Don't Light the Lamp

The fog grew even thicker, like a white curtain slowly drawing shut, swallowing the light at Dorm Seven's entrance bit by bit.

Tang San's back was already soaked with cold sweat.

He turned his head slightly and lowered his voice, as though forcing it out from the depths of his throat. "Xiao Wu, hide. Anywhere, just hide."

Xiao Wu did not move.

Tang San called again, "Xiao Wu!"

She still did not move.

She stood in front of him, stiff as a block of wood.

Her eyes were wide open, her lips slightly parted. She wanted to scream, but the sound was completely lodged in her throat.

She merely stared blankly at Tang San's left shoulder.

Tang San saw the look in her eyes.

It was not a look that said, "Watch your back." It was a look that said, "It's already too late."

His throat tightened as he slowly, ever so slowly, turned his head.

Something had appeared on his shoulder at some point.

It was cold.

Like a strip of silk pulled from well water, or an impossibly thin finger sliding past the back of his neck, inch by inch, crawling toward the front of his throat.

Tang San's pupils abruptly shrank to pinpoints.

His whole body jolted as if struck by lightning. Soul Power exploded from him, Blue Silver Grass surged wildly, and the Clear Sky Hammer appeared in response.

He shut his eyes. No longer caring about hidden weapons, movement techniques, or judgment, he simply swung wildly behind him, driven by terror erupting from the cracks in his bones.

"Mom, ahhhhhhhhhhhh—!"

(;´༎ຶД༎ຶ`)

The Clear Sky Hammer smashed outward with a muffled roar of wind, and he heard himself scream.

The hammer struck the doorframe, making the entire Dorm Seven seem to tremble. He swung a second time, this one smashing into the floor. The stone slab cracked open with a sharp "crack."

He had no idea what he had hit. By the time he cautiously opened his eyes through ragged breaths, there was nothing around him.

The coldness on his shoulder had vanished as well.

There was only the fog, and the trembling tail end of his own scream still lingering in the air.

"Third Brother..." Xiao Wu was on the verge of tears.

"Third Brother..." Xiao Wu was on the verge of tears, her nails digging fiercely into Tang San's arm.

She did not dare look outside, nor did she dare look inside. She could only bury her face behind his back, her Soul Power scattered beyond recognition.

Tang San was not doing much better.

His lower back pressed against the doorframe, his chest feeling as though someone had clenched it in a fist. Even his breathing shook.

The Clear Sky Hammer was still held across his body, but there was nothing before him except fog.

The fog seemed even thicker than before. Even the shadow of the old locust tree outside the door was nowhere to be seen.

The whole world seemed stuffed inside a white cloth sack, suffocatingly stifling.

"Listen to me."

He suppressed his voice, barely speaking above a breath. "Slowly get up. We'll go back inside and light the lamp."

Xiao Wu nodded, her limbs weak as she followed him backward.

When they reached the bedside, Tang San found his fire starter.

With a sharp scrape, he struck it.

A flame leaped up.

And in that instant, he saw the opposite wall.

A line of words had appeared on it at some point.

Red words.

They looked as though they had been written with something dipped in red. The handwriting was crooked and twisted, still trickling downward as if it had just been written:

"Don't light the lamp."

Tang San's hand trembled, and the fire starter nearly fell to the floor.

Xiao Wu froze on the spot.

"Ah!"

"Ahhhhhhhhhhhhhhh—!" ×2

(;´༎ຶД༎ຶ`) ×2

The two screams nearly blew the roof off Dorm Seven.

Tang San grabbed Xiao Wu, Xiao Wu clutched Tang San, and the two of them looked as if ghosts had chased them through three streets.

The fire starter fell to the floor with a smack and rolled beside the bed. The room went dark again.

Then, a burst of barely restrained laughter came from overhead.

"HAHAHAHAHAHA—!"

Luo Yan rolled down from the ceiling beam.

Xiao Wu's entire body was still trembling. She pointed at the dark figure on the floor, her voice shaking. "Luo... Luo Yan?"

"It's me! Of course it's me! Who else could it be, a real ghost?"

Luo Yan laughed so hard he rolled around. "I just made a little fog, fashioned a fake hand, and put it on your shoulder—good heavens! Third Brother, you nearly tore this crappy room apart! What did the doorframe ever do to you? Why were you smashing it like crazy?!"

Tang San said nothing. He only panted heavily.

One hand braced against the wall, the other still gripping the Clear Sky Hammer, sweat dripped from his forehead down his chin. The back of his head was still numb, and his back was drenched as if he had been hauled out of a river.

Slowly, he turned his head toward Luo Yan.

Xiao Wu exploded first.

"Luo Yan, are you sick?! Pretending to be a ghost in the middle of the night! Paper Dolls! Embroidered Shoes! Red writing! And touching his neck! Whose neck do you think you're touching?! Believe it or not, I'll twist your neck off right now and use it as a door knocker!"

The more she spoke, the angrier she became. She grabbed another pillow from the bed and hurled it at Luo Yan's head.

After the pillow, she snatched up a shoe, then a teapot, then anything she could get her hands on and threw it at him.

Luo Yan dodged while laughing. "My bad! My bad, my bad! I just thought I'd add a little color to your and Third Brother's dull academy life!"

"Color my ass! You scared Third Brother so badly he called for his mother!"

"I didn't call for my mother!" Tang San roared.

"You did!" Xiao Wu and Luo Yan said in unison.

Tang San was so furious that he laughed. He actually laughed. Slowly straightening up, he walked before Luo Yan, chuckled once, then again. "Luo Yan, if I don't bury you under the base of the wall tonight, I'll write the name Tang San backward."

Luo Yan's eyes immediately lit up. "San Tang? That's a pretty nice name too. How about I give you a pen name called San Tang? From now on, whenever you go out, just say you're my little brother!"

"I am your—!" Tang San grabbed Luo Yan by the neck, but before he could apply any force, he suddenly froze.

Footsteps.

They were hurried and chaotic, like more than a dozen pairs of feet rushing over from the far end of the corridor at once.

Someone shouted, "Over there! Dorm Seven! Hurry!"

Tang San and Xiao Wu both looked at Luo Yan.

"What did you do this time?" Tang San lowered his voice.

Luo Yan spread his hands, the crooked smile Xiao Wu had tugged out of place still hanging on his face. "This really wasn't me. I'm right here in front of you, but—"

He tilted his head, his eyes glancing toward the door, and his smile deepened.

"You two seem to be in trouble."

"What trouble?" Xiao Wu had barely finished speaking when the doorway was already packed with people.

Yu Xiaogang led the group, followed by the night-duty teacher and several upperclassman teaching assistants. Every one of them looked alarmed and anxious.

They had clearly heard the two screams just now, or perhaps the sound of the hammer smashing the door.

"Xiao San! What happened?!"

Yu Xiaogang stepped inside, only to be startled by the crack in the doorframe.

He looked down at the threshold, then at the cracked stone floor. "That commotion just now... did you get into a fight? Is anyone hurt?"

Tang San instinctively raised a hand to point at Luo Yan.

"It was him..."

Before he could finish, he turned his head.

There was nothing behind him.

Where Luo Yan had been standing, there was only an Embroidered Shoe Xiao Wu had thrown onto the floor.

The other one still lay alone at the doorway, while the fog had completely dispersed.

The old locust tree rustled softly beyond the window. The person was already gone.

Tang San turned back again. Every teacher was looking at him, and Yu Xiaogang's brows furrowed tighter and tighter.

"Xiao San."

Yu Xiaogang's voice deepened. "What exactly happened? Who was here? Who did you mean by 'him'?"

Tang San opened his mouth, then forced out two words after a long while. "...A rat."

"A rat?" Yu Xiaogang clearly did not believe him. "A rat forced you to smash up the entrance?"

"It was a very big rat." Xiao Wu added softly from the side. "Really... really big. It could laugh."

"It could laugh?" Yu Xiaogang exchanged looks with the other teachers, their expressions growing even stranger.

Tang San took a deep breath and turned his face away.

What else could he say?

Say that Luo Yan had come back, pretended to be a ghost to scare them, even touched his neck, and then Tang San had been so terrified that he closed his eyes and smashed up Dorm Seven?

"I... I was just sleeping. I had a nightmare." Tang San said, his voice dry as if he had swallowed half a pound of sand.

"Xiao San, you look terrible."

Yu Xiaogang stepped closer and lowered his voice. "Have you been pushing yourself too hard in cultivation lately? Even your Clear Sky Hammer..."

"No, Teacher."

Tang San cut him off quickly. "I might... really have seen a rat."

"Yes! A rat!"

Xiao Wu nodded furiously. "And it could scream! Its scream was especially awful! Just like a person's! Really!"

Yu Xiaogang looked at the two pale-faced students with unfocused eyes, then at the door that looked ready to collapse.

He sighed, as if he understood something, yet also understood nothing at all.

"Report it for repairs tomorrow."

He said, "For tonight, sleep in the empty room next door. Don't stay here."

"Alright." Tang San answered immediately.

Once all the teachers had left, a whistle sounded.

The two followed the sound and saw Luo Yan leaning against the ceiling beam, waggling his brows at them.

"Wasn't that fun?"

Xiao Wu raised the Great Desolation Prison Finger. "I'll show you fun, you Hundred-Thousand-Year Soul Beast foul-mouthed bastard!"