The moment Huo Wuling grabbed his wrist, Ji Ning's heartbeat stopped for a moment, especially since he had just had that nightmare, seeing the blood dripping scene, now he doesn't even dare to look at Huo Wuling in the mirror .
"Herinos!"
Of course, Ji Ning didn't want to be brought to the world of infinite flow by Huo Wuling. He didn't want to die, so he didn't hesitate to ask the blood prince outside the door for help, but he didn't get any response.
Ji Ning's heart sank as he couldn't hear the sound outside. He guessed that this space might have been isolated.
For some unknown reason, Huo Wuling took the initiative to let go of Ji Ning's hand and disappeared into the mirror.
The light in the bathroom went out with a "click" and fell into complete darkness. Ji Ning couldn't see anything, and didn't dare to stay here any longer. He groped to the door. Ning clawed at the edge of the door to open a gap slightly and looked out carefully.
"Wow..."
It wasn't the warm light in the room that came out from the gap, but a dim, bleak white light, and the slight sound of rain. A cold wind blew in. Ji Ning felt that something was wrong and wanted to close the door again, but the door suddenly slammed into it. open.
Outside the door is a quiet and dark street. The dense drizzle drips from the night sky, gathering pools of puddles on the street. The street lamps emit white lights that flicker on and off, reflecting the accumulated water slightly. bright.
There are neat and delicate low-rise buildings on both sides of the street, only two or three stories high, and the first floor is all shops. There are various signs hanging on the doors, the handwriting is blurred, and the rain-stained windows are also dark. any light.
Facing such a bizarre scene, of course Ji Ning didn't want to go out, but a force from behind him suddenly pushed him out of the door.
He staggered a step, stood with his feet outside the door, the door closed with a bang, and the door panel was twisted and deformed, turning into a glass door that was no different from other shops, completely blocking Ji Ning's way back.
The cold rain fell on Ji Ning's body, with a faint smell like blood. He stood there, knowing that he was completely trapped.
Huo Wuling hadn't shown up yet, Ji Ning knew that it was Huo Wuling who wanted to inflict mental terror on him, driving him to a dead end little by little.
In the fine night rain, Ji Ning tightly wrapped his wet pajamas, pursed his lips, and suddenly began to slowly walk a few steps down the street.
He knew that he had no other choice, otherwise it would be like being pushed out just now, and Huo Wuling would choose for him, which would only make it worse.
It doesn't matter... The worst case is that he is tortured inhumanly by Huo Wuling. As long as he finds a way to die in Huo Wuling's hands, his system "future" has promised him that he can apply for resurrection for him.
Ji Ning calmed herself down, raised her hand to wipe the rain off her face, and began to look around, guessing what Huo Wuling wanted him to do.
There was no one on the street. The rain fell and a faint white mist appeared. The doors of the stores on both sides were closed, and it was pitch-black inside. Only a store in the distance was bright, and the lights hanging under the eaves were swayed by the wind. Akira, that group of hazy light also swayed to and fro.
Ji Ning walked towards the store, and as he got closer, he began to hear other sounds besides the sound of rain. It was an ethereal singing, gentle and soothing, like an old record, coming from the open door of the store. come.
"… "
Before he walked to the store, he raised his hand to cover the rain falling in front of him, and looked at the sign of the store. The sign was too old and had lost a lot of color. words.
Ji Ning walked into the open door, stood under the eaves, and soon a pool of water stains accumulated under her feet.
The grocery store is covered with a warm orange light. The store is not large, and there are a variety of goods everywhere. Most of them are colorful glass jars, which are neatly placed on the storage shelves, and there is a shelf in the corner. The gramophone, the record turned and released a gentle and low female voice.
There was something in each glass jar, like a living thing, trembling slightly.
Before Ji Ning could take a closer look, he heard a light "chirp" from one of them.
Inside the jar is a beating heart, vivid in color, and the blood vessels all over it can be clearly seen, and the other glass jars store things in very similar shapes—all the jars on the shelf. All are hearts.
"what!"
There was a sudden scream from the silent street. It was a man's voice. In the storefront not far from Ji Ning, the door of the store suddenly opened, and two shadows ran out one after the other.
These two shadows have no facial features. If the whole body is composed of black mist, it can only be distinguished from the outline that they are a man and a woman. The man is running for his life in front, and the woman holds a sharp knife in her hand and chases the man from behind.
"You said you loved me... You clearly said you loved me!"
The woman screamed shrilly, suddenly rushed forward and pushed the man to the ground, stabbed the sharp knife into the man's body frantically, the man fell to the ground struggling and wailing, but gradually stopped after hitting several knives. There was almost no sound, no movement.
“Woo… woohoo…”
The woman who looked like a human-shaped mist let out a wailing cry, slumped beside the corpse, covered her face and wept. After a while, she raised the sharp knife again, and tremblingly cut open the corpse's chest, took out the heart.
She dropped the sharp knife and held her heart in her hands, which was still beating slowly and powerfully. She staggered up and walked towards the grocery store, asking in a hoarse and trembling voice.
"is the boss around… "
Ji Ning took a step back and looked at the dark shadow of the woman's silhouette with some fear, but it wasn't him that the woman seemed to be looking for. She even nodded politely at Ji Ning, and then continued to look inside.
"It's coming."
A smiling male voice came from behind the heavy storage rack. Upon hearing this voice, Ji Ning's body tensed up, but his body seemed to be embedded with nails, unable to move at all, not even to make any sound. After looking at the storage rack, Huo Wuling's beautiful face was revealed.
Huo Wuling was still wearing a snow-white shirt, every button was neatly fastened, and the shirt was ironed straight, making his figure even more slender and straight.
He smiled at the woman and asked gently, "Lady, what do you need?"
"I'm going to deposit it with you..."
"no problem."
Huo Wuling nodded, took out a glass jar and placed the heart on the storage shelf. When registering, he asked the woman with a smile, "What's your reason for storing this heart?"
"His heart has gone bad..."
The woman murmured sadly.
"He doesn't love me that much, so before this heart is completely broken, I'm going to save it so it doesn't rot."
Huo Wuling recorded it in his notebook. The woman stood in the store, staring at the lavender glass jar. After looking at it for a long time, she turned around and walked out of the store slowly. The misty figure dissipated with her pace. in the air.
"Then, this guest," Huo Wuling closed the notebook in his hand and looked at Ji Ning with a smile, "What do you need me to do?"
Ji Ning's voice was blocked, so he couldn't answer this question, but Huo Wuling didn't seem to need his answer, just curled his lips and continued.
"You don't look like you're stocking or selling hearts... Need to buy? We can sell hearts too."
"Whose heart do you want?"
With a gentle smile, he took Ji Ning's hand and led him to browse the glass jars on the storage shelf and the beating hearts inside.
There were also some old posters on the walls, all in sketch style, only black and white and gray. The figures on them also had no facial features, only the outlines of human figures, but Ji Ning quickly recognized that he and Huo were drawn here. Inanimate.
The posters portrayed their past experiences.
Huo Wuling pulled him out of the Ten Thousand Ghosts Pit and fed him with his own blood.
On a hot summer night, Huo Wuling hugged him like a cat and fell asleep lazily because his body was cool.
He was taken away by the monster in the dungeon. Huo Wuling quickly slaughtered the entire dungeon, stepping on the dirty bones and blood on the ground, but his eyebrows were clean and gentle, and he extended his hand to him again.
And the last poster is-
"Like these posters?"
In the grocery store, Huo Wuling held Ji Ning's wrist, stood in front of the poster, looked at Ji Ning for a while, and suddenly laughed.
"I understand."
"I think you'll like it too."
He raised his hand to hold his heart, his fingers dipped in the flesh, spitting out a lot of blood, digging out his heart, tearing off the blood vessels connected to his body, and handing it to Ji Ning's eyes.
"I'll give you my heart, can you tell me?"
"Don't you want it?"
The female voice from the gramophone became more and more stagnant and dry, twisted into a melody, and the lights around it went out instantly. I don't know when it turned into Ji Ning holding this heart, and Huo Wuling hugged him from behind. , put his hands on his chest.
"In exchange, give me your heart too, Ningning."
"Let me seal it up before it rots."
"So, won't you leave me?"
The extreme cold began to penetrate Ji Ning's heart, his face quickly turned pale, his consciousness became more and more blurred, and he gradually closed his eyes.
"Crack-"
However, just as he was about to be completely engulfed by the cold, the surrounding darkness suddenly spread like a cobweb of cracks, and then shattered like a mirror, revealing the warm lights and the internal structure of the bathroom.
Ji Ning's fallen body was caught by a pair of strong arms. He was dizzy and could barely see anything. He only glimpsed a pair of dark red pupils that were cold and sharp, and then fainted.
"… "
Herinos held Ji Ning in his arms and looked at the figure in the mirror with a gloomy expression.
The glossy mirror surface was covered with cobweb-like cracks, and Huo Wuling's body also cracked into many pieces in the mirror, and dissipated at a very fast speed.
Before he completely disappeared, Herinos narrowed his eyes dangerously and said with a warning.
"No matter who you are, you are not allowed to approach Ji Ning in the future."
"This time you won, but..."
Huo Wuling smiled, his eyes fell on Herinos' blood dripping fingertips, and he said meaningfully.
"Next time we meet, I will take Ningning and kill you."
"Bang!"
As his figure completely dissipated, the mirror suddenly shattered and exploded, and sharp fragments flew everywhere. Herinos raised his hand slightly, and an invisible force blocked these fragments and fell to the ground.
He gently put the unconscious Ji Ning on the bed, spread out his hands, and looked at his bloody palms. The wound that usually disappears quickly was now a faint black, with no tendency to heal.
Herinos' eyes were deep, and he looked at Ji Ning who was in a drowsiness. After a while, he touched Ji Ning's face with his fingertips, as if he was talking to himself, but he seemed to be asking Ji Ning, The voice spoke in a low voice.
"… Who is he?"