Calculer - Chapitre 20
"Are you looking for Sister Xu Chen?" Yang Yi asked coldly.
"Yes," Gu Xing thought awkwardly for a moment, then said, "When she was at Zhang Da's house, she took my wallet and spent all the money. I want to ask her to pay me back."
"She went home," Yang Yi said coldly.
"Oh, I see." Gu Xing scratched his head meaninglessly.
...
...
After a moment of silence, Yang Yi strode into the apartment. Gu Xing wanted to follow her in, but Yang Yi slammed the door shut. Gu Xing could only stand in front of the door for a while before sighing and returning to his dormitory.
Li Xu has been chatting online a lot these past few days, and Gu Xing is too lazy to stop him, so Li Xu chats until late at night every night.
One morning, Li Xu was woken up by Zhang Da. Li Xu looked at him sleepily and saw him say in a serious tone, "Did you feel anything was wrong last night?"
"What? There's nothing wrong with it."
Zhang Da looked serious and leaned closer to Li Xu, saying, "Last night, around midnight, I woke up and wanted to go to the bathroom. I saw someone sitting on your bed."
After hearing this, Li Xu was no longer sleepy. He sat up and asked Zhang Da, "Who was it? Did you see them clearly?"
"I didn't dare to watch, and I didn't even go to the toilet. Eventually, I went back to sleep."
"Could it be a dream you're having?"
Zhang Da then thought about it carefully and nodded: "That's possible."
"Hey, what are you messing around with?" Li Xu said and went back to sleep. Zhang Da didn't mind and went to listen to the lecture.
It was late at night again, and everyone was asleep, but Li Xu was still sitting in front of the computer with a cup of tea next to him. He planned to chat for a little longer before logging off. To avoid disturbing the other people in the room, he turned off all the lights, making the room pitch black. Only the dim light from the computer screen flickered across the dormitory.
Only the sound of Li Xu typing could be heard.
Li Xu coughed.
He's planning to log off.
Suddenly, a strange sound rang out.
A window appeared on the computer screen; I couldn't tell what program it was. It wasn't a text file, QQ, or a webpage; it was just a window with nothing but a single line of text.
The text reads: —————— Hello.
Li Xu was startled for a moment. After thinking for a while, though he didn't really know what to think, he mechanically typed a reply on the cursor in the window: "Hello."
Can we talk?
Li Xu was initially distrustful of online dating, but after seeing that Da Kai and Yang Mian both had girlfriends, he found himself unable to resist seizing any opportunity.
Li Xu instinctively felt that it was a girl, so he quickly replied, "Of course."
"My name is Xiaohua."
Li Xu felt that the name sounded very old-fashioned and common.
"My name is Li Xu."
Yes, Li Xu is using his real name at this moment, which shows that he really hopes to pin his first love on this meeting.
Is this your real name?
"Yes, my name is Li Xu."
"My real name is also Xiaohua."
Li Xu naively believed it, but perhaps he was right; the woman on the other side of the internet might really be called Xiaohua.
Li Xu was at a loss for words and couldn't think of anything to talk about, so he casually asked, "What are you doing?"
"Going online"
Li Xu was both amused and exasperated, and replied, "Me too."
"You're still drinking tea."
"Yes, there's a cup of tea right next to me."
"Did you turn off the lights too?"
"Yes, we're afraid of disturbing everyone's sleep."
She was still wearing a white short-sleeved shirt.
"Yes, I also..."
Li Xu's mind seemed to go numb for a moment, then his whole body stiffened, his typing stopped, and he looked around the computer but there were no video devices.
"Why aren't you saying anything?" the other person asked again.
Li Xu was scared and didn't want to talk to her anymore. He wanted to log off and turn off his computer, but then he thought about it carefully. He couldn't just stop chatting with her because someone guessed the color of his clothes, could he?
Li Xu mustered his courage again and typed a reply.
"Yes, I was wearing a short-sleeved shirt, how did you know?"
"Because I am behind you."
These six words appeared on the computer screen window, and apart from these words, the screen was just a pale white.
Li Xu's heart felt like it was about to jump out of his chest. He regretted continuing to chat with this mysterious woman.
There was a woman behind him, staring at him with a sinister look.
Thinking of this, Li Xu dared not look back any further, his palms sweating profusely.
At this moment, words appeared on the screen again.
"Actually, I was lying to you. How could I possibly be behind your back?"
After reading it, Li Xu wiped the sweat from his forehead, smiled, and replied, "You scared me to death! I actually believed you."
"You're really a coward."
Feeling embarrassed by her mockery, Li Xu decided to talk about something else.
Li Xu: "Where are you from?"
Xiaohua: "American."
Li Xu: "You're not kidding, are you?"
Xiaohua: "It's true, I'm of Chinese descent. My parents immigrated to New York and had me there."
Li Xu suddenly realized that his first love would end because of geographical boundaries.
Li Xu then asked, "Do you like China? Would you like to come to China?"
"I love it so much, even if I die, I want to go back to China to see it."
Why use the word "death"? Li Xu's nerves tightened again, as expected.
Li Xu continued, "If you come back, I'll take you sightseeing and be your tour guide."
"Great! I'm so happy! Haha...haha...haha!"
What a superficial expression! She even typed out laughter. Li Xu looked at the laughter on the screen and felt that she must be a cheerful girl. Her charming voice seemed to echo in the room.
Li Xu typed rapidly on the keyboard again: "By the way, what are your interests?"
After a pause, the reply came: "I'm not really interested. But I do enjoy uncovering other people's secrets, like spying on them. Hehe..."
Li Xu could vaguely hear her cheerful laughter echoing in the air.
Li Xu replied: "Hehe, I also quite like to meddle in other people's business. People call me a busybody."
A burst of laughter erupted from the other end: "Haha... Hehe... Gee... Gee!"
As Li Xu looked at the replies on the screen, he could faintly hear a few chilling laughs behind him.
"Haha~~~~~~~~~~hehe~~~~~~~~~~kiss~~~~~~~~kiss"
The laughter seemed to come faintly from afar, or perhaps it was someone behind Li Xu laughing softly.
Li Xu immediately thought of what she had just said—"I'm behind you."
Li Xu hesitated, wondering whether he should turn around and take a look. (The author also turned around and looked at the same time.)
Just as Li Xuzheng was hesitating, another message came from the other end: "I'll tell you a secret, but don't tell anyone else."
Li Xu typed with trembling hands: "What secret?"
"I enjoy spying on others. Once, I climbed to the top of a twelve-story window and peeked out. It felt amazing! Later, I just stood behind people and looked openly. Ha...ha...hee...ha..."
Li Xu looked at the reply with trepidation, and then heard a clear laugh behind him again.
"Ha~~~~~~~~~Ha~~~~~~~~~Hee~~~~~~~~~~~Chirp~~~~~~~~~~~Chirp"
After the laughter subsided, silence lingered for more than ten minutes. Li Xu dared not look back or reply to her, remaining seated and motionless.
Another ten minutes or so passed before Li Xu couldn't resist any longer. He started typing carefully, trying not to make any noise, afraid of disturbing something. He didn't know.
After Li Xu finished typing, he pressed Enter and asked Xiao Hua a stupid question: "Are you kidding me?"
There was no response from the other side.
Li Xu waited for her reply, but after a long time, she still didn't answer. So he asked another question: "Are you there? Have you logged off?"
There was still no response from the other side.
Li Xu took a deep breath and typed again—Are you behind me?
Li Xu sent the question via Enter, then moved his head closer to the screen, staring at it and waiting for Xiao Hua's reply.
Li Xu did not see Xiao Hua's reply appear on the screen.
Li Xu had no choice but to wait.
Li Xu heard it.
I could faintly hear breathing and typing sounds behind me.
Xiaohua replied: "Yes, I'm behind you."
Li Xu gasped, wondering whether he should turn back to confirm it.
From the moment he started chatting with Xiaohua, he never looked back to see what was behind him.