I really don't want to date a girl addicted to the internet!

"Shen Xi has disappeared."

Following the direction of the boy's finger, the silver-haired girl who had been motionless just moments before vanished from the spot.

"Hey, when?"

"Just now, I was watching her."

"Did she log off?" Nagasaki Asuna blinked.

"I'll go ask what happened. It's getting late, you should get some rest too, you have class tomorrow."

"Wait, at least..."

The girl had barely finished speaking when the boy's figure had already disappeared from the spot.

"...At least take a look at my new equipment first?" Nagasaki Asuna's outstretched hand slowly fell.

After a moment of stunned silence, the girl, now dressed in her new gear, kicked her calves in mid-air a few times as if in a fit of rage.

Asuna Nagasaki lowered her head and took a deep breath.

"...That's enough!" She clutched her head and cried out in a plaintive voice.

……

Cheng Fei took off his infiltration helmet and opened WeChat.

Shen Xi has already sent a message.

"Did you catch them?"

Cheng Fei replied quickly.

"What did you catch?"

"I was just about to ask, Teacher Shen, why did you log off?"

There was a long silence on the other end.

"Can't you...see it?"

……

108. The Third Vision

Shen Xi called.

Cheng Fei answered the call.

"The white umbrella just appeared." The girl's voice was tinged with unease.

"It appeared?" Cheng Fei asked incredulously. "But all I saw was that you suddenly went offline."

"She did show up, and it was recorded very clearly." The girl's tone was somewhat impatient.

Cheng Fei quickly thought for a moment, "That means only your perspective can see the white umbrella; she has no physical form in the corridor."

"Ah."

"So you're experiencing another power outage?" Cheng Fei glanced at the brightly lit window.

"The power is out."

"I'll go first."

"unnecessary."

"Is nothing needed this time?"

"You don't need to come over, I'm fine, it's just a power outage anyway."

Hearing her stubborn tone, Cheng Fei remained silent for a moment, "Alright, let's talk about it tomorrow?"

"Okay, see you tomorrow."

Good night.

"Good night."

……

In the pitch-black room, the aloof young woman sat alone on the edge of the bed, watching the call end before putting down her phone.

She picked up the tablet from the bedside table; the screen was still frozen on the moment before the power outage.

A girl with a white umbrella stands in the center of the frame, her still-childish face turned toward the camera. Her searching gaze seems to transcend the barriers of time and space, meeting Shen Xi's eyes directly off the screen.

"Who exactly are you?" Shen Xi whispered, gently stroking the screen.

Just then, the room lights suddenly came on.

The girl looked up in surprise.

It had been less than ten minutes since the power outage, and she hadn't expected it to be restored so quickly.

The moment the idea came to mind, the lights went out again.

The girl sat alone in the darkness, and for some reason, she had a bad feeling.

The room lights began to flicker erratically, like the moment a vengeful ghost in a horror game begins its hunt; the alternation of light and dark created an eerie atmosphere.

"Sizzle, sizzle, sizzle sizzle..."

The tablet in my hand suddenly emitted a faint noise, like a radio that wasn't tuned to the right channel.

Shen Xi lowered her head, her brows furrowed.

The screen on the tablet changed, displaying a lot of colorful mosaic, like the situation that occurred many years ago when a television receiving satellite signals had a poor signal.

But what she was holding was neither a television nor was it playing a video.

The originally frozen image became difficult to discern, especially the figure of the girl with the white umbrella, which was completely covered by colored mosaic.

Shen Xi pressed the volume button, trying to amplify the noise and see if she could hear anything in it, but it didn't work.

The girl had no choice but to lean closer to the speaker holes on the tablet and strain her ears to listen.

She heard more noises, but not from the speaker grille; they came from outside the bedroom door.

There were people talking outside, but it was indistinct.

She abruptly raised her head and stared at the closed door, her pupils dilating, her heart pounding like a drum, almost in sync with the flickering lights.

The girl had an urge to hide under the covers, but she forcibly suppressed it with her reason.

No matter who or what is outside, she must call for help first.

The girl put down her tablet, picked up her phone, dialed the last number in her call log, and put it to her ear.

"Beep, beep, beep..."

A busy signal followed; it seemed the call had been disconnected.

She gritted her teeth and dialed again immediately, this time not to her ear, but staring at the screen.

"Call failed"

The girl saw a notification before the call ended.

It was only then that she noticed that the top left corner of the screen displayed "No Signal".

The girl bit her lip and dialed the police, but the call failed again.

Sitting in the brightly lit room, staring at her phone screen, she felt a sense of absurdity.

At this very moment, she was on the top floor of an apartment in the bustling city center, but she was completely cut off from the outside world, as if she were in another world.

She suddenly regretted her stubborn rejection of Cheng Fei earlier; otherwise, she could be curled up in bed waiting for the boy to appear in front of her right now.

Faced with this bizarre situation, the girl took a deep breath and got out of bed.

She decided to go out and see.

Although the curious one in horror movies always dies first, she doesn't believe in horror movies, and sitting idly by and waiting to die isn't her style.

The girl moved quietly, taking each step with great care, as if every time the lights flashed, a pair of eyes were silently watching her from the dark corners.

She walked to the door, but instead of opening it immediately, she put her ear to the door.

Because the door was very soundproof, she couldn't hear clearly, but there were definitely sounds outside the door.

The girl mustered her courage, grasped the doorknob, and turned it at an extremely slow speed, trying not to make a sound.

The door was opened a crack, and you could see that the hallway lights outside were also flickering erratically.

The girl could hear much more clearly now; it was a man and a woman speaking intermittently, interspersed with buzzing noise, creating an indescribable sense of unease.

She frowned, listened carefully, and finally figured out the source of the sound.

It seemed that the television in the living room was playing a news program, with male and female voices speaking clearly and distinctly, like a presenter reading a news report.

The buzzing sound seemed to be coming from the kitchen range hood and the bathroom washing machine.

Realizing this, the girl quickly changed her mind.

In other words, no one broke in, although for inexplicable reasons all the appliances in the house were working strangely.

The girl pushed open the door and bravely walked out.

The next moment, she was tripped by a moving object under her feet, and in her panic, she lost her balance and fell forward.

It was at this moment that all the lights in the house suddenly went out, and everything returned to complete darkness.

All the electrical appliances were turned off at the same time, and the house, which had been noisy just a moment ago, fell into a deathly silence.

The girl scrambled to her feet in a panic. She wasn't sure what had tripped her; in the pitch black, she couldn't see anything at all.

The sudden change in environment stirred up the fear that had been suppressed in her heart, and an even stronger sense of unease welled up inside her.

Especially now that she has left the safety of her bed and is in the middle of the corridor, it feels as if something in the darkness in front of and behind her is about to jump out and grab her.

The girl trembled as she pulled out her phone to light the way, but in her panic, it slipped from her hand and fell to the ground.

Her heart felt like it was being squeezed tightly by a hand, and she quickly squatted down to reach for her phone.

Just then, a muffled thud came from the entrance hall.

If she wasn't mistaken, that was definitely the sound of the front door.

This time, something or someone really did get in...

Once this idea takes root, it grows wildly in a young girl's heart like weeds.

A palpable sense of crisis enveloped her. She frantically tried to reach for her phone, but the more anxious she became, the less she could find it.

The phone, which should have been lying at her feet, seemed to have grown legs and run away, or been taken by someone; she couldn't find it no matter how hard she tried.

Deep footsteps came from the direction of the living room, clearly audible on the wooden floor, getting closer and closer.

Just as the girl felt her heart pounding wildly, a blinding white light shone on her.

Behind the dazzling white light, a dark figure walked up to her.

A surprised voice followed, "Wow, Teacher Shen, I know you're touched to see me, but is this much of a gesture necessary?"

A familiar boy emerged from the darkness.

A strong sense of security welled up inside the girl, and she couldn't help but pounce on him.

……

109. Shen Xi wants to be with him.

"Teacher Shen, if you're scared, just hug me."

"I told you nothing happened just now, stop dreaming."