Chapter 8: The Door and the Dark

Lin Xingjie didn't look back as she ran forward, the stairs in the hallway creaking under her feet, yet she didn't slow down for a moment. The darkness in front of her twisted and flowed like a vortex, and for a while, the girl could only hear her own heavy breathing; even the roars coming from behind seemed to originate from a distant place.

Trying to take advantage of the situation to teach the other party a lesson was impossible, as boys naturally had an advantage in strength and stamina over girls. It had seemed as though she had escaped quite easily, and had even stunned Shi Hui with a slap, but that was only because he hadn't been serious. If he got close and tangled up with her, it would be very difficult to free herself.

In the moment she saw the attempted grab, Lin Xingjie understood that Shi Hui and his companions had indeed come prepared, with her as their target!

In other words, only by striking pre-emptively and catching them off guard could she escape. The slap might have seemed unexpected, but in reality, it was seizing the only fleeting opportunity.

Lin Xingjie was calmer than most people and had experience in fighting, even daring to use knives, so she could manage against those idle troublemakers who approached her because she looked good; but since the other party had made up their mind, she definitely wouldn't gain anything by lingering with such people in such a place. After all, Shi Hui was strong and was said to have trained for a few years, and with the others in the narrow room all being his associates... She couldn't manage to take down everyone at once in such an environment and had no choice but to run.

In the past, she had often fantasized that if there really were martial arts that allowed one to take on ten, it would be great to be the heroine of a martial arts novel; however, the reality was that a girl with no one to rely on was like wandering in a jungle stalked by beasts, only safe by putting on a fierce facade to avoid getting hurt.

Of course, there was one thing she was still a bit confident about: that was escaping itself.

The slap Lin Xingjie had delivered was not a spur-of-the-moment action; she was adept at extracting herself from entanglements and even had experience with being followed by a string of people.

The innate physical disadvantages often needed to be compensated for with careful observation, thoughtful action during movement, and a thorough understanding of the nearby streets and alleys.

Take the current situation, for example—

The door ahead was pushed open from the inside, as if someone was about to rush out, but the running Lin Xingjie seemed to have anticipated it and, with increased speed, kicked the door hard with her sports-shoed foot.

The door rebounded quickly, and Lin Xingjie heard a surprised cry of pain; someone had likely been hit in the nose by the door.

It must hurt a lot. After all, during her walk upstairs, she had checked each door and knew how sturdy they were.

With one successful move, the girl didn't feel the slightest bit pleased and continued her dash downstairs.

Lin Xingjie's quick reactions and decisive judgment completely exceeded the expectations of these guys. Although they had a numerical advantage, they were now having a hard time catching up.

"Hey, Yan Mingjun, did you lock the door when you came? I told you, didn't I?"

Shi Hui, gasping for breath, rushed to the staircase, leaned down to look, and saw the black-haired girl's figure flash by the corner, no longer visible.

"I—I meant to lock it, but I didn't expect that the door was broken..."

The long-haired boy replied in a muffled voice while holding his nose.

"I think your brain is what's broken!"

Wang Nana, who was anxiously straightening her dress on the side, couldn't help but curse under her breath. For such a trivial task to fail and to watch that girl escape... indeed, men are useless.

...

Hearing the frantic voices coming from upstairs, Lin Xingjie finally started to relax a little.

In the end, if the doors here could be bolted from the outside, I wouldn't have come in from the start, she thought to herself.

Of course, the girl thought there were still areas where she had been negligent: for instance, if the others weren't just limited to these three and someone was now blocking the door, that would be really bad.

But after all, "having guards at the door while doing something bad"—such organized methods were unlikely to be found among campus ruffians. Despite looking like the "leader", everyone at No.15 Middle School knew Shi Hui, but in his circle, no one would truly obey him without question.

Before these young people are battered by reality, they act lawlessly, not even fearing the emperor, let alone listening to a peer.

Lin Xingjie felt that if Shi Hui had decided to make a move on her today, he couldn't possibly bring too many people, otherwise the matter would be exposed, and he must be aware of the risks. Moreover, she hadn't come unprepared... Lin Xingjie looked towards the window, and sure enough, there was no one outside.

She ran towards the door as planned, and without hesitation, she slammed into the mostly broken wooden door, and then—

"Ugh...!"

An unexpected sharp pain struck, and Lin Xingjie clasped her shoulder, squatting down in pain, holding her breath, with tears involuntarily streaming down. The slight smile that had just flashed across her face now froze.

For some reason, the rickety door didn't break open. Was it propped up by something outside? Or was there actually an accomplice?

But whether inside or outside, there was still silence.

The black-haired girl squatting on the ground lifted her tearful eyes and suddenly noticed that even the light that should have shown through the door's cracks was nowhere to be seen.

Lin Xingjie staggered to her feet, clenched her teeth, and kicked the door several times, to no avail.

The girl's brain raced.

What now... What to do?! How should she act at a time like this?

Although she didn't know why the door wouldn't open, she had to abandon this option.

The window... Lin Xingjie tapped on it to discover it was sealed shut.

She took a deep breath.

The situation was not good.

At this moment, the only thing she seemed to have left to do was...

Lin Xingjie made a decision and ran decisively towards the kitchen.

...

Less than half a minute later, several people came down from upstairs. Shi Hui was having a heated argument with Yan Mingjun. One was furious that the "cooked duck had flown away," while the other did not feel at fault at all and, being prideful, stubbornly retorted; but when they both turned their heads, they saw the door was still properly closed, which made them pause.

"She didn't run outside?"

"Haha, does she want to play 'eagle catches the chicks' with us?"

"You'd better not screw up again..."

While they were talking, they saw Lin Xingjie come out of the kitchen, covering her shoulder, her face pale and staggering.

Unfortunately, she hadn't found any weapons to use in resistance.

"What, not running anymore?"

Shi Hui walked up to her with a smile on his face, but his movements were ruthless as he forcefully pushed her.

Lin Xingjie tried to dodge, but pain impeded her, causing her to fall backwards onto the ground.

Shi Hui approached Lin Xingjie and, knowing she was trapped by the three men, was in no hurry, looking down to admire her.

Even in such a dirty and dark place, the girl's beauty was unaffected, and instead, it added a pitiable charm to her. Her long black hair spread out on the floor like a blooming flower.

He wanted to see her bite her lip in anger, wanted to see her curse loudly, wanted to see her stubbornly defiant face... He believed she would act like this because she looked like a girl with that kind of personality.

However, to Shi Hui's surprise, the girl half-kneeling on the ground was just staring at him with those ink-colored pupils, her gaze empty. It was as if she wasn't looking at him, but at "something" behind him...

...

In the corner, Lin Xingjie, covering her shoulder, lifted her head to watch the three approaching slowly.

"Hehe, don't move if you don't want to get hurt," said the young man with long hair, pulling out a knife from his pocket and waving the gleaming blade in the air as he spoke with a laugh.

"Xing Jie, you'd better just behave. It would be such a loss if your pretty face got hurt," said Wang Nana, barely able to hold back her urge to laugh.

"Hahahaha!"

The laughing faces of her peers seemed to warp into swirling vortices.

...The pain in her shoulder was indeed intense, but what truly made her suffer was a sudden headache.

Her head felt like it was going to split open, her vision darkened, and she was on the verge of fainting.

She clenched her teeth to stay conscious, not even feeling the blood flowing into her mouth.

In Lin Xingjie's pupils, a deep darkness was faintly reflected, but that wasn't her natural eye color.

Looking over the shoulder of the person in front, the thick, rich darkness drew the girl's gaze like a liquid black hole.

It was only then that Lin Xingjie realized that what she had seen in the upstairs hallway was probably not a "gap between the layers" at all; including the gloomy feeling that had been lingering around her since she entered the house, it was all caused by that "darkness"... It had been following her all along!

Was that... just her illusion, or did this house actually have a ghost?

Was it that which lured her unsuspectingly into the house, prevented her from breaking through the door to escape, and even wanted to take away her strength to resist?

Anger was boiling inside Lin Xingjie.

If there really were ghosts in this world, she would definitely become a real vengeful ghost after her death, and retaliate fiercely, against everything that drove her into a corner, whether they were human or ghost!

The more desperate the situation, the less afraid Lin Xingjie felt. She just stared wide-eyed at the darkening "darkness" that was drawing closer to her...

It was a shadow like a massive monster, seemingly about to reveal its true form, tearing apart everything around it.

Come on, she thought, let me see what you really are!

Just then—

Lin Xingjie suddenly saw a figure behind Shi Hui.

At first, she thought it was just her imagination, but as the figure drew closer, she realized it was indeed a person with a young face, wearing the uniform of City No. 15 Middle School, and he looked somewhat familiar.

How did he appear?

She also saw the boy sneak up behind the three who were excited, lift something heavy in his hands, and wink at her.