CH 22

Who doesn’t love money? Lu Yibei loves money quite a bit. Although he wasn’t short on money, he knew that he needed at least enough capital to pursue his own dream.

There’s no harm in saving money despite having no idea what the future holds.

No matter how bad it gets, once he graduates from university, he can go back to Peony Street, renovate the old house, and open a restaurant.

Perhaps a bar?

Receiving tourists every day and listening to their stories while selling them drinks soothes their worries in the process.

Therefore, he had no shame in asking for an increase in salary.

“Pffft!” She covered her mouth. “I find you more and more interesting day by day. If you’re in danger, wouldn’t the normal reaction be to ensure your own safety?”

“If that can be guaranteed, of course, I will,” he said, rolling his eyes. “However, I don’t trust you guys that much, so it’s up to me.”

Yibei did not trust Jiangli since she used him as bait. He didn’t trust An Qing either after having had intimate contact with her.

An Qing’s body was strangely cold; her beauty was immediately dampened by that fact alone. She carried death with her, and talking with her felt unnatural.

“So, am I getting a pay raise? If not, I’ll take it up with that crippled girl.”

“It’s rare having someone like you here,” she laughed. “I can make the decisions. To a certain extent, our six main cadre members have the same rights.”

“Six?” He tilted his head. “Aren’t there seven doors here?”

“Well, yes, but one of them died, and no suitable successor has been found yet,” she explained while smiling.

“Wanna see her? She’s one of the best female samples I have dissected,” she continued, clasping her hands together.

“N-no, let’s not bother her.”

Yibei found that An Qing had a strange obsession with the dead. There isn’t a single ordinary person in the Night Division.

When Yibei returned home, Sumi was busy closing the shop. He helped him clean up the shop and devoured the leftovers from noon for dinner.

The sky was completely dark; the willows were rustling, and a faint scent of cinnamon wafted across the air. The deep alleys with black tiles and white walls were showered with tender moonlight.

Peony Street gradually receded from the hustle and bustle of the dead. There were no pedestrians on the street, save for the occasional car driving down the road.

In the attic of Sumi’s home, bright lights illuminate the embroidery frame. It stretched with pure white silk, and colourful silk threads hung down from one side like a deformed rainbow.

vSumi’s thick fingers were surprisingly dexterous, completely contrasting his physical appearance.

Yibei didn’t want to disturb him and went back to his room.

Back in the room, he carefully took out the statue of Acala, the Immovable, and wiped it gently with a wet tissue. He turned off the light and brought him to bed to cuddle.

Drunk men staggered outside the house, and cicadas chirped in the treetops. The occasional car speeding through the empty streets in the distance didn’t break the tranquillity of the night, instead adding to it.

Yibei felt that the world was lying to him. The scenes he saw during the day felt unreal, and yet, his dreams felt real and tangible to him.

‘What’s wrong with me?’

According to the file, the police judged that Zhu Linglong committed suicide. However, there was a missing weapon, so for them to come to that conclusion was strange.

Someone can’t hang themselves without any sort of assistance, be it a chair or stool. There must be a conspiracy somewhere.

However, he found the murder weapon in a dream, but he didn’t want to be thrown into the mental asylum yet again.

Lu Yibei lay in bed quietly, engrossed in his thoughts. The moonlight shone on his face, and he gradually fell into limbo.

He thought of swimming and catching fish with Sumi in the canals of the old street. His father’s face was flushed red from the heat in the kitchen, and his crush, whom he once loved but found it impossible to remember her face, and…

Before he knew it, he fell asleep.

He dreamt of a playground in school. His classmates were running wildly in the playground alongside the girl he had a crush on. The borders were shrouded in a hazy mist.

The sun was still bright, and he could tell that it was a PE class. The girl was in her sportswear, and her pair of shorts seemed short with her long and slender legs.

She sat alone on the horizontal bar, her black ponytail hanging down behind her. She smiled and waved towards Lu Yibei, beckoning him over. Yibei trotted over and sat beside her.

“Are you thirsty? I’ll get you a drink!” Yibei smiled. He could only smile in his dreams.

The girl shook her head.

“Are you hungry, then? I can get you some food!”

“…”

“No… I didn’t… I didn’t… I didn’t commit suicide…”

Lu Yibei was stunned for a moment. He slid down the horizontal bar and was about to leave, but the girl grabbed his wrist.

“They were all affected by the remaining magic in the room… That’s why they came to that conclusion… You need to bring justice to me…”

Her voice sounded distant and hazy, and her grip on his arm tightened. Her face turned blue, her voice started to become sharper and clearer, and her nails dug deeply into Yibei’s arm.

“Find the pair of scissors! My father needs to know the truth! It has to be you… because… because you’ve seen it!”

The girl produced a pair of scissors and stabbed him in his abdomen. He felt his consciousness leaving him as blood gushed out from the open wound. He staggered back a few steps, and his body fell backwards.

“Ah!”

Lu Yibei woke up from the nightmare, staring at the ceiling in the darkness.

He felt parched, and he wanted to get up to get a glass of water. However, he felt surprisingly heavy, as if something were pressing him tightly onto the bed.

He opened his mouth to call Sumi but couldn’t make a single noise.

Tap… tap…

Vaguely, he could hear footsteps coming from a distance that crept closer and closer, and it sounded as if it was stepping on some viscous liquid.

The door to the room was closed. Yibei could barely make out its shape in the darkness.

Tap… tap!

The footsteps were getting closer, and anxiety crept up Yibei’s throat.

Creak!

The old doorknob on the door turned gently, and the door opened. There wasn’t anyone outside the door; it was dark and clearly not Sumi.

A chill washed over Yibei like a waterfall, and his senses were screaming at him to move. However, he couldn’t budge at all. All he could do was wait.

The room was quiet, and suddenly the bed shook.

Through the moonlight, he saw two dents appearing on the bed’s quilt as if someone were stepping on it.

In an instant, the force that was subduing Yibei disappeared, and he was able to move again. He flexed his toes, but he didn’t dare to move. He shrank his neck and crept underneath his quilt little by little, and just as the quilt was about to cover his eyes, a drop of liquid dripped on his forehead, followed by a second drop, a third drop…

A pair of delicate little feet floating in the air broke into his field of vision.

That chill bit at his body, and he felt goosebumps coursing through his body.

The blood-stained girl in the long dress hung from the ceiling; her back was facing him, and she turned around slowly. Blood gushed out from the wound on her stomach. She was smiling, even though it was obvious that she was in pain, and her eyes were glassy and pale.

“Scissors…” she echoed. “Find those scissors and give them to my father…”