Zhou An's eyes were bloodshot; he hadn't rested well for several days.
Ever since the night he entered the mission, he had felt something was off—a woman had been following him.
At first, he thought he was overthinking it, given how many people were in the factory.
But later, he discovered that the woman only followed him, and it seemed no one else could see her.
He lived on the third floor, and the first time he saw the woman was near the cafeteria at the bottom of the slope.
He had been standing in the corridor washing up when he saw a figure standing by the cafeteria.
Initially, Zhou An found it strange because of the hour; the vast majority of people had already returned to their dorms to rest.
The factory had no mandated rest hours, but since everyone had to work the next day, their rest schedules were fairly consistent.
Moreover, for a female comrade not to return to her dorm and instead wander around the factory late at night would result in a bad reputation.
Why was this woman just standing there so stiffly? And he didn't know if it was just his imagination, but he felt she was watching him.
He didn't take the matter to heart at first until the next day, when he saw the woman again.
This time, she was behind the opposite dormitory building.
The woman wasn't sleeping either; she stood behind the building, half of her body exposed.
Her hair was disheveled, and her head was bowed low, hiding her face, yet Zhou An felt she looked very familiar.
Being closer this time, Zhou An could feel an even stronger sensation of being watched.
The woman's body was facing directly toward him; once might be an accident, but twice certainly wasn't.
And this was happening during a mission.
Zhou An woke his roommate, ignoring the man's complaints, and asked in a panic.
"Who is that woman? Does she have mental problems? Why is she standing there every day?"
His roommate yawned and grumbled at him, "What woman? I think you're having hallucinations because you're thinking about women all day."
"Speaking of women, it's too obvious how you help Zhao Yao every day; has she shown any interest?"
"You two would make a good match. Why don't you mention it to Granny Zhao so you don't spend every day helping her and leaving your soul outside the dorm?"
"But don't go looking for her too late in the future. Last time you didn't come back until eleven or twelve; I didn't report it, but you know it's bad for her reputation if word gets out."
"It's not good for you either."
"I don't even know what you went to do. She must have gone to bed long ago, yet you looked so flustered when you came back without seeing anyone."
Zhou An wasn't listening to a word his roommate said; he only knew that others couldn't see that woman.
Only him... only him...
She was coming for him.
Zhou An hadn't slept for two days, and his nerves were on the verge of collapsing.
As usual, when he went to help Zhao Yao, he overheard the conversation between that man and Zhao Yao.
He was far away and didn't hear everything, but he knew that supernatural events were something every scavenger encountered.
As expected, she was coming for him.
He had to find a way to resolve this, or he would die.
Furthermore, he discovered that the woman looked exactly like Zhao Yao!
Zhao Yao, the scavenger, was far too beautiful. At first, Zhou An truly had some impulsive thoughts, but after realizing she was that lingering woman, those thoughts vanished.
Was the person in front of him real?
Or had she actually died long ago and was just a ghost in disguise?
Zhou An couldn't tell; how could there be two Zhao Yaos in one mission—one living and one dead?
He felt they must be the same person.
A person by day, a ghost by night.
Zhou An's plotline was actually quite simple; everyone around him knew he liked Zhao Yao because he helped her every day.
Other than that, he didn't care much about anything else.
So, Zhou An only needed to report to Zhao Yao's place every day.
But he never expected the ghost haunting him would be Zhao Yao herself.
He felt like a fool now.
It had been three days. Initially, he was afraid when he saw Zhao Yao, but later he became somewhat hysterical.
He thought he needed to strike first.
Before Zhao Yao could kill him, he would kill her.
Regardless of whether she was human or ghost.
However, during the day, people often visited Zhao Yao, and they were all her teammates.
Zhou An found it laughable that her teammates hadn't even realized she was no longer human.
In short, Zhou An could only strike at night.
That night, he crouched in the corridor, looking somewhat neurotic as he waited for Zhao Yao to come over.
He held a wrench in his hand; it was heavy and could crush a skull if swung.
He waited for a long time, but there was no sign of Zhao Yao downstairs.
Did she know what he was thinking? Was she not coming?
It would be best if she didn't come, Zhou An laughed neurotically, otherwise, he would definitely kill her.
But for some reason, that feeling of being watched returned.
A gaze filled with resentment, malice, and deathly stillness.
He turned around and finally noticed a head appearing at the end of the corridor, next to the old stairs.
It was as if... that person had crawled up to the top of the stairs, revealing only her head.
It was Zhao Yao's exquisitely beautiful face. Even next to the peeling wall and flaking paint, in such a ghostly environment, that face was unbelievably beautiful.
But the more beautiful it was, the more eerie it became.
Zhao Yao's originally silken black hair was a mess, covered in withered leaves and dust. She was smiling at a strange and bizarre angle.
And her exposed neck, white and delicate, could be seen even from a distance.
He could see... the purplish, suggestive marks on it.
Zhao Yao stared at him from the top of the stairs, motionless.
Zhou An paused, and then he heard a "snap" in his mind; his nerves had broken.
He was going to kill her.
This woman, he was going to kill her.
If he couldn't kill her tonight, he would kill her tomorrow during the day.
Zhou An's mind was filled with irritability and madness; he forgot about the mission and forgot that she might be a ghost.
His face was unnaturally flushed as he stumbled toward the woman, clutching the wrench.
Zhao Yao was indeed lying on the ground, her body facing the floor, but her head had turned a full one hundred and eighty degrees to look at Zhou An.
She wore a bizarre smile.
"Clang."
The wrench dropped to the floor.
Zhou An's violent mind was suddenly flooded with a memory.
Late at night, deep in the small woods, a struggling Zhao Yao, and himself, dominated by desire and madness...
He suddenly remembered.
He had already killed Zhao Yao once.
Yes, Zhao Yao's struggling had been too loud, and he had heard Granny Zhao coming out to look for her.
He was both anxious and afraid. He had helped this woman for so long for nothing, yet she had remained indifferent and cold.
In a fit of rage, he had grabbed the head of the disheveled Zhao Yao beneath him and twisted hard.
"Crack."
Zhao Yao's body had slumped down, her face turned to the back, her thick black hair facing him...
That's right, Zhou An thought in a daze, he had already killed her.
Zhao Yao was already dead.
What had he done?
Right, he had snapped her neck.
A person with a snapped neck can't live, right?
Can they?
They can't.
Can they really not?
Let's try.
Zhou An reached out, grabbed his own head, and applied force.
"Crack."
His head turned to the back.
Ah...
A bizarre smile appeared on Zhou An's face.
Rate on N.U.
