I'm Actually Panicking Because My Heart Doesn't Beat (GL) - Chapter 20

Even more terrifying than the Red Girl?

Guan Xiaoxuan couldn’t help but feel chills running down her spine. She didn’t understand how Cheng Yi knew she was a “Gu” (a kind of curse or possession), nor did she know what this even more terrifying existence than the Red Girl was.

Since waking up in this body, she had run into all kinds of strange and bizarre things, like a spider web spreading thickly over her head, making her very uneasy.

This world was far scarier than she had ever imagined.

Guan Xiaoxuan felt that to get real answers, she had to meet Cheng Yi in person. Zhang Wen was clearly just a messenger between them, completely dragged into this because of her.

She felt sorry for Zhang Wen for a moment, then asked her, “How did you manage to escape?”

“The faceless female student appeared and scared me badly. She also messed up Cheng Yi’s plan, so I took the chance and ran,” Zhang Wen said. “After that, I just hid here confusedly. My phone only connects to you. I was so scared then that I wanted you to come save me.”

After calming down, Zhang Wen realized something was off. She had been too scared at the time to think deeply about it. Now, saying it out loud and thinking it over, she found many strange details.

“Xiaoxuan,” Zhang Wen carefully asked over the phone, “Did Cheng Yi target you and use me to lure you here? Does she want to hurt you?”

The more Zhang Wen thought about it, the more convinced she was that this was true. She felt even more sorry for Guan Xiaoxuan.

“I’m really sorry. If it weren’t for me, you wouldn’t have to come look for me,” Zhang Wen said sadly. “Xiaoxuan, you should go. I don’t want to get you involved.”

“At a time like this, saying that won’t help,” Guan Xiaoxuan said, looking around and speaking to Zhang Wen, “Let’s focus on how to get you out of here.”

“Okay.” Zhang Wen tried to steady herself. She glanced outside at the thick fog in the corridor and said, “I’m going down to the first floor to see if I can get out.”

Guan Xiaoxuan thought for a moment and nodded. “You go check the first floor, but if anything goes wrong, don’t rush. Come back and we’ll think of another way.”

Zhang Wen nodded and walked down the stairs.

The quiet, dark corridor echoed only with Zhang Wen’s footsteps. Her heart was pounding, but she forced herself to keep going until she reached the first floor.

The first floor was very quiet, even the dorm supervisor’s room was silent.

Zhang Wen turned her head toward the main door and found it wide open. Outside was thick fog, but it seemed to have a clear boundary—it didn’t drift inside the dorm building.

“I’m on the first floor now,” Zhang Wen said to Guan Xiaoxuan, staring into the fog. “I saw something in the fog on the second floor. It was black and moving. Now it seems… like it’s gone.”

“Be careful,” Guan Xiaoxuan warned.

Zhang Wen nodded and stepped out of the dorm.

In front of the girls’ dorm was an open space with several cement paths leading in different directions. She could vaguely see the paths, but their ends were swallowed by thick fog, making it impossible to see what was there.

The cold, damp fog hit Zhang Wen’s face, making it hard to breathe. Just as she struggled for air, a few black shadows suddenly appeared in the dense fog.

The shadows were dark and still, like standing human figures. Suddenly emerging from the fog, they scared Zhang Wen badly.

She didn’t dare go forward. Her instinct told her the fog was dangerous. Those black shadows weren’t people—they were something else.

What exactly they were, Zhang Wen had no idea. She hurried back inside the dorm, and when she glanced back at the fog, the black shadows were still there. Soon, they softened, collapsed into a pile on the ground, and slowly disappeared.

The whole thing lasted only a few seconds but made Zhang Wen’s heart race and her body go cold.

“There’s something in the fog,” Zhang Wen quickly said into the phone. “Those things looked like people but weren’t. They seemed to be waiting for me to come out. The moment I stepped out, I felt something really scary and ran back.”

Hearing how dangerous the fog was, Guan Xiaoxuan couldn’t let Zhang Wen take more risks. She told her, “Find a safe place and don’t leave the dorm. I’ll bring those black-coated people to rescue you.”

She didn’t hang up. Guan Xiaoxuan went down the stairs. She wanted to contact the two black-coated guards still at the door, but before she reached the first floor, she saw a figure in the corner.

Suddenly, time seemed to freeze for Guan Xiaoxuan. She didn’t dare move and stared straight at the figure on the first floor.

The person wore a white hoodie, a short skirt, and sneakers. Her black hair flowed freely, and her faceless face tilted upward, looking right at Guan Xiaoxuan.

It was the faceless female student!

Wasn’t she just on the old teaching building rooftop? How did she suddenly get to the girls’ dorm?

Guan Xiaoxuan felt like her bl00d was frozen solid. Even though the figure had no eyes, Guan Xiaoxuan felt like she was being watched.

Weird.

That word suddenly appeared in Guan Xiaoxuan’s mind. She finally understood why the Special Investigations Bureau was also called the “Weird Bureau.” Such strange things were naturally handled by the Weird Bureau. For an ordinary person like her, encountering something like this would mean certain death.

Guan Xiaoxuan dared not move. She didn’t know what the faceless girl was thinking or if she would attack from behind if Guan Xiaoxuan turned away.

For a while, neither of them moved.

After about ten seconds, the faceless girl reached out a hand.

She pointed at the hand Guan Xiaoxuan was holding the phone with, then put it to her ear and made a gesture like making a phone call.

What did she mean?

This creepy thing wanted to use her phone to call someone?

If it were an ordinary person asking to borrow her phone, Guan Xiaoxuan would have lent it right away. But now that she looked at it, this faceless girl didn’t seem like someone who would just borrow a phone normally.

Still, the faceless girl was definitely staring at Guan Xiaoxuan’s phone like she really wanted it.

Guan Xiaoxuan swallowed hard and, gathering courage, asked, “You want my phone?”

At first, Guan Xiaoxuan was just asking to try her luck, but to her surprise, the faceless girl actually nodded, showing she really wanted the phone.

Guan Xiaoxuan got scared.

She had never dealt with something like this before. Even when facing the zombie horde and Red Girl a while back, they chased her, never tried to talk or negotiate.

Maybe this one really had a problem?

In those few seconds, Guan Xiaoxuan thought a lot. She felt there was no way she could run away, so the only option was to try to reason with it.

They were both women, so there was no need to make things harder for each other, right?

“I can lend you my phone,” Guan Xiaoxuan said, picking up her phone and looking at the faceless girl. “But I’m on the phone with my friend right now. Can I finish talking to her first, then give you the phone?”

The faceless girl thought for a second, then nodded in agreement.

As long as she could communicate, that was good!

Guan Xiaoxuan inexplicably felt a bit relieved, but she didn’t let her guard down completely. After all, the other side was something so strange—she had to stay alert.

She put the phone to her ear and told Zhang Wen, “I’ve met that girl.”

Zhang Wen immediately gasped.

Guan Xiaoxuan then said, “She wants to borrow my phone. I have to hang up now. Call me back in ten minutes.”

Without waiting for Zhang Wen to respond, Guan Xiaoxuan hung up, then raised her hand and said, “I’ve taken care of my business. Should I toss the phone to you now?”

The faceless girl nodded, signaling it was okay.

Guan Xiaoxuan didn’t plan to hand the phone over carefully. She thought, if the girl missed, well, it would just break a phone. But if something happened to her, that wouldn’t be fixed by a couple of phones.

Ready, she threw her phone in an arc.

The faceless girl stood still, lifted her arm high, and caught the phone easily.

While Guan Xiaoxuan was still anxious, not knowing what the girl would do, she saw the girl start tapping the screen. Then a mechanical female voice came out of her own phone:

“My name is Bai Zhiqi. I’m a senior at this school.”

Bai Zhiqi?

Guan Xiaoxuan frowned slightly. She didn’t remember the name, but since Bai Zhiqi was a senior and they probably didn’t cross paths, it made sense she didn’t know her.

Bai Zhiqi kept operating the phone.

“I won’t hurt you. I just want to ask you for a favor.”

Guan Xiaoxuan frowned, looking at the girl in front of her. Even though she had no facial features, there was a strange sense of familiarity. She asked, “What favor? I’m just an ordinary person.”

“I can see there’s something special about you. Maybe you can help me,” Bai Zhiqi said while still using the phone. “I used to be an ordinary person too. But then I met that woman. Her name is Cheng Yi.”

Cheng Yi?

Again with Cheng Yi?

Hearing the name made Guan Xiaoxuan uneasy. She asked, “Who exactly is Cheng Yi?”

“I don’t know,” Bai Zhiqi ‘said.’ “I didn’t know her before. It was about a month ago. I was coming back from off campus late at night when I saw Cheng Yi standing in the hallway.”

“We all live in the dorms, so I recognized her and took a second look before heading to my room. But Cheng Yi followed me all the way to the dorm door.”

“I asked her why she was following me. She just smiled and said, ‘Your lips are really pretty. I’ve rarely seen lips that look so nice.’”

“Then Cheng Yi asked me, ‘Can I have your face?’”