Chapter 533 - 474: Jin Xueli: Her Unreliable Self

Chapter 533: Chapter 474: Jin Xueli: Her Unreliable Self

The moment Jin Xueli fell, a seemingly unrelated thought flashed through her mind: Thank God Mom’s old car finally broke down for good two weeks ago.

The car was older than she was. It had passed through countless hands and broken down more times than she could count, only to be forced back on the road by her mom’s boyfriends over the years using all sorts of makeshift repairs.

One of its doors was now held on by layers of duct tape. Whenever they drove a little too fast, Jin Xueli would worry the tape would come loose and the door would go CLATTERING onto the road.

For the whole city to hear.

For a long time now, her mom hadn’t driven her to school—because the thing Jin Xueli hated most was being seen in that car.

But the traveling carnival was far from her house. If the car hadn’t broken down, she might have secretly parked it in the shadows and, after the crowds dispersed, quietly driven it home.

Thankfully, it was completely broken, so she had to ride her bike.

Thankfully, the town was old and in disrepair. A moment of carelessness was all it took for a bicycle tire to lose its grip on the cracked pavement.

...’When that piece of chocolate was shoved into my mouth, if I had been sitting securely in a car seat, I probably wouldn’t be alive anymore, would I?’

A sharp pain shot through her shoulder, so intense it made the darkness sway in her mind. The asphalt tore through the fabric of her pants, searing her skin. As if she’d been holding her breath the whole time, Jin Xueli suddenly gasped for air.

The cool night air, the sweetness of the chocolate, and the nauseatingly strong taste of mold in her mouth all rushed into her sinuses.

Without even bothering to move the bicycle pinning her down, Jin Xueli turned her head and desperately spat out what was in her mouth. She wanted to be rid of the very tongue that had touched the chocolate. Saliva, tears, and bile surged, but it felt like she could never rinse it clean.

"What the..."

’Is the mold growing inside my own mouth?’

Jin Xueli’s words died in her throat. She just kept gathering saliva and spitting, again and again, wanting to spit until she drew blood—anything to get the taste of mold out of her mouth.

The piece of chocolate lay on the ground, looking as if all the mold in the world had condensed into a single, black pustule growing out of the pavement.

She didn’t dare breathe. Shoving the bicycle aside, she scrambled backward on all fours.

Only when the night air seemed free of the moldy stench did Jin Xueli finally lift her tear-filled eyes.

Luna was standing in the road. On her pale face, her mouth was gaping open like a black hole.

No... wait, it wasn’t a black hole.

And she wasn’t just opening her mouth.

Because a tongue soon emerged from that pitch-blackness. It licked back and forth a few times, licking away the swaths of black, gradually revealing Luna’s mouth underneath.

Jin Xueli suddenly realized what she was licking away looked like black mold.

"Mold that’s invisible to the naked eye exists in 70% of homes nationwide," Luna said suddenly, as if just making small talk. "The more humid the area, the more mold is hidden deep inside the house."

Jin Xueli slowly climbed to her feet. She couldn’t tell if it was from the fall or from fear, but her legs were trembling.

"...Luna?"

"Fifty to seventy percent of the green coffee beans on the market have mold. If you drink coffee that isn’t an organic, low-mold brand, you’re basically drinking mold."

Luna had licked all the mold clean.

"But do you know how expensive those brands are? I need coffee to survive every day, just so I can work multiple jobs to make a living and scrape together rent. How could I possibly afford mold-free coffee or a mold-free house?"

Luna shook her head, took a step forward, and said, "But there’s another way."

Jin Xueli took a step back and froze.

She glanced at the bicycle by Luna’s feet.

’I can’t possibly work up the courage to rush over and grab my bike. Is my only option to turn and run?’

"You just have to pass the mold to the next person. The mold in your body, plus the mold the last person gave you, you give it all to the next one. It’s like a game of hot potato—"

Jin Xueli bolted.

She remembered from high school gym class that Luna had poor stamina and didn’t like to exercise. She never lasted long in running or rope climbing.

But even with her superior fitness, she had a sinking feeling that she couldn’t outrun the Luna of this moment.

Just as a large object came spinning through the air and slammed into her back and head, she even heard a metallic CLANG inside her skull. After a brief, shattered moment of blankness, Jin Xueli hit the ground. Staring at the slowly spinning wheel of the bicycle on top of her, she finally realized what had hit her.

Luna was approaching, one step at a time.

"Open your mouth, or I’ll open it for you," she instructed. "We were classmates. Just do me a favor."

Can you tell from the sound alone when someone is gathering saliva in their mouth?

Before a person is about to spit, the way their tongue moves, their throat bobs up and down, and phlegm is drawn up... it’s a faint, indescribable sound, but one you recognize the moment you hear it.

Jin Xueli knew what she was about to do.

"Luna, you’re sick! You were never like this before."

She wanted to shout but was afraid to open her mouth, so she muffled her voice with her arm. "Calm down! We can talk this out! Whatever it is, I’ll help you—"

Under the pale, spectral moonlight, as Luna’s shadow fell across the road, Jin Xueli’s body seemed to make the decision for her.

She kicked the bicycle, sending it sideways into Luna’s shins. Luna grunted, her advance faltering for a moment.

Jin Xueli scrambled to her feet, grabbed the backpack that had miraculously not fallen out of the basket, and hastily rummaged through it, pulling out an old, discarded pipe.

...Ever since she was little, she knew to be wary of the adults around her, especially the men.

No matter how hot it was, she never wore shorts or a skirt when her mom’s boyfriends came to visit. In middle school, a male teacher always stood too close when he spoke to her; after that, Jin Xueli made it a habit to carry a whistle.

The carnival was far outside of town, and she knew she’d be riding her bike alone in the dark, both ways. That was why she had spent so long rummaging around the trailer’s backyard until she found this old pipe.

The broken edge on one end was sharp, and it had a solid, heavy weight. Holding it in her hand gave her a rare sense of security.

Just as she got a grip on the pipe, Luna lunged at her.

In the darkness, Jin Xueli couldn’t tell if Luna was opening her mouth wide or if that vast patch of mold had surfaced again.

...It made no difference.

She suddenly swung her backpack, smashing it hard against Luna’s face with a sharp SMACK, temporarily blocking the mold.

Jin Xueli sidestepped, raised the pipe high, and just as the backpack slid off Luna’s face, she brought it crashing down on the back of her head with all her might.

...No matter what was wrong with Luna, she was still a person.

A human body has its limits.

But by the time that thought surfaced, it was already too late.

Jin Xueli had never been so terrified—no, was it really fear that drove her to bash in Luna’s skull, blow by blow? She was petrified that if she stopped, Luna would roll over, lick her palm, and smear the mold onto her.

Reason, self-awareness, even breathing... she seemed to forget them all. All that remained was the almost mechanical motion: raise the pipe, slam it down, and raise it again.

By the time Jin Xueli finally stopped, panting and trembling, Luna was long since motionless.

From the mangled wound at the back of her head, only bright red blood gushed out, not black mold. Her long hair was a tangled, sticky mess, deeply matted into the shattered bone, impossible to distinguish.

"...Luna?" Jin Xueli called out, her voice trembling.

A moment ago, all she’d wanted was for Luna to stop moving. Now, she was terrified that Luna would never move again.

Luna didn’t move.

Jin Xueli clutched the fabric over her chest, forcing herself not to break down. She slowly knelt and felt for Luna’s carotid artery.

After a few seconds, she fought back the scream in her mind, carefully turned Luna’s shoulder, and glanced at her face. Luna’s face was clean. There was no mold.

’That’s right... that’s right...’

’She’d run into her high school classmate Luna at the carnival, whom she hadn’t seen in ages. They had a great chat. Luna had a little too much to drink, so when the carnival was over, Jin Xueli offered to give her a ride home on her bike.’

’On the way, Luna started talking about her life in Blackmoor City, about how she’d gotten lucky with a high-paying assistant job and even had a model for a boyfriend...’

’Jin Xueli couldn’t suppress the flames of jealousy. The two argued, and in a fit of impulsive rage, she killed her...’

Jin Xueli shook her head hard, her mind snapping back to clarity. She scrambled a few steps back and stared blankly at Luna’s body.

’What was all that just now?’

’Why did it feel so vivid and real, like a memory that had just been formed?’

"No," she muttered, wiping away a tear. "I can’t... I have to go."

If even Jin Xueli herself almost believed that she had killed Luna out of jealousy, then she would never escape a conviction by the police—

The scattered, vague bits of forensic knowledge she’d picked up from TV shows became her lifeline now.

Jin Xueli righted her bicycle, shoved the pipe—now stained with blood, flesh, and hair—into her backpack, and frantically cleaned up the ground near the body. She didn’t even know what she was doing. Just as she was about to leave, a thought struck her.

She squatted down again, held her breath, and wrapped her sleeve around her hand. Keeping her distance from Luna’s face, she carefully pulled a wallet from her body.

’I have to make this look like a robbery-homicide... Otherwise, when the police start looking for the last person to see Luna, I’m finished.’

When she opened the wallet, a chill ran down Jin Xueli’s spine.

...Luna had said she was struggling in Blackmoor City, but she was surprisingly wealthy.

The bank cards were useless to her, but in cash alone, Jin Xueli counted out two thousand.

The Luna who was struggling, and the Luna who was well-off—which one was real?

The Jin Xueli who killed in self-defense, and the Jin Xueli who was trapped in her hometown, consumed by jealousy—which one was the real Jin Xueli?

Does mold that can control people and spread from body to body really exist in this world?

She didn’t dare to think about it any further.

She went home, pretending as if nothing had happened, and didn’t sleep a wink. At the crack of dawn, Jin Xueli bought a ticket and left that small town.

She didn’t know why, but the destination she chose was still Blackmoor City.

For the next nine years, she never went home again. And no police ever came looking for her.

...The "movie" was over.