The scraping outside the door continued.
Screeech—
The sharp friction dragged slowly downward along the door.
Jiang Nuan stared at the doorknob.
Instead of staying here and waiting for whatever was out there to scratch its way through, she might as well find out what it was.
She slipped the torn diary page into the inner pocket of her jacket.
The Moonblade condensed in her palm. Silver-white light stretched along her arm, quickly taking the shape of a long, narrow, curved blade.
She lightened her steps and slowly approached the door.
The standing lamp cast enough light to illuminate only a few feet of floor. As she passed the window, something in the glass caught the corner of her eye.
There was only her reflection.
And the row of plaster statues behind her.
Their pallid faces were half-submerged in shadow, all those hollow eye sockets turned toward the door.
Good.
At least nothing extra had appeared for now.
Jiang Nuan looked away and wrapped her hand around the doorknob.
At that exact moment, the noise outside fell silent.
She waited several seconds.
Nothing happened.
But that very silence made it even harder to breathe.
It was as if something were pressed against the other side of the door, waiting for her to make the first move.
Her fingers slowly tightened.
Then, in the next instant, she twisted the lock open.
The door flew wide.
At the same time, the silver blade light shot from her hand.
The figure outside jerked its head aside.
The blade skimmed past his cheek, slicing off a few strands of his windblown black hair before roaring through the wall across the corridor.
Chunks of stone went flying.
The impact blasted a breach nearly half the height of a person into the wall. Beyond it was another stretch of darkness so dense it seemed almost liquid.
Someone seized Jiang Nuan by the wrist, and a familiar scorching warmth pressed against her skin.
Qinian’s head was tilted to one side, the hair over his forehead tousled by the blade’s wake. A few severed strands drifted slowly past his brow.
His face was illuminated by the silver light for an instant.
The corners of his eyes were slightly raised, and the viciousness the Moonblade had forced into his pitch-black pupils had not yet completely faded.
After several seconds of silence, he clicked his tongue.
Even after nearly having half his head sliced off, he was still as annoyingly glib as ever.
“Nuannuan, we’ve only been apart for a little while, and this is how you greet me?”
Jiang Nuan almost forgot to breathe.
If she had been just a little more accurate, Qinian would probably be experiencing Qi Sui’s live suturing technique right now.
The kind where he had to sew his own brother’s head back on.
She lowered her voice in irritation. “Why didn’t you say anything?”
“I did say something.”
Qinian raised his other hand. Between his fingers was a long, narrow strip of metal, its tip still speckled with wood shavings scraped from the door.
Jiang Nuan stared at the strip of metal.
Then she glanced at the fresh scratches on the door.
After a few seconds of silence, she asked, “You were the one scratching at the door?”
“Yep.”
Qinian admitted it without the slightest burden of guilt. Clearly, he was quite pleased with the success of his prank.
“I listened outside for ages, but there wasn’t a sound from in here. I thought you were too scared to open the door.”
As he spoke, he even leaned half a step closer.
“Really scared?”
Jiang Nuan ground her back teeth together.
She lifted her foot and stomped hard on his combat boot.
Qinian obligingly hissed.
He did not dodge. Still holding her wrist, he lowered his head to look at her.
“Nuannuan, you hurt me.”
“You deserved it.”
Jiang Nuan kept her anger under control.
“Try scaring me like that again and I really will cut you.”
Qinian glanced back at the massive breach the Moonblade had carved through the wall across the corridor.
The smile finally faded from his lips.
His grip on Jiang Nuan’s wrist loosened as well, and he tactfully took a small step back.
“Got it.”
His tone could even be described as meek.
Jiang Nuan stared at him expressionlessly.
“You’d better mean it.”
“I do.”
Qinian raised a hand as if to swear an oath.
Bzzzt—
A faint electrical sound suddenly came from behind them.
Both of them froze.
Jiang Nuan turned around.
The standing lamp flickered.
Its steady, dim yellow light abruptly went dark, then struggled back to life.
The plaster statues in the room twisted in the flickering light. Their pallid faces vanished into darkness, then reappeared.
The standing lamp went out completely.
Darkness crashed down in an instant.
“Nu—Nuannuan.”
Qinian suddenly grabbed her hand.
His grip was much tighter than usual. His palm was burning hot, but his knuckles had gone stiff with tension.
A flame sprang from his other palm, its scarlet glow illuminating both their faces.
Jiang Nuan froze for a moment. Then she turned her head and saw the tension in Qinian’s expression. The tiny flame reflected in his eyes was flickering far too quickly.
Jiang Nuan clasped his hand in return.
“I’m here.”
After a pause, she softened her voice.
“Don’t be afraid.”
The corner of Qinian’s mouth twitched, as if he wanted to argue. In the end, he said nothing. He only tightened his grip on her hand.
Jiang Nuan activated her terminal.
The moment its stark white flashlight came on, a scraping sound drifted from the far end of the corridor.
It sounded as though something heavy was slowly crawling along the floor.
The two beams of light swung toward the doorway at the same time.
Scarlet flame and ghostly white light overlapped, illuminating only a short stretch of corridor nearby.
The corridor was empty.
There was nothing there.
But the scraping did not stop.
Rustle, scrape.
The sound was coming closer from deep within the corridor.
At times it seemed to be on the floor.
At others, it sounded as though it were coming from inside the ceiling overhead.
The smile vanished completely from Qinian’s face.
He shifted slightly and took half a step forward, placing himself between Jiang Nuan and the corridor.
The flame in his palm leaped higher, casting its light a little farther.
Beyond the reach of the firelight, the depths of the corridor remained empty except for thick, impenetrable darkness.
The crawling sound continued.
It was even closer now.
Qinian stared at the corner beyond the firelight and swallowed.
“This time, it wasn’t me.”
“I know.”
Without hesitation, Jiang Nuan seized his hand and pulled him into the room.
“Get inside first.”
Qinian immediately let her pull him back into the room and closed the door behind them.
The lock clicked shut.
The light from the terminal mingled with the flame in Qinian’s palm, barely illuminating the area around the door.
Farther away, the plaster statues remained submerged in darkness. Only a row of indistinct human-shaped silhouettes could be seen.
The crawling sound outside did not disappear.
It drew closer along the wall, one scrape at a time.
At last, it stopped outside the door.
Jiang Nuan held her breath.
Qinian did not move either.
The silence outside was too complete.
So complete that Jiang Nuan could hear the faint crackle of the flame and the two of them breathing at slightly different rhythms.
Through the crack beneath the door, all she could see was darkness.
But that thing had clearly arrived.
The Moonblade condensed in Jiang Nuan’s palm once more.
Silver light and firelight overlapped on the door, stretching their shadows long across it. Whenever the flame jumped, the shadows swayed with it.
Jiang Nuan turned her head toward Qinian.
His entire body was rigid with tension. His shoulders and back shielded her from the door, and even the flame in his palm was flickering more frantically than usual.
She blinked, confirming what she had noticed.
“Qinian.”
“Hmm?”
He did not turn around. His eyes remained fixed on the closed door.
“You’re not…” Jiang Nuan deliberately drew out the words, looking up at him. “Afraid, are you?”
Qinian’s expression stiffened, as if she had stepped on his tail.
“Who’s afraid?”
His tone was firm, but the flame in his palm betrayed him, trembling twice.
Suppressing a laugh, Jiang Nuan said in a whisper, “Then how about I tell you a scary story? It starts with someone riding an elevator alone late at night—”
“Nuannuan, don’t.” Qinian cut her off quickly, and their joined hands gave a slight shake.
He turned his face away and fixed his gaze once more on the darkness beyond the crack in the door, where even the firelight could not reach.
“I just hate this kind of thing.”
“Lurking in the dark, impossible to see, with no idea where to start.”
After saying that, he seemed to feel the words lacked conviction and gave a disdainful little snort.
“Once it shows its face, I’ll burn it all the same.”
Jiang Nuan nodded. “I believe you.”
The corners of her lips lifted despite herself.
So Qinian was afraid of things that had to be filled in by imagination, too.
There was nothing shameful about that.
After all, the unknown itself was more troublesome than any monster.
Yet even though he was afraid, he had still come alone to find her in this pitch-black building.
There was still no movement outside the door, as if it had been standing guard there all along.
Jiang Nuan stared at the narrow gap beneath the dark door and suddenly remembered something.
The broadcast had clearly contained two voices, so why had Qinian appeared here alone?
She raised her eyes. “Qinian, how did you know I was here? Where’s Qi Sui?”
