IRDLZ Chapter 8

Chapter 8

Xiao Fu crouched by the bedside, desperately trying to free his hand. Yet his sluggish joints betrayed him; even his most urgent efforts came out in stiff, faint “click—click—click” motions, slow and awkward. Meanwhile, the sleeping Ming Qingqing was holding on to him tightly.

In the struggle, his rigid palm brushed against Ming Qingqing’s burning fingers one by one. Her touch was impossibly soft—so soft it didn’t seem like something a human woman’s hand should feel like.

It was simply unbelievably soft!

Xiao Fu's body temperature changed, and his heart pounded as if it were about to burst.

He stared at the unconscious Ming Qingqing as if looking at some kind of weapon of mass destruction.

Since reaching adulthood, this was the first time his body had reacted so strongly. Xiao Fu was completely at a loss.

Even though he had already let go of Ming Qingqing's hand, no longer touching her soft cheek. Even though he had retreated to the wall two meters away from her bed, standing pressed tightly against it—why was his heart still beating so unnaturally fast?

"Thump," "thump," "thump."

With a "whoosh," Xiao Fu vanished from the room.

On the summit of Mount Everest, a stiff black figure crashed down, plunging headfirst into the snow, trying to cool his burning body.

Daybreak.

When Ming Qingqing woke up, her body was drenched in sweat, as if she had been soaked in a tide. However, the groggy, heavy feeling had mostly faded.

She weakly raised her hand and felt her forehead with the back of it, realizing that her fever had already broken.

This recovery had been surprisingly fast.

Ming Qingqing was the type who rarely got sick, but once she did, she would be laid up for ten days to half a month. In the past, every cold she caught escalated to the point where she had to have her private doctor come to the house to give her an IV drip. Yet this time, she had recovered overnight.

She lay there, staring listlessly at the ceiling, her mind hollow and unfocused. She had meant to rest for a while longer before getting up—cook herself some congee, prepare food for the dog. Today was also the day Xiao Zhou had arranged for an animal rescue center to come and take Dandan away. But for some reason, fragments of images suddenly flickered through her mind, unbidden and disjointed, like broken shards of a dream resurfacing.

It was like a broken film reel—just a few scattered scenes, but exceptionally clear.

Gray-blue eyes.

Pale skin.

Dark, dripping-wet strands of hair.

Ming Qingqing jolted in alarm and immediately propped herself up.

She looked around the room.

But the room was quiet, the curtains drawn, with only a sliver of sunlight filtering through. There was nothing by the bedside table—no glass, no cold compress towel, no leftover cold medicine box.

Feifei stretched lazily at the foot of the bed. Outside the window, birds chirped, signaling a peaceful morning.

Those fragments that had flashed through her mind seemed like nothing more than an incredibly vivid dream.

Ming Qingqing held her breath for three seconds—

Three, two, one.

Nothing around her had changed.

She was still in the real world.

She finally exhaled the stale air from her lungs.

She rubbed her temples with her fingers, tucked her damp, long hair behind her ears, and gazed blankly out the window.

So many bizarre things had been happening lately—an ordinary person's heart would have given out by now.

Ming Qingqing considered herself brave, but she still felt deeply unsettled.

Although she sensed a faint trace of something off, she told herself it must have just been a dream.

She got out of bed, went into the bathroom, and took a hot bath. The steam washed over every pore, helping her recover from her cold. Feeling much lighter, she dried off, put on her bathrobe, and came out.

Feifei had also woken up and jumped down from the bed.

Her chubby cat had conveniently knocked her cotton slippers under the bed.

The moment Ming Qingqing saw Feifei, she felt a wave of relief. No matter what, at least there was a cat by her side.

She crouched down, scooped him into her arms, and gave him an affectionate, vigorous rub.

Then she reached for her slippers.

And that's when she saw it lying on the cold floor beneath the bed, a single loose white fever-reduction tablet.

"..."

In that instant, her pupils contracted sharply.

A few hours later, a black Volkswagen sped into the villa and pulled into the parking lot by the lawn.

Xiao Zhou hurriedly jumped out of the driver's seat and opened the rear door. Two people in down jackets got out.

The younger man was the first to step out, a leather satchel slung in one hand and what looked like a spiral compass in the other. The moment his feet touched the ground, he began muttering under his breath, the strange device turning slowly as he probed the villa. Behind him came an older man. Hands clasped behind his back, he moved with unhurried confidence, heading straight for the villa’s entrance—toward Ming Qingqing.

The group settled in the living room on the sofa.

Xiao Zhou rushed to brew tea.

The old man said to Ming Qingqing, "Miss Ming, please tell us in detail the situation you described over the phone."

Ming Qingqing was indeed an atheist, but the recent events had left her feeling that something abnormal was happening in this house.

The entertainment industry was a murky world. There were rumors of actors who had languished in obscurity for years suddenly skyrocketing to fame and Sister Jin would sometimes gossip to Ming Qingqing about so-and-so "raising a little ghost." Ming Qingqing had never believed in such things, so she had never paid it any mind.

But now, she had found that white tablet under her bed.

Because she rarely got sick, she didn't have a habit of keeping medicine at home. So it couldn't have been something Feifei had dragged out from somewhere. Besides, just a few days ago, Xiao Zhou had brought in a team to clean the entire house from top to bottom. Those cleaners were paid thousands of yuan an hour and were exceptionally thorough; they wouldn't have left a piece of trash under the bed.

In other words, that tablet had fallen there last night.

Something had been near her.

And yet, it hadn't harmed her instead, it had taken care of her.

But even so, humans instinctively feared the unknown.

Ming Qingqing felt a chill crawl up her spine.

So she had called Xiao Zhou and asked him to get in touch with people who specialized in this kind of thing.

Cradling her hot tea, Ming Qingqing recounted everything that had happened recently. From the mysterious disappearance of food from her fridge, to the sudden appearance of a dog on the roof, the kumquats in the box, then her fall into the lake and rescue, and finally being cared for during her fever—one incident after another.

The sudden arrival of Dandan hadn't raised her suspicions at first, but the dog occasionally tore up books and occasionally didn't, and often vanished without a trace—it was all rather strange. So, she decided to mention everything that had struck her as odd.

"Oh, and there was a nest that suddenly appeared in the fourth-floor room. A box that big—it really didn't seem like something a dog would crawl into to sleep."

The old man and his apprentice exchanged glances after hearing her story.

The apprentice explained, "Things that attach themselves to people usually have a motive. Some drain a person's energy or alter their luck, while others aim to hurt or take revenge. But from what you've described, Miss Ming, everything seems normal—it's almost as if your cat has recently learned how to open the fridge, steal a bit of food, and hide it..."

Feifei, who was lying at Ming Qingqing's feet: ???

The apprentice scratched his head, feeling awkward about continuing in front of a beautiful actress.

The old man interrupted him and addressed Ming Qingqing directly. "Is it possible that you've been under a lot of stress lately? Things like time stopping after you fell into the lake—that's really..."

He couldn't find the right word to describe it.

Finally, he phrased it delicately: "That sounds like a science fiction movie. And coincidentally, Miss Ming, we've seen your last film, The Wanderer, which was also a sort of sci-fi movie."

"Actually, acting is a very unique profession. Perhaps you need regular psychological counseling."

He was implying that Ming Qingqing might have been hallucinating due to immersing herself too deeply in her roles.

Ming Qingqing had known that no one would believe her if she told them about these strange events. If it weren't for that tablet still sitting on the coffee table this morning, even she would have thought she was losing her mind.

She frowned.

Xiao Zhou quickly interjected, "How about this—we'll trouble the two of you to conduct a thorough inspection of the entire villa. Just so we can have some peace of mind."

Since it was business, the two men weren't about to refuse. They stood up and gathered some of their equipment.

Ming Qingqing suddenly raised her head and couldn't help asking, "If you catch something, what do you usually do with it?"

The old man said, "If we catch something, we burn it. Miss Ming, don't think that just because these things haven't harmed anyone, they're innocent. Anything that exists in a different form from humans is generally called a 'dirty thing'—they pose a threat to people. If they haven't hurt anyone yet, they will eventually."

Ming Qingqing watched as the old man and his apprentice headed outside to begin their survey.

A flicker of unease stirred in her heart.

She thought of that kumquat. If it wasn't sent by Dandan, then could it have been sent by "that existence"? She also thought of the brief contact beneath the frozen lake, the chilly touch on her forehead the night before, and the cold medicine fed into her mouth—the other party had truly never intended to harm her. In fact, they were just like a well-meaning little puppy, with no ill intentions, wholly devoted to being good to her.

If the old man actually found it and disposed of it...

The fingers holding her tea cup trembled slightly.

Xiao Zhou sat down beside her and asked, "How are you feeling?"

He was referring to her cold and fever from the night before.

Ming Qingqing touched her forehead. It had returned to a normal temperature. "Nothing serious. I took some cold medicine, and the fever's gone. I'm just a little weak now."

Xiao Zhou hesitated, then tried, "Since you've already signed the contract for this drama, maybe I could have Sister Jin negotiate with the production team to film the male lead and supporting characters' solo scenes first. You could rest for a few more days and come back when you're feeling better. There was an artist at our company before, you know him, he does comedy—he often had insomnia and ringing in his ears, and he experienced hallucinations. The company arranged a psychologist for him, and it helped quite a bit..."

Before he could finish, Ming Qingqing interrupted him, annoyed. "I've never had insomnia. My mental state is perfectly normal."

Xiao Zhou shut his mouth.

After a moment, he tried to reassure her. "Anyway, that old man is quite famous. If there really is something there, they'll handle it."

Ming Qingqing hummed absentmindedly.

Even Xiao Zhou, who had a relatively good relationship with her, didn't really believe the things she had described. It seemed no one else would either.

Ming Qingqing felt helpless.

In fact, even she thought her own account sounded like a fantasy.

But whenever she closed her eyes, the chill of the lake bottom and those gray-blue eyes reappeared vividly in her mind.

She didn't know whether to trust her instincts or to believe that it was really just a hallucination brought on by her acting.

The matter was soon concluded.

The old man and his apprentice had inspected the entire villa, even covering most of the neighborhood centered around Ming Qingqing's villa. The result? Their dark, mysterious instruments showed no reaction at all.

The conclusion: there was nothing there.

No ghosts, no evil spirits, no creature that had gained sentience—nothing.

"Moreover, this place you're living in is very clean. Unlike many large buildings that have shadows in certain areas due to feng shui, your place is exceptionally pure, as if guarded by a Zhong Kui," the old man said, puzzled.

Upon hearing this, Xiao Zhou felt somewhat relieved. He said to Ming Qingqing, "See? I told you there was nothing to worry about."

Ming Qingqing didn't respond.

The old man and his apprentice had examined the place inside and out several times, using all their skills, yet they still couldn't detect anything.

The old man had a reputation for never failing in his line of work, so he didn't believe he had made any oversight.

Thus, the only conclusion they could draw was—

This actress was likely under too much stress and had experienced some hallucinations.

What else could Ming Qingqing do?

She had no choice but to grit her teeth and admit, "I have been reading too many scripts lately. My head's a bit muddled."

Given the circumstances, she couldn't have the rescue center come to take the dog today.

Xiao Zhou offered a few more words of comfort, then escorted the old man and his apprentice out, and the group departed.

The Volkswagen left a trail of exhaust fumes.

To be honest, Ming Qingqing also felt relieved.

Regardless of whether some unknown presence existed around her or not, she didn't want it to be caught and burned.

But the matter wasn't resolved for Ming Qingqing.

Others might not believe her, but she hated vague, ambiguous feelings. She had to figure out what was going on.

She would find it herself.

First, she picked up Feifei for courage. Stroking the fat on his belly steadied her nerves.

She walked toward the first-floor room where Dandan was kept.

All the strange occurrences had started after this dog appeared. Her intuition told her that the dog might hold some clues.

At first, Feifei had been extremely hostile toward Dandan. Every time he got near this room, he would meow loudly, hiss, arch his back, and puff up his fur radiating aggression.

But ever since the day Dandan had saved him, his hostility seemed to have faded. Now, as she carried him inside, he just lay limply in her arms and gave a lazy blink.

As Ming Qingqing had expected, when she pushed the door open, Dandan was gone again.

This dog was always appearing and disappearing mysteriously.

Ming Qingqing set Feifei down on the floor and made a careful sweep of the room.

Then she noticed that the dog bed she had prepared for the dog had never been slept in.

So where had it been sleeping? On the floor?

She went outside the villa, searching every corner of the lawn and all around.

The rooms were all very clean.

She had assumed Dandan was doing its business outside.

But on the lawn—

There was nothing either.

Not a single pile of poop.

Dandan had been at her house for three or four days now. Could it really have never pooped or peed? Was this dog a robot dog?

"..."

The more closely she searched, the stranger details she uncovered.

Her mind felt like it was about to explode.

As Ming Qingqing's worldview crumbled and reformed in chaos, Xiao Fu was quietly slipping into a city library.

Nowadays, people on Earth used glowing flat boxes and even larger flat boxes for everything. Almost no one read physical books anymore, so the library was utterly deserted.

Only a uniformed librarian sat at the entrance, head down, playing on his phone. Inside, beneath rows of shelves that reached the ceiling, there wasn't a single person.

Xiao Fu pulled up his hood, which still had some snow from Mount Everest clinging to it. After burying his head in the snow for a few hours to cool down, he felt there were some things he needed to figure out.

When he had been an egg, he had received a good education on Kelafulin, but there were some things the Kelafulin royal tutors had never taught him.

For example—

"If you touch a female's face without being married, what should you do? How do you apologize?"

Kelafulin was a very conservative society, especially the men. They generally never looked at the face of anyone other than their fated one.

There was an old high priest in the royal court who, at over three hundred years old, discovered that his fated one was a frog. He spent the rest of his life holding that frog, never once looking at another woman. This story had been widely told when Xiao Fu was still an egg and was held up as an example for the princes. So when he came to Earth, even though the streets were lined with billboards of long-haired women, he never let his gaze linger.

But now, a completely unexpected accident had happened.

He had touched Ming Qingqing's face!!!

Would he need to cut off that hand to apologize?

Xiao Fu looked at his right hand uncertainly.

Earth people were apparently very open. In the materials he looked up, there were plenty of instances of casually kissing cheeks, kissing foreheads, even kissing lips.

As he read on, his expression gradually turned to one of shock.

But his grasp of Earth’s written script was still limited, he had only just worked his way through the Complete Guide to Recognizing Characters and he wasn’t sure if he was understanding things correctly.

In any case, it seemed that on Earth, there was no rule about cutting off one's right hand?

Xiao Fu let out a small sigh of relief.

But then, he raised his long, pale, stiff fingers and pressed them against his chest.

There was another thing—why had his heart been pounding wildly ever since last night?

Was it because the concentration of Element No. 335 was too low, causing his bodily functions to decline again?

He was certain this had nothing to do with "heating up." The only symptoms of a Kelafulin heating up were full-body weakness and warmth; no literature mentioned anything about "wildly pounding heart."

Moreover, a Kelafulin's heartbeat was usually very steady and orderly—90 beats per something, never this abnormally fast.

He began to suspect that he might have contracted some unknown terminal illness.

Hesitating, Xiao Fu turned his stiff neck and cautiously peeked his head out, dark circles under his eyes from a sleepless night, to glance at the librarian at the entrance who was still looking down, playing on his phone.

After confirming that the other party hadn't noticed anything, Xiao Fu pulled his hood back on and teleported to the computer area. Hiding behind a large desk, he turned on the computer.

He had seen people operate these machines before, he had at least that much ability to imitate.

Xiao Fu opened what Earthlings called the "omnipotent" Baidu search engine. He typed with one finger at a time, occasionally glancing nervously toward the librarian.

It took him a full half hour, but he finally managed to type in: "Heart keeps beating fast, what's wrong?" (He had used a wrong character for "heart.")

The results page showed answers from kind-hearted people.

Xiao Fu's spirits lifted slightly as he focused on the screen.

The answer read: "Sinus tachycard_x, cardiac neuro_x, menopausal _yndrome, often accompanied by tachycardia. Recommended to visit a hospital."

The characters marked with "x" were ones he didn't recognize.

So, it really was an unknown terminal illness.

Xiao Fu, having just reached adulthood, felt completely lost.

By the time Xiao Fu returned to the villa, his mood was heavy. Ming Qingqing had already finished dinner. Because she was still weak from her cold and lacked the strength to cook, Xiao Zhou had arranged for an auntie to come over and prepare a meal for her.

Ming Qingqing had the auntie cook some beef as well, which she carried downstairs to give to Dandan on the first floor.

Although Xiao Fu’s thoughts were weighed down by his terminal illness, his head hanging low in a quiet, sinking melancholy, he still couldn’t bring himself to disappoint Ming Qingqing when he saw her carrying food out for the dog.

He also felt a faint sense of guilt and remorse. His heart was already unwell, and it seemed to worsen every time he saw Ming Qingqing as if even that reaction itself were a kind of wrongdoing.

So, before Ming Qingqing came down to the first floor, he teleported over, brought the dog inside, and then leaped onto the roof, where he stared at the moon, lost in troubled thoughts.

After multiple rounds of being startled and shuttled around, the mixed-breed dog had grown accustomed to being brought here from time to time.

After all, every time he came, there was a good meal waiting.

He treated it like visiting relatives.

So when Ming Qingqing arrived, the mixed-breed dog was lying contentedly by the oil heater, waiting to be fed.

But this time, Ming Qingqing was holding Feifei in her arms.

And then it happened—

During the day, Feifei had been utterly indifferent to being in this room, merely lifting an eyelid. But now, faced with the lying-down mixed-breed dog, Feifei suddenly began hissing, arching his back, making a disgusted face, and even trying to jump out of Ming Qingqing's arms.

Ming Qingqing set the plate on the floor.

The mixed-breed dog came over to eat, and Feifei grew even more irate, practically yowling with anger.

...Feifei was friendly toward the being that had saved him, but he still treated this dog with hostility.

Ming Qingqing glanced again at the simple, honest-looking dog on the floor. Its eyes were brown and beady nothing at all like that beautiful gray-blue.

A chill ran through her, and a sudden thought struck her.

What if the one who had bravely saved Feifei a few days ago wasn't this dog at all, but another entity?

In other words, the real "Dandan."

That would explain everything. All the other strange events were also the doing of that entity.

There was a dog spirit beside her.

Most likely a dog spirit with beautiful blue eyes.

Whether a spirit was good or evil, to an ordinary person, it was a terrifying, bone-chilling presence.

Ming Qingqing fought to suppress her fear and acted decisively. She pulled out her phone.

She ordered two hundred cameras.

She was going to catch it.

>>