Intrusion into the Mortal World

"I called you over just to show you the 'pet' I've been keeping lately."

A lazy, peaceful atmosphere enveloped the two. Lin Xingjie was the first to speak up, breaking the silence.

"You're calling this thing a pet?"

Xu Xiangyang found it unbelievable.

"Yes. Though I can't really figure out what it truly is. It seems like an extraterrestrial, but as you can see, ordinary people can't see it, and it can pass through walls as if it has no physical body. From this point of view, it's more like a 'ghost'."

"Does anyone else know about it?"

"Just you. I don't plan to show it to anyone else because I think it's a secret that shouldn't be revealed. If others saw it, they would definitely be terrified, and it might bring trouble... Of course, you're certainly an exception."

Xu Xiangyang felt a tickle in his ears. He wasn't sure if it was the wind brushing through the grass that was tickling his ears or the girl's voice, gentle as if caressing him.

He watched the "monster" wandering above their heads in silence, and after a while, he softly asked:

"When did it appear? It couldn't have... always been by your side, right?"

"Of course not," Lin Xingjie laughed, "Otherwise, I wouldn't have been living so wretchedly. I actually only noticed it in the past couple of days."

"...Oh."

Xu Xiangyang pondered.

An idea suddenly struck him: Could the monster's appearance be related to that haunted house?

"What's its name?"

"I've decided to call it 'Xiao An'."

"Just a random choice?"

"It was the name of a dog my dad used to keep. The original name was a bit long, I usually called it 'Xiao An'. But that dog has long died; it was before I moved to this city. I thought about it yesterday and decided to just take this thing as a substitute."

"Oh, so you moved here from somewhere else?"

"Yeah. After my dad passed away, my mom and I moved."

"That, that's so."

Lin Xingjie's tone was quite calm, but Xu Xiangyang still heard a somewhat unusual emotion in her voice.

This didn't seem like a good topic, and since they were friends, he shouldn't dig too deep into things the other person found unpleasant. Thinking this, he decided to steer the conversation back to the original topic.

"It... Xiao An, aren't you scared of it?"

"Hmm."

Lin Xingjie thought for a moment.

"I was scared at first, but then I got used to it, just like the typical relationship between a pet and its owner."

"Who keeps such a big pet in this world?"

"You'll get used to it after a while; I think it's quite cute," the girl replied cheerfully, "It's just too bad that I've tried everywhere these past two days. It seems to repel other pets, like dogs and cats and other small animals, who can vaguely sense Xiao An's presence. Whenever it comes out, they get so scared they run around everywhere, only causing me trouble."

"Will I ever get used to it..."

"Definitely. We can call it out every time we meet."

Xu Xiangyang was actually already getting used to it.

After all, Xiao An wouldn't hurt it, and it was very well-behaved, floating above their heads, even if it looked a little scary.

If there was anything that still concerned him, it was the "unknown" aspect of the monster: What exactly is it? Where did it come from?

"It surely can't be a spirit..." Xu Xiangyang murmured, "Could it be that after death, people turn into monsters like this?"

"I told you, I don't know. I just think that Xiao An lives in another world, a world completely different from ours..."

Lin Xingjie's voice gradually softened; she raised a hand, seemingly trying to touch the phantom above her head. Part of Xiao An's body hovered in the low air, flowing over her fingertips like water droplets, and the girl's voice sounded like a murmuring dream.

"I just know that there is a very close connection between it and me. So as long as I want to, I can summon Xiao An from 'that world' into reality."

"If that's true, can it affect our world?"

Xu Xiangyang furrowed his eyebrows, feeling it was quite unbelievable.

"I... I'm not sure. But, didn't the biology textbook say that people can see objects through the reflection of light? So there should be some effects."

Lin Xingjie's answer took Xu Xiangyang by surprise, indicating she had indeed thought about this question.

Of course, since small animals and some humans—though known humans included only him and Lin Xingjie—could observe Xiao An's presence, by common sense, it would not be possible for it to have no impact on reality.

"No, what I mean is... uh, how should I describe it, I think there might be more... 'intense' aspects."

"Haha, I knew you would ask that."

Lin Xingjie got up briskly from the meadow, a slightly excited smile on her face, as if she had been waiting for herself to say this.

"Xu Xiangyang, watch closely now, I'm going to perform a magic trick."

"... What?"

Xu Xiangyang sat up in confusion, watching the girl make a gesture as if she was giving an order to her pet. The aimless fish in mid-air suddenly came to a stop.

Xu Xiangyang couldn't help but widen his eyes. Under his astonished gaze, the enormous phantom charged toward the tightly locked warehouse door—

"Bang!"

What followed was a deafening noise.

"Wait, wait a minute, I know now, I know it has an impact!"

Xu Xiangyang was startled, instinctively jumping up from the ground.

However, Xiao An's collision was not over. Soon, another loud sound rang out, and visible indentations appeared on the surface of the iron warehouse door—

"It's hitting too hard, right?! Make it stop!"

The voice echoed in the empty playground, and Xu Xiangyang turned his head in panic. Fortunately, there was nobody nearby to notice the anomaly here.

"Bang!"

The third sound. The bolt on the door twisted out of shape, and the two closed door leaves could not help but reveal gaps.

Xu Xiangyang thought it was another prank by the girl to scare him, and he felt slightly angry wanting to stop her, but he found Lin Xingjie standing by with her mouth wide open, a stunned, speechless expression on her face.

"Wait... Wait a minute!"

The girl barely managed to react and tried to raise her hand to stop it.

But before her words fell, Xiao An had already charged forward, directly breaking open the doors of the sports warehouse.

Under the girl's will, the huge shadow of the fish vanished without a trace.

Lin Xingjie slowly lowered her hand, and she stood there, along with Xu Xiangyang, stunned and looking at each other in dismay.

"It didn't have... that much strength before." The black-haired girl said in a disturbed whisper, "The last time I tested it, it could only knock over a cup of water—"

Xu Xiangyang crouched down, picked up the iron chain that had fallen to the ground, the lime dust falling onto his hair. He looked up to find web-like cracks spreading across the wall; he glanced at the severely skewed pair of doors that had been knocked loose from the walls and were precariously hanging on the door frame, likely to collapse at any moment.

The warehouse door had a bolt on the inside and was locked with a chain on the outside, yet it had been broken by Xiao An in just a few blows, and even the wall had suffered damage... This was not a feat human strength could achieve.

"We should get out of here quickly."

Xu Xiangyang concluded sternly.

Lin Xingjie nodded frantically in panic.