Volume 1

42 Another Incident

He leaned in closer to my face. His lips stopped at the corner of my mouth, his cheek rubbing against mine. He was too close for me to see his eyes; I could only feel his lips looming near my own. The bead of water on them seemed to be able to touch his lips.

A dizzyness overcame me, and my heart beat wildly in my chest. I cursed silently, but I didn’t dare consider what this situation was.

Nie Zun’s arm wrapped around me, holding me between him and the wall. He slanted his lips slightly and they touched the drop of water on my lips. Like a cloth absorbing water, his lips wicked off the water bead in an instant.

My eyes widened, and finally, I lifted my arm. I held my hand to my chest, in the space between us, trying to calm my beating heart. My lips started to tremble, but he didn’t seem to care. He continued to stare at me with his shining eyes, a warmth passing over them.

I opened my mouth slightly to speak, and in that moment, his eyes dropped and his lips brushed past mine. They only brushed past ever so lightly, but a strong shock seemed to ripple out from my lips all the way down to my chest.

I couldn’t bear it any longer, and so I pushed him away with both hands and I fell to the ground.

At my push, Nie Zun took a few steps back, looking startled. And then he laughed bitterly, before slowly stuffing his hands back into the pockets of his black windbreaker.

I ignored his laugh, still caught up by my beating heart that felt like it’d been struck by lightning.

I frowned, holding my chest with my hands, as if I’d finally found my breath. I inhaled, trying to wash away the aching, itchy feeling on my heart.

As I panted, I looked at the smiling Nie Zun. “You! Hurry over and help me up! M-my heart feels like it’s about to burst! Hurry and call Jie Pa! Is this an aftereffect of my injury?!”

Nie Zun froze and stared at me, my words taking him by surprise.

I frowned and looked over at him like a fool. And then, finally, as if understanding, a look of delight crossed his eyes, wiping away the dim, helplessness that had been there previously. His lips curved up seductively.

I couldn’t help rolling my eyes. With another frown, I said, “Have you gone insane?! I said my heart’s nearly bursting out of my chest! Hurry and help me up!”

Nie Zun sneered, the dark storm in his eyes calming. He walked over and helped me up. His scent floated into my nose again. I felt his arm around me and his gaze on me, and I quickly pushed away, stepping back.

A bit embarrassed, I raised a hand and kneaded my red hair. Nie Zun’s eyes darted around and he coughed into his gloved fist.

“So, why do you think someone would attack Yu Liang while disguised as you?” I tried asking.

The question seemed to suit Nie Zun, and his darting eyes calmed. “I wonder if, perhaps, someone is trying to incite discord between us. They want us to suspect each other.”

I frowned. “Who could be behind a plan like that? What’s his motive?”

Nie Zun stuffed his hands back into his pockets as he replied, “Perhaps these evildoings go deeper than we’re thinking.”

I nodded, my heart heavy, as I pondered the recent events.

Bang, bang, bang!

A strange banging sound suddenly came from outside the window. Nie Zun and I exchanged a glance. And suddenly, a shadow flashed past the window.

I’d been nervous, but when we made it outside, I was stunned.

Nie Zun and I were already on the first floor of the school building. We ran out from an exit, and as we stepped out the doors, a person fell from above us. I quickly tried to dodge the falling body, which then landed right beside me!

Blood splattered all around, and the person died.

When Nie Zun and I looked up, we discovered that all the windows on the 11th floor of the building were shattered. Moreover, in the hundreds of broken windows were hundreds of corpses being tossed out. One after the next, bodies fell down, some nearby, some far away. One body looked to be healing as it fell.

Could it be?

A bad feeling came over me, but I couldn’t be bothered with that right now. With a bit of mental force, I jumped up to a broken window on the 11th floor. Nie Zun followed close behind.

I ended up in some kind of classroom. Most of the rooms in the building were classrooms; only the first ten floors were used for temporary-stay dorms.

The room was empty and very tidy. I ran out the door into the corridor, which was crowded with people, running out of their rooms, screaming. Because the weak Southern residents had never been faced with such a situation, some simply fell to the ground in despair.

The building was divided into sections, separated by large doors every 100 meters or so. The bodies were being thrown out from windows in this section of the building, so I ran through the crowd, searching for the person who could be behind the ordeal.

The frightened crowd made it difficult to get through the corridor, but I didn’t dare use any mental force, lest I scare the residents even more. Nie Zun and I checked room after room, until we arrived at the elevator at the end of the building section. Then I saw some people running past the elevator. Jie Pa and Song Lu.

When I saw Song Lu, I felt my heart drop with a thud. All I could think was that as long as Song Lu wasn’t behind this, that’s all that mattered. Her face carried an exhaustion, but when she saw me, she seemed to sigh a sigh of relief, a heartbroken look in her eyes.

I also noticed that my expression wasn’t good. I quickly turned to Jie Pa and asked, “What’s going on here?”

Jie Pa responded just as quickly, “Ms Song Lu and I were on the 12th floor, trying to analyze a blood sample. When we heard the cries from the 11th floor, we quickly ran down, but we don’t know what’s going on yet.”

Huh, what are you talking about? I pushed past them and ran towards the next section of the building. Past the elevator was another corridor, which was beginning to fill up with people leaving their rooms as well. I was trying to make my way through the increasing crowd when a figure passed by in the distance.

Though there was some light, visibility was neverthless reduced in the night. But when the figure passed by, I turned and happened to glimpse something. And then I froze.

Standing frozen in spot, Nie Zun caught up to me and shook me. “Li Shen, what are you doing?!”

I watched the figure disappear into the distance, and I finally snapped out of it. I ran forward. The figure disappeared into a room, and so I followed behind into the room. It was another classroom. The windows weren’t shattered, but they were open.

I ran over to the window and looked down. It didn’t look like anyone had been dropped out from the window. When I looked around some more, I finally spotted an all too familiar, graceful figure by the woods surrounding the school.

My mouth dropped open in surprise as Nie Zun rushed over. The figure below turned and slightly raised their head and smiled at me, promptly disappearing into the woods afterwards.

Without too much thought, I jumped out the window. When I landed, I ran into Gaoqin Jiuye and Jiao S on the ground.

Even Jiao S looked astonished. “What’s going on here? Did you catch the culprit?”

I raised my head and looked over towards the woods where the figure disappeared. Knowing that I wouldn’t be able to find him under the current visibility conditions, I could only shake my head.

Gaoqin Jiuye asked with extreme gravity, “On our way over, there were more than a hundred people who fell out from the building without healing.”

Jie Pa and Song Lu had also jumped out from the window and caught up to us.

Jie Pa quickly added, “Then their blood must have been mixed with blood of a constitution like Song Lu’s. My conjecture earlier wasn’t right. I was testing Song Lu’s blood earlier, and the reason that Song Lu’s blood causes others to die, is because when her blood mixes with another’s, it causes that person’s conscious body to become a physical body. That means it can be wounded, and those wounds naturally transfer to their physical bodies in the real world.”

Alarmed, I reminded him, “You cut your hand with a knife covered in her blood!”

He returned a bitter laugh. “Yes. My wound cannot heal as quickly as we would expect here. It can only heal like a physical body ordinarily would, slowly.”

I covered my mouth with my hand. That basically made you a cripple in the Split Zone!

A deeply pained expression was on Song Lu’s face.

Jiao S asked, “Can you still use your mental force?”

Jie Pa nodded. “Yes. Everything is as usual, but I shouldn’t get injured. This blood makeup is truly unparalleled. Song Lu’s blood causes others to lose their ability to heal quickly, while conversely, her own ability to heal has increased in speed.”

Gaoqin Jiuye asked ruthlessly, “Who would do such a thing?!”

Jie Pa replied helplessly, “If I’m not wrong, the culprit was simply testing things today. Since the test was successful, I’m afraid that the residents of the Split Zone will be in much danger now.”

Gaoqin Jiuye suddenly shot a cold look at Song Lu. “But she’s right here. From what you’ve told us, each of their experiments was different. How can they be utilizing her blood then?”

With a downcast expression, Jie Pa replied, “I’m afraid they must have a second successful experiment. However, the chances of integrating the demon leeches with a human body is very low. It’s likely that Song Lu may have been their only complete success. I’m not sure who’s blood they’re using now, but it may not be as perfect as Song Lu’s. In fact, it’s possible that they’re creating such a large disturbance now in order to reclaim Song Lu.”