CH 16

The one who was devoured by a tiger? It took a few seconds for QiLeren to understand; it was said in a common folklore that the souls of those eaten by a tiger will linger and help the very being that killed them to kill more victims, hence the accusation.

“Don’t listen to him – that’s how he lured Dr Lu away! Just hurry and follow me, SuHe wants to kill us!” XueYingying cried as she dragged QiLeren up the stairs, grip unyielding.

Yes, he should follow XueYingying. He had been suspicious of SuHe even just moments before, had he not?

But was the person holding his arm really XueYingying? The strength of her grip, the way that the chill of her skin that permeated layers of clothing, wasn’t it all painfully reminiscent of a certain dead girl he had met in the hallway?

“Miss Xue…is what I’d call you, but you’re not her, are you?” SuHe took another step towards them, solemn eyes bringing his soft features into sharp focus. “I’ve been thinking about how the murderer appeared outside of Director Li’s office. If he’d seen us enter through the cameras, then it would have taken him at least five minutes to arrive – we spent no more than two or three minutes inside the office before having to flee. If he’d just seen us nearby the fishbowl and subsequently hurried over, then it’d be highly improbable for him to have so accurately pinpointed our location to the exact office.

“I don’t believe that he has the capacity to locate others’ locations, else from the very beginning QiLeren would never have escaped. The only possible answer, then, is that one of us is able to somehow notify the murderer of our location.”

A corner of SuHe’s lips twitched up into a wry smile as he continued. “Moreover, it’s certainly interesting how you, who took three tries to open a bottle of water in the office, have suddenly become shockingly strong, isn’t it? If I were to take a guess, there’d be two factors responsible for this – firstly, you had just possessed this body and lacked control, and secondly, the sandalwood and Buddhist statues did their part to weaken you significantly.

“Am I correct, miss, in concluding that you are the annoyingly persistent Number Four?”

Silence, followed by a peal of crisp laughter before something hard pushed against QiLeren’s back and sent him tumbling down the stairs. In the dizzying tumble, all he could do was to protect his head and pray for an uncracked skull. Instead of the painful impact of cement, however, QiLeren found himself stopped by the embrace of SuHe, who had rushed up the stairs to catch him. “Dr Lu!” SuHe yelled.

Someone let out an exclamation of “Ha!” as the sound of splashing echoed loudly in the stairwell – but not as loud as the scream that followed soon after. QiLeren pushed SuHe away with a start, vision spinning as he swayed dangerously. The thick, acidic smell of blood didn’t help his nausea.

Dr Lu hurried over with the now empty bucket still in his hand. “You alive, QiLeren? Quick- go finish the job- just stab her or something! I don’t kill!”

In the pool of blood nearby, XueYingying was writhing in agony as she let out low moans of pain, fingers clawing uselessly at the gritty cement floor. SuHe slowly strode over to her side, slender fingers capturing her chin as he observed her face – eyes rolled back, face spasming as if engaged in battle with something deep inside of her. He frowned and made a shallow cut across his arm with a small blade, watching as fresh blood welled out of the wound and dribbled onto XueYingying’s face.

She screamed. A wisp of blackened fog spurted out of her gaping mouth and dissipated into the air, leaving her suddenly motionless body to slump over in dead faint.

“We should be fine now,” SuHe said

as he lifted her with a single arm and made his way down the stairs. “Can you stand up?” he asked QiLeren. “Do you need me to carry you?”

QiLeren shook his head, pushing himself up in muted daze. So the possessed one was XueYingying. Had he been wrong about SuHe this entire time?

An arm snaked excitedly around his shoulders as Dr Lu drew him close. “Well, that was actually kinda fun – in a really scary way. How about that bucket of blood I splashed, eh? Was it right on target?” He paused. “…Hey, are you alright? You kind of look like you’re daydreaming. You didn’t hit your head too hard, did you?”

“Let’s leave this place first, we made too much noise,” SuHe interrupted. He threw a towel onto the ground and stepped on it to clean any traces of blood off of their shoes.

Dr Lu cooperatively enabled his skill card and led them to a secluded room with no unsavoury run-ins on the way. SuHe lowered XueYingying onto a bench upon arrival and wiped the blood from her face with a damp towelette.

“I never would’ve guessed but you’re actually pretty strong,” Dr Lu noted appreciatively. “My arm got sore from hauling that bucket of blood around but you’re not even breaking a sweat at carrying a fifty-something kilo person!”

“I’m alright,” SuHe chuckled. “I quite enjoy working out.”

Dr Lu pinched his scrawny arms gloomily.

Having offered not even a word on the journey over, QiLeren was still in a state of distracted stupor, staring blankly at the ceiling from his position in a chair. Too many things had happened in the short span of half and hour, leaving him drowning in the residual void of emptiness that swallowed up his thoughts before they could surface.

He saw SuHe drop into a crouch next to him out of the corner of his eye. “Does it hurt anywhere?” SuHe asked in his special timbre of gentleness.

QiLeren brought a hand to his knee. The fall from earlier had only worsened its state, throbbing hotly behind his hand. Dr Lu carefully rolled up his pant leg to examine the extent of his injury. “It doesn’t seem to be sprained and the abrasion looks quite mild,” he concluded. “It’s just some bruising so far, but I’ll give you a spritz of medication.” As he spoke, he reached into his bag for a mist spray and set about treating the wound.

QiLeren barely had time to rasp out a word of thanks before his left hand was seized by SuHe. The sleeve was pulled away to reveal a violent black-blue bruise around his wrist in the shape of a hand. Dr Lu drew in a sharp breath. “Good lord, how hard would a person have to squeeze to do that?” he exclaimed.

SuHe chuckled drily. “It wasn’t exactly a ‘person’, was it?”

“What if it has bad energy or something? We don’t have any holy water here,” Dr Lu muttered as he sprayed QiLeren’s wrist down with medication and wrapped it up with bandages. “Tell me if it gets worse, mkay? I’ll think of something.”

QiLeren mutely stared at the bandages on his wrist, mood sombre. He couldn’t bring himself to look at SuHe, ashamed of the misplaced suspicion he had in his companion. He had been so untrusting, and yet…

If SuHe hadn’t appeared when he had, he would most definitely have followed XueYingying. The possibility of the undead Number Four possessing XueYingying’s body was not one he had considered, a mistake that had very nearly cost him his life.

The guilt gnawed at his insides but vocalising it was not an option, leaving him with no option but to listen in subdued silence as Dr Lu recounted the events that had occurred after splitting up:

SuHe had been the one to raise his doubts about XueYingying’s condition, with Dr Lu concurring after a bout of psychological analysis. The two then decided to test their theory, boldly making their way to the surveillance room in block A and making sure that QiLeren had successfully escaped before attempting to meet him. Dr Lu at this point wanted to destroy the system, but was stopped by SuHe: “Keep them. We already know where the cameras are, so avoiding detection will not be a problem…perhaps they’ll be useful in the future.”

SuHe’s confidence cheered Dr Lu, abandoning his idea altogether in favour of following SuHe to the stairwell QiLeren had hidden himself in. Sounds of QiLeren and XueYingying’s conversation were heard as they approached – it was here that the duo split up, with Dr Lu circling around to the upper floor with a bucket of blood to empty onto XueYingying at SuHe’s signal. If she really had been possessed, then the blood should elicit the same response in her as it did in ghosts. SuHe was left to draw XueYingying’s attention and buy time for Dr Lu.

The plan was undoubtedly a success, though XueYingying’s exact condition was left up in the air until she awakens for confirmation.

“We,” SuHe said, picking up a pen from the nearby desk and spinning it around his fingers in perfect, elegant arcs, “have two problems at this point in time: how we might go about disposing of the murderer and the mystery of four thirteen.” The pen in his hand ceased its movement as he swept an amused gaze over his two companions.

“I may have a few clues as to how we can solve these problems,” he admitted with a faint smile, “so let’s work from there, shall we?”