Liao Ran looked at the blueberry jam cake he was holding, wondering if Bai Ji would like this flavor.
Pushing open the front door, the living room was pitch black. All the curtains were drawn tight, blocking out every trace of light and making it almost impossible to see his hand in front of his face. Already familiar with the layout, he found the switch and turned on the ceiling lamp.
The atmosphere was unusually quiet. He probed cautiously, “Bai Ji, are you here?”
From the bedroom to the study, and then to the kitchen where he placed the cake in the refrigerator, there was still no response.
Returning to the living room, Liao Ran suddenly felt as though shadows were flitting before his eyes, something lingering that he could not shake off.
Furthermore, a faint, incessant buzzing echoed in his ears.
Perhaps it was because he hadn’t interacted with anyone for a long time, and the two mother-and-son surnamed Ma were the type to talk endlessly and noisily. Hearing too much at once had left him mentally exhausted.
Liao Ran heated a cup of milk and sat on the sofa to wait for Bai Ji.
He was used to waiting for that person like this, as if it were the only thing he had to do in life. Without seeing Bai Ji’s face, Liao Ran would feel as though thousands of small insects were tearing at his heart, causing an unbearable, numb itch. If separated for too long without any contact, his heart would even feel a sharp pain. He thought this must be what a materialized emotion felt like.
Just like right now, Liao Ran missed him intensely, and in the reflection of the milk, he saw his cold, pale, and fierce face.
Except that a mole had appeared at the corner of that face’s eye, slowly emerging. One by one, dense little black dots covered the rim of the cup in the blink of an eye.
Startled, Liao Ran placed the cup on the coffee table and stood up. The buzzing seemed even clearer. He slowly raised his head to see that the surface of the ceiling lamp was already covered with black flying insects, swirling like a storm and converging into a black mist that lingered on the ceiling.
Intending to retreat into the bedroom, Liao Ran suddenly noticed that the usually tightly closed laboratory door was ajar, and those black insects were continuously seeping out from the gap.
Liao Ran was no naive rabbit; this bizarre phenomenon stimulated his desire to explore. The more extreme the situation, the more sober he became, and his mindset grew steady.
Approaching step by step, he held his breath and slowly pushed open the laboratory door.
Ranks of display racks came into view, showcasing transparent constant-temperature boxes with all their lids open, as if done intentionally by someone. The black insects flew about randomly like headless flies. Shielding his eyes with his hand, he could barely see. At the very back of the dim room was an operating table. Liao Ran’s attention was drawn to countless culture dishes and a variety of nutrient solution bottles placed on the side.
In the corner of his peripheral vision was a cluster of black Qi. Liao Ran paid it no mind, focusing instead on one of the culture dishes which held a black insect, half of its body already melted into black liquid and unable to move.
Suddenly, something gripped his ankle. Looking down, the black hand formed a stark contrast with his fair skin.
Liao Ran struggled desperately to shake it off, and after running just a few steps, he suddenly realized that the person’s fingernails looked vaguely familiar.
A memory flashed back: on one previous occasion, he had noticed Bai Ji’s fingernails were black, and Bai Ji had explained that it was an aesthetic quirk of his.
Could he be…? [Note: Ellipses retained per instructions]
Liao Ran walked closer to investigate. That cluster in the corner was not black mist at all, but a person completely swallowed by insects, without even a sliver of skin exposed.
He picked up an extra-long test tube, intending to brush the insects aside and rescue the person.
Who would have thought it would pass right through the black mist? The insects dodged, causing missing parts of the body. Could a person still live like this?
“Bai Ji, this isn’t you, right?”
Though his lips refused to believe it, Liao Ran still didn’t give up. He remembered the phototropism of the insects in the living room, which meant they were sensitive to light.
He found an infrared instrument in the toolbox. Fearing it might damage the person’s body, he decided to test it starting from the soles of the feet.
The cluster of black mist illuminated by the red light indeed slowly dissipated, gradually revealing the color of skin.
A living person appeared under the infrared scan. Reaching the head, it was confirmed to be Bai Ji’s face.
His body was stiff, his eyes closed tightly, and he seemed to have stopped breathing.
In a panic, Liao Ran hoisted the man onto his shoulder. Fortunately, Bai Ji had previously taught him how to drive, and he quickly rushed to the island’s only private clinic.
Dr. Hua Tong was awakened in the middle of the night by the knocking and was extremely impatient: “So late, are you calling back souls? If the person is about to die, it’s no use finding me; if the person has already breathed their last, bury them directly and definitely don’t look for me.”
Yawning, he opened the door. The moment he saw the face of the person on Liao Ran’s shoulder, his eyes widened and he became full of energy: “Come in quickly.”
Liao Ran waited anxiously outside the emergency room door until Dr. Hua Tong walked out with a gloomy face and shook his head at him: “Sorry, I’ve done my best. Condolences, go in and send him off on his final journey.”
Liao Ran was dazed. He hadn’t learned enough situational dialogue yet: “What do you mean?”
Dr. Hua Tong patted his arm in comfort: “He’s dead. You can understand it as Bai Ji having gone to a very distant place where you’ll never see him again.”
Like a soul detached from its body, Liao Ran walked over to the white hospital bed.
Dr. Hua Tong leaned against the door frame watching him, neither crying nor speaking.
“No obvious external injuries, liver temperature around 35 degrees Celsius. Judging from the livor mortis in the blood sedimentation, the time of death is no more than three hours. You’re really dead.”
Even after confirming it with his own eyes, Liao Ran was still unwilling to believe or accept this fact.
“Bai Ji, you cannot die. Get up. You took everything away from me.” The person who had been acting unusually calm suddenly grabbed the corpse’s collar fiercely: “Get up! Send me back. I have nothing left, and my world is only you.”
As he spoke, Liao Ran slid down helplessly to the side of the bed.
Dr. Hua Tong couldn’t bear to watch and turned around, presenting his back to the collapsed figure.
Liao Ran hugged his knees helplessly, curling into a ball, and muttered unceasingly: “Bad guy.”
“You figured it out.” In the silent emergency room, a familiar male voice sounded above his head.
Dr. Hua Tong couldn’t help the corners of his mouth from curling upward as he walked back to his bedroom to escape the right-and-wrong.
Liao Ran slowly stood up, his surprise outweighing his joy.
Although he didn’t know why, regarding the examination of the corpse, he felt he couldn’t be wrong.
Bai Ji took the initiative to hold his hand first.
Liao Ran’s body shivered slightly, because the hand that had just been cold and stiff was actually warmer than his own.
“From what time did you realize that I kidnapped you?”
Liao Ran held back, indulging in his body temperature: “Your lying skills are too poor. I couldn’t ignore it even if I wanted to. This place is isolated from the world, and neither of us has our primary jobs on the island. If I were really recovering from an illness, where are the medical records and prescription drugs? Whenever I raised questions, you would always act like a startled bird, your expression turning serious instantly, answering with pre-prepared excuses. Word for word, they were almost identical every time. Aside from being fabricated, I couldn’t think of a second possibility, being so rigorous yet so unnatural.”
The second Gu worm wasn’t even four months old, and even basic survival skills had to start from zero. In this short span of time, Liao Ran had once again traced out the correct answer from a blank sheet of paper.
That he was so hard to fool truly exceeded Bai Ji’s expectations.
Yet, there was one thing in this world that could not be calculated.
“I died. Why didn’t you take the opportunity to sneak away?” Bai Ji wanted that answer.
“I don’t know.” At a loss, Liao Ran lowered his head to avoid his gaze.
“Then think about it now. Look at me.”
Bai Ji cupped his emaciated cheeks, forcing him to face him directly.
With nowhere to hide, Liao Ran’s lips parted slightly, soft and tender like jelly, exuding a fresh and sweet fragrance.
Bai Ji pressed his forehead against his, closed his eyes, took a deep breath, and swallowed: “What am I going to do right now? Do you know?”
Liao Ran wanted to deny it in his heart, but his body surrendered instead and nodded.
Bai Ji still didn’t intend to leave him any ambiguous leeway. He lifted Liao Ran’s leg, making him sit squarely in his lap, and almost biting his earlobe, his voice deep and mixed with sand: “I’m going to kiss you.”
Liao Ran shrank his neck. Clearly, much more intimate things had already been done, but at this moment his cheeks were flushed crimson; his embrace was like a steaming furnace, making it too hot to breathe.
Bai Ji used a hand to prop up his chin: “Why do I treat you this way? Tell me the reason. You know.”
His ignorant eyes were guided step by step into being veiled with desire, peeling away layers of petals to expose the secret, shy secret hidden in his heart: “You like me.”
Satisfied, Bai Ji bit his lips, sucking insatiably. Supporting the back of his head, he deepened the kiss.
Liao Ran’s hands, which had originally been clenched into fists, slowly loosened, and before his consciousness became chaotic, he wrapped his arms around Bai Ji’s waist, clumsily responding to his plunder and thrusts within his mouth.
Liao Ran slowly closed his eyes, and the black mist slithered from his skin, being ferried back into Bai Ji’s body.
Watching the small white rabbit being eaten up, Dr. Hua Tong turned off the emergency room monitor screen.
“Bai Ji, what kind of heinous things are you actually planning to do?”
At the break of dawn, the morning glow tore open a crack, and bright light spilled down from the edge of the sky, scattering the night.
Looking refreshed and light-footed, Bai Ji went to get the car.
At the entrance, Dr. Hua Tong called out to Liao Ran: “Bai Ji is a good person, but don’t believe his words.”
Liao Ran was silent for a moment, then raised an eyebrow: “Isn’t what you’re saying quite contradictory?”
“There are many things you don’t understand. He used to be a good person, but now he’s terrifying.” Dr. Hua Tong seemed to have a lot to say, but was interrupted by Bai Ji’s call.
Liao Ran nodded in acknowledgment and turned to leave.
The car drove toward the apartment, but suddenly slammed on the brakes, stopping at a fork in the road five hundred meters away from home.
“What’s wrong? Do you want me to drive?” Liao Ran thought he was uncomfortable somewhere again.
Bai Ji tightened his grip on the steering wheel: “There are mice in the house, and quite a few of them.”
“Ah? Then what should we do?” Reminded of the flying insects filling the house, Liao Ran felt uncomfortable all over at the thought of mice.
“We can’t live there anymore. I’ll take you somewhere, okay?” Bai Ji stroked his head, his fingers running through his hair.
Every time he did this, it meant they were going to do something intimate.
Liao Ran glanced at the surroundings. Although there was no one around, they couldn’t do it outside either: “Anywhere is fine. Let’s wait until we get there.”
Leaning over, Bai Ji pecked his pink, tender cheek and smiled faintly: “I wouldn’t dare touch you in that place. I’m afraid someone would fight me to the death.”
Not wanting to experience the feeling of losing this person again, Liao Ran felt his heart split into pieces, hollow and aching with a sharp pang: “If it’s that dangerous, then let’s not go.”
“I’m sending you home. Don’t you want to?” Bai Ji started the car again.
Sitting in the passenger seat, Liao Ran saw past memories reflected on the speeding car window, all concerning his family, his mother’s passing, and his father’s affectionate appearance. Scene by scene, the memories poured in like a rushing river.
He remembered more people and events, everything except Fu Chong.