"Ah!"
Yu Ning bolted upright, throwing the pillow directly away.
She was still shaken, and when a man's palm gently pressed her back, she flinched.
"Wife." Pei Chongqing sensed her trembling, carefully tracing her delicate features in the darkness, and lowered his head to ask through the Translator, "You, what's, wrong?"
Her husband held her from behind and gave her an Injection of Stabilizer, but when she caught a glimpse of the worm-like scars on his arm from the corner of her eye, her heart trembled again—
【Your husband is a monster, why do you keep deceiving yourself?】
The content of the text message viciously replayed in her mind.
Yu Ning looked at the pillow thrown on the floor, then at the bed, but didn't see the phone. Confusion rose in her eyes, and her rapid breathing gradually slowed.
Is… is it gone? Or was it her imagination.
Yu Ning swallowed her saliva, met the man's blazing gaze, her heart tightening for a moment, and timidly lied: "I think I just saw a bug."
Pei Chongqing seemed to believe her words and was about to get out of bed. Yu Ning quickly stopped him: "It's late at night, don't bother."
Pei Chongqing's gaze shifted from the pillow on the floor to her face.
Yu Ning's scalp tingled, and she raised her head to peck his lips, coaxing: "Let's sleep, okay."
The excuse was flimsy, but clearly the kiss worked.
Pei Chongqing's eyes curved, he tightened his embrace and lowered his head to kiss her back. Yu Ning endured the chill of disgust, fearfully submitting to him.
They were supposed to sleep separately, but after throwing the pillow and that kiss, Yu Ning found herself muddled and held by him as they lay down, forced to rest her head on his arm.
She resolved not to open her eyes again, to avoid being unable to sleep, but his warm, moist breathing at her ear was truly hard to ignore.
Yu Ning had never imagined that sleeping cheek-to-cheek with her own husband could be such an unbearable thing. She squeezed her eyes shut so tightly that her brows furrowed.
She had almost managed to toss the messy thoughts from her mind and lull herself to sleep when the man holding her grew restless, burying his head deep into her chest, occasionally sucking and kissing.
Yu Ning slept very restlessly that night, barely staying awake until dawn. Only when faint white light seeped through the curtains did she finally feel drowsy.
At three in the afternoon, Yu Ning sent the man clinging to her downstairs to cook, while she stayed in bed to clear her head. She glanced at the pillow on the floor, mustered her courage to get up, walked over in two or three steps, and lifted it—
No phone.
Not only was there nothing under the pillow, but also under the bed, under the coffee table, and in any place it could have been thrown—there was no phone anywhere.
Yu Ning's tense nerves relaxed, and she stripped the sheets and pillowcases to replace them with fresh ones. After finishing, she went to the bathroom to wash up. Just as she was about to cup a handful of clean water to splash her face, she heard a buzzing vibration again.
Yu Ning's heart skipped a beat. She wiped her eyes and saw, on the marble counter beside the sink, a phone sitting there prominently.
Exactly the same model as the one she'd seen yesterday.
She shuddered in terror, quickly stepped back, and stared at the still-vibrating phone in panic. Once it stopped ringing, she immediately wrapped it in a face towel and threw it into the sink.
With a splash, Yu Ning crouched down slowly against the wall, not in a hurry to leave the bathroom. She stayed inside for a while, thinking that the phone would probably dissolve in water and disappear soon. But when she looked back at the sink, the sound of an iPhone alarm rang out from inside.
Why was this different from the previous two times!
Yu Ning was dumbfounded. She quickly fished the phone out, intending to press and hold the power button to shut it down, but at that moment, another text message popped up—two messages visible without needing to unlock the screen.
[Stop avoiding me, I'm not going to hurt you…]
[Compared to me, you should be more worried about that monster by your side, right?]
The two sentences were like two nails, instantly pinning her in place, unable to move, even the saliva she swallowed felt stuck in her throat.
Yu Ning's mind was buzzing, and her fingers, as if possessed, released the power button. She wanted to swipe the screen and ask what on earth this thing was, why it kept haunting her like an unrelenting ghost.
But she was afraid—terrified, even.
Yu Ning switched it to silent mode and flipped it face-down on the vanity. Just then, Pei Chongqing's voice came from outside the door, calling her downstairs for dinner.
Yu Ning looked up, utterly lost, and gave a vague response. When she looked back at the vanity, the phone was nowhere to be seen.
Her palms went cold. She immediately stepped out of the bathroom and saw her tall husband, her heart filled with even more mixed emotions.
In the past, she would have told him everything, but this time, she didn't want to.
That phone still haunted her relentlessly. It would disappear, then reappear in all sorts of places and at all sorts of times.
Inside books, in cabinets, even in the refrigerator—Yu Ning had seen it so many times that she'd grown numb, and had even gradually figured out its pattern.
It seemed to appear only when Pei Chongqing wasn't around. As long as he was present, it would vanish.
Yu Ning wasn't sure. Out of the corner of her eye, she caught sight of the man's figure and immediately shut the refrigerator door.
Like running an experiment, she confirmed that Pei Chongqing was nearby but couldn't see this spot, then opened the door again to check where the phone had appeared. There was no trace of it there anymore—only frozen food.
Yu Ning felt something subtle. Based on the content of the messages and the timing of their appearance, even a fool could tell it was trying to sow discord—not very clever at all.
Perhaps it was because she had turned on silent mode, but every time the phone appeared afterward, it just lay there quietly, making no sound at all.
She had to admit, appearing so silently was actually somewhat endearing—not nearly as frightening…
Yu Ning took a deep breath and patted her face, thinking she must be losing her mind to believe that a supernatural phone appearing quietly was no big deal!
She didn't want to be scared out of her wits again when she was alone.
But how was she supposed to get rid of this thing? Draw talismans? Use a cross?
In this world overrun with monsters, this was the first time Yu Ning had encountered something so paranormal. What other surprises did this godforsaken place have in store that she didn't know about?
Yu Ning desperately wanted to go home, back to that normal world. She felt that if she stayed here any longer, she might go crazy one day.
When she'd lived here before, it had been so peaceful and secure. When exactly had things started to change?
Yu Ning couldn't figure it out. She couldn't even recall what she'd been doing last month. Her mind was like a blank sheet of paper—completely empty.
She had found talisman paper and a cross, stuffing them into her pockets. She wasn't sure if they'd work, but it was better than doing nothing. That was Yu Ning's thinking. The moment she turned around, the phone appeared again, lying blatantly on the desk in her study.
Yu Ning stood still, her eyes wide as she stared at the phone. This time, she wasn't startled—instead, she felt a faint irritation.
The slap to her face had come too quickly, making her frantic search for talismans and a cross look utterly foolish.
Yu Ning clicked her tongue, taking one step, then two, until she sat down at the desk, staring at the phone for a few seconds. She picked it up, about to dispose of it the same way as before, when the phone vibrated and a message popped up—
【How could those things possibly work?】
Yu Ning's hand twitched, nearly throwing the phone away. She was still terrified of this supernatural device, but that message effectively suppressed her cowardice.
Even a cornered rabbit will bite, let alone her. Yu Ning held the phone with both hands, unlocked it with determination, swiped open, tapped into the message page, and typed a string of text.
【Who are you? Why do you keep pestering me?】
Actually, judging from the messages it sent, it already knew her every move without needing her to ask. But sending a message was clearly more normal than shouting at the phone, so Yu Ning chose to do that.
There was only one number in the messages—encrypted with asterisks, with only "1" and "5" visible at the beginning and end. Yu Ning couldn't make heads or tails of it. Figuring she'd already touched it anyway, she decided to browse other places for clues.
Just as she was about to exit, the account sent her a new bubble: 【I'm here to tell you the truth.】
1*******5: 【Your husband is a monster. Can't you see it?】
The second message made her brow furrow. Yu Ning pressed her lips together, pretending not to see it, and exited to browse the home screen.
She tapped the photo album app first, but after two taps, it wouldn't open either.
Another pop-up appeared at the top: 【Can you respect my privacy?】
Yu Ning paused, her fingertip hovering in mid-air, feeling inexplicably embarrassed. She switched back and typed: 【But you keep harassing me.】
1*******5: 【I'm giving you a friendly warning.】
Yu Ning: 【I don't believe you.】
She pressed on: 【What exactly are you? If you don't tell me, I'll hand this over to my husband.】
The other side was silent for a long time—so long that Yu Ning's patience was nearly exhausted—before replying: 【I'll show you something. You'll definitely believe me then.】
Yu Ning wanted to ask what it was, but she didn't send it, quietly waiting for the other party to explain on its own.
1*******5 was still being cryptic: 【It's in the third column of that cabinet next to your desk.】
At those words, Yu Ning's gaze shifted to the cabinet beside her. She didn't get up to go over, pressing her lips together and letting out a soft snort: 【Who knows if this is a trap?】
1*******5 replied quickly this time: 【If it were, why would I have been so blatant about sowing discord and telling you to stay alert?】
Yu Ning was left speechless by that.
How did this thing know what she was thinking?
【So you did it on purpose?】
She asked again, but this time 1*******5 fell silent for even longer.
When it came to patience, Yu Ning could outlast the other party, but she couldn't resist the curiosity it had sparked. Curiosity kills the cat, and it kills people too—Yu Ning knew this well, yet she couldn't help but stand up and walk over to the cabinet.
It had to be admitted that compared to Pei Chongqing and the Flower-type Monster encountered earlier, this phone text message was much easier to communicate with—at least everything it said was logical… very much like a human.
For that reason, Yu Ning was slightly more willing to bet on the cabinet it wanted her to open.
She took a deep breath, bent down, and pulled open the cabinet in the third row. Inside were two storage boxes—one was a toolbox she rarely used, and the other…
Yu Ning stared blankly at the name "Jiang Xian" marked on the box. For a moment, she couldn't figure out where it came from, but a dull pain shot through her brain instantly.
Unable to bear it, she crouched down. It was as if a projector sat before her eyes, continuously playing scenes she had never seen before, yet were strongly connected to her.