Separated by a thin door panel, the sound of Su Yu's conversation with that "Fu Hua" became muffled and indistinct.
In the cramped space, only Kiana remained.
She slid down to sit against the cold metal locker, her chest heaving violently and chaotically, like a drowning person who had just scrambled ashore.
It was too quiet here.
So quiet that those noisy hallucinations started to reappear in her ears.
"You can't escape..."
"How many more people are you going to kill?"
Kiana bit her lower lip hard, only managing to suppress the voices in her mind with the pain after tasting the rust-like tang of blood.
I can't collapse here.
I have to treat the wound, and then leave this place immediately.
Stay far away from the person with the Class Monitor's face... far away from everyone.
Trembling, she reached out with her right hand to grab the bottle of iodine on the floor.
There was no sensation of touch.
Her fingers passed through the dark brown plastic bottle without any resistance, as if penetrating a cloud of smoke.
Kiana froze.
She didn't scream, nor did she cry out in disbelief; there was only a dead, silent emptiness in those dim eyes.
Slowly, tentatively, she reached out again to touch the pack of cotton swabs beside her.
This time, she saw it very clearly.
Her pale fingers sank directly into the packaging bag, her fingertips touching only the cold cement floor.
"...?"
Why?
I could touch things just a moment ago... when that man grabbed me just now...
That man.
Outside the door, Su Yu seemed to have finished his conversation; his footsteps were moving into the distance—he probably went to the front counter to get hot water.
With every step that sound moved away, the world before Kiana's eyes dimmed a fraction.
The originally bright incandescent lights began to flicker and turn gray, as if the voltage was unstable.
The sound of rain and the hum of the air conditioner that she could still hear in her ears quickly became distant and distorted, as if blocked by some viscous substance.
Her body began to feel light; that familiar weightlessness of being exiled into the imaginary space was climbing up from the soles of her feet.
She knew this feeling all too well.
It was a harbinger of "disappearing."
Fear, like a cold hand, instantly clutched her throat.
Kiana struggled to stand up, wanting to open the door, but her palm pressed against the floor only to pass right through it again, and she fell clumsily into a void.
She opened her mouth, wanting to call for help.
But her throat couldn't make a sound; even the air seemed to reject her existence.
If I don't hold onto him...
If I don't hold onto that single "anchor"...
I will completely dissipate from this world like a ghost, unseen and unheard by anyone, rotting alone in eternal silence.
The footsteps stopped.
Immediately after, the footsteps started coming back.
"Forgot the cotton swabs..."
Su Yu's muttering came from outside the door.
Click.
The door handle turned, and the door was pushed open.
Su Yu's figure reappeared at the doorway.
The moment he stepped into the room.
Color, sound, and gravity returned with a crash in that instant.
The incandescent lights became blinding again, the buzzing of the air conditioner hurt her eardrums, and the hard sensation of the ground returned to her knees.
"...Cough, cough cough..."
As if regaining the right to breathe, Kiana covered her neck and coughed violently, curling herself into a small ball, shivering.
"Hey, are you okay?"
Su Yu looked at the girl collapsed on the ground, her face as pale as paper, and subconsciously wanted to step closer to check on her.
Kiana shrank back instinctively, her spine pressing against the cold locker.
She was scared.
Like a severely injured beast baring its teeth at any approaching creature, yet completely powerless to resist.
Su Yu stopped, raising both hands to show he meant no harm.
"I won't come closer. Don't be afraid. I'll just put the cotton swabs here..."
Saying this, he turned to place the items on the table by the door, intending to leave.
The instant Su Yu turned around and took a step.
Kiana watched in horror as the fingertips of her left hand resting on her knee began to turn transparent again, her originally clear outline flickering like a malfunctioning holographic projection.
That suffocating feeling struck again.
[System Alert: Warning! Detected target Valkyrie moving out of range of the "Reality Anchor"!]
[Correction Rule: Must remain within a 1-meter radius of Host Su Yu, otherwise material interaction capabilities will be lost.]
I can't let him go.
Absolutely cannot let him go far.
Kiana gripped the hem of her clothes tightly.
She didn't want to disappear.
She didn't want even the qualification to die to be stripped away.
She still had things she must do... the things she promised Teacher Himeko...
"...Don't go."
Her voice was soft, carrying a trace of a trembling tone she was trying desperately to suppress.
Su Yu's footsteps paused, and he turned his head: "What?"
Kiana lowered her head, her messy white hair covering her face so her expression couldn't be seen.
She didn't look up at Su Yu, her body still trembling uncontrollably.
She slowly and with difficulty moved her knees a bit in Su Yu's direction.
Until the feeling of nothingness, of her body about to dissipate, vanished, until that hand that had turned transparent solidified again.
That distance happened to be about one meter from Su Yu.
Kiana hugged her knees, shrinking herself to the edge of Su Yu's shadow.
After a long while, her dry, voice full of powerlessness came through the air.
"Just stand there..."
"Please... don't be too far away from me."
[System Alert: Bond Mechanism "Quantum Entanglement" is now active]
[Current Forced Interaction Range: 100cm]
[Friendly Reminder: Please Host do not attempt to exploit bugs. Once out of range, the Valkyrie will face the risk of phase loss. Wish you a pleasant raising experience!]
Looking at this line of bold red text on the light screen, the corners of Su Yu's mouth twitched wildly.
Like hell it's pleasant!
Quantum entanglement? This is clearly a Conjoined Twin Simulator!
One meter?
This not only meant he had to take her with him to the toilet and the shower, but even in this awkward moment where he should avoid looking, he had to stand here like a pervert.
The air was so quiet it felt almost viscous.
Su Yu stiffly turned his back, staring at the yellowed "No Smoking" poster on the wall as if in deep contemplation, and gave a dry cough.
"Um... I'll just stand here, absolutely won't turn back."
To increase credibility, he even closed his eyes and raised both hands over his head in a surrender pose.
"You... go ahead and treat your wound with ease."
A faint rustling of clothes came from behind, followed by the metallic sound of a zipper being pulled down.
Kiana bit her lip hard; the cold hardness and numbness accumulated on her face from vagrancy finally cracked a gap.
A sense of shame crawled up her neck to the roots of her ears, burning painfully.
If it were the idiot Kiana from before, she would probably be blushing and yelling "Pervert!" while kicking the other person away by now, right?
But now...
She glanced at her semi-transparent fingertips; only when near this man's back was her body real.
This humiliation of having to depend on a strange man made her feel incredibly embarrassed.
"...Don't look."
She squeezed these three words out from between her teeth, her voice as thin as a mosquito's buzz, sounding fierce but undeniably weak.
"I won't look, I won't look. If I look, I'm a dog."
Su Yu immediately stated his stance, even starting to recite the "Chu Shi Biao" in his heart to distract himself.