The Senior Student (female) Is Not Human - Chapter 29

Chapter 29: Rainy Night

“You want to date me, is that it?”

With a “thwack,” Xie Shiwei’s phone fell to the floor.

She quickly picked it up.

On the other end, Zhong Chuyao swiftly moved to a quiet place: “Are you at my house right now?”

Xie Shiwei, feeling utterly distraught, mumbled a reply.

“It’s good that you’re not at school. I’ve run into something, but I’ll be back tonight. Don’t go out today, and don’t wander around…”

Her friend gave her a flurry of instructions, but Xie Shiwei couldn’t remember what she had replied.

After the living room fell silent again, Xie Shiwei didn’t even stop to wipe her tears. Her fingers frantically scrolled the screen, trying to look up the chat history.

What? Why did they say Sister Jiang died? Which awful person is spreading rumors again? Sister was perfectly fine when she snatched the love letter from me just now. How could she be dead?

Xie Shiwei didn’t know if she was afraid or angry, but her hands wouldn’t stop trembling.

She wanted to take a screenshot to preserve the evidence, just as she had done last time when she saw those people openly plotting.

But her hands shook uncontrollably. Not only were the screenshots of the chat history a mess, but she accidentally tapped the latest entry—a voice message from someone with a bright, loud, and noisy voice:

“Guys, I just followed the ambulance to the hospital. Holy cow, Jiang Xiyao’s parents have been signing all kinds of documents, like critical condition notices, organ donation… Sigh, she is definitely dead.”

Another picture was quickly sent below, showing an ordinary middle-aged couple.

The group chat, which should have been filled with grief, barely had any condolence candle emojis.

“Holy f*ck! I’m glad I wasn’t the one who got hit! Guess who the truck driver is? A freshman in our school, studying Foreign Languages. She couldn’t get with Jiang Xiyao, so she started taking revenge on society!”

“With all due respect to the dead, can I just say? Ever since Jiang Xiyao came to our school, it feels like everyone’s been possessed, turning into a bunch of potential outlaws. Now that she’s dead, we can finally have some peace?”

“Am I the only one who thinks her parents look really, really ordinary? How could their features combine to produce a divine beauty like Jiang Xiyao? Could she have been picked up? Adopted?”

The messages piled up, buzzing with activity.

They were using the news of Jiang Xiyao’s death to start a new round of celebration.

Pitter-patter

Tears poured from Xie Shiwei’s eyes as if they were free.

Eventually, she couldn’t even see what these people were saying. She simply kept clicking into various group chats—the freshmen group, the class group, the dorm group—stubbornly searching for a different answer.

“The person who hit people with a car at the school gate was actually You Jiayi? Holy crap! I just heard the counselor say her parents are so ashamed of her that they won’t even go to the police station. They said the police should just execute her—”

Not this one.

“Huh? Le Qiong seems to still be in emergency surgery. The hospital is calling for bl00d donors. Is anyone going? She’s tragic, too. Even if she lives, her face is ruined…”

Not this either. She didn’t want to hear this.

Xie Shiwei desperately tried to find the content she wanted to see most.

When her eyes finally caught the three characters “Jiang Xiyao.”

What she saw was: “If you ask me, since Jiang Xiyao can’t be saved anyway, why not just transplant her organs to Le Qiong? After all, if she hadn’t shown up at the school gate, Le Qiong wouldn’t have been hit and killed…”

“Thwack!”

Xie Shiwei’s phone dropped again.

But this time, she didn’t have the strength to pick it up.

As if her spine had been completely removed, she slid down the cold wall and slumped to the floor, large streams of tears flowing out onto the tile.

It was because she handed over the love letter at the school gate that Jiang Xiyao suffered this unexpected disaster, right?

So, it was all her fault.

Just like the car accident her grandfather had encountered one morning after her college entrance exam. If he hadn’t formed the habit of waking up early to walk her to school, he wouldn’t have gone out that day.

Why, why did she always end up causing the deaths of the important people around her?!

—Why wasn’t it her who died?

Xie Shiwei thought of her parents, whose faces she could never clearly recall.

Maybe she should have died with them that night… No, actually, she shouldn’t have been born into this world at all. That way, no one would have suffered misfortune because of her.

Her grandparents wouldn’t have had to skimp and save, finding ways to raise money to pull her up and send her to school during their retirement years.

Jiang Xiyao wouldn’t have met someone as terrible as her in her carefree life and been implicated in her ominous fate.

Xie Shiwei stared blankly, feeling the sharp, breath-stealing pain emanating from her chest.

Just as she wished to be killed by this pain, she suddenly met a pair of pitch-black, small eyes.

It was the green tree snake in the terrarium, slowly poking its head out.

Its condition had been very poor these last few days, and it was barely clinging to life. Zhong Chuyao had exhausted all efforts, finally telling Xie Shiwei, with a helpless tone, that she didn’t know how much longer it would live.

But now, it seemed to have regained its spirit.

It even actively and curiously nudged open the terrarium lid for the first time, exposing its head.

Meeting those equally black eyes, Xie Shiwei was momentarily reminded of Jiang Xiyao’s beautiful, soulful dark eyes.

However, she quickly snapped back to reality and put distance between herself and the snake, afraid she might scare it to death before her.

Xie Shiwei retreated while mocking herself, Ha, even the pet she chose for her friend was the same fragile, short-lived, troublesome type.

That’s right, she still had a friend, her most important best friend, Chu Chu.

—Chu Chu couldn’t get into trouble, too.

Xie Shiwei looked up at the villa that had given her shelter and infinite security, but all she could see was the ominous black energy extending from her own shadow.

She backed away in fear.

She retreated all the way to the front door. After turning the handle and leaving, she thought and thought, then took a sticky note from her backpack and posted it on the door. Biting off the pen cap, she tried her best to steady her trembling hand as she wrote.

She desperately wanted to ask Zhong Chuyao, Did she really not think she was a jinx?

But every time the words reached her mouth, seeing Zhong Chuyao’s incredibly resilient and unwavering eyes, she could guess her friend’s answer: “Don’t believe in those superstitions. I don’t believe it, and you’re not allowed to, either.”

Xie Shiwei had tried hard to obey her before.

But now, it seemed she couldn’t do it anymore.

She really was a jinx who would kill everyone around her. Now, only Chu Chu was left by her side.

Her only best friend had to live well.

So, even though she was crying, Xie Shiwei forced herself to write a cheerful message: “The nearby supermarket has a sale, I’m going home to stock up on groceries. Bye for now! Don’t worry about me. The danger has been solved (^v^) I’ll come visit again soon!”

Jiang Xiyao was dead, so those crazy fans wouldn’t go mad trying to win her affection anymore.

Xie Shiwei treasured the bracelet on her wrist, which looked sparse now that a few beads were missing.

After one last look in the direction of Zhong Chuyao’s house, she turned and left without any hesitation.

She hadn’t really thought about where to go, just wandering aimlessly on the street. But when she saw discounted beer at a supermarket entrance, Xie Shiwei had a sudden impulse and picked up a large case to check out.

She knew she was allergic to alcohol.

The day after her college entrance exam, Zhong Chuyao had asked her if she wanted to unwind like the other students. They went shopping, singing karaoke, eating barbecue, and drinking beer…

But Xie Shiwei’s face turned beet red after just a few sips of shandy. When she craved the sweetness and tried to drink more, a rash broke out on her hands, nearly scaring Zhong Chuyao to death.

Yet, now, after bringing the beer home, the first thought that popped into Xie Shiwei’s mind was:

If her allergy was severe, and she called an ambulance, could it take her to the same hospital where Jiang Xiyao was?

…

At the same time, at Zhou’s General Hospital.

“Beep————”

The piercing sound of the heart monitor, signifying death, rang out.

Le Qiong vaguely regained partial consciousness under the operating lamp, hearing voices.

“The one next door is already dead. Do we need to do a complete excision here? Is this really going to work? Most of the flesh on her face is necrotic. Even if we graft all of that… it won’t save it.”

Who? Whose face is ruined? Are they talking about her? No, no, no! Her face, her beautiful face! She had to be the campus beauty queen again, and she had to be a star later! She couldn’t be disfigured! Save her, hurry and save her!

“Drip, drip drip, drip drip drip!”

The monitor tracking Le Qiong sensed her panic and issued a sharp warning.

“Hmm? Awake? Looks like the anesthesia wasn’t enough.” At that moment, her eyelid was suddenly clamped by tweezers. Her scattered gaze reflected the doctor’s masked face leaning in: “Don’t be nervous. You won’t be disfigured.”

The doctor seemed to have mind-reading abilities. The gentle words seemed to carry a soothing, magical quality:

“Do you want to possess Jiang Xiyao’s beauty? Just sleep well. When you wake up, you’ll be the most beautiful person in the world. No one will ever steal your thunder again.”

Is that true?

Could she really possess Jiang Xiyao’s beauty?

Le Qiong thought dazedly. She belatedly realized that the surgical instruments were all working on her face. Something cold and sticky was applied layer after layer.

It felt so cool.

The flesh on her face seemed to recognize this paper-thin presence before she did.

Was it Jiang Xiyao’s face? Were they going to give her Jiang Xiyao’s face? Ah! The one who died next door was Jiang Xiyao, right! So these kind, good-hearted doctors were going to transplant Jiang Xiyao’s skin onto her?

Filled with incomparable expectation, Le Qiong drifted into a sweet dream. After the anesthesia wore off, she opened her eyes in the white hospital room, but only felt rough gauze on her eyelids.

She didn’t know where she got the strength. Impatiently, she fumbled her way toward the restroom—

After removing the layers of gauze, what appeared in the mirror was the same exquisite, flawless face she had before leaving home this morning.

No! It was even more perfect than that!

The faint blue under her eyes from staying up late that previously needed layers of concealer, the stubborn blackheads on both sides of her nose, the slightly dull skin around her lips that needed foundation, and the necessary blush on her cheeks…

In this barefaced state, all those worries were gone!

Le Qiong stared at her face, mesmerized, until the nurse who came in to check on her condition gasped: “The anesthesia just wore off. How can you get out of bed immediately? Where are your parents? How did you remove the gauze yourself…”

The rest of the words trailed off.

Because the nurse clearly saw that the patient in the plastic surgery ward didn’t even have a single surgical incision on her face.

Le Qiong smugly savored the nurse’s shock, then walked up to her, leaning over condescendingly:

“Am I pretty?”

Nurse: “…Huh?”

Le Qiong frowned and asked her: “Am I the most beautiful person you’ve ever seen? Speak.”

Her sharp eyes caught the nurse’s numb, twitching lips. Le Qiong immediately realized: It’s not enough! She definitely didn’t get enough of Jiang Xiyao’s skin! That’s why she didn’t possess that incomparable charm!

So she immediately spoke: “What about the car crash patient who was brought in with me? Where is her body?”

Le Qiong even obsessively brought up the love letter she failed to get before death: “Did any of you see the love letter near her body? Did anyone take it? Hurry and bring it to me!”

The nurse stared at her, astonished and speechless. How could this person even obsess over a dead person’s love letter?!

…

At this very moment, in the hospital morgue.

A thin piece of paper slowly emerged from the crack of a refrigerated compartment, which was being watched by countless cameras.

The moment it appeared, a thin static line appeared on the screen connected to the cameras, as if there was a malfunction.

“Is she awake? Keep a close watch. Copy this part of the video for me later.” The gentle, jade-like male voice gave the command without question.

However, the paper that was supposed to still be slowly floating out of the freezer had silently dropped to the floor outside the monitoring room. Like a breath of air, it slowly blossomed into a willowy figure.

Jiang Xiyao slowly touched her chin with her fingertips.

She wondered if it was her imagination. After her skin had been taken again, and the remaining parts were reformed, she felt her face was tightened.

As if sensing her thoughts, a piece of paper that had merged with her palm but was still not allowed to return to its original body slowly revealed its presence, showing a tendency to prop up and actively stick to her cheek.

Jiang Xiyao changed her previous disdain for this piece of skin and narrowed her eyes, accepting it completely.

But just as the paper tried its old trick, about to return to her body—

Her jade finger blocked it.

Her red lips opened and closed, silently refusing: “Not allowed, oh.”

Jiang Xiyao’s fingertip moved, easily flipping the paper over, admiring the beautiful handwriting on it.

“The first day I met you, my world became bright. The colors in my eyes are given new meaning only because of you.”

So short.

Jiang Xiyao thought, Was this piece of paper weak and not long enough, or was Xie Shiwei too impatient? Who writes a love letter with only two lines?

Selectively forgetting the fact that the love letter was originally intended for someone else, Jiang Xiyao happily made a decision. She would go to that little custard bun and, by any means necessary, make that girl write more sweet words.

Hmm, not only write, but also read them to her, line by line.

The smile on her lips deepened as she anticipated the scene.

A new conversation came from the closed door of the monitoring room next to her.

“Young Master Zhou, the lawyer for the person surnamed You at the police station asked us to bail her out, or else she will…”

The gentle voice spoke with a laugh: “Or else what? She is a cruel criminal who incited a mentally ill person to murder. To escape police pursuit, she took advantage of the lapse in our manor’s security and hid in our house.”

“I haven’t even charged her with trespassing yet—Tell the lawyer to come back. Don’t worry about her anymore. If she dares to speak carelessly, we’ll proceed as planned.”

Jiang Xiyao tilted her head.

Oh, it was that deep-scheming Zhou Jiming, who consciously controlled his inner voice.

Did the thief who stole so much of her skin have a connection with him?

Jiang Xiyao tapped the red mole on her chin, looking at the doorknob of the monitoring room. For a moment, a malicious thought crossed her mind: to suddenly appear in front of these fools who were still staring at the monitor and enjoy their terrified expressions.

Too bad.

She had more important things to do now.

Jiang Xiyao walked to the side entrance of the hospital, looking at the sky, which had darkened again and was ready to rain at any moment. She knew that if she wanted to, the raindrops wouldn’t even have a chance to settle on her perfect skin.

But as she stepped into the rain, she carefully folded the love letter and tucked it into her clothes.

The pedestrians hurriedly carrying umbrellas were inevitably stunned and mesmerized by her appearance, bathing in the rain. Jiang Xiyao ignored them all, humming a tune to herself and walking toward a certain direction.

…She remembered the name. It seemed to be, Happiness Residential Area?

Not bad. It was a good omen.

…

Half an hour later.

Happiness Residential Area, Building 10, 10th Floor.

Xie Shiwei sat by the dining table with her knees hugged, slowly pulling the tab off a beer can. With a “pop,” she smelled the beer foam rising from inside.

It smelled like it wasn’t as good as the shandy.

Thinking this, she leaned in and took a sip. As the cold liquid slid into her stomach, a surprising heat rose, making her wrinkle her face.

So bitter! So awful! No wonder this brand was on sale—

Xie Shiwei felt she might not even last long enough to trigger her alcohol allergy.

The good student, the good girl she had been all her life, found it hard to empathize with people who drank to forget their sorrows.

Xie Shiwei silently pressed her face against the cold beer bottle, then rested her head on the table, spacing out aimlessly.

One moment she was wondering if the morgue where Jiang Xiyao was kept was colder than this can of beer. The next, she was wondering if Jiang Xiyao’s parents would invite their classmates to the funeral.

Even as a black and white photo, Sister Jiang’s would surely be the most beautiful in the world, right?

Listening to the rain starting again outside, she looked at the pitch-black sky and murmured to herself, “God, you’re sad for her, too, aren’t you?”

“Ding-dong! Ding-dong!”

The doorbell rang at that moment.

Xie Shiwei’s eyes flickered, but she didn’t move.

…It must be someone who ordered takeout and accidentally rang the wrong bell, right?

She thought this and waited patiently for a while, but the doorbell didn’t stop. It even took on a sense of urgency, as if its patience was running out and it was issuing a threat.

Xie Shiwei instinctively grabbed her phone. After quietly pressing “110,” she lightened her breathing and walked cautiously toward the door.

Remembering the “peephole scare” in horror stories, she held her breath. Clenching her heart, with her finger hovering over the dial button, she suddenly and without warning yanked the front door open!

The mat outside the door was soaking wet, covered in water stains.

But even more striking was the beautiful figure standing there, completely drenched. Her black hair clung to her snow-white cheeks, and the red mole on her lip was vivid and demonic.

The beauty’s jade-like fingers were still holding the incredibly familiar piece of letter paper.

“You sent me a love letter. You want to date me, is that it, Xie Shiwei?”

Looking at the face that had appeared before her, the face that had completely stolen her soul.

—Xie Shiwei dropped her phone, opened her arms without hesitation, and rushed into her embrace.