. The whole world seems to have lost the cycle of day and night. The 24-hour constant, dizzy light fills the room, and the windows are locked. He died, the water and electricity were cut off, the mobile phone had no signal, and no matter how loud the noise was in the room, it would not be able to attract rescue from the outside world.

It's like an absurd nightmare, everything in the dream is running against the laws of nature, but Zhou Ming has exhausted all methods to confirm one thing: there are no hallucinations or dreams here, only a world that is no longer normal , and a temporarily normal self.

He took a deep breath, and his eyes finally fell on the only door at the end of the room.

An ordinary cheap white wooden door, with a calendar that I forgot to replace last year and has kept it nailed to it. The door handle has been polished and polished, and the door mat is placed a little crookedly.

That door can be opened.

If this closed and alienated room is like a cage, then the most vicious thing about this cage is that it actually retains a door that can be opened at any time, luring the prisoners in the cage to push the door and leave at all times—— But the opposite of the gate is not the "outside" that Zhou Ming wants.

There are no old but friendly corridors, sunny streets and vibrant crowds, and everything you are familiar with.

There is only a strange and disturbing foreign land, and "over there" is also an inescapable dilemma.

But Zhou Ming knew that there was not much time left for him to hesitate, and the so-called "choice" never existed from the very beginning.

His food reserves are limited, and there are only a quarter of the barrels of mineral water left. He has tried all means of getting out of trouble and calling for help in this closed room, and now there is only one way in front of him. That is to be prepared and go to the opposite side of the "door" to seek a chance.

Perhaps, there will be a chance to investigate exactly what caused this strange and embarrassing supernatural situation.

Zhou Ming took a deep breath, lowered his head, and wrote the last few paragraphs in his diary: "...but no matter what, the only choice now is to go to the opposite side of the door, at least on that weird ship. Find something to eat, and my exploration and preparation over the past few days should be enough to survive on that ship... although the preparation I can do there is actually limited.

"Finally, to the latecomers, if I fail to come back, and one day in the future, some rescuer or the like opens this room and sees this diary, please don't write down what I wrote. All of this is regarded as an absurd story-it really happened, although it is creepy, but there is really a person named Zhou Ming who is trapped in a crazy and strange space-time vision.

"I tried my best to describe all the abnormal phenomena I saw in this diary, and also recorded all the efforts I made to get out of trouble. If there are any 'latecomers', please at least Remember my name, at least remember that this happened."

Zhou Ming closed the diary, threw the pen into the pen holder next to it, and slowly stood up from behind the desk.

It's time to leave, before falling into passivity and despair.

But after thinking for a while, he didn't go directly to the only door that could lead to the "outside world", but went straight to his bed.

He must face the "foreign land" across the door with a complete attitude-but his current state, especially his mental state, is not good enough.

Zhou Ming didn't know if he could fall asleep, but even forcing himself to lie on the bed and empty his mind was better than going to the "opposite side" in a state of exhaustion.

Eight hours later, Zhou Ming opened his eyes.

There is still a chaotic mist outside the window, and the day and night are unclear with oppressive gloom.

Zhou Ming directly ignored the situation outside the window. He took out food from the few remaining reserves and ate until he was 80% full. Then he came to the full-length mirror in the corner of the room.

The man in the mirror still has disheveled hair, looks quite embarrassed, and has no temperament at all, but Zhou Ming still stares at himself in the mirror, as if to imprint this appearance in his mind forever.

He stared at the mirror like this for a few minutes, then whispered to himself, as if to say to the person in the mirror: "Your name is Zhou Ming, at least on 'this side', your name is Zhou Ming , keep this in mind at all times.”

After that, he turned and left.

Coming to the familiar door, Zhou Ming took a deep breath and put his hand on the handle.

Except for a suit of clothes, he didn't bring any extra things, neither food nor self-defense equipment. This is the experience left over from the previous "explorations" - he couldn't bring anything except himself. go through this door.

In fact, he even felt that even this "self" had to be questioned, because...

Zhou Ming turned the handle and pushed open the door. A mass of shrinking and wriggling gray-black mist appeared in front of his eyes like some kind of curtain. In the ever-expanding mist, he seemed to have heard the sound of waves coming into the room. ear.

Stepping across the layer of fog, the slightly salty sea breeze came oncoming, the illusory sound of waves in his ears became real, and there was a slight shaking feeling under his feet. Zhou Ming opened his eyes after a short period of dizziness, and saw There is a wide and empty wooden deck, a tall mast standing under the dark clouds, and the slightly undulating sea surface beyond the ship's side where the edge can't be seen at all.

Zhou Ming lowered his head, and what he saw was a stronger body than he remembered, a captain's uniform that looked exquisitely crafted and expensive but had a completely unfamiliar style, a pair of thick-knuckle palms, and a A black flintlock pistol with a classic and exquisite appearance.

Yes, even "self" has a question mark.

(Mom! I'm back!)