I'm Actually Panicking Because My Heart Doesn't Beat (GL) - Chapter 7

When Guan Xiaoxuan brushed past Xing Tianqing, she suddenly noticed that behind Xing Tianqing’s thin glasses was a pair of golden slit pupils.

Those golden slit pupils looked like a snake’s or a cat’s eyes. Guan Xiaoxuan felt like she was being hypnotized, and her mind unconsciously started to follow the commands coming from them. It seemed likely that those golden slit pupils could control other people’s thoughts.

Fortunately, Guan Xiaoxuan remembered that she was being hypnotized, and these were memories she had forgotten. So she didn’t resist Xing Tianqing’s suggestions too much.

She turned her head and said to Zhang Wen, “I think I left something over at the interest group. Can you come with me to get it?”

Zhang Wen asked, “What is it?”

“It’s my card holder. My student ID and access card are in there.”

“That can’t be lost. Let’s go back and look for it. The seniors won’t have taken it.”

Guan Xiaoxuan stopped and looked at the unfamiliar street behind them. “Do you remember where we came out? I feel like all these streets look the same.”

Zhang Wen laughed softly. “You’re still such a bad navigator, Xiaoxuan. Don’t worry, I remember. I’ll take you there.”

The two walked side by side. Guan Xiaoxuan saw Xing Tianqing walking ahead. She didn’t look back at the people behind her. Dressed in a black trench coat, she looked cool and handsome. Zhang Wen seemed unaware of the person ahead, chatting casually with Guan Xiaoxuan.

Soon, Zhang Wen led Guan Xiaoxuan to a street behind a storefront. On both sides were closed metal shutters that looked like storage rooms or something similar.

Some windows had no curtains. Guan Xiaoxuan saw some places that seemed to have people living there, while others were just piled with junk.

Passing a window with curtains not fully drawn, Guan Xiaoxuan saw inside was pitch dark. It looked like something was closed inside, but when she tried to look more carefully, she missed it. She thought for a moment and decided not to indulge her curiosity.

She felt like someone was watching her from behind. Guan Xiaoxuan looked back and saw Xing Tianqing following at a distance.

Zhang Wen still didn’t notice.

“We’re here.” Zhang Wen stopped at the last room at the end of the alley and knocked on the door.

There was a sound inside quickly. A tall boy opened the door. When he saw Guan Xiaoxuan, his face lit up and he smiled, “I knew you would come back.”

Guan Xiaoxuan smiled gently and said, “I left my card holder here. Have you seen it?”

The boy stepped aside and said, “I didn’t notice. You can come in and look around.”

Guan Xiaoxuan knew she didn’t actually leave it here but went in any way to look around. The room was small, less than ten square meters, with just a cabinet and some tables and chairs. Nothing special.

There were two girls in the room whom Guan Xiaoxuan didn’t recognize. After pretending to search, she said to the boy, “Maybe it’s somewhere else. I’ll keep looking. Thanks.”

“No problem,” the boy said with a smile.

Guan Xiaoxuan and Zhang Wen walked out of the alley. She glanced at Xing Tianqing, who was standing under a tree across the street, staring intently at her. She wondered why the illusion hadn’t broken even after finding the interest group’s location.

Just as Guan Xiaoxuan was thinking about whether to send Zhang Wen away, a man and a woman walked towards them. They carried some items and chatted as they passed by Guan Xiaoxuan.

“Is this enough?”

“Yes, the ‘Red Girl’ will like these.”

The words made Guan Xiaoxuan shiver. She looked at what they were carrying—it looked like takeout with a chicken logo on the box.

Chicken?

She wasn’t sure if it was boiled or steamed chicken.

As she was daydreaming, she glanced at their faces and her pupils suddenly contracted. She almost stopped walking.

When the four passed each other, Guan Xiaoxuan frowned. She remembered these two appeared in the morgue’s file book, just a few pages away from her own autopsy report.

They were among the dozen or so corpses that died at 9 PM on the 17th!

It seemed she was right—the so-called ‘Red Girl’ was a trap. It lured people by offering wishes, then pushed them to commit suicide or meet accidents by various means.

The souls of the dead were corrupted, and those who survived among the corpses became the ‘Gu’ (a kind of cursed entity).

Guan Xiaoxuan thought the ‘Red Girl’ was truly evil.

After leaving the alley with Zhang Wen, her consciousness started to blur. With the popping sound of a bubble bursting, Guan Xiaoxuan faintly opened her eyes.

The first thing she saw was the stainless steel door of the morgue. Her neck and waist were sore, like she had been in the same position for a long time. Even moving her joints made cracking sounds.

“Awake?” Xiao An sat nearby, putting away her phone and smiling. “People who are ‘called back’ usually wake up at the end, but you actually slept for over three hours.”

Had she really slept so long?

Guan Xiaoxuan rubbed her sore shoulder and noticed everyone else had left, except Xiao An and a few people guarding the entrance.

“Where is everyone?” she asked.

“They all went to investigate,” Xiao An said, resting her head on her hand. “The team told us not to disturb you. They went to the interest group’s base you mentioned. They told me to watch over you and wait for you to report to the police station after waking.”

“Oh.” Guan Xiaoxuan wasn’t expecting Xing Tianqing to release her immediately anyway. She stretched and stood up, thinking it was good she didn’t have to find that interest group herself. This kind of professional work should be left to professionals.

With an official protector, Guan Xiaoxuan felt safe being a fragile ordinary citizen.

But when she stood up, she suddenly froze.

She realized her heartbeat had stopped.

Not exactly stopped—it beat about once every thirty seconds, and the intervals between beats were getting longer.

Shocked but calm, Guan Xiaoxuan had already accepted the fact she was a borrowed corpse returned to life. The lack of a heartbeat made some sense.

But why had she had one before, and now not?

On the way back to the police station with Xiao An, she couldn’t figure it out.

Behind the storefront near Xinglin Normal University, Xing Tianqing led a group of people to the area.

Five people in black coats stood at the alley entrance. They checked the time—it was 5 PM, with more than an hour before nightfall.

“Captain Xing,” a man in black said, “We asked around. No one usually uses this alley. Are we going in now? It’s rush hour, lots of people.”

Since it was downtown near old residential areas, there was still a fair amount of foot traffic.

Xing Tianqing looked straight into the alley and said, “Leave one person at the entrance to guard, the rest come with me inside.”

“Yes!”

One person stayed at the entrance while four went in. A bubble-like light covered the alley and then became transparent, sealing the area so no outside movement could be detected.

The Special Event Investigation Bureau often faced dangerous or strange cases. This sealing helped them work without restraint.

With three people, Xing Tianqing quickly walked deeper into the alley. Her eyes suddenly turned into golden slit pupils.

She took off her thin glasses and put them in her pocket. From her back waist, she pulled out her gun and signaled her teammates. The four split into pairs, standing on the left and right sides of the metal doors.

A young man in his early twenties squatted and touched the ground with his hand, eyes closed, sensing something.

“There are people inside—one man and two women. There’s a one-and-a-half-meter tall steel cabinet on the left as you enter. A table in the middle, the three all sitting around it. No place to hide.”

Xing Tianqing narrowed her eyes. When the young man stood, she raised her hand and began a countdown.

Three.

Two.

One!

At her signal, the tall teammate flexed his muscles and kicked the metal door open with a loud bang.

The metal door was smashed so hard the frame broke, showing how strong the kick was.

All four rushed inside but froze at the scene.

The once tidy room had walls, ceiling, and floor all stained red with bl00d-like marks. The bl00d-colored walls were covered with talismans—red ink and yellow paper.

The man and two women sat around the table, faces pale as if severely bl00d-drained, but without any large wounds.

One black-coated member with medical experience checked the man’s vital signs and frowned.

“Captain Xing, they seem to be in shock from bl00d loss, but I can’t find any fatal wounds.”

“How are they?”

“Still alive.”

“Call 120 and send them to the nearest hospital,” Xing Tianqing ordered.

The room felt heavy and suffocating. Her gaze fell on the table.

On the empty table sat a small wooden fox carved figurine. It was bl00d-colored with deep red eyes, hollow and mysterious, as if watching something…