Mona Lisas blutiges Auge

Kapitel 40

Gu Ming was wiping the cup with his head slightly lowered. His fine hair swayed slightly in the dim light, obscuring my vision. I shook my head, gave a self-deprecating smile, and was about to speak when a pleasant voice beat me to it.

"I'm exhausted, boss. There are so many people today, aren't you going to give me a reward?" the new waiter asked jokingly, squinting his eyes.

What reward do you want?

"Make me breakfast yourself tomorrow. How about that?"

Gu Ming smiled and snapped his fingers. "Century egg congee, scallion and egg pancakes, papaya salad, and crispy sausage."

The girl pretended to drool, her eyes sparkling with charm, and nodded with delight.

The words I was about to say had vanished without a trace. I lowered my head, picked up the food, and walked towards the other guests, but my little finger, which was holding the plate, was stiff and a little sore.

After midnight, everyone who was supposed to leave had left. The wind chime sat there quietly, and no one else came in. It seemed that no other business would come today. I yawned and rubbed my slightly sore legs. "I'm going home."

"Where to?" Xia Canyue stood up and asked me sideways.

"Go back to school."

“We usually stay here, why are you going back today? Besides, it’s so late, it’s not safe.” Xia Canyue grabbed my hand. “Let’s go back to the backyard together and leave tomorrow morning.”

She glanced at Gu Ming, sighed softly, and was about to turn around with Xia Canyue when she heard a sweet voice behind her, "Don't I live in her old room?"

She looked up abruptly and met Gu Ming's deep eyes, which were calm and undisturbed.

"You'll sleep with me tonight." Xia Canyue subtly tugged at my finger, signaling me to go with her first.

Her lips ached from biting them, and she followed Xia Canyue back to the backyard. As soon as she entered the house, she threw herself onto the bed and buried herself under the covers. Xia Canyue sighed and said softly, "Now you know why I called you to come, right? Silly child."

Lying on the bed, my mind was a jumble of random thoughts. I don't know when I fell asleep, but my sleep was restless. I kept feeling like there was a pair of eyes watching me quietly from some corner of the room, cold and distant...

[Date]

I woke up at seven o'clock. After washing up and stepping out of the house, Xia Canyue was no longer there. A warm aroma wafted from the kitchen. Just as I peeked in, Gu Ming came to the door carrying breakfast. Century egg congee, scallion egg pancakes, papaya salad, and crispy sausage—truly delicious.

"Yours is in the pot, serve yourself." Gu Ming said casually, and walked towards the room where I used to live without stopping.

I stood at the kitchen door for a long time. The sky was overcast, and it started to rain. The raindrops felt cool on my skin, and I sneezed, just in time. My phone rang at that moment. "Hello?"

"Where is it?" Deng Fei asked with a smile.

"Moonlight".

"Have you got a meal yet?"

"No." He glanced at the kitchen and uttered this word.

"Come back to school? I bought some xiaolongbao (soup dumplings), from Li Ji's."

Do you have vegetable porridge?

"Yes, I put it in a thermos. It's just in time to drink it now that I'm back."

"immediately."

Deng Fei chuckled on the phone, "Alright, grab your umbrella, don't get wet."

Back at school, I ate at Deng Fei's place and started burping. Deng Fei looked at me with disdain and said, "Nobody's going to take it from you, can't you slow down?"

"But it's so delicious, I couldn't resist."

"Where are you going to go later?"

"Just look up some information on molecular immunology, and then everything will be fine."

"Let's go for tea this afternoon. Xiao Bi is free this afternoon too."

"OK."

The rain got heavier in the afternoon. The three of us hesitated for a long time, but finally decided to take a taxi to have tea. There weren't many customers in the tea house. We chose a seat by the window and chatted quietly until it got late.

Xiao Bi had made plans to have dinner with someone. Deng Fei and I ate something quick and were just about to head back to school when Xia Canyue called. So he went back to school, and I went to "Moonlight".

The rain got heavier in the afternoon. The three of us hesitated for a long time, but finally decided to take a taxi to have tea. There weren't many customers in the tea house. We chose a seat by the window and chatted quietly until it got late.

Xiao Bi had made plans to have dinner with someone. Deng Fei and I ate something quick and were just about to head back to school when Xia Canyue called. So he went back to school, and I went to "Moonlight".

Upon arriving at "Moonlight," I found Gu Ming cooking in the kitchen. Xia Canyue asked if I wanted to eat some more, but I looked at the slender figure of the new waitress and shook my head vigorously. After the meal, everyone busied themselves until midnight.

The phone rang suddenly. Xia Canyue answered and said that Gao Tian had just returned from out of town and left. So, Gu Ming, the new waitress, and I were left alone. It was really strange.

"Everyone should get some rest," Gu Ming said, and the three of them walked together toward the backyard.

The waitress went into the room, leaving Gu Ming and me alone.

"If you're too busy with your studies, don't come over," Gu Ming said softly.

"Shall I leave now?"

"Alright."

"I won't."

Gu Ming's lips twitched slightly, then he reached out and patted my shoulder. "Then you should get some rest and leave tomorrow."

I nodded, quickly went back to my room, washed up, closed the door, crawled into bed, and then pulled out a note from my collar—the one Gu Ming had slipped into my shoulder when he patted me earlier.

By the light of the phone, I could see a line of small print: "Be careful tonight, don't fall asleep, and don't make a sound no matter what happens. (I'll buy you steamed buns tomorrow morning.)"

I chuckled to myself, slipped the note into my phone case, closed my eyes, and thought to myself, "Something really did happen."

Around two or three in the morning, the room was just like the night before, as if a pair of eyes were watching me. It was cold and icy. I shrank back and kept my eyes closed without making a sound.

suddenly

My nose tingled slightly, and something tiny brushed against my cheek, tentatively touching it. Then, more of the same thing came closer, as if sniffing something. Soon, more and more of these tiny things appeared, and my hands trembled slightly. I remembered the note Gu Ming had given me and quickly tried to calm my breathing.

The thing that was coming closer slowly turned into a bunch, touching my face like a brush. It felt like... My mind went blank for a moment, and suddenly a word popped into my head—hair!

Yes, it was hair. First a single strand, then more and more, like the hair that casually brushes against my cheek when I comb it. But now, I wondered whose hair it was that was in front of me. I was startled. Could it be that someone was looking down at me? Otherwise, why would that hair be hanging down on my face?

Thinking of this, his palms started to sweat, and he gripped the hem of his clothes tightly, even trying to suppress his breathing, afraid of alerting the person above him, and besides, the person above him might not even be a person.

The hair moved across my face for a while before settling down. The eyes watching me in the darkness sent chills down my spine. Just as I was terrified and at a loss for what to do, everything disappeared. At the same time, a woman's hoarse scream came from outside. The shrill sound sent shivers down my spine.

I peeked open my eyes and found that there was nothing unusual in the room. However, the noise outside the door grew louder and louder, seemingly mixed with the sounds of fighting. I got out of bed and pressed my ear to the door to listen. I could hear clanging sounds, accompanied by the woman's heavy breathing and a man's cold laughter. I recognized the voice; it was none other than Gu Ming.

Her mind went blank, and her fingers, as if on their own, unlocked the door. She had barely opened a crack when she heard Gu Ming shout, "Go back! Don't look!"

Unfortunately, it was too late. The scene outside the crack in the door made my body freeze. Gu Mingzheng lit a talisman, and with a flash of fire, a long sword of cyan light appeared. It flew straight towards the opposite side and hit the new waitress in the chest. The flesh sizzled as it burned. After the sword flew back, black and white things crawled out of the wound. Upon closer inspection, the black things were long, messy black hair that stretched like a waterfall, and the white things were maggots wrapped in the black hair.

Unfortunately, it was too late. The scene outside the crack in the door made my body freeze. Gu Mingzheng lit a talisman, and with a flash of fire, a long sword of cyan light appeared. It flew straight towards the opposite side and hit the new waitress in the chest. The flesh sizzled as it burned. After the sword flew back, black and white things crawled out of the wound. Upon closer inspection, the black things were long, messy black hair that stretched like a waterfall, and the white things were maggots wrapped in the black hair.

My stomach churned, and before I could vomit, I saw the woman's full head of black hair fall out. The strands, as if alive, began to wriggle and spread, quickly covering the entire yard like a dark, tangled spiderweb. Looking at the woman again, her head, which should have been bald from the loss of hair, was now mangled and bleeding, with maggots emerging from the wounds. Though not as thick as a little finger, these maggots writhed rapidly within the flesh, appearing from a distance like a head of short white hair violently billowing in the wind. I wasn't far from her, and I could see the maggots very clearly. My mind was filled with the wriggling flesh, and a wave of acid churned in my stomach. I leaned against the door and vomited profusely.

A flash of blue light appeared again. Looking up, I saw Gu Ming rushing towards me. The woman suddenly grinned maliciously, and the black hair hanging in the courtyard seemed to understand something, shooting towards Gu Ming like an arrow, its momentum clearly intended to suffocate him. The blue sword danced up and down, cutting the incoming hair strands, but as soon as they hit the ground, they flew up again, varying in length, attacking again, impossible to block no matter what.

I was sweating bullets for Gu Ming when I suddenly felt something strange at my feet. Looking down, I saw that it was the white maggots from the woman's body, swarming towards me like a dense stream, completely enveloping me without my noticing. Before I could even cry out, a dark shadow was already in front of me. A sharp wind carried a familiar scent, and the Azure Light Sword instantly transformed into a long whip, sweeping away the maggots at my feet. As the maggots scattered, I realized that what I had vomited earlier had completely disappeared; they must have eaten it. Thinking this, my stomach churned again.

The woman opposite us grinned and laughed, her hair flying all at once towards us. Gu Ming flipped his hand and formed a seal, and a thin film seemed to block the hair in front of him. I knew it was a barrier, but we couldn't just wait like this. Looking at the hair, a flash of inspiration struck me. I leaned close to Gu Ming's ear and whispered, "Use fire."

Gu Ming looked at me, shook his head, and smiled. "This isn't ordinary hair. Fire can't hurt them. Hair demons are very troublesome."

"A ghost?"

"Yes, they use hair to absorb people's spiritual energy, and cultivators are their best targets. She targeted my cousin and me a few days ago, but unfortunately, she chose the wrong people. How could this brat possibly harm us?"

"Stop talking big. They've forced you into this situation."

Gu Ming smiled but did not refute, only saying calmly, "I was just fighting with her to distract her, so that I could make my move when the time came."

"What time is it?"

"Right now."

Gu Ming smiled mysteriously, flipped his hand and removed the barrier. Suddenly, a sliver of light appeared in the sky; dawn had arrived.

The moment the sky lit up, the female ghost's expression suddenly changed. She reached out as if to summon the hair back, but Gu Ming had already jumped out. A talisman bound the female ghost, and a blue light enveloped her, rendering her unable to move an inch.

The strands of hair that were suspended in mid-air were now like headless flies, unable to find a place to settle down. As the sky grew brighter, they fluttered all over the yard. After circling the yard once, they all stopped and faced me. My body stiffened, and a bad premonition came over me.

"What...what do you want to do?" he asked慌张地, his lips twitching as he looked at the hair.

Before I could close the door, the hair seemed to open its eyes and rushed towards my head... A second later, I looked at my hair, which had grown past my calves, and let out a wail. Meanwhile, the female ghost who had been frozen in place by Gu Ming turned into a pool of blood as the sunlight came in.

[Date]

I hate Xia Canyue!

At dawn, I sat in front of the mirror, my hair a mess, seething with rage, and gritted my teeth. Gu Ming leaned back lazily on the sofa and chuckled, "We're going out to play tomorrow, leaving her to watch the house by herself. But then again, who told you to listen to your cousin and doubt me?"

"I didn't." She raised her head and said matter-of-factly, "You all knew she wasn't human, didn't you?"

“Hmm.” Gu Ming beckoned me to sit next to him. “A few days ago, as soon as she appeared, we noticed that the aura around her was not human. But my cousin and I had never seen a ghost before, so we weren’t sure what she was. Until three days ago, we pretended to go along with her and lured her into Moonlight, only to find that the entire Moonlight was being monitored.”

"I felt it too."

"Well, then I secretly cast an illusion spell so that the person watching from the shadows would see me sleeping. When I got up to take a closer look, I found that there were a lot of women's hairs in the room, and that's when I realized it was a hair ghost."

"Does the hair ghost use hair to spy on us?"

"You could say that the power of the hair demon is all in its hair. The hair is the heart of the hair demon and also its weapon. However, the hair of the hair demon can only leave the body at midnight. Once dawn comes, if the hair cannot return to the body, it will naturally find a similar object to attach itself to. The body that has lost its hair has no power and will naturally perish. The hair that remains is no different from the hair of an ordinary person."

I suddenly realized, remembering the haircut Xia Canyue had given me that was exactly the same as the one given to that ghost, "A similar possession?! Xia Canyue!!! She not only knew there was a ghost but still called me here, it was clearly a blatant setup, she did it on purpose, she did it on purpose!"

Gu Ming laughed and pinched my cheek. "You just realized that? It's because hair ghosts are very careful when they act. They usually choose their prey and then observe it for a long time before using their hair to absorb the prey's abilities. And it is precisely because of this that we have time to play around with it slowly."

"Play?"

"Well, since we've never encountered a ghost before, my cousin and I decided to pretend we didn't know anything and do some research before she makes a move."