Chapter 7: Not Necessarily Real
The woman, her face covered in blood, stared at Qin Liu. Her terrifying gaze rendered Qin Liu speechless.
After an unknown amount of time, Qin Liu finally mustered the courage to ask the woman, “Um… do you need something?”
The terrifying woman in the mirror didn’t answer. She simply extended a pale finger and wrote two blood-red words on the mirror: “Run…”
Seeing these words, Qin Liu’s heart leaped. Just as she was pondering the woman’s intention, the writing quickly blurred and disappeared.
Then, Qin Liu felt a wave of dizziness. When she looked into the mirror again, all she saw was her own face, pale with fright.
“Knock, knock, knock!”
At that moment, Liu Haoyu’s voice suddenly came from outside the door, accompanied by urgent knocking.
“Are you okay? I thought I heard something fall.”
Hearing Liu Haoyu’s words, Qin Liu snapped back to reality. She fumbled for a bath towel, wrapped it around her body, her legs still trembling uncontrollably.
“I’m fine…”
For some reason, Qin Liu felt the voice outside sounded a bit unfamiliar, which made her voice rise a couple of decibels.
“I was just startled by a spider.”
Liu Haoyu outside the door fell silent for two seconds.
“Just a spider?” His voice became a little low. “Are you sure… you didn’t see anything else?”
Qin Liu’s voice suddenly hitched.
She stared intently in the direction of the door, unsure if she detected a hint of anticipation in Liu Haoyu’s tone.
Qin Liu couldn’t be sure if this was just her imagination.
She could only force herself to calm down.
“What do you mean? What else could I have seen?”
Then there was another silence outside the door, after which Qin Liu heard Liu Haoyu chuckle, his voice returning to its usual nonchalant tone.
“Nothing, I was just worried you might have bumped into something,” he paused as he spoke. “Let me know when you’re done, and I’ll make you some ginger tea. I don’t know where the others in the house went. If you feel stuffy in your room, you can come to the living room.”
As Qin Liu heard his footsteps gradually recede, the unease in her heart slowly began to fade.
Something’s wrong…
The current situation is a bit off.
She looked back at the mirror in the house.
The mirror now looked completely normal, as if everything that had just happened was just her illusion.
However, as she leaned closer to observe, she noticed a faint crack along the edge of the mirror frame. A trace of dark red liquid seeped from the crack, like dried blood.
“Blood? Or paint?”
Qin Liu examined it, then looked back towards the door.
The feeling Liu Haoyu had given her earlier was vastly different from the feeling he gave her just now.
But the voice was exactly the same…
“What on earth is going on?”
Qin Liu murmured to herself.
She quickly dried herself, got dressed, and after calming her emotions, walked to the door and pushed it open a little.
There was no one outside, just an empty, narrow corridor.
There was a lit room outside; Qin Liu knew it was the living room.
She walked over cautiously.
There was indeed no one else in the house; Liu Haoyu was the only one in the living room.
He had his back to her, seemingly cooking something.
The spicy aroma of ginger tea wafted from the pot; it looked like ginger tea.
At this moment, Qin Liu also noticed that his shoulders were exceptionally tense, and his hand holding the spoon was slightly white from gripping it too tightly.
“Just now…”
Qin Liu hesitated to speak.
Upon hearing her, Liu Haoyu suddenly turned around. He stared at Qin Liu, his eyes reflecting an unnatural brightness in the candlelight.
“What about just now?”
The man asked, a smile playing on his lips, but his eyes were fixed on Qin Liu.
Under his gaze, Qin Liu swallowed.
“N-nothing, I just… thank you?”
Hearing this, Liu Haoyu’s expression instantly softened, as if the momentary strangeness was just her imagination.
“You’re welcome,” the man handed her a cup of ginger tea. “Drink it while it’s hot.”
The moment Qin Liu took the cup, she felt a stinging heat, as if she were holding a cup of boiling water.
Fortunately, she reacted in time and put the cup down; otherwise, she might have spilled the scalding tea on herself.
“What’s wrong?”
However, Liu Haoyu seemed to have not noticed the abnormal temperature at all, and took a sip of his tea nonchalantly.
“Don’t you like it?”
“No…”
Qin Liu rubbed her slightly warm hand and shook her head.
“It’s a bit hot.”
“I didn’t notice until you mentioned it.”
Liu Haoyu also placed his cup on the table.
Looking at the slightly strange man before her, the unease in Qin Liu’s heart grew stronger.
“By the way,” Liu Haoyu’s eyes were fixed on the rising steam from the ginger tea, and then he suddenly spoke, “I actually want to tell you something…”
“What is it?”
“Do you believe it, but I always feel like there’s a strange destiny between us. Perhaps I’m your future husband?”
“…”
Qin Liu’s expression turned rigid.
The tungsten lamp in the living room flickered a few times, and Liu Haoyu’s eyes appeared particularly deep in the shadows.
After a few seconds of suffocating silence, he suddenly burst into laughter.
His laughter echoed in the empty room, sharp and piercing.
“Just kidding, just kidding…” He wiped at the non-existent tears in the corners of his eyes. “I was just wishing it would be nice if I had a beautiful daughter like you.”
“I’m going to sleep.”
The unease in Qin Liu’s heart intensified. She vaguely sensed a possibility.
Everything she was seeing might be unreal!
Seeing that Qin Liu wanted to leave, Liu Haoyu’s voice became unusually serious: “If… I mean, if you see anything in the mirror, please call me immediately. Don’t believe anything anyone says.”
Qin Liu didn’t answer, she just quickened her pace.
For the first time, she was eager to return to that oppressive, cold bedroom. After closing the door, she immediately locked it and leaned against it, slowly sliding to the floor.
At this moment, her heartbeat was so loud it felt like the entire world could hear it.
He’s gone… Is it safe now?
Just then, she heard Liu Haoyu’s footsteps stop outside her door.
The door was gently pushed.
“Qin Liu?” Liu Haoyu’s voice came through the door panel, his tone gentle to the point of being creepy. “Can I come in?”
