The clock on the wall ticked on and on.
The professor remained crouched beside the long-haired young woman who had said her name was Yin Rui.
He stared unblinkingly at the clock, unsure whether he wanted time to move faster so his time with Yin Rui would end.
Or whether he wanted it to slow down so he could stay with her a little longer.
Ten minutes later, the professor glanced at the young woman beside him out of the corner of his eye.
His heart pounded, darting wildly around his chest like a headless fly.
The young woman's eyes were tightly shut. Her long, black, upturned lashes rested against her flawless white-jade cheeks like butterflies with exquisitely delicate wings.
Seeing her eyes closed, the professor grew a little bolder and stopped looking at her from the corner of his eye.
He gazed straight at her, studying her as though admiring a precious work of art.
His gaze swept over her rosy lips and settled on her injured arm.
The wound looked as though some large beast had torn into it.
Even the black, oddly styled bodice of her long dress had been ripped into strips.
He saw the wound in that fair skin healing little by little, at a speed visible to the naked eye.
The professor's eyes widened in disbelief.
Like the writhing body of some soft-bodied creature, the skin around the injury slowly knitted together.
This lay completely beyond his understanding.
Suddenly, the laboratory's door handle rattled.
Someone was coming in.
Panicking, the professor tried to find a good place to hide her, but the instant he turned his head, the long-haired young woman beside him was gone.
It was as though she had vanished in an instant.
The door opened. His advisor had come to call