Bai Jie looked — three messages from Chen Zhang:
[She just left! I was about to treat her to lunch. She'd agreed, but then she got a call and abruptly took off.]
[Watch yourself over there. Get out early, and don't leave any traces behind — like swiping her underwear or something.]
[Did you find anything?]
Bai Jie didn't have time to explain. He sent a voice message: "I found A Xiao!"
Then he swiftly undid the remaining restraints and prepared to hoist A Xiao onto his back.
Suddenly, a sound from the living room made Bai Jie's blood run cold.
The security door was being unlocked!
Could Zheng Yueling be back?
No, impossible.
Walking from the school library to this apartment complex would take at least twenty minutes, and Chen Zhang had only just messaged him.
Bai Jie's heart hammered wildly. Cold sweat instantly soaked his back.
No time to think. He rushed to the dark room's entrance, straightened out the clothes and any signs the wardrobe had been disturbed, then shut the hidden door.
He pressed himself against the inside of the door and listened carefully to the sounds outside.
Good thing I was careful about restoring things while searching earlier, or there'd be no way to clear the traces now... Bai Jie silently thanked his foresight.
Clack. Clack.
The sound of boots on the floor echoed from the living room.
Bai Jie frowned. Working often in the project group, he'd never known Zheng Yueling to wear boots.
And the footsteps sounded like a man's.
So it really wasn't Zheng Yueling. Relief washed over Bai Jie — followed immediately by a flood of confusion.
As far as he knew, Zheng Yueling was single, and he'd never heard any rumors about her being a "player" or a "two-faced manipulator."
So who was this?
Could it be some creep?
Beyond that, Bai Jie couldn't think of any other reason someone would sneak into a female college student's apartment...
The owner of those boots paced back and forth in the living room, then entered the master bedroom. The increasingly crisp footsteps seemed to stomp right onto Bai Jie's heart, tightening it further.
Now even A Xiao had gone silent, terror flashing through his eyes.
The man circled the bedroom once, then returned to the living room. Moments later, a deep, magnetic male voice came through: "I didn't find anything abnormal."
"Yeah, fine. I'm leaving."
It sounded like he was on the phone.
A strange sense of familiarity brushed against Bai Jie's mind. He felt like he'd heard that voice before, but he couldn't place it.
After a moment, the door opened and slammed shut — BANG!
"Hah..." Bai Jie let out a huge, silent breath.
He waited five minutes, estimating the man should have already left the complex, then helped A Xiao up and carefully opened the hidden room.
But the moment Bai Jie and A Xiao stepped back into the living room, they saw a figure sitting starkly on the sofa.
In an instant, a chill crawled up Bai Jie's spine, every hair standing on end.
"It's you!"
Bai Jie blurted out.
The person before him was none other than the Criminal Investigation Department agent who'd questioned him about A Xiao's disappearance just days ago!
The man stared at him expressionlessly. Bai Jie remembered his surname — Yao.
No wonder the voice earlier sounded familiar.
"Why are you here?"
Before Bai Jie could finish the question, a sharp whooshing sound rang in his ears. A violent pain erupted at the back of his neck, and his consciousness plunged into blackness.
Crap! There was someone else here?!
"Jie-ge!"
Before losing consciousness, Bai Jie heard A Xiao's despairing shout.
Smack!
His phone crashed to the floor, cracks spreading across the screen like a spider's web.
The phone suddenly buzzed several times, the screen lighting up to show two unread messages from Chen Zhang.
...
When Bai Jie awoke again, an unfamiliar ceiling greeted him. Turning his head, he found himself lying on the bed in Zheng Yueling's master bedroom.
The scent of a girl's body mixed with an unfamiliar shampoo wafted into his nostrils with every breath.
In the past, Bai Jie would have been over the moon, wondering if he was dreaming.
But right now, all Bai Jie wanted was to get out of here. Yet he discovered his entire body was utterly drained, his limbs feeling like they'd been filled with cement — impossible to move.
"Little Jiejie, you're awake~"
A lovely silhouette entered the room, voice brimming with delight.
Bai Jie's expression grew complicated as he stared at the woman before him — lively and bright, delicate and charming like a little oriole.
Who else but Zheng Yueling!
Zheng Yueling wore a rose-colored nightgown, graceful and beautiful. She sat on the edge of the bed, her soft hand stroking Bai Jie's cheek. "No wonder you refused to come in the other day," she said gently. "You wanted to give your Senior a surprise."
Goosebumps rose across Bai Jie's skin. Coldly, he forced out: "Where's A Xiao? What did you do to me?"
Zheng Yueling smiled radiantly. "A Xiao is back in his room, of course."
"Don't worry. If you don't like sharing a bed with Senior, that room will free up very soon. You can move in then."
Ice gripped Bai Jie's heart. He stared fixedly at this senior, utterly unable to parse her words. "Free up... what does that mean?"
Zheng Yueling tilted her head, still smiling. "It means when he disappears."
"Of course, Little Jiejie, you're rather special to Senior. If you find that room too dark and stifling, you could always just stay in Senior's bed."
Bai Jie's heart seized. Bitter cold spread through every inch of his body.
"You... the other disappearances at school — do they have to do with you too?" Bai Jie squeezed the question out through clenched teeth.
"Hmm..." Zheng Yueling blinked her almond eyes. "They're connected, but not completely."
"This is so messed up... The CID — why is the Criminal Investigation Department helping you?!" Bai Jie bit out.
When he'd first laid eyes on Agent Yao, Bai Jie had assumed the man was also there to investigate undercover.
Now he saw clearly — Agent Yao, and that other person, were probably in cahoots with Zheng Yueling!
"Hehe, they were just helping Senior catch a little thief~ Don't tell me you think Senior has some unspeakable relationship with the CID agents?"
At this, Zheng Yueling put on a face as if she were about to cry: "Little Jiejie, you mustn't misunderstand Senior. Senior is innocent."
"You... forget it. Just tell me — what do you plan to do with me? Kill me? Cook and eat me?" A flash of despair crossed Bai Jie's eyes.
The CID's relationship with her was definitely being covered up. And this Zheng Yueling was probably some kind of serial killer.
Bai Jie felt his heart turn to ash, forcing himself to brace for whatever cruelty awaited.
"No need to be so glum, Junior. Setting the facts aside for a moment, how could Senior ever bear to let you die?" Zheng Yueling traced circles on Bai Jie's chest with her finger, voice low and languid.
"..."
Setting the facts aside?
So I'm still doomed either way, huh? Bai Jie felt a surge of fury and grief.
[Jingle bells, jingle bells, jingle all the way~]
Suddenly, a ringtone echoed through the room.
"Oh, looks like your roommate is calling again."
As she spoke, Zheng Yueling retrieved Bai Jie's phone, rejected the call right in front of him, then powered it off.
"..." Bai Jie wanted to clench his fists, but he had no strength.
Adding insult to injury, are we?
The woman smiled dazzlingly, but in Bai Jie's eyes, she looked like a hunter who relished tormenting her prey, slowly playing it to death.
Zheng Yueling slowly leaned in, her breath like orchids. "Don't be scared. It won't hurt. It'll be over soon."
Bai Jie abruptly held his breath, staring fixedly into Zheng Yueling's beautiful eyes.
Those exquisite features drew closer and closer. A layer of pink-purple phosphorescence surfaced in her pupils, like the light of distant stars.
The spirit in the young man's eyes dimmed and scattered. His consciousness seemed to sink into chaos...
In his subconscious, Bai Jie vaguely sensed some tremendous danger and terror descending, and he was utterly powerless to react.
Just when Bai Jie had abandoned all hope, something happened that he couldn't see. At his brow, a bizarre, demonic sigil suddenly manifested — part insect, part demon, fangs and claws bared.
The sigil, too, emitted a pink-purple glow.
"What is this?"
Zheng Yueling's eyes still shimmered with that eerie light, but they widened in disbelief as she stared at the young man before her.
...
Bai Jie felt like he'd had a very long dream — one that replayed over a decade of his life, yet also flashed with images of crawling insects.
And then, a will was calling him to wake up.
Following the summons, Bai Jie groggily opened his eyes. He looked around, and a sense of absurdity and disorientation flooded his mind.
Before him was dark brown, sandy soil. Beside him lay an enormous piece of deadwood, occasionally draped with cobwebs...
Wait, why were the cobwebs so huge?
And... he seemed to be inside a transparent box?
Hold on. Where are my hands and feet?
Hmm... they seem to be there, but... why are there EIGHT of them?
After carefully feeling things out, Bai Jie made a despairing and indignant discovery — he had turned into a spider. The fuzzy, hairy kind. It seemed to belong to the tarantula family.
I'm no longer human?!
Bai Jie insisted to himself that this had to still be a dream.
Ding!
[Host Awakening Detected. Container Fusion Successful. Status Panel Activated.]