Chapter 37

“Yiyue, why are you in such a hurry to leave?” Gu Nanqiu followed behind Yue Yiyue, watching her quicken her pace while joy bubbled up in her heart.

She knew full well but asked anyway.

Meanwhile, Yue Yiyue, who strode ahead fiercely, wished she could just slam her head into a telephone pole and die.

In that instant, she had truly acted like she was possessed, not thinking about anything else as she charged straight over.

Now that she thought about it, she had really been a bit crazy back then.

Why did she interfere with Gu Nanqiu making friends?

Why?

On what grounds?

Her ears had already turned pink, and Yue Yiyue knew it. She rubbed her earlobe, hoping to ease her embarrassment.

Such a small gesture looked too cute in Gu Nanqiu’s eyes. She chuckled softly.

She wanted to wrap herself around her right then and there.

Never to separate.

Never to separate…

After hearing the laughter behind her, Yue Yiyue quickened her pace with her head down and said nothing.

Gu Nanqiu didn’t speak either. She just smiled and followed behind. After all, Yiyue was still holding her hand like this, hee hee.

Whenever she spotted a shop with something she wanted to eat, she’d shake their joined hands, and Yiyue would silently lead her inside while she picked something out.

Yue Yiyue only squeezed out one or two sentences when asked.

“Yiyue, do you want strawberry or blueberry bread tomorrow?”

“Strawberry.”

“Yiyue, do you want to eat steak from this place tomorrow?”

“No.”

“Yiyue, can we sleep together tonight?”

“Yes.”

After enough teasing, it was time to coax her. Gu Nanqiu stopped. Yue Yiyue noticed and turned back with some confusion.

“Yiyue, I turned down Zhou Qingyi. She said some strange things, but she knows I’m yours. I’ll only ever be yours. You don’t need to doubt that.” Gu Nanqiu leaned in like she was asking for praise. “We’ll be the best of friends—past, present, and future.”

Hearing the first part, Yue Yiyue froze momentarily, then reacted. She panicked and directly covered Gu Nanqiu’s mouth.

This was the main street!

What nonsense was she saying! And she was already the center of attention!

The passersby had been paying attention to this strikingly beautiful person all along, and a few nearby had heard what she just said.

Maybe they were some strangely intimate couple. After all, their clothes matched.

Then they sighed that the shorter youth was so lucky to win the favor of such a beauty.

“Mmph—Yiyue—your hand smells so good.”

Before Yue Yiyue could process it, something wet licked her palm—

Her mind blanked briefly. She yanked her hand back at once. “No, that’s not it!”

Gu Nanqiu stood there and tilted her head in confusion, seemingly not understanding why Yue Yiyue reacted so strongly. They’d clearly done even wilder things before.

This was something Yue Yiyue had taught her.

“You… you’re such a…!” Yue Yiyue’s face turned even redder. “You… dirty! Don’t lick randomly.”

She pushed Gu Nanqiu’s shoulder in annoyed embarrassment. “You little… uh…”

She grew so anxious she started stuttering.

The two walked and talked the whole way. In one breath, Yue Yiyue lectured her at length on proper interpersonal boundaries.

Gu Nanqiu’s head throbbed from listening. Clearly, before this! Yue Yiyue hadn’t said any of that!

Back then, she had clearly said good friends could do anything as long as they didn’t lick those places!

She had clearly said good friends all lived together!

Liar.

Little deceiver.

Yue Yiyue’s words had provoked her!

Gu Nanqiu leaned in and planted one right on Yue Yiyue’s cheek.

…

!!!

Yue Yiyue panicked and bolted three li (1.5 km) away. Covering her face where she stood, she felt relieved—at least no one had been nearby.

The next moment, she felt something was wrong.

Very wrong!

Gu Nanqiu had been acting strangely all day.

Had she missed some detail!

She and that Zhou Qingyi should have hit it off, and then?

She seemed to remember something important in the private room…

It seemed like after the KTV, Gu Nanqiu had run into that thing.

It was as if she sensed Yue Yiyue’s thoughts.

Fog rose.

Just like the obligatory atmospheric fog in a horror novel.

Only then did Yue Yiyue notice that Gu Nanqiu, who had been right behind her moments ago, had vanished at some point.

Bad! That definitely meant…

But the next second, Yue Yiyue realized she should worry about herself, not Gu Nanqiu.

She looked at the tall, straight figure standing under a dim yellow streetlamp not far away.

Even from a distance, she could see its head—square and boxy.

Bad, it was coming for her.

Yue Yiyue found the absurdity almost laughable.

Fine, no need to worry about Gu Nanqiu anymore, because she was the one targeted.

Cannon fodder happily snags protagonist group plot.

Now she really didn’t have to worry about Gu Nanqiu getting dragged into the plot outside. How was she supposed to squeeze her way in!

Sure, very impressive.

Now she truly had zero worries.

While recalling the rules for this Pollutant, she pretended to be oblivious and kept walking forward.

She didn’t know if this place was the Pollutant’s territory or what.

No village ahead, no shop behind.

And no idea where Gu Nanqiu was.

Yue Yiyue feared Gu Nanqiu might come looking and they’d miss each other.

As she passed under a streetlamp, Yue Yiyue felt the Paper Box Head move.

The next second, It appeared beside her. “You… killed someone.”

“And such an impressive one, a fellow kind…”

The coarse, grating voice drilled into Yue Yiyue’s head.

She ignored It and kept walking.

“Aren’t you curious? The person by your side deceived you.”

“She smells so good too.”

“All such… delectable food.”

“Will you let me have a taste?”

Yue Yiyue recited modern Chinese definitions in her mind, doing her utmost not to get led astray by Its questions.

Any mental response would let this thing latch on.

This was the longest road she had ever walked.

After reciting the first chapter from her professional textbook, she calmly pondered what to eat tomorrow.

Where to go with Gu Nanqiu.

She walked and walked and walked.

She didn’t know how long she walked or how many identical streetlamps she passed.

Until the voice by her ear said, “Ho, that companion of yours—”

Yue Yiyue instinctively looked over.

…

“Got you!”

In an instant, the Paper Box Head revealed a massive grin. It raised its hand to strike, ready to savor this delicious heart, but It sensed something off.

It slowly looked down at the crimson on its wrist.

Huh? It raised its severed hand from the ground. Interesting, too interesting!

The Paper Box Head’s hand was like paper. Yue Yiyue warily watched the creepy thing suddenly burst into laughter.

She stepped back and bolted.

Last time she saw the victim, their chest had a huge hole dug out. Yue Yiyue had secretly practiced evasion and swift, precise cuts.

She gripped the knife in her hand. Tsk—as expected, all fear stemmed from insufficient firepower.

This was the first time the Paper Box Head encountered prey so perfectly to Its taste.

It looked utterly ordinary, but that heart was absolutely, absolutely pitch black.

It watched her futile struggles leisurely, like flying a kite.

A new hand had already regrown. It touched it, still feeling the blade’s slice from before.

Maybe this time It could reach an even better spot—

Desperate ideas flashed through Yue Yiyue’s mind as she fled. How to survive? How to live?

How did they escape in the original work?

As she ran, Yue Yiyue noticed a Restaurant ahead.

The Restaurant looked small, with warm lights glowing, and a sturdy, powerful woman sat at the door wiping something.

The thing behind was catching up fast. Yue Yiyue ignored everything else and accelerated for the final sprint.

But the Paper Box Head behind her stopped dead the instant It saw the building.

Ah, of all places… It stood still, watching the ignorant little one run into that spot.

It let out a giggle. Tomorrow, It could pick up her heart from the back kitchen.

Secondhand would do just fine.

And now…

It keenly sensed a familiar osmanthus fragrance wafting in Its territory.

Ah—such a familiar scent. So hungry, so hungry, so hungry.

————

When Yue Yiyue reached the woman, she collapsed straight to her knees, drenched in sweat.

The woman, who had been wiping down her item, looked up to see what amusing thing had charged in so recklessly.

Then she saw that face she never wanted to see in her life!

“Yue Yiyue!”

Yue Yiyue happened to look up. She stared dazedly at the person before her, finding it somewhat unbelievable. “Boss?”

Wasn’t this the boss of the last delivery order she had made before coming here?

Though she seemed a tiny bit different, Yue Yiyue felt there was no issue.

At least, she seemed fine for now.

Yue Yiyue dry-heaved a few times, her stomach churning.

She barely managed to stand, propping herself against a pillar as she retched.

“Pregnant? No, wait—it didn’t notify me of that function.” A soft mutter came from behind.

Yue Yiyue felt the voice both close and distant.

Indescribable.

She only sensed herself being hoisted onto the Boss’s shoulder.

“You and the kid better not have issues. Last time Gu Nanqiu nearly wrecked my turf with all that jolting.”

“Wow, you’re really unlucky.”

“Hey, Wife, she’s not our little third! Put the knife down!!!”

Then came a clatter of sounds.

At this point, Yue Yiyue fully passed out. Her last thought before blacking out was that she really wanted to vomit.

When Yue Yiyue woke, she was in a cozy-looking house. A woman stood nearby holding a box of medicine, wearing gold-rimmed glasses and looking quite refined.

But she carried a strange scent, like disinfectant.

“Hello, you can call me Coroner. I don’t like others knowing my name, so just use the title.” Hearing the movement, she adjusted her glasses and introduced herself.

Yue Yiyue lay there dazed, thinking, Ho, this person’s oddly polite—even introducing herself to corpses.

Had she died?

Died for good?

But somehow, it didn’t feel that way.

Yue Yiyue moved her hand; it felt warm.

“You’re fine. You were just too tensed up. Speaking of which, we’ve met before. You delivered takeout and came to our shop often.”

“Yesterday you charged straight into our shop. My Wife recognized you and dragged you to the guest room.”

Hearing this, Yue Yiyue jolted upright in fright. What had they done to her now?

They hadn’t sent her straight back to the original world, had they?

Sis?