The Senior Student (female) Is Not Human - Chapter 43

Chapter 43: Retaliation (Deep Water Plus Update for Word Maya)

“My…”

“Beep—Beep—”

What an annoying sound.

As Xie Shiwei’s consciousness returned, she heard the unwelcome sound of the heart monitor and anxiously tried to recall:

Who was in the hospital this time? Who close to her? Grandpa? Grandma? Chu Chu?

She suddenly opened her eyes and met the cold, stern face of a girl standing by the bed.

“You’re awake?” Zhong Chu-yao put down her phone and frowned at her.

“Didn’t we agree that you wouldn’t run off to dangerous places alone? Do you know I almost died of fright when I saw you at the police station entrance? I can’t even imagine what you would have done alone if I hadn’t happened to run into you!”

Zhong Chu-yao still felt a chill recalling the earlier scene.

As her mother had said, the Zhou family had indeed come to them, asking for help to reverse the recent run of bad luck in their household.

Recently, the Zhou family’s winery had been sealed off, their new products were embroiled in a massive lawsuit, and the internet was flooded with negative articles about them. Famous influencers led the charge, claiming their product’s ingredients were toxic, and the company’s stock price plummeted!

When the Zhou family patriarch came seeking help, distraught, he complained: “Master, please help us examine the feng shui of our ancestral grave and residence. It must be our competitors using underhanded means! Just name your price; whatever it takes to break this bad luck, we’ll pay!”

But after circling their estate, Zhong Chu-yao only saw the aura of ruin brought on by their own self-destructive choices.

After her mother finished the ritual, Zhong Chu-yao used the pretext of inquiring about a matter at the police station. She drove into the municipal hall with an air of righteousness, and upon learning the Zhou family was already under investigation, she unceremoniously provided a stack of additional materials!

Who knew that right as she left.

Zhong Chu-yao saw a sedan speeding in. The driver crawled out of the seat, screaming hysterically:

“A ghost! I was hit by a ghost wall! Police officer, please save me, woo-woo-woo! Let your badge shine on me!”

She casually inquired, “What’s going on?”

“I was driving a passenger out of the city. I looked back, and a fainted girl suddenly appeared out of nowhere in the back seat! I couldn’t even touch her! I didn’t dare to dump her. I want to go to the west of the city, but as soon as I get on the highway, I come off, and as soon as I get on, I come off! Police officer, save me!”

Zhong Chu-yao hadn’t seen such a brazen supernatural incident in a long time.

She immediately leaned her head over, full of interest, to look at the back seat.

The result was a shock!

The female officer who came out with her was also puzzled: “Huh? Isn’t that the young woman who reported the arson case in the suburbs this afternoon? She was also the one who reported the case at the Zhou family hospital last time. The beat cop just mentioned she refused their ride back. What happened to her?”

Hearing this, Zhong Chu-yao became instantly anxious. Without a word, she rushed Xie Shiwei to the hospital and ordered a complete physical examination.

The bl00d test and CT scan showed no problems, but the person wouldn’t wake up.

Zhong Chu-yao felt this symptom was familiar. It was very similar to someone who had experienced a massive blow and was unwilling to face it—when the tension finally broke after her grandparents’ funeral, Xie Shiwei had slept for three days.

But.

She was perfectly fine, and they had only been apart for a few days. Who could have made her like this?

Zhong Chu-yao stared at the faint black energy cloud surrounding her sleeping friend’s face.

—It was the same as the one hovering over the Zhou family estate.

Looking further back, after Zhong Chu-yao had crossed cities overnight to visit Xie Shiwei’s university and spent a night sleeping with her in the wilderness, she had encountered a certain walking monster on campus. The black energy that obscured its face was exactly the same as this.

The answer was painfully obvious.

Her mother’s words rang in Zhong Chu-yao’s ears as she left the Zhou family:

“The Zhou family brought this doom upon themselves. The fiend they provoked is one I’ve only read about in ancient texts. The Painted Skin is a demon born naturally from human lust and evil. As long as the evil of the human world doesn’t dissipate for a moment, it will never die.”

“These merchants, driven by desire, actually decided to mess with it? No one can ever be the master of desire. Chu Chu, even you must stay far away if you see it. This Painted Skin carries too deep a karma.”

But Zhong Chu-yao was only preoccupied with the familiar handwriting she had seen in the Zhou family’s youngest son’s study.

And the child’s seemingly casual introduction:

“These are the notes left by my tutor, her name is Xie Shiwei. Speaking of which, it’s strange. The day she left, the statue in my older brother’s collection cabinet also went missing.”

“Master, could it be that my house attracted something unclean that followed that Teacher Xie? Please, you can’t abandon us. I beg you! You must perform rites for all those things!”

At that moment, merely worried for Xie Shiwei’s safety, she couldn’t help but interrupt her mother:

“How can there be an immortal demon in this world? Mom, do you genuinely not know how to destroy it, or are you just choosing not to tell me?”

And now.

All of Zhong Chu-yao’s worries had materialized. Seeing her best friend’s aura so deeply entangled with that monster, her anger shot straight to the top of her head!

It wasn’t until she looked at her friend’s pale face that she managed to restrain her temper: “Weiwei, who tricked you into going to the suburbs to collect rent?”

Xie Shiwei blinked.

Then, she smiled guiltily at her friend: “Hehe, I don’t remember.”

Zhong Chu-yao’s imminent explosion of rage suddenly caught in her throat!

She hesitated, then finally asked with a helpless expression, “What do you remember, then? Tell me everything you’ve been doing recently, starting from the last time you disobeyed me and secretly ran away from my house—”

She couldn’t help but reach out and poke the girl’s forehead:

“You. You said you were busy working and earning money for New Year’s and didn’t have time to hang out with me. Is this how you earn money? You almost lost your life just to collect rent? You wanted to give me an unforgettable New Year’s gift, didn’t you?”

Xie Shiwei obediently lowered her head, not daring to speak even though her forehead was turning red.

Zhong Chu-yao’s scolding made perfect sense, because she also didn’t know why she would go to the suburbs alone to collect rent, when she knew she had an unlucky constitution.

Moreover, the person renting her land ran a haunted house. How could she dare to go inside? Even grabbing a random classmate would have been better than going by herself, right? Why didn’t she call Chu Chu?

Xie Shiwei reflected deeply, and the words tumbled out:

“Well, at that time, I saw the supermarket had a sale, and I left you a note before I left, didn’t I? Didn’t you take a picture to show me? After that, I was just going to school and working, and then studying at home for the holiday…”

“During a break, I checked my phone and saw that the tenant hadn’t replied before, so I thought since it was a holiday, I’d go take a look? And since it was far, I just took a taxi?”

Zhong Chu-yao asked meaningfully, “Did you meet anyone new during this time?”

She remembered.

Her mother had also said that the Painted Skin collects human evil and desire and is prone to human vices like vanity, love of beauty, and snobbery. A character so vividly drawn would surely leave an indelible mark on her best friend’s life.

Xie Shiwei looked at her blankly and shook her head: “No.”

“Chu Chu, why do you ask that? Oh, I know!” Xie Shiwei looked at her with a smile: “Are you worried that I secretly made new friends and didn’t tell you? I would never!”

The girl on the hospital bed raised her right little finger and wiggled it in front of Zhong Chu-yao.

“Want to pinky swear? I pick my friends based on you as the standard. If someone as good as you appears, I definitely have to introduce you. You guys would become good friends too! I swear!”

Zhong Chu-yao looked at that pearly-white little finger.

After a long time, she asked another question: “What about a partner?”

Zhong Chu-yao spoke abruptly: “You like girls, don’t you? Who have you been dating?”

She had known her friend’s sexual orientation since the first day she read Xie Shiwei’s fate.

But all along, since Xie Shiwei didn’t mention it, she pretended not to know, only secretly researching what she, as a straight girl, needed to be mindful of when being close friends with a lesbian, so as not to cause any misunderstanding.

But at this moment, Zhong Chu-yao suddenly regretted maintaining that inexplicable distance.

It had deprived her of many opportunities to further investigate Xie Shiwei’s thoughts.

It was all her negligence that allowed a fiend to exploit a loophole in Xie Shiwei’s isolated life!

She should have always, always been with Xie Shiwei, in whatever form! As long as Xie Shiwei needed her, she should have been there!

But the person sitting on the hospital bed only blushed and replied awkwardly:

“Huh? Chu Chu, you know I… that’s right, I haven’t dated, and I do have lesbian tendencies—”

“But, but I’m not the kind of person who would secretly date and not tell you! If I had a partner, I would definitely make her take you out to eat. Ahhh, are you mad because I haven’t looked for you recently?”

Xie Shiwei raised her hand to pull on Zhong Chu-yao’s sleeve.

Zhong Chu-yao paused, surprised by her sudden movement.

But Xie Shiwei was oblivious, shaking the sleeve: “Don’t be mad, good Chu Chu. I won’t be greedy for money again next time. I’ll call you for everything, okay? I’ll buy you dinner? What do you want to eat?”

The atmosphere in the hospital room was warm and friendly, but the sight, reflected in a pair of black eyes outside the room, brewed a dark storm.

Xie. Shi. Wei—!

‘Bleep’, ‘Bleep’

Jiang Xi-yao stood in the crowd. The prying, covetous, and greedy gazes surging from all directions continuously transformed into dark energy pouring towards her. Yet, the sound of her skin tearing never stopped.

She would never forget that scene.

Xie Shiwei had sweetly coaxed her out on the mountain, sincerely promising that no matter what she looked like or how badly she was injured, she would take her home.

But when she tentatively showed only half her face, what she saw was a smile that instantly froze.

The next second, that face turned pale.

Xie Shiwei, like all humans who see the true face of the Painted Skin, let out a sharp, disbelieving shriek of agony, her body swayed, and she immediately passed out!

Jiang Xi-yao thought, she was so stupid, truly.

Her kind had clearly warned her never to trust humans, never to encounter that most special prey, and certainly not to let it move her heart, but she hadn’t listened!

“I truly wish you would never experience the moment when the extreme love from the person you cherish, which torments you constantly, turns into extreme fear and disgust on the day they discover your true face.”

“That most delicious food will only appear on the day your heart shatters.”

The words branded in her memory, when she thought of them now, no longer recalled the sense of perfect control.

She was even more ridiculous than her kind.

She hadn’t even experienced Xie Shiwei’s extreme love, hadn’t even felt the sweet torment it caused, and yet she was already facing that fear and disgust firsthand.

She should have devoured Xie Shiwei a long time ago—

On the very first day they met.

Jiang Xi-yao couldn’t articulate her feelings as she stopped the taxi for the unconscious girl, and then watched the taxi drive towards the safest place—the police station.

She told herself she just wanted to wait for Xie Shiwei to wake up. She wanted to appear in her true form before Xie Shiwei one more time, to personally witness the most delicious fear this person would show.

Then, Jiang Xi-yao would bite and chew her bones piece by piece, drink her cooling bl00d, taste her heart and liver without mercy, and swallow her, person and soul!

She never wanted to hear any more sweet nothings from that mouth. All she wanted was to hear Xie Shiwei’s eternal wailing, regret, and suffering!

Until her soul, too, was tormented into oblivion within her own skin!

“Weiwei, why are you lying and hiding things from me? She must know that fiend. Why won’t she tell me?”

“No, the divination shows she isn’t lying… How can that be? She really doesn’t know her? Impossible! The energy around her face couldn’t possibly be just a casual acquaintance with that creature. Wait, could she have forgotten the fiend?”

“The only people she has forgotten so far are her parents. Did she only manage to painfully hold onto the memory of her grandparents’ passing with great effort? Why would she suddenly forget that fiend?”

“Even with the most terrifying incidents before, she only experienced temporary amnesia. This complete memory erasure… was that fiend that important to her? Does she love her that much? Forget it, she should never remember her, and I won’t let her remember her.”

Jiang Xi-yao’s thoughts came to an abrupt halt because of that inner monologue.

Then came a fresh surge of anger—

Xie Shiwei’s friend was just as bad as her! She was actually helping Xie Shiwei lie?

Ha? Love?

The most ridiculous thing.

Xie Shiwei used this kind of pretense to deceive her time and time again. She would never believe her again.

She would kill both of these creatures!

“Why did you forget me again? I am your love, look, this is our marriage certificate…”

The noise transmitted at close range intruded into Jiang Xi-yao’s ears.

She looked to the side coldly and saw an elderly woman with silver hair pushing a wheelchair, leaning over and patiently telling something to another old woman, then pulling out a plastic bag and offering photos and letters to the other party.

However, the woman in the wheelchair only pushed her chair away quickly, defensively.

The silver-haired woman chased after her for two steps. After watching her return to her family, she finally had a moment to explain to the people around her:

“Excuse me, excuse me. My wife, she has amnesia. Don’t let my age fool you; I’ve courted her over a hundred times, and it’s a new romance every time!”

She walked forward with her hands behind her back, smiling: “It’s fine if she forgets. It’s better that way. Ah, when we both pass away, and she passes the Three Lives Stone, how much fun will she think she had, seeing all those romances we shared?”

“I need to think carefully about what new identity I should fabricate this time to trick her into joining me for square dancing in a few days.”

Jiang Xi-yao lowered her eyes and stood motionless.

She suddenly thought of a better way to retaliate.

…

Half an hour later. Inside the hospital room.

Zhong Chu-yao heard the hospital security guard call to urge her to move her car, as it was blocking the road. She reluctantly left, asking Xie Shiwei what she wanted to eat and promising to bring it back for dinner.

Xie Shiwei sat on the edge of the bed, swinging her legs: “Then I’ll wait for you to bring dinner back. After we eat, I’ll go through the discharge procedures?”

Her friend only left a brief reply: “No rush. You’re staying another night. Some reports aren’t back yet.”

Xie Shiwei said okay.

Since she hadn’t stayed in such a luxurious private room before, she curiously wandered around the room, but then heard the lively sound of gossip from outside:

“Wow! A girl so pretty could be a celebrity. How did she also run into a heartless man? That’s too much!”

“Who is it? He cheated on you and abandoned you, and now he won’t even see you? Tell us, we’ll get angry for you!”

“Yeah, bullying such a beautiful woman, is he even human?!”

Xie Shiwei’s little gossip ears perked up.

She unconsciously walked to the door, hesitated for a few seconds, but couldn’t help but peek out—

Where was the beauty? Let her see.

She wanted to see who was so stunning yet had a love-obsessed brain.

Xie Shiwei stealthily peered out the door.

But in the next second, she froze.

In the crowd, a woman discreetly wiped the corner of her eye. Her black hair flowed over her shoulder like high-quality satin.

Although everyone else was bathed in the hospital’s sterile white light, only the layer of the image where she stood seemed to shimmer. As her eyes moved, a pink hormonal aura seemed to fill the air.

Xie Shiwei was stunned.

What made her even more dumbfounded was that when those pitch-black eyes crossed the crowd and met hers, the beautiful focal point who had just captivated a crowd of passersby with her acting suddenly paused:

“Who told you my partner is a man?”

“I’m dating a girlfriend.”

After she spoke, Xie Shiwei saw a pearly-white fingertip point across the crowd, directly at her.

As gazes from all directions converged on her, she shrunk her neck, but a thought popped up in her mind inappropriately:

【What a beautiful hand. It’s so suitable for manicures, for those long, authoritative nails, yet the nails are trimmed so neatly—Wow, so virtuous, so suitable to be a Top (T/N: Slang for a dominant partner in a lesbian relationship).】

The moment the thought appeared.

She also heard the beauty’s voice:

“There.”

“This is my girlfriend.”

Having said that, Jiang Xi-yao slowly pursed her red lips at her, a pitiful expression appearing on her face:

“Xie Shiwei, are you trying to use amnesia as an excuse to dump me again?”

The pair of black eyes feigning distress, however, revealed a chilling determination to possess.

Whether through lies or deceit, Jiang Xi-yao was going to have this person no matter what.

Since Xie Shiwei was always trying to deceive her repeatedly, this time, it was her turn to use love to deceive.

—She was going to trick this foolish prey into falling deeply in love with her.

Until the moment Xie Shiwei loved her the most, Jiang Xi-yao would once again reveal her true face, and then completely devour this most delicious, most delectable creature, bone and soul.