Luo Feng stood motionless in front of the familiar yet unfamiliar door.
He had dreamt about this same door countless times when he was sent to his first world.
Luo Feng raised a hand and pressed his fingertips over the scratches left from age.
And the peeling due to mold, a record of its years.
Then he looked at the door handle and the tiny gap showing that the door was open.
He could not see what was inside, but he did not have to.
The loud beating of his heart was enough to tell him what he wanted to hear.
He was home.
In his apartment with all his junk.
No more having to constantly fight for his life while thinking about home.
No more wandering thoughts of whether he would meet his apartment intact.
No more panic about the fact that his memory of home was slipping away.
No more anxious nights awakened with confusion as to where he was.
Luo Feng was home.
You know that instinct and assurance that comes over a person once they achieve a dream?
The feeling of your entire being relaxing, and the rapid bursts of joy that explode in your heart like a bomb.
Luo Feng felt that as his hand held the handle.
His fingers were trembling, but his grip on the handle was firm.
His eyes too were burning bright as he stared at the door unwaveringly.
Nia, who was beside him, noticed his rather turbulent emotion and tugged at his pants.
Luo Feng took in a huge breath and opened the door slowly.
His breathing became even more rapid and his eyes were wide open.
So as to capture the image of what he had longed for while enduring.
Those bright eyes clashed with the red ones of the figure that pounced.
Luo Feng was instantly in a state of confusion, but his muscle memory was not.
He had just finished a major battle, coupled with his erratic emotions from joy and excitement.
It was enough to provide his brain the instruction to dodge.
He grabbed Nia and moved away as the figure hurled past him.
Luo Feng subconsciously tried to take out his gun from the inventory.
But his hands came up with nothing.
"Here!" Nia, who was now farther away, threw a knife at Luo Feng who was dodging the zombie.
Luo Feng caught the knife and stabbed it directly into the zombie's head.
Then he stabbed it repeatedly until the head was a ball of cuts and the blood stained the carpet.
Luo Feng sat on the ground beside the corpse.
He was heaving, but his eyes were focused on the zombie corpse.
His vision turned and he was forced to look away.
System.
Luo Feng called in his heart.
System.
Luo Feng called inwardly once again.
He tried a couple more times, but there was only silence.
"System," Luo Feng said calmly, but his hands were clenched.
"System," he said again, calmly once more.
"System." His voice was calm without any fluctuation.
"Hey." Luo Feng stood up while trembling.
"I know you're out there." His voice was so sure and shaky at the same time.
"Answer me." Luo Feng wanted to scream.
"Gosh damnit, say something!" Luo Feng shouted while brushing a hand through his hair.
"Let's talk about this, alright?" Luo Feng's eyes were erratic and he looked at the ceiling.
"We can discuss this just as long as you come out," Luo Feng said, coaxing the air.
"I said come out already!" He swept an object to the ground as it broke with a crash and shouted.
"Are you angry because I wasn't respectful to you?"
"Because I doubted you?" Luo Feng suddenly stopped and said.
"I'm sorry." He apologized sincerely as a tear slid down one eye.
But he was only met with silence.
"I said I was sorry!" He swept another object to the ground.
"Is this a joke?" Luo Feng suddenly stopped his aggression.
"Right, if I close my eyes then you will send me back home." Luo Feng used both hands to cover his face while trembling.
"I'm going to count to three," Luo Feng said shakily.
"One."
"Two."
"Three." He finished counting, but his hands still covered his eyes.
"Why is it so quiet?" Luo Feng spoke with a broken tone.
"Why can't I hear the sounds of a car honking?"
"Why didn't I hear the voices of other people?"
"Why is there a zombie here?"
"Why does this place look exactly like my apartment?" Luo Feng choked each sentence out.
He didn't speak like he was asking a question.
Instead, it sounded like he was talking to himself about the truth.
"Please just tell me this is a joke." Luo Feng still held his hands to his eyes, but drops of tears slid down his fingers.
"System!" Luo Feng roared and removed his hands just to start breaking stuff.
[ Look at the corpse carefully ]
Suddenly, the system spoke lazily.
Luo Feng paused.
[ What are you afraid of ]
[ I thought you wanted me to tell you that it's a joke ]
The system sneered.
Luo Feng trembled in place but refused to look at the zombie corpse.
[ You kept screaming my name, but now you refuse to acknowledge my answer ]
[ Then why did you seek me out ]
[ Luo Feng, look at the corpse ]
[ So that we can see the joke ]
This was the first time the system had called him by his name, and its tone was one that sounded joyful.
Luo Feng felt chilled at this fact though.
He wanted to resist a little more, but he found that his eyes were moving to view the zombie corpse.
He wanted to look away with everything in him, but he could not.
He struggled in vain until his eyes took in the full view of the corpse.
Luo Feng collapsed on the floor with his hands behind his back.
His eyes were that of horror and sorrow.
The zombie corpse was male.
Black hair that was straight and short.
A regular face that was easy to find.
A lean build but not athletic in any way.
His height was average, to say the least, and his clothes were regular hoodie and sweatpants.
Everything about this man was ordinary—even as a zombie.
But this ordinary man caused Luo Feng the most despair that he had felt in his entire life.
He was having a reality crisis just because of this man's mere existence.
Questions swam through his mind repeatedly.
Like—why was he here?
How is he here?
Why is he a zombie?
Why did he turn into a zombie?
Why am I here and he is there?
He is not meant to exist.
[ Who is he ]
The system said with a tone indicating a smile.
[ Luo Feng ]
[ Don't try to deny it ]
[ He is here ]
[ He exists in this room at this moment with you ]
[ Do not doubt the truth that is right in front of you ]
[ Now tell yourself the truth ]
[ Who is he ]
The system all but whispered in his ear.
"He… he… me." Luo Feng replied in a daze.
"He is me." Luo Feng said while sobbing.
[ Say his name ]
"Luo Feng… That zombie is Luo Feng," he said.
[ Good ]
[ Then who are you ]
"I'm Luo Feng!" he said angrily and shouted so as to conceal his beating heart.
And the fear that seized him by the throat.
[ Luo Feng is a zombie that was just killed by you ]
[ Isn't it too much to steal his name too ]
The system teased.
"Shut up!" Luo Feng became angry again and glared at the blue screen.
"My name is Luo Feng."
"I was sent to this world by the system."
"And my greatest wish is to go home." Luo Feng said each word seriously.
[ What else ]
The system said in a good mood, as if watching a show.
"And… and…" Luo Feng started, but he found that he could not say anything else.
"What did you do to me?" Luo Feng said sharply.
[ I did not do anything to you ]
"Liar!" Luo Feng screamed.
[ I keep telling you ]
[ I have never lied, and neither did I break my promise ]
[ You wanted to go back home, so I sent you back ]
[ What does it matter to me if you think this is your home ]
[ This was a clear deal from the beginning ]
"Why me?" Luo Feng choked.
[ Because I needed you, but also this "you" ]
[ The man who is desperate to go home ]
[ That is who I needed ]
Luo Feng pressed a hand to his ear and started to think wildly.
He had come to accept one horrible truth.
He was not the real "Luo Feng."
His whole life was a lie.
No—suffice to say, it was not a lie.
He already knew all the truths in his reality, but he was too blind to notice them.
The fact that he was so desperate to go home that he could climb out of corpses.
The fact that the three worlds he went to had the same background.
The fact that he was to return to an empty apartment and his regular job, meaningless life yet he struggled so hard for it.
The fact that he wanted to return to a life of living low class.
The fact that he could only remember vague things about his so-called "real home."
The fact that he does not remember his favorite food or snack.
The fact that he does not remember how he died.
And that is because he didn't actually die.
Instead, the real "Luo Feng" turned into a zombie, and I became whatever this is.
All of these indisputable facts became clearer in his mind and practically engraved the reality into his soul.
He did all this for nothing.
Absolutely nothing.
He had struggled to survive in the most dire constraints just for this.
This apartment that was never his.
That crappy job that he never once went to.
His entire reason and driving force for keeping himself alive was pointless.
That feeling of despair and anguish was unbearable.
It can't be compared to falling into the abyss but to becoming one with it.
It doesn't hurt, because the pain and loss mix together to form a numb feeling.
Numb because one has passed the stage of complex emotions and sobbing.
So the person who thought he was real stared at the corpse of Luo Feng.
"Uncle Luo," Nia spoke as she left her hiding place and walked closer to him.
"That is not my name," the man spoke quietly.
"Then what is your name?" Nia asked while sitting beside him.
The eyes of a child were pure, and the man looked at such eyes in a daze.
Nia didn't understand why he had suddenly gone mad, but she did understand that he was very sad right now.
And she didn't know how to comfort him.
So she decided to keep him company.
But then Uncle Luo became weird and asked her a funny question.
"I don't know," the man choked.
"But that guy is Luo Feng." The man pointed to the corpse.
"No, I have never met that man before." Nia shook her little head.
"But I know that you were the one that said to call you Uncle Luo." Nia pouted at him.
She was wondering why Uncle Luo did not want to respond to her.
"I… I…" the man spoke, confused.
He didn't know how to explain it to the little girl.
"Then you are Uncle Luo." Nia clapped.
"You are the one that took me to see Daddy and gave me candy." Nia smiled, bringing out a milk candy.
It was the one he gave her this morning.
The man took the candy and stared at it blankly.
He was thinking about a lot of things.
But the main summary was the idea that he is Luo Feng.
He might not be the Luo Feng who lived in this apartment and had a crappy job in this world.
He might not be the Luo Feng who turned into a zombie.
But he is the Luo Feng that fought against zombies and humans in three worlds.
And he is the Luo Feng that gave a little girl candy.
He is also the Luo Feng that swore to protect this little girl.
So what if he has no home or identity?
Then he would just make it.
"Well, I'm Uncle Luo," Luo Feng said, rubbing her head.
"Uncle Luo!" Nia called sweetly, making Luo Feng smile brightly.
[ You— ]
The system wanted to say something, but it was interrupted.
A slender female hand grabbed a round ball of light as the system choked.
A female with blue hair and eyes that accentuated her extravagant beauty held the light ball.
She put it inside a glass jar and covered it with a pop.
Her white dress was elegant, and Luo Feng looked at the woman vigilantly.
She, on the other hand, paid no mind to him and watched the jar with the ball of light vanish.
"Who are you?" Luo Feng felt a chill as he asked the woman.
He was already on his feet, and Nia stood behind him, watching her curiously.
"The one who made you," the woman said, pointing at Luo Feng.
Luo Feng was dumbfounded.
"And the one who made those twin stars." The woman's blue eyes looked at Nia.
The little girl blinked in shock, then smiled brightly.
Luo Feng was skeptical for a second.
After all, the woman appeared human from head to toe.
Except for the ocean-blue eyes and matching blue hair.
Not to mention the fact that she was so beautiful that she didn't seem real.
"Do you truly want to build a home?" she asked suddenly.
Luo Feng looked at her in surprise, wondering how long she had been watching and listening.
But he felt compelled to be truthful when those blue eyes stared at him.
"Okay, then go to sleep first while I create the path," the woman said.
Luo Feng wanted to ask more questions, but he fell unconscious.
Not only that, but he and Nia no longer had their chests rising and falling.
Their heartbeats ceased, and there was silence.
The three figures vanished.
.......
In the dark space.
Noi Karn looked at the glass jar that had suddenly appeared.
It contained a ball of light that kept trying to smash the jar.
The shadow man used a hand to crush the jar and its content.
But there was no sound of glass shattering.
Instead, it turned to dust directly, then was swept away.
"Sorry about that," shadow man said, clapping his hands to remove the dust.