In a postmodern world of rapidly advancing technology, Qi Xu is still stuck doing a monotonous 996 job.
Day after day, it's mind-numbingly dull, and she could be replaced at any moment.
But one day, her life changes in a small way:
The printer seems to have grown gills, and her colleague has sprouted tentacles. Eight soft limbs tap away at the keyboard, working eight times faster than she does!
Even the water she drinks has a faintly salty, bitter taste, almost like... seawater.
The psychiatrist gently reassures her: “You're hallucinating because you're under too much stress. You need to take some time off work. Here, I've prescribed some medication. You'll be fine after you take it.”
The woman's voice carries a soothing suggestion, and then, at the checkout, she takes a month's salary from Qi Xu.
When Qi Xu opens her eyes again, everything has changed.
A classroom both familiar and strange, a teacher who never stops talking, a short-haired deskmate in black-rimmed glasses, hot sea breezes laden with salt, and a fresh local newspaper on the desk. The front page carries a shocking headline:
“Prodigies Shine While Young! Congratulations to Zhang Daoyu of Our Town on Extracting Substance X and Being Exceptionally Admitted to X University as a Graduate Student”
She has returned to the old calendar year 2015.
That year, she is fifteen, having skipped ahead to her senior year of high school, and Zhang Daoyu is nineteen.
Zhang Daoyu's famous death is six months away.
Zhang Daoyu's little lab is built by the sea. Under the cold white lights that burn day and night, she wears a white lab coat, her lashes dark, as she carefully dissects the blue, yet-to-be-named octopus in her hands.
Her voice is low and hazy, as if coming from far away. “Xiao Xu, the college entrance exams are coming up. You should come here less often.”
Everything is exactly as Qi Xu remembers it. But in the next moment, Zhang Daoyu says something that isn't in her memories: “Xiao Xu, if you get into my alma mater, I'll tell you a secret.”
Sticky honey clings to her dark eyelashes, and Zhang Daoyu's amber eyes resemble those of some bewitching monster.
But Qi Xu knows that three months later, on the day her exam results come out, Zhang Daoyu will swallow the X she extracted. The blue octopus's neurotoxin will plunge her into hallucinations, and she will walk into the sea, returning with the blue octopus to the “cradle of life.”
"Also known as The Water Cycle"
Tips:
Probably soft, soft, soft sci-fi + a tiny bit of mystery (maybe)
The author's brain has very shallow grooves
The whole novel is already written
Theme: About those we love
