INSIDER Chapter 13

From birth, being in a state of “cannot see,” Lu Chu had never experienced such a profound understanding of the word “see.”

The interior of the tower was not pitch-black. Candles were evenly spaced along the edges of the inner walls, their wax dripping down in mottled patterns but never completely burning out, no matter how many years they had been lit. The dim yellow candlelight flickered, not exactly bright, but it made Lu Chu’s eyes sting. He took a deep breath, calmed his inner turmoil, closed his eyes for a moment, and then opened them again.

The previously blurry light became clear, and the interior of the tower was fully revealed to him. Even though all he saw was the monotonous dim yellow light and the old, peeling black walls inside the tower, Lu Chu was still deeply moved by it.

After briefly surveying his surroundings, he turned to look at the man beside him.

Lu Chu had never seen anyone’s face before. Similarly, he had no concept of “handsome” or “beautiful,” but looking at the man’s face, he thought it looked good.

The sense of beauty is a natural instinct.

Then, remembering that the man had said he would learn everything he wanted to know inside the tower, Lu Chu turned to write a question in the man’s palm.

As soon as he took the man’s hand, the man spoke: “Your parents’ death and the chaos in this town were not accidents. Strictly speaking, the only accident is you.”

With just one sentence, Lu Chu was so shocked that he didn’t know what to ask next. He could only tremble and write with his fingers: “What did you say?”

“I know what you want to ask.” The man continued as he untied the rope connecting their hands. “Now, close your eyes and don’t look at anything. Walk up the stairs to the end and then tell me what you see.”

—How should I tell you?

The man had not yet regained his senses. Even if Lu Chu reached the top of the tower, the man would not be able to hear him from such a distance. Even if sound could travel to the bottom of the tower, the man still couldn’t hear.

“When you see the truth, I will regain my senses as well.” The man added, “My sensory restrictions are because of you, not related to this town.” Lu Chu looked up at the interior structure of the tower. From the bottom up, the tower was empty in the middle, without anything blocking the view. Yet, the top of the tower was invisible, swallowed by darkness. A winding staircase without a handrail spiraled up the mottled walls, also disappearing into the darkness. The staircase was narrow, just wide enough for two people to walk side by side. Walking up these narrow, handrail-less stairs with closed eyes could easily lead to a misstep and a fall from a great height.

Fortunately, Lu Chu, accustomed to the unknown and the dark, didn’t find this particularly difficult.

All the sudden disruptions—the outbreak of sensory loss, the shattering of his peaceful life, and his parents’ sudden deaths—might all be explained once he reached the top of the stairs.

“Remember, unless you reach the end, do not open your eyes.”

Lu Chu turned to deeply look at the handsome man beside him. The man’s eyes were still closed, expressionless, but Lu Chu heard the seriousness in his voice.

—Alright.

Lu Chu wrote this last word in the man’s palm and then walked to the staircase.

He closed his eyes, supported himself with one hand on the wall, and began to climb.

Step by step, Lu Chu didn’t know how tall the tower was or how long he would need to climb. Yet, his mood was particularly calm.

When his muscles started to ache and lifting his feet became almost a habit, Lu Chu finally stopped because he almost missed a step—the stairs had ended. He continued walking forward and soon touched a wall blocking his way.

It seemed he had reached the end.

Thinking this, Lu Chu opened his eyes. The blinding candlelight almost hurt his eyes. After adjusting, he found that the walls at the top of the tower were transparent, allowing him to see the entire town below. But when he looked into the distance, he was stunned.

At the base of the tower, the man who had regained his sight and hearing closed his eyes briefly.

“Tell me, what did you see?”

The man’s voice reached him, clear and calm, despite the vast distance, as if it was spoken right beside him.

Lu Chu stood there, dazed, unable to answer, staring blankly at the scene before him.

What stunned Lu Chu wasn’t the colorful world he had heard about from others—bright skies, the moon, green grass, or colorful forests.

The man’s voice came again, deliberate and clear: “Lu Chu, tell me, what did you see?”

Lu Chu finally reacted. Without blinking, he spoke in a daze: “I… I saw nothing.”

That’s right, he saw nothing.

The tower was indeed very tall, and most buildings in the town were low. Even though it was late at night, the moon was exceptionally bright, illuminating the entire town. From his vantage point, Lu Chu could see the whole town at a glance. His gaze moved across the villas, parks, plazas, overpasses, and finally his home, all the way to the town’s edge.

The outskirts of the town, as the townspeople had said, had several tall mountains, but beyond those mountains, there were no more mountains or another town—just nothingness.

True nothingness.

The walls around the top of the tower were transparent, and Lu Chu could see everything. This town, surrounded by “mountains,” and beyond those few mountains, there was nothing. The lonely town, along with the mountains protecting it, seemed to be built in a different dimension. Beyond it, there was only empty space, nothing existed.

Looking at the distant “senseless” people biting and struggling with each other, Lu Chu’s face turned pale: “Why…”

In a daze, memories from the past twenty years flooded back.

A self-sufficient, quiet, and peaceful town.

Elders constantly repeating, “No outsiders have ever come here.”

Everyone tacitly agreed not to approach the deep mountains.

Except for the tower, all buildings were low.

…

A town that was “suspended” in reality would naturally have no outsiders. Because Lu Chu couldn’t see, he never had the thought of leaving. But why did everyone else live in peace for so long, never having any doubts, or thinking “I want to go beyond the mountains”? Moreover, the townspeople never built high structures, avoiding any chance of seeing beyond the mountains.

“Why…” Lu Chu felt like his entire life had been shaken. “What is this…”

As if expecting this, the man spoke calmly: “It’s a ‘setup.'”

Lu Chu murmured: “‘Setup’?”

“Yes, there are many kinds of ‘setups.’ ‘The whole town losing sensation’ is just one of them. The people living here are the offspring of the ‘setup’ itself, following ‘rules’ to keep the ‘setup’ running smoothly.”

Lu Chu was increasingly bewildered: “Then what are we?”

The man’s voice was devoid of emotion: “Derivatives, belonging to the ‘setup’ itself, bound by ‘rules.’ To those chosen from the real world, we’re like NPCs.”

Lu Chu, still in shock, heard the man continue: “You are an exception, a loophole in this ‘setup.’ In the ‘whole town losing sensation’ setup, all derivatives live normally until the day of the sensory loss outbreak, falling into chaos due to their lack of experience with symptoms like blindness. Civilization collapses. The chosen ones from the real world must survive here for seven days. If they don’t, they’re out. Your congenital blindness disrupted the balance of this ‘setup.’ Not long after, your parents, in an attempt to cure you, accidentally saw beyond the mountains, completely breaking the ‘rule’ that derivatives cannot know they live in a fiction. Thus, they died suddenly under the constraints of the ‘rules.'”

Hearing this, Lu Chu’s eyes welled up with tears. He couldn’t believe that everything he had experienced was a product of a “setup,” while their emotions were real. “Since I’m the exception in the ‘setup,’ why wasn’t I destroyed at birth?”

Yet, his parents were erased years later because of him.

“Your parents died because they discovered the truth, violating the ‘setup’s’ design. You are a loophole created by the ‘setup,’ fundamentally part of it, so the ‘rules’ can’t touch you.”

Lu Chu was shocked to numbness: “Then who are you?”

This time, the man didn’t answer directly. He just continued speaking: “In this ‘setup,’ no chosen ones from the real world have come yet. When the clock strikes midnight, a door will appear before you.”

As he spoke, the man’s voice turned serious: “Lu Chu, open the door and walk through it. You’ll shed your derivative identity, and the ‘rules’ will consider you a chosen one from the real world.”

As soon as the man finished speaking, the midnight chimes rang. The transparent walls before Lu Chu began to fall away, the outer world fading from view, replaced by a door with intricate carvings and rusted patterns.

“Lu Chu, open the door and walk through.”

Lu Chu didn’t move.

“Lu Chu, don’t forget your parents.”

Parents… Lu Chu still remembered his parents’ tearful plea for him to live well. “One day, you must leave here”—in a trance, Lu Chu recalled his parents telling him this.

Taking a deep breath, Lu Chu asked, “What about you?”

The man replied, “I’ll come find you.”

Hearing this, Lu Chu finally pushed open the door before him, stepping into a realm of white light.

Meanwhile, at the base of the tower, the man suddenly felt excruciating pain in his chest and fell to the ground. His body convulsed, his skin cracking and oozing blood.

“Seven, you violated the ‘rules.'”

Enduring the unbearable pain, the man slowly stood up, clutching his chest and leaning against the wall. His skin tore and healed repeatedly, his body covered in blood, but his voice remained calm.

“Yes, I know.”

———

Perhaps everything was just beginning.

Author’s note:

Inspiration for “The Whole Town Losing Sensation” comes from the movie “Blindness,” which I watched a long time ago. I don’t remember the plot clearly, but you’re welcome to check it out.

The doll and the little bear dance.