Who Was the Hunter? Who Was the Prey?

Ning Rongrong hid behind Lu Chuan, holding the bath towel against her chest with one hand and clutching his robe with the other.

A scent drifted into his nose.

Lu Chuan's nostrils twitched as he caught its clean, pleasant fragrance.

For a moment, he could not tell whether it was the girl's natural scent or the lingering fragrance of soap from her bath.

He coughed lightly and suppressed the strange stir in his heart.

"What ghost? I'll take a look."

With that, Lu Chuan walked toward the bathroom, where the steam had yet to disperse.

Ning Rongrong did not dare stay behind alone. Peeking around nervously, she followed close on Lu Chuan's heels.

Her wary gaze swept their surroundings, her heart full of unease.

White mist swirled through the bathroom, warm steam filling every corner.

Ning Rongrong pressed close behind Lu Chuan, her fingers tightening around his robe. Her voice trembled slightly.

"Well? Is there a ghost?"

Lu Chuan looked at her anxious face and said evenly:

"No. Maybe you were hearing things."

"That's impossible! I really heard it! I was bathing, and then that duck on the floor made a noise! There was no one else in the bathroom..."

Ning Rongrong stepped forward and gestured urgently toward the bathtub with both hands, intent on explaining the strange thing she had seen.

But she moved too vigorously. As her shoulders shifted, the towel wrapped around her slipped free and fell to the floor.

"!!!"

So white! So bright! So... uh, flat...

Ning Rongrong's mind went blank.

Two seconds later.

"Ah!!"

A piercing scream rang out.

She crossed one arm over her chest and dropped the other, hastily crouching and turning away as she reached for the towel on the floor.

The evening breeze brushed the flowers and grass in