Falling Asleep

"I am asleep, yet I am awake."

"Remember to breathe, remember the heartbeat—"

"Digestion, endocrine, lymphatic, urinary systems... all working slowly and orderly..."

In a shallow pool barely a meter deep, Yang Chu leaned against the edge, slowly closing his eyes. His consciousness began to immerse itself within his body's internal systems, cutting off any perception of the outside world.

At the same time, his thoughts began to slow, merging his awareness with the water around him, calm with occasional ripples, but never completely lost.

This was a method he had learned from a book on how to fall asleep, which he read during the day.

It was a technique that could help a person fall asleep instantly under any circumstance, allowing them to relax their body while quickly waking up when needed.

Entering this state of rest and sleep was brief, but it allowed one to quickly slip into a kind of light nap anytime, anywhere. This method was particularly suitable for those with busy lives and work schedules who often couldn't ensure a full night's sleep.

This technique of short, intermittent sleep often allowed people to quickly enter a light sleep state, and occasionally even a deep sleep phase, thereby rapidly restoring energy.

However, Yang Chu's approach was not exactly the same.

Aside from clearing his mind, he kept a certain level of awareness, maintaining the circulation of all the major systems in his body.

This state—

To Yang Chu, it seemed quite similar to self-hypnosis or meditation.

Or perhaps, to describe it more vividly, it was like the internal cultivation described in the martial arts novels that were once all the rage in Hong Kong.

Maybe it was because Yang Chu was mentally exhausted, or perhaps it was because he was in the water—

This attempt of his lasted only a few seconds. He lost all external perception as his mind became absorbed in his body, slipping into a state somewhere between sleep and wakefulness.

It seemed that only a faint part of his consciousness, after the self-hypnosis, was still controlling the functions of his body's systems.

Time seemed to stretch longer and longer. His breathing slowed, the intervals between heartbeats grew longer, and the other major systems only operated sluggishly in response to that faint awareness.

All was silent.

Yang Chu's consciousness sensed he was in a state of rest. The flow of blood, the lymphatic and endocrine systems seemed to be interacting with his brain in some way.

His lingering awareness seemed to transport him back to a day ago, to the moment when he first awoke in this body, as if his consciousness was standing in a pitch-black void.

The difference was that back then, he could feel the darkness gradually swallowing him, forcing him to struggle desperately to break free.

But now, it was as if he was once again in darkness—only this time, the darkness was like a drawn curtain.

The darkness didn't engulf him; instead, it became one with him. His consciousness spread throughout this darkness, and whenever he willed it, the darkness could instantly dissipate, revealing light all around. His awareness felt like it had turned into a dream of the brain.

Meanwhile, outside in the kiddie pool, Yang Chu's body gradually slid from leaning against the tiled wall to floating on the water, lying face-up.

...

"Alright, time to go, we're closing!"

Inside Sham Shui Po Park Swimming Pool, Uncle Jian, the pool manager in his fifties, was making his rounds, urging the remaining swimmers to leave the main pool, the secondary pool, the diving pool, and the training pool.

He worked for the Leisure and Cultural Services Department, commonly known as LCSD in Hong Kong. From July to October, he opened the pool at 6 AM and closed it at 10 PM every day.

"Uncle Jian, let us play a bit longer!"

In the 50-meter-long, 21-meter-wide main pool with a depth of 1.4 to 1.9 meters, two boys who looked about thirteen or fourteen popped their heads out of the water.

"Come on, brats, get out. I need to close up. Also, there are no lifeguards at night. You'd better swim in the secondary pool and stay away from the deep end."

Uncle Jian looked at the two boys, urging them to leave while also giving them a gentle reminder.

The pool was usually quite safe, but accidents could still happen.

Beginners weren't much of a problem—they wore floaties and knew their limits, so they didn't act recklessly. As long as they were cautious, drownings were rare.

The real worry was these teenagers. They could manage a few strokes and thought they could swim, but they were far from proficient. Yet, they were overly confident.

The deep end of the main pool, at 1.9 meters, and the diving pool, over 4 meters deep—these kids dared to go there. Without lifeguards or safety personnel around at night, it was a dangerous situation.

"Alright, Uncle Jian, we're leaving."

The two young boys reluctantly splashed around a few more times before swimming towards the pool edge.

Standing at the poolside, Uncle Jian shook his head lightly and walked toward the other pools.

When he passed by the kiddie pool, Uncle Jian was slightly taken aback.

"A grown man, what's he doing here?"

He muttered to himself. In the kiddie pool, a figure was floating face-up on the water. Judging by the build, it was an adult.

The kiddie pool water barely reached knee height. Even older kids wouldn't bother playing here. Unless they were accompanying a child, adults—especially men—rarely showed up in this area.

"Hey! We're closing up!"

Uncle Jian stood by the kiddie pool and shouted at the floating figure.

But the figure didn't seem to hear him.

"Hey! Did you hear me? Time to get up!"

Uncle Jian frowned, moving a bit closer, and called out again.

Still, the person in the kiddie pool remained motionless.

"What the hell's going on?"

Uncle Jian felt a surge of anxiety. Suddenly, a thought crossed his mind, and he hurriedly jumped into the kiddie pool.

"D*mn it, don't tell me I'm unlucky enough to encounter this!"

The closer he got to the floating figure, the heavier Uncle Jian's heart became.

To outsiders, it might sound unbelievable that someone could drown in a kiddie pool only about 40 centimeters deep. But Uncle Jian, who had managed the pool for decades, knew it wasn't impossible.

People who had never been in the water could drown even in shallow water.

Just like how some people can drown in a basin—many things defy common sense.

His legs stirred up splashes in the shallow pool water.

Uncle Jian grabbed the floating person, who was indeed unresponsive.

Without any hesitation, he quickly pulled the person up by the armpits and dragged them out of the kiddie pool.

"Uncle Jian, what happened?"

Two teenage boys who had climbed out of the pool saw Uncle Jian dragging someone and ran over to help.

"Stand back a bit!"

Uncle Jian pulled the person onto the poolside and pushed the boys aside, preparing to perform chest compressions.

Though he was just a pool manager, responsible for opening and closing the pool, selling tickets, and occasionally helping to clean up, he had received first-aid training from the LCSD. He'd seen lifeguards rescue people often, so he knew a bit about emergency procedures.

But just then—

The person lying on the ground suddenly opened his eyes.