Wan Jie Hospice Care Company

At the corner of the stairs, the shadows of the two people were stretched long by the corridor light and then broken off on the corner wall.

No one looked back.

"Gurgle."

An Ling swallowed hard, and her steps began to stiffen.

Her eyes unconsciously slid to the side, and the corner window, due to the indoor lighting, was covered with a thin layer of mercury-like reflection, like a mirror.

An Ling saw a faint figure behind the two of them.

"Brother Xiang..."

"Yes, I know." Xiang Yu also knew that there seemed to be something behind him. He could even feel the chill on the back of his neck, but he did not choose to turn around.

Xiang Yu had also heard ghost stories like "alleys where you can't turn back," where once you enter a certain place, you can't turn back, or you'll be killed by a ghost...

As for what kind of thing is following them right now, he doesn't know, but since it hasn't made a move yet, he'll just treat it as air for now. It's the rule of the martial arts world: if the enemy doesn't move, I won't move.

The two of them quickened their pace without prior arrangement, hurried up to the third floor, and tried to shake off the figure behind them.

The figure then sped up as well.

The figure was always elusive, appearing and disappearing at the same time. No matter how fast or slow they moved, it always stopped about ten meters behind them, like their shadows.

Moreover, at some point, a faint mist appeared in the corridor. The mist was murky and filthy, making the light bulbs' glow unclear.

But it had no taste. Xiang Yu tried to inhale it, and all he could feel in his nasal cavity was a faint, damp smell like well water.

As the fog appeared, a voice came from behind them, seemingly from the figure.

"Flying Light, Flying Light, let me offer you a cup of wine—"

An Ling was startled when she heard the voice; this wasn't the song she learned today...

The Short Day

The voice, though faintly discernible as a woman's, was extremely eerie, yet it resonated through the small corridor with an echoing, mournful quality that seemed to linger and fade away.

Upon hearing this sound, Xiang Yu couldn't help but get goosebumps all over his body.

He really wanted to use "flow" to ask a few questions, such as whether the thing behind him was friend or foe.

The time loop, the rule that expressing love means death, and this thing following behind—are they all caused by the same strange phenomenon?

If not, then doesn't that mean there are several strange creatures hiding in this small school?

Won't these things fight each other?

But flow comes at a price; he needs to get some sleep first, otherwise, if he runs out of mental energy halfway through asking questions, he'll just collapse.

Fortunately, Anling had already led him through a door.

The light was still on in the homeroom teacher's office, but the room was empty. The fleeing crowd had swept the teacher away with them, and then they never returned.

"here!"

An Ling pointed to the homeroom teacher's desk, and Xiang Yu walked over and casually flipped through it, finding a cabinet full of snacks, which must have been confiscated from students.

Besides food, the office also contained old-fashioned skateboards, roller skates, and even an ice sled, most of which were toys that students had secretly brought into the school and which were later confiscated.

"By the way, after your homeroom teacher confiscates your things, do they return them to you?" Xiang Yu asked, pulling out a box of potato chips.

An Ling explained, "Give them back to us? How could that be possible... After all, these things aren't allowed to be brought in, so it's normal for them to be confiscated for violating the rules."

Xiang Yu casually took a bite; it was potato chip made from pressed potato starch... Xiang Yu didn't really like this kind, but it seems like whole-cut potato chips aren't sold much these days.

But now he can't be picky about food anymore, so he simply crushed the whole bag, poured it into his mouth, and gulped it down.

He also saw a whole box of instant coffee, but he didn't have time to make it with water. He just poured dozens of packets of coffee powder into his mouth and then poured water from the thermos directly into his stomach.

Looking at Xiang Yu, who looked like a starving ghost reincarnated, An Ling could only sigh that he was indeed a remarkable person who could save the world, even eating so much.

It's true that Wu Song ate two catties of cooked beef in one sitting back then...

"I do not know the height of the blue sky, nor the thickness of the yellow earth—"

Just as Xiang Yu was enjoying his meal, that mournful sound rang out again outside the office door.

As he popped the brown sugar that his homeroom teacher had been using to make tea into his mouth, he clenched his fist, determined to give the hymn singer a good punch once he left.

This is such a damn disturbance to the neighbors!

After eating for about ten minutes, Xiang Yu slowly stood up after consuming all the high-fat and high-sugar foods.

He touched his stomach; he had just eaten so much that his stomach would probably have bulged out by now if it were the old him.

But now my stomach is still flat as before, as if all that food has entered another dimension.

An Ling, who was standing to the side, was completely stunned. She had witnessed Xiang Yu eat all the snacks that the homeroom teacher had confiscated over the past two semesters without even burping.

"Brother Xiang, you have the biggest appetite I've ever seen." An Ling could only marvel at how extraordinary Brother Xiang truly was.

"Actually, I only ate about half full... Do you have a buffet here?" Xiang Yu tossed the bag of rice crackers aside.

An Ling was taken aback when she heard this: "Self-service?"

"Ah, it seems you haven't driven here before... That's true, modernization might still be a few years away."

Xiang Yu muttered to himself as he looked at his skill panel.

Energy intake: 15670 kJ

[Converted into 7835 kilojoules of energy]

[Approximately equivalent to 2 kilograms of TNT]

"Only the cold moon and warm sun bring suffering to human life—"

The sounds from outside came again. Xiang Yu clenched his fists. Now he could only try to see if the attack could damage the strange creature.

If this thing could be killed...

"Walk."

Xiang Yu strode towards the door, his right fist already gathering power. Anyone who dared to suddenly appear and startle him would be met with a friendly face-breaking punch.

Six pure depleted uranium bullets, 3,600 revolutions in a single breath...

He silently recited scriptures to bolster his courage, while simultaneously preparing to suddenly attack and injure someone... a treacherous act.

"Eating bear makes you fat, eating frogs makes you thin—"

Just as Xiang Yu walked out of the office, the ethereal figure who had been chanting hymns disappeared without a trace, and the fog in the air began to dissipate.

Only a water stain remained in the corridor, as if it had been left by a student on duty mopping the floor.

As Xiang Yu stared at the water stain, the murderous intent in his heart slowly transformed into an indescribable awkwardness.

Why doesn't it take action?

Why isn't this figure attacking them?

It kept singing hymns and following around, but never showed any aggressive behavior.

Could it be that its purpose wasn't to attack at all... but rather to tell him something?

Whether it's the watermarks, the sung poems, or the elusive figure, it's like a riddle-solving fellow desperately trying to make him understand something.

Soon after, he made a bold decision.

"Anling, can you move me?"

"Eh?"

Xiang Yu turned around, grabbed a jump rope from the desk, and pulled over the confiscated skateboard from the corner.

He crouched down and wrapped the jump rope around the axle of the skateboard's front wheel: "I might take a short nap later, but I'll lie on the skateboard and tie myself up with the jump rope."

"Then you just need to pull the jump rope and the skateboard, and drag me along."

Hearing this, An Ling looked somewhat bewildered: "But...which way to go?"

Xiang Yu took a deep breath: "In the moment I lose consciousness, I will make a gesture. If I raise my thumb, then I will walk along the water trail on the floor."

"If I give you the middle finger, then walk in the opposite direction, as far away from that watermark as possible."

After saying that, Xiang Yu lay face down on the skateboard, then tied himself to it with a jump rope, with his legs hanging naturally at the tail of the board.

He learned this technique from watching some unofficial short videos; it's said to make the binding look beautiful and sturdy, and quite tempting.

Tortoise shell binding!

However, aesthetics are not necessary at the moment; just being slightly sturdy is enough.

He had originally planned to use this on his future girlfriend, whom he had never met... but he never expected that he would be the first test subject.

After Xiang Yu had done all this, he entered a state of flow under An Ling's somewhat flustered gaze.

"This is my third time here... and the first time I've talked to you this much in one day."

Xiang Yu grumbled at the being within his flow state, then began to ask questions:

"...Was everything that figure that was following us did intended to help us?"

"……yes."

Xiang Yu suddenly felt an extreme fatigue creep up on his body, as if an anesthetic had been injected into his spine, or as if he had only slept for three hours the night before and was still sleepy during his first class of the morning, which was Chinese class.

My eyes... I can't open them anymore.

But before falling into a deep sleep, Xiang Yu focused all his energy on "controlling his fingers".

In the instant he lost consciousness, he mustered all his strength to give a thumbs-up.