Xia Xiaoling groggily sat up in bed. She felt like she had just had a dream — a very, very long dream.
But now when she tried to recall it, only a hazy impression remained.
She pressed a hand to her throbbing head and slowly looked around the room.
It was her own home. Only then did her consciousness fully awaken.
Her memories still stopped right before she passed out, but judging from the current environment, she was most likely rescued last night.
She glanced at the time — just past six o’clock. Plenty of time left.
Planning to go to the kitchen and make something to eat, she had barely taken two steps out of the bedroom when she suddenly froze in place.
It was as if there was an invisible thin thread in the air, gently pulling her forward.
She walked all the way to the door of the neighboring bedroom.
Her body moved almost on autopilot as she pushed the door open.
Inside, she saw two girls sleeping in each other’s arms.
Her heartbeat suddenly accelerated.
Her gaze locked straight onto Vivi, unable to look away for even a second.
Before she could take another step, her whole body jolted as if startled awake.
Xia Xiaoling shook her head hard, consciousness gradually returning.
She took a few steps back and gently closed the door again.
A vague, muddled thought flickered through her mind—
“I want to take Vivi… make her mine…”
“Hiss… what the hell? What’s wrong with me… am I… hallucinating?”
A wave of confusion surged in her heart.
She looked toward the door again, but nothing abnormal appeared.
“Tch, weird.”
Xia Xiaoling chalked it up to being too exhausted, plus everything that happened yesterday — it must have left her mentally drained and disoriented.
She walked to the kitchen.
Looking at the still somewhat messy stove, she let out a helpless sigh.
Everything she prepared last night had gone to waste.
She simply tidied up, put whatever could still be used back in the fridge, then rummaged around inside it, deciding to make a proper breakfast for those two little ones.
Consider it a thank-you to Wu Menghan.
Xia Xiaoling worked quickly. Before long, several dishes were ready.
She hadn’t even gone to call them when the bedroom door opened.
“You’re awake? Perfect timing, I just finished cooking.”
Wu Menghan nodded drowsily.
She had slept very comfortably last night. If Vivi hadn’t kept struggling earlier, she could have slept several more hours.
Vivi, on the other hand, followed behind Wu Menghan with two huge dark circles under her eyes.
Her mental state was the complete opposite of Wu Menghan’s.
She was already used to sleeping alone, yet last night she had been “tormented” so thoroughly by Wu Menghan — there was no way she could sleep soundly.
After yawning several times in a row, Vivi blearily lifted her eyes to look at Xia Xiaoling.
Her body suddenly stiffened. Most of her sleepiness vanished in an instant.
Instinctively, she shrank behind Wu Menghan.
Xia Xiaoling was also looking at her.
But right now, Xia Xiaoling’s state felt… extremely strange.
That look in her eyes… it was exactly the same as the way those Slime Girls used to look at her.
Fortunately, the weird gaze only lasted a moment before Xia Xiaoling’s expression returned to normal, as if… nothing had happened at all.
Illusion…?
Probably just an illusion.
Vivi didn’t dwell on it.
When the little loli sat down beside her, that strange throb in Xia Xiaoling’s heart surfaced once again.
Almost unconsciously, her hand reached out and gently stroked Vivi’s head, twirling a strand of hair between her fingertips.
The motion felt completely natural.
Neither Xia Xiaoling herself nor Vivi sensed anything wrong with it.
…Except that Vivi didn’t really like having her head patted by others.
With agile movements, she ducked out from under Xia Xiaoling’s palm and gave her a slightly resentful look, muttering softly:
“I’m not a little kid anymore… why are you patting my head?”
“Hm? Aren’t you a little kid?”
“I…!”
Vivi was instantly speechless, but no matter what, she refused to let Xia Xiaoling continue patting her.
Xia Xiaoling withdrew her hand with a helpless smile, but somewhere deep inside she still felt… something wasn’t quite right.
They didn’t talk about anything in particular.
***
Breakfast passed quickly.
After cleaning up the table, it was almost time to head to school.
Xia Xiaoling called out to Wu Menghan.
Wu Menghan gave Vivi several reluctant glances before following her to the front door.
Then she suddenly spoke:
“Teacher Xia, let’s lock the door, okay? So Vivi won’t keep thinking about running around.”
The moment those words came out, Xia Xiaoling’s expression froze.
She had originally wanted to refuse.
But after glancing at Vivi, she subconsciously nodded.
“Mm… I’ll let my sister know. We won’t be going for now.”
The car slowly pulled up to the roadside.
The moment the door opened, a ray of morning sunlight fell across her delicate cheek.
Long silver-moon-like hair danced in the breeze.
Dressed in casual clothes, Irena stood at the entrance of the coffee shop.
Ding-ling~
The bell rang.
Xia Yu, who had been looking down at her phone, lazily lifted her head.
Seeing it was Irena, she buried her face back into her phone and spoke indifferently:
“It’s Irena, huh. Vivi didn’t come today.”
Irena’s steps paused.
She looked at her with some confusion.
“What happened to Vivi?”
“Mm… I’m not really sure either. If you want to find her, go to Binhu Road.”
“Alright, Sis.”
After leaving the coffee shop, Irena’s brows furrowed.
Calculating the time… Vivi’s candy supply should be running out today.
Remembering what Wu Menghan had told her last night, Irena felt a headache coming on.
Most likely Wu Menghan had a stress reaction and, after discussing it with Xia Xiaoling, decided to lock Vivi up.
Given her current mental state, she might even do something even more extreme.
Irena rubbed her temples.
Even though she felt a lot of grievances, there was nowhere to voice them.
Sigh… never mind. I’ll just make a trip to Xia Xiaoling’s house. Hopefully Vivi is being kept there.
***
By noon.
Xia Xiaoling, who had just finished a class, returned to the office in a daze.
For some reason, she felt off all day.
Strange, inexplicable thoughts kept popping into her head.
She sat down at her desk, leaned back in the chair, one hand rubbing her swollen forehead, the other holding teaching materials.
Planning to take a sip of water to calm down, before she could even reach for her bottle —
An already opened bottle of mineral water floated over and stopped right at her lips.
She subconsciously took a small sip.
Then she flipped through the textbook in her hand… and suddenly froze.
She looked at the hand holding the book.
Then at the bottle floating beside her.
Xia Xiaoling’s pupils shrank sharply.
“Xiaoling, this afternoon we still—”
Thud!
The mineral water bottle fell straight to the ground.
Water splashed across the entire desk.
Several teachers who had just entered were stunned for a moment.
Then a few quick-reacting female teachers hurriedly came over to help wipe up the water.
“Xiaoling, what’s wrong? You’ve seemed out of it all day today.”
“Xia Xiaoling, hurry and grab the documents! They’re going to get soaked!”
“Teacher Xia…”
The voices around her were noisy, but Xia Xiaoling could no longer hear them clearly.
Her head hurt more and more.
The scene from moments ago kept replaying in her mind on loop.
“Teacher Xia, what’s wrong with you?”
Wu Menghan’s voice finally reached her ears.
Xia Xiaoling’s body trembled. Only then did a sliver of clarity return.
She retreated two steps until her back pressed against the corner of the wall.
Her only choice was to turn her pleading gaze toward Wu Menghan.
“Wu Menghan… I think… something’s really wrong with me.”