Hua Lingyue drove over to pick up the corpse, and invited Xie Qiaoqiao to join her for lunch at McDonald’s—she said McDonald’s was running a promotion lately, with buy-one-get-one-free on new burgers and sundaes.
Qi Chen came along too.
Qi Chen had gauze stuck to his cheek, the place he got hit was swollen high, but the other half of his face, unbruised, was still handsome. As he sat in McDonald’s at an empty table waiting, quite a few people stole glances at him.
Attractive people always have such troubles. Qi Chen was already used to the looks. When he saw Hua Lingyue walk in with Xie Qiaoqiao at the glass revolving door, he raised a hand to greet them.
Because of Hua Lingyue’s appearance, even more eyes from all directions focused on their table.
Hua Lingyue sat down and started placing the order, “The new burgers, and the buy-one-get-one sundaes… Qiaoqiao, which flavor do you want?”
Xie Qiaoqiao replied, “Strawberry.”
Hua Lingyue said, “Alright, I got you strawberry. Coke—”
Xie Qiaoqiao said, “Coke Zero.”
Hua Lingyue gave an “Eh,” a little surprised, looking up.
Xie Qiaoqiao didn’t explain, just started looking at her phone. Without a privacy screen, the display showed a dense jumble of English letters.
So Hua Lingyue put away her surprise, lowered her head and kept ordering, “Xiao Qi can’t eat anything hard right now, I’ll order you porridge.”
Qi Chen had no opinion and nodded.
While waiting for the food, Hua Lingyue turned to ask Xie Qiaoqiao, “About that thing yesterday, did you notice anything?”
Xie Qiaoqiao was concise: “A human body, but with monster traits.”
Hua Lingyue asked, “You’re sure it’s a human body? Her back… it was all like that.”
Xie Qiaoqiao nodded, “I’m sure.”
Qi Chen also mumbled, “I tried, but talismans meant for monsters didn’t work on her—that’s why I got beat up so badly yesterday.”
Neither Qi Chen nor the two members from Second Group had expected this—their preparations were all aimed at monsters. But unexpectedly, the other party had a purely human body. Talismans, formations, and weapons for monsters were all useless.
“Ah, so that’s why?” Hua Lingyue was truly surprised this time.
“I thought it was just because the opponent was too strong.”
Qi Chen:
Seeing his speechless expression, Hua Lingyue spread her hands. “Well, Qiaoqiao made it look so easy!”
Qi Chen covered the injured side of his face, feeling the pain from the twitching muscles.
He took a deep breath, trying hard not to make any exaggerated expressions.
Turning his face away, he showed Hua Lingyue the back of his head, not wanting to talk, and not quite sure how to respond.
If he emphasized how special the enemy was, it would only highlight how much of a mess he was compared to Xie Qiaoqiao’s effortless performance last night.
That unwillingness of youth made him shut his mouth in frustration, one hand loosely covering his bandaged cheek.
Fortunately, their order was called soon enough.
Hua Lingyue ran to fetch the food, and the topic quietly passed by.
During the meal, Qi Chen glanced at Xie Qiaoqiao’s face. She still had no expression, silent and cold, with a touch of melancholy around her brows.
That somber air made her temperament seem especially sharp; combined with her defined features, she looked like a sword with its edge fully exposed.
Even her personality was like a cold, hard metal sword; she wouldn’t show any subjective reaction, and all you could see in her mirrored blade was your own expression.
After eating, Hua Lingyue had to drive the corpse back to the Department for autopsy, which wasn’t on their way, so she didn’t give Xie Qiaoqiao and Qi Chen a ride.
Xie Qiaoqiao and Qi Chen left the shopping street together—though truthfully, their routes weren’t the same either. Xie Qiaoqiao lived off campus, Qi Chen lived at school, and they didn’t even attend the same university.
At the fork in the road, both stopped at the same time. Qi Chen was about to say goodbye to Xie Qiaoqiao when she spoke first: “This kind of bracelet—”
She raised her left hand, shaking the vividly red Copper Coin Red String on her wrist. “Can you make one that amplifies Aura?”
Qi Chen replied, “I can make it, but—”
He hesitated. “Your Aura is already scary enough to ward off ghosts. If you get an amplifier, are you planning to scare people instead?”
Xie Qiaoqiao lowered her arm. “It’s not for me. I have a friend, after being discharged from the hospital, his Aura has been very weak, always attracting all kinds of ghosts.”
Qi Chen almost said—it’s normal for regular people to have weak Aura after a serious illness, it’ll recover in a day or two, there’s no need to bother with something so troublesome.
Whether amplifying Aura or weakening it with a Red String bracelet, it was all a huge hassle. When he made this one for Xie Qiaoqiao, it took a lot of effort.
But looking into Xie Qiaoqiao’s blank face, the words got stuck in Qi Chen’s throat, and after a moment, he swallowed them.
Qi Chen feigned calm as he agreed, “Alright, I’ll have it ready for you in a couple days.”
Having finished their main discussion, the two parted ways. Qi Chen actually wanted to talk to Xie Qiaoqiao about something else, like why Pinduoduo One Slash still hadn’t helped him out.
But Xie Qiaoqiao walked too fast, and he didn’t get a chance to ask.
The midday sun was like a giant fireball on the verge of exploding, baking every inch of the earth equally.
Xie Qiaoqiao walked under the sun for a while, holding her backpack above her head for shade.
This summer was especially hot; for the first time, Xie Qiaoqiao felt she ought to keep a sun umbrella in her bag.
A car slowed beside her, honked twice.
Xie Qiaoqiao ignored it and kept walking. The car followed unhurriedly for a few paces, then lowered its window—air conditioning billowed out, and so did Zhang Xueji’s face.
He poked his head out, waving at Xie Qiaoqiao, his gesture like a beckoning lucky cat.
“Get in, I’ll give you a ride—Didn’t you have class this morning? What are you doing out here by yourself?”
Xie Qiaoqiao opened the passenger door, got in, and set her sun-heated backpack at her feet. “Had lunch with a colleague.”
Zhang Xueji said, “What a coincidence, I just finished lunch with a friend too.”
He glanced at Xie Qiaoqiao’s face, expressionless but flushed red from the heat, so he reached up to adjust the car’s air vent.
The cool wind intermittently brushed her face, blowing her bangs in all directions. She used her hand to sweep her bangs aside, revealing her entire forehead.
With nothing covering her face, her clear-cut brows and eyes stood out even more, like a piece of hard pen calligraphy.
Zhang Xueji asked, “Want some ice cream? I’ve got some in the car.”
Xie Qiaoqiao: “Fruit flavor, if you have it.”
Zhang Xueji pulled over, unbuckled his seatbelt, and twisted around to open the backseat fridge.
After rummaging for a while, he found a tub of Peach and Passion Fruit Ice Cream and handed it to Xie Qiaoqiao.
She pressed the cold tub to her face, squinting at the icy touch, her skin tingling where it met the ice cream container.
Then she heard Zhang Xueji laughing—Xie Qiaoqiao glanced at him, and he was steering one-handed, smiling good-naturedly, his dimples showing.
Xie Qiaoqiao: “What’s so funny?”
Zhang Xueji imitated her, pressing his palm to his cheek as if it were the ice cream tub. “Just… You look really cute when you ice your face, that’s why I’m laughing.”
“Really, look in the mirror.”
He pulled down the visor mirror and tapped it with his finger.
Xie Qiaoqiao looked up at the mirror. In the reflection were both herself and Zhang Xueji. She was looking at the mirror, while Zhang Xueji was looking at her, long and thick lashes at the side.
Zhang Xueji said, “See, I wasn’t lying, was I?”
Xie Qiaoqiao didn’t answer. She lowered her head, pried open the ice cream lid, and scooped a big spoonful into her mouth.
The peach and passion fruit flavors blended perfectly, melting in her overheated mouth, and just then Zhang Xueji reminded her, “Qiaoqiao, your seatbelt.”
Xie Qiaoqiao bit down on the ice cream spoon, freed up a hand to buckle her seatbelt. During this, Zhang Xueji just kept watching her out of the corner of his eye until she’d fastened the belt, and only then started the car.
In a low voice, Zhang Xueji asked, “Oh right, that corpse—”
He looked visibly nervous. “What happened to it?”
Xie Qiaoqiao: “My colleague took it away.”
“Good,” Zhang Xueji sighed with relief, “Do you always run into this at work? Bringing corpses home?”
Xie Qiaoqiao shook her head, “This is the first time.”
“…”
“After a Ghost dies, it rarely leaves a corpse. Even if one does show up, my colleague takes it away. This time it was because—”
She paused.
Zhang Xueji had to watch the road and didn’t turn, but still asked, “Because of what?”
Xie Qiaoqiao: “It’s confidential. You really shouldn’t poke into these dangerous things.”