Chapter 7: Confusion

Having killed the guy, Shiyue still wasn’t out of danger. She glanced back at the main entrance—she didn’t know when someone might come knocking after needing to use the restroom—so she had to act quickly.

Shiyue first quickly searched the young rich man’s pockets and found some cash in his wallet, about five hundred yuan or so. She decided to take the entire wallet. Then, she tidied her appearance in the mirror, noticed her school uniform, and hastily bent down to grab a clean jacket that hadn’t been stained with blood, making sure nothing gave her away before unlocking the door and stepping out.

Just a few steps outside, she saw a group of drunken men leaning on each other, coming straight toward her. They looked at Shiyue—coming out of the men’s restroom—with surprise. Shiyue kept her gaze fixed on a crowded area and quickly slipped into it.

Then she heard rough screams coming from the restroom behind her. She didn’t linger, keeping her head down while weaving through the crowd, hugging the walls to avoid surveillance cameras as she hurried away.

The nightclub stage lights still splashed multicolored beams across the room, the pounding music hitting her eardrums. As midnight approached, the dance floor grew more crowded, providing perfect cover for Shiyue until she exited the club. Remarkably, the bodies in the restroom had not yet caused any panic.

“Phew—”

Shiyue exhaled, but she knew this was far from over.

As soon as she stepped out, she spotted a taxi coming her way. She wanted to take it home immediately, but then she realized: a murder had just occurred at the club, and if she hailed a taxi first thing, the police would inevitably suspect her.

The streets were under surveillance. Although her mask and hat prevented identification, it was better to keep a low profile.

So she lowered her head and casually walked down the street, blending in with other pedestrians for a hundred meters or so. She still didn’t leave immediately but found a small, lively restaurant, ordered a late-night meal, and sat in a corner, burying her head in her food.

While eating, she was tense, as if at any second a squad of police would suddenly appear, blocking the restaurant’s entrance, guns aimed at her. It was the least appetizing meal of her life.

Halfway through, just as she was about to wipe her mouth, an alarm went off outside the restaurant. Shiyue instinctively looked up, only to see that it was just a passing police car. The other diners continued eating, some glancing around curiously.

Shiyue didn’t dare eat anymore and immediately paid. As she was about to leave, she suddenly realized that her clothes were taken from the dead man—walking around in them would surely draw attention.

She looked left and right and was fortunate to find a back door leading to an alley behind the building. Like clutching a lifeline, she hurried through it. Passing a garbage bin, she quickly discarded her jacket, mask, and cap inside, finding some discarded old clothes in the bin to put on instead. She occasionally glanced around; the grimy walls were dimly lit, casting shadows that mirrored her own.

Shiyue wiped cold sweat from her face and hurried along the alley, almost running to the edge of the commercial street. She anxiously scanned the road ahead. After about five minutes, a taxi appeared. From a distance, she eagerly waved it down.

Once inside, collapsing into the leather seat, a wave of exhaustion washed over her.

“Take me to Tuanjie District 2… across from Huicheng Market… Tuanjie City, Area 2,” she instructed.

The taxi sped along the old road. In the dim streetlights, Shiyue stared out at the horizon, where buildings and lights intertwined. The uneven skyscrapers resembled broken piano keys, with slivers of light flashing through like a moving lantern. The night wind howled, yet the air felt heavy and oppressive, like a hangover without the alcohol.

Thinking about it, Shiyue surviving and succeeding in revenge was nearly impossible in real life.

First, she had been hit by a rock and thrown into the water, unable to surface for air, with her body covered in wounds. Even if she hadn’t drowned, she could have bled out.

Then, during her revenge, Shiyue killed the male and female students as if they were chickens, and later took out five people in the restroom without a scratch. Even though she wasn’t a weak girl and was stronger than many untrained men, such feats would only be seen in martial arts films.

Shiyue lowered her head, focusing her mind. The black, glove-like material covering her palms and part of her wrists reappeared.

It resembled the steel gloves used by laborers but seemed to grow from her own body, responding to her consciousness, covering her hands as needed and retracting under her skin. It protected her palms, extended to form a wrist guard, and on the back of both gloves was a green, spiky mark of unknown significance.

This armor-like formation embedded in her flesh reminded her of some low-budget sci-fi movies or urban legends—she couldn’t make sense of it.

She opened the window and stared at the night sky, now as bright as day to her, lost in thought.

At the lake’s bottom, where she had been trapped under rocks, she had dived down to avoid the falling debris. Surprisingly, she had reached the lakebed easily—the water was unexpectedly shallow.

She had planned to swim out of sight before surfacing for air. But as she moved forward, she unexpectedly touched something hard—a scuba tank, complete with a mask.

“What is this doing here?”

Without hesitation, she pressed the mask to her face and inhaled, only to swallow a large mouthful of water.

Initially, the water felt cold in her stomach, but then she sensed something completely abnormal.

It was as if invisible hands were rearranging her internal organs, reconstructing her body like a puzzle. The feeling was bizarre yet painless. She even forgot to breathe. Shiyue felt as though she had entered a unique, isolated state where her body consumed no energy and had no contact with the outside world. Her physical form seemed gone, leaving only her consciousness adrift in a void.

There was no light, no sound—not even water—and she forgot her own identity, as if she were dead.

Gradually, faint distant sounds reached her, bringing back the sense of cold water, dizziness, and oxygen deprivation. Her consciousness slowly returned.

Her limbs regained movement. Without thinking, her body acted on its own. She opened her eyes, saw the light on the water, and frantically swam upward. Breaking the surface, her first instinct was to gulp down the fresh air.

After drifting half-dazed on the water for a while, Shiyue slowly crawled ashore, lying on the shallow sand, staring blankly at the now-brightened sky.