April marks early spring, with the weather unpredictably shifting between warmth and chill.
Like students in school whose thoughts drift outside, only to be yanked back by a teacher’s stern voice—though even when pulled back, their minds are quick to wander off again.
Yesterday was warm, but today suddenly turned cold.
Cough… cough…
Inside the room, a graceful figure lay beneath a thin blanket.
Her fine black hair was spread out beneath her like a carpet.
As she repeatedly coughed into her hand, the blanket gradually slipped away, revealing snow-white skin and flawlessly long legs.
Her chest rose and fell with each cough, the two soft mounds jiggling slightly—though this beautiful sight was destined to go unseen.
Her brows were furrowed, as if lost in worry.
Her small cherry lips remained tightly shut, drained of all color.
The doorbell rang.
She used to feel a hint of anticipation whenever the bell rang.
Even though she knew the only one likely to ring her bell was the landlady, she still held a sliver of hope.
Although Li Dajiang was Hua Hualong’s friend, he rarely visited—he preferred hiding at home playing games, living off ad revenue from his video uploads, and was actually doing quite well.
No worries about food or rent.
As for other “friends,” they only contacted Hua Hualong when they needed money.
So, based on both experience and timing, the person at the door was probably the landlady.
Today was April 7th.
The “Dark World” incident had happened two days ago.
But… every time she closed her eyes, she could still see that bloody scene—a rootless eyeball glaring at her, filled with hatred.
She was terrified.
Constantly worried the police would burst through her door.
Afraid the vengeful spirits of the dead would come to seek revenge.
She didn’t even dare to turn off the lights—every single light in the house had been on for two full days.
The doorbell rang again—more urgently.
She struggled to get out of bed.
Maybe she was delirious from the illness, but as she stepped down, her foot missed the floor, and she fell face-first onto the hard tiled ground.
In anime, this might be a trivial gag, but in real life, it could be fatal—the human head, like a precision instrument, can’t handle blunt trauma.
Several seconds passed before she managed to get up, leaving behind a small pool of blood on the floor.
Supporting herself against the wall, she slowly made her way to the bathroom.
After washing the blood from her nose, she returned to the living room and cleaned up the mess on the floor.
Then she folded the blanket neatly.
She didn’t have time to find proper clothes, so she grabbed a men’s white dress shirt to wear temporarily.
In fact, this outfit had a specific purpose.
Despite being feverish and having just hit her head, her mind was still working—she was still the same Hua Hualong who had been a master of deception since childhood.
When she opened the door, sure enough—it was the landlady.
A fat woman in her fifties, her face was plastered with a white facial mask, leaving only holes for her eyes and mouth.
“Y-y-y-y-you…” the woman stammered in shock.
Logically speaking, the one answering the door should have been a reserved, germaphobic man.
But standing there was an extraordinary beautiful young girl—what was going on?
Why was such a pretty girl here?
A celebrity, maybe?
Why was she wearing that guy’s shirt?
Did they spend the night together?
How did that gloomy boy end up with such a gorgeous girlfriend?
Was this girl some rich heiress?
Her demeanor and elegance clearly didn’t belong to some street kid—she must be the daughter of a wealthy family.
That boy really kept this hidden well!
Of course, Hua Hualong had no idea about the landlady’s racing thoughts.
This was her first time roleplaying a “rich girl” in front of a regular person.
She had read Andersen’s Fairy Tales and Grimm’s Fairy Tales six times, but theory wasn’t enough—she had no real-life experience.
So the moment she opened the door, she was extremely nervous.
Unbeknownst to her, the landlady was even more nervous.
“Madam, please come in,” she said with a faint smile, knowing it was rude to block the doorway. Her entire being radiated a kind of divine glow, so dazzling that the landlady could barely keep her eyes open.
This… this glow?!
Have I just seen a goddess?
Honey, come quick—it’s an angel!
Well, actually, there was no glow.
It was all in the landlady’s head.
After all, the women she usually encountered either greeted each other with foul language or squawked loudly about gossip with raspy voices.
But this girl—so beautiful it didn’t seem real, with a body like a goddess and an aura of elegance like an angel—was someone she’d never seen in real life.
“I-I-I…” the landlady, completely overwhelmed, took two steps into the room like she’d been hypnotized. Then, suddenly regaining her senses, she backed out, flustered. “No no… I’ll come back… come back tomorrow.”
And with that, she fled.
As the door closed, Hua Hualong’s smile instantly vanished, replaced by a cold, numb expression.
Her eyes lost all light, as if she no longer cared about anything in the world.
Cough, cough, cough…
She covered her mouth and coughed again.
Did she fail?
She didn’t know if her acting just now had been convincing or not.
Her instinct told her—maybe she had failed.
Her head ached, especially her forehead, which had already swollen.
If you brushed aside the black hair covering it, you could clearly see that spot on her face that looked different.
It had already been two days since that incident, and she desperately wanted someone to talk to—but there was no one who could listen.
Li Dajiang?
No, that chubby guy wasn’t actually that close to her.
It was obvious he’d already run out of patience.
Who would want a friend with a personality like hers?
She gave a bitter, self-deprecating smile.
After living 25 years, the only place she could talk about the Dark World incident… was a QQ group chat.
Still coughing, she washed her face and rinsed her mouth.
Then she walked into the bedroom.
Most of the clothes in the wardrobe no longer fit her.
But it didn’t matter. In this day and age, as long as you have the internet, you won’t die.
Any problem that can be solved online isn’t a real problem.
She turned on the computer, intending to kill time by watching videos.
But she couldn’t help noticing the penguin icon on the desktop again—the one she couldn’t delete no matter what she tried.
In the end, she logged in anyway.
She was never someone with lofty ideals.
Even as a child, she had asked herself: Why live?
Was it to become a general and conquer the world?
Or to become a scientist who pushes humanity forward?
None of that.
She was just simply afraid of dying.
She lived because she didn’t want to die.