Chapter 0: My Ordinary Life Is Off Track
I, Juncheng An, am a boring person.
Correction, I am an ordinary person.
…Alright, I admit it, I am an ordinary and boring person.
I don’t have social anxiety or communication disorders. On the contrary, I enjoy talking to people. However, because my way of speaking is a bit… blunt, and my topics are rather dull, people usually stop talking to me after just one conversation. They must think I’m a cold person.
I guess this is what they call having poor social skills.
Yet, I don’t want to initiate conversations. It’s my innate nature, a hopelessly passive personality. I don’t pursue anything actively, which is why I’m often ignored like I’m air, ultimately ending up alone.
Moreover, I even feel like it wouldn’t matter… Having friends would be nice, of course, but not having them doesn’t seem to affect me much… Should I call it resilience? Anyway, I’m the type of person who can live alone.
Yes, I still feel like being alone is fine…
So, please! Just leave me alone!
“Jun Cheng~ Where are you~ Why are you hiding from me?”
A voice from afar made my whole body tremble.
Her tone was cheerful, innocent like a child’s, and she even deliberately mispronounced my name.
The owner of this voice is my classmate, Ji Lianbing.
Until a few days ago, we had no contact… we hadn’t even exchanged a single word. Although we are classmates, and I even sit in front of her, because I’ve always been alone and don’t actively try to make friends, we don’t even qualify as acquaintances.
Of course, I still remember all my classmates’ names. It’s just that for someone as inconspicuous as me, she was a person from another world, with no intersection point whatsoever…
There should have been no intersection point at all…
“Jun Cheng~ Come out~ I won’t do anything to you~”
I’d believe that if pigs could fly!
I’m currently hiding in the second to last stall in the men’s restroom on the fourth floor of the science building, not daring to even breathe.
Ji Lianbing’s shouts can be heard from outside intermittently. It’s now eleven o’clock at night, nearly two hours after the evening study session ended. The duty teacher has already locked the main gate, so it’s probably just the two of us in this building.
Yes, as you can see, I’m hiding from her.
Ji Lianbing is by no means an ugly woman. On the contrary, she is a genuine beautiful girl.
A high-quality high school girl, a beautiful girl of school-flower caliber, an idol-like existence on campus.
She’s the type who gets confessed to once a week throughout her three years of high school.
Unfortunately, so far, the number of times she’s been confessed to equals the number of times she’s been rejected, meaning… no one has been able to get close to her. She looks so approachable, yet no one can go any further… Ji Lianbing seems to be the type of person who is easy to be friends with, but extremely difficult to develop a romantic relationship with.
If a girl like this is ‘chasing’ me, I should be overjoyed to accept her… If it were the me of the past…
Unfortunately, I can’t accept her… Yes, I can never accept her in this lifetime.
No, don’t misunderstand. It’s not because I have gynophobia, nor is it because I like men. It’s because… Ji Lianbing is not a normal person.
You heard me right, she’s not normal!
“Jun Cheng~ You’re in here, right? I can smell your ‘scent’?”
Hearing that voice, my entire body trembled.
The voice was getting closer. I covered my mouth with one hand and my chest with the other, trying my best to suppress my breathing and heartbeat, lest she discover my hiding place.
*Clang!* The door to the first stall in the restroom was opened, and my heart skipped a beat.
I can’t be discovered… I absolutely cannot be discovered!
“Found, you.”
The voice was very close, she was right outside the door!
“…!!!”
*Creak, creak creak, creak creak creak creak creak creak creak…* *Snap.*
The lock was broken, what is wrong with her! This isn’t the strength a high school girl should have! This is bad, bad, bad! If I’m discovered, she’ll definitely kill me! Fundamentally, we’re on different levels! If we were to use animals as a metaphor, she’s a snake, and I’m the little mouse she’s set her sights on!
*Squeak…*
The door opened. I hid behind the door, my body pressed against the wall, trying to conceal myself as much as possible, repeating in my mind that I am a mouse… a trembling mouse… an inconspicuous mouse…
“Oh? You’re not here…”
Go away! Please go away!
One second, two seconds, three seconds… Ten seconds later, footsteps sounded again. Did she… finally leave?
But I still didn’t dare to breathe deeply or make any sound.
After a few more minutes, everything was silent. This time, it should be fine.
But I still can’t let my guard down. If she hasn’t gone far, she’ll definitely come back if she hears my footsteps!
I need to walk lightly… walk like a cat… As I reached the restroom door, I was pounced on!
“Waaah!”
So she hadn’t left, she had just hidden in the first stall of the restroom! And those footsteps just now were just her faking them to trick me!
“You were careless, Jun Cheng. Did you think I had left? Hehe, actually, I knew you were hiding in the third stall a long time ago. I just wanted to surprise you, so I pretended I didn’t find you~”
This is hardly a surprise, it’s only a scare, with no element of joy whatsoever!
“Um, my name is Juncheng An. Could you please stop pronouncing it backward?”
“Oh, that’s what I like about you, Jun Cheng~ You know what’s about to happen, yet you’re still so calm… Hehe, I’m starting to like you more and more? Jun Cheng~”
Ah, that was just an act. I’m so sorry.
I’m truly sorry, my apparent calmness was all an act. Inside, I was panicking to death.
It’s not feigned calmness, it’s just my personality. Due to my family environment, I have always viewed death lightly. Everyone dies eventually, so when you die doesn’t matter, right? Many people say this, but very few can truly accept death. I am one of those few.
The worst that could happen is death… I’m not afraid of death, not at all.
Hmm? What? You’re asking why I’m so panicked right now?
That’s because… the current situation is even more dire than death!
“Ahhh, Jun Cheng, this is my lifelong request…”
Ji Lianbing clasped her hands together in front of her chest, pure and holy like a saint praying to God.
Through the moonlight, I could see her fair and clean face, her well-defined features, and her neat hair exuding a fresh and lovely aura. In the dimly lit environment, she was as dazzling as pure white light. She straddled my waist, her youthful aura enveloping me. Any man might lose control and push her down…
But I felt no sense of wonder, only waves of terror that paralyzed my body.
How I wish I could close my eyes and pretend this was all a dream… But I’m afraid that if I close my eyes, I’ll never open them again, so I can only stare at her with wide-open eyes.
Moreover, I wasn’t looking at her stunning face or her graceful body… but at her head.
Above Ji Lianbing’s head, where there should have been nothing, were purple characters.
They were strange characters that only I could see.
【Necrophiliac Killer】
【Ji Lianbing】
That was her name and… her title.
The text above her name should be something like a title. I don’t know exactly what it is, but I just call it a ‘title’.
The effect I saw was similar to how players’ nicknames and titles are displayed in online games, so I named this ability ‘True Name Manifestation’.
I’m not entirely sure why I gained this ability, and it only recently appeared. Its cause and specific effects are not yet fully understood. I even suspect that my mind might be malfunctioning, which is why I’m seeing these strange characters.
Who would ever believe that Ji Lianbing, this beloved beautiful girl, has another side to her as a perverted necrophiliac killer?
The first time I saw these characters, I didn’t believe them at all, thinking my mind was playing tricks on me.
But the current situation leaves me no choice but to believe.
Because… she has already chosen me as her target!
“I beg you! Please die!”
Ji Lianbing, straddling me, excitedly reached out her hands to caress my neck. I felt an electric shock and immediately grabbed her hands. Then she slowly increased the pressure, and I pushed upward with my elbow, using all my strength to barely get her palm away from my neck.
Even though I was interlocking fingers with a beautiful girl, I couldn’t feel happy at all!
So… tired… I really can’t believe it, why does a girl have so much strength!
My physical strength and stamina should be among the better ones for high school students… Is her terrifying obsession allowing her to exert such strength far beyond that of a high school girl?
“Why… why? Jun Cheng? Why are you stopping me?”
“…Cough… Well, I think anyone would resist when their neck is about to be choked…”
Ugh, this position is really bad. My hand feels like it’s going to cramp. And the soft sensation on my abdomen is also not good!
Ji Lianbing looked at me with teary eyes, her face filled with sadness, and said, “Because I love you! I adore you! Why… can’t you understand me?”
“You just like my corpse!”
That’s right, by now, you may have realized, Ji Lianbing is indeed a killer, and a perverted necrophiliac killer at that.
As for why she didn’t just stab me to death with a knife, it’s only because that would ruin the aesthetic beauty of the corpse.
She apparently doesn’t want any wounds on my corpse, which is why she chose the less efficient method of strangulation.
Actually, she initially intended to poison me, but I saw through it right away… And then things escalated to this point…
“Jun Cheng… I will love you well. I will hold you every night as I sleep, I will be one with you every day, and I will continue to love you until only your bones remain… So, I beg you! Be with me forever!”
A blush crept onto Ji Lianbing’s cheeks. She leaned in close to my face, breathing excitedly, and I could smell her fragrance, which was like an aphrodisiac, making me feel dazed.
“…If… this premise… wasn’t death… I think I would have joyfully accepted…”
At the same time, her strength grew even greater. I felt my fingers were about to break, my wrist was bent beyond ninety degrees. My teeth were clenched so hard that I was straining with all my might, but I was still gradually losing ground.
What kind of joke is this… I’m not going to die like this! Damn it…
Suddenly, the resistance from Ji Lianbing vanished. I exerted too much force and sat up. Then, in the next instant, she released my left hand with one hand and grabbed my hands with both, pulling my body closer to her.
I had no idea what was happening and couldn’t react in time.
“Ah… Mmm… Don’t move, Jun Cheng, it’ll be over soon…”
My head seemed to be trapped. Her right leg was bent at a right angle around my neck, with her right ankle hooked over the inside of her left knee.
I remember this is called a triangle choke… *Gahhhhh!*
“Gahhhhh!”
The moment I thought this, my head was instantly subjected to terrifying pressure!
Ugh, ugh, ugh… I can’t break free… I can’t breathe, my eyeballs naturally rolled upwards…
I’m… going to… die…
Past memories flashed through my mind like a slideshow…
Why would an ordinary and boring person like me… get caught up in such danger…
When I had been pretending to know nothing…
A passive person like me shouldn’t have encountered this situation… Or is it precisely because I am so passive that things have spiraled out of control…
Ah, my ordinary life… Where did it start to go off track?
