Handbook of Anomalous Humans

A bitter, sharp fragrance and a silent friend request shattered the shell of ice named “peace” that Yan Zhi had spent a year building.

“Yong Ruoqu”, Weng Zheng. His name was like an old shrapnel fragment, long since calcified, prying open Yan Zhi’s nerves all over again. He was a storm, a chaotic equation beyond the reach of Yan Zhi’s rational world, the damned “exception” that could instantly undo his practice of watching from a distance.

It was a predicament that began with an intellectual attraction and ended in a twisted bond. A medical student and a science prodigy; a recluse and a wild man of the world. Every time Weng Zheng appeared or disappeared, he came with philosophical questions and the cruelty of a child. He took and he gave; he treated Yan Zhi as his only sounding board, then smashed it to pieces with his own hands.

Yan Zhi tried to build a high wall with Buddhist scriptures, medical knowledge, and endless silence, only to despair when he found that Weng Zheng could always find new ways to invade: an obscure parable, an intimate photo, a late-night call in the throes of a breakdown, even an ancient book delivered precisely to the door of his old family home... He forced him to respond, forced him to break, forced him to see that “the Buddha in your heart was broken long ago.”

When observation becomes obsession and understanding an impossible dream, where will this contest, danced on the edge of a blade, lead? Will they save each other, or sink together?

This is an agonizing push and pull, a merciless exploration of the boundaries of the self. When the storm comes again, choosing to open the door may be where true spiritual practice begins.