Chapter 98: Nighttime Horror Stories

(1)

The bathroom was unusually quiet.

Everyone else had finished bathing and returned to their rooms, leaving only the sound of water rushing down.

Anjing stood under the showerhead with her eyes tightly shut, like a stiff wooden puppet.

“Why won’t you open your eyes? Hmph, it’s not like you’ve never seen it before.”

Zhu Ying’s voice made Anjing’s ears tingle, but instead of calming down, she grew even more flustered and turned around, facing the tiled wall.

“Feeling shy?”

“W-why are you here in the men’s bathhouse…?”

“Of course, I’m here to bathe with you, Anjing.”

“Th-that’s not right! What if someone else comes in!”

“Well, why don’t you come with me to the women’s bathhouse then?”

“N-no way!”

“Don’t worry, I already locked the door.”

“Eek!!”

“Want me to help wash your back?”

“No!”

Anjing waved her hands fiercely but accidentally touched something soft, which startled her and made her shrink back immediately.

“Anjing says no with her mouth, but her hands aren’t behaving, huh? Hmph—you’re touching around willy-nilly.”

“I didn’t mean to!”

“Don’t be shy. Open your eyes!”

“N-no!”

“Then I’ll tickle you, okay?”

“Wah—!! Pfft, ha ha ha…”

“Open them?”

“No!”

“There’s a mole right here on my chest, want a good look?”

“No!”

Anjing shouted with mock severity.

After that, everything went quiet again, with only the sound of water splashing.

Zhu Ying seemed to have left.

In that silence that felt like it lasted an entire century, Anjing slowly opened her eyes and saw that slightly baby-faced, pretty face.

“Whoa! Eh… you’re… wearing clothes?”

“Pfft, disappointed? I’m actually just wearing a bathrobe.”

“Cough!”

Anjing instinctively covered her lower half with one hand, then her upper half with the other, stammering, “I-I’m here to bathe!”

“Well, go ahead then. I’m watching.”

“Hey!”

“Hehe, I’m not teasing anymore. I’ll wait for you in the hot spring.”

“Ah… you’re not going to the women’s bath?”

“Of course I’m soaking with you. Otherwise, why would I be waiting for you before?”

Zhu Ying laughed softly, her delicate fingers lightly tracing Anjing’s collarbone, causing the latter to clamp her legs tightly together and stiffen them straight.

“Mmm!”

“Hurry up and wash, the hot spring’s waiting~”

Anjing’s heart was conflicted.

She wanted to finish quickly and run, but also wanted to hurry up to get to the hot spring—would Zhu Ying still be wrapped in a bath towel when she was there?

***

(2)

Wrapped in a bath towel, Anjing stepped barefoot on the slightly rough cement floor and hurried over to the hot spring.

Zhu Ying grumbled loudly, “Anjing’s so sly, still wrapped in a towel!”

“You’re the same!”

“I dare to take it off, do you?”

“…Cough!”

“All right, no teasing today. Come sit and soak for a while.”

“Really? That’s hard to believe coming from you…”

“Of course I’m serious! But sometimes when I see your shy face, I just can’t help wanting to tease you.”

“Ehh—”

Anjing dragged out the sound and carefully stepped into the hot spring.

The spring was as warm as ever, almost too warm for this mild spring day.

As soon as she sat down, sweat began to bead on her forehead.

“Is it too hot?”

“A little.”

“Let’s just soak for a bit today. Hot springs are really better in winter.”

“Yeah… but spring’s nice too. The breeze is comfortable, and you don’t feel cold when you come out…”

Seeing that Zhu Ying really meant no harm, Anjing relaxed a lot, leaning back against the stone and slowly squinting her eyes.

“I even soaked in a spring like this in a dream once.”

“Oh, you remember it?”

“Kind of. I’ve been dreaming about that dream a lot lately.”

“Memories lost in the dream are returning to your mind through dreams?”

“Yeah, but it’s repetitive, and I only realize I’ve had this dream so many times after waking.”

“That place was in the mountains, with a few peach blossom trees in full bloom nearby.”

“Right. I don’t remember what happened before, but I recall you seemed pretty upset.”

“Because I couldn’t escape the dream, I kept wondering what is a dream and what is reality. What’s the difference between the two? I kept digging into that question.”

“Ah, and that’s why you were upset?”

“Yeah, because I felt like—whether dream or reality—it didn’t matter. Everyone dies, the marks we leave fade away. Life just seemed meaningless.”

“Ohhh… no wonder dream-me said those things.”

Anjing touched her damp hair.

“But did those words really help?”

“At the time, not really. I was down for a long while.”

“So, what happened in the end? Did you figure it out?”

“Getting stuck on meaning just makes everything meaningless. It all turns into empty void.”

Zhu Ying looked at Anjing seriously, her usually mischievous eyes soft and calm like a gently flowing stream.

“But the first feelings you have without thinking—that’s real. Curiosity, joy, satisfaction… there’s no need to question why. Just enjoy the moment.”

“I don’t really get it.”

“Me neither. I can’t explain it well.”

Zhu Ying pursed her lips.

“But it doesn’t matter. Most things in the world don’t need to be figured out so clearly.”

“A lot of things don’t need explanations, right?”

“Exactly. Like you, Anjing—always so optimistic because you don’t overthink, right?”

“Maybe…”

“If you think too much, you have no energy left for happiness.”

“Uh—yeah, that makes sense.”

“If I had kept obsessing, maybe I would have killed myself in the dream.”

“Then you might never wake up…”

“Right, like becoming a vegetable.”

Zhu Ying propped her cheek on her hand, looking troubled.

“Sometimes I envy you. You forget so much about the dream, but I remember too much, so I have… side effects.”

“Side effects?”

“Sometimes when I wake up from sleep, I can’t tell dream from reality.”

“Ah…”

“But now it’s better. You can’t hear your own heart in the dream—only in reality.”

Zhu Ying winked playfully.

“So, as long as I can hear your heart, we’re definitely in the real world.”

“But you can’t control it, right? What if you want to check but can’t hear anything?”

“Anjing, I’ll tell you a little secret—”

“W-what?”

Zhu Ying chuckled and leaned close, her warm breath tickling Anjing’s earlobe.

“Since I last saw you pretending to be a divine emissary, I can now choose to hear your heart whenever I want, and even see what you see—”

“Whoa! That’s the scariest ghost story I’ve heard today!”

“But only once a day, and for a short time. I usually check right after waking up to see if I’m still dreaming.”

“So you basically know everything I’m thinking about every morning when I wake up?”

Zhu Ying’s face drew closer until their foreheads nearly touched.

“Like, ‘Today I’m using lemon-flavored toothpaste. Would Xiao Ying like that if I kissed her?’ or ‘I don’t want to get up. If Xiao Ying kissed me, I’d definitely get up,’ and also—”

“Stop! Stop stop stop!!”

Anjing’s face instantly flushed bright red. She frantically waved her hands.

“S-stop talking!”

“Anjing thinks about kissing me every day, huh? Hmph, but when it comes to the real thing, you chicken out~”

“I don’t really remember! I’m usually half-asleep!”

“Being half-asleep means that’s your true feeling.”

“You’re so cheeky.”

“Want to hear what I’m thinking? I can let you listen too!”

Zhu Ying smirked.

“But be careful not to dirty the hot spring, okay?”

“I won’t! No, wait—I won’t just randomly use my powers! Why am I the only one with side effects…”

Anjing’s words made the smile on Zhu Ying’s face falter, but she pretended not to hear and looked up at the starry sky.

A meteor…

Maybe a little unfair.

***

(3)

For students who didn’t live at school, having a night chat in the same room with classmates was a fresh, mysterious, and somewhat thrilling experience.

Usually, this only happened during military training dorm stays—after lights out, everyone could still chat, growing more excited and louder until the patrolling instructor showed up.

Both boys and girls would gossip, and besides that, they would share ghost stories or urban legends.

Girls seemed especially interested in such topics.

Especially local urban legends—no matter how scared they were, they insisted on trembling under their blankets and listening till the end.

Yes, it was necessary to finish the story.

Otherwise, they wouldn’t be able to sleep.

But if the story had no real conclusion, finishing or not made little difference…

Tonight’s night chat took place in the room where Wang Xinru and Zhu Ying would be sleeping.

The reason for choosing this room was that it was the furthest small room, far from the main house and closer to the pitch-black mountain forest, naturally carrying a somewhat spooky atmosphere.

On the table sat a candle holder with a single red candle lit, its wax dripping slowly, filling the air with a faint scent of soybean oil.

“Anjing, don’t scream if you get scared later, okay?”

Zhu Ying whispered from her bed.

“Pfft, there’s no horror story more terrifying than what you said at the hot spring earlier.”

“Does everyone have a seat?”

Zhang Qiqi cleared her throat.

“Ah geez, Ah Qiang, move your big butt so I can sit halfway!”

“Yang Lingfei, don’t stand there, come sit here. I brought a stool.”

“Okay, boys sit near the door, girls sit inside.”

“Qiqi, don’t tell too scary a story.”

Chi Qingyan took a deep breath, timidly speaking.

“Horror stories? The scarier the better! Who’s got one to tell tonight?”

“I’ll start.”

Zhou Chao cleared his throat.

“I’ll tell an urban legend.”