Hearing this, Shen Kui inexplicably felt a chill run down her spine.
Immediately, she felt frustrated by her own jumpy reaction. Wasn’t it already something they had anticipated that a woman who looked exactly like her would appear on the subway?
Just as her heart began to settle, she suddenly realized something was off. If it were merely a woman she had encountered on the subway twenty years ago, there was no way the other person would remember it so vividly all these years. There had to be more to it…
Sure enough, the man in the suit continued, “After the accident, I briefly regained consciousness once. For all these years, I’ve never been sure whether what I saw back then was an illusion or reality—until—”
He paused, his voice deepening. “Until I saw that photo on the forum.”
“What exactly did you see back then?” Shen Kui couldn’t help but ask.
As the man in the suit recalled the past, a trace of fear slowly surfaced on his face. Seeing such an expression on his stern features made Shen Kui even more tense.
For some reason, she had a strong intuition that what this person was about to reveal might very well overturn some of her long-held beliefs.
The man in the suit took a deep breath and slowly began to recount everything from that day:
“The subway crashed about ten minutes after leaving the station. It happened so fast. One moment, everyone was discussing the subway route, and the next, the entire carriage was torn apart. All I remember is desperately grabbing the handrail by the door to avoid being thrown out, and then… I blacked out.”
“When I woke up, it was pitch dark all around. I tried to call for help, but no sound came out. I tried to move, but I couldn’t.” He emphasized this point: “Nothing was restraining me, but I just couldn’t move.”
“I don’t remember how long I lay there, but then I saw a light ahead.”
“That light was strange. I don’t know how to describe it, but if I had to find a word, it was like… a jellyfish in the deep sea.”
“A jellyfish?” Ji Xun asked, puzzled.
“Yes, very much like the glow of a jellyfish in the deep sea. It was… dreamlike, yet unreal.”
“At the time, I thought I was dreaming. But then, I saw a woman.”
He looked at Shen Kui with a complicated expression, his eyes tinged with fear. “It was the woman who looked exactly like you.”
Shen Kui opened her mouth to say something, but the man raised his hand to stop her. “Let me finish.”
“That woman was strange. At first, I didn’t notice her at all. She was surrounded by those jellyfish-like lights, flickering in and out of view. When I finally saw her, she was staring straight at me with wide-open eyes.”
Ji Xun imagined the scene and couldn’t help but shudder.
“And then?” he urged instinctively.
“Up until that point, I still thought I was dreaming. But then, something happened that made me less certain.”
The man in the suit continued, “After I saw her, she moved like a robot suddenly coming to life. I don’t know if that’s an accurate description, but she definitely started moving right after our eyes met.”
He unconsciously sped up his speech. “She walked over to me, crouched down, and pulled a snake out of her pocket.”
“A snake?!” Ji Xun exclaimed. “What kind of move is that?!”
Suddenly, a thought struck him. He quickly exchanged a glance with Shen Kui.
Shen Kui’s face was unusually grave. Holding her breath, she whispered, “And then?”
“And then…” The man in the suit shuddered. After a long pause, he finally mustered the courage to finish the sentence: “And then… she stuffed that snake into my mouth.”
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Sam Williams On TYMIMA Chapter 152