Jinxi County No. 1 High School Entrance, Braised Meat Noodle Shop
"The noodles here are really delicious. Plenty of meat, and the noodles smell great. Why aren't you eating?" Jia Xin wolfed down the noodles in his bowl.
Shen Qiutian, seated across from him, still looked lifeless. The noodles in her bowl sat untouched on the table, while her vacant eyes stared fixedly at Jia Xin as he ate with relish.
"How am I supposed to believe you? Do you know how horribly my classmates died?"
Jia Xin set down the chopsticks in his right hand and pointed toward the innermost table in the noodle shop. "Look over there."
Shen Qiutian turned toward where Jia Xin was pointing, but all she saw was an ordinary wooden table. There was nothing else.
"Look carefully." Jia Xin took out a small handful of fine sand and lightly scattered it in front of Qiutian.
Some sand got into Shen Qiutian's eyes, so she immediately shut them and rubbed them. Yet she discovered that the fine grains that had entered her eyes seemed to have vanished.
"Open your eyes and look over there again," Jia Xin said softly.
As Shen Qiutian opened her eyelids, she immediately covered her mouth with both hands to stop herself from screaming. Beside the previously empty wooden table sat an elderly man with graying hair and no eyeballs.
There was nothing in his hollow eye sockets. The old man sat motionlessly, staring ahead. The next second, he seemed to notice someone looking at him and abruptly turned his head, his dark empty sockets staring straight at Shen Qiutian.
"Ah!" Qiutian shut her eyes and screamed, drawing the attention of the owner and passersby. After Jia Xin waved and said it was nothing, everyone dispersed.
"What was that just now?"