Chapter 1

A short-haired woman dressed in white sat with her back to him at the desk.

It was nighttime. Moonlight filtered in like gauze. The woman lay with both hands on the desk, completely still.

No lights. No sounds.

The surroundings were utterly silent.

Lin Sheng lay in bed with his head under the covers, watching the woman at the desk from the side.

He found it strange. He remembered going to bed at nine thirty, and judging by the sky, it could only be three or four in the morning at the latest.

This was his bedroom. He'd woken up to find a woman sitting at his desk.

Where had this woman come from?

He squinted. With his nearly five-hundred-degree nearsightedness, he could only make out that she was dressed in white and seemed quite young.

But where would a woman dressed in white come from? His mother never wore white, and his sister was away at college. She always wore her school uniform.

The silence around him was terrifying.

Lin Sheng furrowed his brow and blinked hard, trying to see who the woman sitting there was.

But it was too dark to make anything out.

And what made it even more terrifying was that he couldn't move!

In a daze, he seemed to hear people talking and chatting. The voices came from behind him, beside his bed, in a place he couldn't see.

They were right beside him, as if the speakers were staring at him while pressing close to his back to talk.

He could almost picture two people watching him with eerie, icy eyes as they casually chatted about something he couldn't make out.

Lin Sheng felt goose bumps break out all over his body.

Crack.

Another sharp sound rang out.

It seemed the bedroom door had opened and someone had come in.

In an instant, all the sounds disappeared. Lin Sheng came to his senses and saw the woman in white slowly rise from the desk without a sound. She stood with her back to him, motionless.

Her long white sleeves hung loose and empty, like the sleeves of a dress. Her movements were stiff and precise, like a machine's.

"I..."

Lin Sheng tried to speak, but was horrified to find he couldn't make even the slightest sound.

His whole body felt as if it were cramping. He was tensing up and trembling uncontrollably. Cold sweat poured from his back, and his teeth were chattering violently against his will.

Tap, tap, tap, tap.

Clear footsteps sounded by the door again. They came to a stop at the foot of his bed. Whoever had entered seemed to be standing still.

Lin Sheng was terrified. He tried to curl up beneath the covers and relax as much as possible, trying to lie flat so the newcomer and the woman in white wouldn't notice anyone in the bed.

He thought that if he lay flat enough, perhaps they would think the bed held nothing but a thick blanket.

But he couldn't move. His legs and back were cramping badly. He had to use all his strength just to suppress the trembling and pain.

Tap, tap, tap.

He heard the footsteps coming toward the head of the bed.

The fear in Lin Sheng's heart reached its peak.

He wanted to close his eyes so he wouldn't have to see what was about to happen, but some inexplicable terror kept him from even blinking.

Thump!!!

A pair of icy hands suddenly reached under the covers and grabbed his feet.

Ah!!!!!

Lin Sheng cried out and shot upright in bed. He was drenched in sweat, his face deathly pale, his eyes wide open and bloodshot.

Heaving for breath,

he bowed his head and gulped down fresh air.

"I had that dream again." He drew up his legs and touched the spot where the icy hands had grabbed him.

There was nothing there. It was just like always: no wounds, no pain.

But the sensation from moments ago remained vivid in his mind, crystal clear.

The morning sunlight outside was bright. It was already fully light.

Lin Sheng climbed out of bed just as someone knocked on the door.

Knock, knock, knock.

"Were you shouting just now?"

His sister's concerned voice came from outside.

Lin Sheng touched his forehead with both hands. He was covered in sweat. He took a deep breath.

"I'm fine. I just had a nightmare."

"Good. You've been startling me a lot lately. Is something going on at school?" his sister asked.

"Nothing. Really, I just had a nightmare." Lin Sheng was quiet for a moment before answering.

"Breakfast is ready. Get up and have some warm milk. You'll feel better," his sister said reassuringly, then turned and left.

Lin Sheng sat on the edge of the bed, replaying the dream in his mind.

This wasn't the first time he'd had it.

For three days in a row, he'd had the same dream. It always ended the same way: he was grabbed by the feet and couldn't move.

He instinctively touched his feet, then stood up and went to the desk, swishing the curtains open.

Dazzling sunlight immediately filled the bedroom, making even the dust in the air visible.

He was just an ordinary high school student. He'd been at Huian High School for three years, and soon he would be facing the college entrance exams.

His father ran a general store, and his mother worked as a kindergarten teacher. Their combined household income didn't exceed a hundred thousand yuan a year.

His sister was still studying out of town. She was leaving again in a few days and had only come home for a short visit.

"So most of the time, I'm still home alone."

Lin Sheng was silent as he opened the door.

The hallway outside was bright with sunlight, its walls gleaming white.

From the kitchen came the crisp clatter of his sister washing things.

Lin Sheng went into the kitchen, picked up the warm milk from the counter, and gulped it down.

His sister, Lin Xiao, never liked dressing up. She always wore a white T-shirt and jeans—not the tight kind, just ordinary loose-fitting pants.

The only thing unusual about her was her waist-length black hair and her gentle, quiet air.

Lin Sheng set down the milk glass, picked up a piece of warm bread, and took small bites.

"Mom and Dad are both out today, so I'm in charge of cooking. But I'm leaving tomorrow, so make sure you take care of yourself. Don't keep making people worry."

His sister turned and took off her apron, then sat on the tall stool by the cupboard. She picked up a glass of milk too and took a sip, chattering away as she did.

"Mm," Lin Sheng replied, not knowing what to say.

"Do you have enough spending money? I earned a bit from a part-time job over the last break. I have enough, so if you run short, remember to ask me." Lin Xiao was always worrying about one thing or another. She'd been that way since childhood.

"I do."

"..." Lin Xiao thought for a moment. "Would you like any local souvenirs? There was a trade fair near my school, so I went to have a look. It was pretty nice. They were local specialties from Kongxi. If you like, I can mail you a porcelain doll. I heard the porcelain dolls there are very finely made. Lots of my classmates like them..."

Lin Xiao started chattering again.

Lin Sheng listened quietly. More than ten minutes later, he finally gave a brief reply.

"There's nothing I want."

"All right. Don't be so withdrawn all the time. Go out and socialize when you can. If you keep this up, no girl will like you," Lin Xiao said helplessly.

Like her friends in the other dorm rooms, she cared deeply about family. Her quiet, withdrawn little brother had always been the one she worried about most.

Whenever she thought of one of her friends' older brothers, who was forty and still couldn't find a wife because he was so withdrawn, she felt an urgent sense of worry.

"I know." Lin Sheng had always been like this.

They fell silent for a while, quietly eating breakfast with their heads bowed.

The bread on their plates was soon gone, and their glasses of milk were empty too.

His sister lowered her hand and looked up at Lin Sheng.

"Chenchen, I have my own part-time job at college, so I have enough money. If you're ever in a tight spot, call me."

"Got it, Sis," Lin Sheng replied with his head bowed.

"Chenchen." Lin Xiao suddenly reached out and rested her hand on his left shoulder.

Chenchen was Lin Sheng's nickname at home. Only those closest to him called him that.

"While I'm away, you're the man of the house. Help Mom and Dad out more. They're having a hard time too. There was an incident at Mom's kindergarten. A child went missing from the class she was responsible for, and they're still dealing with it. Mom's all right, but she was still held partly responsible and had her pay docked."

Lin Sheng nodded.

"Don't worry, Sis. I'm fine."

"Then why do you look so pale?" Lin Xiao asked worriedly.

"Do I look that pale?" Lin Sheng asked, taken aback.

"Go look in the bathroom and see for yourself," Lin Xiao said helplessly, letting go of his shoulder.

Lin Sheng quickly left the kitchen and went into the bathroom.

When he looked up, his reflection appeared in the mirror.

A haggard face, pallid and bloodless, with gray lips.

"Did you sleep badly last night? Why don't you go back to bed for a while?" Lin Xiao's worried voice came from the bathroom doorway.

Lin Sheng touched his lips. They felt dry and cracked.

"I had a nightmare last night. I'm fine. I'll be all right soon."

He didn't want to worry his family. Even though the nightmare had felt incredibly real, he still spoke lightly.

"All right, I'm heading out first. I have some things to take care of. When you get home from school, heat up some food for lunch. Don't wait for me. Mom and Dad are visiting Grandpa today, so you'll be home alone. Remember to take your keys when you go out."

"Got it," Lin Sheng replied calmly.

Soon, he heard the door close behind him.

The whole house fell silent.

Lin Sheng stood alone in front of the mirror, looking at his face. For some reason, he suddenly felt that last night's nightmare wouldn't just go away.

"Hopefully it was just an ordinary dream."

Lin Sheng turned away from the bathroom and walked into the living room.

Two one-hundred-yuan notes lay on the long wooden table.

The green paper shimmered in different colors when viewed from different angles.

Lin Sheng picked up the money and said nothing.

It was his spending money for the next two months.

Before, he'd received a hundred yuan a month, and the school covered meals and other necessities.

Now he had to make two hundred yuan last two months. That meant twenty-five yuan a week, or just over three yuan a day.

"I can only spend a little over three yuan a day. I'll have to be careful." Lin Sheng got up and headed back to his room.

He changed into his school uniform. A school badge was pinned to the left chest of the blue-and-white uniform. It showed a simple image of a rooster standing on one leg, with the two large characters Huian underneath.

Lin Sheng packed his schoolbag, put on a pair of ordinary blue-and-white sneakers, and hurried out.

He left the residential complex among the older men and women selling vegetables, then boarded an old bus at the stop by the entrance.

After swaying along for more than ten minutes, he squeezed his way through a crowd of office workers, jumped off the bus, and sprinted into school. He made it to the classroom just as the bell rang.