Night Watch in Vain

"This feeling... is completely different from the one in my bathroom. The bathroom had an icy, bone-chilling feeling. It was uncomfortable, but there was no scent of death.

"But what this place gives off is purely a cruel, bloodthirsty, sharp aura. Could there be something huge in this house?" Zhang Chen got up and walked around, checking the kitchen, study, dining room, and balcony.

The house was at least two hundred square meters, simply divided into upper and lower levels, though there were only five steps between them. The lower level consisted of the living room, study, dining room, kitchen, and balcony. The upper level had three bedrooms and a computer room.

"What's going on? Why is there an unpleasant aura everywhere, and they're all different? The living room and study have the same aura. But the kitchen and dining room have another kind of restless, agitated aura, while the balcony has an aura of resentment. What is wrong with this house?" Zhang Chen stood on the balcony, his brows tightly furrowed.

"Student Zhang, what's wrong? Is there something strange about my home?" A voice came from behind Zhang Chen, and the resentful aura on the balcony instantly dissipated.

"Nothing. I was just looking around. By the way, Teacher Xie, do you live here alone?" Zhang Chen turned around and looked at the two women.

"Yes. My parents live downtown." As Teacher Xie said this, her expression became a little unnatural.

"Then where is your husband? Teacher Xie, you're married already, right? Why don't you live together?" Zhang Chen finally asked the question he had been holding back for a long time.

At that moment, Xie Wen, who had seemed so kind and poised, suddenly stiffened. Tears began to stream down her face. "He died."

Zhang Chen was shocked, while Wang Yizhi, standing behind Xie Wen, covered her mouth with both hands.

"I'm sorry, Teacher Xie. I reminded you of something painful. I've stayed quite a while, so I should head back first." Zhang Chen looked at Xie Wen apologetically and kept apologizing.

"It's all right. Don't take it to heart. Won't you stay a little longer? It's not even ten yet." Xie Wen wiped away her tears, while Wang Yizhi put an arm around her sister.

"No, you should both get some rest early. It wouldn't be appropriate for a grown man like me to stay here." Zhang Chen waved at Wang Yizhi behind Xie Wen.

"You're not even eighteen yet, just a little brat. What grown man are you talking about?" Xie Wen actually smiled faintly. Zhang Chen slung on his backpack, and the instant he opened the exquisite wooden door—

A gust of sinister wind slipped through the crack in the door and slashed across Zhang Chen's cheek in an instant. Thin streams of bright red blood trickled down.

"What happened, Student Zhang?" Xie Wen asked, looking at Zhang Chen, whose body had stiffened after opening the door.

"It's nothing. I just tripped over the threshold. I'll be going now." Zhang Chen quickly shut the door and headed out into the corridor. When he found that there was still no one in the guard room, he stood there and thought for a while before turning back.

"Mom, I'm out with my classmates today. I'll be home late, so don't wait up for me." Zhang Chen called his mother.

Zhang Chen had changed greatly over the past six months, and Mother Zhang trusted her son very much. She did not say much before hanging up.

"Sigh, whatever's in that house is definitely no ordinary thing." Zhang Chen touched the wound on his left cheek and let out a slight sigh.

"What's with all the mixed auras in that house? None of the things I encountered before were like this."

"Sigh, I'll stay here until midnight before going back. Tomorrow, I'll bring over the little pouch Father has and let Wang Yizhi wear it." Zhang Chen simply could not rest easy leaving Wang Yizhi in that house. He returned outside the white house and found the room where Wang Yizhi was staying, but there were security bars outside the window, and the curtains were tightly shut.

"Damn it, I'll just wait here until midnight." Zhang Chen plopped down on the ground. He could always wash his pants when he got home.

Time passed quickly. It was already eleven at night, but nothing unusual had happened during that hour.

"I should call her. It'd be terrible if something happened to Wang Yizhi in there and I didn't notice." Zhang Chen got to his feet, walked farther away from the house, and made the call.

"Beep~~~ Click." The phone was answered after just one ring.

"What is it, Zhang Chen? Calling so late... you're home already, right?" The moment Wang Yizhi's voice came through the receiver, the heavy stone hanging over his heart finally dropped.

"Not yet. I was just checking whether you were asleep. Are you sleeping with your sister, or by yourself?" Zhang Chen asked.

"I have a bedroom to myself. My sister's room is right next to mine. I'm about to go to sleep. What about you?" Wang Yizhi said happily.

"I've already showered and I'm in bed. I'll call you every night from now on. If anything happens, you can tell me." Zhang Chen said.

"Okay. I can't fall asleep after reading at night anyway."

"All right, get some rest early. If anything happens, call me. I won't turn off my phone even if I stay up all night." Zhang Chen said.

"Mm, good night." Wang Yizhi's voice became very gentle.

"Good night." After saying that, Zhang Chen hung up warmly and looked at the room where the lights had gone out. Then he walked back alone to his original spot and plopped down again.

"Sigh, a beauty brings disaster. Heh, it's worth it." Zhang Chen laughed at himself.

Another hour passed. Zhang Chen's eyelids were twitching, and he looked ready to go see Duke of Zhou in his dreams at any moment. He stood up and looked at the house. After sensing nothing unusual, he went home despite his lingering unease.

The old town was exceptionally quiet at midnight, and more than half the streetlights were not lit.

A lean man with no arms kept smashing his head against a rolling shutter door. When he noticed Zhang Chen, he immediately sank into the shutter.

Then there was an old woman with no eyes, sitting on a stone by the roadside and knitting with her hands. When she noticed Zhang Chen, she too instantly turned into green smoke and vanished. After that, there was a woman in white crying beneath a streetlight. The moment Zhang Chen approached, she merged into the streetlight.

Whenever the wandering ghosts saw Zhang Chen riding over, they all hid at once. Zhang Chen had his own principles: as long as ghosts did not harm him, he had to endure it no matter how hungry he was.

However, every wandering ghost carried a faint aura, and Zhang Chen could distinguish each one precisely. The first armless male ghost had a trace of unwillingness about him; the eyeless old woman gave off threads of resentment; and the woman in white carried an aura of lingering attachment.

Before even reaching Anxin Bridge, Zhang Chen had already encountered seven or eight wandering ghosts.

"Right, every ghost has a different aura. Isn't that the same as Xie Wen's house? Could it be that many ghosts are trapped inside that house? And the auras in that house are far beyond anything these wandering street ghosts can compare to."

"But why did they all vanish without a trace the moment Xie Wen appeared? Could she frighten those ghosts even more than I do?"

Thinking of this, Zhang Chen could not help recalling Xie Wen's red fingernails. He touched the wound on his face again and immediately added Xie Wen to the list of dangerous people in his mind.

"Phew~~~" Finally home. Zhang Chen parked his bicycle and wiped the sweat from his forehead. The ride from Xie Wen's house to his own took nearly fifty minutes.

After washing away his exhaustion with cold water, he plunged headfirst onto his bed and fell asleep.

A dreamless night.

Since he had gone to bed late, Zhang Chen did not plan to exercise the next day. Getting enough rest was more important; otherwise, his head would feel foggy all day.

The alarm rang at seven. Father Zhang was already up. Since they had opened a mahjong parlor at home, Mother Zhang had quit her job to devote herself to running the business. Father Zhang still worked as a laborer to earn money, then went to the mahjong parlor after work to help Mother Zhang manage it.

"Dad, I'll eat at home this morning. Is there anything to eat?" Zhang Chen asked after getting up and seeing that his father had just risen too.

"Yes. It's rare to see you eating at home. There's some fish left over from yesterday. We can make fish soup noodles." Father Zhang watched his son become more sensible and improve his grades. Zhang Chen even seemed far more spirited than he had been in previous years.

After washing up, Zhang Chen sat at the dining table and ate a large bowl of fish soup noodles with his father. Looking at the little pouch Father Zhang had worn for nearly half a year, he could not bring himself to speak for a long time. But when he thought of Wang Yizhi and the unsettling aura in Xie Wen's home, he finally said it.

"Cough, cough." Zhang Chen deliberately coughed twice. Once his father looked over, he said, "Dad, something happened to a classmate of mine. Could you lend that to her for a while?"

As he spoke, Zhang Chen pointed at the little pouch on his father's arm.

"Mm. This thing stopped being useful long ago. I only keep it on to reassure your mother." Father Zhang naturally understood his son. The classmate he mentioned must be someone very important to him. With that, he took the pouch off his arm and handed it to Zhang Chen.

Zhang Chen nodded. After finishing his noodles, he got on his bicycle and headed for school.

He arrived rather late today. Nearly half the class was already seated, and Zhang Chen immediately spotted Wang Yizhi quietly reading. Her black hair fell over the left side of her book, while she swept it aside with her fair right hand. She probably had no idea how beautiful she was.

"Yizhi, are you getting used to living at your sister's place?" Zhang Chen walked up beside her and spoke softly.

The moment Wang Yizhi heard Zhang Chen's voice, she raised her head. "Mm, the bed there is so big and soft. It's really comfortable to sleep on." After saying that, she closed her book.

Suddenly, Zhang Chen stepped back and cried out, "That!"

The eyes of the entire class immediately turned toward him. When they saw nothing was wrong, they turned back around.

"Zhang Chen, what's wrong?" Wang Yizhi was startled by his reaction and hurriedly looked herself over to see whether something was out of place.

What Zhang Chen had seen was none other than Wang Yizhi's Right Hand. When she closed the book, the nail on her right pinky had turned as vividly red as Xie Wen's nails, with an aura that made him deeply uneasy swirling around it.

Zhang Chen steadied himself and said softly, "I think I got a little anemic just now. I lost my balance."

Wang Yizhi had clearly noticed that something was wrong with Zhang Chen, and this strange behavior had only appeared after he saw her. Something had clearly happened, and it was no small matter.

Wang Yizhi stared at Zhang Chen with her bright, watery eyes and said seriously, "Don't lie to me!"

Zhang Chen gritted his teeth and slowly said, "Can I tell you tonight? I said I would protect you. Put this on your Right Hand first."

Zhang Chen took the little pouch from his backpack and placed it in Wang Yizhi's hand.

Wang Yizhi bit her lower lip. She seemed to see how serious Zhang Chen was. So she tied the pouch around her Right Hand.

Zhang Chen noticed that the instant the pouch was tied on, the redness on Wang Yizhi's pinky nail faded considerably. However, it did not disappear entirely, and traces of that aura still lingered there.

"Why? Why did I go back last night? If I had kept watch, this wouldn't have happened. Damn it." Zhang Chen wanted nothing more than to slap himself twice. Whatever this was, it was definitely no simple matter. If Wang Yizhi was dragged into it, the consequences would be unbearable.

Zhang Chen calmed down, returned to his seat, took a deep breath, and began to think...