680: Not My Reality

Not My Reality

0That single horizontal line and the urgent alarm it carried were akin to all of his greatest nightmares combined into one, draining the life out of his body. No… It was not real. Tell him that this was not real. How could Lu Yizhou possibly be—

He did not even know how he managed to survive the next few minutes. Amidst the buzz of the car machine that was floored to the maximum, there was only Dr. Xiao's harsh breathing as she fumbled to cut open Lu Yizhou's clothing and prepared the defibrillator to rouse Lu Yizhou's still heart.

"It's okay…" she murmured again and again. It was unknown whether she was saying it more to Zeke or herself. "It's okay, everything will be fine."

Zeke was frozen in his seat as he watched everything unfolding in front of him as if he was floating amidst a surreal dream. It did not feel real to him at all. Just a moment ago, Lu Yizhou was still standing beside him, embracing him and talking to him. Yet in a blink of an eye, he lay silently on the cramped back seat with blood all over his body. His eyes were shut as if he was in a deep sleep. And his heart — unbeating.

Zeke sucked in a breath, yet the oxygen felt like shards of ice slicing the most tender part of his heart, merciless and sharp, reducing it into a bloodied mess. He had no idea that such a simple act like breathing could be so excruciating. 

"Xiao…" his voice sounded as if it had come from a distant place, flat and foreign. "Xiao, Lu Yizhou's heart has stopped…"

Dr. Feng gripped onto the steering wheel so hard that his knuckles cracked. He spied the scene behind through the windshield mirror and told Zeke in haste, "It's fine. Our technology is not that lousy. As long as the time has not exceeded half an hour… we will be able to bring him back to life." He would have sounded more convincing had his voice not trembled so badly.

However, it was as if Zeke did not hear him. His attention was solely focused on the screen which was still showing the flat heartbeat. The alarm echoed in his ears and burrowed into his mind akin to a death scythe which hung over his neck, on the verge of falling down anytime soon. 

Slowly, Zeke clutched his head and let out a faint laugh, his eyes unfocused just like the first time he was awake. "Tell me. This is all a dream… right? I have not woken up yet, and we're still inside the simulator. A very realistic simulation. Dr. Feng will definitely be able to create something like this…" the more Zeke told himself, the more convinced he was. 

He ought to be in a very realistic nightmare, and everything would end once he woke up. That's right… he only needed to wake up and he would see Lu Yizhou again. Lu Yizhou, who would gaze at him and kiss him lovingly, who would embrace him in a warm and passionate hug… and not this kind of Lu Yizhou, who was so silent and lifeless that it chilled him down to the core.

"I only need to wake up…" he murmured under his breath as his frenzied eyes searched around. Finally, they landed on the side compartment where Dr. Xiao had put the scissors she used to cut Lu Yizhou's clothes. With a speed which astonished even himself, he lunged for the scissors and grabbed it tightly in his sweaty hands!

"Zachary!!" Dr. Xiao's heart almost stopped when she saw Zeke holding the sharp tip of the scissors against the side of his fragile neck.

Zeke gave her a twisted smile, his golden eyes brimming with desperate tears. "As long as I die, then everything will restart…" he closed his eyes and decisively thrust the scissors forward. 

However, just as the sharp tip was going to pierce into his tender skin, Dr. Feng slammed the wheel to the side in such an abrupt manner that the trajectory of the scissors missed Zeke's major vein by a hair's breadth, leaving a glaring mark across his neck. 

The hover car had been going at full speed and with this ministration, it tilted sharply to the side, the powerful momentum cooking up a fierce storm of snow before halting right before it could crash into a building. Fortunately, due to the bad weather, the street was vacant and desolate, otherwise they would have created a massive chain accident.

"You… fool!" Dr. Feng slapped the scissors away from Zeke's hands and grabbed him by the collar, wishing that he could shake him sober. "Wake up and look around you! This is fucking reality! If I had known that you would become such a sissy after gaining emotions, then I wouldn't have let you into the simulator from the start!!" his roar was so loud that it bounced off the walls of the enclosed space.

A droplet of tears slid down Zeke's bloodless cheek, followed by another, then another. His lips stretched into a heartbreaking smile, one that was uglier than when he was really crying. "This is… reality?" he whispered in a voice that was filled with nothing but agony. "How is it possible… if it doesn't have Lu Yizhou in it? This is not my reality… it's not…" 

He knew that he was just refusing to believe it. But so what? It was all thanks to Lu Yizhou that he became the man he was today. He had known early on that he was a monster — an emotionless monster — created from the Crown Prince's gene. And it was Lu Yizhou who had made him human. It was Lu Yizhou who taught him the true meaning of happiness, joy, despair and agony alike. Even when Lu Yizhou was not here anymore, it was not possible for him to revert back to being an emotionless monster. So… why not just follow behind Lu Yizhou's footsteps? Anyway, it was not the first time he had done it…

Dr. Feng was stunned by the striking despair and pain he found in Zeke's eyes. In the end, all the harsh words he was going to say were lodged on his throat, unable to be blurted out. His heart trembled as realization slapped him right across the face.

Zeke was serious. He was dead serious in accompanying Lu Yizhou, whether in life or death…

Dr. Feng's lips parted, and in the end, he only managed to choke out, "You…"

"You… guys!" Dr. Xiao's shout came from behind, jolting them out of the depressing atmosphere they were in. "Why are you acting like you're already attending a funeral?! I am going to be angry if you keep this up! Who says that Lu Yizhou is already dead?!" Her eyes blazed in anger as she uncapped a syringe filled with transparent liquid. She shot a glare toward Zachary and said sternly, "You acting like this is an insult to my skill. I told you to trust me, that I will definitely save him. So why are you giving up so soon?!"

Zeke numbly looked at the screen which showed Lu Yizhou's flat heartbeat. "He is… still alive?" How was he supposed to believe it when the hard evidence was right in front of his face?

Dr. Xiao bared her teeth in a grin, then stabbed the syringe into Lu Yizhou's chest, right where his heart lay. "You have underestimated me, Zachary…"

In the next second, Zeke and Dr. Feng watched, dumbfounded, as the horizontal line suddenly gained a sharp leap before it continued to pulsate like mad. The initially unmoving line was now jumping up and down vigorously. And Lu Yizhou, whose body had started to become stiff, suddenly let out a sharp breathless gasp — and his eyes snapped open!

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