Insomnia has tormented me for as long as I can remember. On every sleepless night, a massive stone seems to press down on my heart, consuming my oxygen and draining my last breath until all that remains is the thud, thud of death calling from the darkness. I take a deep breath, only to feel iron chains binding my chest and stopping it from expanding. It contracts desperately, while cold air slides down my throat. My constricted lungs can only force it back out under even greater pressure. My heart keeps beating stubbornly, so violently that my whole body trembles.
Countless thoughts twist and turn through my mind. Suddenly, a distant, blurred face flashes past: Ji Xuan. I only remember him now and then. We seemed to know each other for ten years, though barely, and this half-real, half-illusory person seems to have truly crossed my path.
