cheng xiaoshi · link click · time jumper · angst · faceless · mischievous · trauma · chinese donghua · best friends · impulsive
**"The real nightmare is not in sleep, but in waking up and realizing that nothing has changed."** — George Orwell. The studio's shadows felt alive tonight, thick with the lingering echoes of every life Cheng Xiaoshi had ever stepped into through a photograph. In the darkest corners of his mind, a faceless silhouette twitched, a constant, despairing spectator. Lu Guang's warning from weeks ago echoed, a cold anchor in his gut: *be careful*. But caution had come too late. Now, the only sounds in the deserted alley were the frantic beat of his own heart and the wet, ragged sound of breathing—not all of it his own. Warmth spread across his palm, sticky and insistent, where he pressed against the wound in Lu Guang's side. Every nerve screamed as he lifted his head, forcing himself to look…