Chapter 82: Takanna

While she was sizing up Zhou Ye, Zhou Ye was also sizing her up. He didn't immediately take the love letter, looking behind Su Mian intentionally or otherwise.

"Aren't you curious where that classmate went?"

Su Mian's hand holding the letter paused. She knew who "that classmate" Zhou Ye was referring to.

The boy who died in the tool room yesterday—she didn't know why Zhou Ye would bring it up voluntarily.

But her sixth sense told her that Zhou Ye was no pushover. If she answered incorrectly, she would end up like that boy, silently lying in a pool of blood.

A chill ran down her spine, and the faucet began to splash again.

Su Mian even felt the water flow getting heavier and heavier. The water splashing onto the floor hit her ankles, soaking her socks. Her hair stood on end.

Su Mian still held the letter up. In her vision, Zhou Ye was backlit; his cold, white skin was half-hidden in the shadows cast by the light.

"I don't know him."

"And I don't want to know him."

Zhou Ye tilted his head, the smile at the corners of his mouth deepening.

"Is that so?"

He slowly stepped forward, his warm breath enveloping Su Mian, yet she felt incomparably cold.

"I only care about you, classmate Zhou Ye."

"Oh..."

He drew out the tail of his voice, making one involuntarily draw out their breath as well. His slender fingers took the love letter.

"But you are trembling, classmate."

"I'm just cold."

"Cold?"

Zhou Ye murmured, wrapping his arms around the girl and patting her back lightly, as if comforting her.

"Will this feel better?"

Su Mian felt the extremely light breathing of the person in front of her; the muscles in his arms felt slightly abrasive.

The dampness at her ankles felt increasingly prominent, and her heart hammered.

No, no.

She couldn't stay here.

She reached back and wrapped her arms around the boy's waist, curling into his embrace like a kitten. Zhou Ye seemed even more delighted, his eyes filled with obvious curiosity and interest.

"Zhou Ye, let's go outside to talk."

"Why? There's no one here."

There was no one here, but there were ghosts.

Su Mian couldn't help but complain internally. Her heart was pounding, and she couldn't stop trembling, shrinking further into Zhou Ye's arms.

She didn't know if it was because of the character setting, but she felt flustered more easily than before. At this moment, feelings of unease and fear occupied Su Mian's mind, making it impossible for her to think of a strategy calmly.

If she couldn't overcome it, then she would submit.

Su Mian looked up, hugged Zhou Ye tighter, and wedged her feet between his legs.

"Classmate Zhou Ye, could you please make it stop?"

"My pant legs are soaked by it, and it's very cold."

Facing unknown power, going head-to-head was clearly not an option. She saw the interest in Zhou Ye's eyes and simply hinted at begging for mercy. She knew that thing was summoned by Zhou Ye.

As soon as she finished speaking, sure enough, the splashing sound stopped.

A lazy voice came from above her head, seemingly tacitly approving of the girl's actions.

"How pitiful..."

……

In the end, Su Mian was brought out of the tool room. The sound of bustling people returned, and everything went back to normal.

Her legs felt a bit weak, and she didn't let go of Zhou Ye's arm. The person beside her found it somewhat amusing.

"Am I a monster? It seems I've sucked away all your vitality."

Su Mian responded faintly, her eyelids drooping, looking somewhat exhausted.

At this moment, Zhou Ye seemed like a normal person, and Su Mian's body gradually began to warm up.

The sight of the two walking side-by-side drew many side-glances.

"I've accepted your love letter, and your confession... I've accepted that too."

Su Mian's pace faltered, and she looked at Zhou Ye in disbelief.

"What's with that expression? Don't you like me?"

"No..."

Su Mian suppressed the surprise in her eyes. His slender fingers slid into her palm and held her hand.

"Then we are officially together now, classmate Luo Yi."

He waved the love letter, on which her name, Chi Luoyi, was written at the bottom.

……

Su Mian returned to the dorm, and a gaze shot toward her. She finally saw the legendary Liang Chuchu.

She was wearing purple-red silk pajamas that outlined a body accustomed to luxury, clearly expensive, but the intense color made Liang Chuchu's face look even duller and more ordinary.

"Where have you been? No one fetched water for me today."

A wave of pettiness hit her. Su Mian ignored her and walked straight to her bed.

"Chi Luoyi! Are you not listening to me just because the college entrance exam is coming up?!"

The girls in the other beds didn't even dare to look up. Jiang Yue on the balcony glanced at Su Mian and withdrew her gaze in terror.

"I'm going to tell Takanna what you've done!"

Hearing these words, Su Mian, who was tidying up her things, finally looked up.

"Who?"

Liang Chuchu raised her head and snorted, "You aren't worthy of knowing. Just wait, I won't let you have an easy time!"

Su Mian didn't speak again. If her guess was correct, the Takanna she mentioned was the ghost she was always contacting through letters.

Suppressing her thoughts, Su Mian washed up and quickly climbed into bed, taking out the item Zhou Ye gave her to examine.

A wine-red hair tie with a silver ring on it.

He called it a betrothal gift. She looked at it for a long time but couldn't see anything special about it, so she simply put it in her pocket and went to sleep.

The dorm lights went out at eleven, but she woke up at twelve.

A glimmer of light leaked through the gap in the bed curtain. Su Mian forced herself to wake up and looked through the gap. Liang Chuchu's bed curtain was pulled back, and she didn't seem to be in bed.

What is that smell...

Su Mian sniffed and immediately frowned.

The smell of burning paper money.

She even saw specks of blue smoke in the glimmer. Su Mian grabbed her glasses, put them on, and looked toward the source.

Everything behind the lenses became clear. Liang Chuchu was kneeling in the center of the balcony with her back turned, the ashes of burned paper money piling up into a small black hill at her feet.

On a stool sat an antique doll that made one physically uncomfortable, wearing a pretty little dress with a head of gold curly hair.

Even though she was wearing glasses, Su Mian couldn't see her face. Under the stool sat a washbasin with three incense sticks inserted; the smoke drifted crookedly into the dorm.

That doll was Takanna? The ghost she spoke of was this doll?

Su Mian withdrew her gaze and pulled the curtain a bit tighter.

Worshipping a doll god—she had only seen it on some horror bloggers' pages, but this was the first time she had seen it so close.

This kind of doll could grant the owner's wishes, but when the owner chose to abandon it, they would suffer a severe backlash.

Just as she was about to lie down, an eye appeared in the gap of the bed curtain. The skin around the eye socket was deathly pale. Su Mian's heart stopped for a beat, and her scalp went numb.

It was Liang Chuchu. She had discovered her peeking.

The bed curtain Chi Luoyi bought was trash; with the slightest bit of light, it became a shadow puppet show.

So Liang Chuchu's silhouette was particularly obvious. She was hanging on Su Mian's bed, holding up her phone screen, which displayed a few blood-red words.

"What are you looking at?" ===== CHAPTER 83 =====