Chapter 19: A Guilty Conscience
A Terrifying Dream
“Where… am I?”
Surrounded by pitch-black darkness, Lin Mu felt disoriented. He instinctively groped around, trying to make sense of his surroundings, which grew increasingly familiar.
“This is Central Plaza… I’m at school?”
The familiar setting brought a fleeting sense of relief. But in the next moment, Lin Mu noticed countless glowing points appearing around him.
“What are those… Argh!!!”
They weren’t lights—they were pairs of eyes, each filled with disgust, staring intensely at Lin Mu.
“No, no! Stay away!!”
Lin Mu instinctively summoned his abilities, unleashing them with full force at the eyes.
Perhaps due to the danger, Lin Mu’s power surged far beyond his usual strength, his abilities glowing brightly.
But it was useless. The eyes seemed intangible, his attacks passing right through them.
“What the hell is going on?!”
Seeing his abilities fail, Lin Mu could only run frantically, desperately suppressing the fear in his heart.
An Endless Chase
No matter how he fled, he remained under the gaze of those eyes. Despair grew, pushing Lin Mu to the brink of collapse.
Until he saw a figure ahead.
“Help! Save me!”
Overjoyed, Lin Mu shouted and ran toward the figure.
Whether he shook them off or something else happened, the moment he reached the figure, the eyes vanished all at once.
“Hah… hah… do you… know what’s going on…?”
Lin Mu panted, out of breath, timidly patting the figure in front of him.
The figure turned, revealing her face. Her blue hair was disheveled, her complexion pale, but it was clear she was a beautiful girl.
Except where her eyes should have been, there was nothing.
Her empty sockets bled tears of blood, and she stared blankly in Lin Mu’s direction.
“Why… are you looking at me like that?”
Her voice was icy, questioning Lin Mu.
“Ah!!! Senior, don’t kill me!! I-I was wrong! I’ll never do it again!!”
Lin Mu jolted awake, fearfully scanning his surroundings. There was no eyeless girl—he was in the infirmary. It was just a nightmare.
“Phew…”
Lin Mu exhaled heavily, only to notice a man in a white coat standing nearby—the school doctor, looking at him with an exasperated expression.
“Uh…”
“Alright, you’re awake. Get going. School’s over.”
Lin Mu tried to say something, but the doctor cut him off, clearly impatient.
“But… I…”
“You’re just sleep-deprived and passed out from a nightmare.”
Anticipating Lin Mu’s question, the doctor answered efficiently.
“Fine…”
Seeing no point in arguing, Lin Mu got up to leave. At the door, the doctor suddenly spoke.
“Done anything you feel guilty about lately?”
“W-What guilty thing? I haven’t done anything!”
The doctor’s question startled Lin Mu, who stammered a denial before bolting out.
“He doesn’t look like he’s innocent… Whatever, time to clock out.”
The doctor gave Lin Mu’s retreating figure a meaningful glance, shook his head, removed his white coat, and left, clearly unwilling to stay a moment longer.
A Paranoid Walk
“What the hell was that doctor talking about? So weird!”
Lin Mu didn’t stop running until he reached the school gate, panting as he muttered complaints about the doctor.
“I didn’t… do anything. Yeah, that’s right. It’s got nothing to do with me!”
Reassuring himself, Lin Mu headed toward the bus stop, intending to go home.
As he walked, everything seemed normal, yet something felt off. He couldn’t shake the feeling that passersby were staring at him, making his heart race with unease.
Lin Mu instinctively looked around. The strangers seemed frozen, all staring at him, as if whispering about him. Their gazes treated him like unrecyclable trash, filling him with agony.
Panicking, Lin Mu rubbed his eyes. When he opened them again, everything was normal—no one was looking at him.
“Ugh… what’s happening to me?”
Lin Mu couldn’t comprehend what was happening to him.
He knew no one was watching, yet he felt eyes on him, judging him, belittling him.
That suffocating feeling returned, along with despair and fear, as if those inexplicable eyes and the eyeless girl were still chasing him.
A Desperate Escape
The unbearable sensation drove Lin Mu to flee. Ignoring the odd looks from others, he ran like a headless fly, avoiding crowds until he reached an empty warehouse, where he finally stopped.
“Hah… hah… what’s going on… why… why is this happening…”
With no one around, Lin Mu collapsed to the ground, gasping for air. He couldn’t understand what was happening to him. The inexplicable fear made him feel like life wasn’t worth living.
“Why do I have to go through this…”
The thought of facing others’ gazes overwhelmed him. Unable to bear it, he broke down, sobbing uncontrollably.
Plop, plop—
A Mocking Voice
“Aww… how pitiful~”
In the empty surroundings, footsteps echoed. As they grew closer, Lin Mu heard a girl’s crisp, mocking voice.
Panicking, Lin Mu looked up. Before him stood a girl with her face hidden under a hood. Though her expression wasn’t visible, he felt she was smiling.
“Who are you… ugh… ah!”
Though the girl made no move, fear gripped Lin Mu’s heart, leaving him gasping on the ground.
“That’s more like it. A maggot like you should just crawl on the ground. Who gave you permission to look up at me?”
Hearing her words, Lin Mu wanted to ask questions, but the overwhelming fear kept him trembling on the ground.
“Pfft, you can’t even handle this?”
Lin Mu’s writhing seemed to amuse the girl, who laughed out loud.
“All I did was let you feel what she felt, and you’re already breaking down? What a pathetic waste.”
The girl squatted in front of Lin Mu, grabbing his head. His face was twisted in fear, tears and snot streaming uncontrollably.
“Disgusting. No matter how far she falls, she’d never become something as pathetic as you.”
With disdain, the girl pressed Lin Mu’s head to the ground, forcing his face into an intimate meeting with the floor.