Qiuzi had an inexplicable allure to people.
Xu Shuo didn't know whether this was a mutation that occurred after her death or if her charm had always been above average.
In any case, it seemed to render people unable to control themselves.
This inexplicably reminded Xu Shuo of a girl with long, straight black hair and a tear mole at the corner of her eye.
He couldn't help but touch his own face.
It was a relief that he didn't have a tear mole, Qiuzi didn't either, and she wasn't enchanting in appearance; she had a youthful, childlike quality. If she tied her hair in double ponytails and maintained a normal expression, she even resembled the expressive Xu Xi.
But after death, no matter the expression, there was always something eerily uncanny.
It wasn't his fault that he was frightening; it was just how he looked.
Xu Shuo rubbed his cheek and turned to walk to the dance studio.
Changying was sitting on the floor resting, looking down at her phone, seemingly replying to a message.
As he walked in, the woman abruptly lifted her head, still wearing that serious and harsh expression, as stern as a junior high school disciplinarian.
"Teacher," Xu Shuo called out obediently.
"Mm," Changying responded, then said, "Lanruo mentioned she was feeling a bit unwell and has gone back to rest. This afternoon you will practice alone."
The dance studio session continued for another two hours after lunch, concluding at four in the afternoon.
Upon hearing this, Xu Shuo paused momentarily, his expression one of surprise, and asked, "Unwell? No wonder she looked a bit off this morning; perhaps she also caught a chill last night."
She's directly not coming?
Although that little girl seemed timid and shy, she shouldn't back down so easily. She couldn't really have been scared away by him, could she?
He had even planned to scare her a bit more later on.
It seems he can't do that now.
Changying's brows furrowed, emitting a low pressure, and said in a very dissatisfied tone, "You young girls always fall short at critical moments. How can you not rest properly with the performance so close!"
Xu Shuo bowed his head, responding very obediently.
...
There were originally few people in the dance studio, and now the other two dancers had left due to other commitments, leaving Xu Shuo to practice alone in the spacious studio once more.
However, the strict Changying dutifully taught him until four in the afternoon.
This afternoon involved only simple physical movements, practicing in sections the dances they needed to perform for "Swan Lake". As Xu Shuo had many issues during the morning dance practice, Changying was especially strict.
"Qiuzi, you're almost capturing the essence of the Black Swan, but why can't your movements keep up!"
Changying said, frustrated as if hating that iron could not become steel.
It was as if it had suddenly become night.
Or rather, something had dyed everything in sight black; the giant mirror faintly reflected the girl's silhouette.
At that moment, Xu Shuo felt the familiar stiffness; his body couldn't move, and even emitted a strange, rotten smell, with an overwhelming sensation of suffocation flooding his mind.
This time, his sensation was much clearer.
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Something was crawling up from below his feet, and soon after, a thick, strange substance touched his back, cold and slimy.
The entire world seemed silent to the extreme.
But in the mirror, there was nothing but darkness reflected.
Xu Shuo maintained his stiff posture without moving for a long while, just like last night, after the disgusting and oppressive stickiness passed, his body regained the ability to move, and the sounds that had disappeared began to return.
The lights in the dance studio slowly brightened.
He turned to look out the window, where it was still around four-thirty in the afternoon, the sky was overcast, but not dark.
Xu Shuo looked down at himself, his skin still soft and smooth, but it had started to turn a pale blueish-white.
And the craving for a medium-rare steak was stronger now.
"Dinglingling—"
Suddenly, a piercing ringtone broke the silence of the dance studio.
Xu Shuo came back to his senses, looked towards the rest area, walked over and picked up his phone.
But he watched the caller ID and didn't answer, and after a while, the ringing stopped, followed by a text message coming through.
[Qiuzi, do you have time tonight? I want to take you somewhere.]
...
...
"She rejected me!" Officer Zhang said, widening his eyes.
The priest next to him, wore a not-surprised expression and stood up, saying, "Then let it be, she must have other plans."
"But, you just said..." Through the glass window, Officer Zhang looked up at the dance studio with the curtains drawn tight, frowning unhappily.
"Go find that little girl; I think she's also a key figure in this incident," the priest said.
The two had been sitting here all afternoon, and the police had already passed on Lanruo's information to Officer Zhang, considering she might be the murderer who "killed" Qiuzi.
Moreover, they had started to understand the "Black Dog's" modus operandi through sharing intelligence, so the wait wasn't entirely fruitless.
But Qiuzi rejected her!