"Ahhh!"
With a terrified scream, Fu Qingdai bolted upright in bed.
Cold sweat had completely drenched her sheer white nightgown.
Awoken from a nightmare yet again.
Panting softly, Fu Qingdai stared ahead, her panicked eyes glistening with tears.
Dreary rain, starvation and freezing cold, madness, cannibalism... The entire world had turned into a living hell.
Nightmares like this had plagued her repeatedly for nearly half a month. Each one was terrifyingly vivid, with mountains of corpses and seas of blood right before her eyes.
Even the stench was indistinguishable from reality.
If it were merely a bad dream, that would be one thing.
Fu Qingdai's breath began to tremble as she pulled back the window curtains in terror.
Outside, the sky was just beginning to lighten, faintly revealing the clouds above.
The cloud cover rolled like ocean waves, spreading out layer upon layer in orderly formations.
Had it been broad daylight, such a magnificent spectacle of clouds would have certainly drawn crowds to snap photos.
Yet at this moment, Fu Qingdai froze completely.
Tears welling in her eyes finally spilled over, streaming down her cheeks uncontrollably.
The scenes in her dreams were no different from reality—peaceful everyday life would gradually transition into a landscape of doom.
She had noticed the anomaly starting from the third dream.
The weather in reality often coincided with what she saw in her dreams.
This time was no exception. What was more, today's cloud patterns differed sharply from usual, making them exceptionally easy to identify.
Fu Qingdai's slender shoulders shook as she wept quietly, her right hand gripping the curtain so tightly that her knuckles had turned pale.
According to the notes she had kept of her dreams... that terrifying day was not far off.
She had told others. She had told her parents. But no one believed her.
She was just a student. She had done everything she could, but what now... What on earth was she supposed to do?
Just then, the bedroom door opened.
Zhang Wan walked in, sat down on the edge of the bed, and looked at the weeping Fu Qingdai with an expression of utter helplessness.
Fu Qingdai turned around and threw herself into Zhang Wan's arms, her sobs growing louder despite herself.
Zhang Wan sighed. "Another nightmare?"
"Mom! It's real! Everything I've been saying is real! The world is about to end! The clouds today are identical to the ones in my dream... Everything matches!" Fu Qingdai looked up, her eyes blurred with tears. "Mom, please believe me just this once. We have to prepare early... Or maybe we should move! Let's move somewhere completely deserted!"
Zhang Wan sighed wearily. "Qingdai... you're only like this because you're under too much academic stress. I've already consulted a doctor. The exams are coming up in just a month. Stop thinking about all these wild nonsense ideas and focus on your studies. As long as you concentrate, you won't feel so stressed.
"Get more homework done at school today, go to bed an hour early, and you'll be fine after a few days of rest."
"Mom!" Fu Qingdai was on the verge of breaking down. The tears she had just held back began streaming down her face again. "Can you please just let me finish?!"
"Fine, fine, go ahead and speak," Zhang Wan sighed, then added, "When you're done, hurry up and eat breakfast so you can get to school early."
Enduring her distress, Fu Qingdai began recounting the dream.
Zhang Wan shook her head repeatedly as she listened.
Seeing that her mother was hardly paying attention, Fu Qingdai asked indignantly, "Mom, are you even listening to me?!"
"I'm listening. Isn't this the same thing you told me before?" Zhang Wan replied perfunctorily.
"No!" Fu Qingdai's expression suddenly shifted. "I haven't finished yet! This time was different... I saw a man, and I heard a voice speaking to me..."
"What?!" Zhang Wan's gaze instantly sharpened, like a detective stumbling upon the truth.
Seeing her mother's sudden gravity and undivided attention, Fu Qingdai felt a flicker of hope.
Just as she was about to continue, Zhang Wan said sternly, "Qingdai, you aren't dating someone, are you? Now is not the time to be fooling around with boys! Puppy love will do you no good!"
"Mom!" Fu Qingdai collapsed into total despair. "Do you even believe a word I say?!"
"Yes, yes, I believe you... Now hurry up, get out of bed, and eat."
Having completely lost her patience, Zhang Wan stood up to leave the room.
Fu Qingdai reached out, clutching her mother's clothes, and pleaded, "Mom... could you give me some money?"
"Don't I usually give you an allowance?"
"I want a little more. The food at school hasn't been great these days, and I want to buy some practice workbooks."
"Fine. How much do you want?"
"...F-Five hundred."
Five hundred... A surge of anger rose in Zhang Wan's chest.
Something was definitely going on at school. Asking for five hundred yuan right off the bat—how could she possibly spend that much?
"No way! Fifty at most. Hurry up and get ready for school."
Leaving those words behind, Zhang Wan briskly exited the room, leaving Fu Qingdai alone to grieve in silence.
Wiping away her tears, Fu Qingdai felt a bitter pang in her heart.
She had no voice. She couldn't earn a shred of trust in this household!
If only she were a little older, if only she could earn her own money... maybe then she could convince them.
After wallowing in misery for a while, she got up, sat at her desk, and began writing.
Outside the door, the sound of the morning news and arguing voices drifted in.
"Old Fu, why don't you discipline your daughter?! The second you wake up, you just sit your ass down to watch TV! Call Teacher Li and ask if Qingdai is dating someone!"
"Yeah, yeah... I got it. I'll call later."
"Later, later—always dragging your feet! You don't care about anything all day long, and you never lift a finger around the house. How did I end up marrying such a useless man!"
***
Inside the classroom, morning reading had already begun.
Fu Qingdai sat in a daze after stowing her backpack.
The scenes from her nightmare continued to replay in her mind.
The classroom buzzed with noise.
Noticing her state, her deskmate asked, "Qingdai... another bad dream?"
"Yeah..." Fu Qingdai gave a hesitant nod, then turned with a solemn look. "Xiao Ning, everything I'm saying is true. The apocalypse really is coming... If it rains, whatever you do, don't let the rainwater touch you. There's something wrong with it. We need to stockpile food in advance and seal the doors and windows..."
Xiao Ning nodded with a strange expression, turned back around, and sighed inwardly.
Once or twice, she might have thought Fu Qingdai was just joking, but this had been going on for days now. Even her mental state had visibly deteriorated.
Fu Qingdai's mother had contacted her early on, asking her to keep an eye on her daughter. From the looks of it, the condition was only getting worse.
Shaking her head, Xiao Ning pulled out a boys' love novel and dove into her "reading."
The student in the seat ahead turned around, glanced at her desk, and whispered, "Hey, why are you still reading that? Qingdai's already driven herself crazy reading novels, aren't you afraid of getting into trouble? Keep it down. The school's cracking down hard these days."
Xiao Ning shot the front-row classmate a glare and muttered back, "This is boys' love! Even if I go crazy, I'll just be chasing men! Mind your own business and recite your text!"
"Ah, lend it to me when you're done!"
***
In the blink of an eye, noon arrived.
Streams of students flooded toward the cafeteria.
Fu Qingdai moved among the crowd, her eyes scanning one classmate after another.
The moment she spotted her target, she jogged forward and grabbed the hem of his jacket.
Gao Peng had been walking along when he felt a tug. Turning around, he saw Fu Qingdai standing behind him, looking uneasy.
Catching sight of her exquisite, pretty face, he instantly grew flustered.
Fu Qingdai was the school's well-known beauty... No one knew who had bestowed the title, but everyone acknowledged her as the campus belle.
Plenty of boys had tried to strike up conversations with her, only to be completely shot down.
Although her recent erratic behavior had dampened the hype a bit, there were still countless boys trying to secretly find out more about her!
Normally, he wouldn't even dare speak to her. Why was the school beauty suddenly seeking him out?
With that in mind, Gao Peng asked nervously, "Uh, is something up?"
Fu Qingdai pressed her pink lips together, staring at the tips of her shoes as she said awkwardly, "Gao Peng... could you lend me some money? I'll definitely pay you back next month!"
"S-Sure... I guess. How much do you need? I only have a hundred yuan on me at most," Gao Peng replied, his heart fluttering.
He didn't have much money to begin with, but since the campus belle had asked... turning her down would be too embarrassing!
Hearing him agree, Fu Qingdai looked up and broke into a radiant smile.
Gao Peng's heart instantly leaped into his throat!
Lending money? Lending money was fantastic! She smiled at me, and she even grabbed my jacket—does she have feelings for me?
Borrowing once and repaying once—wouldn't that mean interacting twice?
"Then I'll just borrow one hundred."
Not far away, a pair of small eyes watched Fu Qingdai intently while speaking into a phone.
"Auntie Zhang, Qingdai is talking to a boy from our class right now... No, he's just an ordinary-looking guy, definitely not her boyfriend. But her condition really is getting worse and worse. You should take her to see a doctor right away."
Chapter 3