Chapter 49
Gently holding Su Mo's face, a familiar feeling suddenly rises in Lu Jia's heart, triggering a sense of deja vu.
In her mind, it was blurry, like the same scene was happening.
A strange feeling made Lu Jia think more, she wanted to find something.
She always felt that she had lost something, but on this journey to find it, there were sharp things like stones scratching through her veins in her head, they rubbed against each other, making Lu Jia's head "splatter blood" until it hurt and she retreated, no longer approaching that familiar moment.
Her head was swollen, and the tearing sensation seemed to devour her head, making her completely disappear. If she gave up, she would feel better. Things have been this way for years.
Lu Jia was caught in a dilemma. On one hand, if she gave up, she could have peace, everything seemed normal again. But on the other hand, she felt that giving up would make her more uncomfortable and more painful than enjoying peace.
Such feelings were pressing on Lu Jia, making it difficult for her to breathe.
At this moment, her hands were tightly holding onto a thread, and the ground was filled with burning hot stones that scorched her feet, making a sizzling sound. Lu Jia felt numb all over, and behind her, there was a pool of water, cool and comfortable, attracting her to step back.
The calmness behind her beckoned, and years of experience had taught her the first priority, which was to protect herself. But now, if she protected herself, she seemed to be devoured by another kind of pain.
And this kind of discomfort seemed even more painful.
Lu Jia heard crying in her ears, and as she listened to her sobbing, her heart felt like it was pierced by a sharp stick, which ruthlessly stirred and caused immense pain.
"Keep living~"
A female voice, with a bit of breathlessness, resurfaced in her mind, suppressing the tears. It started to fill Lu Jia's mind, constantly playing on repeat.
Until the voice became cold, mechanical, and eventually disappeared. At that moment, a loud screech suddenly rushed into her mind, the tires scraping against the ground, making a squealing sound. It gave Lu Jia a ringing in her ears, making her uncomfortable and instinctively closing her eyes.
Keep living, no matter how difficult or uncomfortable it may be, she must keep living. Without any reason, she generated such a thought. It was like responding to that woman's words.
In her mind, there were a pair of hands, just like now, cradling a face that Lu Jia couldn't see clearly. She saw those hands gently wiping something, and she tried hard to see it clearly.
However, that face gradually became transparent, and behind that face was a long mirror.
The mirror reflected the owner of those hands.
That person stood straight in front of the mirror, enveloping Lu Jia's entire being. Gradually, Lu Jia looked through the mirror, starting from her feet and sizing up the person in the mirror.
She wore a simple patient gown, was not tall, and had a childish innocence on her face, looking a bit expressionless.
That face made Lu Jia feel familiar.
She looked carefully, but suddenly! The eyes in the mirror began to fill with blood, and blood trickled down her cheeks, turning her eyes bloodshot.
She was a bit scared and instinctively took a step back, but she found a sticky feeling under her feet.
Lowering her head, she saw that the red blood had already flooded her feet and was still rising.
She hurriedly retreated, but the face in front started to rot. It grinned and looked at Lu Jia with a fierce gaze, then rushed towards Lu Jia.
"Don't!"
"he～he～he～"
With a heavy breath, Lu Jia swallowed saliva, and her hands, which she didn't know when, moved down from Su Mo's face and turned into a defensive mode, crossing in front of her face.
Because of the strange scenes in her mind, she was scared and her face turned pale. She silently put down her hand, her eyes seemed absent-minded, and the sweat on her forehead and the chill on her back reminded her of the terrifying encounter just now.
What's even scarier is that the girl with blood all over her face, Lu Jia is not unfamiliar with her.
Because...that is her own face.
It is precisely because it is herself that the feeling becomes even more terrifying.
Seeing Su Mo trying to hold her hand because of her actions, Lu Jia realized that her reaction was intense and must have frightened Su Mo.
However, Lu Jia seemed at a loss and didn't know how to comfort Su Mo with what kind of feelings. Anyway, when she thought of that face similar to hers again, Lu Jia took the initiative to hug the person in front of her.
Feeling the cool touch on her cheek, she tried harder to hold the person in front of her tighter, as if only in this way could she remind herself that this is the reality.
The scenes in her mind made her feel anxious for no reason.
In her memory, she had never seen such a life-size mirror. During the time she stayed at her aunt's house, the only thing she had was a small mirror about the size of her palm.
She has never held anyone's face. In her memory, the two children at her aunt's house just caused her trouble. They would enter and leave her room without any concern, destroying her things without hesitation. Even her homework could be burned by them. That's why she avoids them.
In order to deal with them, she developed a habit that continues to this day, which is to hide things. She hides things that she considers important so they won't be taken away from her.
But the scenes in her mind feel so real that it confuses Lu Jia. She doesn't know if she has just entered a dream or if her brain has created this false memory as a response to stress.
Actually, Lu Jia already has blurry memories of her childhood, but she still remembers that before she was 9 years old, she lived with her parents. When she was 9, one day she woke up in the hospital and learned that her parents had died in a car accident and couldn't be saved. After leaving the hospital, she went to live with her aunt.
Lu Jia heard from her aunt that it was a family of three who had been celebrating Lu Jia's 9th birthday when the car accident happened. But Lu Jia can't remember anything about the accident.
At first, she was also puzzled, but later, she listened to the doctor's explanation that she might have experienced a traumatic event, causing her to selectively forget that memory. In addition, her head would resist and hurt if she tried to delve too much into the past. So since then, she hasn't actively thought about that period of memory.
Afterward, the family received compensation, and her parents' company provided a condolence payment. Although most of it fell into the hands of her aunt's family, they didn't mistreat Lu Jia when it came to her education fund. They still allowed her to go to college.
Besides that one forgotten car accident, Lu Jia's life from childhood to adulthood seemed quite simple.
Before she turned 9, she lived with her parents. Although she has already forgotten many things, some vague memories still remain. She remembers her parents always wearing white coats, looking somewhat like doctors. But from what Lu Jia found out about her parents, they seemed to be technical staff at a company.
After she turned nine, she went to live with her uncle's family. From then on, life for her was all about studying, as well as outsmarting her uncle's family for the compensation money, and avoiding those two troublesome kids, until she went to college and escaped from her uncle's family.
Her 22 years were quite ordinary, with nothing particularly special about them.
But even though she knew it was fake, why did it still feel so real to her, as if she had genuinely experienced such things herself?
The crying sound was the same. It really felt like someone was crying in her ear, and her heart would ache along with it, completely unlike just a deep illusion.
Because it felt so real, it scared her, forcing her to hold on tighter to the person in front of her, feeling their presence, as if it could calm her down a little.
Fear seeped out of her pores and began to whisper around her, quietly spreading into Su Mo's ears. Gradually, it crawled into Su Mo's emotions, and started its so-called "infection."
Su Mo's hands instinctively embraced Lu Jia, and something like water droplets shimmered in her gray pupils for a moment.
The memories between these days and Lu Jia started running through her mind, gradually influencing her with happy emotions, until the memories returned to last night. Those strange beings allowed her to successfully feel Lu Jia's emotions.
She wanted Lu Jia not to shake, not to make that piercing noise. Lu Jia would hold her, but not like this, not saying a word.
When she was thinking like this, inside her Broca's area in her brain, the once still red blood vessels began to circulate slowly. Gradually, there were sounds inside, as if someone was whispering something softly.
Hearing the voices in her mind, Su Mo opened her mouth and at first only familiar "ah" sounds came out. Gradually, she controlled her breath until there were sounds resembling words coming out of her mouth.
The person leaning on Su Mo's shoulder gradually woke up from a strange nightmare. Their emotions calmed down, feeling the pressure on their back and hearing the same voice as before in their ear. They knew they had worried Su Mo.
So, Lu Jia pushed those things that should not exist out of her mind and rubbed her jaw against Su Mo's shoulder and neck. "Don't worry, I'm fine," she said, trying to comfort.
Listening to her voice, Su Mo hugged her even tighter, feeling the sudden increase in strength. Lu Jia couldn't react at first.
It was a bit too tight, and she had to ask a question until she heard a voice again, but this time it was slightly different from before.
"bie"
"pa"
The voice was somewhat stiff, the tones weren't quite right. She even said it multiple times, but it was really difficult to understand. Only Su Mo could probably make out what she was trying to express.
"You...?"
Lu Jia leaned on her shoulder, feeling a bit unsure at the moment. But she seemed to have heard a hint from Su Mo's words.
Her expression conveyed her disbelief, but reality struck her, causing her heart to race and making it difficult to control.
Until the gradually clear voice reached her ears and formed a word.
"Don't... be afraid~"
With a bang, it seemed like something standing between the two of them collapsed.
