"Yu Ning… it hurts."
A man suddenly appearing outside the window would startle anyone.
Yu Ning stared at him in a daze, her temples and heart pounding in sync at high speed, her brain like a crashed processor, able only to render the single frame captured by her retinas—or perhaps, like her, he too was "frozen" yet still managing to smile.
The venetian blinds sliced the man's face into horizontal strips, but it wasn't hard to tell he was extremely handsome. He had a head of brilliant golden curls, fair skin, and eyes of azure blue. The corners of his lips curved up slightly, like a foreign movie star on a poster.
In his arms, he held a bouquet—a bouquet of vivid, dewy flowers.
Yu Ning stared at him without blinking until her eyes grew dry and sore, then she gave a gentle blink—
"Woof! Woof!"
Yu Wan's barking came from her feet, accompanied by a slight tugging sensation.
Yu Ning opened her eyes and saw her hand about to touch the window door handle. Her fingertips instinctively recoiled, curling back into her palm.
She staggered back two steps in a daze, a taut thread seeming to vibrate inside her skull. The pain made her frown as she pressed her temples. When she came back to her senses, her gaze drifted from the dog at her feet back to the window—but there was no one there, as if the man she'd just seen had been a figment of her imagination.
Ripples of unease stirred in Yu Ning's heart. She quickly pulled the venetian blinds shut as tightly as possible. Terrified, she nonetheless stomped her foot and couldn't help cursing: "What kind of evil thing was that?!"
She didn't dare linger in the kitchen. Grabbing the dog food, she led Yu Wan away from that inauspicious spot. As for dinner, she just grabbed an egg and some instant noodles, cooking them in an electric pot.
To be fair, the man wasn't bad-looking—it was just that the place he'd appeared was too eerie, and his smile was too eerie.
What did he resemble?
Yu Ning couldn't quite say, but she vaguely felt… he looked a lot like the way Pei Chongqing smiled.
She was startled by her own thought. How strange—how could she compare her own husband to that kind of eerie man?
That night, Yu Ning climbed into bed early as usual, cocooned in her blankets. Unable to sleep alone, she also brought Yu Wan up and let him sleep on her right side.
The heavy curtains blocked the windowsill, but from the thin line of blood-red light seeping beneath the fabric, it wasn't hard to tell that the Blood Moon still hung in the sky tonight.
This world had no way to communicate by phone, so Yu Ning could only clutch the jade stone in her hand tightly, praying for Pei Chongqing to return soon.
Perhaps due to the high tension of the day, Yu Ning curled up on her side and closed her eyes, and before long, she drifted into a light sleep. But her rest was far from peaceful. She dreamed of a giant flower bud on the verge of blooming, its layered petals peeling outward, spilling bright red blood that nearly drowned her.
Her breathing grew so constricted she felt she might suffocate, and then she felt her body being lifted by something. Hands, or something else—she couldn't see, only felt a sticky, unpleasant sensation, like… like menstrual blood.
Yu Ning's eyes flew open, her gaze unfocused as she stared at the vase on the nightstand.
Looking at the vase, which resembled something out of an oil painting, a fleeting sense of wrongness passed through her heart. But there was no time to dwell on it—she only wanted to check if she was really bleeding.
Without getting out of bed, she threw back the covers and her skirt, pulling down both sides of her underwear to look.
The faint light from the bedside cast her legs in a soft, fair glow, and stained the spot of blood on her white cotton underwear a vivid crimson.
Yu Ning pressed her lips together, vaguely recalling that her last period had been just over ten days ago—it shouldn't come this soon.
Rubbing her aching lower abdomen, she got out of bed and went to the bathroom to rummage through the cabinet for tampons. The box that should have been stocked with sanitary products was completely empty, not even a single panty liner. Yu Ning took a deep breath and had no choice but to head to the first-floor bathroom instead.
Even in the dead of night, the house remained brightly lit. Yu Ning walked past the spiral staircase and down the long corridor, her plain white dress bathed in warm light. Her heart should have felt just as bright, not so panicked, yet as she arrived at the bathroom alone, an inexplicable unease crept over her.
She felt she shouldn't be alone.
Thank goodness, the first-floor bathroom still had plenty of tampons. Yu Ning tore open a pack, sat on the toilet to insert one, and was just standing up to smooth her skirt down when she heard an unmistakably clear cry—
"Help me!"
The plea for help was accompanied by the sound of doors and windows being pounded violently, so intense that Yu Ning could feel the vibrations even inside the bathroom.
She stood frozen in place, wondering if she was hallucinating from being half-asleep during her midnight trip. But then, another series of clear knocks on the window and cries for help told her this was no illusion.
Someone had found their way to her, begging for her help.
The moment this thought surfaced, Yu Ning snapped to alertness.
She wanted to open the window to see what was going on, but the events of the daytime made her wary. Yet if it truly was a living person out there, and she refused to respond, it would be no different from letting them die.
As she wrestled with the dilemma, Yu Ning had already left the bathroom and quietly retrieved a baseball bat hidden in the shoe cabinet by the entrance.
She followed the sound, guessing the person was knocking at the front door. But as she drew closer, the cries for help abruptly stopped.
Flanking the pitch-black front door were two vertical glass panels that would have allowed her to peek outside, except she had sealed them tightly with newspaper and tape. As for the half-circle window above the door, she couldn't reach it at all, so she'd left it alone.
The Blood Moon soaked the night sky, spilling a crimson mist over everything. Yu Ning gripped the baseball bat tightly, tilting her head up to see that red glow. If whoever stood outside wasn't human, she might be able to see them through that window…
"Save me… Yu Ning."
The plea from outside rang out again, fainter than before.
Yu Ning's heart suddenly clenched, thumping hard yet restrained. She lifted her chin, taut and rigid, her voice trembling: "Wh-who are you, what kind of person?"
How did they know her name?
The first half of her question slid smoothly past her cerebral cortex and slipped out. Realizing she'd voluntarily exposed herself, Yu Ning wished she could slap her own mouth.
Just as regret washed over her, she heard the person's low, ethereal reply:
"Your husband."
Wh-wh-what? Since when did she have a second one?
Yu Ning was bewildered, then heard again—
"Let me find you."
"…"
What a conveniently ambiguous phrasing.
Yu Ning took a deep breath, frowning warily: "How do I believe what you're saying is true?"
"You're a man, aren't you?" She identified the voice's timbre, slowly relaxing her brow, and murmured softly: "My husband doesn't let strange men come to my house casually."
Silence fell outside the door for a few seconds, and she could faintly hear a chuckle escape.
With that laugh, layers upon layers of curtains were drawn over Yu Ning's vision—sight gone entirely, breathing turning labored. When she opened her eyes again, she gasped for air, only to find herself still in bed, with that vase of delicate, blooming flowers beside her.
Yu Ning sat up in a daze, wondering if what had just happened was a dream. But she couldn't recall anything clearly—only a damp warmth between her legs. Lifting her skirt to look, she caught a glimpse of bright red on her cotton pants. She froze for a few seconds, then got out of bed and made her way to the master bathroom.
Standing at the door, Yu Ning was about to push it open when she vaguely remembered that the sanitary pads inside seemed to have run out.
She couldn't be certain—it was just an impression. She should have checked first before looking for another bathroom, but she didn't. Instead, thinking of efficiency, she went straight downstairs.
Arriving at the guest bathroom on the first floor, Yu Ning sat on the toilet with her legs apart, about to insert a sanitary pad, when she felt a tampon hanging down.
She gently pulled it out and looked down—it was clearly a sanitary tampon.
Yu Ning was stunned. She didn't remember inserting one before bed. Besides… if she had taken precautions, why would there be bloodstains at the bottom of her cotton pants?
Before she could think further, she heard a violent pounding on the door—
"Help me! Yu Ning!"
That heart-wrenching cry was especially terrifying in the dead of night. Yu Ning, washing her hands at the sink, was so startled she forgot to turn off the faucet.
Her hands were rinsed by the continuous flow of water until they wrinkled, and only when she didn't hear a second cry did she press the handle and stop the water.
A hallucination?
It had to be.
Yu Ning thought so, but the déjà vu she was experiencing made her heart pound with unease.
She wanted to go upstairs, but then that cry for help pierced through her again like a sharp needle—threading back and forth, sewn firmly and densely into her ears. It was hard to ignore even if she tried.
The more she listened, the more familiar it became, the closer it drew. Without realizing it, she had picked up the baseball bat hidden behind the shoe cabinet and arrived at the front entrance.
Her breathing fell in sync with the heartbeat thumping beneath her chest, each beat faster than the last, so urgent she could barely slow it down—especially when she heard the plea grow even clearer.
"Yu Ning, save me… help me… please…"
Yu Ning stared at the door lock in disbelief. The baseball bat clutched in her palm loosened along with her grip, sliding down through her sweaty hand.
"Your husband… he's gone, right?"
Similar words, coming from a voice she hadn't heard in a long time. Yu Ning swallowed softly, and a wave of heat stung the corners of her eyes.
The person outside the door choked up along with her. He lowered his voice and took the initiative to reveal himself: "Yu Ning, it's me… I'm Jiang Xian."
"I'm back. I really am back. It's so scary out here. Could you please open the door and let me stay for one night? I'm begging you."
He pleaded over and over, his voice accompanied by faint, ragged breaths, as if he might lose all sign of life at any moment.
The baseball bat slipped from her hand and clattered onto the tiled floor with a clanging sound. Sharp and jarring—but it couldn't stop Yu Ning from reaching for the door handle and turning the lock.
Her movement to open the door was urgent but not smooth, like peeling an onion with bare hands—layer after layer falling away, with a slight tearing and a pungent sting rushing to meet her.
With a click, the door swung outward.
Yu Ning blinked open her misty eyes, only to see a bright garden scene outside—not a blood-red night. And the man standing before her wore an unfamiliar smile on his face.
"Woof! Woof—!"
A dog's bark exploded sharply in her ears. Yu Ning's expression went distant. She blinked again and found herself in a kitchen under broad daylight, facing the half-open, empty venetian blinds.
A faint breeze brushed through the window crack against her half-damp palm. Yu Ning looked toward the window in bewildered shock, then back behind her and down at her feet. The faucet over the sink was still gushing water, and at her feet, Yu Wan had torn a large strip from the hem of her skirt.
Fragments of vague memories flashed through Yu Ning's mind—scattered like fallen petals, nothing she could clearly recall. She shivered, feeling the wind from the window prickling her scalp, and instinctively pulled the window shut.
With a click, the latch caught—and then she suddenly heard a man's voice.
"Yu Ning, it hurts."
Startled by someone calling her name, Yu Ning's heart seemed to stop. She spun around at once. Her soft waist pressed trembling against the counter edge, the hard surface digging into her bones and making her teeth ache.
But when she saw the man who had spoken, she forgot the pain entirely.
He was golden-haired and blue-eyed, with delicate features and deathly pale skin. He was soaking wet and filthy, with large patches of bloodstains across his waist and thighs.
Their eyes met. He lifted his lips into a smile at her, then repeated hoarsely: "Yu Ning, it hurts."
"Woof! Woof!"
Yu Wan, pinned to the floor by an invisible force, struggled desperately, whimpering and howling without cease.
Yu Ning snapped back to reality. She felt this man was a stranger, that he shouldn't be in her home—and yet… she also seemed to have seen him several times before, and she had indeed received him.
The barking continued to echo without end. Yu Ning moved her aching legs, first picking up Yu Wan from the floor and soothing her.
"Shh, stop barking. I'll scoop out the cooked rice for you," Yu Ning coaxed softly.
Freed, Yu Wan glared furiously at the golden-haired man, baring her fangs and letting out a low rumbling growl like a car engine starting, as a warning.
She was regretful, stricken with remorse—she had been so close to biting Yu Ning's skirt and stopping her from opening the window.
If this monster dared to attack Yu Ning, she would have to abandon her current skin-shell. A pity, but… He seemed to bear no ill intent toward Yu Ning for now.
Not only that, the golden-haired man ignored her warning entirely. His azure eyes were like glass beads glued in place, fixed steadily on the voluptuous woman, and he repeated for the third time: "Yu Ning, it hurts."
When Yu Ning didn't respond, he stepped forward directly—one step, then another—repeating himself without pause.
"Yu Ning, it hurts so much, so much."
"Save me, save me, save me, it hurts."
He drew closer and closer, until barely half an arm's length remained. Yu Ning leaned her upper body back, shrinking her neck as she replied: "I—I know. Go wait for me in the living room first…"
Hearing her voice, the smile at the corners of his lips deepened. He obediently stepped back, turned, and began to leave.
"Wait!"
Yu Ning caught the stench of blood on him and corrected herself tactfully: "Go to the bathroom instead. I'll help you wipe down."
Yu Wan looked up at the woman above her in disbelief, wanting to bark but stopping herself. Her gaze suddenly went vacant, shifting from the scene before her to another—a deep, desolate, ruined city.
Yu Wan realized that Pei Chongqing was on his way home, and drawing closer by the moment.
The wounds couldn't touch water, but since Yu Ning didn't want him dirtying the house, she had no choice but to have him go to the bathroom.
It was strange.
Though she had some vague impression of this man entering her home, she had no idea what his name was, or where he came from. She only knew that he seemed to have been brought here by Pei Chongqing.
She even used the word "seemed."
Yu Ning took the family medical kit to the bathroom door, hesitated for a moment, then reached out and pushed it open.
She was somewhat distracted, until she looked up and saw the naked blond man in the mirror. Only then did she snap back to reality, flushing red as she hastily shut the door.
Yu Ning apologized repeatedly, realizing that his clothes were probably torn and unwearable, so she reminded him through the door: "…There's a bathrobe in there you can put on, but whatever you do, don't take a shower."
The person inside didn't respond for a long while, and she had no idea whether he had gotten dressed or not.
Yu Ning stood at the door for quite some time, with a dog at her feet circling endlessly, tugging at her already tattered hem.
Yu Ning gathered up the ragged skirt, gazing at the dog that seemed to be busying itself with something unknown. She wanted to scold it but couldn't bear to. She crouched down, trying to soothe its bristling black fur, wondering what on earth was wrong with it—it wouldn't even eat the food in its bowl.
The door beside her suddenly opened. Yu Ning looked up through the gap and saw the blond man wearing Pei Chongqing's bathrobe.
He was very tall, but slightly thinner and shorter than Pei Chongqing, so the robe hung loosely on him, revealing the expanse of bare skin where the lapels overlapped.
Yu Ning wasn't particularly sensitive to male nudity. Knowing he was injured and that she'd see it anyway when she bandaged him, she didn't pay it much mind.
She stood up and walked into the bathroom with him, closing the door behind her without noticing Yu Wan being shut out, growing even more frantic.
"Sit here."
Yu Ning had laid a towel over the chair in front of the vanity, directing him.
"Don't take your clothes off… just expose the wound."
Yu Ning crouched down to examine his bloody injuries. She was surprised by his resilience, yet vaguely felt that these wounds looked disturbingly familiar.
Had he come last night? Why hadn't she treated him then…
Yu Ning's mind was a bit scattered. Just as she was about to start bandaging, the door lock suddenly clicked and turned, but the bolt didn't twist back.
Unable to open the door, the man outside said in a gloomy voice, "Yu Ning, open the door."
Hearing the AI voice, Yu Ning froze, hardly believing her ears.
But when she looked over, she indeed saw a familiar tall figure standing before the glass door.