Her Tentacles 5

Chapter 5: Overtime

“Are you not letting me pick you up today, either?”

The specially set message tone rang just as Shu Yao was helping her office colleagues sort through the application materials for the all-school sports meet tomorrow.

She was a teacher of Current Events and Policies at Baiquan Vocational School, a position that only required her to teach two large lectures a week to all the first- and second-year students. She wasn’t as busy as the head teachers, nor did she have administrative duties. In theory, her job should have been very relaxed, but unfortunately—

“Teacher Shu, is the spreadsheet ready? Please, please, this has to be submitted before six.”

“Ah… okay.”

The person who had been about to pick up her phone heard Teacher Fan’s reminder, noted the time, and had no choice but to bury her head in her computer again, sorting and integrating the sports meet application forms submitted by each department.

—This was something that had been announced two weeks ago, yet today there were still all sorts of unbelievable slip-ups she could never have imagined. What was even more unbelievable was that Shu Yao didn’t understand what organizing a sports meet had to do with her, a Current Events and Policies teacher.

The world really is just a giant, shoddy stage production, she thought.

“By the way, I remember we’re still short on people for the three-legged race in the faculty team event. Teacher Shu, you haven’t signed up for anything. How about finding someone to team up with?” Teacher Chen, who had just opened her thermos, filling the office with the scent of her homemade wellness tea, suddenly spoke from another corner.

She looked at the desk in front of Shu Yao.

That was Wu Li’s seat.

The man’s head was tilted, the collar of his plaid shirt was yellowed, and one of his shoulders was higher than the other. Apparently, he had caught a cold and gotten a stiff neck after going home from the dinner party that night, and it still hadn’t healed.

“Teacher Wu, you haven’t signed up either, right? Why don’t you and Teacher Shu team up?”

Her gaze flickered back and forth between Wu Li and Shu Yao, as if she were conjuring a red thread of fate out of thin air, ready to randomly pick two lucky winners to perform a wedding ceremony for her at tomorrow’s sports meet.

The unfortunate chosen one, Shu Yao: “…”

Her hand, which had been clicking the mouse, paused.

She was still trying to figure out how to deal with this terrible suggestion when Wu Li, who had been buried in his work, suddenly looked up.

Shu Yao, with her 20/10 vision, inadvertently saw the back of his neck, exposed between his greasy hair and old shirt. Several of his cervical vertebrae protruded and then disappeared under his skin in a way that was difficult for a normal person to comprehend.

…Is that really just a stiff neck, and not the result of a car accident?

As Shu Yao wondered, his voice, equally hoarse from his cold, sounded low and deep. “I want to be in a group with Teacher Fan.”

Fan Xin, who had just become the subject of the gossip: “Huh?”

…

Shu Yao slowly let out a breath.

Having escaped disaster, another thought popped into her head:

Wu Li is a bit strange.

Although she had no desire to pay any attention to him, their workstations were far too close. She would often, like just now, be forced to see strange things by accident, and on a daily basis, her sense of smell was assaulted by the unpleasant odor of greasy grime.

There was once a strange tale that circulated among the students: the keyboard on a certain male teacher’s desk was clearly covered in dust, but upon closer inspection, every key reflected a shiny, oily sheen.

No.

I can’t think about it.

Shu Yao couldn’t help but raise a hand to cover her nose, feeling that the greasy smell was growing stronger and more unpleasant. In the end, she chose to push the nearby window open wider.

After two consecutive days of rain, the wind today was finally merciful enough to send a whiff of nature’s fragrance into the concrete and steel building for the corporate drones.

“Thud!”

As she pulled her hand back, a loud noise came from the front of the room.

“Hey! Who was bored enough to put a lunchbox behind the door? Scared me half to death!” The head of the teaching and research group, who was accustomed to pushing open the door to announce tasks, complained loudly.

Everyone in the office stood up, and for a moment, the sound of chairs scraping was incessant. Chen Le, who was closer, craned her neck to look. “Huh, isn’t this Teacher Wu’s—Ugh—”

Before she could finish, she made a retching sound.

She didn’t need to say it; everyone smelled it.

It was the smell of food that had been left to rot at room temperature for a long time.

Great. Now the world has become a giant garbage dump.

While waiting for the janitor to come and clean up, Shu Yao went outside with everyone else for some fresh air.

She picked up her phone and managed to reply to Lin Ran with a quick “I’m not sure yet QДQ,” but then she heard Fan Xin, standing beside her with her arms crossed, cursing:

“This guy is too much. He doesn’t eat at the cafeteria, and he mooches off my lunch every day, which is fine. But then he takes my food and doesn’t eat it, just lets it rot in the lunchbox. What’s his problem!”

Shu Yao’s finger, which had been sending emojis, paused.

By the time she realized what had happened, she had already spammed the chat with a series of weeping cat-head emojis.

Her: “!”

…..

Clutching her phone, her heart in her throat as she waited for her girlfriend’s reply and began to imagine how to appease her if she was upset, Teacher Shu and her colleagues unknowingly waited until Director Zhou, who was passing by, arrived.

“What’s all this noise? You’re all very idle, aren’t you? The sports meet is tomorrow. Have you practiced for the team events? Every year, the physical exams turn up a bunch of problems. This sports meet is a good opportunity to get some exercise. Everyone, assemble at the gymnasium at five-thirty!”

“Huh? No way, Director!”

The head teachers, who had just finished scolding their students, now raised the same protest.

Shu Yao quietly turned around, preparing to slip away. She hadn’t signed up for any events, so she didn’t have to stay for overtime. Hooray!

“Yao… Teacher Shu.”

The roll call of death came again: “Come here for a moment.”

Shu Yao: “…”

She obediently followed Director Zhou, thinking he was going to ask her about signing up for an event. Instead, she saw the middle-aged man with graying temples flash a kind and concerned smile, different from the one he had worn before. “How are things? Are you busy with work lately? Are you getting used to it?”

Director Zhou, Zhou Wenbai, whom her colleagues avoided like the plague, was the uncle who had taken great care of Shu Yao since she was a child. She had been able to find such a simple, easy job close to home all thanks to her mother’s prior request to Uncle Zhou.

Thinking of her date with Lin Ran, she hesitated for a long time before tentatively answering, “A-A little busy?”

Please don’t make me stay for overtime tonight!

But this appearance, in the eyes of an elder, only confirmed that she wasn’t very good at office politics. So he immediately said, “What’s wrong? Is there some aspect of your work that’s not going well? How about this: wait for me after work tonight. I’ll have your aunt cook a few extra dishes. It’s been a while since you’ve come over for dinner. You can have her give you some advice on how to get along with your colleagues… Xiao Nan is coming home tonight, and she’ll be starting work soon, too. She can learn a thing or two from you…”

Shu Yao made a last-ditch effort: “Th-That’s not a good idea, Uncle Zhou. I actually—”

“It’s settled. I’ll go call your aunt right now and have her buy a couple more dishes.”

“…”

How wonderful, she thought. The heart that was in my throat is finally dead. She thought of how Xiao Jin had told her to hurry up and test whether her girlfriend was physically weak… Hilarious. I can’t even see her.

…

Seven o’clock.

Night had fallen. The floodlights in the gymnasium were on, and even through the heavy doors, Director Zhou’s megaphone could be heard.

Shu Yao stood by Gate E, a place most people never went, holding her phone. In the humid heat of the Nancheng summer night, she stared intently at her girlfriend’s profile picture: a full moon.

But only she could recognize that it was the magnetically levitating moon from the first gift she had given Lin Ran, the one that sat at the mouth of the landscape bottle.

Yao-Will-Be-Rich-Sooner-or-Later: [Crying Cat.jpg X32]
Yao-Will-Be-Rich-Sooner-or-Later: [I’m so sorry, an elder invited me to his house. I’m not working overtime, but I can’t make our date today either. I’m really, really sorry uwu]

The message ended there.

Because she hadn’t received a reply, she couldn’t help but wonder: Is Lin Ran angry, or is she busy? A surgeon at Nanshan Hospital must have a full schedule of surgeries every day, right?

As she spaced out, the bright lights in the gymnasium went out one by one.

The darkness that had been held at bay nearby took this opportunity to invade, swallowing her and the huge stadium like a tide.

When her phone screen also went dark, she was suddenly plunged into the night.

Click.

Her ears suddenly caught a strange sound.

Shu Yao’s eyes widened in alarm. She frantically pressed her phone screen, trying to see what the strange thing was, but her phone, of all times, had frozen.

Click. Click. Click.

A sound that set her teeth on edge drew closer.

Accompanying it, a stench like rotting food filled her nostrils.

The clicking sound was getting closer and closer.

A sticky wind blew across the back of her neck, and at some point, it turned chilly.

The hairs on Shu Yao’s arms stood on end. She took half a step back, but the heel of her shoe seemed to hit a hard step, and she could go no further.

Instinct screamed warnings in her mind: There’s something right behind me!

A terrifying, strange inhaling sound slowly began.

It smelled the fear emanating from her every pore, but it seemed that wasn’t enough. The next second—

The person in the darkness felt a sudden, light tap on her shoulder from behind.

Once, and then again.

….

“Hey!”

Nanshan Hospital, in the corridor of the operating room floor.

The attending physician who had reached out jumped, but when he saw the person who had taken off her blue sterile gown and cap let down her signature long, ink-black hair, he stopped abruptly. “D-Director Lin? You were the one using Operating Room One just now?”

Lin Ran turned her head. A mask covered the lower half of her face. Her dark eyes, usually curved, now, when seen alone, were like a black sea, hiding a more dangerous and deadly weapon.

The six muscles that controlled her eyeballs didn’t move, but her gaze had already darted to the newcomer.

The attending physician, whose itchy hands had nearly caused a major disaster, took two steps back guiltily, laughing awkwardly as he pointed to the nearby medical supply room. “Are you too tired? Do you want me to get you some IV fluids?”

Lin Ran was silent, then shook her head.

She picked up her phone and looked at the message.

The screen was full of apologies and kowtowing emojis.

The timestamp was five minutes ago.

—It seems I won’t be getting a gift today either.

She thought, At this rate, when will I ever collect nine beautiful bottles?