Shen Lian and Qin Yuelin were still tangled together on the bed, arms looped like they'd forgotten the world had teeth. Yuelin's face was pressed against Shen's shoulder, cheeks crimson, while Shen held him as if someone might snatch him away again.
Wen Jun's voice cut through the warmth like a blade wrapped in silk.
"Now," he said, folding his arms, "tell me why you brought a stranger into your apartment without knowing anything about them?"
Shen Lian slowly loosened his hold on Yuelin...but not completely, never completely....and cleared his throat.
"All I remember is…" Shen's voice wavered, his eyes losing focus as the memory dragged him downward. "When I went to the hospital to meet Yi Chen… the moment I entered the cabin, he was… humming."
Zhao Liren's brows shot up. "Humming? What humming..."
"A creepy sound," Shen whispered.
And suddenly, the room wasn't the room anymore.
FLASHBACK...Shen Lian's memory
The hospital corridor was too white, too bright. Shen Lian pushed open the door to Yi Chen's room, the hinges groaning faintly.
Inside, Yi Chen sat on the bed… swaying slightly.
Humming.
A low, broken tune that didn't fit inside a living person's throat.
The fluorescent lights flickered overhead, once… twice.
"Yi Chen?" Shen stepped closer. " it's me..."
Yi Chen lifted his head.
His eyes were entirely black.
No whites.
No pupils.
Just void.
His lips stretched slow… wrong… until the smile reached his cheeks.
Shen froze. A sudden stiffness locked his muscles, like something grabbed him from under his skin, refusing to let him move. His breath hitched.
Yi Chen leaned forward, tilt of his head unnatural.
And inside Shen's skull...
A voice.
Not Yi Chen's.
Not human.
"Do what I say."
Shen's pulse stopped.
"Say what I want."
"Go where I tell you."
Shen felt himself nod.
He didn't want to.
But he did.
"I couldn't move," Shen whispered inside the memory, inside the dark. "I couldn't even blink."
Yi Chen....or whatever was inside him...stood up, the air around him turning cold enough to sting.
When Yuelin disappeared, the voice inside Shen roared instructions.
Guiding him.
Pushing him.
Dragging him like a puppet on strings.
As if it wanted him to see Yuelin like that...
Broken.
Lost.
Animalistic.
BACK TO PRESENT
Shen Lian sucked in a trembling breath as the memory faded.
Zhao Liren clicked his tongue sharply. "So you DO remember running behind me trying to kill me, you bastard!"
Shen rolled his eyes in that annoying way. "I wasn't myself."
Then he reached over and pulled Yuelin even closer, making the smaller boy giggle softly against his chest.
Zhao stared at them like his brain hit a 404 error. he wanted to ask them when did they become so close... but before he could-
Wen Jun sighed, pinched the bridge of his nose, and spoke with the patience of a monk who'd seen enough nonsense for ten lifetimes.
"Shen Lian. Sit in front of me. I need to go through your memory."
Shen hesitated. His fingers tightened protectively around Yuelin before he finally released him with a soft whisper, "I'll be right here."
He moved to sit cross-legged in front of Wen Jun.
"Close your eyes," Wen Jun instructed.
Shen did.
Wen Jun placed his palm gently against Shen's forehead. His own eyes slid shut.
Instantly...
Darkness.
A room.
Pitch black.
No air.
No sound.
Wen Jun tried to move forward, but the darkness acted like it had weight. His chest tightened.
Then...
A scream ripped through the void.
A woman's scream.
Raw.
Desperate.
Begging for help.
Wen Jun's hand twitched. His body reacted before his mind did...he reached for the door he sensed ahead, fingers curling around the handle...
But before he could open it...
A scream.
A real one.
Not in the vision.
Not in the memory.
From the bedroom.
Qin Yuelin.
Wen Jun's eyes snapped open. He withdrew his hand instantly and turned.
Shen and Zhao were already scrambling, grabbing Yuelin as he thrashed, screaming in terror. His voice...god, his voice...echoed exactly like the woman in Shen's memory.
Wen Jun's blood ran cold.
He rushed to the bed, placed his palm on Yuelin's forehead.
A faint glow pulsed from his hand...
And Yuelin's body slackened, falling into a deep sleep.
Zhao Liren panicked, his voice cracking. "W-WHAT happened to my Yuelin!? What did you do?!"
Wen Jun remained impossibly calm.
"I'm from Liúshè Village," he began softly...naming a tiny, forgotten village tucked deep in the mountains. "There is an abandoned church there. It's been untouched for centuries. And people there believed..."
Shen snapped.
"WHAT DOES THAT HAVE TO DO WITH YUELIN? And what the hell happened just now!?"
His voice was raw, shaking with fear and anger.
Wen Jun looked between the two boys quietly… seriously… almost sorrowfully.
Then he asked,
calm as the moon, heavy as fate...
"Do you both believe in reincarnation?"
END OF THE CHAPTER.