Chapter 64: Escaped
Du Sixian’s rejection reaction came quickly and left just as swiftly.
High fever, golden scales on her forehead, rapid breathing—every abnormality seemed to vanish in an instant, leaving An Qing a bit taken aback.
In her impression, the rejection reaction from spirit patterns had never disappeared in such a short amount of time.
Over time, treating rejection reactions had always been a lengthy process.
Seeing Du Sixian wake up with a faint expression, An Qing hurriedly approached her with a concerned look and asked, “How do you feel?”
“I…” Du Sixian looked at An Qing blankly, sat up in bed, rubbed her temples, and after pondering for a few seconds said, “My head feels a bit dizzy…”
As she spoke halfway, she suddenly remembered the voice that had called her awake from a distant time and space while she was in a stupor, paused for a few seconds, then shook her head.
“Other than that, I don’t feel anything special.”
“Is that so? That’s good.” An Qing nodded thoughtfully, “Then you should rest here for a while.”
“Mm.”
An Qing left the office, turned off the lights. Du Sixian hazily responded and lay back down, staring at the ceiling in the darkness for a long time.
Recalling carefully, Du Sixian felt that the voice that had awakened her must have sounded like the one that guided her to the Siye Society last time.
But why would she do that? We have no familial ties or interests involved, Du Sixian thought.
That unknown, potentially harmful goodwill filled her with fear.
“Tap tap—!”
As Du Sixian was thinking, a faint sound of footsteps suddenly echoed in the pitch-black room, indicating someone had entered.
Looking in the direction of the sound, Du Sixian saw a girl.
She came bathed in silvery moonlight, like a white peony blooming under the night sky, radiating a soft glow.
Dressed in a short white skirt made of coarse fabric, adorned with strange patterns at the edges, the thin garment clung to her body, accentuating her perfect figure. Beneath the hem, a pair of long legs were bare, with a set of bronze bells dangling from her ankles, softly clinking and producing a pleasant sound.
Her face, as clear as beautiful jade, contrasted with her slightly upturned red lips. Her long black hair was meticulously pinned up, held in place by a bone hairpin.
The girl appeared as if she had crossed over from a distant time and space, her ethereal beauty hiding an edge of wildness.
Du Sixian thought there was a saying that rings true—there are no perfect people in this world.
She once shamelessly believed herself to be at least eighty percent perfect.
But after seeing the girl before her, she suddenly felt that if no perfect people exist, then this girl before her must certainly not be human!
If she isn’t human…
How did she sneak into the Siye Society without anyone noticing?
Thinking deeply, Du Sixian felt a chill in her palms.
Just as Du Sixian was quietly observing the girl, the girl seemed completely oblivious to her presence, looking around in confusion and mumbling to herself.
“That’s strange, I could clearly sense his aura, why did it just disappear?”
“Excuse me…”
Upon hearing Du Sixian’s voice, the girl paused for a moment, then patted her chest, saying, “There’s someone here, you scared me.”
Du Sixian twitched her mouth, “…… my presence is that weak?”
“Since there’s someone, then I might as well ask…” The girl hesitated, then asked Du Sixian, “Did you see a guy just now? I don’t know how tall he is, or what he looks like, but he should be about my age.”
Du Sixian, “???”
“There should be at least a billion guys like that in Z Country. How would I find him?”
“Is that so? That’s really unfortunate, I guess I’ll just go back and wait a bit longer!” The girl said, then climbed out the window, lightly pushing off the ground with her toes, accompanied by a rush of air, transforming into a streak of white light and vanishing into the horizon.
“This…” Du Sixian stared blankly at the window for a long time before muttering, “What was she here for? Should I tell An Qing that she came?”
…
That night, it was cool at Huacheng People’s Hospital.
Lu Xu couldn’t sleep, or rather, he shouldn’t sleep. As soon as he fell asleep, that bl**d-red lantern would draw closer, wanting to invade his body.
But eventually, he fell asleep after being brought to the hospital by Professor Ma and Luxianbei.
He slept for a long time, even longer than the total sleep he had gathered over the past week.
When he woke up, staring at the ceiling under the night sky, he fell into a daze, recalling his conversation with the doctor during the day, feeling a mix of emotions.
…
“Your test results are all normal. If there are no problems, you can be discharged after observing for one more day.” The doctor, sitting across from Lu Xu, held a thick stack of test results and smiled.
“This… this shouldn’t be! Doctor, could you please check again?” Lu Xu weakly asked, feeling as if he were on the brink of collapse, his throat dry and his eyelids heavy as if weighed down by lead.
The doctor looked at Lu Xu with a strange expression, “There is really no problem with your body. You shouldn’t worry too much.”
“Alright, please rest well then? I’ll be leaving now.”
Watching the doctor get up, Lu Xu forced his weak body to shout, “Doctor!”
The doctor stopped, turned back, and looked at Lu Xu with confusion.
“I really feel myself getting weaker. I know the reason. The red lantern I mentioned to you in my dreams, it… it’s getting closer to me! If this continues, I will d*e—please, help me!”
“…”
After a few seconds of stunned silence, the doctor shook his head with a bitter smile and left the ward.
The room fell quiet, and Lu Xu sat in bed, a fierce look gradually appearing in his eyes.
He felt that no one could help him anymore—the doctor couldn’t, Professor Ma couldn’t, and even Luxianbei could only delay the coming of d*ath; he could only rely on himself now.
Just like the old man he encountered in his dreams.
Since that old man could escape, why couldn’t he?
…
In a haze, Lu Xu felt a wind brushing against his face, waking him from the cold.
Rubbing his aching head, he sat up in shock, realizing he was sleeping in the dormitory.
Everything around was pitch black, as if darkness consumed all light, everything in the dorm was merely a vague outline.
No bl**d lantern, no strange desolate village; the warmth of the bed against his back, the familiar scent of sweat in the boys’ dormitory—the sight before him felt all too real.
For a brief moment, Lu Xu had the illusion that everything he had recently experienced was simply a bizarre dream.
As he was thinking, a sudden gust of wind blew in from the window, pulling at the curtain’s hook with a “swish.”
He grit his teeth, feeling around in the dark, then picked up a chair and walked towards the window.
When he reached the window, one hand grabbed the corner of the curtain while the other held the chair, ready to swing it at any moment. He took a deep breath and with a “whoosh,” pulled the curtain open.
Outside the window was empty, shrouded in thick fog, the entire campus reduced to a murky outline.
“Gulp—!”
Lu Xu swallowed hard, closed the slightly open window, tightened the curtains, and then used the chair to secure the bottom of the curtain.
Laying back down in bed, drowsiness began to come over him.
In the dark, even the slightest sound seemed amplified, and he once again heard faint rustling.
Something was tugging at the curtains, and even the chair holding the curtains began to shake, producing a series of grating sounds as the metal chair legs scraped against the tiled floor.
Lu Xu’s drowsiness vanished in an instant as he sat up abruptly, looking towards the balcony.
A faint crimson glow seeped in through the window, piercing through the deep blue curtains, enhancing its eerie color.
The corner of the curtain lifted slightly, swayed by the cold wind.
The commotion from the chair grew louder, occasionally lifting a corner, teetering on the brink of falling, yet somehow never tipping over, as if an invisible person were sitting on it, rocking back and forth.
“Creak—creak—creak—!”
A chilling breeze brushed over Lu Xu, and he felt his whole body freeze in place, his rapid heartbeat giving him a feeling of suffocation.
He was terrified, gripping the blanket tightly, not daring to move, afraid that the invisible person on the chair would suddenly reveal themselves and rush at him.
The torturous scraping sound continued for an unknown amount of time until the wind suddenly stopped, and the slightly lifted chair leg thudded down on the floor with a “thud,” plunging the entire dorm into silence.
With no wind, the chair suddenly moved again, as though being pulled by something, scraping across the floor toward the center of the dorm with a screeching noise.
The chair was empty, but Lu Xu felt as if it were occupied by an invisible figure, quietly watching him from the darkness, wearing a strange smile.
“Whoosh—!”
Suddenly, the curtain on the balcony was pulled aside, a ball of red light floating from afar.
The bl**d-red lantern lingered outside the window like a sinister crimson eye.
In that instant, the last vestige of his safety was completely eroded; his hair stood on end, and his body trembled as his teeth uncontrollably clattered against each other.
The bl**d lantern drew closer, casting a bl**d-red reflection on his cheek, as if covered by a layer of red gauze.
His pupils suddenly constricted, his eyeballs began to roll wildly in their sockets, his body twitched uncontrollably, and his teeth clashed together.
His breathing became rapid yet shallow, as if the breath circulated in his mouth instead of entering his lungs, letting out moans reminiscent of someone on the brink of d*ath.
Moments later, he closed his eyes, and all abnormal reactions in his body ceased as he fell asleep.
…
The hospital at night seemed to harbor something eerie.
Coupled with Lu Xu’s ramblings during the day, the other patients in the shared room always felt a lingering sense of unease.
“d*mn it, encountering such a guy makes me nervous even going to the toilet at night.”
“Tomorrow, I’m changing rooms! I’m a patient too, you know, I need rest!”
He came from the bathroom at the end of the hallway, adjusting his clothes and grumbling to himself. Just as he pushed the door open, he shivered, feeling the urge to urinate again despite having just gone.
He shouted in panic, “Who’s there?!”
A second or two later, Lu Xu, sitting at the edge of his bed, slowly turned around, a strange smile on his face, and ominously said, “Don’t be afraid. It’s me, I’ve… escaped.”
As he spoke, his hand touched something, which fell to the ground with a light “clink.”
The other patient looked over and saw two charred blocks of wood…
