Chapter 15

Chapter 15

Wei Yao was, sure enough, completely stunned, his eyes bugging out as he stared at Xu Muchan for a moment before suddenly bursting into laughter: "There's a limit to making up stories, man? How could my parents have had five kids before me? You think the one-child policy is just for show?"

Seeing Wei Yao didn't buy it, Xu Muchan didn't push it, just added one more thing before putting his earphones back on: "Whatever they tell you to do, you'd better not respond."

Some things that ain't human—once you answer them, they can see you.

Wei Yao clearly didn't take Xu Muchan seriously. Before Xu Muchan dropped the "five older brothers" bomb, he'd actually been half-sold on what Xu Muchan was saying, but after that, he figured Xu Muchan was just spinning yarns to mess with him.

Having kids ain't like having puppies—his mom would have to be out of her mind to pop out six kids.

If his older brother hadn't kicked the bucket early, he might not even be here.

When he got home from school that night, Wei Yao even brought it up to his parents as a joke: "That Little Blind actually tried to scare me! Just wait till I get to school tomorrow—I'll scare him right back."

He was scarfing down his late-night snack, head down, not catching the slight shift in his parents' expressions.

The couple shot each other a look, their faces a little grim, but the second their son looked up, they both smoothed their expressions. Bai Shanshan gave her son a fond look and said with a smile, "Sounds like you really like this new classmate. You two hitting it off?"

Her son was outgoing and had a wide circle of friends, but even though he was always rallying people around, the ones he actually counted as real friends and bothered to mention to his parents were few—besides Wen Dajiang and a few childhood buddies, it was just the new kid in class.

Wei Yao scratched his cheek and said, "It's not like I'm that into him, I just think he's pretty funny."

Bai Shanshan saw right through him but didn't call it out, pouring him a glass of milk and keeping the small talk going: "If you two weren't tight, why would you go telling him about family stuff? Even Dajiang doesn't know you had a brother."

The brother who died young wasn't exactly a taboo subject in the Wei household, especially since Wei Yao was young and reckless—before high school, he'd done it all, from street racing to brawling, anything for a thrill, and nearly gotten himself killed more than once.

Ms. Bai was a gentle mom who didn't believe in tough love, but she'd always drag up the memory of her eldest son who died young, hoping Wei Yao would think about his parents before pulling any more risky stunts. She didn't want to live through losing another kid.

After hearing it enough, Wei Yao slowly took it to heart and did settle down a lot, no longer stirring up trouble.

Speaking of which, Wei Yao also thought it was kind of weird: "I think it's weird too. I never told him about my brother, but that day in the equipment room, he suddenly said there was someone standing next to me, and that it was my brother. Then today, I had a nightmare during morning reading, and he probably figured it was a good chance to mess with me, so he brought it up again. But it's way too out there—only a ghost would buy that. He probably just made it all up and got lucky."

Wei Yao chugged a big glass of milk, wiped his mouth, and got ready to head to his room: "I'm heading to bed now. Night, Mom and Dad."

Bai Shanshan caught his arm and asked, frowning, "You had a nightmare? What kind of dream?"

Wei Yao had to sit back down, and looking at his mom's face, he finally clocked that something was off. His voice got hesitant: "I can't really remember that clearly. It's just that the last few nights, I keep dreaming someone's calling my name, saying stuff like they're waiting for me to join them..."

He hadn't thought twice about it, but the weird look on his mom's face was starting to creep him out: "Mom, it's just a nightmare. Who hasn't had one? Why you looking more freaked out than me?"

Realizing she'd slipped, Bai Shanshan forced a smile and ruffled her son's hair: "Don't talk nonsense. Alright, go on, get to bed."

Wei Yao said "Oh" and headed back to his room, missing the grim look that settled on his parents' faces behind him.

Once the sound of a door closing drifted down from the second floor, Bai Shanshan turned to her husband, worry all over her face: "What do we do? Didn't we say we could keep this under wraps a while longer? Why's Yaoyao already being targeted?"

Wei Jianguo's face was grim too: "Once Yaoyao's sound asleep, we'll head back to the old house. Dad might have a way. Yaoyao'll be fine."

That last bit—he didn't know if he was trying to convince his wife or himself.

Bai Shanshan was clearly not comforted. She stared anxiously at the second floor, and only after a long time had passed since the sliver of light from her son's door had gone out did she quietly leave with her husband, driving to the old house.

Wei Yao started dreaming again.

In the dream, he was back at the old house, seemingly playing in the yard. He was perched on the big jujube tree in the center of the courtyard, watching Wen Dajiang and the others running around below looking for people.

Wen Dajiang was stupidly dense, just wandering around in circles without thinking to look up, only calling his name over and over.

"Wei Yao..."

"Wei Yao..."

Wei Yao watched them smugly, silently sliding down the jujube tree trunk, planning to sneak around behind Wen Dajiang to scare him.

But after he got down from the tree, the surroundings suddenly changed. Thick fog had appeared in the yard out of nowhere, and Wen Dajiang and the others' figures were faintly visible through the white mist.

The group had their backs to Wei Yao, forming a circle, staring at the center, doing who knows what.

Wei Yao crept over to eavesdrop and discovered they were counting numbers.

Starting from Wen Dajiang, one after another:

"One,"

"Two,"

"Three,"

"Four,"

"Five."

After the five finished counting, it seemed the number was wrong. They started murmuring among themselves, but their voices had become strangely muffled—even though Wei Yao was standing right behind them, he couldn't quite make out what they were saying.

He couldn't help but take another step forward, happening to crouch down in the gap left by the five people.

This time, he finally heard clearly what Wen Dajiang and the others were saying.

They were saying: "How is one missing?"

"One's missing."

"Who's missing?"

"Wei Yao's missing," said Wen Dajiang, who was crouching right next to Wei Yao.

The buzzing discussion suddenly stopped, and everyone turned to look at Wei Yao at once, asking him: "Wei Yao, why didn't you count?"

Wei Yao was caught off guard by the question and was about to answer when he realized the person crouching next to him wasn't Wen Dajiang at all.

They weren't even human—they were shadows with blurred faces.

But as Wei Yao watched, these shadows whose faces had been indistinct suddenly began to have their features slowly sharpen. They stared at Wei Yao without blinking, relentlessly pressing: "Wei Yao, why didn't you count?"

"Wei Yao, you're the only one left."

"Wei Yao, hurry up, Mom can't wait."

"Hurry up and count..."

"Wei Yao," "Wei Yao," "Wei Yao"...

Countless "Wei Yaos" called out until his head spun and his heart grew restless. He wanted to say, "Shut up, stop calling my name like that," but what came out was: "Six."

The whispers stopped dead in an instant. The other five stared at Wei Yao, their facial features gradually becoming crystal clear—identical to Wei Yao's.

"Everyone's here now."

"We can go now."

The five of them, linked hand in hand, headed deeper into the old mansion, and Wei Yao, dragged along, stumbled after them in a daze.

Something felt wrong, but his head was a fog, thick and slow like he was underwater. Just as he was about to cross the threshold of the inner gate, he caught a glimpse of the face of the guy ahead of him.

That face—his exact mirror image—jolted him wide awake. His foot froze mid-step, and he stumbled back a pace.

Sensing something off, the five ahead turned around in perfect sync, five identical faces locked on Wei Yao, asking him: "Why did you stop? Keep going, we're almost there."

Wei Yao cursed, "Fuck," yanked his hand free, and bolted in the opposite direction—

"So I just ran and ran, and then I woke up."

During the noon break, Wei Yao sat with Wen Dajiang in a corner of the cafeteria, recounting last night's nightmare, wincing and sucking air through his teeth: "It's seriously fucked up. When I woke up this morning, my legs were so sore I could barely lift them. Even running a 3K in gym class didn't leave me this wrecked. It's like I literally ran all night."

Wei Yao rubbed the goosebumps rising on his arms and lowered his voice: "You don't think I've actually picked up a ghost, do you? I've had the same kind of dream four or five nights straight, and the people in them keep getting closer. The first time, I just saw a few people with their backs to me, doing something I couldn't figure out..."

Wen Dajiang slurped his iced Coke, totally unbothered, and rolled his eyes: "Aren't you the one who never believed in this crap? What, you had a change of heart?"

Wei Yao couldn't say what was really bugging him—he couldn't exactly admit he'd been fronting.

Dude couldn't even sit through a horror movie, and if that got out, he'd never live it down.

Wei Yao shot a glare at his good-for-nothing childhood buddy, but out of the corner of his eye, he caught a familiar figure and called out: "Hey, Little Blind, come sit over here."

Xu Muchan acted like he hadn't heard, tapping his cane as he kept looking for a seat.

Wei Yao had no choice but to get up and drag him over: "Xu Muchan, sit here. I need to ask you something."

This time, Xu Muchan didn't play deaf. He followed and sat down, taking a slow bite of food, waiting for Wei Yao to make the first move.

Wei Yao cleared his throat, hemming and hawing: "Why did you say five yesterday?"

He was vague about it, but Xu Muchan got it: "Because I heard five voices—"

Mid-sentence, Xu Muchan cut himself off and asked Wei Yao: "You responded to them?"

That creepy feeling crawled back up his spine, and Wei Yao shifted uncomfortably: "I-it wasn't really a response, was it? They were counting... asking why I didn't chime in. I meant to leave, but somehow I blurted out 'six'..."

"You know your stuff about this kind of thing, right? I'm not actually cursed or haunted by some ghost, am I?"

Wei Yao kept rambling, but Xu Muchan had already felt around for his cane, got up without even grabbing his tray, and made for the exit.

Wei Yao and Wen Dajiang were both stunned. Wei Yao reached out to grab him, his tone annoyed: "What's that supposed to mean? You can't just bail mid-conversation!"

Xu Muchan swatted his hand away, every nerve on edge: "They've found us."

With that, he turned to leave, but since he couldn't see, he slammed right into someone coming the other way. The person's tray hit the floor with a sharp clatter.

"Sorry, I didn't see you there..." He Jiaqi scrambled to pick up the tray, relieved the food was already gone so it wasn't a total mess.

She grabbed the tray and looked up, surprised to see who she'd run into: "Xu Muchan?"

Xu Muchan didn't answer, frozen solid, his whole body wired tight.

The cafeteria noise died the second the tray hit the floor. Everything went dead quiet, and the air turned damp, the sound of shuffling footsteps echoing from somewhere far off, getting closer...

Xu Muchan grabbed He Jiaqi's shoulder and murmured: "Look behind me—are Wei Yao and Wen Dajiang still there?"

A little confused, He Jiaqi glanced behind him and said quietly: "Yeah, they're there. Wei Yao doesn't look happy—did you piss him off?"

Xu Muchan shook his head, then turned to Wei Yao and said, out of nowhere: "They're here. You better hide, and fast. If they catch you, you're done."

Then he said to He Jiaqi: "I can't see. Can you guide me? I want to head that way."

Xu Muchan pointed in the direction opposite the footsteps.

He Jiaqi was a bit puzzled, but she inexplicably trusted Xu Muchan's words. Without asking questions, she nodded and lightly took his arm, leading him out of the cafeteria.

Wen Dajiang watched the two of them leave, utterly baffled, and asked Wei Yao: "What does he mean? Who's coming? Why do we need to hide?"

Wei Yao's face had gone deathly pale for some reason, and he ignored Wen Dajiang.

"Old Wei? What are you spacing out for?" Wen Dajiang gave him a shove.

The touch snapped Wei Yao back like an electric shock. Seeing Xu Muchan and He Jiaqi nearly out of the cafeteria, he cursed, "Fuck," and grabbed Wen Dajiang to chase after them: "This is like seeing ghosts in broad daylight—let's follow!"

Caught off guard, Wen Dajiang was yanked so hard he knocked the table askew, wincing in pain and cursing: "Old Wei, have you lost your mind?"

Wei Yao clamped a hand over his mouth and dragged him along, whispering: "Shut the hell up. Haven't you noticed something's off with the cafeteria?"

"What's off... about... it..."

Wen Dajiang's gaze swept the cafeteria, his words slowing and growing hesitant.

Maybe it was his imagination, but the faces of the students sitting at the tables had become blurry, shrouded in a misty haze.

Wen Dajiang rubbed his eyes, looked again, and then cursed.

His voice dropped instinctively: "Holy shit, Old Wei, I feel like they're all secretly staring at us..."

The cafeteria was half full, people clustered in groups eating and chatting—a perfectly normal scene.

But what wasn't normal was that whether they faced them directly or sideways, whether eating or talking, everyone's eyes were slanted toward him and Wei Yao.

Even worse were those with their backs to them—as if they couldn't turn around, their heads bent backward at an angle defying human anatomy, eyes inverted, staring at them upside down.

"What the hell, am I dreaming? Damn it."

Wei Yao dragged him and sprinted: "Idiot, stop babbling and run!"

Xu Muchan and He Jiaqi were also hurrying out. Xu Muchan, blind, couldn't assess the surroundings and had to rely on He Jiaqi to lead.

He Jiaqi followed Xu Muchan's directions but suddenly stopped, her voice hesitant: "Xu Muchan, the path ahead seems wrong, and a thick fog has suddenly rolled in."

Xu Muchan pressed his lips together, nearly grinding his teeth: "Too late. We can't get out."

Just then, the instigator caught up, and Wei Yao grabbed Xu Muchan's arm like a lifeline, refusing to let go: "Damn you, you little blind guy, how are you so fast? We've been through thick and thin together, and you can't show a shred of loyalty? You just take off on your own when trouble hits?!"

Xu Muchan was in a foul mood and wasn't about to be nice: "They're here for you, not me."