Liu Yanzhi woke up from a nightmare.

Surrounded by raging fire and threatening heat waves he couldn’t recognize where he was. Possessing the will to live he got up from the bed, landed on the ground and nearly fell to his knees from the limp and weak feeling all over his body. While struggling to get up and move outside, something tripped him near the door. He looked at the women who looked like his mother, but he does not have any impression of his mother being this old. With no time to think he picked up the person and continued moving.

Fire and smoke were everywhere. Liu Yanzhi couldn’t recognize which direction to go when the shadow of a person appeared nearby, a helmet and re-breather wearing fireman. The person also spotted him, then removed his oxygen mask and pa.s.sed it over. Liu Yanzhi held the re-breather on his mother’s face and following the fireman instruction moved outside.

Outside, the scene of fire resulted in a blockade and the crowding spectators were forced very far away from the scene. Three fire trucks were spraying water from a fire hose. Through the gathering darkness, rows and rows of tall and erect skysc.r.a.pers could vaguely be seen. Seeing all this and Liu Yanzhi knew this world was entirely different, this dream was like as if a generation has already pa.s.sed.

The fireman brought Liu Yanzhi beside an ambulance. The first-aid personnel took the old woman from his arms, put her on a stretcher and transferred her to the ambulance. In the gla.s.s of ambulance window, he saw an unfamiliar himself.

Bald head, a stubbly beard, thin and weak body, deeply sunken eyes and black and red burned skin. This was not him but also vaguely resembled himself, only a middle-aged version of him.

“Someone is still here!” Fireman yelled in a voice like a silver bell. After removing the helmet a valiant and heroic woman could be seen. As it turns out, they were saved by a fire woman.

Hence, Liu Yanzhi was also dragged on the ambulance. Siren sounds kept increasing all the way to the hospital. He watched time fly by while looking outside at the crossing neon lights and traffic flow. An indescribable fear rose from his heart. This is not my world, this is ‘another world’.

A green coat wearing paramedic was making a phone call, using a type of Full-Screen mobile phone, which had no b.u.t.tons on the surface. Liu Yanzhi was stunned and couldn’t help but ask: “Mister, is your cell phone Ericsson or Motorola? ”

The paramedic turned around to look at him but was stunned: “Are you OK? Your burns look serious but you could still talk.”

Liu Yanzhi looked at himself; his skin above the arm was burned like charcoal but he unexpectedly was not feeling any pain.

Arriving at the Hospital, a Jiangdong Medical Affiliated Hospital was written on a 30-floor erect skysc.r.a.per. In his memory, there was only a large medical inst.i.tution here, and the only impression of a hospital was a tall 5-floor building.

Victims were being sent to the Emergency Room. Liu Yanzhi was diagnosed as a third-degree burns patient. Doctor judged that his body fluids, blood, nervous tissues had all received severe damage, a very serious condition. The nurses removed his outer skin, applied antibiotics, put up a sterile gauze, wrapped up the victim like a mummy and placed an oxygen mask on him. As burn patients will lose a huge amount of body fluids, so an IV bag was also hanged up.

Liu Yanzhi allowed them to fiddle, the huge psychological shock had turned his mind in huge disorder. He was persistently thinking and slowly trying to piece together the broken vase like memory fragments.

He is 20 years old this year. After graduating from high school, he was unemployed for 2 years in the society. His family lived in the living quarters of Light Industry as parents were workers in an optical instrument factory. His last memory was of someday in the beginning of July because that day his impression of the television program Hong Kong Return’s*1 was especially profound.

At nightfall, the clinical burned patients were giving painful **. Liu Yanzhi’s whole body, however, was only feeling a tingling sensation, as if there were ten thousand ants crawling back and forth on his chest, arms and legs. He found it unbearable and simply tore open the bandages. Below the ugly dead skin, the pink tender new skin was rapidly growing visible to the naked eyes. Above his arm burning flames come out of purplish red blisters which were slowly shrinking, and fading away.

Liu Yanzhi’s breathing was becoming rapid. It could be inferred that he has surpa.s.sed the capabilities of an ordinary person. This discovery made him at a loss on what to do, as the changing circ.u.mstances increased his curiosity even more. Without a moment of hesitation, he stood up and quietly pushed open the gate of the sick room.

The corridor was deserted. At upper corner, LCD screen was displaying time 2:35 and rows of small characters 2017.8.27 were displayed below.

After staying on his legs for half-minute, he came to realize that he had been asleep for 20 years.

Suddenly he thought that the person he had rescued could quite possibly be his real mother.

Every sickrooms front door had patient’s full name hanged, along with the doctor and nurse in charge full name. Liu Yanzhi checked the rooms while advancing past them, and really found his mother’s name.

He apprehensively pushed open the door while trembling. It was a two-person sick room and as expected, she was lying inside upon the hospital bed, already asleep. The aged face was still marked with tear stains. Mother’s head full of black hair from his memory had now turned grey, wrinkles were everywhere, and her age looked like a seventy years old woman.

Liu Yanzhi voice was choked with sobs as tears streamed down. His mother’s sleep was very shallow; she opened her hazy eyes and saw the sight of her vegetative son sitting in front who was bedridden for the last 20 years. She thought that it was a dream, a sweet dream she had hoped for countless times. Since her son was in a car accident in the summer of 1997, he was unconscious while persisting for whole 20 years. Every day she helped her son turn over his body, wipe him clean and nasal feed him liquid food, and also accompanied him to chat every day.

Mother extended her hand to touch her son in the dream, however, she felt real temperature. She bit her tongue. It hurts! This is actually real.

“w.a.n.g’er, How are you? you, you, you…….” Mother was too excited to speak. Afterwards, tears started streaming from her eyes. Her many year’s persistence was finally rewarded. How much good it would be if her husband could live till today, the whole family could have reunited.

The door opened. An inspection nurse was standing at the entrance. She saw Liu Yanzhi’s bandaged body and crimson burn symptoms and said.

“Hey, why are you running all over the place? Do you want to kill yourself? Quickly go back.” Nurse chided and suddenly thought that this is a severe burn patient. Normally he should be hurting and in shock. How can he move freely with a calm appearance? She turned around to go look for the on-duty doctor.

Liu Yanzhi followed along and heard the nurse voice: “Doctor Li, bed 36` patient has gotten out of bed and is walking around wildly.”

Following closely was a middle-aged male’s voice: “Impossible, go, let’s go and look.”

The on-duty doctor found Liu Yanzhi and looked him up from top to bottom with an unconvinced expression and said while muttering: “Impossible, capable of self-healing burns, and at a rapid speed too, you…… you quickly go back and lie down. Xiao Zhao, notify Director w.a.n.g.” He looked at his wrist.w.a.tch for a moment and withdrew his remark while saying, “Forget it, put it off until morning, bed 36`, you immediately go back and lie down, soon will give you a thorough inspection.”

Liu Yanzhi felt his blood ran cold. His mind conjured up an image of being sent to a secret research organization and tied upon an operating table while being circled and watched by a group of white-clothed people. After all, his temperament was of a 20-year-old man. His heart unable to hide anything, he pushed the doctor away and pulled mother along to move outside, without delay.

“Where are you going? Be careful of infection.” Doctor and nurse pursued from the back.

“Should I call security guard?” asked the nurse.

“There is no need.” The doctor looked at the walking off distant mother and son pair’s rear view while thinking with an infatuated expression.

On the quiet street, Liu Yanzhi and his mother were sitting below a street light with nowhere to go.

“Mother, where is father?” Liu Yanzhi asked, actually he already has a premonition in his heart and just as expected mother said while wiping her tears: “Your father died last year, he still had you on his mind on his deathbed…..”

“My house?” Liu Yanzhi was silent for a moment and then asked.

“For the sake of your medical treatment, your house has long been sold, all valuables worth money also sold…..” Mother chattered endlessly, pouring out all the hardships of the last few years to her son. Liu Yanzhi stood up and started sobbing and wailing.

Father has pa.s.sed away, the house is also gone, now mother and son pair have no one else to rely on. He was walking barefoot at dawn on the street, dressed in hospitals dirty clothes and bringing blue-white hospital gown inside a basket. Because he has been bedridden for a long time leading to muscle atrophy, his whole body looked thin and weak like a bamboo pole. Moreover, his exposed outer burnt skin made him look like a monster.

Mother was working as a day laborer in a sanitation bureau. So, mother and son pair could temporary live in the free worker’s shack provided by sanitation bureau.

“w.a.n.g’er, we can still go back to the hospital as the treatment for your injuries is important.” Mother was not convinced about her son’s burns, as for her own injuries she could care less.

Liu Yanzhi stretched his arm for her mother to look: “You see, it’s already fine, it does not hurt at all. ”

Mother’s education was not high, so she does not understand that whatever happened to her son was a miracle. Since her son looked vigorous and lively she also did not consider much.

“Mom, I am hungry.” Liu Yanzhi stomach was growling.

“Wait, mom will go and buy breakfast.” She diligently went out and bought a pile of food like steamed stuffed buns, deep-fried twisted dough sticks, soya milk, and porridge. Liu Yanzhi had eaten a liquid diet for 20 years and was eating a meal after a long time. As his esophagus and stomach were already shriveled up so he can only eat slowly. He was soon finished stuffing the last steamed stuffed bun in his mouth when mother also pushed her portion over to him.

“Mother, you also eat.” Liu Yanzhi stated vaguely.

“I am not hungry.” Mother calmly smiled. His nose twitched and tears started falling again. Mother has endured many sufferings in taking care of him for 20 years. How many sufferings she has suffered, how much sacrifices she has paid, it can all be seen from her deeply wrinkled face.

After breakfast was finished, Mom said: “w.a.n.g’er, you lie down for a while, mom is going to work.” Then took a big broom to go out.

Liu Yanzhi was feeling very tired, so he lied down on the sleeping mat to rest. Deep inside his stomach, he could feel the lumps of sticky-shaped food was being dissolved by gastric acid and then the mixed gastric juices were transmitted to the small intestine. Inside the small intestine, countless villi capillaries were bulging and absorbing nutrients. He could even feel a silky energy flowing everywhere throughout his blood and, gradually his stomach started rumbling with hunger again.

Inside the workers shed there was no food, only a water dispenser filled with half bucket purified water. Liu Yanzhi held his mouth below the water outlet and drank the half bucket water till there was nothing left. After standing up, he walked for some steps and can hear water sloshing inside his stomach.

He once again examined his body, apparently, there was no difference from the time in the hospital. Skin regeneration has clearly slowed down. The slightly numb feeling also disappeared, replaced with a kind of swelling and plentiful feeling. Then pain appeared, unbearable radiating pain from inside to outside making him lose consciousness.

When he once again woke up mother was already back, sitting beside his bedside while helping him wipe beads of sweat from his forehead. With an anxious face, she asked him where is he feeling unwell and asked if they should go to the hospital for a checkup.

Liu Yanzhi found that the straw mat below him was already drenched. Hospital gown was also soaked with sweat. Fortunately, the painful feeling was gone along with sweating. He comforted his mother that it was nothing. With a skeptical look, she took out a newly bought shirt and beach pants and helped him remove the hospital gown.

After changing into new clothes, he insisted in following her outside for a stroll. When she was unable to dissuade him, she was forced to bring him along outside.

This was Liu Yanzhi’s first glimpse of sunshine of the year 2017 in this ‘new world’.