Other details went without saying: his bandage had been removed, yet Ren Xing hadn't mentioned going back to the hospital for a check-up today; the radio that had suddenly malfunctioned in the car; the way he had tried to pull me toward the sea—thinking back, if I hadn't refused then, would he have dragged me straight into the depths?
I was just too damn easy.
Later, in bed, he had been particularly aggressive and dominant. None of that was like Ren Xing. My intuition hadn't been wrong; when I clawed at his back, I really might have felt tissue that didn't belong to a human.
And finally, there was that face behind the sliding door in the bathroom.
It’s hard to describe the shape of that head. It was roughly triangular, and on either side of the face grew three sharp, protruding spines. Moreover, it had no eyes, only a mouth. Its mouth was like a lamprey’s—a circular maw with another mouth inside it, and another inside that, every single one lined with tiny, jagged teeth.
So, a triangular head with no eyes and nothing but teeth had effortlessly driven me around in a whale-bone car, played the romantic lead, and finally slept with me.
Why?
Did I particularly fit this triangle-head’s aesthetic?
Surely not. As a human, I wasn't *that* catastrophically ugly, but my eyes were small—not so small they were invisible, though.
And why did he have to disguise himself as Ren Xing?
If his "ideal type" was Ren Xing, he should have just gone after the real Ren Xing!
Thinking of this, I couldn't help but curse under my breath. My ass really hurt. What the hell did that bastard use to poke me?! After doing the deed, he could have at least sent me back. This was the middle of nowhere; I’d been walking for an hour and seen nothing. No matter how homesick you are, you can’t just hit it and quit it then run home. I haven't even complained about you being ugly, yet you’re the one acting heartless? Pfft. Can we even have a pleasant interspecies fling anymore?
Just as my thoughts were spiraling into a rage, the sound of a flute suddenly drifted from ahead.
I froze in my tracks and immediately called Ren Xing. "Something's happening!"
"What is it?"
"There’s flute music up ahead! And it’s getting closer..."
Ren Xing heard it over the phone too. "Hide in the grass nearby. See what’s coming."
I was a bit spooked, so I ducked inside.
The flute music drew nearer.
It wasn't elegant or ethereal at all; instead, it sounded incredibly festive, like a rural folk tune played at an ancient wedding. But in a place this desolate and devoid of people, you can imagine the effect. The hair on my arms stood up of its own accord.
Then, I saw someone walking toward me.
It was a man in a suit. Perhaps because of the distance, I couldn't see his face clearly. His gait was strange; his trouser legs were hollow, making him look like an amputee, yet he moved very fast. In barely a minute, he had traveled from far away to right in front of me.
That was when I saw it clearly. He wasn't exactly walking; he was floating. He had no legs. His suit pants hovered twenty centimeters above the ground, just like in a ghost movie.
As I was staring at him, the flute music stopped. He tucked the flute away and turned his head stiffly to stare at me. "What are you doing here?"
I didn't dare make a sound.
He used the flute to part the grass. "Hey."
I could only say, tears streaming down my face, "I... I don't know."
His face was a bit grayish, carrying a sense of decay. But my gut told me he didn't mean any harm.
Sure enough, he said, "You need to go back. This is a place for the dead."
I was truly startled. For a long time, I had assumed my experiences belonged to the realm of sci-fi horror; this sudden jump into a ghost story plot was a bit much to handle.
"Follow me. I'll lead you back." He turned and floated away.
Along the way, he started playing that festive tune again. I followed him, seeing terrifying shadows flitting through the surrounding houses, their eyes seemingly polished bright.
"Are you... the King of Hell?"
He shook his head. "I'm responsible for clearing out those who wander in."
"!"
I didn't tempt fate by asking: *What about me? Why are you letting me go?* I smartly shut my mouth and followed him in silence. About thirty minutes later, I saw an abandoned highway entrance ahead. The sign indicating the location had fallen off, leaving only a few lonely steel skeletons. Similarly, the ramp was empty of people and cars. Everything was shrouded in a layer of mist, flickering in and out of view. Beyond the entrance, the highway was visible for only three to five meters before the rest was swallowed by thick fog.
He stopped and pointed at the highway entrance. "Go."
I said to him sincerely, "Thank you."
He gave no response, turned around, and began playing the flute again. But he accidentally brushed against the ticket box, and the flute dropped. Seeing him move stiffly to pick it up, I leaned down and grabbed the flute for him.
Then, I noticed something fall by my feet.
*Thud.* A dull, heavy sound.
I looked closer. A hand, severed at the wrist.
Then *thud*, another hand.
Finally, a head came rolling down. Its face was completely expressionless, the corners of the mouth drooping, the eye sockets dark and sunken, already emitting the stench of rot.
It was the face I had just seen.
Then, a muffled voice came from above my head: "It fell off."
I let out a scream, not daring to lift my head. I turned and bolted past the ramp, running into the misty highway.
Even after I had run a great distance, I heard that muffled voice behind me say: "You took my flute..."
I looked back, only to see a car’s headlights flashing as it hurtled toward me!
I screamed, instinctively closing my eyes and covering them with my hands. Then I heard a sharp screech of brakes. The wheels locked at the last second, and the front of the car brushed against my belt.
"What's wrong with you?! Are you insane?! Do you know this is a fast lane? You want to die?!" The driver got out and roared at me, even looking like he wanted to hit me.
But he had no idea how happy his cursing made me. With tears practically in my eyes, I asked him, "Where is this? What year is it?"
His eyes widened. He pulled back the fist he was about to throw and barked, "Psychopath!" before slamming the gas and driving off.
I scrambled behind the guardrail and found the highway brightly lit. The weather was clear; there was no mist at all. Looking at the road signs, it seemed I was in a very distant place, nearly out of the province. By any normal calculation, I couldn't have reached here in just a few hours.
At that moment, I received a location ping from Ren Xing: "You're in R City?"
"By the highway."
"Wait there. I'm coming to pick you up."
"There's no need, it's so late... by the time you get here, it'll be dawn..."
"I'm heading toward you from the provincial capital. I just located you and I've already set out."
I calculated that the provincial capital was relatively close to here, so I stood by the guardrail for two hours. I also discovered something extremely strange—it was only eleven o'clock, not yet midnight.
From the moment I stepped into "Ren Xing's" car until now, the time I had experienced was definitely more than just five hours.
I had probably gone to some kind of space where time was out of sync.
When Ren Xing arrived, he stopped the car and stared at me with a look of astonishment, as if he didn't recognize me at all. I got nervous, standing there with my limbs stiff as I let him look. "What is it?"
Ren Xing said, dumbfounded, "The flowers have bloomed."
Fine, getting all poetic on me... I know I'm already a "withered flower," currently exuding the aura of a "seasoned man," but you don't have to say it like that, it's embarrassing...
"Didn't you notice? Turn around and look. The flowers are all in bloom."
So he wasn't talking about me. I turned around blankly, and my mouth immediately fell open into an 'O' shape.
The flowers had bloomed.
Flowers covered the mountains and fields.
The area beside the highway was originally farmland. It was currently the autumn of the lunar calendar; the late-season wheat had been harvested, and the fields should have only held some withered, yellow stubble. But now, there was no trace of post-harvest gold. It was a riot of colors—flowers everywhere, along with the tender green of new grass.
As I got into Ren Xing's car, he was still muttering, "How bizarre."
I could only suppress the raging waves in my heart and tell him calmly, "There are even more bizarre things."
I told him everything that happened tonight. From start to finish. How "he" had come to pick me up as usual, how he took me to the seaside for a date, how we spent a passionate night—I glossed over that part, of course—and then, his sudden and perfectly timed phone call that made me realize the "he" who had slept with me wasn't human.
After Ren Xing heard it, his first reaction was actually, "I have an alibi. I was at the Provincial Forensic Department."
"Do you have to deny it that fast?"
Ren Xing gave a faint, amused nod. "True. It's not like you can get pregnant anyway."
"...Officer, do you have any compassion? Do you know my heart almost stopped when you called! Do you know the feeling of finishing a roll in the hay with someone only to find out they aren't even human?!"
Ren Xing maintained that same calm expression. "Then do you know the feeling of the person you like sleeping with someone else, thinking it was you? Do you know the feeling of wishing it *had* been you, but being wrongly accused?"
"...Stop joking."
He irritably tugged at his shirt collar. "Did you really sleep with him just because you thought it was me?"
"...Can we change the subject?"
Ren Xing stopped talking, his face pulled tight. After we got off the highway, he tossed his phone to me at a red light. "Ask your roommate."
I felt apprehensive.
How was I supposed to ask him?
*Hi, Liu Wukong, are you in the sea? Did you sleep with me tonight? Huh? You did? Oh, then I'm pregnant, hurry up and take me for an abortion... Huh? You didn't? Sorry, wrong person, bye...*
Pfft.
In the end, I called. My roommate was washing dishes on the other end; it was noisy.
"Are you coming back to the dorm?" My roommate walked to a quiet spot. I could hear his calm, soft breathing as he spoke. "There's duck blood vermicelli soup."
"Have you been washing dishes this whole time?"
"No," my roommate said flatly.
A glimmer of hope rose in my heart.
Then my roommate said, "I was feeding the cats."
Sure enough, I could hear cats meowing wildly on the other end. My roommate seemed to really like cats. Last time, I saw him sitting on the threshold, stroking their heads, smoothing their fur, and pouring fried rice into their bowls. Yet the cats weren't close to him; they would dodge him, or even try to bite and scratch him. He was quite pitiful.
"When are you coming back?" my roommate asked persistently. "After I'm done feeding the cats, I'll feed you."
I hung up the phone, practically in tears.
Fuck. I really was slept with by something unknown.
A massive sense of horror hit me as an afterthought.
That feeling was:
The one who slept with me... wasn't... my... roommate... either.
***
