The Senior Student (female) Is Not Human - Chapter 9

Chapter 9: Shared Sensation – [“Good girl, open up, ah—”]

Following Tang Hui’s death and the subsequent hospitalization of her parents for mental illness, those who remained at the Tang residence couldn’t help but feel uneasy. They had no appetite for breakfast and quickly sought chances to slip away.

Xie Shiwei, unable to find anyone to settle the final payment, could only comfort herself with the thought of taking a small financial loss to ward off disaster. Seeing the extravagant funeral the Tang parents held for Tang Hui, she suddenly missed her own grandparents and decided to visit the cemetery.

Under the blazing sun, Xie Shiwei’s little electric scooter crossed paths with the black Maybach into which Jiang Xiyao had been invited.

[This is great! Only a luxury car like that is worthy of Senior Wife’s beauty! A cold, cruel queen in a gorgeous dress!]

From inside the car’s one-way window, Jiang Xiyao turned to look at her.

She saw beads of sweat dripping from Xie Shiwei’s jaw, sticking to her collar.

This person, whose life seemed so miserable in contrast, why did she smile when she saw me doing so well?

Xie Shiwei was completely unaware that the person she silently adored was currently perplexed by her.

…

A Confession at the Tombstone

She went off to buy some tasty snacks and drinks she liked, and carrying photos she’d taken as a hobby at school, she headed to the suburban cemetery.

It was strange. She was a timid person, yet whenever she thought of the cemetery where the souls of her dearest relatives rested, she felt no fear, only a warm sense of longing.

Xie Shiwei had lost her parents when she was very young and was raised by her grandparents.

She was told that when she was three, her mother was accidentally killed by her father during an alcoholic rage. Her father, trying to calm down, wandered out and was later found dead in a sewage ditch after a fall. The young her was locked in the house with her mother’s corpse for an entire night.

She used the word “told” because she had no memory of her parents. She just developed a fear of seeing a lot of bl00d. The stories were just malicious gossip from idle neighbors trying to stir up trouble in front of her.

Her grandparents would chase these people away with brooms, cursing them out in harsh local dialects.

Despite living in the countryside, they protected her well, even making sure the chickens and ducks they raised were slaughtered at a neighbor’s house so she wouldn’t see it.

They rented out their barren mountain land, using the rent money for her tuition and growing food for her. When she expressed a desire to attend a city university, they gritted their teeth and bought an apartment in the city with their life savings.

The two old people originally thought they could work harder to pay off the mortgage before she graduated, giving her a safety net.

Tragically, one morning after her college entrance exam, her grandfather was hit by a car while taking a walk, and her grandmother died of grief a week later.

In front of the tombstone.

Xie Shiwei placed her school photos one by one, smiling as she quietly shared with her grandfather:

“This is the university I attend. I know you loved visiting new places—you always wanted to go to Hong Kong when you were young, but you couldn’t because of me. I’m saving money! I’ll go see it for you this winter break, okay?”

She then earnestly recommended the best new milk teas to her grandmother.

“I tried them at the store! These ones are even better than the ones you used to buy me. I know you liked these snacks and drinks, too, but you never bought them for yourself.”

A sudden gust of wind swept through the cemetery, brushing across her cheek.

It felt like they used to, stroking her face and asking her how she was doing at school.

“I’m doing well! University is much better than my old school. Everyone is kind to me. A senior I just met sponsored me with a lot of money, and my roommate even paid the cash gift for the feast, see—”

“And there’s a very beautiful senior, beautiful like a painting, who comes to keep me company whenever I get scared. She’s super nice.”

As she spoke, Xie Shiwei expected to feel the urge to cry, as she always did.

But perhaps she had grown recently and finally overcome the sorrow of missing her loved ones. From beginning to end, she smiled at her grandparents with the same playful expression she used when she was a child.

…

Unexplained Tears

At the same time.

In a revolving buffet restaurant on the top floor of a skyscraper in the city’s commercial district.

“Plop, plop”

Crystalline tears slowly spilled from a pair of gorgeous, bright eyes, tracing a path down her flawless face and splattering onto her black skirt.

The sight of the beauty weeping was so stunning that even the restaurant’s violinist stopped playing.

“Jiang… classmate, are you alright?”

Sitting across from her was a famous talent scout, looking at her with a mix of adoration and curious concern.

Jiang Xiyao initially raised an eyebrow, confused by his rambling. Only when she raised her hand and saw the water droplets on the back of it did she pause.

After a long time.

She rarely looked this bewildered. She scraped her cheek with the back of her finger, looking at the water, and thought: What is this stuff?

“Miss Jiang, did you taste something bad? Or did you suddenly remember something sad? Although I want to tell you not to cry, the scene is too beautiful right now. May I take a picture?”

The man’s tone grew increasingly fervent.

Jiang Xiyao’s heart, however, was icy.

Crying?

I don’t have tears, nor can I shed them. I never feed on the weak emotion of “grief”—

What on earth is going on?

Her confusion didn’t show on her face. Looking at the camera raised opposite her, she simply curled her lips and commanded haughtily:

“You have to make sure I look very beautiful, you know.”

Fine tears still clung to her dark eyelashes, yet her gaze was powerfully intense, as if it could pierce the camera lens.

Click.

The Polaroid slowly spat out the photo. The man shook it, satisfied to see the restaurant background and body contours gradually appear.

However, the part he most anticipated, her face, remained completely overexposed, as if the camera lens had burned through, even after he shook the photo for a full ten minutes, well past the developing time.

He stared dumbfounded for a long time. As Jiang Xiyao elegantly wiped away her tear tracks and looked at him with a sidelong glance, he stuttered: “Th-the camera seems to be broken. Sh-should we try again…”

“Useless.”

Jiang Xiyao, who had been amiable to the scout’s empty promises, changed her attitude instantly.

She mocked him: “What, do you want me to be ugly-cried by your face again? Or stupid-cried by your clumsy technique? You are worthless.”

Noticing the scout’s increasingly obsessive expression, Jiang Xiyao confirmed that her own physical nature was still normal.

Then what exactly happened just now…?

[Oh no, I forgot I still have ginger at home. If I don’t eat it, it’ll go bad. But it’s so hot. I don’t want to cook, and I don’t want to eat. Wait a minute, I can make dessert—]

[I’ll make Ginger Milk Curd. Hehe, I want to use Senior Jiang’s “juice” to curdle my own…]

The sudden, familiar internal voice made Jiang Xiyao instinctively look around.

She searched the area but couldn’t find the little custard bun anywhere.

Rethinking the content, wait, Xie Shiwei is at her own house, why can I hear her thoughts?

Jiang Xiyao felt like she was seeing a ghost for the first time in her life.

What surprised her even more was that this was just the beginning.

…

Shared Touch

That evening.

Xie Shiwei was working a part-time job close to home because she had to clean over the weekend. After work, she showered and lay in bed. Perhaps she was overtired, but she couldn’t fall asleep for a long time.

However, she had her own method for lulling herself to sleep.

Xie Shiwei turned on the small night light and looked at the elegant lipstick on her bedside table, next to a small golden stand holding a rose-red massager.

She never wore makeup.

So, when she picked up the lipstick, she just pressed a small button.

“Buzz…”

When a pleasant vibration reached her palm, Xie Shiwei made a sound of surprise: “Huh?”

She saw a piece of paper that she had accidentally knocked onto the floor.

Picking it up, Xie Shiwei examined the ancient-looking texture of the paper, wondering where it came from. She didn’t remember. The important thing was at hand.

Before her period arrived, she casually put the bookmark back on the table and went to the bathroom to carefully wash her hands and the lipstick.

Returning to the bedroom, she bashfully covered herself with the quilt, even though she was home alone.

[Hehehehe, Wife, I’m back again—]

When she heard the voice, Jiang Xiyao was sitting in a bar.

Despite the deafening rock music and the constant, filthy malice of those nearby, the custard bun’s voice seemed to be specially selected and amplified.

Worse still.

Following that voice.

Jiang Xiyao felt the skin on her body suddenly become extremely sensitive.

Although she was fully dressed, it was as if she were wearing nothing at all, slowly rubbing against the slightly coarse material of a blanket.

She had never known that her skin, one day, could genuinely feel a rich mixture of heat, itchiness, soreness, and fullness, just like a human’s.

—What is Xie Shiwei doing?!

No, what is Xie Shiwei doing to her?!

Jiang Xiyao’s expression was volatile. Her palm gripped a cold wine glass, yet her whole body felt like it was heating up.

A strange vibration suddenly appeared near her collarbone, attempting to resonate with her skin.

Jiang Xiyao looked down, certain that no visible or invisible entity dared to touch her at the moment.

Yet, she suddenly heard her own voice in Xie Shiwei’s thoughts.

[Do you like it stopping here, baby? Or do you want me to keep going down?]

Jiang Xiyao: “…?”

She knew Xie Shiwei was using her as a fantasy object again. But why would she suddenly share sensory input with Xie Shiwei?

The situation no longer allowed her to think, because Jiang Xiyao quickly heard her own voice, giving a cold, beautiful command:

[Open it yourself.]

Following that.

The area on her body corresponding to the inner thigh muscles of a human felt a soreness usually only felt during stretching or dancing, and a hint of pain that had reached its limit…

“CRACK!”

In the bar, under the gaze of everyone present.

They all watched as the beautiful woman, who was the natural focus of attention, suddenly and expressionlessly crushed the wine glass with her bare hand.

As the broken glass scattered, it sliced her delicate cheek.

A tempting streak of bl00d appeared, and the spilled wine drenched her slender fingers, dripping onto her long, flowing skirt.

However, Jiang Xiyao’s rage couldn’t frighten the timid girl who was thousands of miles away.

Jiang Xiyao quickly noticed that the terrifying vibration had suddenly stopped at a certain dangerous spot.

It was accompanied by her own low, seductive whisper:

[Good girl, open up, ah—]

Terror flashed in Jiang Xiyao’s eyes for the first time.

She even exclaimed, regardless of the setting: “No…”

But.

It was already too late.