In the twilight hour just before dawn, Xin Huohuo accepted an order.
The location was a bit remote, but in a bustling, international metropolis like this one, even the outskirts were packed with skyscrapers. Tenacious humans, weaving their way through the concrete jungle, were simply everywhere.
Of course, the area where she lived was a bizarre exception.
She rode her e-bike, the customer's delivery order nestled securely in its basket: a pork rib and rice combo meal, priced at forty-two yuan, now just 35.70 thanks to a fifteen-percent holiday discount.
The human stomach is most vulnerable around dawn. 'Is it really a good idea to eat something so greasy?' But that had nothing to do with her. She was just a delivery girl for a 24-hour restaurant chain who had volunteered for the night shift, all for the allure of a two-hundred-and-fifty-yuan monthly bonus.
'Even the male employees don't want this shift! Who wouldn't be scared, being out and about in the middle of the night?'
'Hooligans? Aren't there female ones too? Criminals? Since when do muggers discriminate based on gender? And ghosts... that's even worse. Men have more yang energy, so they're the ones ghosts go after...'
In truth, Xin Huohuo often had her own doubts. But for the temptation of even a single yuan, she could overcome any obstacle, let alone a little fear. The only thing that left her speechless was that today was the Zhongyuan Festival—the Ghost Festival, mind you—and her boss had still counted it as a holiday for the discount.
Fortunately, around four in the morning, the city was like a giant mechanical beast. After more than twenty hours of roaring and clamoring, it would finally pause to rest at the intersection of night and day, finding a brief moment of tranquility.
The nocturnal creatures were tired and had gone to sleep. The normal, diurnal ones had yet to wake. The streets were finally deserted, so quiet she could hear the soft whir of her e-bike's wheels.
"This is it!" Xin Huohuo accelerated as she saw the thirty-story apartment building at the five-way intersection.
Once she finished this delivery, the sun would be up.
She would go back to the restaurant, change out of her uniform, then head straight to her part-time milk delivery job. After that, she could finally go home and sleep.
But the wide, asphalt road ahead was perfectly flat, without so much as a pebble in sight. Yet, she inexplicably felt a huge force pushing against her. It was as if someone had physically blocked her e-bike, bringing it to a dead stop!
Tragically, there is a word in physics called inertia.
So, while the bike stopped, Xin Huohuo, who was on it, did not. She had no idea how she went flying. It all happened so suddenly. One moment she was gliding through the air for what seemed like a considerable distance—thanks to her previous speed—and the next, before she could even scream, she was sprawled flat on the ground.
'Did my little e-bike finally kick the bucket?'
'If I have to repair it again, I might as well just buy a new one. But that would cost more money!' This was the first thought that flashed through her mind. The mechanic had warned her that if she didn't replace the bearing, the bike might stop suddenly, a wheel could fall right off, and the frame was about to fall apart...
Whether she herself was hurt was only her second concern. Minor injuries could be ignored; her body would slowly heal on its own. A major injury, on the other hand...
Huh? That was strange. It had felt like a nasty fall, so why didn't it hurt that much?
She climbed to her feet.
There were no bleeding wounds on her body. She moved her limbs; her bones seemed perfectly fine. But her poor little e-bike was lying seven or eight meters away, its wheels pointing at the sky and its frame twisted like a pretzel.
'My god, did I really fly that far?!'
When she was little, she often heard the elderly say that when children fall, even from a building, they're fine because the Land God catches them. 'Was I caught, too? Otherwise, how could I have had such a perfect fall, launching myself so far in what looks like the scene of a car crash, yet come out unscathed?'
Xin Huohuo was dumbfounded. She stood there, frozen, unable to move or even think.
'No one! There was really no one else here but her.' That meant it really was a problem with the bike. She glanced at the takeout order; it had been flung into the roadside greenery, its contents scattered everywhere. 'I'm so screwed. Not only will I have to pay for the meal, I'll get fined for messing up the delivery!'
The thought made Xin Huohuo utterly dejected. But just then, she heard sounds from behind her. They were small and faint, like crying and sighing, too indistinct to make out clearly.
The hair on Xin Huohuo's entire body stood on end!
She didn't believe she'd run into a ghost, but she might very well run into a creep.
In a situation like this, she should have run without looking back. But as if possessed, she suddenly whipped her head around.
It was empty. Still no one.
The darkness of night was fading imperceptibly into a blue-gray morning mist. The thirty-story building loomed like a gloomy giant. She'd heard this building had bad feng shui because it stood right in the middle of a five-way intersection, blocking the flow of "qi" from all directions. And... blocking the path of the "good brothers," trapping them so they could never leave...
All around her, everything was silent, slumbering. The quiet was terrifying.
But out of the corner of her eye, it seemed like she kept seeing something move.
Looking closer, she finally spotted two furry little bundles in an inconspicuous spot in front of the building, one black and one white, tangled together. As she drew nearer, she saw it was a tiny black kitten and a little white puppy. They looked to be only a month or two old, their baby fur not yet fully shed, abandoned in a corner to struggle alone and helpless on the brink of death.
Xin Huohuo's heart immediately softened.
She crouched down and reached out a finger, gently touching the two little creatures. They were so fragile and pitiful they didn't even react to a stranger's approach. Their eyes were shut tight, and their bodies had only the faintest bit of warmth left. She had no idea if they would survive.
The transition between night and day felt like the transition between life and death.
"So wicked. Aren't you afraid you'll be struck by lightning? Abandoning them is the same as killing them!" she cursed under her breath. She reached out her hand, then pulled it back. Finally, she hardened her heart, gritted her teeth, and turned to leave.
'I can't keep pets, because pets mean responsibility. I'm already struggling just to survive in this concrete jungle; I can't even take care of myself, let alone spare any extra energy. Besides, food, baths, vaccinations... if they get sick, they need shots and medicine. That all costs money! Vet bills are even more expensive than doctor's bills for people. Maybe some kind person will see them later, adopt them, and give them a home...'
She tried desperately to convince herself as she walked away. But in the end, she didn't make it more than a few meters before turning back in resignation. She couldn't stand the lashing of her own conscience. 'Now that I've seen them, can I really pretend I didn't? In this world, you can lie to heaven and earth, but you can never lie to yourself.'
'Life has never been a resilient thing. If I really do nothing, they will really die. The sun will be out in less than half an hour, but they might never see its light...'
'Guess I'm fated to do this,' Xin Huohuo sighed, carefully scooping the two little creatures into her hands.
They were so light. Nothing but fur and bones, like two fallen leaves.
She gently placed one in her left pocket and the other in her right. Then she dragged the scattered food and her wrecked e-bike over to the trash bins. Just as she was wondering if she should remove the battery to see if she could sell it for a few yuan, she suddenly remembered something that made her blood run cold...
'My phone? Where's my phone?!'