Ye Sheng was neither angry nor surprised. If anything, he felt a sense of inevitability, as though he had known it all along. With his knees bent, he crouched on the floor, his expression cold.
Ning Weichen released his wrist. His cool fingertips slid along Ye Sheng’s wrist until they reached his palm.
With a smile, he said, “Gege, you really are bold. Didn’t I tell you not to act rashly?”
Ye Sheng’s jaw tightened, and his lips were pressed so firmly together that their edges turned white. He stared directly at Ning Weichen’s face.
“You’re still planning to keep up the act, even now.” Ye Sheng’s eyes resembled glass beads submerged in water. “Ning Weichen, haven’t you had enough fun yet?”
Ning Weichen raised an eyebrow. “Fun?”
His fingertips settled against Ye Sheng’s palm and nudged Fetus Girl’s head aside. It was clearly an intimate gesture, yet the instant their skin touched, Ye Sheng felt only a bone-chilling cold. It left no room for any romantic thoughts.
Ning Weichen’s entire presence was truly contradictory.
He could smile with affection brimming in his peach-blossom eyes, transforming even the simplest gaze into one laden with tenderness. Yet even while assuming an intimate posture, he could convey absolute distance through his icy demeanor.
“Have you really seen what I’m like when I’m having fun?”
Ning Weichen tilted his head with a smile, sounding genuinely curious.
“…”
Ye Sheng released Fetus Girl, stood up without a word, and walked away.
The fact that Ning Weichen had appeared here meant Ye Sheng no longer needed to worry about what came next. He had spent seventeen years in Yin Mountain encountering nothing but lonely ghosts and wandering spirits, yet the very first time he left, he had run into one disaster after another.
It was as if misfortune had opened the door for misfortune. He was cursed with rotten luck through and through.
The train would arrive at Huai City Station today.
Hopefully, this was merely a difficult beginning.
Behind him, Ning Weichen said casually, “Ye Sheng, you created this whole mess, and now you’re planning to leave me to clean it up alone?”
Ye Sheng stopped.
He drew a deep breath and secretly clenched his fists.
Perhaps too much had happened tonight and left him thoroughly irritated. The thorns that time had worn away since his childhood were once again growing wildly through his flesh and blood, baring their claws and fangs.
Ye Sheng spun around. Hostility surged through his stark black-and-white eyes as he enunciated each word.
“Ning Weichen, I’m not interested in aberrations, and I’m not interested in the Bureau of the Unnatural—and as for whether this mess is my doing, don’t you already know?!”
Ning Weichen’s smile remained unchanged. He nodded. “Oh, I know.”
Ye Sheng: “…”
Fuck.
Ye Sheng cursed inwardly.
The bloodred lump of fetal flesh seemed to settle down again once it fell into Ning Weichen’s hands. It ceased all movement and eerily kept its eyes and mouth shut, desperately pretending to be a lifeless object and minimizing its presence.
Ning Weichen watched Ye Sheng’s frosty expression without blinking. His own expression changed in an instant. A radiant smile appeared on his face as he said ingratiatingly, “I’m sorry. Don’t be angry anymore. How about I explain everything to you?”
Ye Sheng: “…”
Ning Weichen lightly poked the dead infant with one slender finger.
“The infant girl from Chonghe Village in Yin Mountain County was actually the mission I was assigned this time. The Bureau of the Unnatural named this incident ‘Deformed Fetus.’”
Ning Weichen continued, “A married couple in Chonghe Village wanted a son, so over the course of three years, they aborted six female fetuses in succession. When the woman became pregnant last July, the doctor told her that another abortion would endanger her life. After considering it repeatedly, the couple decided to have the child. Then the examination revealed that the woman was carrying sextuplets. Six of them, all girls.”
Ning Weichen chuckled.
“The ignorant are destined to pay for their ignorance. They returned, but they returned as avengers. First, they killed their biological mother and father. Next came their siblings. The one you killed was the final victor. She devoured all the other fetuses in the womb and thereby earned the right to be born. But the moment she was born, her abdomen was hollowed out and her power scattered, which was why she appeared so weak.”
“The Bureau of the Unnatural assigned me the mission of sealing her. Unfortunately, by the time I reached the depths of the mountains, the couple had long since died violently in their home, and the deformed fetus had been taken away. So I reported to the General Bureau that the mission had failed.”
“To be honest, I truly didn’t notice that infant girl when I boarded the train.”
Ning Weichen shrugged, looking unconcerned.
“It wasn’t until Andrew told me about the parasitic fetus that I realized, oh, so this was my mission. But so what? I had already reported the mission as a failure.” Ning Weichen raised his head, his smile gentle and sweet. “On this train, I’m far more interested in you than anything else.”
Ye Sheng did not feel honored in the slightest.
Ning Weichen casually tossed Fetus Girl onto the mouth of the jar, then stood and took out a tissue, unhurriedly wiping his fingers.
He studied Ye Sheng’s expression for a moment before saying ingratiatingly, “I’ve told you everything now. Can you stop being angry?”
“Ning Weichen, this isn’t your true nature, is it?”
Ye Sheng remained completely unmoved and called him out with a blank expression. “Isn’t it nauseating, putting on all those expressions?”
Ning Weichen chuckled, elegantly discarded the tissue, and replied, “Not at all. I think I look very good making them.”
Ye Sheng turned and walked away.
From behind, Ning Weichen placed a hand on his shoulder.
“How heartless, Gege.” His black hair was slightly long, his skin pale and cool, his nose high and straight, and the line of his jaw sharp and distinct. If not for those smiling, affectionate eyes, Ning Weichen’s appearance would have been unapproachable in an entirely different way: noble and aloof, impossibly distant.
“I gave up sleep to come help you, and this is how you treat me?”
He leaned close to Ye Sheng’s ear. “Do you realize this little monster has already set her sights on you?”
Ye Sheng was in a foul mood.
Ning Weichen continued, “One of Deformed Fetus’s abilities is entering mirrors. Unless you want to see this thing in every mirror in your home from now on, you have to deal with her tonight.”
As an ordinary citizen, Ye Sheng turned his head and demanded, “Shouldn’t the Bureau of the Unnatural be responsible for handling this thing?”
Ning Weichen corrected him. “Wrong. They’re the Bureau of the Unnatural. My family merely forced me to come help. I have no intention of joining and spending every day dealing with aberrations. I already told you, I’m afraid of ghosts.”
Ye Sheng frowned at him. “How do we deal with her?” He made no effort to conceal his irritation. “Once I get off this train, I don’t want anything to do with this kind of thing again. I don’t want to encounter any of you again either.”
Ning Weichen chuckled softly. Ye Sheng’s coldness did not surprise him in the slightest.
“Don’t worry. Once we leave this train, we really won’t see each other again.”
Ye Sheng took a step back.
Ning Weichen straightened as well, putting some distance between them.
Ye Sheng knew Ning Weichen was telling the truth. The connection between two strangers who had met by chance would end as soon as they left the train.
In fact, there had already been a clue on the first day, when Ning Weichen wrote his number on the train ticket and handed it to him.
For someone so enthusiastic and radiant, someone so skilled at whispering sweet nothings, Ning Weichen had never once asked Ye Sheng for his contact information.
And it certainly wasn’t because he respected boundaries.
“You shouldn’t have held on to that shred of kindness,” Ning Weichen said suddenly.
He turned around, the corners of his lips curving upward. “Putting this dead infant inside Xiao Fang’s stomach would have been the best solution tonight.”
“Of course, the consequence would be Deformed Fetus eating Corpse-Stitcher alive. But by then, the train probably would have reached the station.” Ning Weichen sounded almost curious as he asked, “Why show compassion even to monsters?”
Ye Sheng silently glanced outside the window without answering.
Why?
He wanted to know that too.
Why did he possess this useless compassion that did nothing but cause trouble for him? If he had ignored whether the people in this carriage lived or died, if he had ignored whether Corpse-Stitcher lived or died, then the train would have arrived at the station and his life would have continued on its usual steady course.
“Five-sixths of Deformed Fetus’s power is contained in the ‘little sister,’ but the ‘elder sister’ was the victor inside the womb,” Ning Weichen said. “The little sister had to play dead and conceal herself to avoid being devoured by the elder sister. You killed the elder sister. Now that she has no natural enemy, the first thing she’ll do after awakening is find herself a body. You’re the most suitable candidate. If my estimate is correct, Deformed Fetus should be an A-rank aberration. Even the Bureau of the Unnatural would have difficulty handling her. If you don’t want her haunting you after you leave the train, the simplest and most effective solution is to keep her beside the elder sister, where she’ll remain intimidated.”
Ye Sheng said, “Isn’t the elder sister already dead?”
“Her presence won’t disappear just because she’s dead. You’re clever enough to know what I mean.”
Ye Sheng stopped short and stared at him in astonishment. “You want me to stitch the little sister into Xiao Fang’s body too?!”
Ning Weichen smiled. “Yes.”
Ye Sheng: “…”
“Is that so difficult?” Ning Weichen asked, puzzled. “Just tell her she’s carrying twins. All Corpse-Stitcher wants is to become whole anyway.”
Ye Sheng glared at him. “You were watching me.”
Ning Weichen smiled. “With such a spectacular performance, how could I resist being your only audience?”
Ye Sheng couldn’t be bothered with him.
When he and Ning Weichen opened the restroom door together, Xiao Fang was still standing before the mirror, happily stroking her round belly. She hummed a song, her face filled with tenderness.
“It seems our expectant mother is in an excellent mood,” Ning Weichen remarked.
Ye Sheng lowered his eyes to the dead infant in his hand.
The little sister’s blood flowed beneath her thin layer of skin, slow and warm.
She was awakening. The overflowing malice and smugness inside her could no longer be contained. She hypocritically rubbed herself against his palm, pretending to be affectionate and innocent.
If he didn’t deal with her now, he might see a ghost in every mirror for the rest of his life.
…He could accept that. His future university roommates probably couldn’t.
Once he stitched this infant girl inside tonight, everything would be over.
Ye Sheng stepped forward and felt his foot land on a coil of black thread. He froze.
After stuffing the child into her stomach, Xiao Fang had become so carried away with happiness that she carelessly tossed the needle and thread aside.
Amid the thin black thread lay an embroidery needle as long as his ring finger.
As though compelled by some unseen force, Ye Sheng crouched and reached for the needle.
The instant he touched the sinister object, his soul trembled. A viscous, damp sensation spread through his chest, as though his internal organs had been submerged in water.
Yet it didn’t feel unpleasant.
He was even strangely accustomed to it.
Ye Sheng remained crouched on the floor, holding the silver needle.
Ning Weichen suddenly said, “It seems this train is going to arrive early.”
There was a tiny window inside the train’s restroom.
The lights were off.
The moonlight outside was their only source of illumination.
The summer night at the end of June and beginning of July was clear and transparent, like a freshly washed sapphire.
Ning Weichen leaned casually against the wall, his fingers resting on the windowsill. He gazed outside thoughtfully and drawled, “I don’t like being assigned missions. As far as I was concerned, this trip was rather boring. I didn’t expect the return journey to bring me such an unexpected delight.”
The mountains and wilderness roared past beneath the stars and moon. The rails and whistle rumbled together.
Ning Weichen chuckled. “Ye Sheng, we truly don’t need to meet again.”
Then he said lightly, “Otherwise, I’m afraid I’ll become someone I no longer recognize.”
Someone accustomed to whispering sweet nothings could make anything sound frivolous and insincere. Falsehood and truth blurred together like a layer of fog. Ning Weichen’s voice was flippant and intimate, capable of turning any words into a declaration of affection. Yet at that moment, he made an ambiguous confession sound like a cold curse.
He looked over with a smile in his peach-blossom eyes and bent forward slightly. Moonlight illuminated half his profile, while the curve of his lips appeared careless and dangerous.
Like an abyss.
His gaze settled on Ye Sheng.
Still crouching on the floor, Ye Sheng said quietly, “Ning Weichen.”
Ning Weichen raised an eyebrow. “Hm?”
Ye Sheng neither spoke nor moved.
“Can’t you get up?” Ning Weichen walked over on his long legs and stopped with his back to the light. He extended a spotless white hand, his lips curving upward.
“How delicate, Gege. But I don’t mind helping you.”
Ye Sheng said nothing. He raised his hand and rested his fingertips against Ning Weichen’s skin.
Then, in the next instant, he seized Ning Weichen’s wrist and yanked him down with overwhelming force.
Ning Weichen froze. Apparently caught entirely off guard, he was pulled closer.
Ye Sheng raised his head in the darkness. Violence saturated his eyes, his cold gaze sharp as a blade. He dragged Ning Weichen closer with one hand while pressing the embroidery needle against his neck with the other.
The needle’s sharp tip rested only a millimeter from his fragile pulse.
With no other choice, Ning Weichen planted one hand against the wall and dropped to one knee.
His expression was unreadable in the darkness.
Ye Sheng spoke beside his ear, his voice cold and calm. “Fetus Girl completed the act of devouring her sisters by killing them inside the womb. Ning Weichen, was the method you taught me really meant to intimidate the little sister? Or were you asking me to…”
Ye Sheng’s voice was cool as water.
“…send a lamb into the tiger’s den?”
Carriage 44 had been abandoned for years and was filled with the stale scent of blood.
They were extremely close.
The damp air seemed to spread like dense moss, tearing apart light and shadow.
As the train entered a tunnel, it abruptly released a long whistle.
The world plunged into darkness.
After a thick, stagnant silence, Ye Sheng heard Ning Weichen chuckle softly.
His unhurried voice emerged from the darkness.
“Gege, I’m really starting to get a little angry.”
***
Ye Sheng was clearly the one who had seized Ning Weichen’s wrist and dragged him down, yet with only a few casual movements, Ning Weichen transformed himself from the passive party into the one in control, completely disregarding the silver needle poised to kill him with the slightest push.
Ning Weichen braced one hand against the wall while the other gently caressed Ye Sheng’s cheek.
The train continued moving. After the brief darkness, faint moonlight poured through the window. Ning Weichen’s smile had vanished completely. The violent, sinister look in his peach-blossom eyes ran unchecked, and his usual frivolous, carefree demeanor seemed stained with the cold solemnity of blood.
He drew closer and whispered, “Do you think I’m trying to harm you?”
Ye Sheng said nothing, but his heart gradually grew heavier. Since entering this carriage, he had encountered many strange phenomena. Yet neither Corpse-Stitcher, Fetus Girl, nor even the Missionary’s signature had radiated a sense of aggression and danger as powerful as Ning Weichen did now.
Ye Sheng did not retreat. He stared at him.
“Is this your true self?”
Ning Weichen seemed to hear something amusing. “Mm, it is.”
“Then there’s nothing left to say.”
Ning Weichen suddenly laughed again.
His fingertip slid suggestively down Ye Sheng’s cheek, cold and frivolous, as though it might tear brutally through his flesh in the next instant.
“Ye Sheng, I’ve never voluntarily cleaned up anyone else’s mess in my entire life. You really are bold.” Ning Weichen lowered his voice as though whispering words of love. “Treating me like this.”
Ye Sheng watched him quietly, expressionless. “You lied to me throughout the entire journey. Don’t you feel ashamed saying that?”
Ning Weichen scoffed and raised an eyebrow. “What did I lie to you about? My name, my age, or my identity?”
Ye Sheng couldn’t understand how he still had the nerve to say that. Finally losing his patience, he snapped, “The adventure, being seventeen, your fear of ghosts, the failed mission, your graduation, your emotional disorder. Is that enough?!”
He didn’t want his life thrown off course. He didn’t want trouble. He couldn’t be bothered to pry. He had obediently minded his own business while waiting for the train to arrive.
But that didn’t mean he was an idiot.
After listening to him, Ning Weichen curved his lips in an inscrutable smile. His tone was casual, but every word was icy.
“No. It isn’t.”
“I’m seventeen years old and from the capital. I received my entire education abroad and graduated from MIT this May with dual degrees in mathematics and psychology. I’m afraid of ghosts. When my family arranged this assignment, I genuinely regarded it as an adventure. Deformed Fetus was taken away ahead of time, so my mission truly did fail. As for my emotional disorder, would you like to contact my doctor, or would you prefer to see my medical records?”
Ye Sheng stared at him coldly.
Ning Weichen seemed to remember something. He bent closer within the cramped space until their breaths nearly mingled, his eyes flooded with silver moonlight.
“Oh, I suppose there is one thing I lied to you about. Strictly speaking, my sexual orientation isn’t clearly defined.”
Ye Sheng: “…”
Ning Weichen said suggestively, “Gege, don’t you think using this position to argue is rather wasteful?”
Ye Sheng’s eyes turned cold. He exerted force through his wrist, and the needle pierced the skin of Ning Weichen’s neck.
It didn’t penetrate deeply, but blood still trickled down.
As though incapable of feeling pain, Ning Weichen said calmly, “You’re angry. Why? Ye Sheng, you’re not the type to be easily provoked by strangers. This makes me so happy. It seems I’m not a stranger to you after all.”
Ye Sheng had no desire to engage with him.
Ning Weichen chuckled. He raised a hand and gently curled it around Ye Sheng’s needle-wielding wrist. His peach-blossom eyes curved, shimmering with brilliant light, as he said in a tone akin to acting spoiled,
“Gege, you liked me quite a bit on the first day, didn’t you?”
His breath brushed Ye Sheng’s taut skin, intimate and lingering.
Like the venomous serpent tempting Eve to eat the forbidden fruit.
“Innocent, gullible, ignorant of the world, and constantly following you around.”
His voice held a smile, but his words were cold.
“Isn’t that the kind of idiot you like?”
“…….”
Ye Sheng felt that meeting Ning Weichen on this train had been a goddamn calamity in his life.
He liked innocent, gullible idiots?
Was he insane? Why would he like idiots?
He had grown up in Yin Mountain, a place with the highest crime rate in the entire country. If every innocent, gullible person he encountered inspired a desire to protect them, there would have been no point in living. He might as well have buried himself the moment he was born.
On the contrary, the type of person he disliked most was someone ignorant of the world who constantly followed him around.
An inexplicable irritation surged inside Ye Sheng, but he kept his mouth tightly shut, turned his head aside, and said nothing.
That was right. He didn’t like idiots.
…But he couldn’t refute Ning Weichen’s first statement.
What the hell was happening? Meeting Ning Weichen had made even him start acting unlike himself.
Ning Weichen gently pulled Ye Sheng’s wrist away. He touched the wound on his own neck with the pad of his finger, lowered his lashes, and stared at the bright-red blood for a moment before smearing it across his lips.
“I still don’t think this position should be used for arguing.” He said with a smile, blinking. “It’s more suitable for kissing. Tell me that when you reached for me and pulled me down just now, it was because you wanted to kiss me. Then I won’t be angry anymore, all right?”
