“Help!”
Xu Xia turned to run in terror, but a pale, slender hand suddenly reached out and grabbed her.
“Do you want to sing with me?”
The words were spoken slowly, one by one, the voice unusually hoarse and aged—it didn’t seem to come from the same throat as the singing.
“I won’t sing! I can’t! Don’t bother me!”
Xu Xia refused, crying, her whole body trembling with fear.
“If you don’t sing, you’ll die!”
The eerie, hoarse voice pierced Xu Xia’s eardrums, and she dared not refuse any longer.
“I’ll sing… I’ll sing…” She tried to open her mouth, mimicking the girl’s tone, whilst her hands fumbled to send a message to her flatmate.
[Help… me… singing]
Her trembling fingers couldn’t form a complete sentence.
But Xu Xia stared intently, hoping the message would go through.
The grey circle spun round and round several times before finally turning into a red exclamation mark. The message had failed to send. Xu Xia felt utterly hopeless. If only she’d known, she wouldn’t have come back. Even if she’d died in hospital, there would have been someone with her; at least she wouldn’t have been so terrified!
…………
“Ee-ya, ee-ya—”
Lu Mian, who’d just booked a doctor’s appointment and was about to go to sleep, was startled by the singing. She peered out from behind her bed curtain, listened intently for a moment, then decisively rolled over and got out of bed.
“Who on earth is so inconsiderate? Singing in the middle of the night is bad enough, but singing so terribly is just the worst!”
“T-terrible?!” Chen Jiaqi looked up in surprise. “I think it sounds lovely—much better than the singing from the dorm opposite.”
“Nice?!” Lu Mian’s eyes widened in astonishment. She hadn’t realised Chen Jiaqi had such unique taste—calling a voice that sounded like a ghost wailing ‘nice’! Still, Lu Mian didn’t argue; everyone’s entitled to their own opinion, after all. But she was still going to report it.
“Lu Mian, are you going out?!”
“Yes, that singing’s keeping me awake. I’m going to have a word with the supervisor, Auntie.” Lu Mian pulled open the door, ready to head out.
“We’re coming too!”
Chen Jiaqi and Wang Ying sprang into action, one on each side, grabbing Lu Mian’s arms and heading downstairs with her.
They were timid and didn’t dare stray too far from Lu Mian.
Lu Mian paid no heed to such details; she simply pulled the two of them along as they made their way downstairs, following the sound of the singing.
To Lu Mian’s ears, the singing was truly unbearably awful, so much so that she pinpointed the source in no time—though the person in that spot seemed terribly out of place.
There, crouched on the ground, was Xu Xia, singing through her tears, while beside her stood a girl in a blue dress, smiling.
All three of them wore identical expressions of puzzlement. Had she been dumped? Lost her money? Why was she crying so uncontrollably?
But hadn’t Xu Xia just sent a message in the group chat saying she was on her way back to the dorm? How had she ended up crying like this the very next moment?
Chen Jiaqi and Wang Ying looked down at their phones in disbelief, then looked back up at Xu Xia; the stark disconnect left them hesitating.
Lu Mian couldn’t be bothered with any of that—whether it was this girl or Xu Xia, they were both singing terribly!
Lu Mian went straight for the familiar face, slapping Xu Xia on the back. “What on earth are you doing? Howling like a banshee in the middle of the night! You’re disturbing everyone’s sleep!”
Xu Xia, her voice hoarse from singing, looked up. Through her tear-blurred eyes, she could just make out the figure before her—Lu Mian.
Lu Mian!
“Wow! Lu Mian!” Xu Xia threw herself at Lu Mian. “Save me! There’s a ghost!”
Xu Xia stopped singing, but the girl carried on, the curve of her smile never wavering, her lips never parting.
Lu Mian was taken aback for a couple of seconds—this person could ventriloquise?—but the next moment, she spoke with unwavering resolve: “Even if you can ventriloquise, you still shouldn’t be singing at night!”
The singing stopped. The curve of the girl’s smile drooped, transforming from a smile to a mournful expression in a matter of seconds.
Lu Mian was even more annoyed than she was. “You’ve got the nerve to sing and still think you’re in the right?! If you’ve got a problem with that, let’s go and see the supervisor.
The girl said nothing, her drooping lips sagging even further, making her look downright miserable.
Xu Xia stopped crying, wiped her tears and hid behind Lu Mian.
Chen Jiaqi and Wang Ying had also heard what Xu Xia had just shouted through her tears, and they too huddled behind Lu Mian to see how things would play out.
Seeing that the girl wasn’t speaking and was just sulking, Lu Mian—who wasn’t an unreasonable person—realised she’d achieved her aim and turned to leave.
The three hurried to follow her, but just as she turned, that hoarse, mocking voice rang out again.
Lu Mian turned her head. She was angry—truly furious. She’d been planning to go to bed at half past ten, yet it was nearly eleven and she still hadn’t even got into bed.
Lu Mian grabbed the girl’s hand and strode purposefully down the stairs towards the supervisor’s office.
“Auntie! She’s singing in the middle of the night and disturbing the neighbours!”
The girl stopped singing, her eyes fixed on the figure ahead with a venomous glare; her normally fair, delicate features had taken on a malevolent, eerie expression.
She’d brought this on herself. It had only intended to kill one person tonight.
Her pale, slender hands turned ashen; her nails grew long, and the unrestrained hand shot out, aiming to claw at Lu Mian’s throat.
Lu Mian seemed to have eyes in the back of her head; she spun round and seized the hand attempting the sneak attack. “You’re going to hit me?!”
How dare she?! Disturbing others’ rest and then trying to assault a classmate—it’s rare to find someone so despicable, isn’t it!
As a child, she’d been as strong as an ox, so her grandmother’d sent her to learn self-defence. Even at a young age, she’d beaten everyone in her class and had no equal. Hit her? Do you think you stand a chance?!
“What’s going on? What’s going on?”
The supervisor emerged from her office at the commotion, her gaze sweeping between the five of them.
“Supervisor, she’s been singing late at night, disturbing everyone’s sleep. When people told her to stop, she kept singing—and now she’s trying to hit me!” Lu Mian struck first with her complaint, her face flushed with anger.
“Is that really the case?” The matron looked at the group with a questioning gaze.
“That’s right, exactly,” Xu Xia and the other two nodded vigorously.
Xu Xia cleverly added, “She even insisted on dragging me into singing with her. When I refused, she blocked my way and wouldn’t let me leave.”
“Auntie, just listen—is this the sort of thing a normal person would do?” Lu Mian immediately chimed in.
“Student, that was very wrong of you. You shouldn’t be singing late at night and disturbing others, nor should you be blocking your classmates from returning to their dorms. What is your name? Which dorm are you in? I’m going to report this to your student counsellor.” The dorm supervisor’s gaze fell upon the girl.
With both hands restrained, the look of venom on the girl’s face grew ever more intense.
I’m so furious! So furious! Why can’t I just kill her!
In a fit of rage, the girl opened her mouth and lunged straight at Lu Mian, who was closest to her.
In an instant, a thick, foul stench hit Lu Mian in the face.
How on earth does anyone not brush their teeth!
Unable to bear the stench, Lu Mian slapped the girl across the face, sending her reeling.
The very next moment, she backed away a good distance, not forgetting to shift the blame: “Auntie, look, she started it! She tried to bite me—I was acting in self-defence!”
“You’re a terrible student! Daring to lay hands on a classmate right in front of me! You lot, go back first. I’ll deal with this disruptive student myself!”
The dorm supervisor pushed Lu Mian and the others aside, then called over a colleague and told Lu Mian to leave first.
Xu Xia and the other two, who had followed Lu Mian away in a daze, looked at her with admiration. She had actually subdued a ghost all by herself! Xu Xia felt even more regretful; why had she gone to the hospital? She should have stayed with Lu Mian the whole time—then perhaps she wouldn’t have been targeted by that blue-dressed ghost!
Eager to get back to sleep, Lu Mian walked at a brisk pace. There was still a short distance from the supervisor’s office to the foot of the dormitory block. The thin mist didn’t quite obscure her vision, but the path in the distance was still somewhat blurred. Being short-sighted, Lu Mian didn’t realise it until she felt herself kick something soft.
Lu Mian kicked it again. Why did it feel like a person?