48 Hours a Day

Along the way, even the short-haired girl noticed the change in the atmosphere. “Hey, I have a bad feeling that something awful is about to go down.”

Zhang Heng looked at her, but he did not explain anything. “We talked a lot about Han Lu. Let’s talk about you,” he said, instead of answering her.

“Me?” The short-haired girl was a little surprised. “How am I related to your mission to save the world?”

“No. I want to have a small chat with you,” Zhang Heng said, “Anyway, we still need to walk a bit before we get to the museum.”

“Well, let’s do the small talk then,” the short-haired girl scratched her head. “I am essentially a very boring person. My hobbies are lying in bed and reading novels and comics. I’m a movie buff as well. Though I don’t mind socializing, I find it troublesome to keep getting my hair done. I take an unpopular course. I don’t know what else to tell you.”

“Is there anyone you like?”

“Wow, now that’s a very personal question.”

“Sorry if you’re offended…”

“I would think a stranger is rude if he were to ask me something like this after meeting him for less than half an hour. I don’t feel that way, though, when you asked me the question. It’s weird. I feel like I know you. Have we met before?” the short-haired girl asked in curiosity.

“Is that right?”

“To answer your previous question, I dated a boy, but it was a high school thing. He took me home on a bicycle, and I could smell the detergent on his shirt. I really loved that smell. Unfortunately, my dad had to spot him, and since then, he’s been waiting at the school gate to pick me up every day. It was miserable. After a while, we broke up since our relationship affected his grades. But what can I say, eh? When I was studying abroad, my drama addiction affected my love life as well.”

“Don’t worry. You will meet someone you like in the future. He will show up at the right time, and you’ll have a happy family. The person you love shall give you all the happiness in the world.”

“Could this be some sort of prophecy?” The short-haired girl smiled, “But it sounds good. I want to think that it’ll come true for me.”

After a while, the bus stopped in front of St. Aidan’s College, and the Oriental Museum was nearby. At the same time, the sky was also covered by dark clouds as well. The short-haired girl was a student at Durham University, so there was no need to buy a ticket. After frisking his pocket awkwardly, Zhang Heng suddenly realized that he couldn’t pay for the ticket.

“I’ll buy you a ticket. Han Lu can reimburse me later,” the short-haired girl said, reaching for her purse. “Thank you.” Zhang Heng breathed a sigh of relief. Although he could use the previous method to get into the museum, it would undoubtedly attract a lot of unwanted attention, thereby risking alerting the nearby police officers.

Since Zhang Heng had no idea what kind of catastrophe he was going to face, he figured it was better he lay low. The museum wasn’t that big, very few visitors were there at the moment. To Zhang Heng’s surprise, he reencountered Rabbit. She was standing with a tall and handsome boy.

“Oh, shit. That’s Freddie.” The short-haired girl let out a long sigh.

“Who is Freddie?”

“He’s Han Lu’s admirer and rising star of the school’s soccer team. Something’s up with him recently. He has been pestering Han Lu relentlessly, and although Han Lu told him that she’s attached, he just wouldn’t stop. So all she can do is to avoid him as much as possible.”

Rabbit, on the other hand, was filled with joy when she spotted Zhang Heng. “You found this place too?”

Zhang Heng’s eyes moved.

Rabbit continued, “To be honest, I don’t know where I am, although I set a place for us to meet up. Luckily I met this handsome guy here. I asked him if he knew Han Lu, and he told me he would take me to her. We seem to be a step behind, though. She’s no longer here. I’ve asked the staff, and they said she left about 15 minutes ago. The apocalypse is nigh. This time, it’s only taken an hour and a half to arrive. At this rate, we probably won’t even have half an hour to move around in the next dream. By the way, who’s this?”

The short-haired girl was about to say something, but Zhang Heng interrupted her. “That’s it for now. Thank you for your help. See you later.”

Now that surely didn’t sound too polite, and it made it look as if Zhang Heng ditched her after she went out of the way to help him. The short-haired girl said nothing, though, simply looking toward Zhang Heng and Rabbit with a smile. “Well, I wish you all the best, and I hope you save the world soon.”

After that, she left the museum.

Rabbit raised her eyebrows, “Whoa… wait.. What do you mean? She can’t provide us with more clues?”

“You’re right,” said Zhang Heng thoughtfully.

“Who is he?” The football player named Freddy suddenly voiced out. All the while, he’d been eyeballing Zhang Heng belligerently.

Seeing the two communicating in Chinese, he began to feel increasingly uncomfortable with Zhang Heng’s presence.

“It’s okay, Freddie. Uhh, he is a friend of mine.” Rabbit quickly turned around to extinguish the brewing flames. She then turned to Zhang Heng again, “What should we do now? Found any clues?”

Zhang Heng didn’t speak until the short-haired girl had walked out of the museum’s door.

“What should I call you? Hypnos?”

Rabbit’s face flashed with surprise.

“Who? Me? Did the dragon fry your brains? Do I look like Hypnos to you?”

“I started to suspect you in the previous dream,” replied Zhang Heng. “I must admit that you put up a good act when we first met in that dream. Rabbit and I have just met recently. Apart from her name and appearance, I know very little about her. So it’s hard for me to tell that you are pretending to be her.”

“What? So you think that I am pretending to be someone?” Rabbit looked puzzled. “Why?”

“You were so good at playing that part. To be honest, when I first saw you, I really thought you were Rabbit,” Zhang Heng said. “But then I noticed something small, and that was when I started to suspect you. As far as I know, you and the other three always worked in a team. You’ve never once mentioned your teammates after you met me. Moreover, when you decided where we should meet in the next dream, you chose the plaza where we met.”

“Where’s the problem in that?” asked Rabbit, a hint of frustration lining her words.

“Although it isn’t a remote area, it’s actually very unpopular. You said you didn’t remember the road, but later, you said you could recognize the way a little. If you are really Rabbit, you should have started with the desire to meet your teammates. Logically, you were supposed to choose a place familiar to your team. You could have even chosen Han Lu’s place. The reason why you chose the place we first met was so that I wouldn’t meet the others, especially the real Rabbit.”

“Interesting deduction, but how do you explain those disasters then? Just like you, they hit me as well.”