Ten Classic Touching Supernatural Stories Collection

Chapter 3

I thought of Zifan. Zifan is a Software Engineer; I suppose he could help me.

A phone call summoned Zifan. Seeing him working hard all day, sweating profusely, and after adjusting and testing various things, the computer was restored to normal operation. Overjoyed, Zifan gave him a glass of water and saw him off.

Don't blame me for being heartless; fairies are just heartless by nature. Right now, all my interest is in Phoenix.

Like any ordinary online connection, Phoenix and I are finally going to meet.

Fish and shrimp

Reply [10]: The meeting place was set on a clear, moonlit night in a dimly lit bar. As I sat at the bar, twirling the glass in my hand, a deep and pleasant voice rang in my ears: "A beauty plays with her wine cup, sitting deep with furrowed brows, who knows whom she hates in her heart?"

He's here.

Looking up, I saw a face with well-defined features, a tall stature, and regular facial features, exuding an indescribable masculine charm. Phoenix, he did not disappoint me.

We drank a lot of alcohol, with Phoenix urging me to drink glass after glass. We also played dice, and for some reason, I always lost, so I had to drink even more as a penalty.

My face was burning hot. When I went to the bathroom, I saw my cheeks in the mirror, as beautiful as flowers. Ah, if only my lips could be like that. But my lips have no color; I only rely on lipstick to make them look red.

Finally, Phoenix helped me out of the bar, and I giggled. What a fun night!

Then we got into a taxi, and then Phoenix took me to an unfamiliar house.

The night was quiet and the wind was cool. Phoenix took out his key and opened the door, and a rich floral fragrance wafted out.

What a beautiful house this is! Spacious, elegant, and comfortable, and filled with fresh flowers of all kinds.

As soon as I entered, I collapsed into the flowerbed. The fairy squinted at the phoenix and giggled, "Where is this? Why are there so many flowers here?" The phoenix closed the door, walked over with a smile, brought her face close to mine, and whispered intimately, "This is my home, and it is also your home. Knowing that you would come tonight, I welcomed you with a room full of blooming flowers—my bride."

Bride? He called me bride? I was a little confused, my bewildered eyes falling on his hand as he loosened his tie. "What are you doing?"

Phoenix plucked a rose and gently brushed it against my cheek, her voice melodious and sweet, "Tonight, please be my bride!"

I suddenly came to my senses, from the rich, intoxicating wine, from the enchanting atmosphere, from the beautiful house and the fragrant flowers.

“Phoenix, I cannot be your bride tonight.”

"Why?" Phoenix had taken off his shirt, sat down next to me, and leaned over to kiss me.

I avoided it. "Phoenix, I'm serious, please take me home."

I am a fairy, a thousand-year-old fairy. Fairies cannot mate with humans. Otherwise, the fairy's soul will be scattered and will slowly disappear into this space like dust, never to be reborn or reincarnated again.

But Phoenix wouldn't give up. He opened his arms and embraced me. I looked at him seriously. "Phoenix, I can't be your bride. We can be intimate, but we can't mate, or I'll die."

Phoenix didn't hear what I was saying at all. He buried his head in the crook of my shoulder, inhaling my fragrance. I pushed him away and solemnly repeated myself. Phoenix froze and asked, "Why?" I said, "I might tell you the reason later, but I have to go back now." I got up to leave, but Phoenix wouldn't let go. He said, "It's a rare opportunity for us to meet. Don't waste this wonderful time."

My eyes hardened, and I quietly asked him, "This one night of passion will take my life. Between my life and your pleasure, what will you choose?"

He replied with a smirk, "What's the point of life without happiness?"

I was furious. This man only cared about his own pleasure and didn't care about my life or death at all. "Even if the peony dies, I will still let you have your pleasure as a ghost"? What a despicable scoundrel!

I frowned, turned and walked away, but Phoenix quickly stopped me, saying, "Jin Jie, don't go! Stay with me!"

I glanced at him, too lazy to answer, and reached out to open the door. Phoenix grabbed my hand and pulled me forcefully, causing me to fall into his arms. He scooped me up abruptly, his eyes burning with desire, and said, "Beautiful lady, a night of passion is worth a thousand pieces of gold!" as he walked towards the bed.

I struggled desperately, but alas, I was just a weak and helpless fairy! Phoenix had already pinned me down, kissing my face and neck wildly, tearing at my clothes with his hands... Could it be that tonight is my destiny of a thousand years?

The doorbell suddenly rang urgently. Phoenix paused for a moment, then let out a hoarse curse, ignoring the doorbell and continuing to tug at my clothes. The door was suddenly kicked open, and a figure rushed in like a gust of wind, pulling Phoenix away.

The young man's face was covered in sweat, veins bulging, teeth clenched, and he glared angrily at Phoenix.

Zifan!

Phoenix flew into a rage, throwing punches at Zifan, and the two began to fight. I stood there stunned for several minutes before I came to my senses and yelled, "Stop!"

The two of them paused for a moment, remaining in their fighting stances as they both looked at me. I jumped off the bed while straightening my disheveled clothes. A cool breeze blew in from outside, and I tried to speak calmly, "Zifan, let's go."

Zifan glared at Phoenix, then came over to support me. Phoenix rushed to block the door, her eyes bloodshot, her voice still hoarse, and said, "Jinjie, don't go, I really love you!"

He really loves me? To trade my life for his fleeting pleasure—is that love? I'm reminded of the black widow spider, which devours its mate after mating. But Phoenix is human! Could it be that I'm mistaken, and he wasn't human to begin with?

I said calmly, "I know, you love me, but I can't accept your kind of love right now."

I don't want to be that spider that gets swallowed.

Phoenix took his anger out on Zifan, resenting that Zifan's appearance had ruined his plans. Taking advantage of Zifan's unpreparedness, he kicked him hard, causing Zifan to fall heavily to the ground. I said coldly, "Phoenix, do you want me to call the police?"

Phoenix paused for a moment, then, as if making a final effort, knelt down in front of me with a thud. I didn't bother to look at him anymore; he was kneeling there, and I treated him like a dog. Zifan got up and helped me up by the arm, and we left the beautiful house filled with flowers.

I've heard that the more beautiful something is, the more poisonous it is, like mushrooms. Handsome men are like phoenixes. And beautiful women? To Zifan, am I also a kind of poison? "Black Widow," it's said to be a female spider.

Zifan arrived just in time to save me, but I felt no gratitude whatsoever. Demons have never had the concept of "gratitude."

What caught my attention was another issue.

Fish and shrimp

Reply [11]: "How did you know we were in this house?" Walking on the road at night, with the streetlights dim and the shadows of the trees swaying, I asked Zifan in a voice devoid of any emotion.

"I'm...I'm sorry," Zifan said softly, head bowed. He didn't turn his head, but I seemed to see his face turn red.

“I remembered your IP address when I helped you remove the virus last time. Later, when you went online, I secretly entered your computer to check the data inside... I’ve been following you guys all night.”

So that's how it is. You see, cunning isn't unique to demons.

"You've read all the emails I exchanged with Phoenix?"

Yes, yes.

"I'm sorry!" Zifan said hurriedly again, "I'm sorry, I... I just... I couldn't help it... I..." To summarize tonight's events, could it be like this: Wolf A was about to eat me when Wolf B, who had been observing and waiting for an opportunity, appeared just in time and repelled Wolf A. No further analysis is needed; Wolf B's purpose was naturally to prevent its prey from being taken by another.

It's perfectly understandable that I don't feel grateful.

I shook off Zifan's hand that was supporting me and said to him, "Okay, thank you for saving me, goodbye."

Zifan stared at me blankly, his eyes unfathomable in the dim shadow of the streetlights, his brow furrowed deeply with melancholy.

He seemed to be in a lot of pain? Yes, he was injured; his cheek was swollen and red, there was a trickle of blood at the corner of his mouth, and he had been kicked in the abdomen. So I said, "Your injury looks pretty serious; you should go see a doctor."

He didn't move, still staring at me, seemingly not having heard what I had just said. I saw drops of blood seeping from the back of his hand, and couldn't help but repeat myself.

"Really? Am I injured?" He suddenly smiled, his brows still furrowed, but he winked at me affectionately, and the blood at the corner of his mouth deepened.

He didn't know he was injured? Then what was the cause of his pain?

I was a little lost, and in my confusion, I casually waved and left.

Back in my room, after turning on all the lights, I noticed a dark, thick drop of congealed blood on the back of my hand. I checked myself in the mirror but found no wounds. So, the blood must have belonged to someone else. After the fight, only Zifan came near me.

Zifan left a drop of blood on the back of my hand.

I suddenly remembered the tear Zixia left in Supreme Treasure's heart. Should I, too, be moved by a drop of blood on the back of my hand?

I sent an email to Zifan, telling him that I would be waiting for him on Huangshan Mountain in three days and asking him to bring a lock with him.

If every life must have an end, I would say to Zifan under the love lock on Huangshan Mountain: I do—even if my thousand-year life never returns.

Just for that drop of blood that person left on the back of my hand.

His pain was not because of the blood he shed.

That day was April 29, 2001.

I waited on Huangshan for three days. I arrived at Huangshan three days ago, but I haven't seen a trace of Zifan in three days.

My first thought was whether he would receive the email, so I called him. His company said he was on holiday, his home phone was unreachable, and his cell phone was switched off. In desperation, I resorted to the "relentless, life-threatening call barrage" tactic that ordinary women often use, something I usually disdain: I kept calling Zifan's pager, every few minutes. However, like a cold wind blowing across the Yi River, the message was gone forever!

I threw all the colorful lipsticks I had brought down the mountain, hoping to possess him when I was at my most beautiful, hoping he would have me at my most beautiful. But alas, the fairy's affection was unrequited, and the mortal's heart remained unmoved. As I descended the mountain, I discovered I had lost a lot of weight in just a few days. My old clothes now fluttered loosely on my body. Have you not heard the lament, "For her sake I have grown thin and pale, my clothes have become loose and loose—I regret it!"

I saw Zifan again three days later. I always felt that "three" was a number of destiny. Why is it always "three"? Three wishes, three difficulties, three chances... three days! So many myths and fairy tales are closely linked to "three," and I can't escape this law in my own life's myth either. I was surfing the internet in front of my computer, flirting with an ID I had just connected with. I told the ID that called herself "Graceful Lady" that I wasn't a gentleman but a lecher. "Graceful Lady" chuckled, and I thought she (let's call her "she") would say, "I'm not afraid of being lecherous, come on—baby!" But to my surprise, she smiled sweetly and said, "Lecher? Is that someone like Confucius?"

Brother Dengtu might be happy to hear this; the son of the neighbor should thank this lady; Confucius might vomit blood and die, and his seventy-two disciples would probably sue the lady for malicious slander.

I finally lost interest in chatting and turned to listen to Zifan, who had been rambling on for half a day, trying to explain something.

Zifan said he had something very important to do during the May Day holiday, so he couldn't keep our appointment and asked for my forgiveness.

"Something important?"

“Yes.” Zifan’s eyebrows danced with excitement. “May Day was a critical period when we collectively joined forces to crack down on American websites, and at the same time we defended and repaired many Chinese websites that had been hacked.”

So that's how it is. Zifan missed the appointment because he was involved in the May Day hacker war between China and the United States.

I stared at the lifeless computer screen, a mix of emotions churning within me. I would rather Zifan tell me he was sick or that all his communication devices were malfunctioning than honestly tell me this reason.

Fish and shrimp

Reply [12]: Many years ago, the dinosaurs went extinct. The view that most people are willing to accept is that the extraterrestrial factor of a celestial impact event interfered with life on Earth, that is, a comet hitting the Earth caused a catastrophe that led to the complete destruction of dinosaurs, large animals that ruled the Earth. However, if such a global catastrophe had occurred, all living things on Earth would have been doomed, so why have so many still survived to this day? Moreover, the extinction of dinosaurs did not happen overnight. From the death of the first dinosaurs to the fall of the last dinosaur family, it took tens of millions of years. Another theory is that the ferns on which most herbivorous dinosaurs depended for survival—plants that reproduce by spores and do not flower—were squeezed out of the food chain by plants with flowers, which were more competitive. The stubborn dinosaurs gradually went extinct due to lack of food. But this theory is obviously not very well justified. Therefore, why can't we explain that the extinction of dinosaurs was due to internal conflicts? Grass dinosaurs, Stegosaurus, Pterosaurs... Dinosaurs of different species fought each other to kill each other. As a result, batches of dinosaurs fell one after another. This ancient war lasted for tens of millions of years and ended with the extinction of the entire dinosaur species. Today, another race that rules the Earth—humanity—has also begun an endless conflict. And what will be the outcome? Will they use nuclear weapons to attack each other, turning the Earth into a haze of smoke, mushroom clouds, and widespread nuclear radiation, ultimately leading to mutual destruction and repeating the extinction of another ancient species that also ruled the Earth?

I deeply abhor these kinds of conflicts, and I cannot forgive Zifan for neglecting and forgetting me because of his hacker war with the Americans. You see, in a woman's life, love often comes first, and she will naturally expect the same from her partner; otherwise, an inequality arises, and she will feel unbalanced. Moreover, a fairy only knows the difference between fairies and humans, but not the differences among humans. Fairies have no nationality.

Zifan, however, is Chinese, and a passionate young Chinese man with a strong sense of justice and mission. He proudly believes that by abandoning romance and leisure during the May Day holiday, he has done something significant, delivering a blow to international hegemonism. He even stubbornly awaits the fairy's approval.

The clash of two different ideas, a violent collision, ignited a spark that extinguished the last bit of love in the demon's heart.

I feel like Zifan and I truly belong to two different worlds.

Without a trace of emotion, I said calmly, "If you can make my lips dark and naturally colored without any makeup, then I will believe you are sincere and accept you."

Zifan Daizhu

My petal-like lips were faintly reflected on the screen, beautiful and delicate, yet almost transparently white. My face, devoid of any makeup, looked eerily unsettling against my long, black hair. A breeze blew in from the window, tossing my hair, one strand fluttering gently and landing in Zifan's hand. My voice was as cold as my eyes, "Go away. Don't see me again until you've figured out a way to restore your white lips to their former glory." Zifan took two steps back, hesitant to speak. I knew what he wanted to say. Yes, who would have such a method? I had merely given Zifan a knot he could never untie.

Zifan left dejectedly, clutching the strand of my hair. After he left, I felt a sense of relief. Fairy, don't carry those heavy emotions!

Fish and shrimp

Reply [13]: I continued my decadent life, indulging in food, drink, and entertainment, using all my seductive skills to seduce different men, and then slipping away at the last moment, laughing heartily at their sudden disappointment. Time flew by, and whenever I stayed in a place for a certain period of time and saw the people around me growing old, I would quietly leave and go to another place to seek new excitement, new thrills, and new pleasures. People did not notice my strangeness.

Many, many years have passed, and countless US presidents have come and gone. Beijing's bid for the Olympics is now a history book for elementary school students to memorize. The "Three Represents," once a popular slogan across China, is now history. Annam is long gone. I continue to play the game of life amidst the hustle and bustle of the world. Amidst the rise and fall of history, who can truly understand the eastward flow of time?

That day, in the hazy bar, I used my alluring eyes to seduce another man—a handsome man who seemed wealthy, driving a BMW, wearing a Rolex gold watch, and buying me XO. Later, we decided to drive out to see the moon—who knew the moon would hide behind those clouds in that gray sky? We stopped at a place where the grass was green, the flowers were fragrant, and the trees swayed gently, to admire the maple forest at dusk. Suddenly, a torrential downpour began from the gray sky. We were deep in the bushes, talking, quite a distance from the car, and by the time I ran back, my clothes were soaked. I took out a tissue to wipe the rain from my face, remembering my plum blossom makeup had been ruined, and washed it away with the rain. The handsome man reached out and turned my shoulder, lowering his head to kiss me. Suddenly he stopped, his eyes wide with surprise. He abruptly stepped back, his trembling finger pointing at me, exclaiming, "Your lips, your lips, why are they completely colorless?!" I smiled softly, and my colorless lips curled slightly upwards from the sides. "Is it strange? Isn't it beautiful?" The handsome man cried out in despair. This man, who had just sworn that he would be devoted to me regardless of my life, old age, sickness, beauty, or ugliness (he forgot there was no moon tonight), opened the car door and hurriedly left me.

I smiled silently again.

The night was silent, save for the sound of the pouring rain. It seemed no one heard my laughter, like spirits wandering freely through the air. Suddenly, I remembered a man named Zifan, his young face; I remembered him seemingly hearing my soft laughter in the forest filled with fallen leaves; I remembered him looking at my colorless lips, stroking my hair, and saying, "Poor girl, you're severely anemic."

I returned to this city I hadn't set foot in for so long. The streets were the same, the crowds hurried about the same, only now the newly built urban area was filled with towering buildings. I returned to a dilapidated apartment building facing the street, gazing at the familiar structure. Sigh, it was here that I spent the initial days of my rebirth, clinging to the life of one person, before casting him out of my life's trajectory. I wonder, how is he now? An ordinary-looking middle-aged couple walked by, a little girl skipped past, an old man with a wrinkled face walked by, a young woman carrying a shopping basket walked by… I climbed the stairs, slowly arriving at the apartment from before. Ah! Does that person named Zifan still live here? I took out a half-rusty key, inserted it into the lock, and turned it—it opened. All these years, the lock hadn't been changed. Inside, a long sofa, two short ones, and a coffee table were spotless, still bearing the same pattern and design as years ago. Even that hadn't changed. I entered the room. A bed 1.2 meters wide, a bookshelf, a desk, a worn-out computer. Everything was just as it was back then. Why? Why hadn't anything changed? I sat down on the stool, gently stroking the old keyboard. Back then, I learned to use a computer and surf the internet here... The past seemed like a dream... My fairy-like heart couldn't help but feel melancholy at the vicissitudes of life. Where is the person who picked me up back then?

The door creaked open, and my heart suddenly raced. Ah, he's back! That person is back!

I walked into the living room with the joy of reunion, and I saw the old man with a wrinkled face who had walked past me earlier.

I was stunned, and the old man was also stunned.

A minute later, the old man called out tremblingly, "Jin Jie!"