The mouse was lying peacefully at the bottom of the bag.
Shi Ling breathed a sigh of relief, and as she bent down to pull up her bag, she caught a glimpse of a dark shadow flashing past behind her.
Her heart skipped a beat.
Looking back, all I could see were the swaying shadows of the trees, probably because a sudden gust of wind had risen.
However, as Shi Ling walked a few more steps, she felt increasingly uneasy. She then remembered which alley Chi Cheng and Christine had mentioned before as an exhibitionist.
She couldn't remember, but once a person starts to become paranoid, even the slightest noise can be terrifying.
Shi Ling turned the corner of the path and suddenly looked back, confirming that she had seen the dark figure.
She quickly calmed down. The path wasn't very long, about three or four hundred meters, with a wooded slope on one side. Although there was a dormitory with lights on at the top of the slope, it couldn't help her in her emergency.
Fortunately, she was working on this anti-sexual harassment app recently, and she and Christine were both responsible for researching anti-harassment devices on the market. She carried an alarm in her bag. This kind of alarm goes off as soon as the pull ring is pulled and can last for more than 20 minutes until it is put back in to deactivate the alarm.
Shi Ling quickened her pace and held the alarm in her palm.
The path was winding and twisting. As soon as Shi Ling turned a corner, she caught a glimpse of someone following her out of the corner of her eye.
Without hesitation, the alarm was sounded.
The 120-decibel alarm blared throughout the alley.
Shi Ling subconsciously turned around and glanced back.
However, the alarm didn't rouse a panicked exhibitionist. Instead, a tall, thin man with his hair swept aside in a flamboyant manner emerged from the darkness not far away—none other than Chi Cheng.
He habitually carried his backpack on one shoulder, but perhaps startled by the alarm, the backpack slid down.
Chi Cheng, his face dark, slung his backpack back over his shoulder and walked toward her with a frown.
Even though the alarm was very loud, she could still make out his lip movements; he was cursing "Fuck!"
Shi Ling clutched the deafening alarm in her hand. When Chi Cheng approached her, his brows furrowed into a deep frown, and he pressed his left ear in pain, clearly unable to bear such a high-decibel alarm.
He raised his voice and asked her, not sure if she could hear him, "Where's the pull tab?"
Shi Ling opened her hands to him, revealing only a loudly blaring alarm in her two fair palms; nothing else could be seen.
Chi Cheng cursed again, "Damn it."
Author's Note: A minor revision to the dialogue.
Just to clarify, this book, "Emerging from the Water," is a short story with a few chapters. I wrote it for fun, so please feel free to read it casually.
The next book will be "The Diseased Tree and the Rotten Chessman," which will be filled in the gaps in the manuscript. Please check my Weibo for the specific time.
The non-mainstream male lead I'm currently looking for—changing his chest hair to belly hair was my biggest concession. Actually, there's also a sci-fi idea: a female lead who's a dream weaver who sees herself entering her clients' erotic dreams every night, and who, due to client privacy principles, tries her best to figure out who this person really is.
Ladies, you can close this thread for now. I need to see the comments to decide what kind of thread to start.
Chapter 36 "Stockholm Lover"
How can I make a pat without offering my face?
How can you stop the itching without two slaps?
----Stockholm Lover
Chi Cheng looked at Shi Ling's empty palms and listened to the deafening alarm, his headache growing stronger.
Chi Cheng leaned closer to her, trying to drown out the alarm's volume, and asked, "Where did you throw it?"
It's always easier to find something if you know its general location.
Shi Ling turned around and pointed to the dark bushes beside her.
Chi Cheng looked in the direction she pointed and was so angry that the veins on his forehead stood out.
It's pitch black here, and the grass is lush and green; who knows where I might fall?
Moreover, looking back from here, there are several figures standing in front of the windows of the dormitories on the slope above this grassy area, obviously attracted by the alarm they sounded.
Those figures were pointing and gesturing in this direction.
He's probably still cursing "Fuck".
He didn't waste any words with Shi Ling, turned on his phone flashlight and squatted down to search.
Shi Ling stuffed the alarm into her coat pocket and covered it with her hand to slightly reduce the volume, though it wasn't much better.
She then turned on her flashlight and bent over to look as well. Lately, she had been wearing her hair down, which fell right over Chi Cheng's shoulders and neck. Chi Cheng was having a hard time finding her and had no time for such tender thoughts.
Chi Cheng glanced around briefly but couldn't find it anywhere. With the alarm blaring so loudly in his ears, he was both anxious and flustered, and had no idea where to look.
However, the alarm couldn't continue ringing. Not only were they making their ears ring, but if the noise disturbed the neighbors or if people in nearby dormitories thought something was wrong and called the police, they wouldn't be able to explain themselves, and that would be a real problem.
Chi Cheng turned off his flashlight, stood up, and held out his hand to Shi Ling. "Give it to me."
Shi Ling took the alarm that had been working so diligently out of her coat pocket.
Before Shi Ling could even put it in his hand, Chi Cheng roughly pulled it away from her.
Chi Cheng threw the alarm on the ground and stomped on it violently.
The plastic casing cracked easily, of course. Chi Cheng ran the alarm back and forth on the rough road a few times.
I don't know what happened after the wiring inside was damaged, but the alarm stopped for a few seconds, and then the sound became even sharper, intermittent and fluctuating in pitch.
Both of them couldn't help but cover their ears upon hearing this.
Shi Ling stopped him, "Stop stepping on it, it sounds awful."
Chi Cheng glanced at her, his tone devoid of patience, "What do you suggest we do?"
Shi Ling was also having a headache from the noise and had no idea what the answer was. "Why don't you throw it further away?"
Chi Cheng felt even more helpless. It seemed inappropriate to throw it anywhere. He asked her, "How long will this cry?"
Shi Ling didn't know how long the alarm would sound after he ran over it, "normally 20 minutes."
Chi Cheng picked up the alarm from the ground and tried to disassemble it by hand.
I don't know how the alarm is so good, because when he touched it, it made an even louder, more wailing sound.
Chi Cheng resignedly squatted down and continued searching. He saw that there was actually a row of drainage ditches by the roadside, covered by manhole covers with gaps between them.
It's been raining a lot lately, often with sleet. I can see some reflection inside, which means there's probably some standing water.
He tried to insert the alarm into the gap in the manhole cover, but it almost got stuck halfway down.
This time, Chi Cheng lost his temper and knelt on one knee. He used his fingers to pry open the manhole cover, causing it to fly off completely.
The next second he threw the alarm into the water.
The sound quickly became indistinct; as expected, water is omnipotent, and after a few moments, there was no sound at all.
The two of them breathed a long sigh of relief.
Chi Cheng still had a lingering echo in his ears, and his tinnitus persisted.
Chi Cheng put the manhole cover back, stood up, and kicked it to straighten it.
After standing up, I tried to brush away the bangs that had fallen across my forehead while I was squatting with my head down. I only realized halfway up my hand that my hands were covered in dirt from when I was moving the manhole cover.
Chi Cheng has always been very conscious of his image; when has he ever been so disheveled?
This frantic movement caused sweat to bead on his forehead and even stuck his bangs to the ground, making them look frizzy and unkempt.
Shi Ling handed him a pack of wet wipes.
He took it and carefully wiped his hands clean.
Neither of them spoke; to be precise, neither of them knew what to say for a moment.
It wasn't just about calming the palpitations from the alarm, but also about alleviating the embarrassment of such an awkward situation.
After wiping his hands, Chi Cheng took a few steps to the trash can in front and threw away the crumpled paper.
When he walked back, he saw that Shi Ling was still in the same place.
Chi Cheng's face was tense, and his tone was reprimanding, "Aren't you going back?"
Shi Ling felt a little guilty and didn't argue with him.
She picked up her bag, turned and left, then looked back at him after a moment's thought. Chi Cheng had one hand in his pocket, probably taking out a cigarette case.
Shi Ling stepped back. "Aren't you leaving?"
Chi Cheng glanced at her sideways as she retreated. He couldn't detect a trace of mockery in Shi Ling regarding their being caught, but he still felt uneasy.
His tone was impatient: "I need to have a fucking smoke to calm down."
Shi Ling's figure receded further and further down the path, eventually disappearing around a bend.
Chi Cheng took two steps and leaned against a dimly lit street lamp, smoking.
Nicotine didn't really help; it didn't alleviate much of his frustration.
Before he had even finished his cigarette, Shi Ling returned again.
Chi Cheng had already slid down the streetlight slowly, his long legs bent as he half-squatted in front of the lamppost.
He recognized her footsteps from the sound and didn't even look up.
Sure enough, I saw Shi Ling's shoes, and her legs, which were still beautifully shaped despite wearing thick autumn and winter stockings, with slender ankles.
Shi Ling bent down slightly, looked down and reached out her hand to him, "Give me one."
Chi Cheng didn't ask her why she came back.
He couldn't get a cigarette out in that position, so he stood up impatiently and handed her the cigarette case and lighter.
He then lazily curled up against the streetlight.
Shi Ling hadn't smoked in a long time, and after taking a puff of smoke, he coughed softly.
Chi Cheng glanced at her but said nothing.
After Shi Ling adjusted, she spoke, her voice slightly hoarse from the smoke.
"Have you been secretly following me like this for several days?"