Chapter 45 A mask on her face

In the second and third years of high school, many people went straight to buy food outside the school after class.

“Liu Xuan, did you offend some senior sisters yesterday?” her deskmate asked suddenly.

Liu Xuan was taken aback, and replied, “No, I don’t even know anyone from third year.”

Even though there were corridors and common areas which the sophomore year and junior year shared, there was basically no connection between them, they each walked to their own building.

Her tablemate was puzzled, “Then why did someone come to inquire about you yesterday and today. Speaking of this, what happened to you yesterday, you didn’t even tell me, the teacher-in-charge also asked me about what was going on with you.”

Liu Xuan apologized with a bitter face: “…I’m sorry.”

The tablemate was a little angry, she didn’t want an apology: “We’ve been deskmates for so long and you still want to hide it from me? I don’t want to hear your apology.”

She liked to look in the mirror whenever she had nothing to do, so she prepared a palm-sized round mirror at school. When she was studying last night, she didn’t know what was going on with Liu Xuan, shouting upon catching a glimpse of her reflection in the mirror.

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Because now, only she herself ended up with this bizarre circumstance, the others didn’t seem to be afflicted with anything nor were they able to see it.

The thought of her appearance in the mirror made her blood run cold.

✧･ﾟ: *✧･ﾟ:*  *:･ﾟ✧*:･ﾟ✧･ﾟ: *✧･ﾟ:*  *:･ﾟ✧*:･ﾟ✧

Half a month after the incident, Ning Meng saw Liu Xuan once again.

From her point of view, the black air on her face was so dense to the point that it covered her facial features completely, her face completely indistinct.

Qiu Keke frowned and said, “Why does she look so listless? She looks so frightening, my instincts are telling me not to get close to her.”

That kind of instinct told her it was best not to approach that girl.

Ning Meng was struck speechless for words, and was unable to say anything for a long time.

The girl had already washed her hands and had been looking in the mirror for a long time. She didn’t scream like the last time. She didn’t know if she was used to it or she didn’t see it this time.

However, when she turned around and saw the two of them, she seemed to have been startled.

Ning Meng couldn’t help but step forward and asked in a low voice, “Classmate, the thing you asked last time, your face…”

Liu Xuan interrupted her: “Can you see it? If you can’t see anything, mind your own business. Come and talk to me when you can see it.”

After she said this, she turned around and left.

Qiu Keke grabbed her with shocked eyes, “What the hell, we’re just kindly inquiring and she gives us this attitude. Ning Ning, forget about her, I reckon she just has poor grades, or she’s probably having family problems.”

She had encountered such people before, but she had never seen such a pompous attitude.

The last time she saw Liu Xuan, she was still polite and well-behaved. In just half a month, not only did her complexion take a turn for the worse, even her character had changed too.

Ning Meng hadn’t spoken yet when the system suddenly said, “She is almost at the end.”

Qiu Keke pulled her, “Let’s go.”

Ning Meng let herself be dragged along by her and asked the system, “What’s the end? Why did the black air only surround her face and not extend all over her body?”

The system explained: “She must have touched something that shouldn’t be touched. Now she had to pay the price. What you ask depends on what she touched.”

With their current identities, they certainly couldn’t ask anything.

After returning to the classroom, Ning Meng was still thinking about this matter, and Shi Qi next to her was poking her little paper doll, using the book as a cover.

Ning Meng hurriedly rescued Little Green and glared at him.

How could she have expected that Shi Qi would frown and ask in a low voice, “Did you run into something unclean?”

Ning Meng shook her head: “No.”

She had been living in comfort recently, and hadn’t even seen a single ghost. This was the epitome of a so-called good life, living without the slightest twinge of fear.

The tip of Shi Qi’s nose twitched as he sniffed, his expression turning unsightly.

Seeing him like this, Ning Meng asked in a low voice, “What did you see? Did you smell something?”

Was there a ghost next to her? That even the system couldn’t see?

Shi Qi said indifferently: “I can smell the scent of death.”

Ning Meng was immediately frozen in place.

She naturally knew what the scent of death was, but this was generally only seen on people who were about to die or people who were already dead. The scent of death was a smell that turned stronger as the time of death approached, it was a kind of putrefying and decaying smell.

And she actually had it on herself…

Ning Meng asked the system in a panic, “Could it be that this body has been dead for a long time, and now that it’s summer, its putrid smell is coming out?”

The system said: “…You think too much, this is a Jinjiang work¹Jinjiang is the name of the original raw site where this novel is published and is known to censor pretty graphic things in accordance with the government laws., how can such a thing happen. You may have gotten too close to Liu Xuan, causing yourself to be infected with the smell.”

Ning Meng was relieved at the sound of this.

She talked about Liu Xuan’s affairs with Shi Qi, and mentioned the fishy thing about her appearance as well, feeling that she was going to die at any time.

Shi Qi knocked on the table after listening, “Don’t approach her.”

Ning Meng obediently replied, “Okay.”

Who told her eldest grandson to be such a powerful character, she only needed to listen to his words, and hold onto him tight so that she wouldn’t be caught.

✧･ﾟ: *✧･ﾟ:*  *:･ﾟ✧*:･ﾟ✧･ﾟ: *✧･ﾟ:*  *:･ﾟ✧*:･ﾟ✧

No one would’ve thought that Liu Xuan’s incident would attract their attention once again, and it happened after the self-revision period held that evening.

Recently, Qiu Keke had been investigating Liu Xuan’s affairs all day long, and she didn’t drag Ning Meng around with her. Besides, whenever Shi Qi was in the classroom after class, Qiu Keke didn’t dare to involve her so openly.

From the beginning of high school to the third year of high school, Qiu Keke wasn’t afraid of the teachers the most, she was most afraid of him.

Even if he had never done anything in front of her, or given any action, she felt scared from the bottom of her heart.

That kind of intuition made her feel that it was best not to offend him.

Qiu Keke’s instincts had always been very accurate, never once making a mistake since she was a child. It had even saved her from a car accident once, so she trusted it very much.

Every time she disturbed Ningning, that feeling would resurface in her heart again despite being very faint. If she wasn’t careful, it would’ve easily gone unnoticed.

It was the same as when she was recounting a ghost story the last time except this time, the feeling was more intense.

So now she would come up with an excuse to take her to the bathroom, which made it a little better for her as she was able to cover up.

After the last period of self-revision, everyone in the academic building had almost gone.

Qiu Keke and Ning Meng were a little late due to packing up their stuff when they heard a quarrel coming from the corridor upon leaving the classroom.

Among them, they recognized one of the voices as Liu Xuan’s.

The girl opposite her was very angry: “…You don’t tell me anything, and you make me worry, so don’t tell me to calm the f*ck down, Liu Xuan, do you have a hole in your brain?”

Liu Xuan lowered her head and shook her head again.

The girl talked for a long time, but finally softened and asked, “Can’t you tell me what’s going on with you? We’ve known each other for four years already.”

Three years in junior high and one year in senior high.

After a long time, no sound was heard, the girl asked again: “Are you still reluctant to say it? If so, let’s end our relationship here. From now on, I’ll treat it as if we’ve never met each other, you also don’t need to hide anything from me any more.”

There were still lights in the corridor, and their voices had turned much softer.

Qiu Keke pulled Ning Meng, “Even though I know that eavesdropping is not good, I really want to know what happened to her, her condition looks really bad. That girl is Liu Xuan’s deskmate.”

Ning Meng was also feeling entangled, with bright eyes she whispered, “Shall we… just eavesdrop?”

Qiu Keke nodded: “Okay, just for a while.”

Most of the classes in the academic building had already turned off the lights, there was only a faint light in the corridor, and the shadow over there could mask their presence.

Liu Xuan’s voice sounded: “If I said it…would you really believe it?”

Her deskmate asked with a cold face, “How would you know that I don’t believe it if you don’t tell me?”

However, the next moment, she was stunned by Liu Xuan’s words, and she didn’t react for a long time, her face full of disbelief.

Liu Xuan said: “I see a ghost mask on my face… it covers my entire face and can’t be removed… Not only that, the patterns of the mask can change as though it’s alive…”

Both of the people who were eavesdropping felt their hairs stand on end.

Was this the answer Liu Xuan had been expecting from them when she asked them that day?

Liu Xuan continued to speak: “I started seeing it a month ago. At that time, I thought it was just an illusion… Until half a month ago when I started seeing the mask every time I looked in the mirror… I can’t see my face anymore!”

She screamed the last sentence in a low voice.

Ning Meng only felt a chill run down her spine. If she couldn’t see her facial features in the mirror every day, but a strange ghost mask, the average person would have already gone crazy.

Qiu Keke pinched her arm, “Ning Ning…Did we just hear something that shouldn’t be heard? Will we be silenced?”

The academic building turned off a few more lights, and it became darker on their side, the shadows of the two people in the bathroom reflected in the mirror, turned a little fuzzy.

“…You don’t believe it, do you?” Liu Xuan asked.

She had known for a long time that other people wouldn’t believe her. If she hadn’t experienced it for herself, she also wouldn’t have believed it if this was told to her as well.

Her deskmate recovered her train of thoughts from shock and stammered: “…It’s not that I don’t believe it, it’s because what you just said…is terrifying, and it made me stunned for a while…you have a mask on your face?”

She was slightly skeptical because Liu Xuan’s words were really too creepy. It was like listening to a ghost story…but she couldn’t say this out loud.

Her deskmate gulped and asked: “The mask you mentioned…what does it look like? Have we seen it before?”

Liu Xuan’s mood had already settled down, “I haven’t seen it before. It looks no different to any mask, it’s black in color and the pattern on it changes every day.”

Every day, as long as she looked in the mirror, she would notice the differences, the patterns were increasing in number and appearing increasingly odd. She even had the thought of gouging out her eyes.

Of course, in the end, she held it back.

For a while, the entire corridor was overtaken by silence.

Ning Meng wanted to quiver a little, and said to the person next to her, “Keke, let’s stop listening. If we continue listening to it and walk the night road…”

Qiu Keke also turned her head calmly, “Okay, we’ll stop listening. In any case, we already know the truth. I didn’t expect it to be like this. Who knows if she is telling the truth or if she’s telling a lie.”

However, they didn’t expect the so-called truth to be like this.

Though she was scared, she couldn’t help but feel curious at the same time. What did the mask look like and why was it covering Liu Xuan’s face?

Or maybe Liu Xuan lied, but why would she tell such a lie when it wouldn’t benefit anyone, there were too many points that don’t add up.

Ning Meng and Qiu Keke turned around, only to realize that there was someone behind them, and they shrieked in fright together, “AHHHHH—”

Shi Qi helplessly said, “What are you screaming for?”

Ning Meng covered her mouth, coughed twice, tugging Qiu Keke, and asked, “Why did you suddenly appear behind us?”

It almost scared us to death, like a black shadow, silent.

Shi Qi fixed his gaze on Ning Meng: “Didn’t I tell you not to get close to her?”

His gaze then shifted onto Liu Xuan who had just walked over to them with her deskmate, and his jade-like face reflected an unfathomable look..

Shi Qi withdrew his gaze, his tone indifferent, “It’s not good for your body.”

＊＊＊＊＊

I was screamed at with fright.

How hateful.

——”Shi Qi’s secretly hidden little diary”