The Senior Student (female) Is Not Human - Chapter 61
Chapter 61: The Liar
“I’m waiting for you to feed me tonight.”
Jiang Xi-yao tried to maintain her composure, standing still.
Why did Xie Shiwei suddenly remember the play after picking up a package? Who did she run into? Which gossip monger was running their mouth? How much did she find out?
“I didn’t.”
To Jiang Xi-yao’s surprise.
The girl, holding the express box, looked up and smiled, answering her initial teasing question about “sneaking a peek.”
Xie Shiwei thought of the unstable person still at the courier station, lifting her chin towards Jiang Xi-yao:
“Have I been out for five minutes? Come on, let’s go home.”
Jiang Xi-yao followed her, suspiciously, trying to listen to more of her inner thoughts, but didn’t forget to reply:
“It’s been seven and a half minutes, not just five.”
Xie Shiwei: “…”
In the elevator, neither of them spoke.
Xie Shiwei was busy thinking and didn’t notice that although Jiang Xi-yao was still following her closely, she maintained a subtle distance.
It was a distance called “guilt.”
【Could she be some kind of subject of an illegal experiment? Like those “Immortal” TV shows, a special human with extremely strong life regeneration?】
【That would make sense why she’s never mentioned her past life! Because it’s all a dark history! And she’s never mentioned her parents. Maybe her childhood was spent in a laboratory?】
Jiang Xi-yao slowly let out a sigh of relief. She was overjoyed and affirmed the thought: “Yes!”
The loud sound startled Xie Shiwei as she was opening the door, illuminating the induction light outside the corridor.
“Yes? Yes to what?”
Jiang Xi-yao continued without changing her expression: “Yes… right, I meant to ask, why did it take you so long to pick up a package? Did something happen?”
Xie Shiwei vaguely replied.
She hadn’t figured out how to approach Jiang Xi-yao about this.
An ordinary person with such a big secret would keep it hidden until death. Who would tell others? What if some laboratory heard about it and secretly captured her for research? Of course, she should live under an assumed name and be as low-key as possible!
They were only dating. Her girlfriend didn’t seem obligated to tell her such a secret.
Moreover.
【What if I pry too much, make Jiang Xi-yao feel insecure, afraid I’ll talk, and she decides to break up with me? I don’t want that kind of tragic novel plot…】
Jiang Xi-yao squeezed her lips together but couldn’t stop the corners of her mouth from curving upward.
Xie Shiwei is actually afraid of her breaking up with her?
Hmph, of course, that’s impossible!
Even if Xie Shiwei died and became a ghost, she would confine Xie Shiwei’s soul, preventing her from being reincarnated. Poor Xie Shiwei would have to forever drift back and forth inside her small, cramped body, forcefully clinging to her no matter where she bumped.
Jiang Xi-yao narrowed her eyes, even imagining the “thump-thump” sound of the girl’s soul bumping inside her empty body.
—How is that not Xie Shiwei’s heart beating for her?
Xie Shiwei didn’t know the bad dog was quietly plotting mischief.
After thinking for a while, when she looked up, her expression was filled with pity and concern:
“Is there anything special you’d like to eat recently?”
The girl unilaterally concocted a tragic childhood for the monster. The more she looked at Jiang Xi-yao’s beauty, the more she felt it was the price of misfortune.
Her affection overflowed, and she wanted to create more happy memories for her girlfriend to cover up the past.
Jiang Xi-yao seized the opportunity and answered without hesitation:
“Yes! It’s the perfect season for snow crab! I heard a new Michelin restaurant opened abroad specializing in that ingredient. I want to see if their hype is real! Let’s skip class and go eat?”
When Xie Shiwei heard the ingredients, the restaurant, and the keyword “abroad,” she seemed to see a sharp knife stabbing her wallet.
The place where the bl00d flowed, however, was her heart.
The girl’s expression remained unchanged, and she softened her voice: “Skipping class is not allowed. Think of something else.”
Jiang Xi-yao: “…” Is skipping class really the problem?
She changed her answer:
“Then how about the new luxury goods tower that just opened downtown? Afternoon tea must be okay, right?”
Xie Shiwei thought of her phone, which always pushed her into those socialite posts regardless of her budget.
Those afternoon tea bills start at five or six figures.
She stood still for a moment, feeling she didn’t deserve to feel sorry for Jiang Xi-yao.
So, she put down the packages and turned to walk towards the kitchen:
“Got it. I’ll bake a soufflé cake in a bit, pair it with a Sprite for you, and then buy some seafood for dinner, right?”
Jiang Xi-yao furiously leaped onto her back, baring her claws: “Xie! Shi! Wei!”
Stingy! This miser who always values money more than her!
Xie Shiwei felt the force of her impact but surprisingly found the weight hanging on her to be very light.
She turned around, smiling: “Don’t like it? Then forget it.”
Jiang Xi-yao angrily bit her earlobe: “Make it for me! I want to eat it!”
【Make it for you? Humph, go ahead and make it. What does it mean to just look every day and not eat?】
【Could it be that she’s incapable? The prettier the woman, the more she likes to be a vase and doesn’t want to be a hardworking top? Sure enough, a Princess Top is not ideal. If she can’t do it, I’ll put on those outfits tonight and grind on her myself?】
“Hiss.”
As the thought landed, the pressure on Xie Shiwei’s earlobe intensified.
She raised her hand and pushed Jiang Xi-yao away: “Alright, stop clinging to me in the kitchen. If you keep messing around here, we’ll both go hungry tonight.”
Jiang Xi-yao hesitated.
She thought of the pile of packages outside and was eager to eat Xie Shiwei for dinner.
However—
Pulling out that damn guy’s tongue downstairs, so he can never appear in front of Xie Shiwei again, was equally important.
As Jiang Xi-yao withdrew her hand, she seemingly unintentionally pinched Xie Shiwei’s chest once before backing away.
“Got it.”
She extended her scarlet tongue, slowly licking her lower lip, and her red mole glowed seductively:
“I’m waiting for you to feed me tonight.”
Xie Shiwei covered the tingling spot on her heart, her face flushing as she turned away, not answering but tacitly agreeing.
…
The Lie
The smell of milk grew stronger in the kitchen.
The aroma of the high-sugar, high-cream dessert filled the house. Xie Shiwei walked out:
“Jiang Xi-yao, come and eat.”
The figure who usually appeared in her sight before she finished calling her name was silent today.
“Jiang Jiang? Girlfriend?” Xie Shiwei walked around the house but didn’t find anyone: “Did she go out?”
She picked up her phone, only to hear the familiar sound of a police siren outside the balcony.
Xie Shiwei walked over, looked towards the community gate downstairs, and saw the crowd clustered like dark shadows.
A sudden dread struck her heart.
Her intuition told her that this big scene was definitely related to Jiang Xi-yao.
Xie Shiwei grabbed her phone and ran out, forgetting to change her slippers.
The “pat-pat” sound rushed out of the corridor. As she ran towards the crowd, a hand suddenly grabbed her.
“Don’t go.”
The slender figure abruptly stopped. Xie Shiwei turned her head, her face full of shock: “Chu Chu?”
She was stunned: “Why are you free today—wait a minute, I’ll tell you later, I need to go look first.”
Zhong Chuyao did not release her wrist.
On her sharp-featured face, her cool lips parted slightly: “Don’t go.”
She emphasized it again.
After a pause, Zhong Chuyao calmly narrated to her:
“I just got free today and came to find you. I ran into this as soon as I entered your community. A man ran over from a distance with a knife and stabbed a girl in the heart. She died instantly, losing a lot of bl00d.”
Zhong Chuyao looked at Xie Shiwei’s wide eyes: “You’re afraid of bl00d, aren’t you? And you’re scared of bloody and horrifying scenes, right? Don’t go over there.”
Xie Shiwei slowly and firmly pulled away from her.
“Yes, I’m still scared.”
“But Chu Chu, I have to see. My… my girlfriend just went out. I’m afraid of this scene, but I’m even more afraid that the person lying in the middle is her.”
Zhong Chuyao watched her thin body force its way into the center of the crowd, constantly repeating the word “excuse me.”
…Girlfriend?
Zhong Chuyao thought, she was too late after all.
Before the new year, Xie Shiwei still defined the monster as a “very important person” on the phone. Now, she could openly admit she was her girlfriend?
But it’s okay.
They had only just started dating. Their feelings shouldn’t be too deep. Wei Wei shouldn’t be sad for too long, right?
Zhong Chuyao recalled everything that had happened recently. She had set up a formation using the collected monster fragments to weaken the demon’s power. Now that she was here, the demon shouldn’t be able to pull off any more resurrections.
She slowly walked towards the crowd.
Zhong Chuyao didn’t need to act or speak, yet the onlookers unconsciously made way for her.
She heard a distraught scream:
“…Jiang Xi-yao?!”
Xie Shiwei knelt beside the body in the pool of bl00d, her hands and feet trembling uncontrollably, her eyes starting to swim.
“Calm down, calm down… she can still live…” She desperately recalled everything from the day of the play.
“The bl00d is fake, it’s fake, it’s ketchup. It doesn’t smell metallic…”
But the mantra that worked so well that day failed this time.
The overpowering smell of rust surged into her nostrils, awakening the human instinctual fear of discovering a corpse of their own kind.
Xie Shiwei fiercely pinched her thigh, closed her eyes, and leaned her ear toward Jiang Xi-yao’s chest.
The body was still delicate and slightly cool, with a faint, exotic fragrance lingering around it. It seemed that life and death did not affect her charm.
Some people nearby were even whispering:
“Really dead? So beautiful, what a pity she died.”
“She must be dead. That long knife, I watched it pierce through and be pulled out. No one could survive that! But this girl is indeed beautiful. I’ve never seen anyone die, but why is this corpse so beautiful?”
“Yeah, such a beautiful body… a waste to cremate…”
The voices were like flies, buzzing and distracting Xie Shiwei. She listened for a moment with her eyes closed, then couldn’t help but stand up and say:
“Shut up! Stop talking! I can’t hear her heartbeat!”
It must be because her severe myopia is affecting her hearing! Or does she need to wait? What are the settings for the immortal characters in TV shows? Think, you stupid brain!
She crouched down again, pressing her ear hard against the woman’s chest.
With her palms placed one over the other, Xie Shiwei recalled the CPR techniques from her part-time job training. She decided to keep going until Jiang Xi-yao woke up.
Zhong Chuyao walked up behind her, her eyes lowered, gazing at her friend’s rarely seen display of forcefulness.
She didn’t stop Xie Shiwei.
With her presence, this demon wouldn’t be able to perform her “resurrection” trick.
She wanted this demon to experience “death” right under Xie Shiwei’s nose, and then have the body completely consumed by fire in the crematorium.
She wanted this monster to be unable to disguise herself as human and deceive Xie Shiwei’s emotions ever again.
Zhong Chuyao hadn’t originally planned to come in person. She had heard about the incident at Xie Shiwei’s school.
Despite the demon revealing so many flaws, she was still able to trick Xie Shiwei with clever words.
Well, Wei Wei is such a kind person, she’s always easily fooled.
She didn’t blame Xie Shiwei for not noticing the demon’s abnormality. After all, her friend was just an ordinary person, and this demon, born from the malice of the world and hidden in the prosperous world, had the natural talent to lie.
“Di-du di-du di-du…”
The ambulance finally arrived late.
The doctor rushed to the body, and the nurse pulled Xie Shiwei aside: “Are you family? You can leave the rest to us.”
Xie Shiwei’s knees were weak as she stood up, causing her to stagger.
Zhong Chuyao supported her arm from behind: “Wei Wei, calm down. Don’t be too sad.”
Xie Shiwei shook her head, her breathing loud, her chest feeling leaky. She insisted to the doctor:
“Doctor, please save her quickly. She, she’s very resilient. She won’t die, right? The bleeding… she didn’t lose too much bl00d. She can still live, right?”
Sweat beaded on the doctor’s forehead. He didn’t stop his emergency procedures, only yelling for the nurse not to move him, but to lift him onto the ambulance with the stretcher.
Zhong Chuyao stayed by Xie Shiwei’s side the entire time.
Getting on the ambulance, waiting outside the ICU emergency room, the doctor declaring “no response to resuscitation,” issuing the death certificate…
A specialized worker hovered near the emergency room, seizing the opportunity to rush over: “Hello, proxy funeral services, corpse transportation, one-stop crematorium service, are you interested?”
Xie Shiwei was trembling, looking at the death certificate.
Zhong Chuyao gave the man a look, signaling him to leave first.
She gently covered Xie Shiwei’s eyes with her hand, her usually cool voice now much softer:
“If you’re really sad, close your eyes and sleep for a while.”
“You’ll forget her when you wake up.”
“I’ll take care of everything for you, just like when your grandparents passed away.”
Xie Shiwei shook her head, her stubborn appearance exactly like it was back then.
“It’s not that, Chu Chu…” Her tears finally flowed.
“She’s different. She just likes to play tricks to scare me. She won’t really die. She told me she has a tough life and will live longer than me…”
Zhong Chuyao sneered internally.
A demon born from filthy desire, does she dare talk about eternal life?
She watched the fragmented light in Xie Shiwei’s eyes and felt her friend’s grip on her coat corner, like a desperate lifeline.
“But Wei Wei, everyone dies.”
Zhong Chuyao gently revealed the cruel truth: “No one is immortal. She was just unlucky and encountered an accident today.”
She watched the light in Xie Shiwei’s eyes dim little by little.
“This is not your fault.” Zhong Chuyao comforted her familiarly: “She broke the promise she made to you.”
“You’re still young, Wei Wei. You’ve only been dating for a few days. Don’t give too much. It’s not good for you. You have a long life ahead of you. Cry if you need to. Forget her after you’ve cried. Okay?”
Xie Shiwei’s tears flowed uncontrollably.
The rift in her chest widened, and something was collapsing inward in darkness.
It kept collapsing.
Her body also started to slide down.
But Zhong Chuyao supported her, preventing her from falling onto the cold hospital floor.
Xie Shiwei cried until she couldn’t open her eyes. She wanted to say so much more for Jiang Xi-yao, but Zhong Chuyao couldn’t bear to watch any longer and knocked her out.
…
The Curse
When she woke up again, Xie Shiwei saw a cremation certificate.
Zhong Chuyao stood by her bedside, her tone calm: “I personally supervised the team that took her to the incinerator, burned her to ashes, and the funeral will be held in seven days. I found a professional team. Is there anything specific you’d like to arrange?”
Xie Shiwei opened her eyes, staring at the paper.
Her eyes were very red. Her severely myopic eyes weren’t suited for continuous crying, and her tear ducts were dry now.
“…The person in this black and white photo is so beautiful.”
A hoarse, nasal voice emerged. She turned her head and looked at Zhong Chuyao by the bed:
“Chu Chu, who is this person?”
Zhong Chuyao snatched the paper away like lightning, looking at her hesitantly: “Wei Wei, you… don’t remember?”
Xie Shiwei tilted her head, looking at her: “Remember what?”
The girl looked up at the warmly decorated room: “This place is very luxurious, but it seems like a hospital room, right? What happened to me this time? Did I fall or—”
“Nothing happened.” Zhong Chuyao quickly interrupted her, showing a relieved smile: “You were just scared while watching a horror movie at my house. I was worried about you, so I brought you here for a check-up.”
Xie Shiwei: “Oh…”
She mumbled: “I actually dared to watch a horror movie at your house? Seeing your pile of snakes is scary enough.”
Zhong Chuyao crumpled the cremation certificate into a ball of scrap paper behind her back.
She smiled at Xie Shiwei: “My mother recently hired a servant who accidentally mirrored the movie to the outside TV. You were scared as you walked by.”
Xie Shiwei pulled the blanket over her face, sighing vaguely:
“I’m so timid.”
Zhong Chuyao looked at her two swollen, goldfish-like eyes: “Alright, you rest well. I’ll go order you some food. Don’t wander off. I won’t feel at ease until the test results come back.”
With that, Zhong Chuyao tiptoed out, and the door closed, muffling the sound of her asking the nurse how to reduce the swelling in Xie Shiwei’s eyes.
Inside the hospital room.
The sudden silence allowed Xie Shiwei to slowly lower her eyelids.
She strained her ears toward the door, waiting for a long time, but she never heard the expected noise and the arrogant figure rushing in with a loud voice to scold her:
“Xie Shiwei, are you trying to use amnesia as an excuse to dump me again?”
No.
Nothing.
Even though she pretended to have amnesia, deliberately trying to provoke the bad dog, the fierce, frantic rebuttal never came.
Xie Shiwei raised the back of her hand and covered her eyes.
The tears she had held back earlier, not wanting to worry her best friend, slid down her cheeks again.
“Liar.”
She cursed quietly.
The girl who had just confided in her friend about her own timidity felt angrier and angrier in that moment.
She suddenly wanted to rush into the crematorium, pick up Jiang Xi-yao’s urn, and shake it fiercely, demanding to know why the bad dog had lied—
Why did she lie and tell her she had a tough life and would live a long time?
Why did she play tricks again and again, allowing her to slowly accept and adapt to the sight of her covered in wounds?
And why, when she finally believed the girl wouldn’t die, did she actually die to prove her wrong?
She could have been so overwhelmed with grief that she would have forgotten this liar and this sad past entirely.
But now.
Her fear acceptance threshold had been raised step by step. She had lost the right to forget.
Xie Shiwei could never forget Jiang Xi-yao again.
She would carry all the memories of this person with her, until old age, until death.
It turned out that when the one she loved died, whether she forgot or remembered, that name would become the curse that accompanied Xie Shiwei for the rest of her life.