Chapter 243: Strange Arrival 10
A chilling aura of death gradually enveloped her. Chu Yian watched, rigid with fear, as the thing by her bed crept closer and closer, like a fish on a chopping board waiting to be slaughtered.
“Help… Help!”
Chu Yian squeezed out that single word from her throat, using every ounce of her strength.
With a “snap,” light returned to her eyes, and the oppressive feeling on her body lifted. Lu Qingyuan stood at her doorway in his pajamas, his gaze full of concern as he looked at her. “What’s wrong, Little Chu? Did you have a nightmare?”
Chu Yian’s eyes were wide with terror, her back drenched in a cold sweat.
“Just now…”
Chu Yian wanted to tell him that a ghastly presence had just been standing by her bed, but the words caught in her throat. If that ghastly presence was still nearby, wouldn’t speaking expose the fact that she could see it?
That would be like handing the ghastly presence a reason to kill her.
“I had a very terrifying nightmare just now.”
She clutched the blanket, hesitating as she fabricated an excuse.
“A nightmare, huh?”
Lu Qingyuan’s tongue lingered on the word, his gaze quickly sweeping outside the window. “Maybe you’re not sleeping well because of the change in environment. I’ll warm you a cup of milk.”
“No, thank you.”
Chu Yian shook her head.
The thought that the ghastly presence might be nearby made it impossible for her to sleep.
“Alright. If you need anything, just get up and call me. I live right next door to you.”
The door closed softly, leaving her alone in the room once more.
Chu Yian sat on the bed, completely unable to sleep, nervously clutching the blanket. She tried her best not to look towards the window or anywhere else, picking up her phone from beside her pillow, intending to use it to pass the time.
However, as soon as she turned on her phone, a ghostly face with pale skin and sunken cheeks appeared on the dark screen. Blood slowly flowed from its eyes, and its malevolent gaze stared at her through the screen.
Chu Yian gasped in fright, and her phone slipped onto the blanket. Yet, the ghostly face on the screen did not disappear; its eyes remained fixed on her.
The quiet room filled with a buzzing sound of static, and the lights flickered on and off.
Chu Yian abruptly sat up, about to put on her shoes and run out, when her toes brushed against something that felt like paper—the spot where her cotton slippers had been was now occupied by a pair of crudely made, ominous paper shoes.
Chu Yian jumped in fright and ran out of the guest room barefoot.
“Teacher Lu, Lu Qingyuan!”
She pounded on the master bedroom door. Fortunately, Lu Qingyuan opened it.
Chu Yian darted into his room as if chased by a ghost, bumping into him in her haste and clutching his sleeve tightly.
“It’s alright, it’s alright.”
Lu Qingyuan reached out and patted her back, his gaze turning to look behind her, his eyes cold.
The pair of paper shoes that had been steadily approaching Chu Yian halted, wary of the ghastly presence in front of them that was even more terrifying than themselves, then slowly disappeared, just as they had that afternoon.
“Did you have another nightmare?”
“Yes.”
Chu Yian’s lips trembled slightly from nervousness, her voice carrying a fear and grievance she hadn’t even realized herself.
She looked like a rabbit terrified of earthworms, seeking refuge in a venomous snake’s territory.
He wanted to devour her.
Lu Qingyuan’s tongue pressed against his upper palate, suppressing his desires. He held her in his arms, soothing her gently and softly.
Only when the chilling aura disappeared did she look up towards the guest room.
The living room was pitch black.
Lu Qingyuan prepared to go in and check, but Chu Yian quickly pulled him back.
“It’s fine.”
Lu Qingyuan walked to the door and tried to turn on the light again, but unfortunately, apart from two static sounds, the light wouldn’t come on.
“Teacher Lu, can I sleep in your room tonight?”
Chu Yian followed closely behind him, asking, “I can just sleep on the floor.”
It seemed she was truly terrified.
Lu Qingyuan turned and smiled gently at her, “Alright.”
Even sleeping on the floor didn’t really alleviate her fear, even though Lu Qingyuan had specifically prepared a cup of warm milk to help her sleep before bed.
Lu Qingyuan’s bed was very large and looked expensive.
But his bed wasn’t solid; there was a twenty-centimeter gap between the bed frame and the floor.
What if that ghastly presence was hiding under the bed? What if she opened her eyes and came face-to-face with the ghastly presence under the bed?
What if, through the gap, she saw a pair of pale legs wearing paper shoes dangling on the other side of the bed… Chu Yian’s makeshift bed was right next to this gap, and that dim, dark crevice always made one imagine all sorts of things. Once such thoughts appeared, they wouldn’t stop, and they only grew more terrifying.
“Teacher Lu!”
Chu Yian finally couldn’t take it anymore. She hugged her blanket and climbed up from the floor. “Can I sleep next to you?”
This round of the game was too scary.
She didn’t care about the points anymore, but being killed by a ghastly presence was truly terrifying.
“Come up.”
With Lu Qingyuan’s permission, Chu Yian hesitantly climbed onto the bed with her blanket, wrapped herself tightly, and then quietly moved a little closer to Lu Qingyuan.
“Teacher Lu, I’m sorry.”
Her behavior today looked exactly like someone deliberately making various excuses to climb into the bed of a strange man she had only known for a few days. This situation was truly awkward, and she felt it necessary to explain herself to him.
She only dared to lean close to his ear and whisper to him after feeling that the chilling sensation had disappeared.
“Actually, I didn’t have a nightmare. I encountered… a ghastly presence.”
She spoke very softly, especially the last two words, like a tiny breeze brushing against Lu Qingyuan’s earlobe.
In the darkness, the man’s eyes darkened for a moment.
Then Lu Qingyuan turned around, facing her. “A ghastly presence?”
“Really, I’m not lying. I crashed my bicycle into the glass before because of it too.”
Chu Yian quietly told him about the characteristics of the ghastly presences. “They can’t just kill people randomly. They only act against people when they are sure that person can see them. That’s why I pretended not to see these things before and managed to avoid them several times. But this one this time is different from the others; it seems to have set its sights on me.”
The one from this afternoon and tonight seemed to be the same ghastly presence she had encountered on the road before.
What did it feel like to be targeted by an extremely malevolent ghastly presence?
Chu Yian felt a chill down her spine and couldn’t help but move a little closer to Lu Qingyuan.
“But it’s so strange; it disappears when you’re around. Do you have some kind of magical protective charm?”
She had read quite a few books in Lu Qingyuan’s house. Ghastly presences couldn’t be killed, but there were many different types of protective charms. Their abilities ranged from high to low, and the bagua mirror she had drawn before was one of them.
Unfortunately, it was not.
What could scare away ghastly presences wasn’t just protective charms, but also ghastly presences even more vicious than them.
Lu Qingyuan looked at the source of warmth continuously moving closer to him, wondering what the little living person in front of him would be like if she knew what the person she was clinging to truly was.
What did a terrified living person taste like?
He lightly licked his teeth with his tongue, and darkness filled his entire vision…
