Intrusion into the Mortal World

It turned out that when she mentioned she was "very good at escaping," it wasn't just an offhand remark.

"That doesn't sound right."

Lin Xingjie saw through his lie at a glance,

"Did you come looking for me?"

The look on his face suggested that he had admitted it.

"Really? You actually skipped class for me?"

After receiving a definite answer, she found it a little hard to believe.

As mentioned before, Lin Xingjie had a good understanding of his daily life, knowing that Xu Xiangyang was an all-around excellent student who couldn't be faulted in any way, and adhering to the basic rule of punctual arrival and departure for school was the least of his behaviors; she had never seen him arrive late or leave early.

When she realized that he had broken the rules for her, Lin Xingjie felt disbelief and incredulity, along with a strange, indescribable complexity of emotions.

Her heart stirred slightly, as if a fledgling was peeking its head out from a cracked shell.

The boy was silent for a moment before he answered,

"Today is Saturday."

"...Oh, right."

Lin Xingjie turned her head away in slight embarrassment; after a while, she turned back to ask,

"Then what are you doing here?"

Could it be that he's worried about me—

"I am worried about you."

She almost said the second half of that sentence jokingly, but she swallowed it before it reached her lips.

"Worried... about me? That's unnecessary, isn't it?"

Lin Xingjie realized her tone had suddenly risen while speaking and quickly coughed to clear her throat.

"Of course, it's necessary," Xu Xiangyang sighed, "because I gave my sister's stuff to you. If it got lost or fell into someone else's hands, it could cause trouble for her."

"So, are you regretting it?"

"...Pretty much."

The truth was that his sister had phoned him that morning, speaking very seriously and telling him not to keep going to the commercial streets these days. She obviously couldn't explain the specific reason, but Xu Xiangyang could vaguely guess that it might be related to a surprise police inspection in the area, or even a large-scale manhunt for a major case.

Xu Xiangyang naturally thought of Lin Xingjie. He was so preoccupied this morning that he couldn't concentrate on his reading, and when no one answered after knocking on her door, he went out for a walk to clear his mind and happened to bump into her.

"Anyway, let's call it off for today, okay? Be careful during this period."

Lin Xingjie frowned and stared at him discontentedly, as if trying to find something in his expression until he became visibly uncomfortable; then she finally relaxed her brows and smiled, showing her teeth.

"No problem. I told you I would do as you say. If you want to stop me, I won't go through with it."

"Like I said, I don't care who you're getting revenge on," Xu Xiangyang emphasized, "This is just a reminder."

"Whatever, I'll just leave."

The girl sighed and ungraciously patted her stomach.

"I'm hungry, accompany me to grab some breakfast on the way, will you?"

"...Okay."

*

Lin Xingjie led the way, expertly turning into a narrow alley. Xu Xiangyang didn't speak; he knew that the fried dough and rice sold in these deep alleys were the most delicious, and since he had been out and about early in the morning, he was indeed a bit hungry.

However, both of them hadn't anticipated that this would be a mistake.

This area was some distance from the district where Lin Xingjie had been chased, and she thought she was safe for the moment, temporarily putting aside the matter of the strange pack of wild dogs; Xu Xiangyang, on the other hand, was completely unaware of this incident.

So, when the rabid dogs that had followed their scent suddenly appeared in front of Xu Xiangyang and Lin Xingjie, their shock and panic were foreseeable.

In the dim light of the not yet fully brightened sky, at the front of a deserted, serpentine alley, the wild dogs slowly emerged, their posture as ferocious as that of real beasts.

Lin Xingjie stared at them blankly.

She discovered... if she wasn't mistaken, the "adhesion" on the bodies of the dogs seemed to have worsened.

This made them look more like a single monstrous entity.

"Run!"

Xu Xiangyang reacted swiftly; upon seeing the strange condition of the dogs, although still not understanding the situation, he immediately decided to run. Naturally, he didn't forget to tug on the girl's sleeve, urging her to hurry.

Strangely, he found he couldn't pull Lin Xingjie away at all. Her feet might as well have taken root, standing there, staring blankly ahead.

If she wouldn't move, Xu Xiangyang couldn't leave either. He thought Lin Xingjie was frozen in fear, so he clenched his jaw and spread his arms to shield her.

—And in the next instant, the lead dog pounced, and the wild dogs stuck close to it also leaped up; this movement starkly exposed the connecting parts of their bodies: pink muscles covered in a thin membrane stretched grotesquely and twisted between their limbs, numerous swollen lumps trembled and twitched in the breeze, like a monster with more than one head snarling and drooling at the young man and woman.