Jiang Chuyan really couldn't remember what he dreamed about last night.
Even though the shudder brought by the nightmare still lingered deep within his body, all the details of the nightmare disappeared like morning dew in the sun the moment he opened his eyes.
Only the pajamas that Jiang Chuyan changed into after getting up, which were soaked with cold sweat, proved how restlessly he slept last night.
But, in the end, it's just a nightmare.
Jiang Chuyan didn't take the vague nightmare seriously, but because he didn't sleep well, he still felt groggy and his temples were throbbing a long time after waking up.
While washing up, the young man's face reflected in the mottled and old mirror was pale and looked a little listless.
At this time, the sound of the other three people getting up could be heard downstairs.
Jiang Chuyan washed his face with the last bit of warm water in the thermos in the room and forced himself to be alert.
Just as he was about to go downstairs, He Yuan suddenly came out from behind the door curtain and called him.
"Chu Yan, wait, drink some of this first."
As he spoke, He Yuan handed over an enamel cup.
White smoke was curling from the cup. When Jiang Chuyan took the cup, he felt a bitter aroma of plants coming towards him.
"Huh? What is this?"
Jiang Chuyan didn't sleep well and was still a little dazed, showing a rare clumsiness and dullness in his usual self.
He Yuan coughed lightly and forced himself not to stare at the other person.
"Herbal tea bags."
The boy explained to the young man in front of him as calmly as possible.
"Drink this before you go downstairs. This place is at a higher altitude than K City. People who don't sleep well are prone to daytime headaches." After a pause, he added, "...Anyway, just think of it as drinking more hot water."
Without waiting for Jiang Chuyan to answer, He Yuan turned around and returned to his room, leaving Jiang Chuyan, who was still a little confused about the situation, standing there, looking at the slightly swaying door curtain and blinking.
"Thank you very much."
Even though He Yuan was no longer in front of him, Jiang Chuyan couldn't help but reply.
...was it an illusion? Why did he always feel like He Yuan was taking extra care of him along the way?
If He Yuan's identity was not so unique, Jiang Chuyan would almost think that he was pursuing her.
Jiang Chuyan thought strangely, then drank the herbal tea in small sips.
There wasn't much tea, and the water was only slightly hot, but I have to say that not long after the slightly bitter tea entered my stomach, the heaviness that had been lingering in my body did indeed subside.
Before long, he had finished the small cup of herbal tea. Jiang Chuyan cleaned the enamel cup, lifted the curtain and leaned halfway into He Yuan's room: "Thank you for the tea, I'll put the cup-"
I put the cup on the table and went downstairs.
Jiang Chuyan couldn't finish his words.
While drinking tea, Jiang Chuyan could hear the noises coming from He Yuan's room. She had initially thought that he was just packing up his things for the day, but when she leaned in, she saw a tall boy changing his clothes.
He Yuan had already taken off his pajamas, leaving only a pair of underwear on his body. At this moment, he had his back to Jiang Chuyan, holding a soft sweat-wicking shirt in his hand and was about to put it on.
Jiang Chuyan was caught off guard and saw He Yuan's slender limbs and beautiful tight back muscles at a glance.
Of course, he did not miss the conspicuous and unique tattoo on He Yuan's back.
With the spinal groove as the center point, the symmetrical scales shifted from dark to light, extending all the way to the middle of the trapezius and latissimus dorsi muscles. As He Yuan moved, the scales seemed to be truly on his body, quivering slightly with his muscle contractions.
"Ah…that…"
It happened so quickly that He Yuan turned around the moment he heard the noise. He put on his clothes and pulled the collar askew with such force that he almost fell down.
He raised his hands in panic, as if he wanted to cover his chest, but the next second he seemed to realize the ridiculousness of this action, and he quickly lowered his arms, standing stiffly in place as if he was standing at attention.
Jiang Chuyan: "…"
He Yuan: "…"
…
"Just leave the cup there. I've already cleaned up and can go down after I change my clothes."
Fortunately, apart from the initial awkwardness, He Yuan's voice quickly returned to its usual calmness. However, Jiang Chuyan watched helplessly as a thin layer of red quickly spread from He Yuan's collar, gradually infiltrating his neck.
In the end, He Yuan's whole face turned red.
They are all grown boys, and accidentally catching a glimpse of a friend changing clothes is a normal daily occurrence in the boys' dormitory.
Not to mention that He Yuan was still wearing underwear at this time. In fact, even if he was naked, Jiang Chuyan would not think there was anything wrong with it.
However, at this moment, the atmosphere in the room became particularly strange because of the blush on He Yuan's body.
"Sorry to bother you getting changed."
Jiang Chuyan was stunned for a moment and said dryly.
After he finished speaking, the young man lowered his eyes and quickly returned to his room.
"Well, what's the matter with disturbing or not?"
On the other side of the door curtain, He Yuan also seemed to come back to his senses.
"It won't hurt me to let someone take a look."
He Yuan said from the other side of the door curtain.
His tone of voice was slightly slower than his usual speaking tone.
"Oh." Jiang Chuyan replied. "But your back is really well trained."
Jiang Chuyan's physical condition was probably too poor, and he actually spent a lot of time in the anaerobic zone at the gym, but he just couldn't develop the well-defined muscles like He Yuan.
"I can give you some guidance when we get back..."
He Yuan replied.
The conversation between the two people sounded normal.
However, Jiang Chuyan still felt that something was strange.
Fortunately, he didn't waste too much time in this strange and subtle mood, because the next second he heard the noise coming from downstairs.
Different from the sounds made during daily washing activities, the increasingly louder male voice sounded as if... they were arguing?
*
As Jiang Chuyan went downstairs, he saw the three people from the first floor in the middle of the hall.
It must be said that Jiang Chuyan was shocked when he saw Xu Yuanzhou and the others. He had thought that his face looked bad enough from not sleeping well, but he didn't expect that the faces of the three people downstairs were even worse than his.
Everyone's face looked gray, with visible blue under their eye sockets, bloodshot on the whites of their eyes, and even their eye sockets slightly sunken.
"I really can't stand it anymore. There's no internet, no food, no electricity. I can't eat or sleep well—"
When Jiang Chuyan arrived, Bai Ke was going crazy by the fire pit.
The boy, who usually pays the most attention to his external image, looked like he was about to collapse.
"The whole night, fuck, you didn't stop the whole night, Liu Tianyu. I don't even know if I slept for an hour last night!"
On the other side, Xu Yuanzhou was also rubbing his temples desperately, as if this could relieve his headache.
He glanced at Liu Tianyu's sullen face, paused, and added, "Ah, look at what this has caused... But Old Liu, why don't you go upstairs today? Doesn't He Yuan live there too? Your situation really doesn't suit you to squeeze in with others..."
"There's no need to say it so harshly, right?"
Liu Tianyu seemed to have reached the limit of his patience, and after Xu Yuanzhou spoke, he retorted in a hoarse voice.
"This has never happened to me before. I never knew it would turn out like this after coming to this shabby place!"
*
"what happened?"
Listening to the three people complaining to each other in a very tense manner, Jiang Chuyan frowned and couldn't help but ask about the situation.
When he turned around and saw Jiang Chuyan, Xu Yuanzhou's eyes brightened much more than before.
"Chu Yan!" He quickly moved closer to Jiang Chu Yan and began to explain, "Actually, it's nothing. It happened last night..."
According to Xu Yuanzhou's original intention, he didn't want to make the exclusion too ugly.
But in his opinion, given Liu Tianyu's situation, it is really only suitable for boys to sleep alone in a single room.
At first, it was just dream talking.
"I can't breathe... wuwuwu... help..."
"My head hurts... Help me..."
"It's so dark… so cold… please spare me… my head hurts… it hurts so much… ahhhhh…"
"Don't come over here, don't come over here!"
…
Last night, Xu Yuanzhou, who was shrouded in deep sleep, had already fallen asleep, but was awakened by the constant sobbing in his ears.
Xu Yuanzhou was so sleepy that he forced himself to muster up his tenacious will and kicked Liu Tianyu.
"Shut up--"
Sleepy, Xu Yuanzhou's tone was vague and irritable.
"My head hurts."
Not sure if he was really woken up by Xu Yuanzhou's kick or was still talking in his sleep, Liu Tianyu in the corner kept repeating that he had a headache.
"If you have a headache, can you just take some painkillers? Stop arguing—"
Xu Yuanzhou muttered something, turned over in pain, and covered his head with the quilt.
As sleepiness slowly settled over him, he could vaguely hear a rustling sound beside him. At first, Xu Yuanzhou didn't pay much attention to it, thinking it was just Liu Tianyu rummaging through their bag for the medication they had brought with them.
However, just as he was about to fall asleep again, he suddenly felt that there was someone beside his pillow.
A faint stench accompanied by moist breath fell on Xu Yuanzhou's cheek, waking him up suddenly.
"Fuck, Liu Tianyu, what the hell are you doing?!"
The moment he opened his eyes, Xu Yuanzhou was met with Liu Tianyu's pale face and rolled-back eyes.
The slightly chubby boy's lips were slightly parted, and a stream of mucus, whether snot or saliva, covered his mouth, nose, and chin. His eye sockets were completely white, and his pupils had rolled back beneath his eyelids.
Xu Yuanzhou was so scared that he kicked Liu Tianyu.
However, Liu Tianyu was sweating all over and his clothes were wet. When Xu Yuanzhou kicked him, he didn't have any strength at all. He just felt that he kicked a slippery thing.
Liu Tianyu still didn't wake up.
Xu Yuanzhou's screams also woke up Bai Ke. The delicate boy made vague complaints and, unable to bear it any longer, got out of bed, put on his clothes and rushed towards them.
"Are you guys going to let me sleep or not?"
As a result, as soon as he arrived, Bai Ke met Liu Tianyu.
The expression of a sleepwalker also looks strange. He grins and drools as if he is laughing.
Bai Ke almost fainted from fright.
Then, after scaring Xu Yuanzhou and Bai Ke to the point of being at a loss, Liu Tianyu suddenly shook his head and fell back onto the bed with a bang.
Not long after, a dull snoring sound was heard.
…
"You don't know, he slept so soundly in the second half of the night, but Bai Ke and I were so scared that we couldn't sleep at all."
Xu Yuanzhou recounted what happened last night with a rather grim expression on his face.
"I've never heard anyone say I sleepwalk before."
Liu Tianyu spoke in a very dull tone.
"Who knows? Maybe everyone else was asleep and didn't notice you sleepwalking before."
Xu Yuanzhou responded coldly.
"not to mention..."
"What's more?"
Jiang Chuyan asked.
Xu Yuanzhou fell into silence.
He curled his lips, hesitated for a moment, and ultimately did not tell Jiang Chuyan what he discovered when he woke up in the morning - because he was frightened last night, he hid in Bai Ke's bed.
The two of them hugged each other, and perhaps because they felt a little safe, they finally fell asleep.
However, Xu Yuanzhou remembered very clearly that he and Bai Ke clearly slept facing the head of the bed.
Before falling asleep, he caught a glimpse of the pile of junk near the bed. A mirror among the junk faced their feet, which made him feel a little uncomfortable. After all, according to traditional rules, mirrors shouldn't face the bed. However, he was frightened, tired, and sleepy at the time, so he didn't pay much attention to it when sleep came over him.
However, when he woke up this morning, Xu Yuanzhou found that his body had been turned 180 degrees.
His head was facing the mirror, and half of his body was almost falling onto the bed.
Xu Yuanzhou swore that no matter how messy his sleeping position was, he would not feel anything after changing positions like this... He couldn't help but wonder if Liu Tianyu sleepwalked again while he and Bai Ke were asleep last night.
After sleepwalking, Liu Tianyu dragged him to the bed and changed his position.
The evidence is that this morning, Xu Yuanzhou smelled a strong fishy smell on himself.
The smell of Liu Tianyu's saliva is exactly the same as last night.