But Jiang Chenyu broke free of both men’s grasp.
“Enough. What would it look like if you fought here? Both of you, shut up.”
Her tone was soft, yet it silenced two furious grown men whose neck veins pulsed with anger. The two who had looked ready to strangle each other suddenly quieted, eyes pleading toward Jiang Chenyu.
Zhou Dongwei rubbed his neck and went over, putting an arm around each man. “That’s better. Fighting looks terrible and only makes girlfriends angry. Isn’t there anything you can’t settle by sitting down and talking?”
“I happened to drive, so how about I give you two a ride home?”
Both men glanced at Jiang Chenyu. Seeing her nod, they obediently followed Zhou Dongwei out of the police station.
The officers who had been about to intervene were left speechless, exchanging looks of confusion.
They’d seen plenty of fights caused by romantic disputes, but never one where the woman managed to calm both the official boyfriend and the mistress so thoroughly, even when she had no justification.
Not just the officers—Qiongsi Sang, one of the involved parties, stood there dumbfounded, mouth agape, completely forgetting why she was even there.
When Xie Qiaoqiao returned to the station, she saw her three dormmates and Zhang Xueji’s friend sitting stiffly on the waiting chairs, all looking dazed.
She walked over, waving her hand in front of their faces.
Qinghua Lu was the first to react, jumping up and grabbing Xie Qiaoqiao’s hand. “Wow, Qiaoqiao, you went to the bathroom and missed the weirdest scene ever!”
“A jealous boyfriend, a cheating mistress, the friend who came to bail someone out, and the female lead—all four sitting together calmly in one car leaving! But that girl was seriously gorgeous…”
She was about to compliment Jiang Chenyu’s beauty but quickly recalled Qiongsi Sang’s sadness.
She glanced at her and swallowed her words. Then she noticed the bandage on Xie Qiaoqiao’s hand.
Qinghua Lu gasped, “What happened to your hand?”
Xie Qiaoqiao pulled her hand away casually. “Cat scratches.”
The main parties had all left; the rest went home. Only Qiongsi Sang felt frustrated, lamenting her missed chance to mercilessly beat her ex and regain face.
She didn’t even attend afternoon PE class.
Zhang Xueji flopped off a folding chair onto the floor, screaming awake, unconsciously hugging his own arms—the skin still seeming to burn painfully.
It was that nightmare again.
Like a ghost that wouldn’t let go.
And Zhang Xueji felt the nightmare grew even more vivid the second time he dreamed it, so real that after waking he still felt phantom burns on his skin.
His classmates, also napping in the office, were awakened by his shout. One rubbed his disheveled hair, looking around blankly.
“What? Did the teacher come? Is the deadline up?”
Zhang Xueji rubbed his face, clutched his bruised butt, and climbed back onto the folding bed, waving his hand. “Nothing, just a nightmare.”
His classmate lay back down, covering his head with the air-conditioned blanket, and went back to peaceful sleep.
Zhang Xueji took out his phone and, out of habit, sent Xie Qiaoqiao a location pin. Then he remembered he had already sent her one before his nap.
Scrolling up, he saw her reply.
She’d been more responsive recently, replying not just with “read” but with her whereabouts and what she was doing.
She said she had gone to the police station with her dormmates that morning and got scratched by a strange cat, then ate stir-fry near the station with them for lunch.
Her latest message was a request for Zhang Xueji not to share the same location with her three times.
Seeing her calm, expressionless reply ending with a period, Zhang Xueji immediately thought of her tranquil face and couldn’t help but smile.
He rolled over, sitting cross-legged and typing to her.
【Zhang Xueji: I had a nightmare and got scared. Forgot I already shared my location with you before sleeping.】
【Xie Qiaoqiao: What did you dream about?】
【Zhang Xueji: A fire. A fire broke out in a hallway. The nightmare was so real, and I dreamed it twice. Could it be a ghost haunting me?】
【Zhang Xueji: Master, do you think it could be a Prevision Dream? Like the Death God came?】
【Zhang Xueji: The hallway’s layout in the dream looked a bit like the teaching building. I vaguely remember classrooms with signs on the doors. But the signs were burnt and distorted, unreadable.】
【Zhang Xueji: Could it be the Lingchuan Building again?】
【Zhang Xueji: Master? Master? Qiaoqiao? Junior? Little Junior Xie?】
【Zhang Xueji: Are you there, Master? Junior, you suddenly stopped replying, it’s really scary qwq Qiaoqiao, are you reading this, woo woo—】
【Xie Qiaoqiao: Coming downstairs, I’m downstairs.】
After sending the last message, Xie Qiaoqiao leaned against the wall and opened the electronic report that Hua Lingyue had sent her.
The strange cat encountered near the police station that morning was handed over to Hua Lingyue by Xie Qiaoqiao. The scratches on her hand were treated by Hua Lingyue.
The report indicated the cat was just an Ordinary Cat but had a Monster Remnant lodged somewhere in its belly—the source of the Monster aura.
【Hua Lingyue: Took it to a pet hospital. They’ll operate soon to remove the object and send it for a secondary test.】
【Hua Lingyue: This cat is a stray. Strays in old neighborhoods are unstable. It’s hard to tell where it ate that thing. For now, it’s archived for follow-up. If you have time, you can look around that area; maybe you’ll find clues.】
Although it was strange for a Monster Remnant to appear in a cat’s belly, no signs of active Monster attacks had appeared in the area Xie Qiaoqiao caught it, so it remained archived for investigation.
There were many such pending cases in the Special Folklore Research Department. Most would be sealed after three years if no developments occurred.
“Qiaoqiao!”
A cheerful voice pulled Xie Qiaoqiao’s gaze from her phone. Zhang Xueji was running up the stairs from the other side of the teaching building.
He reached her quickly but braked suddenly two steps away, his hair tousled by the wind, the tips flicked up. “Why are you here? Didn’t you have PE this afternoon?”
Xie Qiaoqiao put away her phone. “Already signed in. I skipped class. Tell me more about your nightmare.”
Hearing this, Zhang Xueji stood still and began recalling—just thinking about it made the phantom pain on his skin flare.
His eyebrows drooped, looking pitiful. “I had that nightmare once last night and woke up scared, so I went for a morning run… Oh, and by the way, the oyster porridge I made this morning was pretty good, right?”
Xie Qiaoqiao nodded. “Yeah, tasty.”
Zhang Xueji laughed and leaned against the wall beside her. “Tomorrow, I’ll make a light dish with corn and lily bulbs—where was I? Oh right, I woke up scared.”
“Though it was frightening at first, after waking, cooking, and running, I felt okay. But just now, while napping in the office, I had the same dream again. And this time, it felt especially real.”
He rubbed his arm, looking down at the exposed skin, voice dropping. “After waking, I still feel a phantom burning pain.”
“The last time I felt phantom pain from a dream was when I dreamt I was trapped in a water maze, chased by Monsters.”
Xie Qiaoqiao pulled his arm closer. On his wrist hung the red string she’d given him last time—under its balance, Zhang Xueji’s aura stabilized a lot.
Not very strong, but at least stable, so he wasn’t haunted like last time while walking down the stairs.
Zhang Xueji said, “I checked—no burns on my skin, just vague phantom pain…”
His voice suddenly lowered as Xie Qiaoqiao tugged on his arm, drawing him closer.
The brief two-step distance shrank to less than one. Her face was almost pressed against Zhang Xueji’s collar. He fell silent instantly, heat rushing from his heart to his scalp. All nightmares, fires, and phantom pains dissolved with her closeness.
Too close.
Even the hand she held suddenly felt strongly present. Her warm palm pressed against his bare skin, making his arm involuntarily tense and tremble under her touch.
His lowered gaze passed over the slightly sweaty black hair on her forehead to her calm, dark eyes beneath long lashes.
She sniffed at Zhang Xueji’s collar—purely human scent, no Monster or ghost residue.
After sniffing, she didn’t pull away but looked up at his face. Their eyes met. The late summer air was so hot that even their gazes felt soft and flowing, like two streams merging.
Zhang Xueji swallowed hard, heart pounding wildly, and stepped back until his back was fully against the wall. He didn’t ask what Xie Qiaoqiao intended; he just felt nervous.
The one who confesses first and gives up the choice is left with no option but to accept whatever comes. Moreover, Zhang Xueji wasn’t just giving up the decision—
His pen for the plan.
He wanted so badly to keep Xie Qiaoqiao, he didn’t mind being Plan B. If things got worse, even Plan B wouldn’t be possible, and he’d be just the writer…
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