Edited by Cherry
Warning: themes of self harm, suicide
The twelfth plane, W city
Qi Cheng looked over, and truly, a girl was slowly making her way over towards the main street, seemingly lost in her thoughts with her gaze fixed onto the ground beneath her feet.
Luo Yiyan walked step by step through the dimly lit alleyway. She felt like the darkness had almost solidified around her, as if she could touch its matter by merely extending a hand.
Her thoughts were turbulent, the fortune teller’s words still lingering in her mind. She traced the edges of the small packet in her pocket as she tried to calm down.
This time, she could not afford to doubt herself. Her plans were at a critical juncture where although the obstacles had all already been defeated, she still stood in a stalemate with herself, not daring to let go of that last strand of control she held.
It was ridiculous. She was aware that she had to let everything fall into place, and she knew well that for the situation to develop naturally, she could only let it do so by itself.
Although she knew that, actually letting go still proved to be infinitely more difficult than it felt in theory. She felt awful, she felt that everything she had done, that all of what she had believed firmly was nothing more than that; an awfully strong belief.
She had spent the time it took for her to walk back to the hotel thinking through all of her options. She couldn’t make a mistake, especially not at this point.
First, she began with the worst option she could think of; what if what the teller said had been right? In that case, hadn’t she been in the wrong all this time? The thought of this felt more terrible than having to bear what she had already bore ten thousand more times for her.
Had she been wrong, the sacrifices she had made along the way would all turn into mere jokes, the things she believed in reduced to the laughable struggles of an overconfident insect.
She had done so much in order to get only so far – she really couldn’t bear the idea of it all having happened for nothing.
In the end, whether she had been wrong or right, it didn’t really matter. Maybe.. It would be simpler to just pretend that she had never questioned herself at all, that she had confidence in herself all along.
Wasn’t it just the question of her own morality? What she did, she had already done, and all that remained was what she could still remember. At this point, the matter no longer had any actual significance.
After all, even if in the end it turned out that she had been wrong all along, even if it had all been for nothing, it was only her that remained, only her that could care. And if she had been wrong, what then?
No one cared about her matters. What she did, she had done for herself and even when she tried to convince herself that they had been done for others’ sake, in her heart she still knew what had happened very well.
Not too long before, a few weeks before her dreams began, she did what she had always wanted to do; she took revenge for those who weren’t there to ask for help anymore.
At the time, she was well aware that whatever decision she made would affect the entirety of the rest of her life. The question wasn’t a ‘what if’, but a ‘which one’, which, thinking about it, couldn’t even be called a question. The answer was too obvious.
Between two bad options, respectively those of either ruining the life of the man who destroyed her family and perhaps losing more than gaining, or living with the fact that she could have done it but didn’t.
As mentioned above, for Luo Yiyan, the question of which one to choose had an answer that was awfully simple.
She had, of course, been as careful as she could, anxious not to leave any evidence behind that could presumably be traced back to her. It was just fitting that when she could feel assured about her safety, it was her mind that didn’t let her rest.
Her thoughts felt muddled at all times, most of them only vague images or memories that terrified her to the core, while others, the rare reasonable ones, were the only reason she could preserve her sanity.
She felt awful at all times, but that strand of rationality let her know that if anything, it was herself who couldn’t be trusted now.
For a person who based her entire worldview on her own self-awareness so absolutely, this could be said to be a devastating blow.
Qi Cheng squinted as he watched the girl cross the road without even looking up.
He’d noticed before that his eyesight wasn’t the best, and especially now, underneath the hazy glow of the streetlamps he could barely make out the pedestrians on the other side.
He spoke offhandedly, the annoyance clear in his voice, ‘I always feel that I should go see an optician. It’s a shame we’ve had to work overtime so often recently.’
Lin Ran had already finished up her phone call from before and was currently checking the form she had gotten from Qi Cheng. Her gaze didn’t leave the sheets of paper as she asked back, ‘Isn’t that an optometrist?’
‘Honestly, I have no idea. I don’t think that matters either, it’s like, I’ll just look up ‘eye doctor’ online and go to the first place that comes up. Even if I go to the wrong place, what can happen?’ Qi Cheng only shrugged as he replied. ‘I mean, as long as I can actually get there and don’t die from boredom in HQ.’
He looked down to the digital watch on his wrist as he changed the topic, ’11:38. It’s almost here.’
Lin Ran hummed before stating, ‘You could be abducted.’
‘What?’ Qi Cheng’s mind had already taken up other matters, and for a moment he was rather confused. ‘Ah, like the ophthalmologist takes a liking to my teeth and tries to steal them? Wait, no, that’s an odontologist. Whatever.’
Lin Ran nodded seriously. ‘The black market, you know. You choose a shady business, once they’ve got your eyes, it’s not too difficult to get the other stuff too. Immortal or not, it won’t be a pretty sight when the boss has to buy you back organ by organ.’
‘Not even ‘if’? ’When’? I appreciate your confidence in my skills..’
‘Your skill to get abducted? Yeah, I have more confidence in it than..’ Lin Ran’s words halted. She sighed, dropping the topic.
A few minutes passed slowly in silence, and neither of them spoke. The humming of cars filled the air, along with the noise of conversation that was stifled by the soft music.
In truth, the hotel Luo Yiyan’s group had chosen was a rather renowned one. It was positioned conveniently near the southern gate of the palace in the city’s heart, but not too close to the centre for the prices to feel unmanageable.
The group’s original idea had been along the lines of living prosperously while they could, but still, they could only get shared suites in such an expensive place.
Technically, even the buildings that had the alleyway in-between themselves could be considered to have some sort of historic value. The buildings here were decorated with plaques that stated which semi-famous poets or politicians had once lived in them.
This sort of thing, in Qi Cheng’s imagination, gave these people a rather droll image. If life could be said to be just barely bearable now, then what had it been like for them? It could only have been worse, after all, modern society was about progress and progress was all about the welfare of citizens, right?
He found the image of these people from older ages sitting in their run-down little houses in the very heart of the city that could be called ‘the life of the country’ according to many sources, thinking about the beauty of the world and hope and their expectations for the future, not even scorning writing these ideas down and publishing them as they could..
Of course, Qi Cheng also had his own conceptualization of time. Naturally, this wasn’t much like that of mortals, but that was only to be expected.
After who-knows-how long, having checked the administration-form a hundred or so times, Lin Ran finally broke the silence, ‘Let’s go.’
By the time Luo Yiyan reached the floor the room she was staying in was on, her mentality had already taken a complete turn for the worse. Although, this could still have been called a preparation of sorts.
Luo Yiyan had always believed herself a smart person. It was such a pity though, that it was this one case in which she failed to make an objective decision.
But at least, for the first time in weeks, she finally felt that she was in control again.
Hao Danya watched her reflection in the mirror as she brushed her teeth.
She didn’t like these kinds of hotels at all. They always made her feel isolated with their utmost cleanliness and the decorations’ lack of personality.
Of course, she didn’t have anything against the tidiness, it just happened that all of those together.. Made her somewhat uncomfortable.
The sink was white, almost blindingly so, and she held out a hand to compare the color with her skin for a moment. A few drops of clear water rolled down from her spread fingers, landing on the porcelain without any noise.
She observed her freckled face in the mirror, tilting her head to one side, then to the other, playing until the toothpaste made her cheeks feel like bursting.
She opened the faucet just as the noise of the opening door sounded from the outside, covering the sound up.
Luo Yiyan hadn’t been feeling nervous just a moment ago, but as she stepped inside the hotel room again, she couldn’t help but think of her roommate. It was unfortunate, she really would have to inconvenience her like that this time.
She only took one step inside the suite, standing in one spot after having closed the door. It was as if she was waiting for something, like a child waiting for their parents’ praise or reprimand, hoping that they wouldn’t go unnoticed just this once.
As she stood, it was as if her mind had frozen over. For a few moments, she couldn’t think at all, and only then did she realise that what she was doing was merely ridiculous if nothing else.
The running faucet’s sound filled the air of the room, making Luo Yiyan relax unconsciously.
She wasn’t noticed; she couldn’t decide whether that was a good thing or not.
She walked into the bedroom, shutting the door behind herself and twisting the key as she went. The water was loud, and it was most likely that Hao Danya was currently filling the bathtub up, just about to take a bath. This was good; it meant that she had plenty of time.
She sat down on the bed, taking her time as she slowly unzipped her shoes, placing them to the side in an orderly fashion. She wasn’t clear about why she hadn’t taken them off sooner; she had probably been just occupied with other matters and forgot.
Anyhow, it didn’t matter. This was fine as well, it was alright.
She didn’t take her jacket off. She felt strangely cold, and pulled the front together instead. It was probably only a psychological thing, she thought.
Although she hadn’t turned the lights on, the room was still very bright. The streetlamp outside the window had an unusually cold, almost silvery glow, but since the walls of the room were painted a dazzling teal, the light appeared more like small streams of water in the air than actual brightness.
Luo Yiyan felt funny, as if she wasn’t really in a hotel room, but in a gigantic fish tank instead.
She ended up taking her jacket off anyway. She threw it onto the chair in front of the table, taking a few deep breaths as she stared at the ground for a long moment.
Then, the sound of running water stopped suddenly.
We’re sorry for MTLers or people who like using reading mode, but our translations keep getting stolen by aggregators so we’re going to bring back the copy protection. If you need to MTL please retype the gibberish parts.
Luo Yiyan was suddenly hit by a wave of anxiety, and for a moment she didn’t realise what was going on.
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The other girl didn’t think much of it and started looking for the keys on the outside. It was most likely that she had forgotten something in her bag.. Luo Yiyan shook her head with a faint smile. That old disaster of a person, she had always been like that.
It seemed that after a few minutes of searching, Hao Danya ended up finding what she had been looking for, and forgot about the locked bedroom door completely. She was still fumbling around the living room as she waited for the bathtub to get filled up.
Luo Yiyan’s attention returned to her current state, making her frown.
It was true that she couldn’t go on in the same way she had before, she could agree with the teller in that much if nothing else. Anyhow, she already knew that before, and admitting it wouldn’t make a difference.
So, what else was there? Making an evaluation, eh?
She had already done that, or to be accurate, she had already made way too many of those.
That kid had told her that in order to be able to potentially start over, she needed to re-evaluate her previous choices, hadn’t he?
She walked over to the window, glancing outside as fingers searched the jacket for the packet nimbly, her hand pausing as she felt something flat in one of the pockets.
She didn’t remember putting anything similar in there at all. The only things she kept there were a few old tickets and a bus pass. Right, it was probably that.
Although she had already decided what it was, she still pulled it out. Only to be sure, of course.
Whatever it was, it felt strangely small and thin, not at all like a passport.. But not like scrap paper either.
She looked at the small card, observing it as she turned it over. Surprisingly, it was a business card from the fortune-teller shop.
It had a rather simple design, actually even resembling the tarot cards somewhat, only with the colors inverted.
She could feel that the paper was of extremely good quality. It was striking white, and the inky black characters on it read ‘Chunyuan’. Under the two characters there was only a string of small numbers; a phone number.
There was nothing else on the card. Turning it over again, Luo Yiyan looked at the hastily written line, ‘You might get an offer tonight. Accept it if you can.’
Luo Yiyan almost laughed out loud. Was this a business card, or a fortune cookie? It was apparent that no matter how normal fortune-tellers made themselves look, deep down, they were still all completely nuts.
She hadn’t noticed when the card was slipped into her pocket, which only made her feel more annoyed. Couldn’t they just have given it to her personally? Of course, she wouldn’t have accepted it, but that was the point!
As for the possible meanings of that card, she couldn’t think of anything. It was almost midnight after all, and it seemed that the time given by the card was running out quickly.
Whether it was just someone messing around, or legitimate business wouldn’t matter anyway. If an ‘offer’ came, if one came at all, which idea she found highly ridiculous, she’d only be able to decline.
In the end, no dead person could go around running errands.
Hao Danya flipped to the next page of the poetry book she held in her hands.
She had found the book in a drawer while searching for her dressing case, causing her to completely forget about her plans of taking a relaxing bath. The babbling sound of water quickly became background noise. She only had the printed words in front of herself.
‘And devastation rests her weary head / on grey incinerated city ruins, / it’s winter now and death and snow and stillness, / the earth..’
The first time Luo Yiyan had heard about death in a way that she felt was real had been when she was sixteen.
She remembered what that person had told her, accurately to an almost uncomfortable degree.
She thought about it sometimes. Often.
The two of them had been waiting for the subway. It was late, really late, and there’d only been a few people waiting around them on the usually crowded platform.
She could remember that that day had felt very surreal, the same way that happy memories did.
She recalled the other’s voice when telling her; it was as if it really had just been gossip she’d found interesting, as if it was just a small bit of the incessant lot of information that they came across on the daily, riven off from its original context, doomed to never truly be understood again.
She’d said it so nonchalantly, she’d said it like they had been talking about an old acquaintance who’d just got broken up with, or simply discussing school the next day. Thinking back after the fact, the topic might have really only been a story she’d found interesting at the time.
She’d told her what had happened to that guy, what he had done to himself.
Luo Yiyan hadn’t known him much.
They had spoken a couple of times, but weren’t close enough to be called friends. Their friends had been friends, and that made them acquaintances, if nothing else.
Funnily enough, it was this unfamiliar familiarity that made the feeling so cutting.
There had been a party that night, the girl told her. He probably didn’t drink much. Or maybe he did.
Luo Yiyan liked to imagine that the boy had been sober. That he was aware of what he was doing, and that he’d truly thought that the choices he’d made were the correct ones.
Then she felt cruel for hoping so.
He went out with friends that night, but when the party ended, he didn’t go home.
Or maybe he did. All the girl had told her was that it had been four in the morning, and that it was somewhere in the fourth district; that they’d found whatever remained of him in front of a ten floor residential.
She remembered that she’d felt happy for him at that time. She’d found it funny in a way, in an extremely bitter way.
She hoped that he’d managed to find whatever he had been looking for, be it peace, or even just quiet.
She was afraid that what the boy had wanted wasn’t along the lines of those.
Sometimes, Luo Yiyan felt helpless. Often.
She felt just the same way she did now; like she was stuck in life, stuck in the jelly-like air. Like a hunter wounded by his prey, like a needle caught in an impenetrable bubble.
Sometimes, she couldn’t feel anything, as if the world lacked anything worth even a glance, and sometimes she could feel absolutely everything. From the air on her skin to the overwhelming vibrations of unspecifiable emotions underneath, from the taste of the air to..
Sometimes, feeling too much was worse than feeling nothing, but then again, the first option seemed unbearable too.
She often found herself wondering what being alive was even worth if every minute of it felt so damn painful.
Hao Danya enjoyed reading poetry. She liked the way words could make her feel, the ways they carried ineffable emotions. The way they meant a thousand different things to different people.
Suddenly, her wandering thoughts were interrupted by a dull thud coming from the inner room; the bedroom.
The girl became alert instantly. She put down the book in her hands slowly to the table, rising to her feet with careful motions in order to not make any noise.
At first, she couldn’t think of what the sound could have been. Her face tensed as she realised; burglars.
As for why certain refined gentlemen with purposes of appropriation would choose a hotel room to rob and not some rich person’s home, she also had an explanation; the suite itself had been so damned expensive! She didn’t have to think twice to reach the above conclusion.
But hadn’t the door been locked just now? Hao Danya frowned at the sudden thought. It couldn’t have been that the burglars had locked themselves in instead of opening the door? She remembered that the bedroom’s window was directly above the palace’s wall.
What kind of military superpowers did these burglars have? Then again, there was another possibility.
She called out tentatively, ‘Yiyan? Did you come back?’
She waited, but no answer came. She only felt more and more confused, trying to push the handle down, but the door didn’t move.
She crouched down, trying to look through the keyhole underneath the handle, but she soon noticed that the hole was blocked by the key from the inside.
She leant on the ground, pressing her face as close to the parquet as she could as she tried her best to look inside. The slit underneath the door had the width of a mere two centimetres, and the room wasn’t lit.
She could only make out the vague outlines of the bed, the chair, and.. A pair of ankles on the ground, with a pair of familiar shoes to the side.
‘Yanyan?’ Her voice became more urgent as panic struck her heart.
She stood up quickly, trying the door handle again hurriedly, but the door was still closed; the keys were inside the keyhole, even with a spare key she couldn’t open it, nevermind the fact that there was only one key.
She didn’t know what to do. Her rationality told her that the best chance was to look for help. But it was the middle of night, who would be able to help? She ran outside, not even sparing a look at the bathtub that had long been overflown by water.
Luo Yiyan had fallen over.
She lay on the ground for a while, until the spinning of the world eased around her. She heard a vague sound, a voice calling her name and saying something, but she didn’t want to listen.
She had wanted to sit down on the bed but fell the moment she let go of the desk – it seemed that Zeng Juanxiu, this unlucky devil had gotten her hands on some stuff that was stronger than what she had expected beforehand.
She pushed herself up, grabbing a handful of the thick quilt and standing up with great difficulty. She held the plastic wrapper in her palm; there were only two pills left.
The footsteps outside the door were moving away in a hurried manner. Luo Yiyan held the key and twisted it, opening the door just as Hao Danya left through the entrance of the suite.
The sound of babbling water was loud, unnervingly so; it made it so that Luo Yiyan could hardly concentrate on anything else other than the noise.
She staggered slightly as she let go of the door to support herself on the back of the couch. She could see almost the entirety of the bathroom from there. There was a puddle forming, slowly but surely growing on the coruscatingly white tiles as it ran in the thin slits between them.
To shut the faucet off. She walked inside, but she had already lost control over the strength in her arm, and the closing door made a loud noise as it slammed shut.
The handle fell to the ground, emitting a crisp sound as it hit the tiles.
Hao Danya ran down the corridor, knocking and banging on the doors as she went, yelling in hopes of waking someone up, but strangely enough, no reply came. It was as if there wasn’t anyone on the entire floor, or as if they simply just weren’t able to hear her.
She ran as she yelled, tears of frustration gathering at the corners of her eyes. She couldn’t believe that something happened to Luo Yiyan, that it was precisely Luo Yiyan who’d had something happen to her, and that apparently she could do nothing to help her.
The Luo Yiyan in her mind, although awfully straightforward at times, was a good person. A good friend.
She was already a floor below when she finally came across someone.
Her breathing hitched as she halted her steps, only managing to spit out a few words after drowning on air for a while, ‘Help.. Please. My friend.. My friend is in trouble.. You need to help me..’
Qi Cheng, who had been standing in that corridor for who knows how long, having nothing to do but to look at his watch from time to time, flashed a warm smile at her. ‘Sure. Can you bring us over?’
After a long minute, Hao Danya’s breathing finally relaxed enough for her to form full sentences. She looked at the scrawny kid in front of her with some frustration.
Just now, she had only seen that there was a person; she hadn’t been able to see what that person looked like. Would this kid even be strong enough to get inside?
All of a sudden, another voice interrupted her messy thoughts. ‘Dear, what you just said sounded pretty urgent.’
This reminder was just the thing she had been short of! She looked over to where Lin Ran was standing, and thought to herself, maybe, after all, the three of them still stand a chance against a single door.
‘Yes.. Yes. Please come with me, it is indeed very urgent, I’m not too clear on the exact situation, actually, I hadn’t even been able to get into the room, but I saw, I could see that my roommate is lying on the ground, that can’t be anything good after all.’
Once she started walking, her steps were especially powerful and hurried, it was easy to see that the entire person was extremely worried. She kept talking as she went, ‘After that, well, I couldn’t get in so I just thought, I thought I would ask for help, but what do you know, there’s no one on this floor, or maybe they’re all out, or something like that, haha..’
‘There is no one here and no matter what no one opened their door, so I kind of just assumed that they just weren’t here, after all, if it was you, and there was someone asking for help, you would at least see the situation, no? ..Well, that is kind of what you guys are doing, right, I should thank you, thank you very much for doing this..’
‘It’s just very weird, I find it very strange that no one answered the doors, it really is mean, or maybe they just don’t want to get involved, that’s right, in some cases it’s better to not get involved, maybe merit isn’t as important as peace, you know, in the way that in one of those situations you might even lose your life..’
‘Not me though, don’t think that, no, I didn’t mean it that way, I meant that maybe they get into some dangerous situation, but this isn’t dangerous at all, well, it might be dangerous for my friend, since, you know, I have no idea how she’s doing,..’
Qi Cheng let out a deep sigh as he glanced at Lin Ran. The woman had been nodding constantly, just like one of those therapists who thrive on their patients’ anxiety caused by long stares and deep silence, or maybe one of the pecking chickens on those wooden toys one could get at village fairs.
He couldn’t decide, causing him to shake his head. In the meantime, they had almost reached the room the two were staying in.
It was easy to notice even from afar, because it was the only door that had glowing brightness leaking from the slit on the doorframe.
Lin Ran looked over to Qi Cheng, who just happened to also be looking back at her. They exchanged a glance, and Lin Ran spoke to the wordy Hao Danya who was in the process of opening the door, ‘I’m sure she’ll be fine in just a minute. Could you..’
Just before she could finish her sentence, she was met with Hao Danya’s raised hand who gestured for her to be quiet.
Lin Ran, whose customer care smile stiffened somewhat, ‘………??’ Was she the one who needed to shut the hell up? Was she?
Unfortunately, Hao Danya couldn’t see her dissatisfaction, as she was staring at the wide-open bedroom door inside the suite.
Qi Cheng stood on tiptoes to see the situation over her shoulder, also focusing on the scene inside, and Lin Ran could only nod as she took a deep breath to help herself relax.
The door was open. Hao Danya didn’t know whether she should scold herself for not waiting just a while more or panic, because, well.. Who could have opened the door?
Maybe she had indeed been right, and there were burglars inside. They knocked Luo Yiyan out, but heard her walking around.. Then when they could make sure that she wasn’t around anymore, they went out.
Strangely though, as she looked around the living room, there didn’t seem to be anything missing.
Luo Yiyan listened to the cold silence of the bathroom as she rested her temple on her arms.
She was leaning on the toilet seat, sitting on the cold tiles of the ground. Those tiles, those incredibly white tiles..
A bead of wetness ran down her face, and for a moment even she herself wasn’t sure whether it had been a tear or sweat.
The clothes on her lower half had long been soaked through by the water overflowing from the bathtub. Maybe because of the sound of the running water, she couldn’t hear the footsteps outside.
Maybe because of paranoia, when she did hear them, the dormant panic in her chest turned into a churning turbulence in a matter of moments.
Someone knocked on the door. It sounded very urgent. Maybe someone needed to use the bathroom?
..That was right, the bathtub was already filled with water. It seemed very rude of her to simply lock herself inside when others might also want to use the room..
‘Yiyan, are you inside? Are you okay?’
Luo Yiyan closed her eyes, squeezing her eyelids and tensing the muscles on her face until the voice in her ears turned into a hiss that suppressed all other noises.
She couldn’t deal with the situation outside right now, and she didn’t want to, either. She had enough trouble dealing with the one inside herself at the moment. She didn’t..
She was very tired. She wasn’t sure anymore. She didn’t know anything anymore, and she just really, really wanted to..
Hao Danya couldn’t wait anymore.
There was no sound coming from inside the bathroom other than the continuous noise of falling water. She called again, ‘Yiyan? What is going on?’
She held her breath as she listened, but even after a long time, no reply came. Then suddenly..
‘I’m going to come in!’ Just as the words sounded, a loud splashing noise came from inside.
Hao Danya’s face paled, and she desperately pulled on the door handle again. When she took her hand away, the handle remained on her palm.
Her brain short circuited for a minute. By the time she could comprehend what had happened, she’d already been pushed behind Qi Cheng.
She stared at the handle in her hand, only vaguely feeling someone touch her arm gently and lead her away from the bathroom. A voice spoke to her, ‘It’s going to be fine. Let my colleague do it. You can trust him, he’s a professional..’
Qi Cheng cracked his knuckles as he listened to Lin Ran’s attempt at appeasing that poor girl. He did a neck roll before taking a step back with practiced movements and kicking at the door.
The kick landed just next to the missing handle, and the door opened with a loud bang.
Qi Cheng glanced back at Hao Danya and Lin Ran, flashing a smile before walking inside with his arms behind his back. He pulled the door lightly, not even forgetting to close it behind himself.
The situation inside the bathroom didn’t appear too promising at first glance.
Qi Cheng dusted off his hands after letting go of the door. He looked around before putting down the toilet’s lid and sitting down on top of it.
He didn’t appear to be in a hurry as he finally spared a look at the bathtub, even sparing a glance at his watch while doing so.
It could be said that Luo Yiyan wasn’t in her best condition. In fact, she didn’t seem conscious at all at the moment.
Of course, her state couldn’t truly be known. She was lying face down in the water, and Qi Cheng would have needed to turn her over to be able to inspect the situation properly.
He watched her for a while, but the girl didn’t move. It could be assumed that she had lost consciousness, which meant that at least Qi Cheng didn’t have to touch her to confirm.
He could have, of course, but this was one of those situations in which.. It was better to just leave it be and see how things worked out in the end.
Qi Cheng looked down at his watch again. It was already 11:57. According to plan.. Shouldn’t the girl already be awake? Even he was getting a bit anxious, okay?
He glanced towards Luo Yiyan again, observing properly this time around.
The clothes on her stuck to her skin wetly, and her skirt seemed to have wrapped around her legs with a visibly uncomfortable tightness. Qi Cheng frowned as he nudged the floating body with an extended hand.
Luo Yiyan swayed a bit, but she didn’t seem to have noticed the touch at all. She was still unconscious.
Qi Cheng’s expression grew more solemn. A few long strands of hair wrapped around his hand as he reached into the water to turn the girl over.
Followed by a sloshing sound, an unnaturally pale face surfaced.
Qi Cheng pursed his lips as he looked up to the ceiling. He could really.. When he saw Luo Yiyan’s head appear from under the water.. He really could not think of anything but the way eggs moved when boiled.
He shut his eyes for a moment before refocusing on the person in front of himself. But that face.. With the paleness and all, she really did look like an egg, okay?
But no, he couldn’t laugh. He was a professional! No, he couldn’t keep thinking about eggs.. Even if she truly looked like one because of all the wet hair.. He could only choke back the snicker that was threatening to come out.
He let go of the head all of a sudden. Luo Yiyan’s face blobbed back under the water, but her expression remained the same.
At least she could still keep some of her dignity this way. After the face sunk, the ink-like hair framed the girl’s features as it floated around her. It was still swirling in the water because of the previous movement, and coupled with the light’s play underneath the water, it became quite an otherworldly sight.
This could be said to be a satisfactory result. After all, vanity was an inherently human aptitude. Who would want to resurrect while looking like.. Looking like an..
Luo Yiyan’s eyelashes quivered suddenly. Qi Cheng, who had been staring at her intently, let out a sigh of relief. How good was it when things went according to plan? When..
The sound of coughing filled the bathroom. The water was suddenly misplaced, and most of it splashed out of the bathtub and onto Qi Cheng.
Qi Cheng, ‘…………..’ He nodded lightly, acknowledging that nature’s order was still in place.
On the other side, Luo Yiyan was alive.
She felt like she was drowning on air as she kept coughing up water, then breathing in, almost gulping down the air before coughing it all up again.
She was alive.
She didn’t know how, she didn’t know why. All she knew was that she was feeling extremely uncomfortable at the moment.
That was when she heard someone next to her say; ‘I do understand that this is your first time going through this?’
She choked on the air she had just breathed in, the intensity of her coughs hitching. She hadn’t even noticed when someone had snuck up on her. Her mind was completely clouded with unspeakable emotions, and she felt extremely tired and confused.
Qi Cheng sighed, ‘Look, it’s completely normal if you don’t know what’s going on. I’ll help walk you through it, okay?’ According to the regulations, he had to wait for the other party to confirm.
A vague ‘mm’ sound came from the girl who had already hung her gaze onto him.
He shook his head lightly, handing a pen and an empty administrative sheet to her, ‘I’m going to need more than that. You, sign this.’
Luo Yiyan nodded, scribbling something similar to her name onto the paper.
Qi Cheng inspected the sheet before folding it up and resting it on the leg that he rested on top of his other knee. He glanced down at the information already filled in and decided to begin with the basics.
‘Alright, so you’re probably wondering what’s going on. It’s quite simple, you..’
‘Who are you?’ It was as if Luo Yiyan hadn’t even heard what he’d just said.
Qi Cheng knit his brows. ‘My name is Qi Cheng. I am an RD executive. Do you know what that is?’
Luo Yiyan shook her head, to which Qi Cheng only smiled. ‘Then, I would love it if you could just pay attention while I tell you. How about it?’
Seeing Luo Yiyan nod again, his smile grew somewhat more sincere. ‘Right. I work for the Federal Bureau, I’m sure you haven’t heard about it before. As I’ve said, I’m an executive of the Recruitment Division. You might want to know what that is, in which case, I’m sorry, but explaining the inner system of the organisation isn’t part of my job.’
‘On the other hand, what I can tell you about is your own situation. I’m sure you’d rather hear about that, hmn?’
‘Yes.’
‘Great, great! Alright, so, as you might have already noticed, you’re not dead. I understand that this might come as a surprise. Don’t worry though, it is only a temporary state. You’re not actually alive either.’
‘To word it simply, you’re in between those two states. It’s sort of like a crossroad. You can decide which way you want to go, and I’m just here to guide you. Now, that sounds better already, doesn’t it?’
Luo Yiyan nodded hesitantly.
‘Good. Then, let’s start with administration.’ Qi Cheng leant forward as he showed her the sheet from just now. The water sloshed as Luo Yiyan sat up straighter, looking over the data. ‘Check these, and tell me if there’s anything wrong. Please.’
Qi Cheng glanced away as he held the paper up, waiting for the girl to confirm the correctness of the information. After seeing her nod, he took the sheet back, saying, ‘Now that we’ve got that over with, let’s talk business.’
‘So recently, and I apologise for my wording in advance, you’ve been through some pretty tough stuff?’
Luo Yiyan agreed, ‘You could say that.’
‘Mmn, and I understand that your plans for the future are rather short-term?’
‘Yeah, if you want to word it like that.’
Qi Cheng nodded. ‘I see. In that case, I wonder if I could interest you in a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity?’
Luo Yiyan’s face was expressionless as she asked back, ‘Is this an MLM scheme?’
Qi Cheng was speechless for a while. In the end, he forced out a smile, ‘In a sense. Really depends on what you consider a..’
Luo Yiyan nodded understandingly, ‘I’m not interested.’ She sloshed around for a while, lying back down into the bathtub after changing her position.
A moment later, she raised her head out of the water again, looking over to the boy on the toilet, ‘I’d escort you out, but..’
She made a vague gesture at her wet clothes and the tub filled with water before lying back down.
Qi Cheng didn’t move, and as the ripples of the water calmed slowly, a strange stillness settled in the bathroom. The silence was loud enough to be heard.
After a few minutes had passed, the water moved again. Luo Yiyan sat up with a defeated look on her face. ‘Why?’
Qi Cheng had been feeling extremely bored, but in order to not ruin the effect, he couldn’t talk before the girl spoke first. He sighed, ‘As I’ve said, this is a once-in-a-life opportunity, meaning that there is only one of it, and that there isn’t really another choice..’
‘That’s not what ‘once-in-a-lifetime’ means.’
Qi Cheng shrugged. ‘Whatever. You get what I mean, you have to listen to me, and then we can discuss.’
‘Mhm.’ Luo Yiyan looked at him seriously, ‘How about letting me die in peace instead?’
Qi Cheng shook his head, ‘I’m sorry.’
After a long minute of silence, Luo Yiyan sighed. ‘It’s fine.’ She leant back onto the wall behind the tub, ‘Say it quickly.’
‘Yes. If you don’t mind, I won’t go into details then.’ Qi Cheng pulled a phone out of his jacket, asking, ‘Would you prefer the ppt or pdf version?’
Luo Yiyan thought about it for a while. ‘Which one’s shorter?’
‘The pdf.’
‘That one then.’
Qi Cheng spoke in a monotonous tone, ‘Okay. So basically, all you need to know about the Bureau is that we’re an international organisation. It’s kind of a secret, if you know what I mean. Now, for future employees, the Bureau offers a variety of prospects. These are a sort of in-downturnable opportunities.’
‘Like, for example?’ Luo Yiyan looked back at him expressionlessly.
‘Like immortality, for example. Also, the HRA includes therapeutic expenses.’
‘Is that right.’ Luo Yiyan wasn’t looking at him. She raised her eyebrows as she stared at something behind Qi Cheng, her gaze unfocused.
‘Yeah. So, what do you say? Are you interested?’
The author has something to say:
As most of you have probably noticed, today should have been the day chapter 39 was released, but today’s chapter is the 40th one instead. This is because I still haven’t finished ch39. That will be updated next week instead.
Following that I will be taking two months off from posting. This makes the next day of update after next Tuesday the 4th of January. I hope to catch up with writing and school in the meantime.
On the topic of LYY and this chapter. The egg thing.. I’m sorry, I really couldn’t get it out of my head. I spent a long time laughing at that. Maybe I should remain serious when writing about topics similar to this, but honestly, I don’t like to do that. It makes me way too melancholic, so with these occasional dumb jokes, please bear with them.
Luo Yiyan isn’t an important character. She’s here now, and then we probably won’t ever be hearing from her again. Please remember that although LYY is back, this direction is no better than the other would have been. It really depends on personal perspective.
On a somewhat lighter note. This chapter is very long, more than 7k words. Chapters recently have been rather long. Ch39 will be even longer. Also, would you have guessed that the FB’s inner structure is actually very similar to that of a pyramid scheme? Strangely similar to what my first concept was.. Just worded differently. Qi Cheng’s ‘I guess’ is also something that made me laugh when writing.
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Hi everyone! This is an edit from the beginning of the year. Two months ago, I said that the hiatus would be about two months long, but I had clearly overestimated my capabilities. After returning from abroad, I spent the rest of november and december trying to catch up on my studies – with more or less success. I planned to continue updating after about 1/2 of the break, but because of further complications, I couldn’t.
I’m not sure when AAD will be coming back, but I definitely don’t want to abandon this project. Sadly, I really have no time to spend on it at the moment. Wishing all of you a pleasant and fulfilling new year. (jan. 6.)
The more I read the less I know and the more I ponder
Hello!! I interested to translate this novel into Indonesian and posted it on my wattpad account! Can i?? 😄