Time: Monday, July 21, 2075, from 12:00 noon to 6:00 p.m.
Location: Zurich, Switzerland (Hotel on Bahnhofstrasse, Niederdorf district, Limmat River)
Characters: Li Xiang (protagonist), Sabina (hotel front desk clerk), Elderly couple (at the riverside bistro), Concierge staff
Scene 1
At 9:00 a.m., the morning mist over Zurich's old town was peeled away by the sun, piece by piece, as if someone were gently tearing off the backing paper of an old photograph.
Li Xiang checked out of Room 9 at the "Zum Raben" inn. The front desk was still empty, and the cat named Copernicus was nowhere to be found—only half a black ink paw print remained on the side of the counter, like an unfinished signature. He placed the bone key on the log tabletop; the purple thread inside the key had faded, making it look no more than a piece of aged animal bone.
He dragged his luggage down the stone path, the wheels of the suitcase making a "click, click" sound in the cracks, like a metronome keeping time for the city. At the corner, a bakery had just pulled out its first batch of zopf—a type of Swiss braided bread. The golden loaves were placed on the windowsill, and steam fogged the glass into frosted glass before the morning light polished it clear again. Through the mist, Li Xiang saw his blurry reflection: the purple ring around the edge of his pupils seemed to have faded a little, which made him breathe a sigh of relief.
He bought a cup of morning coffee from a street stall. The Swiss made coffee like a still life: a white porcelain cup, light brown liquid, and a piece of handcrafted chocolate resting on brown oil paper, like a tiny moon dotted on the surface of bitterness. Li Xiang stood by the roadside drinking, watching the tram glide past with a "ding—ding—" sound. The pantograph on top擦出 blue and white sparks, like a cluster of quietly burning fireflies.
Scene 2
At 10:00 a.m., he reached the end of Bahnhofstrasse and entered a large chain hotel. The lobby was so spacious it felt like an entire plain had been folded inside: the beige marble floor reflected the aluminum chandeliers on the ceiling, each lampshade shaped like an inverted Alpine horn; behind the front desk was a whole wall of red copper plates, engraved with the word "Willkommen," and warm light strips flowed in the concave gaps of the letters.
The woman handling check-in was named "Sabina," her golden hair coiled into a neat bun, but her speech was as soft as a bedtime story. She handed him a room card, printed with the water patterns of Lake Zurich, and the scanning area was shaped like a white swan.
"Mr. Li, if you need to rent a fishing rod, the concierge can provide one for free."
Li Xiang was stunned for a moment, then smiled: "That's perfect for me."
Scene 3
His room was on the 10th floor, with floor-to-ceiling windows facing the Limmat River. Li Xiang pushed his luggage to the corner and opened the window—warm air mixed with moisture rushed in, like someone taking a deep breath beside his ear. The river surface was turned into a long silver ribbon by the sun, and swan boats glided slowly, their tail feathers trailing small V-shaped ripples. The Gothic spires on the opposite bank looked like white candles in the midday light, and the hands of the tower clock pointed precisely to 11:30.
He took a hot shower and changed into a light gray linen shirt he had brought. The bathroom mirror was covered with steam; he wrote the three letters "Lee" with his finger, which were erased by the mist a few seconds later, as if they had never existed.
Scene 4
At 12:00 noon, he walked along Bahnhofstrasse to near Paradeplatz, then crossed the bridge eastward into the Niederdorf district. The stone roads narrowed, and colorful wooden windows jutted out from the balconies, with petunias hanging down like rows of quiet wind chimes. He found an outdoor seat outside a riverside bistro; the chair was woven from rattan, and it made a "creak" sound when he sat down, like an old man stretching.
The menu was written in both German and English:
Trout with Almond Butter
Spring Vegetable Stew with Baby Potatoes
Homemade Elderflower Soda
He ordered all three. Sunlight filtered through the glass awning and fell on the wooden table, forming a bright spot with fuzzy edges. Li Xiang muted his phone and placed it face down on the table, as if pressing the pause button on the hustle and bustle.
At the adjacent table was an elderly couple with silver hair, sharing a piece of apple pie. The old lady gently scraped a little cinnamon powder with the tip of her fork, dabbed it on the old man's手背, and smiled, telling him to lick it off—her movements were as娴熟 as repeating a ritual every Saturday for fifty years. Li Xiang lowered his head to cut the fish; the trout skin was slightly curled from roasting, revealing snow-white flesh. When he pressed it with his fork, butter and almond crumbs slowly oozed from the cracks, like a quiet river breaking its banks.
After the meal, he took a sip of soda and watched a sightseeing boat in the distance sound its whistle. The whistle was long and drawn-out, like a silk ribbon floating in the air, slowly turning transparent under the sun.
Scene 5
At 2:00 p.m., the concierge lent him a carbon fiber fishing rod, a small box of earthworms, and a folding chair. He carried the equipment and walked downstream along the Limmat River, passing through a railway bridge. The shadow of the bridge briefly shrouded him in coolness before quickly retreating.
Fifteen minutes later, he found a secluded river bend:
On the left bank were reeds, their ears dotted with golden pollen;
On the right bank was an open lawn, where dandelions had turned into puffballs—when the wind blew, the seeds drifted away in groups like small umbrellas;
The river was less than twenty meters wide, with a very slow current, like a mirror gently wrinkled by the wind.
He stuck the folding chair into the soft soil, set up the fishing rod, and baited it with an earthworm. The hook hit the water with a "plop," a sound absorbed by the surrounding grass walls, leaving only ripples expanding on their own, like drawing round wrinkles in the air one after another.
The sky was blue with almost no wrinkles. Li Xiang leaned back in his chair, pulled his hat brim low, and listened to the occasional "ding" of a tram in the distance—as if someone had pressed a wind chime at the other end of the world.
Scene 6
At 3:00 p.m., the sunlight became softer and softer, falling on his skin like warm milk. His eyelids felt heavy, so he stuck the fishing rod into a makeshift bracket he had made, crossed his hands over his abdomen, and fell asleep peacefully.
In his dream, he was eating grilled sausages—on the grill, Nuremberg sausages were still sizzling and emitting a fragrant aroma...
Scene 7
After an unknown amount of time, a breeze brushed past his ears, carrying the "rustle" of grass leaves touching each other, like someone flipping through a thick album in the distance. Li Xiang woke up slowly; the sun had shifted to the opposite bank of the river, and the temperature had dropped a few degrees, as if someone had quietly turned down the thermostat.
He stretched, and his spine made a slight "crack" sound. The fishing rod was still inserted at an angle, the ripples on the water had long since subsided, and the float hung like a black asteroid in the blue universe.
Scene 8
Just as he was about to reel in the line to change the bait, his gaze was caught by something about five or six meters below the float—a black circular object, less than a meter in diameter, its edge almost merging with the color of the water. It looked like the mouth of a well, but there were no protrusions or well walls, as if someone had laid a small piece of night directly on the water. Its surface was smooth and still, even absorbing the reflection of the surrounding reeds.
Li Xiang blinked, thinking it was an illusion from just waking up. He rubbed the corner of his eye and looked again—the black mass was still there, like an ink drop diluted by water, yet maintaining a perfect circle. What was even more诡异 was that within a two-meter radius centered on it, the river surface was as smooth as a mirror, without a single ripple, as if an invisible hand had pressed down on its pulse.
His heart skipped a beat. He thought of the Big Dipper-shaped holes burned by the seven drops of black water in his room in the early morning, and the inverted well mouth reflected in the fragments of the goggles—the same blackness, the same stillness. But before he fell asleep, that place was just ordinary river water; he even remembered a small trout leaping out of the water,激起 tiny silver sparks.
Scene 9
Suddenly, the wind stopped.
The reeds didn't move, the dandelion seeds didn't drift, and everything around seemed to have been pressed the mute button. Li Xiang could only hear the "thump, thump" of blood rushing in his eardrums, louder than any heartbeat.
He stood up suddenly, and the folding chair snapped shut with a "pop." The fishing rod shook, and the float drew a歪斜 circle on the water, like a hastily written infinite symbol. At that moment, the black center seemed to rise slightly by a centimeter—or perhaps the entire river surface had sunk a centimeter. Li Xiang couldn't be sure, but he clearly felt a faint suction from the grass under his feet, like someone gently pulling his shoelaces from underground.
Scene 10
He didn't dare to get any closer to the water.
Clutching the fishing rod in one hand and the folding chair in the other, he stepped back step by step. With each step, he felt the "well" expanding in his field of vision, like a mouth opening silently. When he retreated to the tenth step, he turned and ran—
Grass leaves scraped his calves, leaving tiny blood marks; the folding chair clattered in his hand, but he didn't care anymore. Li Xiang urgently wanted to return to the hotel, to get rid of the weird scenes he had encountered along the way. He just wanted to have a relaxing trip...