“I only have one question. Was that supposed to be a ghost story or a love story? Once you add romance, the horror gets diluted. You don’t even know that most basic rule of ghost stories?” Ke Bu asked.
“You looked pretty absorbed while I was telling it. Now that it’s over, you’re burning the bridge after crossing it? Fine, then. Let’s hear what kind of ghost story you can tell!”
“In that case, I’ll bring out my best-kept story. It’s short and terrifying.”
Zhang Luo looked completely disdainful.
Ke Bu began. “This is the story of an author. Supposedly, some people actually read the things she writes, and she even gets messages and comments. Plenty of those messages and comments are people confessing their love to her. Someone once even called her an angel. Pah, an angel? Could someone like her possibly be an angel? On the surface, this author seems perfectly normal, but no one knows about the other side of her that she keeps hidden. She has some kind of extreme multiple-personality disorder. Nobody actually reads what she writes at all. All those comments, messages, and clicks are made by her alone. She replies to herself and creates countless sockpuppet accounts just to praise herself. Tell me that isn’t terrifying, narcissistic, and perverted.”
“I think the truly terrifying thing is that you actually dared to tell this story. Keep blackening her name if you want. We don’t mind. But aren’t you worried the next chapter will suddenly be the grand finale where Ke Bu mysteriously dies on the train and the rest of us hold his funeral?”
“I never named anyone.”
The moment Ke Bu finished speaking, he suddenly felt hot all over.
Extremely hot.
Unbearably hot.
He desperately wanted to tear off all his clothes, sprint through the train, and dance ballet.
“No, no, no! I do not have thoughts like that!! Absolutely not!! Zhi Li, save me!”
Ke Bu climbed onto the upper berth and grabbed Zhi Li for help.
Zhi Li calmly took out his phone. “Who told you to provoke her when you had nothing better to do?”
Suddenly, Ke Bu desperately wanted Zhi Li to rape him right there on the train, humiliate him, tie him up, rip off his clothes, and give him endless pleasure.
“These sudden thoughts being forced into my head are not mine! Hey, Zhi Li, why did you stop moving? Hurry up and call her!”
Zhi Li shoved the phone under his pillow. “This isn’t bad either.”
“You’re supposed to be on my side!”
Ke Bu rubbed his eyes with his palm. He had no idea when he had fallen asleep the night before. His entire body felt heavy and impossible to move. Surely listening to a ghost story last night hadn’t resulted in him being pinned down by a ghost the very next morning.
As he thought about it, he drifted hazily back to sleep.
In his dream, he became Sun Wukong, trapped beneath Five-Finger Mountain. The pressure grew heavier and heavier until he could barely stand it.
At last, Ke Bu opened his eyes.
So it wasn’t a ghost pinning him to the bed.
Zhi Li was pinning him to the bed.
How had Zhi Li ended up lying completely on top of him?
“Zhi Li. Zhi Li. Zhi Li!”
Zhi Li narrowed his eyes.
Ke Bu struggled to free one hand and tried to push him away. “Why are you sleeping on top of me?!”
“I was trying to wake you up, then I suddenly got sleepy.”
Zhi Li still seemed half-asleep. He closed his eyes again.
“Get up!”
Yawning, Chu Hao Yu pushed open the door from the neighboring compartment. The moment he saw the scene on the bed, he covered his eyes. “This time I really did walk in by accident. Ke Bu, you’re seriously ahead of the times. You’re putting on a live show even with You Yan and Xin He right here.”
“What live show?! I’m still fully dressed!”
“Then why are you sleeping in Zhi Li’s bed?”
“He’s sleeping in my bed!”
“All right, all right. Stop making excuses. Did you just start or did you already finish? We’re almost at the destination, so hurry up and get ready to get off.”
Wearing an upright and respectable expression, Chu Hao Yu sat down on Zhou Xin He’s lower berth as he informed Ke Bu. His hand carefully slipped beneath the blanket.
His expression changed instantly.
He cried out in pain.
Su You Yan sat up and lifted one corner of the blanket. “Want to come in?”
“Y-You’re the one sleeping on the lower berth? Since you’re inviting me so enthusiastically, then I…”
When it came to lust, no setback or lesson could shake Chu Hao Yu’s determination. If he ever applied that same spirit to something respectable, perhaps he would already have become an outstanding great man.
Everyone got off the train looking half-asleep except Chu Hao Yu, whose face was black and blue. It was only four in the morning, and the surroundings were bitterly cold and desolate.
Ke Bu wrapped both arms around himself and stood behind Zhi Li, using him as a shield against the freezing wind.
Zhi Li moved one step to the left.
Ke Bu moved with him.
Ying Xiu Jie shook off his sleepiness and immediately perked up. “Are you playing Eagle Catches the Chicks? I’ll be the eagle.”
Maybe everyone was simply too cold, or perhaps they were still half-asleep, because they actually lined up behind Ke Bu.
Ke Bu turned around. “Enough already. Stop playing such a childish game in front of the train station.”
“Whoever gets caught pays the taxi fare,” Su You Yan said, opening her book. She was the only one who hadn’t joined in.
Ke Bu grabbed Zhi Li around the waist and quietly plotted with him. “Zhi Li, don’t let him catch me. I’m the only one who didn’t get any New Year’s money.”
“Ke Bu, that’s shameless. Did you think we couldn’t hear you? Games are supposed to be fair and impartial. How can you cheat? What kind of character is that? Sloppy. Dirty.”
Even dirtier than him, Chu Hao Yu instantly stripped off his clothes and ran back and forth behind them. “Come on! Come on! Let’s see where you dare grab me.”
Apparently, he truly wasn’t afraid of the cold.
Zhang Luo added, “I haven’t showered in a month.”
Gong Zhu winked at Ying Xiu Jie, putting on an exaggeratedly shy expression. “Come catch me. If you catch me, you’ll have to take responsibility for me.”
Ying Xiu Jie shuddered at the situation in front of him.
If he had known it would turn out like this, he never would have volunteered to be the eagle.
Now only Ke Bu and Xin He were viable targets, but Ying Xiu Jie was a man. Catching Zhou Xin He would be bullying the weak. He absolutely couldn’t do something like that.
Ke Bu could read the look in Ying Xiu Jie’s eyes and reminded him, “This is only a game. You just need to catch me. Stop looking like you’re about to fight me to the death.”
It was far too cold. Ke Bu really didn’t want to waste any more energy than necessary.
“Zhi Li, cough, cough. I think I caught a cold.”
“Milk.”
“Cough, cough, cough. A really bad cold.”
“I want some milk.”
Their conversation had absolutely nothing to do with itself.
Ke Bu turned Zhi Li around and deliberately stood on tiptoe to cough hard in his face. “Me being sick doesn’t make you concerned?”
Zhi Li covered Ke Bu’s coughing mouth with one hand. “My eyes are on my face for more than decoration.”
“You can’t even mock me without complimenting yourself at the same time?!”
Ying Xiu Jie reached around Zhi Li from behind, intending to grab the clothes over Ke Bu’s chest.
Zhi Li bent one arm and blocked him, tilting his head slightly. “That’s territory only I’m allowed to touch.”
“I am not your territory.”
While the two of them talked, Ying Xiu Jie kept attacking, and Zhi Li blocked every single attempt.
Panting, Ying Xiu Jie asked, “Is there anywhere on his body that isn’t your territory?”
His heart had been wounded.
Zhi Li had been talking to Ke Bu the entire time, yet somehow still managed to stop every one of Ying Xiu Jie’s attacks.
“Time’s up,” Su You Yan announced.
For some reason, the fact that he now had to pay the taxi fare made Ying Xiu Jie suddenly burn with fighting spirit. “I’ll become stronger! Burn, my Cosmo!!”
Elio’s Notes: “Burn, my Cosmo!” riffs on the famous battle cry from Saint Seiya.
“Stop shouting such embarrassing lines.”
They ate breakfast at a twenty-four-hour fast-food restaurant. The hot milk warmed their bodies.
Whenever you first arrived in a new city, there was always a strange illusion that a new life was beginning.
Leave a Reply