Xiao Daidzhao

Growing up with eccentric materialistic parents who left him in the care of his grandfather for a job overseas, Zhang Heng had learned to adapt and be unfettered by the oddities and challenges in life. But he would soon learn the baffling truth about the world he thought he knew when one day at midnight time froze and he found himself in a world so quiet and still it was deafening. That night, he discovered that he had 24 hours more than everybody else and thus, marked the beginning of his adventures. The mysteries surrounding his newfound ability only deepened when a strange old man claimed to have given Zhang Heng that ‘gift of time’ and recruited the young man to participate in a cryptic ‘life-changing’ game on his behalf. Little did Zhang Heng know that accepting those terms meant embroiling himself in many versions of reality and exposing himself to the hidden secrets of the world—a decision he could never undo.

48 Hours a Day

Upon returning to Beijing, the three went their separate ways for the time being. Zhang Heng was pretty lucky—there had been no roll call on that one day he missed class, and once he arrived at the campus, he headed straight for the showers.

It was around three in the afternoon, so the public bath was barely occupied. Zhang Heng stood under the shower, letting the water wash away the residual black blood on his body. Though his body had recovered, it was still better to be safe than sorry since the blood belonged to one of the four horsemen.

Zhang Heng lathered himself up with a grand amount of soap, then rinsed himself with warm water. He repeated the whole process twice for good measure.

He looked at his right arm—the needle mark had disappeared, only less than five hours since he pulled it out.

Changes