Chapter 8: The Unfinished Building

The system obediently displayed an address on the light screen: the cluster of abandoned half-built buildings in the southern suburbs, the innermost room on the third floor of Building Seven.

Shen Qingci glanced at it and ran.

Her school skirt hem flapped loudly in the wind, the soles of her canvas shoes scuffing against the concrete in quick, urgent steps.

When she ran, she looked nothing like the useless coward who had been pinned to the wall and slapped around that afternoon.

With her long legs and big stride, she shot out of the school gate in no time.

[Host!]

The system’s voice was still ringing in her head.

[Bai Zhinuo is a fated-death character in this story. You saved her once, but you can’t save her every time. As a fated-death character, her role weight is at the lowest, and the world will of this book will do everything it can to erase her. You…]

“f*ck the world’s will.”

Shen Qingci’s voice scattered in the night wind hitting her face, but the viciousness didn’t scatter at all.

“I’m a rebel. I just don’t want her to die. My toy. How I play with her is my business. I can touch her. But anyone else?”

A ferocious red light flashed in her eyes, like flames burning in a wild beast’s pupils.

“Stay the hell away!”

Her figure disappeared into the dark street at the end, leaving a trail of hurried footsteps.

On the other side.

Bai Zhinuo didn’t know she’d already been sentenced to death by the “world’s will.”

She walked home, her steps much lighter than in the morning.

Her stomach was full.

Her body was warmer.

Even her head was feeling a little clearer.

But as she walked, the fear that hunger had pressed down slowly floated back up.

Shen Qingci.

Those wine-red eyes flashed through her mind.

Cold, yet at the very bottom, they seemed to carry a faint trace of warmth.

Bai Zhinuo couldn’t name it.

She just felt, deep down, that being that person’s toy and errand girl probably wouldn’t be an easy job.

But…

She looked down at the worn canvas shoes on her feet.

The toe caps had already come unglued, showing the dull gray fabric underneath.

She wasn’t picky.

Even an errand girl who took care of toys was fine.

She’d do any job, as long as she got a meal.

The abandoned buildings stood on the southern edge of the city.

More than a dozen gray concrete skeletons stuck out of the wasteland, like rotten teeth the bustling city hadn’t grown right.

Bai Zhinuo lived in the innermost room on the third floor of Building Seven.

The window had no glass, only a piece of cardboard she’d found, which let in light during the day and blocked the wind at night.

It was truly cold in winter, hot in summer, and empty except for four bare walls.

By the time she reached the bottom of the building, the sky was already completely dark.

There were no streetlights here, only a faint light leaking over from the main road in the distance.

Bai Zhinuo fished an old phone out of her pocket.

One corner of the screen was cracked.

She lit up the screen and, using that small patch of white light, made her way up the potholed concrete steps one by one.

The building was very quiet.

On other nights, you could hear rats scurrying along the base of the walls, or stray cats screaming and fighting in the corners.

But tonight…

Bai Zhinuo stopped.

Too quiet.

She stood at the landing between the second and third floors and raised her phone to shine it down the corridor.

The beam swept across a row of pitch-black doorways and scattered construction debris.

Nothing unusual.

She swallowed, aimed the light back at her feet, and kept going up.

Something was off.

The hairs on the back of her neck stood up one by one, as if something in the darkness was watching her.

Bai Zhinuo quickened her pace.

Her soles tapped against the concrete steps, the sound echoing through the empty stairwell.

At the entrance to the third floor, she glanced back on instinct.

Still nothing.

But her heart was already pounding too hard, thumping against her chest like it was trying to force up the meal she had just eaten.

Bai Zhinuo didn’t dare stop again.

She gripped the phone, swept the beam forward, spotted the familiar shabby wooden door at the end of the corridor, and bolted.

The key was already in her hand.

She fumbled with the lock a few times before she got it in.

She turned it, shoved the door open, slipped inside, slammed it shut, and threw the bolt.

She did it all in one breathless blur.

With her back pressed against the thin wooden door, Bai Zhinuo finally let out a breath.

Safe.

Home.

Home was safe.

She pressed a hand to her chest.

Her heart was still thumping wildly.

“Scaring yourself,” she muttered and wiped the cold sweat from her forehead.

But no sooner had the words left her mouth than…

“Bang! Bang! Bang!”

Sudden banging came from outside the door.

Bai Zhinuo froze.

The banging wasn’t fast or frantic.

It just kept hitting the wooden panel again and again, steady and slow.

Like it was calling for her life.

“Bai Zhinuo.”

A shrill female voice came through from outside, drawn out with a hint of mockery.

“Open the door. We know you’re in there.”

Bai Zhinuo’s pupils shrank.

Zhao Min.

She had heard that voice in the bike shed that afternoon.

It was the heavily made-up girl who had grabbed Shen Qingci by the collar and slapped her.

All the blood in her body seemed to drain away.

Her head buzzed.

How did they know she lived here?

How did they know her name?

“Stinky little b*tch, your little legs can run fast, huh?”

A coarse voice, rougher than Zhao Min’s and tinged with a smoker’s rasp, followed.

It was the girl who had been holding a phone to take videos that afternoon.

“Open up. Don’t make us go through the trouble.”

Bai Zhinuo’s legs went weak.

She pressed herself hard against the door, her fingers digging into the iron bolt, as if that could add some protection to the shabby piece of wood.

“I… I don’t know what you’re talking about…”

Her voice trembled badly, soft and hoarse, with a broken quiver at the end.

“You don’t know?”

The voices outside laughed, shrill and piercing.

“You don’t? You were squatting behind the bike shed and watched everything, didn’t you? Bai Zhinuo, if you dare say a word about what happened this afternoon!”

“I didn’t see anything! I really didn’t see anything!”

Bai Zhinuo almost yelled it, her voice shrill with fear.

“I really didn’t see! I was just passing through! I…”

“You think we’re idiots?”

Zhao Min’s voice suddenly came from right above the door.

She was smiling, speaking slowly through the thin board, as if she were whispering into Bai Zhinuo’s ear.

“The security camera caught you, Bai Zhinuo. Your little move hiding behind the bike shed this afternoon and peeking, it’s all on tape. Do you think this can just be let go?”

Bai Zhinuo bit her lip.

Tears swirled in her eyes.

“I wasn’t peeking… I was just… I was there… I didn’t know you were there…”

“Bang!”

A heavy slap hit the door, shaking the iron bolt.

Bai Zhinuo flinched.

“Stop the crap! Open the damn door!”

“If you don’t open it, we’ll come in ourselves!”

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