CH 6

The next morning

Lu Yibei screamed and darted awake. His sweat-soaked back clung to his pyjamas, making him feel incredibly clammy, and an unexplainable chill ran down his back. He took off his blindfold and reached for the light as he was greeted with a messy bed.

He took several deep breaths to calm himself down.

‘I dreamt of that damned rabbit again. And that poor woman…’

All he could remember was Mr Rabbit’s lips unfurling like blades as his sharp teeth pierced through the woman’s neck like a blade, and everything was red.

Her death was too vivid, and strangely enough, it felt real.

He touched his neck gently, feeling as if he was the one being torn apart by the rabbit’s blades for teeth.

Feeling a liquid run down his throat, he froze. It took him a considerable time to realize that it was sweat, not blood.

‘That rabbit is a big problem…”

He wanted to contact the police, but thinking about it, nobody would believe him.

“Calling the police because of a nightmare. How smart,” Yibei mocked himself in the mirror. “Like hell, they’ll believe you. Next thing you know, you’re in the mental hospital once again.”

“But…”

“It felt so real.”

“Am I going to be next?”

Lu Yibei gulped at this revelation, shaking his head.

‘No, no, no!’

‘There’s no point in scaring yourself—yeah! Maybe it was just a nightmare, or maybe… I’m just getting paranoid about that damned rabbit.’

He turned to look in the mirror, realizing that his jaw was tense. There was no way he could calm himself down.

Looking out the window and at the clock, it was 4:50 in the morning—still dark, four hours before dawn.

Leaving the house would be dangerous.

Yibei got up and went downstairs. The living room was deathly quiet, save for the ear-piercing sounds of his coat outside being blown by the violent morning wind.

Glancing out the window, the coat looked like a comically short man under the pale moonlight as if he were being tossed around by the wind.

Yibei’s paranoia still gnawed at him as he pulled the curtains shut.

‘Out of sight, out of mind.’

After turning on the light, he paced to the side and murmured to Acala, the Immovable, “I hope you don’t mind, but I have to do this after tonight’s incident. Sorry.”

Acala, the Immovable’s presence, showered Yibei with an inexplicable sense of security in his heart. He stepped forward and picked the statue up, hauling it towards his bedroom.

He placed the statue on his bed gingerly, turning around to turn on his speaker to play [Love and Magical Girl]’s soundtrack, which was sung by none other than Bai Xiaohua. Lu Yibei lay beside the statue and fell back asleep.

Holding the statue’s sturdy body and listening to Bai Xiaohua’s voice calmed Yibei down, but he no longer felt sleepy.

What am I doing?

Yibei thought he was going to be awake until dawn, but he didn’t expect his eyes to droop, and soon, just as dawn arrived, he fell back asleep.

In his blurred vision, all he could make out was a pair of bloodshot eyes staring at him.

Lu Yibei felt cold like his body had just been thrown into a lake. He sank, and he could hear a voice speaking to him.

It was like a strange whisper that tickled his eardrums. It was like an ancient and mysterious ballad in an unknown language.

Then the voice became clear.

“Ring!”

Lu Yibei was jolted awake when he found that his phone was ringing loudly.

It was from Shui, who wanted to make a video call with him.

Yibei groaned before accepting the call, and a handsome face appeared on the screen, flashing him a grin.

“Yibei, what’s up? Sleep well?”

“Whatever.”

“Damn,” Shui put a hand up to his chest as he shifted the camera to his face, pulling an exaggerated sad face. “You’re cold.”

“I have facial paralysis! I can’t move my face!” Yibei retorted.

“Oh, my bad. I forgot you couldn’t make any faces.”

“You’re calling me for a reason—I just know it! Let me guess, you screwed up at your little gig again?”

“Excuse me! I’m working in… Public Relations. Right, let’s just call it that: Public. Relations. I’ll have you know that.”

“Okay, okay, Mr Public Relations. What happened this time?”

Yibei’s father once told him that Shui is Huacheng’s first male to work in Public Relations, and to be honest, he could believe it.

What other job requires you to dress flamboyantly and work only at night? That’s right—an escort!

Shui is also constantly exhausted whenever he gets off work, making Yibei shudder to think what Shui has done to his body for money.

It was reflected in Shui’s appearance, too; whenever they met, Shui would look drained, like he didn’t have a drop left in him.

Yibei doesn’t discriminate against male escorts, but he is sure that he discriminates against Shui himself.

Having a man cling to you and circle around you, promising you the world and whispering sweet nothings in your ears… Yibei cringes whenever he thinks about it.

“Actually,” Shui continued. “I did encounter something last night. I thought about it for some time but decided to call you today because I wanted to.”

Shui came to an epiphany last night; he wanted to accept Lu Yibei as his godson.

However, before Shui finished his sentence, he saw a figure on Yibei’s bed, and Yibei’s hand was resting on the figure’s chest, drawing small circles on its chest with his fingers.

Shui’s eye twitched.

“Y-Yibei? W-who’s on your bed?”

“Oh, that’s…”

“Yibei! I’m sorry! I forgot you were a teenager with needs; I’m sorry!”

“Shui, that’s a statue.”

“A statue?! My statue?! That’s the worst! It’s made of brass! You’ll get hurt if you…”

Yibei tuned Shui’s voice out.

‘Just what is going on in that mind of his…’

“Yibei,” Shui interrupted with a serious tone. “I am sorry for not considering your… needs, but…”

Yibei hovered his finger over the [End Call] button.

“F*ck! Okay! I’m sorry! Don’t hang up! I’m not going to interfere with your personal interests! I called you to tell you that I want you to be my godson!”

Yibei hung up the phone and blocked Shui’s number and all of his social media accounts.

‘I treat you as my brother! Not a father! Damn it!’

It didn’t take long for his phone to vibrate again.

Glancing at the screen, it was a text message from an unknown number:

[At least let me finish!]

Yibei knew it was Shui texting him, and his finger hovered over the [Block Number] button. However, Shui sent a serious text next.

[Yibei, tomorrow is the last day to register at the university. Take some time today to enrol. Otherwise, you might have to retake the exam.]

Yibei’s fingers swiftly tapped on the screen.

[Got it. I’ll go later.]

He swiftly blocked Shui’s new number.

Lu Yibei suddenly thought of his nightmare. He hesitated as his finger hovered over Shui’s profile but decided not to tell him.

‘He’ll make fun of me if I tell him. I rather not feed him any more material.’

The Night Division’s headquarters

Bai Kai was about to get off work when his phone beeped. Upon seeing Yibei’s reply, he smiled like the spring breeze was gently blowing on him.

A passing operator saw him and peeked over: “Bai, what’s got you in a good mood?”

“I got me a godson,” he smiled as he shook his phone.

“Is that so? Congratulations! You should bring him over for dinner sometime.”

“Of course!” Bai Kai laughed as he patted the operator’s shoulder. “Wait, no. I think he might be a little autistic. He has trouble with people.”

As he was engaging in a lively conversation with the operator, he dialled Yibei, but all he heard in his ear was, “The number you dialled is currently unavailable.”

He tried sending a few more text messages but failed, and he soon realized that he was once again blocked by his godson.