Infinite Nightmares

SZZZLE—!

The moment the long strip of dough hit the hot oil in the wok, countless tiny, pearl-like bubbles erupted around it. The white dough began to undergo a magical transformation, visibly changing before his eyes.

The dough floated on the surface of the oil as if lifted by a pair of invisible hands. It rapidly swelled, plumping up as it tumbled and spun freely in the wok.

Once the dough stick was fried to a golden brown on both sides, puffed to its absolute limit, the vendor deftly lifted it out with a pair of long wooden chopsticks. He held it in the air for a moment to let the excess oil drip off. The glistening droplets, translucent in the morning light, completely mesmerized Wang Dayan, who was hiding in a nearby metal dumpster.

The rich, greasy aroma, mingled with the unique toasted scent of wheat catalyzed by the high heat, drifted through a gap in the dumpster, making Wang Dayan swallow his saliva again and again.

"What is that?" Lying amidst the trash, Wang Dayan stared intently at the distant breakfast stall. Driven by his appetite, his hand, fingernails caked with black grime, reached out from the dumpster.

He had never seen such a thing before, but his constant swallowing and the rumbling in his stomach told him one thing: he wanted to eat it. He wanted it desperately.

He saw that the thing cost one white circle. When someone gave the vendor a white circle, they could take one and eat it.

He had some of those white circles with a person’s head on them, too. He’d found two in this very dumpster. But he was a little scared to go out, even though he knew the people who had captured him weren’t out there.

The smell from the stall grew more and more fragrant until Wang Dayan finally couldn’t resist. He carefully climbed out of the dumpster, hunched over, and scurried forward. He quickly tossed a white circle onto the table, snatched one of the yellow things, and ran.

The freshly fried dough stick was scalding hot, but Wang Dayan paid no mind to the pain in his palm. His eyes were filled with uncontrollable excitement and thrill. It was as if he could taste the deliciousness of the food through the searing heat on his hand.

He ducked into a deserted alley corner. Staring at the golden, fragrant food, he couldn’t hold back any longer. He opened his mouth to take a bite.

Just as his teeth felt the crispiness of the dough stick, just as he was about to bite down, Wang Dayan’s body suddenly convulsed as if he’d been electrocuted. He violently threw the dough stick far away.

"No! I can’t eat food without an order! Or it’ll hurt! It’ll hurt a lot!"

He stared at the dough stick from a distance, his eyes now a mixture of intense craving and terror. He anxiously paced around it for a moment, then suddenly stood still and shouted, "Report! I require sustenance! Please advise! Report, I require sustenance! Please advise!"

But the surroundings were silent. No one gave him any instructions.

"Report! I require sustenance! Please advise!" Wang Dayan stood rooted to the spot, shouting over and over until he started to cry from desperation. Yet, until an order came, he didn’t dare make a move.

Ever since he could remember, he had to report before eating. In his eyes, this was a fundamental law of the universe, as natural as the cycle of day and night. The concept of disobeying this rule had never even entered his mind.

’Why are the instructions taking so long today?’

As Wang Dayan continued to shout, a stray dog darted out from the side, snatched the dough stick, and ran off.

Seeing this, Wang Dayan instantly raised his hands, and the stray dog was suspended in mid-air.

’I can’t use Qi Gong! If I use Qi Gong, they’ll find me! They’ll drag me back!’

At that thought, he dropped to all fours and sprinted away like a cheetah, putting as much distance as he could between himself and that spot.

He ran for the entire day. By the time Wang Dayan stopped in another town, he couldn’t run anymore.

His stomach ached, and his mouth hurt. He didn’t know what was wrong, but his body’s instincts drove him to grab a steamed bun that had been dropped on the ground nearby.

But just as he, with tears welling in his eyes, was about to shove it into his mouth, his body convulsed violently again. He threw the bun far away. Without instructions, his body simply refused to eat.

The pain in his stomach was unbearable. Once again, he paced around the bun and shouted, "Report! I require sustenance! Please advise!" But still, no instructions came. He could only watch helplessly as the bun dissolved in a puddle of water.

’My stomach hurts so much. It’s too painful.’ Wang Dayan looked toward another nearby dumpster and began to rummage through it frantically. When he saw white maggots crawling on some rotten food, he picked one up with a trembling hand.

’This is a bug. It’s not food. I don’t need to report it. This is a bug. This is a bug.’ After repeating this over and over in his mind, Wang Dayan finally put the bug in his mouth.

When he managed to swallow it and realized he wasn’t being punished, a wave of joy washed over him. He started to quickly search the area for all kinds of bugs.

When he picked up a long, wriggling worm from the grass, he was reminded of that long, fragrant thing from before.

’What did that thing taste like? Was it just like this worm?’ He imagined the worm was the long, fragrant thing he’d missed out on, eating it piece by piece to make up for his earlier regret.

「In the days that followed.」

Wang Dayan settled there. Every day after dark, he would go through the dumpsters to find bugs to eat.

The bugs didn’t taste good, but Wang Dayan was happy. Here, he didn’t get beaten. Getting beaten hurt, and he didn’t want to be beaten.

Any day he wasn’t beaten was a good day for him.

Wang Dayan didn’t know how much time had passed, but his life was getting better.

His favorite thing to do was to watch other people eat, then hold a similarly shaped bug and eat along with them.

It was as if by doing so, the bug in his hand would turn into the delicious food he was watching.

And gradually, something strange began to happen. The bugs really did start to look like the food he imagined. He was overjoyed. He could eat real food too!

He thought he could live in this good place forever, but slowly he began to notice that people seemed to be looking for him.

Hiding in the shadows, Wang Dayan saw these people gobbling down food, only to end up screaming and collapsing on the ground, unable to get up. He couldn’t help but think, ’You have to report before eating. They don’t even know that. They’re not as smart as me. So dumb.’

Moreover, Wang Dayan discovered that these adults knew nothing at all. Not only did they not know to report before eating, but they also used Qi Gong recklessly. They were so careless.

Sure enough, it wasn’t long before these people were snatched away by the big flying things in the sky.

Wang Dayan didn’t think he was dumb. He thought he was very smart, because he always reported before eating. If there were no instructions, he ate bugs. And he absolutely never used his Qi Gong carelessly.

Since he mostly went rummaging through dumpsters at night, Wang Dayan spent most of his days sleeping in one.

One day, he was woken from his sleep again. Peeking through a gap in the dumpster, he saw a few more strangers. One of them had a cat ear, and another one was very scary, with hands like knives.