Xia Yinuo remained utterly unmoved by Chirp’s words.
Instead, she reached out, playfully pinching the ghost woman’s hair, which nearly brushed the ground. “Hey, why is your hair so realistic? It doesn’t look fake at all?”
A guttural shriek.
The ghost woman’s piercing cry caused her hair to writhe as if alive, despite the absence of wind. Her thick, long locks bristled upwards, resembling a dense bed of seaweed swaying beneath the ocean’s surface.
Her face, previously half-pale, half-clear, suddenly became a bloody mess, and her luminous green eyes, usually restrained, now dripped with blood.
“Whoa! Zhao Lin’er, you’re trying to scare me to death!” Xia Yinuo clutched her wildly pounding heart.
Even though she knew it was her best friend in disguise, the lifeless, deathly face and the incredibly realistic special effects makeup made her shriek in undeniable terror.
In her indignation, Xia Yinuo shoved Zhao Lin’er forward.
Oddly, when Xia Yinuo’s hand made contact with Zhao Lin’er, it passed straight through her body.
Zhao Lin’er herself flew backward four or five meters before stopping, her sunken eyes flickering with green light, her mouth agape, revealing a tongue nearly twenty to thirty centimeters long.
Just then, Xia Yinuo’s phone rang. “Hello? What? You’re outside? Then the ghost in front of me is…”
Xia Yinuo dared not complete the thought. She retreated inch by inch, her eyes wide with horror.
Her legs trembled uncontrollably. The ghost’s tongue had extended from a few dozen centimeters to half a meter long, whipping flexibly through the air.
Its lifelike appearance made it impossible to be fake. The air was filled with an intensely putrid stench, making her want to vomit.
“Chirp—Chirp—Chirp!”
With each shout, Xia Yinuo patted Chirp’s head. “We might have truly encountered… I’ll count to three, then we run together. One, two…”
“Ahhh, she’s chasing us!”
I had already bolted out first, heading for the stairs, even before my sister finished counting to three. Behind me, I heard my sister’s deafening scream, followed by a loud thump.
Her voice abruptly cut off. I heard the sound of my sister falling to the ground.
“Sister!” In my panic, I glanced behind me. A foul, bloody red tongue was wrapping around my sister’s neck.
Without a second thought, I grabbed my sister’s legs and sprinted down the stairs.
The thudding of footsteps on the stairs, along with the sound of my sister’s head colliding with the steps, echoed in my ears.
I dragged my sister by her ankles, running nonstop until we were outside Wangfujing. Once out, I felt utterly drained, collapsing onto the ground, gazing at the clear blue sky, gasping for air.
“We… we escaped.” I didn’t know how to express my feelings at that moment. After a while, I finally checked on Xia Yinuo; she was clearly unconscious.
I touched my sister’s nose; her breathing was very steady. I had no choice but to carry her on my back and head home.
A pair of eyes watched from a distance as the little one carried Xia Yinuo farther and farther away, letting out a long sigh of relief. Zhao Lin’er’s face was equally pale, her breathing erratic.
She had encountered a ghost upon entering and called her best friend the moment she escaped. It seemed their experience was no better than her own, but at least everyone was safe.
Upon returning home, I gently laid my unconscious sister face down on the bed. Her clothes were torn on her back, and many parts of her skin were bruised.
I took out a blanket to completely cover Xia Yinuo’s body, then retrieved alcohol swabs from the medicine cabinet.
When I lifted a corner of the blanket to reveal my sister’s ankle, seeing the bright red scratches, my heart ached.
It was all my fault for not protecting my sister better. I was just a cowardly braggart. Now, I could only do my best with my meager strength to make it up to her.
Alcohol could disinfect wounds, but if the skin was broken, it would be very painful. However, there were no other substitute medicines at home.
If my sister thrashed around in pain, it would be very detrimental to her wounds. After much thought, I decided to secure her hands and feet.
“Ah, I’m so clever!” I pulled four handcuffs from my toy box and cuffed Xia Yinuo’s hands and feet to the bedposts. This perfectly solved the problem of my sister moving around.
However, this made my sister’s posture quite undignified, splayed out in a large ‘X’ shape.
I tried my best not to think or look. As long as I was fast enough, my sister wouldn’t discover what I had done to her.
As for why I had handcuffs, it was simply because I liked policemen when I was little. Watching them use handcuffs to catch criminals seemed so fun, so I bought some from a junk shop.
I never expected that besides my own entertainment, there would actually be a real target one day—and it was my beautiful sister.
During my twelve years of life, I spent one year delving into the story of Adam and Eve’s forbidden fruit. I had never touched upon this subject before, but many of my classmates showed great interest in it.
They only dared to watch secretly, whereas I could openly watch it at home. Because of this, I became well-known among my classmates.
The boys all called me a ‘Warrior,’ and I was happy about it for a very long time.
Back then, though, watching it was purely out of curiosity; I thought it was an activity unique to adults. It was only when classmates told me that I learned how children were made.
Since my parents left early and never mentioned it to me, sometimes when I missed them, I would take it out and watch, hoping to find traces of them in it.
But during the period from my birth to six years old, I never knew my parents had such ‘fun’ activities. No wonder they made me sleep alone.
They said I had to sleep alone when I grew up, but I was clearly just a child; I just wanted to be by your side!
Now, however, things were different. As I watched and accepted more, coupled with both physical and psychological growth, my previous views changed considerably.
I transformed from a curious observer into an eager experimenter.
‘Heavens, what am I thinking? To even consider… consider… my sister Xia Yinuo?’ I quickly reined in my thoughts.
I took out the alcohol bottle and dripped a small amount onto my sister’s ankle.
Fortunately, my sister showed no reaction to the pain. So, I quickly wiped the alcohol across her leg with the cotton swab, moving swiftly from her ankle up to her calf.
The wounds on her calf were more severe than I had imagined. Because I had been dragging my sister’s feet as I ran, her thighs and back had essentially acted as a floor mop.
Thus, the injuries there were far worse than those on her ankle.
To my dismay, going any higher would mean having to lift my sister’s skirt. If I did that, wouldn’t I become a rebellious hooligan?
Apparently, Xia Yinuo and I were only sworn siblings, but even that wouldn’t cover up my ‘invasion.’ No, no, I don’t even know how to describe what I was about to do, but once it was done, there would definitely be suspicion of ‘XX.’
“Forget it, forget it. I’ll wait until my sister wakes up,” I decided. I then adjusted my sister’s skirt, pulling it down a bit.
*Rip!*
The harsh sound of fabric tearing filled the air. In my hand was a black gauze skirt with a large, gaping tear.
I stared blankly at the clothes in my hand for a full five minutes before shifting my gaze forward.
What just happened to these rosy, injured beautiful legs? I know nothing. Everything is unrelated to me. Everything happened too fast, even these words are something I’m adding afterwards.
When I came back to my senses, my sister’s skirt had mysteriously appeared in my hand.
“A ghost—it must have been a ghost! I’ll say the skirt moved first. I wonder if my sister will hit me.”
Based on my sister’s subtle hints, both intentional and unintentional, I might have become her boyfriend early on, and perhaps even married within another year.
By the time I graduated from junior high, Xia Yinuo might have already given birth to children. This… this… I’d be a father! I’m still just a child myself, and I’d have to go out to work and support a family, living a nine-to-five life.
Every day, I’d drag my exhausted body home, only to face wailing children. What if my sister Xia Yinuo gave birth to ten or twenty children at once? Then I’d never have a moment of peace.
Forget about sleeping; I wouldn’t even be able to live a normal life. If that really happened, my classmates would definitely laugh at me—no, no, I don’t want a life like that!
Ahhh! How did things turn out this way!