Only a few traces of moonlight filtered into the dim room.
The breeze outside stirred the pale curtains. The room was so chaotic there was nowhere to step. Clothes from the walk-in closet lay scattered across the floor.
Porcelain shards and the glittering fragments of shattered glasses gleamed together on the floor amid the wreckage of cups and plates.
Ji Chi huddled in a corner, clutching a rabbit with a purple ribbon tied around one ear. A few damp strands of black hair covered his eyelids, and faint fear lingered in his eyes, which could not settle into focus.
It was impossible to tell whether he was looking at the rabbit or the sea of wreckage filling the room.
Beside Ji Chi lay three spent Suppressant syringes. One needle had snapped, its surface gleaming ominously.
Having injected too much Suppressant, Ji Chi was now dizzy, his head swimming.
His suppressed emotions broke out of their cage.
Heavier and more frenzied than before.
"Mm..." Ji Chi whimpered, his breath hot, his hands clenched into fists.
Faint veins rose beneath his skin, yet he looked like a wilted lion, hardly capable of attacking anyone.
Gu Baizhou had been right. All his avoidance lately had done him no good.
Ji Chi hugged the little rabbit tightly, drawing it close as though addicted. He buried his nose against it, greedily inhaling the faint cool scent that could barely begin to soothe him.
Ji Chi had searched like a madman to find the rabbit he had abandoned for half a month.
A thin sheen of sweat dampened his hands. He was so starved of air that he could barely breathe.
"You'll lose control of your consciousness."
"You have to accept that one leads and the other is led."
"After being marked by an Enigma..."
"It's more terrifying than you imagine."
"It doesn't lessen or fade. Research shows that no one marked by an Enigma has ever endured it alone."
Gu Baizhou's words forced their way into his mind, one by one.
At first, Ji Chi could make sense of them.
Gradually, there was nothing but a noisy buzzing. He could neither hear them clearly nor understand what they meant.
Ji Chi tugged at his clothes.
The breeze drifted in through the window, but it was not as cold as he had imagined.
He leaned against one edge of the curtain, looking desolate and small in the vast room.
Little by little, Ji Chi slid to the floor.
He simply lay there on the cold gray tiles.
Ji Chi did not feel cold.
He clutched the rabbit.
Faint whimpers escaped his lips.
As Ji Chi moved, his fingertips brushed one of the syringes on the floor.
The cylindrical Suppressant syringe began rolling again.
He wanted to get some water, but the water dispenser by the door seemed far too distant now.
He had no strength to fetch any.
Even less to get up.
As his consciousness grew hazy, Ji Chi tried to save himself, but there was no one he could contact.
Song Lin? Impossible.
Those fair-weather friends were even more impossible.
Ji Chi picked up his phone. Through his misty eyes, a thin haze seemed to veil the screen.
His hands were too damp, and he struggled for a long time to unlock it. Only after repeated attempts did he manage to tap the last contact.
He placed the call.
He wanted Gu Baizhou.
The phone rang only once before the other person answered.
"Gu..." Ji Chi's voice sounded lost in a fog, laden with weakness and unbearable distress.
"Gu..." This time, the final sound lingered longer, but Ji Chi still could not get a complete sentence out.
The person on the other end seemed to sense that something was wrong. The moment that gentle voice spoke, a faint shudder ran through Ji Chi.
The voice was warm and soft. Perhaps he was hallucinating, but Ji Chi thought it sounded so, so much like Huo Jin.
Or perhaps it really was Huo Jin.
"Ji Chi."
The other person softly called his name, like spring water flowing over searing lava, soothing him.
That faint coolness put Ji Chi at ease.
It was only his name, yet the worry woven into the voice was unmistakable.
"Dr. Gu..." This time, Ji Chi managed half a coherent sentence.
He lay curled on the floor, his phone on speaker beside his ear, his clothes disheveled and heat rippling through him.
Before you continue