The Villa That Swallowed People
"This guy's been following us around for two days." Huang Junjie stood outside KFC, keeping an eye on the Glasses Youth, who was pretending to be a passerby while circling them for the third or fourth time. He asked, perplexed, "What does he want?"
For the past two nights, that black shadow had come to harass Xu Huo. It didn't do anything else—just vanished as soon as anyone touched it.
They hadn't taken the bait at the Haunted House, and had thought the matter was over. They hadn't expected the suspected mastermind to refuse to leave them alone. At night, he crawled out of their computer, and during the day, he wandered around their neighborhood. It was hard not to notice him.
Yuan Yao came out carrying a bag. Seeing Huang Junjie pull off his mask and prepare to eat, he hurriedly said, "Wait until we get back."
The white shell on Huang Junjie's face was peeling away. When they'd gone into the restaurant just now, people had assumed he had a skin disease and stayed well away. Even Yuan Yao hadn't dared get too close, afraid people would think he was carrying something contagious.
"When will this thing on your face finally go away? It's pretty creepy." Yuan Yao took a sip of his sugary drink.
"Another two days, I guess," Huang Junjie mumbled. He glanced across the street again, but the Glasses Youth who'd been following them was gone.
He paused, then looked back at Yuan Yao and the painted woman. "Where's Xu Huo?"
Xu Huo had followed the Glasses Youth onto the subway, keeping a distance of more than ten meters.
Even from that far away, his eyesight was good enough to make out the words on the other man's phone screen: