A Lingering Gaze and a Perilous Invitation

Lin Ling’s pace quickened, accelerating until he reached the absolute limits of his stamina. Finally, he burst out of the narrow street.

Gasping for fresh air, Lin Ling bent over, hands on his knees. The alleyway hadn’t been long, perhaps a mere hundred or two hundred meters, yet that brief stretch had sent his heart into a frantic rhythm. He could have sworn he’d felt an unwavering gaze fixed upon him.

Glancing back at the now-empty street, Lin Ling exhaled a ragged breath. ‘It must have been my imagination,’ he thought, trying to reassure himself. As he straightened, a sudden wave of weakness washed over his legs. He stumbled, his knees threatening to buckle, but managed to brace himself against a nearby wall just in time, narrowly avoiding an embarrassing tumble onto the pavement.

Lin Ling glared at his stubbornly weak legs. He wanted to punch them in frustration, but the thought of pain held him back. His fists clenched, then relaxed, and with a helpless sigh, he began to limp forward.

****

However, moments after Lin Ling’s departure, a flash of white streaked across the deserted street. A silver-haired girl stood motionless, her gaze fixed on the spot where the young man had vanished. A peculiar, unsettling smile slowly curved her lips.

****

Arriving back at his rented apartment, Lin Ling collapsed onto the sofa. This flat had been leased by the protagonist’s family, concerned he wouldn’t adapt to life in a prestigious academy. It wasn’t large, comprising only a living room, an open-plan kitchen, a bathroom, and a bedroom. From his perch on the sofa, Lin Ling had a clear view of the kitchen’s simple arrangements.

Adjacent to the kitchen was a compact bathroom. Though small, it was efficiently arranged, with a washing machine, toilet, sink, and water heater all fitted snugly within its confines. Despite its limited size, it was perfectly adequate for a single occupant.

The bedroom, bright and airy, housed a spacious single bed, approximately 1800 millimeters wide. To one side of the bed stood a small wardrobe, where Lin Ling typically stored clothes he wasn’t currently wearing. Slightly to the left, opposite the bed, was a modest desk, complete with a desktop computer.

This setting, he noted, bore a striking resemblance to his home before his transmigration, albeit on a slightly smaller scale.

Rubbing his temples, the lingering terror from the narrow alleyway continued to grip Lin Ling’s heart, refusing to dissipate.

*Buzz, buzz…* Just then, the phone Lin Ling had tossed aside vibrated. He paused, his fingers still at his temples, and eyed the illuminated screen on the sofa with a flicker of confusion. ‘Who would be messaging me at this hour?’ he wondered.

Unlocking his phone, a notification from the blue chat application immediately popped up. Lin Ling swiftly tapped it open, and two messages prominently displayed themselves.

– Chen Sishi: “Lin Ling, are you home?”

– Chen Sishi: “Lin Ling, what happened today? Why did you suddenly leave?”

Reading the two brief messages, Lin Ling immediately knew who the sender was. After a moment’s thought, he quickly typed out a reply on his screen. He reread it several times, ensuring his words wouldn’t inadvertently upset Chen Sishi, before finally hitting send.

– Wind Chime: “I’m home.”

– Wind Chime: “Ahaha, something urgent came up, so… my apologies!”

– Chen Sishi: “Hmm? Alright, alright. What did you want to see me about today, anyway?”

A bead of cold sweat trickled down Lin Ling’s forehead. This was a perilous topic, one he couldn’t simply brush aside. He paced from the sofa to the bedroom, tossing his backpack onto a chair before collapsing onto the bed, a weary expression on his face. His phone remained silent; Chen Sishi was likely awaiting his response.

Lin Ling, at a loss for words, suddenly noticed a red book on his desk. Emblazoned across its cover were the words, ‘College Entrance Exam… Mock Test.’ His eyes lit up, and an idea immediately sparked in his mind.

****

Unseen by Lin Ling, in a building across the way, a silver-haired figure clutched her phone, her eyes never straying from his apartment window. It was at that precise moment that her phone vibrated.

– Wind Chime: “I actually wanted to give you something, but things got a bit hectic today, and I completely forgot. Tomorrow, I’ll bring it to you tomorrow.”

Upon reading those lines, the girl’s eyes darkened. ‘Forgot? He actually forgot… So I truly am not that important to him, am I? Haha.’

Unaware of the brewing danger, Lin Ling let out a sigh of relief. He flipped through the untouched pages of the exercise book in his hands, a faint smile playing on his lips. ‘Surely, giving her this won’t cause any trouble, right?’

The memory of his own past struggles with similar exercise books made Lin Ling chuckle. Just then, his phone vibrated once more.

– Chen Sishi: “Alright, alright, I’ll be waiting for you on the rooftop tomorrow~”

Reading her message, Lin Ling’s body seized up, his soul nearly leaping from his skin. ‘The rooftop! It’s the rooftop!’ In the original story, it was the most frequent meeting spot for the protagonist and his love interest—the very place they almost ended their lives together.

A profound chill pierced his very core, leaving Lin Ling’s limbs feeling stiff and unresponsive. ‘This can’t be happening,’ he thought. ‘If I actually go to the rooftop, the plot will truly veer off course.’

– Wind Chime: “Um… could we perhaps meet somewhere else?”

– Chen Sishi: “No can do~”

Lin Ling stared at the words on the screen, his heart sinking. But how could he possibly tell her to change the location now? With a sigh, he simply replied, “Alright.”

After changing Chen Sishi’s contact alias, Lin Ling tossed his phone aside. He lay on the bed, his mind a tumultuous storm of thoughts. He wasn’t sure how much time passed before he finally drifted off to sleep.

****

In the oppressive darkness, Lin Ling groggily opened his eyes. The room was so profoundly black that he could barely discern anything beyond the immediate vicinity of his bed. Frowning, he mused that even in a city, it shouldn’t be this dark. Had he not seen his own familiar bed, he might have believed himself kidnapped and thrown into a basement. How could he possibly wake up inexplicably confined to a cellar?

As these thoughts ran through his mind, a creak echoed nearby. It was the distinct groan of an old wooden door being pushed open. Yet, Lin Ling lived in a modern apartment building; where could such a dilapidated door possibly come from?

A shiver ran through him, and Lin Ling suddenly realized something was terribly amiss. He tried to sit up and reach for the light switch, only to find his body utterly unresponsive.

‘Damn it, don’t tell me… I haven’t actually been imprisoned by some yandere girl, have I?’ he thought, a surge of panic rising.

A wave of panic washed over him. Lin Ling strained to reach the light switch beside his bed, but his body felt alien, unresponsive, as if his soul had detached itself. A strange, pins-and-needles sensation, akin to his legs falling asleep after prolonged squatting, permeated his entire being, sparing only his head. A cold dread settled in Lin Ling’s stomach. ‘Could I have been drugged?’ he wondered, though he couldn’t recall eating anything unusual before sleeping.

As he lay there, a sudden gust of cold air infiltrated his covers, sending a shiver down his spine. Lin Ling wasn’t sure how, but his head turned on its own accord, and the sight that greeted him nearly scared him out of his wits.

There, a silver-haired girl was gracefully strolling through the boundless darkness. As Lin Ling’s head involuntarily turned, the girl, her clothes disheveled and stained with blood, abruptly halted. She slowly, almost mechanically, raised her head and fixed her gaze upon him.