Split Zone No.13

“Also, Huan Qing gege, when do you think Ku Fei gege would be able to return to this world?” Mi Fu seemed to have forgotten what she had just promised Huan Qing seconds ago, that she would not address him as Huan Qing gege.

Huan Qing’s expression turned but before he could say anything, Mi Fu changed the subject.

“I’m done, Huan Qing gege,” Mi Fu said as she put her chopsticks down and looked up at Huan Qing with a bright smile. She looked totally different from when she mentioned Ku Fei earlier.

I saw the sorrow in Huan Qing’s gaze. Forcing himself to smile, he said, “It’s good that you’re full.”

Mi Fu did not acknowledge the sorrow that was emanating from Huan Qing. She simply packed the lunch box and passed it to him as she asked, “Is Huan Qing gege going back to where Xiao Mi jiejie is?”

Huan Qing took the lunch box and answered, “Yes, I’m staying over at her place tonight.”

Mi Fu looked sad. “But I’m scared, Huan Qing gege

. Can you stay here with me tonight?”

“But this...” Huan Qing looked like he was in a dilemma.

Mi Fu continued quickly, “It’s okay to just say that you’re my older brother. You know that the director of the orphanage takes rather good care of me, since I’m the only one who had been unconscious for such a long period of time. They all think that you’ve just found my older brother, and it’s just that I can’t leave yet. But I’m sure they’ll allow some exceptions...”

Mi Fu spoke in this soft tone that made people want to protect her. I frowned at this, but it helped Huan Qing make his decision.

“Okay. Let me just give Xiao Mi a call to let her know.”

Mi Fu raised her head as if she had just received a present, nodding at the same time. “Okay, okay!”

Huan Qing smiled sweetly at her before he walked out of the room.

I decided to follow him outside. Turning around to look at Mi Fu, I saw her look in the direction where Huan Qing had went with a rather creepy smile on her face.

Huan Qing lit a cigarette at the end of the corridor.

The smoke obscured part of that unfamiliar face of his. I couldn’t see his expression clearly, but I could feel the sorrow behind all that cigarette smoke.

He made a call on his mobile phone. This was the first time I heard the female voice on the other side of the call, but it was Huan Qing who spoke first.

“Xiao Mi... Mi Fu wants me to accompany her for tonight. You okay on your own tonight?”

“Qing, what’s happening? Didn’t you say you were just sending her food? This happened the previous time too. You suddenly have a younger sister ever since you woke up in the hospital. You’re not telling me the truth. Why are you being so nice to this stranger?”

The female on the other end of the call sounded very frustrated, as if she just decided to let out all that steam she had been suppressing for a long time.

Huan Qing tried to explain. “It’s not like what you think. I’ve told you this before; it’s not entirely without reason. It’s just that I can’t say it. Just treat it like she’s someone I have to protect after meeting her in my dreams while I was unconscious, okay?”

“You said the same thing the last time. You don’t seem to care about me at all after you woke up. All your energy and thoughts are on her. You said you got to know her in your dreams while you were unconscious, and you found out she really existed as a person after waking up. Who are you trying to kid? There can’t be such coincidences in this world. I’ve wanted to ask if she might be your father’s illegitimate child or something of that sort...”

That conversation lasted for a long time, but it ended without any closure. I could tell that this incident, if left unsolved, would end up being part of the reason or a trigger for a possible break-up.

Huan Qing smoked a few more cigarettes after ending the call and walked back to Mi Fu’s room after he was done. Instead of following him back, I stayed outside in the corridor.

I stayed outside because I saw someone in the corridor, someone that I did not expect to see at all.

Tears escaped me as I looked at that kind and gentle face smiling at me.

It felt like there was finally an outlet for all the days of sorrow and pain I’ve been through. I cried not because I was upset. I was crying tears of joy.

What made us happiest was when we found something we thought we had already lost.

“Grandpa.”

As I met his eyes, I ran into him in an embrace, unable to control my emotions. Yes, I just saw Old Man Fan.

Old Man Fan was no longer a stone statue nor was the top of his skull open like the very first time I saw him. He looked a little frail, but his eyes were gleaming with a fiery light. He was glowing and he looked like an ordinary, happy elderly man.

I was trembling with emotion as I hugged him. There was no one and nothing I could touch in the time I’ve been in this crack in space. It was too painful and too lonely for me.

I began to bawl while hugging Old Man Fan, choking on my words every time I tried to speak.

All that pent-up emotion was released in that very moment; it was something I could not even control. It was lucky that no one else could see us. I could hug Grandpa Fan and cry all I want.

Old Man Fan seemed to understand how I felt as he smiled and patted me on the back as I cried, not saying a word.

I finally looked up at Old Man Fan after crying my fill. I wanted to ask him why he was here, what happened in all this time and a ton of other questions, but Old Man Fan knitted his brows before I could say anything.

“Well, what horrible fate this is. Come with me,” Old Man Fan said suddenly. He pulled me towards Mi Fu’s room before I could even begin any protest.

He moved quickly and we were in Mi Fu’s room in a matter of seconds. Just as I wanted to ask what that was all about, the scene in the room shocked me.

In the real world, the sky had already turned dark. There was no light in the room and visibility was extremely poor. I couldn’t improve my vision since I didn’t have MF, and all I could do was to open my eyes as wide as I possibly could and go closer to have a better look.

Huan Qing was lying on Mi Fu’s bed with his eyes shut, but it did not look like he was sleeping. Mi Fu was watching him quietly from the side. Something felt amiss.

From the point when Huan Qing returned to the room to the point when Old Man Fan and I entered, there definitely wasn’t enough time for Huan Qing to fall asleep. Furthermore, a careful man like him wouldn’t have fallen asleep before Mi Fu did.

Mi Fu was watching Huan Qing creepily from the side of the bed. Could it be... Could it be?

Is Mi Fu trying to do something to Huan Qing?

“What’s wrong with him?” I asked Old Man Fan.

Old Man Fan looked at Huan Qing as he said, “He seems to have been drugged. Go see if there’s anything that resembles sleeping pills or the like.”

“But it’s too dark, I can’t see,” I said as I looked around me.

Coincidentally, Mi Fu walked over to the door to switch the light on; as if she suddenly realized that the room was too dark. She then walked over to the windows to open the curtains.

As she did all that, I saw a bottle of sleeping pills on the bedside table.

Sleeping pills were usually prescribed by doctors, and it looked like Mi Fu simply used it to make Huan Qing fall into a deep sleep. I heaved a sigh of relief, but what happened next made me gasp.

The room was not brightly lit even with the light switched on, but it was enough to see everything that was in it!

Mi Fu took out a glass bottle from a drawer. I didn’t know what was in that bottle, but I could clearly see that a picture of a skull was on the bottle. That was the label used for poisonous substances in the real world.

I grabbed Old Man Fan’s sleeve as uneasiness filled me. It felt like I had to hold onto something just to calm myself down. “What’s she trying to do? She isn’t trying to hurt Huan Qing, is she?”

Old Man Fan sighed. “From the looks of it, that seems likely... It looks like an evil thought...”

My heart skipped a beat. “What should we do? How do we stop her? Tell me quickly, Old Man Fan.”

Old Man Fan did not speak. He simply shook his head.

Mi Fu was walking towards Huan Qing with that frightening item in her hands. I was at a total loss of what to do. “Old Man Fan, Grandpa, if you can appear here I’m sure you have a way to prevent this, don’t you? Can you stop her? Stop her quickly.”

I was almost begging him.

Old Man Fan simply shook his head at me. “Ah Shen, we’re not in the same space as they are. We really cannot do anything about this, even if we wanted to...”

Mi Fu had already opened the bottle by now. She then gently poured its contents on Huan Qing’s face.

After a few seconds, a bloodcurdling scream was heard throughout the entire orphanage.

Although Huan Qing was in a deep sleep, he wasn’t able to continue his slumber when an entire bottle of acid was being poured onto his face.

I was stunned at the horrific scene which had just played out right in front of my eyes.

That creepy smile was still on Mi Fu’s face.