Volume 3
140 The Walls Have Eyes
I only left the Western District with Si Luo and Jiao S after Tao Lie and Mu Li arrived and finished discussing matters with Jie Pa.
We ran at moderate speed, since Si Luo did not seem to like rus.h.i.+ng.
The silence throughout our journey made me a little gloomy, and I felt that the combination of our team was rather weird. Jiao S and Si Luo, Si Luo and Gaoqin Jiuye, Gaoqin Jiuye and I.
No matter how we are grouped, it seems quite shocking as long as the four of us were together.
Gaoqin Jiuye had a cold expression throughout, probably because he always had a hostile att.i.tude towards Jiao S, or maybe because Mi Fu"s sudden disappearance made him worry about Si Luo"s condition.
Someone in the group finally spoke after we pa.s.sed the Western District and reached the border forest in Jiao S"s Eastern District. It was Si Luo who spoke.
Si Luo"s long, silver hair formed a perfect, dazzling silver line as he ran, and I could not pull my gaze away from how he looked as his hair fell across his shoulders as he stopped.
He turned back, smiling at Jiao S. "The Eastern District is always so orderly under your command."
Something flashed past Jiao S"s eyes, but she did not respond. Right after Si Luo spoke, five spidermen lowered themselves from the tree in front of us.
Yes, these five are among those ten cute spidermen…
This scene was too much for me, and I rested my forehead in my palm to prevent myself from taking in the scene.
"District Commander, you"re back!"
There were five voices, and there were only eyes and mouths to be seen under those masks.
Jiao S moved her neck stiffly, nodding. "Where"s Feng, Huo and Lei?"
"District Commander, Lord Feng led the other five to the border on the other side, and Lord Lei is settling Eastern District matters on level 30 of the Residence where you live. Lord Huo is currently gathering the rest from the S Clan, possibly for training." The leader of the spidermen spoke.
"Right, no need to bother them about this, I"m just pa.s.sing by this time. Tao Lie and Mu Li are both in the Western District now. Same rules apply, protect the East-West border and the South-East border, and once Tao Lie summons you guys to help out in the Western District, go immediately."
"Yes, District Commander!"
All of them answered at once without any hesitation, as if they received training in the army.
Just that, these were a bunch of well-trained spidermen…
Jiao S addressed the rest of us, "How about resting for the night in the Eastern District"s Academy? We won"t make it in time if we were to head for the Southern District now anyway, it"s going to be dark soon."
I suddenly thought of something, and abruptly asked Gaoqin Jiuye, "Right, Gaoqin Jiuye, why were you able to cross the border at night the first time I saw you?"
Jiao S"s pupils seemed to grow big, as if I reminded her of her suspicions, and she looked toward Gaoqin Jiuye for an answer.
Gaoqin Jiuye"s gaze remained cold as he looked at me, smiling with malice. "Because I"m a soul splitter."
Jiao S and I looked at each other, then we both looked at Si Luo.
Si Luo laughed in his elegant manner. "That"s right, soul splitters are not restricted by the borders."
As if we had telepathy, Jiao S and I looked at each other again. Though Jiao S could not pull herself out of her love for Si Luo, I know she is a very rational person, and her love would be rational as well.
A rational love is true love. Because of this, I believe that her suspicions were the same as mine at this very moment.
However, we could not voice our suspicions now as we were faced with two soul splitters whose abilities were far above us, and one of them was even my soul splitter.
What I suspected was that, if soul splitters had such power, did it mean that everything in the Split Zone was an elaborate set controlled by them?
Si Luo suddenly looked at me with those white, misty eyes. "Still remember our agreement right. Don"t worry, your questions will be answered when it"s time."
Jiao S gave me a questioning look. It was obvious she wanted to know what my agreement with Si Luo was.
I sighed inwardly. There was no way I could tell her that your lover"s agreement with me was for me to kill him when he wanted to die someday.
Therefore, I gave her a look that said, Don"t worry, I"ll tell you when I get the chance.
Sometimes, consolation is also a form of deception.
When the victim finally realizes they have been deceived, they seldom look upon it as a kind lie, but rather, just a lie.
"Though the two of us are not restricted by the borders, the both of you would be. It"s not too late if we rest for a night in the Eastern District and set off tomorrow morning either." Si Luo was the one who made the final decision, and the rest of us agreed in silence.
Jiao S roomed with me and Si Luo roomed with Gaoqin Jiuye in the Eastern District Academy building. Even though we were two pairs of males and female, two males stayed in a room, and two females stayed in a room.
The four of us were a perfect description of the phrase "true love can only be found with someone of the same s.e.x". (T/n: A modern phrase in Chinese, it is sometimes used sardonically. It says that couples got together just to produce offspring and that real, true love can only be found with someone of the same s.e.x.)
What is weirder is that Jiao S disguised herself under a bamboo hat, as if she did not want to be recognized by her residents. She told me that many of them recognized her, and many still think that her absence was because she was still investigating the death of her B-rank officer. She did not want to let her residents know that she is trying to uncover the secret of the Split Zone, so that everyone can leave.
The people in the Eastern District were quite different from those in the Western and Southern District. Most of them were always up for fights and they were relatively more ambitious. Because of this, they might not want to return that badly. Even though Jiao S might have gotten tired of the killing and the fights in the Split Zone, it did not mean that the Eastern District residents felt the same, since they have also been living here for a while. Before she gets to the bottom of that experiment, it might be a better decision to keep this a secret.
I thought it still looked awkward with that bamboo hat of hers. It seemed like not many recognized Si Luo and Gaoqin Jiuye, and probably not that many recognized me either. The four of us - a stunningly beautiful man was rooming with a malicious, cold man, while a bright, fiery red girl was rooming with a lady in a bamboo hat.
Even in such a place like the Split Zone, a weird combination like this would probably set some tongues wagging.
The glum me had no choice but to awkwardly enter the same room with Jiao S under the curious gazes of the peculiar-looking Eastern District residents.
"You need to sleep. You haven"t been sleeping for days, it just won"t do. You think I can go against both Si Luo and Gaoqin Jiuye at the same time?" Jiao S finally took off her bamboo hat in the room.
I laughed bitterly. "It"s not that I don"t want to sleep, I can"t fall asleep."
Jiao S put her bamboo hat on the table, looking at me with her huge eyes. "Because of Nie Zun?"
She knows me really well.
I nodded helplessly.
"Well…" A tiny, feminine smile appeared on Jiao S"s usually emotionless face. "I"ve always wanted to ask you this. Do you love Nie Zun?"
I choked a little on the water in the gla.s.s which I poured for myself.
My lips froze for a second.
Love…?
"Why do you ask this?" I looked down, placing the gla.s.s back onto the table.
"You"re different from me in this sense. I dare to love and hate with pa.s.sion, how about you? Even in the Split Zone, there won"t be that much of a difference in a relations.h.i.+p between a man and a woman. I won"t believe it if you say your relations.h.i.+p with Nie Zun is purely platonic," Jiao S said confidently.
But what"s the point of saying all this now? So what if I answered that it"s love, how would that change anything? He has already left, and no one knows where he is.
What right do I have to love someone? I hoped that there would be a nice beginning and ending to my love. The previous person I loved, who was the only person I loved, had his life cut short personally by me. I ended that love.
For someone who couldn"t even solve her own mental problems, how do I even begin to think about who I love just like other normal women?
My love for Gao Qi isn"t dead either, so where do I even begin talking about falling in love with somebody else?
"Could you treat this question seriously?" Jiao S looked me in the eye.
I smiled. "This suggestion isn"t great, you might as well suggest for me to force myself to fall asleep."
Jiao S looked me up and down a few times before finally smiling. "Maybe your suggestion is better."
I might have wanted to avoid the question, so I walked over to the bottom bunk and lay down.
My heart skipped a beat when Jiao S went up to the top bunk. It reminded me of how Nie Zun went up to the top bunk, something which I have never put too much attention on.
My eyes started to tear. I hated myself like this. I turned and faced the wall.
I thought I would be able to sleep for the first time after being separated from Nie Zun after a long time of staring at that white wall, but that did not happen.
After a few moments of stunned silence, I cried out, still facing the wall.
"Ah—!"
I got down from the bed and stood up, keeping my eyes on that particular spot in the wall I was previously looking at.
"What"s wrong?" Jiao S jumped down from the top bunk and walked over to me.
I pulled on her sleeve. "Is your Academy building haunted?"
She waved a palm in front of my face. "What"re you talking about, Li Shen. This is the Split Zone, where do you find ghosts here?"
I pointed at the wall in a daze. "That, that wall. It"s there, look."
Jiao S bent down to have a clearer look at that particular spot I was pointing at.
I pointed at this tiny hole, which for some reason, existed in the wall. When I lay down and faced that wall, I saw an eye in there.