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墨書 Inktalez
At four in the morning, the world was shrouded in darkness, and the stairwell of the apartment building was even darker. It was a closed structure, with each floor's hallway exit being a spring-loaded door that required considerable force to push open. The moment the door opened, a faint light seeped in, but once it was closed, the stairwell was immediately engulfed by darkness.
In the stairwell, a mass of darkness began to stir slowly. Clearly, there was someone in the shadows.
His footsteps were light as he moved through the dark staircase, eventually stopping on the twentieth floor.
He took out a flashlight from his pocket, switched it on, and the beam emitted a strong light that spread into a bright halo several meters away.
He raised the flashlight and slowly illuminated the door number, finally stopping in front of door number 2005. He placed something down and quietly turned to leave.
Today, July 15th, was Qi Luoling's 24th birthday.
As per tradition in previous years, she usually celebrated with her parents and husband, and today would be no exception.
At seven in the morning, before she had even gotten out of bed, her mother called to wish her a happy birthday and arranged to have dinner together that evening to celebrate her.
After getting up, she opened her phone to find birthday wishes flooding in from her colleagues.
Qi Luoling was a language teacher at a Private School. Due to weakness after a miscarriage, she had specifically taken three months of sick leave. The school administration was very considerate of her; a substitute teacher had already been arranged so she could focus on her recovery.
After breakfast, Aunt Wang prepared to head to the market early to get ready for dinner that evening. Her parents were coming over for a lavish birthday feast.
Qi Luoling also needed to go to a nearby bakery to pick up the cake that Gu Tianye had ordered for her. Since he had to undergo surgery that morning, she had to go pick it up herself.
While she was changing into clothes for going out in her room, she suddenly heard Aunt Wang shout loudly from outside.
Startled, she rushed out of her room in disarray and saw Aunt Wang standing at the security door. She quickly asked loudly, "What happened? Aunt Wang?"
The nanny Aunt Wang turned around, her face pale as ash, pointing outside with trembling hands. In a panicked voice, she said, "Little Qi, there's something outside... something outside."
"What is it?" Qi Luoling asked in surprise.
"You... you should go take a look."
What could be outside that would make Aunt Wang so panicked?
Gathering her courage, she walked to the door. It turned out there was a plastic doll at the entrance, but its appearance was somewhat creepy.
The doll was entirely rock-white, with golden hair, and many parts were stained green. It had two large black eye sockets but no eyeballs. Its mouth was wide open, filled with fresh blood, and it had only three large green teeth, which indeed looked quite frightening.
"Aunt Wang, it's nothing. I don't know which child played a prank and left this scary toy to frighten us." She picked up the plastic doll from the ground at the doorway, intending to throw it into the trash bin in the stairwell.
Suddenly, she noticed a butterfly pattern on the upper right arm of the doll, and she was somewhat shocked; this person must be someone familiar with her. But who could it be? On her birthday, throwing a scary toy doll at her doorstep—was it meant as a joke or an actual threat?
Qi Luoling felt puzzled and uneasy. After tossing the toy doll into the trash bin, she returned home and pretended to comfort Aunt Wang casually.
In truth, Qi Luoling herself felt unsettled. Recently, she had the feeling that there were invisible hands watching her and manipulating her from behind.
Since childhood, she had been a very sensitive person, or one might say she had a sixth sense. A fortune teller once told her that her constitution was heavy with yin energy and that she was prone to encountering ghosts; she should carry some yang energy ornaments to suppress it. For those who study fate and astrology, this type of constitution is most likely to communicate with mysterious forces in the universe.
Feeling restless, she got dressed and stepped out of her house to pick up the cake from the bakery.
The road in front of the community was uneven due to municipal construction, sloping narrowly to one side.
As she crossed the street, she felt a chill run down her spine as if someone was watching her again.
From a certain age in her childhood, she occasionally felt a chill on her back. She sensed that there were eyes staring at her from behind.
Several times, she almost caught sight of the person tailing her, but each time it was just a fleeting glimpse. However, she was certain that the person following her was a man and tall in stature.
Strangely, he never approached her, as if intentionally avoiding letting her see clearly. Yet she felt he meant no harm, for he had never hurt her.
She had never spoken of this secret to anyone, not even to her parents or husband.
For many years, she bore this secret alone, and gradually, it lost any sense of fear, becoming almost mundane. But every time she tried to seize the opportunity to capture that gaze, it was merely out of a desire for certainty and curiosity; yet that gaze always eluded her.
At that moment, she could not be sure if the gaze behind her still belonged to that person.
She dared not turn her face or stop in her tracks; she merely scanned the surroundings with her eyes, pretending nothing was amiss.
A small truck was parked by the roadside, its open back filled with large watermelons. A middle-aged man was energetically shouting, "Watermelons! Sweet as can be! Taste before you buy; if it's not sweet, you don't pay!"
As she walked up to the watermelon vendor's truck, she suddenly turned around, wanting to see everything behind her.
But just then, a black Audi X5 sped past her from behind, splashing muddy water from the curb.
Two middle-aged women buying watermelons stomped their feet in anger and shouted at the car, mud splattering on their pants.
The watermelon seller angrily flipped off the departing BMW: "Just because you drive a BMW, you think you're so impressive? It's just a few lousy bucks! You idiot, drive fast enough to get yourself killed!"
After the commotion, the small path returned to calm; there was no one behind her anymore.
She stood dazed in the chaotic street. Was it because she received a broken toy that morning that made her so jumpy?
Perhaps many ethereal and elusive things in the world should not be seen clearly; once seen clearly, they could bring disaster?
She dared not think further and only heard the sound of her high heels clicking against the ground, each step weighing heavily on her heart. She could not bear to look back again and could only walk faster and faster.
Crossing a wide street and turning into a small alleyway brought her to Angel Cake Shop.
Qi Luoling had just arrived at the door when a rich, creamy sweetness wafted through the air.
She stepped inside the shop. The exterior of the small store was unremarkable, but the interior was nicely decorated, giving off a nostalgic vibe. The entire shop was dominated by shades of brown, and a young female clerk greeted customers with a sweet smile and warm hospitality.
Qi Luoling took out the receipt for her cake reservation from her pocket and handed it to the clerk.
Soon, the clerk retrieved an elegantly dark red cake from the display case behind her.
Upon opening the box, she found a three-tiered birthday cake inside.
The base was golden yellow, the first layer was a warm pink. The second layer was surrounded by pink petals with a few butterflies gently resting among them on the pristine white cake. The third layer featured a rotating lotus flower, with a delicate, crystal-clear violin resting diagonally on top.
In the center of the cake were the words "Happy Birthday, I love you."
Qi Luoling felt her heart warm.
She had been married to Gu Tianye for two years, and their relationship had always been sweet and affectionate.
They were high school classmates who developed innocent feelings for each other during their teenage years but never expressed them. It wasn't until they both got into college that Gu Tianye confessed his feelings after the college entrance examination.
Gu Tianye enrolled in medical school while she attended a teachers' college. Although they studied in different cities, they cherished their relationship as each other's first love.
Throughout their four years in college, Gu Tianye would travel tirelessly between the two cities during holidays, regardless of the weather. Their parents were very supportive, so after graduation, it was only natural for them to become husband and wife.
Every birthday spent with Gu Tianye was unforgettable; he always remembered to bring her surprises on her special day. She wondered what kind of surprise he would have for her today and felt excited.
Taking the cake from the clerk's hands, she held it carefully and walked briskly out of the bakery.
As she turned the corner onto a wider street, she suddenly realized that the traffic light for vehicles had long turned green while she had already stepped into the middle of the crosswalk.
She stopped in her tracks, instinctively sensing danger approaching.
She couldn't help but turn her head to the left, surprised to see a white SUV barreling towards her at over 80 miles per hour.
Before she could even scream, in an instant, she and the cake in her hands were sent flying...
Her body traced a perfect arc through the air before crashing heavily onto the ground.
Her hair was already stained with blood, and there was a faint trickle of blood at the corner of her mouth; her once beautiful face had turned as pale as paper.
Just as she fell to the ground, in the moment before losing consciousness, she caught a glimpse of the face of the man who had been following her.
His face was just a few centimeters above hers. Due to the proximity, his features appeared somewhat distorted.
She saw him desperately shaking her, panic written all over his face, shouting a name loudly, but she was certain it wasn't "Qi Luoling" that he called out.
Regardless, she finally got a clear look at his appearance as she had wished. A faint smile appeared at the corner of her mouth before she lost consciousness...
Many years later, she recalled that year when her entire world felt chaotic and disoriented. Many things intertwined, forming deadlocks like the moss on the crumbling walls beside a narrow path, leaning down towards her world like the hair of a ghostly creature.
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