The house Auntie brought over an unopened shirt and handed it to Shen Yao.
“Here, Xiao Shen, this shirt should fit you.”
Qiao Yunxue, sitting by the study with her damp hair blowing dry, complained,
“Why are you buying him a shirt? That ungrateful wolf got me soaked all over. He deserves to sit there bare-chested and catch a cold.”
Shen Yao was already used to the young lady’s sharp tongue.
The girl had a quirk: if she didn’t mock or ridicule someone, she’d feel uncomfortable.
From a psychological point of view, some special people are unable to establish self-recognition properly and can only fulfill their sense of worth by belittling others with words.
So, Qiao Yunxue was a special case. As a normal person, Shen Yao had no intention of stooping to her level.
Thinking this way, Shen Yao simply ignored Qiao Yunxue’s sarcasm.
In his eyes, there were four glaring words shining above her head: “Special Individual”—no, strike that—“Mentally Unstable.”
Shen Yao changed into the new shirt, which fit perfectly.
The only problem was the style—it looked rather old-fashioned, like something a government official would wear.
Auntie smiled and praised, “You look so handsome.”
Qiao Yunxue burst out laughing, her voice drowning out the sound of the hair dryer.
“Director Shen, are you here for an inspection today? Shouldn’t you also have a keychain at your waist and a thermos in your hand, with some goji berries steeping inside?”
Shen Yao pretended not to hear, unwilling to argue with the “special individual.”
Once the two of them had tidied up, Shen Yao finally stated his purpose. “I came today to ask if you could help me look up any new urban legends recently…”
Qiao Yunxue paused, her smile fading. “I thought you just came to see me.”
But she quickly shifted gears and walked over to the computer, pulling out a stack of A4 paper.
“Actually, your timing is perfect. I’ve already compiled a list of popular urban legends circulating online lately.”
She opened to the first page.
“The first one is the Cat-faced Old Lady Urban Legend from Harbin, Heilongjiang. It’s said that an old lady was found hanged in her home. During the wake, she suddenly came back to life; half her face turned into a cat’s, and she attacked anyone she saw.”
“The family, terrified, called the police, but by the time officers arrived, the old lady had vanished. There are now many eyewitnesses posting about sightings of this cat-faced old lady all over the country. Strangely, this legend first emerged back in 1995, so it’s odd that it’s resurfaced again this year.”
Shen Yao listened quietly as Qiao Yunxue spoke at length.
Normally, she showed little interest in anything, but when it came to discussing the strange and mysterious, she was brimming with energy.
“The second is the Dark Web Urban Legend. It’s said that using the Onion Browser, you can enter the dark web, where there are all sorts of bizarre and disturbing things. Someone posted that on the fifteenth of every month, there’s a murder livestream in a certain dark web chat room, and the host will randomly select a ‘Lucky Target’ from among the viewers.”
“The credibility of this legend is extremely low. I tried it myself and couldn’t even access the so-called dark web—maybe I used the wrong method, or maybe my inspiration isn’t high enough.”
“The third legend is a game supposedly imported from Japan called One-Man Hide-and-Seek. It works much like the Phone Urban Legend. At a specific time and place, if you hide alone, something will come and play hide-and-seek with you. There’s very little information on this one. I suspect it’s a newly emerging urban legend.”
Qiao Yunxue spread out the three case files, her face full of excitement as she looked at Shen Yao. “Which one shall we start with?”
Shen Yao looked over all three files and shook his head. “None of them. I want you to help me look up the urban legend that’s happening to me.”
“The urban legend happening to you?” Qiao Yunxue was puzzled.
Shen Yao sat down and detailed the hallucinations he’d been having the past couple of days to Qiao Yunxue.
“Once, you could call it daydreaming. But twice?” Shen Yao slumped weakly in the chair. “I suspect there’s some kind of urban legend affecting me.”
Qiao Yunxue’s expression grew serious.
She silently sat down at the computer and began searching for urban legends involving ceiling fans and piano wire.
However, the results hardly qualified as urban legends—the closest was just a school’s public notice for fan installation bids.
Qiao Yunxue frowned. “Shen Yao, are you sure it’s a supernatural incident?”
“I’m sure. Because what I saw felt too real—it’s not something a simple hallucination can explain.”
Qiao Yunxue said, “Actually, when I was little, I was also scared the ceiling fan would fall. And ever since I learned to ride a motorcycle, I often worry about getting my throat cut by stray kite strings or piano wires on the road. But in the end, this kind of fear is just… just…”
Shen Yao finished for her, “A manifestation of insecurity?”
“Yes! That’s exactly it. I also worry about sticking my hand out of a car and suddenly getting it smashed by a passing truck; or sitting on a pneumatic chair and having it explode and injure me… In the end, it’s just anxiety, not even close to an urban legend or the supernatural.”
“Then what’s with these frequent hallucinations of mine?”
“Have you ever heard of Urban Legend Syndrome?”
Shen Yao shook his head.
“In the Forum Eye of Berlin, some members who survived supernatural encounters have what’s called Urban Legend Syndrome. The main symptom is constant paranoia, interpreting every little thing in daily life as something supernatural, staying in a constant state of worry, and having trouble distinguishing fantasy from reality.”
Qiao Yunxue continued,
“Your case is even more complicated because your inspiration is much higher than theirs. That’s why your Urban Legend Syndrome manifests as things that are hard to tell apart from reality. And because your inspiration is high, your emotions are more easily conveyed to the Zero Dimension.”
“So, I think what you’re seeing aren’t true supernatural phenomena, but rather the early forms of emotions occurring in the Zero Dimension.”
Shen Yao frowned. “Fear?”
“Yes. Fear of the ordinary. Your inner anxiety amplifies these fears. Ultimately, it’s all because your inspiration is too high. Based on my years of research into the supernatural, you likely have Urban Legend Disorder—also called Urban Legend Syndrome.”
“So what should I do?”
Qiao Yunxue thought for a moment. “According to the forum, all you need to do is adjust your mindset, rest on schedule, eat properly, and if necessary, take Fluvoxamine Tablets and Citalopram—the symptoms will ease naturally… It’s just that…”
She propped her chin up with one hand, hesitating to continue.
After Qiao Yunxue’s explanation, Shen Yao realized he might truly have this so-called Urban Legend Disorder.
He’d always worried about ceiling fans, and even before that day, he’d been thinking about Qiao Yunxue’s red Kawasaki ZZR-X.
Whether it was the ceiling fan or piano wire murder, both reflected a certain anxiety of his in the real world.
But…
He felt a bit uneasy. If having high inspiration brings on hallucinations, what if his inspiration rises even further?
Would these hallucinations become actual supernatural occurrences?
As he pondered, Qiao Yunxue suddenly produced a box of pills from somewhere, labeled “Fluvoxamine Tablets,” with a note below: “Anti-depressant, 50mg~100mg before bed.”
“Take these—once a day. Check how you feel after a week,” Qiao Yunxue said, showing no qualms about handing out prescription drugs.
Shen Yao turned over the box and saw only seven pills left inside. “Why do you have these?”
Qiao Yunxue replied casually, “I used to have trouble sleeping—took these to help.”
She said it as lightly as if speaking about a stranger’s trivial affair.
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