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墨書 Inktalez
Chapter 59: Sleepwalking
There really wasn't much in the room.
Hard walls, a narrow window that could barely fit half a body, and a wardrobe. I even checked under the bed thoroughly—nothing, just nothing.
Han Mi linked her arm with mine, her beautiful eyes scanning everywhere. Suddenly, she pointed at the highest part of the wall and exclaimed, "A gecko! Did a gecko lick her face?"
There were plenty of geckos around here, some quite large.
Geckos are cold-blooded creatures with a unique body structure. Their temperature matched Chi Xinrong's icy coolness, and they feed on mosquitoes and insects, easily startled. I thought to myself, even an absurdly large gecko couldn't possibly climb onto the bed to lick Chi Xinrong's face.
In the end, our search for the shadowy culprit yielded no results.
Everyone was tired. We still had to prepare for Yin Yin's withdrawal from the Yin Marriage, and now another problem arose.
How were the four of us supposed to sleep?
Han Mi refused to share a room with Chi Xinrong, and Chi Xinrong refused to be with Fatty. I certainly couldn't have both girls sleeping in the same room with me!
Chi Xinrong and Han Mi flanked me on either side. When I walked, they walked; when I stopped, they stopped.
Fatty on one side was so angry his mouth looked like it could hang a soy sauce bottle.
"Brother Qi, I can't take it anymore! We can't keep sleeping in separate rooms; I want to switch to a bigger one."
Ma Wu Funeral Home looked simple from the outside, just a storefront, but it widened as you walked inside.
Aside from the partition where the chubby shopkeeper stood guard, there was a kitchen, a bathroom, a shower room, and a storage room. The dark room was not currently on display; inside lay my grandfather's coffin along with him. The rest consisted of my bedroom and the large room left behind by my grandfather.
"Perfect timing. You go to grandfather's room; I'll go with you. Those two..."
I was just thinking about how they were still in my room when Chi Xinrong jumped up like a cat whose tail had been stepped on, glaring at Han Mi with disdain. "I don't want to be with her."
Seeing this, the chubby shopkeeper grinned and chimed in, "No worries, I'll stick with Rongrong."
Chi Xinrong shot him a glare and pouted, stepping closer to me and tightly gripping my other arm. "Who’s going with you? I don’t care; if Ma Qi is there, I’m there."
Han Mi, frustrated, bit her silver teeth and stomped her foot while reaching out to pull Chi Xinrong away.
"Get off!" Chi Xinrong snapped back, yet her grip on me remained unyielding.
Seeing them about to start another argument made my head spin. Sigh! This was really troublesome.
However, they both seemed to heed my arrangements. Plus, I was aware of an invisible presence in the room that Chi Xinrong mentioned; otherwise, how could it have suddenly appeared to lick her face? So new plans were set in motion.
Although the chubby shopkeeper had his reservations about my arrangements, he could only remain silent under Chi Xinrong's intimidation.
It was midnight—12:00 AM.
A red moon appeared in the first half of the night, while the second half was shrouded in an eerie darkness where one couldn't see their hand in front of their face.
The wind picked up, and I heard something crack, as if it had broken, yet it continued to make a strange creaking sound. I couldn't recall any plants in the house that could produce such noises, so where was this sound coming from?
Tonight felt a bit special. I had no intention of taking advantage of the situation; both of them willingly wanted to be with me. So here we were, two girls and one guy squeezed onto a bed. But don't get the wrong idea; I was there to protect them, not to enact some grand scheme of procreation as you might think. Besides, I, Ma Qi, valued my virtue and wasn't the kind of person to throw away my dignity and morals so easily.
With a two-meter-wide bed, it was clear that there was hardly any space to move around. I couldn't shift or break any rules; one girl on each side smelled delightful, yet they were like hot potatoes—too risky to touch.
Han Mi winked at me from under the covers, her bright eyes sparkling with tenderness. Just as I was about to reach out, Chi Xinrong behind me cleared her throat softly. I quickly withdrew my hand, dispelling the impure thoughts that had momentarily crossed my mind.
So there I lay, trapped between two girls, unable to move even an inch, enduring the situation with remarkable patience like a zombie.
The wind seemed to grow stronger, causing the window frame to rattle with a loud bang. It started to drizzle outside!
After a while, my eyes could no longer resist the heavy drowsiness that enveloped me, and before I knew it, I had fallen asleep.
As my eyes closed, visions flooded my mind—white flowers, Black Veil Portraits, and corpses lying in coffins. Then I found myself directing the Eight Great Warriors to lift the coffin, followed by the sound of dirt being shoveled over it—just like burying the dead.
Gradually, I felt a tightness in my chest, as if I were suffocating under something heavy. It felt as though a cold and weighty presence was pressing down on me. My first instinct was that I was pinned beneath a corpse.
I pushed with all my strength but couldn’t budge it. Then I felt the corpse's eyes open; its pale face twisted into a sinister smile just inches away from mine. If it sank down even slightly closer, our faces would be pressed together. I screamed and flailed my arms desperately trying to push it away.
Amidst the chaos, frantic shouts reached my ears: "Ma Qi! Ma Qi! Wake up!"
I opened my eyes in shock.
The face before me wasn’t particularly pleasant but also not entirely unlikable. It felt surreal—like something out of a dream completely disconnected from reality. In surprise, I blurted out, “You… what are you doing here?” She raised an eyebrow as if pondering something. I lifted my hand and said, “Wait a minute; let me think.” Suddenly recalling something, I smiled sheepishly and asked, “Why aren’t you sleeping?”
Chi Xinrong pointed to the empty side of the bed. "She's gone." Damn, it was true; Han Mi's spot was empty, and the bed felt so much bigger without the three of us crammed together.
"Why didn't you say anything earlier?" I complained out of nowhere, quickly getting up and jumping to the floor, rushing outside only to realize I was barefoot. Chi Xinrong, amused yet helpless, handed me a pair of slippers. I took them and tossed them on the ground before slipping them on, trying to suppress a laugh from her. I wasn't in the mood for jokes; finding Han Mi was my priority.
After a few steps, I felt something was off. What was Chi Xinrong laughing about? Han Mi couldn't be in the bathroom; that mischievous girl wouldn't deliberately scare me by pretending to be missing, would she? With that thought in mind, I headed straight for the bathroom. Standing there, I ran my fingers through my hair and struck a cool pose before lowering my voice at the door. "Mi, are you in there?" I did this just to get back at Chi Xinrong, showing her that messing with me wasn't as fun as she thought.
"She's not in there," Chi Xinrong replied, arriving a beat late and taking Han Mi's place in answering me. She leaned against the wall with a playful tilt of her head, wearing a half-smile. "You think you can look that cool while searching for someone?"
That girl was deliberately teasing me. I quickly straightened up and walked into the bathroom, throwing her a retort: "Who goes into the bathroom to look for someone?"
But once inside, I found myself unable to go.
Han Mi wasn't in the bathroom—where could she have gone? Surely she wouldn't sneak off home alone.
No way; I couldn't go either. That girl Chi Xinrong wouldn't be waiting outside the bathroom, would she?
I stepped out again and saw she wasn't there, letting out a sigh of relief.
Suddenly, a sharp scream made my nerves tense up as I dashed toward the source of the sound.
At the same time, Fatty, who had been sleeping like a log, rushed over too, asking frantically, "What's going on? Who screamed?"
I ran ahead while he followed closely behind until we reached the dark room. We both froze in place.
Chi Xinrong crouched on the ground, covering her mouth with both hands, her face filled with terror as she stared silently at Han Mi, who stood like a statue across from her in the dark room.
Han Mi gazed quietly at the door of the original dark room (now a wall), the cool, eerie night light spilling in like mercury from the window near the roof, casting a silvery glow over her. She seemed to be frozen in place, as if encased in mercury.
Just as I was about to approach her, she slowly raised her hand without looking at anyone, pointing directly at the original dark room's door. "He's inside," she said in a voice that sounded hauntingly like a dream. A chill ran through all of us at her words.
Chi Xinrong was promptly helped up by Pang. I was trying to get closer to Han Mi. She could only huddle next to Pang, her eyes fixed on the distance between me and Han Mi, our hearts collectively suspended in fear.
I heard Chi Xinrong whispering to Pang, "Is she sleepwalking?"
I knew Han Mi had depression, but whether she was sleepwalking was still unclear. However, why would she point at the original dark room's door? Had she seen something?
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