SES Chapter 30 V2

Luo Ren said softly, “If you want to leave, I’ll drive you in a couple of days. For now, just go along with my plan.”

Mu Dai didn’t move.

She heard the door open and close. Luo Ren had gone, but she stayed still.

A moment later, she tentatively touched the left side of her hair.

It was still there. But why had it felt like it wasn’t?

Another moment passed. Then she mumbled under her breath, “Don’t touch my head again.”

No context. No explanation. And somehow, that was the end of it.

It was already very late. The basin with the submerged skin sat in the middle of the living room, silent and still. No one trusted it. Everyone pretended to play with their phones or chat, but every few seconds, their eyes flicked to the water.

Uncle Zheng called. Probably an update on Ping Ting. Luo Ren got up and stepped outside to take it.

Mu Dai coughed and turned to Cao Yanhua and Yi Wansan. “Can I ask you guys something?”

They both looked up.

Mu Dai gave an awkward chuckle. “So… I have this friend, from college. She moved back to her hometown after graduation. Just now she asked me a question—she said…”

“She said she met this guy. They don’t know each other well, just regular friends. But one day they were talking, and suddenly, the guy reached out and touched her hair… and she wanted to know what that meant.”

She smiled a little too widely. “I mean, I’m not a guy, how would I know, right? Hehehe. What do you guys think that means?”

Cao Yanhua thought about it seriously. “Did she wash her hair? If not, it might feel kind of gross—greasy.”

Mu Dai gave up on him immediately and looked at Yi Wansan instead.

Yi Wansan said, “You’re talking about yourself, aren’t you?”

Mu Dai laughed loudly. “No, no, no. I know it sounds like that, but really—it’s my friend!”

Yi Wansan grinned smugly. “Come on, little boss lady, even a fool can tell it’s you…”

Mu Dai’s face turned bright red. Her expression darkened with murderous intent.

Yi Wansan realized he might’ve gone too far and started scooting back…

“Cao Yanhua, hit him!”

Cao Yanhua was still thinking about the hair-washing. He looked up, confused. “Huh?”

“Hit him, and I’ll take you on as a disciple.”

Cao Yanhua couldn’t believe his ears. “Huh?”

Five seconds later, Cao Yanhua turned to Yi Wansan.

Yi Wansan gave a nervous smile. “Cao bro… Fatty Cao, I was just messing around with the little boss lady… Come on, man, you should apprentice under someone with integrity! Not someone who starts by ordering you to beat people up. That’s tyranny, Cao bro!”

A shriek echoed through the house as Yi Wansan leapt over the couch and bolted for the door, with Cao Yanhua right behind him, rolling like a lightning-quick wrecking ball.

Luo Ren was on the porch taking the call when a gust of wind rushed past him. Then another, stronger.

Was that… Yi Wansan and Cao Yanhua?

He hadn’t even processed it when Cao Yanhua let out a roar and pounced like a tiger from a kung fu movie, tackling poor Yi Wansan to the ground.

Had the human skin possessed someone again? Cold sweat broke out on Luo Ren’s back.

Later, Yi Wansan lay on the sofa, head tilted unnaturally, a white towel draped across his neck.

Cao Yanhua said guiltily, “I was just playing around…”

“You’re a grown man with mass—you can’t just ‘play around’ like that!”

“Yes, yes, I’m sorry, I’m so sorry!”

Mu Dai had only wanted Cao Yanhua to give him a couple of good whacks on his thick hide, not this. Now she felt bad but couldn’t help laughing.

For the first time, she looked at Yi Wansan with sympathy. “You sleep tonight. We’ll take the night watch.”

That basin of water in the middle of the room had left everyone too on edge to rest. But now Yi Wansan had an excuse.

Cao Yanhua jogged back from the bedroom with a goose-down pillow.

But alas, a princess’s body with a servant’s fate—nothing helped. Yi Wansan’s neck was too messed up. He kept squirming until the pillow was under one shoulder, and finally lay down in a bizarre pose, head tilted to the side, looking like a murder victim.

Mu Dai sat across from him, trying hard not to laugh.

Luo Ren came over and said softly, “You should sleep too. I’ll keep watch tonight.”

Mu Dai suddenly remembered Ping Ting. “What did the doctor say?”

Luo Ren’s face darkened. “No major danger, but… she needs a skin graft.”

A skin graft? But it was just a thin patch, barely the size of a cicada wing.

Luo Ren seemed to know what she was thinking. “It wasn’t that simple. There was a lot of bleeding…”

“Boss lady?”

Hm? Yi Wansan?

She turned. He was still in that twisted position, but his expression had changed. He was staring fixedly at the basin.

“Boss lady, I just saw a flash on the surface.”

The room went still. All eyes turned to the water.

It looked dead calm.

“No, you can’t see it from there. It must be my angle. Just a thin line of light—it came and went in an instant. Maybe… maybe try turning off the lights?”

They had all agreed earlier to keep the lights on. Total darkness was too risky. What if that skin crawled out again?

Mu Dai glanced at Luo Ren. He nodded. “Turn them off.”

Darkness fell over the room. Mu Dai held her breath.

A few seconds passed, and she saw it. A glimmer on the water’s surface.

What was it like? Ripples in a lake under moonlight? Yes, like that—just a brief shimmer. But as soon as the lights came on, the water was still.

Just a reflection?

Yi Wansan shook his head, then winced. “No. The lights appear in different spots. Turn them off again, let me check.”

The lights went out.

The flashes didn’t follow a pattern—some appeared every few seconds, some after longer gaps. Each was thin, varied in length, and came from a different direction.

Mu Dai couldn’t make sense of it. It looked like meaningless, scattered water light.

Just as she was puzzling over it, Yi Wansan suddenly asked Luo Ren, “Do you have a high-speed camera with an auto timer?”

Luo Ren didn’t even get to answer before Yi Wansan sighed, “Never mind, it’s too dark. Not enough exposure. But if we had the right gear, a shot every few seconds, layered over each other on a computer, we might see it.”

Luo Ren asked in a low voice, “Why?”

“It’s like a drawing—one stroke here, one stroke there. Not continuous, but if we record enough of them, we might piece together an image…” He suddenly lit up. “Luo Ren, get me paper and a pen. I’ve got the best angle—I’ll draw it.”

Yes, Yi Wansan really could draw. He was probably the only one who could. But… drawing in the dark?

In the shadows, now and then, came the soft sound of a pen scratching across paper.

Mu Dai hugged her knees, staring at the glowing basin.

She had thought it was over. But maybe… maybe this was only the beginning.