Separated by a thin door panel, the sounds of conversation between Su Yu and that "Fu Hua" became muffled and indistinct.
Inside the cramped space, only Kiana remained.
She slid down against the cold metal cabinet to sit on the floor, her chest heaving violently and chaotically, like a drowning person who had just crawled ashore.
It was too quiet here.
Quiet enough that those noisy auditory hallucinations began to appear in her ears again.
"You can't escape..."
"How many more people do you want to kill?"
Kiana bit her lower lip hard, not stopping until she tasted the rust-like scent of blood, barely managing to suppress the voices in her mind with pain.
She couldn't collapse here.
She had to treat her wounds, then leave this place immediately.
She had to get far away from that person wearing the Squad Monitor's face... far away from everyone.
Trembling, she reached out her right hand, grabbing for the iodine bottle placed on the floor.
There was no tactile sensation.
Her fingers passed through the dark brown plastic bottle without any obstruction, as if penetrating a cloud of smoke.
Kiana's movements froze.
She didn't scream, nor did she shout in disbelief; there was only a dead silence of bewilderment in those dim eyes.
Slowly, tentatively, she reached out again to touch the pack of cotton swabs nearby.
This time, she saw it very clearly.
Her pale fingers submerged directly into the packaging bag, her fingertips touching only the cold concrete floor.
"...?"
Why?
Clearly, she could touch them just a moment ago... Clearly, when that man was holding her just now...
That man.
Outside the door, Su Yu seemed to have finished his conversation, and his footsteps were moving into the distance—he had probably gone to the front desk to get hot water.
With every step those footsteps took away from her, the world before Kiana's eyes dimmed by a degree.
The originally bright incandescent light began to flicker and gray, as if the voltage were unstable.
The sound of rain and the operation of the air conditioner, which she could still hear before, quickly became distant and distorted, as if blocked by some kind of gel.
Her body began to feel light. That familiar sense of weightlessness, of being banished to Imaginary Space, was climbing up from the soles of her feet.
She was too familiar with this sensation.
It was the precursor to "disappearing."
Fear, like a cold hand, instantly strangled her throat.
Kiana struggled, wanting to stand up, wanting to open the door, but when her palms pressed against the ground, they once again passed through the floor, and she fell wretchedly into a mass of nothingness.
She opened her mouth, wanting to cry for help.
But not a shred of sound could be emitted from her throat; even the air seemed to be rejecting her existence.
If she didn't grab him...
If she didn't grab that unique "anchor"...
She would completely dissipate from this world like a ghost, unseen by anyone, unheard by anyone, rotting alone in eternal dead silence.
The footsteps stopped.
Immediately after, the footsteps began to return.
"Forgot to grab the cotton swabs..."
Su Yu's muttering to himself came from outside the door.
Click.
The doorknob turned, and the door was pushed open.
Su Yu's figure reappeared in the doorway.
The instant he stepped into the room.
Color, sound, and gravity roared back in that split second.
The incandescent light became dazzling again, the buzzing of the air conditioner shook her eardrums until they hurt, and the hard tactile sensation of the ground returned to her knees.
"...Cough, cough cough..."
Kiana seemed to have regained the right to breathe. clutching her neck and coughing violently, curling into a small ball, shivering.
"Hey, are you alright?"
Su Yu looked at the girl slumped on the ground, her face as pale as paper, and subconsciously wanted to step closer to check on her.
Kiana instinctively shrank back, her spine pressing against the cold cabinet.
She was afraid.
Like a wild beast that had been heavily injured, baring its teeth at any creature that approached, yet possessing no power to resist.
Su Yu stopped in his tracks, raising both hands to show he had no ill intent.
"I won't come closer. Don't be afraid, I'll just put the cotton swabs here..."
Saying this, he turned around, preparing to place the items on the table by the door and then back out.
However, the moment Su Yu turned and took a step.
Kiana watched in horror as the fingertips of her left hand, which rested on her knee, began to turn transparent again. The originally clear outline began to flicker like a holographic projection with a bad connection.
That suffocating sensation struck once more.
[System Notification: Warning! Detected that the target Valkyrie is leaving the range of the "Reality Anchor"!]
[Correction Law: Must remain within a 1-meter radius of the Host, Su Yu, otherwise the ability to interact with matter will be lost.]
Can't let him go.
Absolutely cannot let him go far.
Kiana gripped the hem of her clothes tightly.
She didn't want to disappear.
She didn't want to be deprived of even the qualification to die.
She still had things she absolutely had to do... things she had promised Teacher Himeko...
"...Don't go."
The voice was very soft, carrying a trace of a tremor she was trying her utmost to suppress.
Su Yu's footsteps paused. He turned his head back: "What?"
Kiana lowered her head. Her messy white hair covered her face, making it impossible to see her expression.
She didn't look up at Su Yu, but her body was still uncontrollably trembling.
Slowly, violently, she shifted her knees toward Su Yu's direction.
Until that sensation of emptiness, as if her body were about to dissipate, vanished. Until that hand which had turned transparent became solid again.
That distance was exactly around one meter from Su Yu.
Kiana hugged her knees, curling herself up within the edge of Su Yu's shadow.
Only after a long time did her dry voice, filled with a sense of powerlessness, drift through the air.
"Just stand there..."
"I beg you... don't be too far from me."
[System Notification: Bond Mechanism "Quantum Entanglement" has taken effect]
[Current Mandatory Interaction Range: 100cm]
[Friendly Reminder: Host, please do not attempt to exploit bugs. Once out of range, the Valkyrie will face the risk of phase loss. Wish you a happy raising!]
Looking at this line of bold red text on the light screen, the corners of Su Yu's mouth twitched frantically.
Happy my foot!
Quantum Entanglement? This was clearly a Conjoined Twin Simulator!
One meter?
This didn't just mean he had to take her with him to the bathroom and the shower; it meant that even in an awkward moment like this where he ought to avoid looking, he had to stand here like a pervert.
The silence in the air was so thick it was almost viscous.
Su Yu stiffly turned his back, staring at the yellowing "No Smoking" poster on the wall as if repenting for his sins, and gave a dry cough.
"Um... I'll just stand right here. I definitely won't turn around."
To increase his credibility, he even closed his eyes and raised his hands above his head in a surrender pose.
"You... rest assured and treat your wound."
A faint rustling of fabric came from behind him, followed by the metallic sound of a zipper being unzipped.
Kiana bit her lip tightly. The cold hardness and numbness on her face, accumulated from her wandering, finally cracked open a slit at this moment.
A sense of shame crawled up her neck to the roots of her ears, burning so hot it was somewhat painful.
If it were the idiot Kiana of the past, she would probably be blushing and shouting "Pervert!" while kicking the other party flying right now, wouldn't she?
But now...
She glanced at her semi-transparent fingertips. Her body was real only when she was close to this man's back.
This humiliation of having to depend on a strange male made her feel incomparably embarrassed.
"...Not allowed to look."
She squeezed these three words out through her teeth. Her voice was as thin as a mosquito's buzz, revealing a weakness that was outwardly fierce but inwardly faint.
"I won't look, I won't look. If I look, I'm a dog."
Su Yu immediately stated his position, and even began reciting the Chu Shi Biao in his heart to divert his attention.
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