Chapter 27

(Advance disclaimer: in the setting, Tang San, Xiao Wu, and Luo Yan are good friends, which is why they pull this kind of prank. Essentially, it is just to scare people and play a trick.)

When Luo Yan arrived in Notting City, the sky was pitch-black.

The city gates had closed long ago, but that did not matter.

He detoured to that section of low wall on the west side and climbed over it out of long habit.

The base of the wall was still the same, with a few loose bricks that made for just the right foothold.

He landed steadily and patted the dust off his hands.

"Notting City."

He took a deep breath. "Why is it still this smell of potatoes stewed with meat?"

He could have gone straight back to Dorm Seven. Yet halfway there, he suddenly changed his mind.

"Since we haven't seen each other in so long, I have to give them a surprise."

Squatting at the mouth of the alley, he felt out the Elation Mask, turned it over and over, and thought, Who should I change into?

Wang Sheng had graduated and was boring; Xiao Wu would really kick if she got angry; Tang San could see through it at a glance.

He needed to change into something none of them had ever seen and would never expect.

He raised his head to gaze at the sky.

The clouds were very thick tonight, with only the edge of the moon showing. The wind blew from the west side of the city, sending a few dead leaves spinning in circles on the ground.

Those old lamps of Nuoding Academy hung dim and bright on the top of the wall, illuminating the path in front of Dorm Seven with a grayish glow.

"Let's play a big one."

He suddenly smiled, his voice dropping low as if conferring with himself. "Let me bring you all a little... Chinese horror."

He put on the mask, and the light flashed at the mouth of the alley. By the time the light faded away, he had already transformed.

Inside Dorm Seven, Xiao Wu was sitting on the bed braiding her hair.

Tang San was wiping his hidden weapons by the window, his movements very light.

There were only the two of them here now; school had broken up yesterday, and Dorm Seven was emptied out.

"Do you think Luo Yan is never coming back?" Xiao Wu said suddenly.

Tang San did not raise his head. "He will."

"Then why doesn't he even send a letter? Such a huge commotion happened in Heaven Dou City, but as for him, he doesn't even make a peep."

"I think he likes to show up suddenly."

Tang San said, "The more sudden it is, the happier he is."

Xiao Wu let out a "hmpf." "He'd better appear in front of me suddenly so I can kick him right back to Dorm Seven and save him from climbing walls."

"That's assuming he finds the wall first." Tang San said with a smile.

Xiao Wu let out a small laugh.

The lamp suddenly went out.

Then it went pitch-black.

Xiao Wu sat on the bed, still clutching half a hair tie in her hand. She blinked twice and could see nothing at all.

The surroundings were too quiet, so quiet she could hear the sound of her own swallowing.

"Eh? Why did the lamp go out?"

She said softly, her voice drifting a little in the darkness. "Third Brother, did you close the window?"

Tang San did not answer.

Xiao Wu glanced in his direction, though she actually couldn't see a thing, only a patch of deeper darkness.

Yet she suddenly felt that Tang San had moved.

He had already stood up.

With the lightest of motions, Tang San picked up the sleeve arrow placed at the head of the bed, the mechanism clicking into place.

That sound was exceptionally clear in the darkness, like an extremely fine string being plucked by someone.

"What is it?" Xiao Wu asked softly.

"Don't speak."

Tang San's voice was squeezed from his throat, very low.

Xiao Wu stopped talking, her rabbit ears twitching.

Outside the door, there were footsteps—very light, one step, another.

"Who?" Tang San spoke.

His voice was not loud, yet exceedingly clear.

There was no response from outside the door.

Only those footsteps stopped, stopping right where they should, directly facing the doorway.

Then came the sound of a breath, extremely light and faint.

No, it was not breathing.

Someone sighed outside the door, that breath squeezing in through the crack of the door, chillingly cold, raising a layer of fine goosebumps on Xiao Wu's arms.

Tang San did not ask again.

He slowly raised his left hand, pressing it against the door latch.

Without hesitation, he jerked the wooden door open, a kick charged with full force lashing out with the wind.

"Bang—!"

The door panel slammed outward, hitting the wall with an extremely loud sound.

Tang San sprang out from the darkness as a whole, his sleeve arrow already raised level, Blue Silver Grass spreading out across the ground with a shua to seal off three feet of the doorway.

Xiao Wu also jumped off the bed, arching her back, ready to strike at any moment.

Yet outside the door, there was nothing.

Only the wind swept over from the courtyard, blowing a few withered leaves into a spin.

The distant corridor was empty.

A few extinguished old lamps swayed lightly in the wind, as if something had just walked past and instantly vanished around the corner of the wall.

"Nobody?" Xiao Wu poked out half her head, her round eyes looking both ways.

Tang San did not move; he still held the sleeve arrow raised, his brows furrowed. Then his gaze swept downward.

He saw it.

Right in the middle of the doorway, a pair of shoes was placed.

Embroidered shoes.

Very small, the uppers red to the point of darkening, as if soaked in aged rouge, embroidered at the toes with twin lotus flowers on a single stalk. One sat straight and proper, the other crooked at an angle, as if someone had walked here, taken off their shoes, and entered the door barefoot.

Tang San's pupils contracted slightly.

"Third Brother..."

Xiao Wu's voice grew a bit tight. "These shoes... when we came earlier, they weren't here, were they?"

Tang San did not speak.

He slowly squatted down, and the Blue Silver Grass slithered out along the ground, wrapping around that pair of shoes.

There was no spirit power fluctuation, no aura of a living creature—just a pair of shoes.

Yet precisely because of that, it was even more abnormal.

Xiao Wu grabbed the back of Tang San's robe, her voice squeezed from her throat. "Third Brother, let's... go inside first."

Tang San did not move. He stared at that pair of shoes; the Blue Silver Grass had already wrapped around them twice, but those blades of grass did not hug the ground and return as they usually did.

They felt somewhat stiffened, as if they had touched something extremely cold.

Then they heard the sound of crying.

Very soft.

As if someone were hiding behind the old locust tree at the back of Dorm Seven, covering their mouth and weeping.

It was a woman.

That weeping was intermittent and gossamer-thin, as if drifting over from somewhere very, very far away, yet also as if right there on the roof beams directly above their heads.

Xiao Wu's rabbit ears shot straight up with a shua, then immediately went limp.

Her face was whiter than the moonlight.

"Thi... rd... brother... did, did you hear that?" Her voice had changed.

Tang San's throat worked, but he did not answer. He slowly stood up, aiming the sleeve arrow outside the door.

Yet outside the door, aside from the wind and dead leaves, there was nothing. But that weeping was still present, and it was not outside.

It came from behind them, from inside Dorm Seven.

Tang San turned his head.

There was nothing inside the room; the dark remained dark, several pieces of old furniture lying quietly dormant in the darkness, never having been touched.

Yet he simply felt that something was wrong somewhere.

The air grew heavy.

That weeping stopped at some unknown moment, stopping so abruptly as if swallowed whole by someone.

Xiao Wu suddenly grabbed his arm, gripping it extremely tight, her fingernails even pinching into his flesh.

Tang San turned his head to look at her and saw her eyes widened round, staring straight at the doorway, her entire face frighteningly pale.

Her other hand slowly rose, pointing outside the door, her fingers trembling incessantly.

"Thi... Third Brother..."

Tang San stiffened.

He turned his head back extremely slowly, inch by inch.

Outside the door, fog had risen at some unknown time.

The fog was extremely dense, rolling over from the direction of the old river west of the city, grayish-white, clinging to the ground and surging bit by bit into Dorm Seven.

The moonlight filtered through the fog, becoming hazy and distant.

And within the fog stood a person.

A paper doll.

Taller than a child, with paper clothes and a paper face.

Two red patches on its cheeks, as if dotted with blood.

It stood in the fog, facing them.

There were no eyes on its face, yet it was most definitely smiling.

That smile was painted on, but Tang San always felt it had just curved upward.

Tang San and Xiao Wu stepped back in unison.

The paper doll also moved a bit.

It took a step forward.

That motion was exceptionally light, as if someone were holding the back of its neck, swaying it about in the fog.

Then, it suddenly took another step forward, faster.

Tang San and Xiao Wu retreated again.

Their backs already touched the doorframe behind them.

Then, it moved.

Without warning, the entire paper doll suddenly rushed toward them at a fast pace. It was not a running posture, just the most normal walking stride, yet frighteningly fast.

The paper clothes rustled, and that patch of smile on its face flickered in the fog, as large as a washbasin.

"Ah—!"

Xiao Wu shrieked, her whole body shrinking back behind Tang San like a rabbit that had stepped on its tail.

Tang San was also jolted, his sleeve arrow shooting out three bolts with a whoosh, yet all of them passed right through the paper doll's body and plunged into the fog.

He could not care about much else; grabbing Xiao Wu, the two of them tumbled backward into the room together.

"Bang!"

Tang San's lower back slammed against the threshold, making him hiss in pain.

He propped himself up on the ground and looked toward the doorway.

The fog was still there.

The paper doll, however, was gone.

Xiao Wu was on the verge of tears.

Trembling all over, she clutched Tang San for dear life. "It, i-i-it just now came over?! It came over, right!"

Tang San panted a few breaths, leaning against the wall as he stood up. His forehead was covered in cold sweat.

He was truly frightened.

That paper doll had come too fast, too suddenly.

Even when you clearly knew it might not be a living thing, the moment it charged over, your body would still feel fear.

"Luo Yan...? Is that you?" Tang San scanned the surroundings, an unintentional tremor woven into his tone.