Chapter 9: Crossed Wires
"It's been a while since I met someone so warm-hearted..."
After sending off Mr. Chen, Bai Zhi cast an approving look at the sparkling clean room and his completed homework. Suddenly, he couldn't help feeling moved.
Whatever Mr. Chen was, Bai Zhi was sure he wasn't human. Most likely, it was like something out of the recent explosion of urban legends—a supernatural entity. Who in their right mind would travel from far away to personally deliver some money, help do someone's homework, and clean their room, all without any promise of a reward?
They would need to be as selfless as Mother Teresa herself!
If everyone in the world could be just like "Mr. Chen". By sharing just a little bit of love, what a wonderful world this would be.
Bai Zhi peeked into the envelope at the stack of cash within, and said wistfully, "I wonder if Mr. Chen will ever come back..."
All the problems plaguing him in the beginning had been handily resolved, and he momentarily forgot all the suspicion he had toward this world. Hallelujah!
Every city had the odd urban legend, brought up in idle conversation now and then to tickle the imagination. However, three months ago, the internet began to explode with a host of urban legends, rumors and reports of strange activity.
Ever since witnessing the Scuttle Crab in real life, Bai Zhi had been preparing himself for a close encounter with the creatures from such stories, but he never expected that his first encounter with a supernatural entity would turn out quite like this.
Although he did not know how or why "Mr. Chen" had been the one he saw, the encounter had left him with solid clues as to the traits and powers of the entity he had just met.
Supernatural entities could be fearsome, of course, but that did not make them invincible. Most operated under a specific set of conditions unique to them. Once you knew what they were, surviving an encounter with such bizarre creatures was none too difficult.
If every encounter with such entities was inevitably fatal, then there would never be any stories online about such encounters. Dead men told no tales, after all.
As for the entity Bai Zhi had encountered today, its flawless performance would have fooled anyone, even Bai Zhi, if he had not suspected its true identity from the very start.
If his deduction proved correct, the supernatural entity he had encountered had needed something from him, and that thing was fear. Even as the creature helped to tidy up and solve his homework problems, it had constantly seemed to be trying to do something to catch him off guard and scare him...
"Well... at this rate, it's not unlikely that it will try to ambush me again, though what is unlikely is for it to come as "Mr. Chen"... Does that mean I have to keep my guard up around everyone close to me?"
Bai Zhi sat on a chair with his chin propped up on his hands, deep in thought.
"The creature seems to have some mind-reading ability, which explains why it turned into a person that could not exist in this world... I also possess the memories of the Bai Zhi from this world, so the one most important to him would be... the campus belle?"
Bai Zhi tapped his fingers against his forehead as he felt a headache building up.
"Going by the usual tropes for such a creature, the next thing that will happen is the campus belle starts pursuing me or something similar," he muttered to himself. "Of course, it's not quite logical for the campus belle, who used to detest me so thoroughly, to change her tune overnight, but… logic is not that important here. After all, all it needed was to inspire fear in me. I can't let it go on forever—I must stop it before it wears down my defenses. I need a surefire solution... then again, can the thing even be killed? Perhaps. There may even exist a secret organization that specializes in handling such entities..."
That night, Bai Zhi drifted off to sleep thinking of a certain someone.
The next morning, Bai Zhi woke up unusually early—at least, compared to the other Bai Zhi's habits.
Mysterious things roamed this world, but normies were still quite well-insulated from them, so something extraordinary must be keeping an eye on such things.
He had some ideas about how to deal with these supernatural entities, but all things considered, it had only been a day since he transmigrated, so worrying needlessly accomplished nothing. Since he did not possess any expertise in this area, he might as well stick to the original plan.
No matter what that bizarre thing was, before nuclear power, all lives were equal! If he had the ability to make a nuclear weapon, what was there to be afraid of? Dealing with them would be child's play...
"Hmm... I should take a few weeks to do some actual studying, then..."
"Good morning!"
Just as Bai Zhi was planning his next move at a nearby café, he heard a voice, and a gorgeous figure promptly sat herself down next to him as if it were completely natural.
I knew it...
As he realized that the person now next to him, flashing him a brilliant smile, was the campus belle, Bai Zhi made a wry smile.
It was obvious—this was a person who had always clearly expressed disgust at "his" previous attentions, and who, just yesterday at the cafeteria, blocked his way, embarrassing him, which made him only too eager to put a mile between them. Yet today, she was greeting him bright and early with a sweet smile and even sitting next to him... Anyone with half a brain cell would spot a major problem here!
Sigh. Supernatural entities aren't the sharpest tool in the shed...
Bai Zhi suddenly experienced a sense of intellectual superiority.
"Hey, what's up? I thought we had an understanding at the cafeteria yesterday?"
Bai Zhi gave her a lukewarm attitude as he shifted his seat a few paces away.
"We're done now, there's nothing more I have to give, can't you bother someone else?
("Bro, I see through your disguise, why don't you find a different victim?")
"Hey~ There's no need to be so cold~ Weren't you the one who was all fired up before?"
("The way you used to pursue me was just too passionate, I was so flattered I didn't know what to do.")
Holding her left arm with her right, Lin XiaoYi looked at the young man before her with sparkling eyes. "You can drop the act; I figured out your secret, you know?"
"My secret..." Bai Zhi's face turned gloomy at that.
True, Since Mr. Chen never existed in this world, a simple search would reveal that fact... This supernatural entity seems quite intelligent after all... Did it already find out I'm not from this world?
"Whatever you say," said Bai Zhi. "You can try blabbing, see if anyone believes you. I doubt anyone would take such wild fantasies seriously, do you? Just forget it. Shall we part ways, once and for all?"
Ending with a note of finality, he turned his back to her and strode directly out of the café.
He had no way to control the creature's actions, after all. The best course of action was to get as far away as possible.
Supernatural entities were... such a pain in the neck.
--
Chapter 10: Elementary, My Dear Watson
"This world is getting more dangerous..."
Bai Zhi was on his way to the campus to attend the early morning self-study period with some books under his arm. He frowned slightly as he recalled the supernatural entity that had brazenly accosted him yesterday.
People are wont to cling to things they have lost. Having lost his life once before, Bai Zhi was not keen to lose it again.
In truth, the fact that it had approached him openly was quite unexpected, but he could not fathom what the entity had hoped to achieve. His best guess was that it was simply mad about how it had been foiled the previous day.
It had spoken in such a roundabout manner... what was it trying to say?
Bai Zhi stroked his chin as he mulled it over in his mind.
All fear stems from the fear of the unknown. He might have been more wary of the entity if it had continued to remain in hiding, but that brainless stunt it had pulled off this morning... it was completely incomprehensible.
As Bai Zhi walked along, lost in thought, a pale figure emerged from a thicket of jade-green bamboo where few people ventured. The figure made a beeline for Bai Zhi, its face set in a stony expression.
"Studying so early in the morning, huh? Among the bamboo, too." Bai Zhi muttered, silently cursing in his heart as he recognized the figure. It was the same person he had encountered at the café a few minutes earlier… Nevertheless, he made some room on the sidewalk as he kept walking.
Before his all-seeing eagle eyes, there could be no hidden secrets; discerning the genuine article from a fake was easy-peasy.
Take the one who approached him at the café this morning. The way she acted all smarmy with him, one glance was all it took for him to know that she was clearly the fake. This one, however, who stiffened up as soon as they saw him, as if afraid that he would pester her again, was obviously the real deal. Only a fool would mix up the two, you know?
While he was caught up in his thoughts, the figure of Lin XiaoYi who had emerged from the bamboo thicket was fast approaching him. The way her eyes were fixated unblinkingly on Bai Zhi the whole time, her face devoid of all expression, could be said to be odd, though. Even after she reached him and started walking alongside, she kept up that intense stare, which a bystander would certainly describe as unsettling. Not Bai Zhi.
So she's that wary of me, huh? The other Bai Zhi's harassment must have traumatized her pretty badly... Bai Zhi thought, as he shrank away from her. Regretting it slightly, he decided to raise an arm in a friendly greeting, to show he meant no harm.
She continued staring at him in silence.
Perhaps it was his sincerity that had moved her, but when Bai Zhi raised his arm and smiled at her, he clearly saw her stiffen up, then swiftly turn away and speed off into the distance.
"Oof," Bai Zhi sighed. "Hope she gets over her trauma soon..."
Bai Zhi gave a pitying shake of his head as he watched her figure recede, imagining her panic. Then, he continued on his merry way.
In order to access all the privileges given to academic elites, what was important to him now was to keep his nose to the grind and study hard.
As he passed by the empty lot in front of the Teachers' Residence, he noticed that it was occupied by the same boy he had seen playing with his shadow the day before. This time, the boy was not alone, but seemed to have some friends his age to play with.
He shook his head and muttered something vaguely sympathetic. "Even grade-schoolers get up this early, huh? The pressure of mandatory education these days..."
As he walked away breezily, he gave the children a wide berth, to keep his shadow from being stepped on, just as he had done before.
The children had their backs turned to him, but if he could see their faces, he would have seen twisted expressions of horror that belonged to faces far older than their figures suggested. Despite this, they continued to dance stiffly around the little boy, their movements coordinated with his.
Just like... marionettes.
———
The morning self-study period was not considered essential by most university students, but for first-years, attendance was supposed to be a mandatory requirement.
By the time Bai Zhi arrived at the classroom, students were already scattered throughout the room, and the room was half-full. His arrival did not cause a general stir. Those who knew he habitually skipped the morning self-study session were surprised to see him, but they minded their own business.
Bai Zhi did not take issue with that at all. He headed directly for the last row in the classroom and found a place to sit.
It would have made him feel more awkward if anyone had greeted him instead. After all, despite the class being quite a large one, he could still count the number of people whose names he knew on one hand... The other Bai Zhi was truly antisocial.
The rest of the morning was spent quietly reading. As the morning self-study period came to an end, it became time for the morning classes to begin.
Suddenly, a small commotion broke out at the front of the class. Out of curiosity, Bai Zhi went up to take a look, and what he learned put a significant damper on his mood.
One of his classmates had gone missing.
The person in question was Luo Hao, a glasses-wearing, inoffensive-looking young man. He had not been seen since yesterday after the chemistry lab class, when he had said that he was going back to the campus to retrieve something. It seemed that he never returned to the dorms after that, and nobody had heard from him or been able to reach him on his cellphone all morning.
It was nearly time for class to start, and Luo Hao, who had never skipped a single day, was still nowhere to be seen. His roommate, panicking, finally reported his disappearance to the faculty.
Coincidentally, there had also been a missing persons incident in the neighboring class. Not one, not two but three students from that class had gone missing, under similar circumstances as Luo Hao. They had been unreachable by phone or any other means since yesterday afternoon, and had not been seen in the dorms either.
Since this was a matter that involved the safety of its students, the school treated the news with the appropriate degree of seriousness. After offering some reassurance to the student body, they filed a full police report.
Due to the shocking news, the students were too worried to pay attention and the teachers did not have the heart to teach, so the morning classes ended up getting canceled. And thus, Bai Zhi, who showed up for class for the first time in a long time, was forced to skip it anyway.
"Did some new supernatural entities show up inside the school? So... it's not just the entity that latched on to me now..."
Leaving his books in his desk drawer, Bai Zhi walked outside where he noticed clear skies and pleasant weather. He raised his head to take in the beautiful day, and the corners of his eyes crinkled as he began to smile.