Chapter 14 - Instinct and Obsession
I cursed inwardly: *Like hell I’m throwing a tantrum.*
"She’s my sister," he said with a faint, knowing smile.
*Holy crap.* This was getting out of hand. He really could read my mind!
His handsome face immediately stiffened into a mask of feigned seriousness. "No, I can't."
"Hey! You just totally exposed yourself! You can absolutely read my mind, you bastard!" I shouted, though my voice lacked any real bite.
Alright, it seemed his repertoire of strange abilities was only growing. I began to mentally tally the supernatural feats my roommate had displayed thus far: he could intimidate any monster into a submissive retreat; he could toss a 180-centimeter-tall police officer around like a ragdoll; and now, he could read my innermost thoughts.
This was definitely not going to end well for me.
I desperately wanted to demand an explanation of what he truly was, but my courage failed me. I was, at my core, a coward. Instead, I opted for a facade of sternness, pointing an accusing finger at him. "The one throwing a tantrum today was you."
He offered a calm, detached explanation. "I wasn't throwing a tantrum."
"If you weren't angry, why did you feel the need to hoist Officer Ren into the air at the slightest provocation?"
His brow furrowed deeply again, a flash of genuine irritation crossing his features. "It was because you two were in the wrong."
"We weren't in the wrong! You were the one being unreasonable!"
Without a word, my roommate reached out and snatched the bowl of duck blood vermicelli soup right out of my hands.
"You—!"
"You were in the wrong," he repeated with agonizing patience. "Don't stay with him."
"..."
He held the bowl just beneath my nose, his expression that of a teacher coaxing a stubborn child. "Don't stay with him, and I'll feed you."
*Do I look that cheap to you?!* In a fit of pique, I swung my arm and decisively knocked the bowl away.
My roommate froze as he watched the soup take flight. He blinked, stunned by the sudden outburst, and then glanced at my face to gauge my mood. Without a word of protest, he walked over to where the noodles had splattered across the pavement. Using his bare hands, he began picking up the sodden vermicelli from the dirt, stuffing it back into the plastic bowl. He then walked back and tried to shove it into my hands again.
*Are you kidding me?!* The soup was covered in grit and grime, and I could clearly see an earthworm wriggling through the tangled mess of noodles.
"What a temper," he said, looking at me with a touch of helplessness. "Eat quickly, or you'll be hungry."
I stared at the bowl for a long moment, debating whether to scream or cry. Finally, I decided to be honest. "Humans don't eat filthy things that have fallen on the ground."
My roommate immediately dumped the contents into a nearby trash can. "Heh. I was just teasing you."
*Teasing my ass! You clearly had no idea!* My dear Classmate Liu, you’ve completely blown your cover today.
Knowing he had been caught in his ignorance, he maintained his stoic expression, though his body language betrayed a certain restlessness. He paced around me in a few tight circles before suddenly reaching out. Through the thin fabric of my hospital gown, he smeared a streak of blood from my arm.
"You're hurt," he noted. Before I could react, he rolled up my sleeve and lowered his head to lick the wound.
Over the past few days, I had become somewhat accustomed to his peculiar habits and alien logic. I knew he possessed little understanding of human social graces; he was, for all intents and purposes, barely human. Consequently, his actions didn't shock me as much as they once might have. However, watching him crouch there, earnestly licking my skin while occasionally looking up to lock eyes with me, still filled me with a primal sort of dread.
If a normal person did this, I would immediately assume it was some sort of perverse sexual advance. But while my roommate’s gaze was deep and inscrutable, it lacked any sense of calculated deception. To him, this act seemed as natural and instinctive as breathing or walking. It was pure, unadulterated biology.
I found myself increasingly terrified to speculate on what kind of creature he actually was.
Under the touch of his tongue, the stinging pain vanished instantly. Despite the miraculous healing, I yielded to his insistence and allowed him to apply a simple bandage. Afterward, I told him I wanted to leave the hospital and return to campus; I couldn't stand the sterile, oppressive atmosphere a moment longer. He accompanied me back to the inpatient ward to retrieve my clothes. The doctor from the cardiology department tried to persuade me to stay for a CT scan, but seeing my resolve, he eventually gave up.
As we walked through the ward, I noticed that the beds on my floor were almost entirely empty. The few students who remained were either dead to the world in a heavy sleep or staring blankly into space, their eyes unfocused and hollow. I asked the doctor where everyone had gone.
The physician sighed, looking weary. "Since the mechanism of the illness is unknown and all their vitals returned to normal, about twenty students recovered enough to be discharged. However, they all left without completing the formal paperwork, which has caused quite a headache for our staff."
A chill ran down to my fingertips. I suspected these were the same people who had surrounded us in the lobby earlier. When I had looked at them, I realized with a jolt of horror that they all shared a single consciousness—as if dozens of bodies were being piloted by one mind. Their movements, their expressions, their very auras belonged to the same entity. Calling them "human" no longer felt appropriate. My classmates had undergone some fundamental, qualitative change, and now, like droplets of water returning to the ocean, they had vanished back into the student body. They were hiding in plain sight, right beside me.
"Give me the list," my roommate said suddenly.
I started, realizing his intent. With that list, we would know exactly which students to be wary of.
Seeing the doctor’s confused expression, I stepped in to smooth things over. "It's like this—I'm with the Student Union. If you give me the names, I can get in touch with them and make sure they come back to finish the paperwork. Or, we can discuss it internally and perhaps handle the discharge process collectively."
Relieved to have a point of contact, the doctor handed the list over to my roommate.
We were about to leave when I felt a nagging urge to ask one more thing. "What about Jin Mu?"
The doctor’s expression softened slightly. "He’s awake now, though his condition isn't great. Are you a friend of his? He seems very popular; quite a few people have been waiting outside his room, refusing to leave."
*Waiting outside Jin Mu's room?*
I vaguely recalled that when I had tried to see Jin Mu earlier, Zhang Litian and his group had been suspiciously eager to block my path. And it was Jin Mu who had found me in that dream, showing me those horrific visions and warning me that people were being "possessed."
Before I could process this, my roommate had already strode past the doctor and was heading up the stairs. I had a gut feeling that he knew far more than I did, and his sudden urgency suggested something was wrong. I followed him for a few steps before realizing I didn't know where I was going. I turned back to the doctor. "Where is Jin Mu’s ICU room?"
"Sixth floor, at the very end of the hall."
By the time I reached the ICU, my roommate was already standing there with his back to me. I hurried to his side and found the same group of people I had encountered that afternoon standing guard by the door, clutching bouquets of flowers. They looked surprised to see us approaching with such intensity. "Are you also fans of Teacher Jin...?"
I could only offer a forced, awkward smile. "We're classmates."
They exchanged a few polite pleasantries with me, while my roommate gave them a cursory, dismissive glance. He turned to me, looking bored. "Let's go."
"Wait, I want to see him."
Just then, a nurse stepped out of the room. "The patient's emotions are relatively stable, but visiting hours are strictly limited. Don't disturb his rest." She checked her watch. "Thirty minutes, maximum."
Thirty minutes was more than enough.
We followed the group of "fans" into the room. The moment my roommate laid eyes on Jin Mu, his expression shifted. That wild, dangerously charming aura returned for a split second before he regained his composure. He wandered over to the window, leaning against the frame with an air of profound indifference as he stared at the scenery outside. I, however, sat down by Jin Mu’s bedside, my heart racing at the sight of the elegant face from my dream. A thousand questions swirled in my mind, but all I could manage was a weak, "...Hi."
Jin Mu was propped up against the pillows, his eyes opening with visible effort. His amber irises shifted toward me.
"Hello," he rasped, his voice muffled by the oxygen tube in his nose. His next words hit me like a physical blow. "Who are you...?"
Well, then. I had expected some cinematic moment where he would recognize me as a fellow survivor and we’d share a tearful connection. Instead, he had no idea who I was. Was it really just a dream? But if it was just a dream, why would I dream of someone like Jin Mu? Why him, specifically?
I pushed the questions aside and forced what I hoped was a friendly, approachable smile. "I'm a reporter for the Student Union. I'm following up on the recent mass poisoning incident. Most of the others saw their symptoms improve this morning and have already been discharged. You seem to have been hit the hardest, Classmate Jin. Could you tell me if you came into contact with anything—or anyone—strange yesterday? How did you feel when the symptoms started?"
Jin Mu rubbed his temple. "Poisoning...? I heard them saying it was collective mania..."
"Nothing is certain yet. The doctors are still running tests. For now, they’re just calling it an unknown mechanism."
Fortunately, Jin Mu didn't seem particularly interested in the medical details. He gave a weary, bitter smile. "Reporter, I'm afraid I won't be much help to you. I don't know anything. I came back from the art studio yesterday, laid down to sleep, and woke up here. I know even less than you do. The only thing I can tell you is..."
"Only what?"
"I had a very long nightmare."
As he spoke, Jin Mu turned his head to look at me directly. He had been keeping his eyes half-closed in exhaustion, but as he studied my face, his expression flickered with a trace of uncertain confusion. "Wait... have I seen you somewhere before?"
*In a dream, I saw you in a dream...* I almost felt like bursting into song.
"No," my roommate interjected sharply from the window.
Jin Mu winced, clutching his forehead. "I'm sorry... for some reason, whenever I try to think back, my head starts to throb..."
It seemed he hadn't forgotten entirely. However, the pain etched on his face suggested that some external force was preventing him from recalling the events of the previous night. Despite his discomfort, I pressed on. "What kind of nightmare was it?"
Jin Mu couldn't find the words. He struggled to be specific, speaking only in vague impressions. I noted two words that appeared with high frequency: *huge* and *terrifying*. But he couldn't describe what was huge, or what was so terrifying.
Soon, the thirty minutes were up, and the nurse came in to usher us out. I felt a wave of frustration; seeing Jin Mu had yielded nothing. As I stood up to leave, however, my eyes fell on a marble sculpture sitting on the bedside table.
It was a bust, depicting only the head and shoulders. The features were only just beginning to take shape; the eyes hadn't even been carved yet. But the fluid, graceful lines and the pearly, translucent quality of the stone were breathtaking. It possessed a static, inhuman beauty—a sense of eternal perfection that even time could not erode. I began to understand why Jin Mu, at such a young age, was already so famous. He possessed an indefinable, divine inspiration.
"Is this...?" I reached out, wanting to feel the smooth surface of the stone.
"Don't touch it!" Jin Mu lunged upward, though his body failed him and he slumped back against the bed. "Don't you dare touch it!"
His tone was vicious, filled with a sudden, jagged hostility.
I recoiled instantly, my hands held up in apology. "I'm sorry..."
Jin Mu panted heavily, glaring at me with raw hatred. "You shouldn't have tried to touch it."
"I... I didn't realize this piece had such special meaning to you..."
"A piece?" Jin Mu's lip curled into a mocking sneer as he arched an eyebrow. "This isn't a piece. This is my lover."
