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Urban Legends: The Vanished Subway Station
墨書 Inktalez
The windshield wipers had just cleared the glass when rainwater smeared it again.
As I entered the wrong key for the third time, deep brown liquid seeped from the bottom of my coffee cup, tracing along the keyboard's membrane pattern, forming a Mandelbrot fractal.
At two forty-seven in the morning, the decryption program finally tore through the email's protective shell. The moment the blue light on the screen flickered, the rain suddenly stopped.
To be precise, it was the sound of raindrops hitting the car roof that vanished. Raindrops hung three centimeters from the windshield, each droplet encasing fragments of streetlight like fireflies trapped in amber.
Li Ming's laptop lay on the passenger seat, its cooling vent still warm from his touch. Seven days ago, he had used this very computer to order my birthday cake, and now the lock screen wallpaper had been replaced with a map of the Beijing and New York subway systems.
Two red dots overlapped at Dongdan Station on Line 5 and at Eighth Avenue Station on New York's L Line.
"The dimension is collapsing..." I mimicked Li Ming's usual neurotic tone as I read aloud the last line of his memo, my tongue pressed against the roof of my mouth, waiting for a shiver to wash over me.
The green glow of the car clock cast fragmented shadows on his unclosed eyelashes—this action reminiscent of how his father had stared at a brainwave monitor in his final moments.
The sudden crackle of police radio made my fingers accidentally brush against the keyboard. A cascade of search records poured down:
"Boson-Einstein Condensate Quantum Tunneling Effect at Macroscopic Scale"
"Human Consciousness as the Observer Paradox of Quantum Superposition"
Each paper was timestamped precisely at three oh one in the morning—the time of my father's laboratory explosion.
In the rearview mirror, I saw stacks of blueprints in the back seat, recalling how Lao Zhao had handed them over with a stoop similar to when he had given me a lollipop twenty years ago. The ink stains on brown paper spread like some parasitic vine, tightly entwining "Concrete Mix Design for Station 13" with "Cerebral Neural Network Modeling."
When my phone vibrated for the seventh time in my pocket, raindrops began to fall again. The static in the receiver receded like a tide, replaced by an eerily gentle voice announcing subway stops:
"Welcome aboard the Quantum Tunnel Express; this train's final destination—"
The glass reflected my suddenly constricting pupils as a mechanical voice continued, "Consciousness Eternal Freeze Layer."
My fingers trembled involuntarily, cold sweat soaking my palm.
"Li Ming, what on earth are you up to?"
I murmured to myself, my gaze sweeping across every corner of the car as if searching for an answer that didn't exist.
The rain pounded against the car window again, its rhythm becoming frantic and chaotic, much like my heartbeat at that moment.
I took a deep breath, trying to calm the turmoil within me.
"Stay calm, stay calm..." I told myself, "There must be a reasonable explanation."
But I knew this was merely self-deception.
Li Ming's disappearance, my father's death, and these bizarre coincidences all pointed to a truth I was unwilling to face.
I glanced at the laptop again; the map of the Beijing and New York subway seemed to mock my ignorance.
"Quantum Tunnel... Consciousness Eternal Freeze Layer..."
I chewed on these phrases repeatedly, trying to find a clue within them.
Suddenly, a thought flashed through my mind.
"Could it be..." My heart skipped a beat, "Li Ming is trying to..."
I dared not continue that line of thought; the possibility was too insane, too dangerous.
But what if this was the truth?
What if Li Ming had really found a way to traverse dimensions?
My fingers hovered over the keyboard, hesitating whether to delve deeper into the investigation.
Each keystroke could lead to unforeseen consequences; every choice could alter the trajectory of my life.
"Li Ming, what do you want me to do?"
I whispered, knowing no one would answer.
The rain traced winding paths on the car window like streaks of tears.
I closed my eyes, recalling how Li Ming looked the last time we met.
His eyes sparkled with fervent light, a mysterious smile playing at the corners of his mouth.
"Trust me," he said, "we are about to change the world."
At the time, I thought it was just another display of his scientific fervor; now it seems it might have been a warning, an invitation.
I opened my eyes, determination settling in.
"Alright, Li Ming," I said, "I accept your challenge."
My fingers began to dance across the keyboard, unlocking one encrypted file after another. With each file I opened, I drew closer to the truth—and closer to danger.
But I had no choice.
Because I knew that only by finding Li Ming could I unravel all the mysteries. Only by confronting the truth could I escape this haunting nightmare.
The rain continued to fall, but I no longer felt the cold.
For within me, a flame was burning.
It was the desire for knowledge, the thirst for truth, and a deep concern for Li Ming.
"Wait for me," I whispered, "no matter which dimension you're in, I will find you."
I started the car and drove into the curtain of rain.
I didn’t know what awaited me ahead, but I knew there was no turning back.
The secret of the Quantum Tunnel—I had to uncover it.
Even if it meant that I might never return to this world again.
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