Plague Doctor

[Da Mai: I have been having a very strange dream every night these days...]

The dark night enveloped Dongzhou City. In this bustling city, countless people were busy.

After Chen Wenwei went to work for the day, he returned to the small room of only five square meters in the apartment he shared with others.

He is the kind of ordinary person who is nothing special among the crowd. He went to college in Dongzhou, majoring in accounting. After graduating from college, he found a job in a private company here. The salary was not high, but he was as busy as a dog every day.

My girlfriend I had in college broke up with him shortly after graduation two years ago. Now I occasionally initiate awkward chats with a girl at work, but she doesn't pay much attention to him.

Chen Wenwei knows that his appearance is mediocre, he has no money, and he doesn't know how to make girls happy. This situation is normal.

This room is very small, and it can't hold anything else except a bed and a desk, but fortunately the rent is not expensive, and it is twenty-five stories high and has a bay window.

When he comes back from get off work every day, Chen Wenwei will sit on the windowsill, play with his mobile phone, and look at the brightly lit city night view outside to relieve the stress of the day.

At this time, he was sitting on the window sill chatting with his friend on WeChat. The other person was his college classmate and old buddy, who also worked in Dongzhou. They usually chatted for a while.

Chen Wenwei read this message, pressed his phone and replied casually.

[Wen Wei: What dream? 】

After he finished replying to other people's messages, he went to get himself some instant noodles. I don’t know how long ago it was the last time I went out to eat. It is not easy for a person to live in a big city, and everything is expensive. He only earns more than 6,000 yuan a month. After deducting rent, water, electricity, living expenses, etc., there is only 2,000 to 3,000 yuan left.

He was still living a very frugal life, and it would take another ten years to save enough for a down payment for a small apartment in a small town.

Chen Wenwei has already made plans to resign and return to his hometown in a small town to develop. The consumption level here is too high.

In fact, he should go back to his hometown when he graduates, but he is still a little unwilling to stay in this big city for a few years.

After making instant noodles in the unit's public kitchen, Chen Wenwei took them back to his room and ate on the window sill while looking at his phone. Damai had already sent a lot of messages.

[Da Mai: I dreamed that I was in a place that seemed to be a desert island, and there was a strange sound. I walked forward. It felt very strange, like I was a little awake but in a daze. As I walked, I saw a room in front of me. There was a strange-looking old man outside the big house, and then I woke up.

Damai: After I had this dream for the first time a few days ago, I have had this dream every night, and every time I wake up with a fright, it’s three o’clock in the middle of the night...

Damai: I haven’t watched horror movies recently. I just read a post online about having this weird dream, and I felt infected.

Damai: By the way, after I woke up, I heard someone knocking on the window. It was really weird.]

Chen Wenwei took a bite of noodles and typed "Just talk nonsense" on WeChat and was about to send it, but suddenly he felt a little strange in his heart. Damai was not the kind of person who liked making such jokes... He deleted this sentence and re-entered it. : "Really? You've been under too much pressure recently. You probably got angry."

The phone vibrated, and there was a new message on WeChat:

[Da Mai: Really, oh, I have been a lot less energetic these days. I guess I need to go to the hospital to get some sleeping pills. 】

If this matter was serious, Chen Wenwei had no idea and typed: "I heard that people who are stressed can have nightmares. You should go to the hospital."

[Da Mai: I’m a little worried about whether I’m sick. I’ve had a headache these past two days and I can’t drink enough water. 】

"It just feels like pressure. It's okay. Don't scare yourself." Chen Wenwei replied again.

After eating the instant noodles, he found some clothes and went to take a shower. There was no such thing as being too nervous. Mai Lei must have been stressed and nervous. The more he slept poorly, the more nervous he became. It was a vicious cycle. But then again, who doesn’t have a lot of pressure now?

After taking a bath, Chen Wenwei lay on the bed playing with his mobile phone and chatting with his family for a while. His mother sent some photos of a rapeseed harvest at home.

After that, he watched some more videos, and the time passed in the blink of an eye, and it was past eleven o'clock in the evening.

Chen Wenwei got up and went to the public restroom to brush his teeth. When he came back, he lay down to sleep.

After working for a day, he was actually very tired physically and mentally. Not long after he closed his eyes, he fell into a dream.

Silence, nothingness, floating around, light and shadow tumbling.

In a hazy state, Chen Wenwei felt that he was in a strange place.

The sea is surrounded by endless sea water, deserted land, unkempt weeds, twisted and gloomy trees, and there seems to be a mountain peak in the distance.

He couldn't see clearly, all the scenes were covered in a layer of darkness like a black and white photo, and there was a strange and low sound that seemed to be calling him...

There was an indescribable smell in the air, and the soil under his feet was heavy. Chen Wenwei walked forward in a hazy manner. He seemed to see a building in front of him. Was it an old and dilapidated house? Why couldn't he see clearly? There seemed to be a black streak. The figure stood there...

Chen Wenwei walked step by step, as if his footsteps no longer belonged to him, and gradually became floating, and all the strength in his body disappeared like smoke.

The call was getting closer and closer, and Chen Wenwei saw that the figure was looking at him, it was the face of an old man, as old as tree bark, like cracked soil...

But he couldn't see the old man's eyes, they only seemed to be a mass of indescribable chaos.

"74..." The old man slowly said a number to him.

Suddenly, Chen Wenwei woke up with a start, his muscles all over his body were twitching, and before he could open his eyes, he saw darkness in front of him.

But he has realized that it was just a dream, a dream...

But this dream, isn't it the strange dream on a desert island that Mai Lei said he had every night?

This thought made Chen Wenwei feel a little creepy, and he felt even drier, as if he had been dehydrated for several days.

How could this happen... Chen Wenwei opened his eyes in surprise and saw the alarm clock on the desk next to the bed showing: 3:02

He suddenly felt confused. It was three o'clock in the middle of the night? I just fell asleep, why is it already three o'clock in the middle of the night?

He remembered again that Mai Lei said that every time he woke up from a nightmare, it was three o'clock...

Chen Weiwen frowned and looked around. There was only dead silence in the cramped room. In the darkness, everything familiar was cast a shadow.

He then looked at the window with the curtains drawn less than two meters away. The window had been closed and no wind could blow in.

But for some reason, Chen Wenwei seemed to see the curtains shaking slightly, and there seemed to be something outside the window...

His heart was already clenched, and he looked at the window that was almost close to him, unconsciously holding his breath and not daring to move.

Ta-ta, tap-ta.

The sound of knocking on the window suddenly sounded faintly. This was the twenty-fifth floor, and there was no balcony or other place to stand outside the window.

"..." Chen Wenwei's heart felt a sharp pain, and his whole body was numb and sore, as if he had fallen into an icy lake, and he gradually became unable to breathe.

What's going on? How could I be like this...Are I still in another nightmare?

Mai Lei said that he had that strange dream every night since the first time...

Could he... be like this too?

Love the Plague Doctor.