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墨書 Inktalez
"Oh no, my phone is dead."
I immediately called Lin You's home, as well as classmates and friends, but everyone said they hadn't seen her.
I was anxious, pacing back and forth. "I have no idea where she went. Xiao You must be in danger. Jun Chong, do you know where she might be?"
Chu Fan placed his hands on my shoulders and reassured me, "Don't worry. Do you have some paper and a pen?"
"I do." Since I was used to keeping a notepad in my bag, I quickly handed it to him. Chu Fan took it to the table in the room and bent over to write. I curiously asked, "What are you doing?"
"Looking for Lin You." Chu Fan wrote down Lin You's name and added some characters, explaining, "This way we can find out where she was last seen."
I didn't understand this and wasn't sure how writing could help locate someone, but there was no other option at the moment.
After Chu Fan finished writing, he set down the pen, made a gesture with his right hand, and murmured something under his breath. After a moment, he turned to me and said, "She was at the hospital earlier; the last direction she disappeared in was due east."
"Due east?" I blinked and said, "Which due east? The due east of this city is where our school is located. From the hospital's perspective, the closest place would be—" I paused in surprise. "The Old House District!"
If Jun Chong's calculations were correct, then that due east pointed directly to the Old House District.
"Let's go check it out," Chu Fan said as he grabbed my hand and headed for the door. Just as we were about to step outside, we ran into Qi Zhi returning. He was sitting in a wheelchair with a book resting on his lap. Seeing us, he looked surprised. "Anxin, what are you doing here?"
"Professor Qi, have you seen Xiao You?"
"Lin You? She just left half an hour ago." Qi Zhi pointed to an empty bowl that had been washed in the bathroom. "She brought me breakfast. What's going on?"
"Do you know where she went afterward?"
"Shouldn't you be heading back to school? They said there's something urgent that requires your immediate attention."
I was even more certain now that Lin You had gone to the Old House District. With her personality, she would definitely take a shortcut when in a hurry, and the Old House District was the quickest route from the hospital back to school.
"Thank you, Professor Qi. I'll come to see you again next time." After saying this, I grabbed Chu Fan's hand and left, forgetting to ask him why he had dismissed Nurse Aunt and about his injuries.
As we made our way down the elevator and hadn't even exited the hospital, we ran into Chu Fan's Mother coming toward us. She still looked stunning, dressed in a colorful qipao with a fur coat draped over it. Her long black hair was elegantly pinned up with a hairpin casually inserted, exuding a classic charm. Compared to me, who also wore a hairpin, she seemed like someone from the heavens while I was stuck on the ground.
"Xiao Fan." Mother Chu's keen eyes spotted us, and she called out as she approached. We stopped in our tracks, but Chu Fan didn't call her 'Mom.'
Without even glancing at me, Mother Chu's bright eyes were fixed on her son, filled with tenderness. "Xiao Fan, are you here to see your teacher again?"
"Yeah."
"Xiao Fan, actually your father was hospitalized last night due to high blood pressure. Can you come up with me to see him?"
"You go by yourself! I have things to do." Chu Fan had no intention of lingering; he pulled my hand and tried to leave, ignoring Mother Chu's calls from behind.
I glanced back at her. Her dark eyes were filled with open hatred toward me, as if I had stolen her life away. I couldn't help but recall what Qi had said to me that day: Chu Fan had changed because he wasn't really Chu Fan anymore. But in everyone else's eyes, he still was; his transformation was entirely due to having a girlfriend like me.
I remembered something my mother once told me: whether it's dislike or affection, sometimes putting on an act is necessary.
So I stopped in my tracks. Chu Fan turned around. "Don't mind her; let's go."
"No." I stood firm as Chu Fan's Mother caught up behind us. I quickly added, "Jun Chong, I know you're not Chu Fan, which is why you don't want to deal with his family. But right now, you are appearing as Chu Fan; you should act like him. Chu Fan is a filial son. If you continue to be so cold toward them and they find out you're not really him, it could lead to trouble."
"Trouble can be solved by switching bodies; it's not a big deal."
"Do you want me to find another boyfriend? What will others think of me?" I blurted out in a moment of panic, lowering my head in slight embarrassment when our eyes met. "I'm sorry."
"The one who should be sorry is me for not considering your feelings." Chu Fan gently patted my head before turning to face his mother, who had just caught up with us. "Mom."
Mother Chu's face lit up with joy as she grasped her son's hand, excitement evident in her voice. "Xiao Fan, will you come with me to see your father?"
"I—"
"Auntie, he will go with you," I interjected before Chu Fan could respond. Turning to him, I added, "Seeing your father is more important. I'll go ahead by myself."
"No way," Chu Fan firmly rejected. "About what happened last time—"
"I have this to protect me!" I pointed to the hairpin in my hair and smiled. "Besides, you'll definitely make it in time. I trust you, so hurry and go see your dad." Before he could refuse again, I turned to Mother Chu and said, "Auntie, I'm leaving now. Bye!"
As if afraid that Chu Fan would change his mind, I dashed out of the hospital as quickly as I could. However, when I stood at the entrance of the Old House District, regret washed over me.
"Ahhh, I'm so regretful! If I had known, I wouldn't have tried to be brave. Boohoo..."
I wanted to cry but forced myself to step into the Old House District. "For Xiao You, I must push through!"
It was nearing noon, yet a chilling wind swept through this place, creating a stark contrast between it and the outside world.
I shivered and walked further inside.
Though it was called the Old House District, this was only my second visit. The last time I had come here was out of fear, clinging to Jun Chong as we left; I hadn’t paid attention to the way back. Now that I entered again, all I felt was regret.
"Xiao You—Xiao You—"
To boost my courage, I could only shout at the top of my lungs.
But no matter how loudly I yelled, all I heard was the echo of my own voice; there were no other sounds. I took out my phone, and it had a signal. The last time there was no signal, Jun Chong said it was because I had fallen into another layer of space. However, when I tried calling Lin You again, the phone was still off.
This old house felt like a maze to me. When I entered, I marked my path to avoid getting lost. I didn't know how long I had been wandering; aside from the cool breeze whispering around me, there was nothing else. I hadn’t seen any repeated markings, nor had I found another exit.
“So, I’m lost again?”
I suspected so because from a higher vantage point, this old house didn’t seem very large. It shouldn’t take long to find a way out. The only certainty was that I was lost; it wasn’t like hitting a wall repeatedly since the places I had walked through were all different.
“There should only be me here, right?” A thought crossed my mind—what if someone was following me and destroyed my markings as soon as I made them?
Then came a sound from behind me: “Gla.” My hair stood on end as I quickly turned around. There was a three-way intersection behind me, and after that sound, an eerie silence fell as if nothing had happened.
“Could there be a monster?”
I shivered and prepared to leave when another “Gla” echoed. My heart raced as I swallowed hard; the sound intensified, becoming rapid like a drumbeat—thump thump thump.
Suddenly, a withered claw emerged from around the corner, its bones clearly visible with only a thin layer of skin covering them.
My eyelids twitched, and instinctively, I stepped back, sensing that something bad was about to happen. Just as I turned to run, that hand suddenly made another “Gla,” and an eyeball popped out—just like a human eye—materializing right on the arm.
One, two, three, four—more and more eyes appeared with each “Gla,” until that hand was covered in eyeballs. As someone with a fear of clusters, seeing so many eyes pressed together sent chills down my spine. My legs felt weak and unresponsive.
“Right here.”
A chilling voice whispered in my ear but seemed to come from far away. In the next moment, the creature covered in eyeballs appeared right in front of me.
She was clearly a woman, yet she crawled on all fours like a beast, her body hunched over. Torn gray clothing hung loosely on her, and as the wind blew, a nauseating stench of decay wafted into the air.
Her limbs were surprisingly slender and long, reminiscent of a mutated human from a sci-fi film. A cascade of black hair obscured her face, leaving only her glimmering eyes visible.
Yin Hong's tongue flicked out like that of a frog, snatching a little bug that flew too close. In that moment, another eye appeared on her body.
All the eyes fixated on me, gleaming with an eerie intensity, as if poised to strike.
"You are, I am—"
Her voice rasped like saw cutting through wood, unpleasant to hear. She extended another hand toward me, and I was horrified to see a string of lucky cat charms and a strand of obsidian hanging from it. My legs went weak, and I collapsed to the ground.
A tear fell from my eye; if I wasn't mistaken, that thing was Lin You's—it was the birthday gift I had given Lin You last year, along with another string that was a shared gift for our prayers.
After the initial pang of heartbreak, anger surged within me. A voice echoed in my mind, telling me, "She killed Lin You; it was her who killed Lin You! You must avenge Lin You!"
"Lin You—revenge—I will take revenge!"
I didn't know where my courage and strength came from. Grabbing a stone nearby, I hurled it at the monster. It recoiled in pain, but I pressed on relentlessly. Finally, I found a wooden stick and charged at the creature without hesitation.
"Monster! I will kill you! Give me back my Xiao You! Give her back!"
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