Chapter 72: Terrifying Campus, Sunshine Doll (10)

Tang Mu, you—would you be my girlfriend?

Zi Yushu was suddenly seized by the impulse to keep Tang Mu by his side forever.

But he never finished his sentence.

At that moment, two more people appeared in the room.

Jing You and Yin Juncai.

They dragged their suitcases in, shivering a little. Their original plan was to find a teacher to arrange their accommodations. But given that it was exam season and remembering the teacher Li’s “cryptic” remarks, neither of them dared to approach her privately.

So, their next idea was to turn to Tang Mu.

Tang Mu understood their intentions and, with a calm gesture, pointed in a certain direction.

Jing You followed her gaze and discovered it was toward the bed opposite Tang Mu’s.

Her fear deepened.

“Isn’t there another dorm available?” she whispered.

“No,” Tang Mu replied with a shake of her head. “All the other rooms are full. If you don’t want to stay here, you’ll have to sleep in the corridor.”

“…Then, what about Yin Juncai?”

“The boys’ dorms are on the first, third, and fifth floors. The girls’ dorms are on the second, fourth, and sixth.”

“Okay, got it.” Yin Juncai, upon hearing this, immediately wheeled his suitcase away. He didn’t even look back at Jing You.

Jing You, suddenly abandoned, was consumed by anxiety and dread.

She wanted to follow Yin Juncai, but he dashed off faster than a startled rabbit, paying her no mind at all.

Children have little regard for moral constraints. Most of the time, they act on sheer instinct.

Yin Juncai’s decision was perfectly normal, given the circumstances.

“Put your suitcase down,” Tang Mu instructed, pointing to the bed where Jing You should sleep. “You have half an hour to get settled. After that, I don’t want to hear a single sound from this room.”

“Um… Tang Mu, about the window at night…”

“If you’re too scared to sleep, you can go right out to the corridor.”

“But our room is near the washroom. I’ve heard that the washroom—”

“Enough!” Jing You shrieked suddenly. “Don’t say another word! I’ll sleep well tonight—I promise I won’t open my eyes!”

Jing You hurried to shove her suitcase under the bed and then sat silently, not daring to move.

Tang Mu ignored her, stretched out on her own bed, and picked up a romance novel.

As for Zi Yushu—no one paid him any attention at all.

But Zi Yushu was not about to give up so easily. “Tang Mu, if you’re free tonight, could you come to the library with me? There’s something I want to talk to you about.”

Tang Mu was about to refuse without a second thought.

But just as she opened her mouth, Zi Yushu quickly cut her off. “It’s about your older sister. I think there’s been a misunderstanding between us.”

With that, he turned and left, leaving Tang Mu no chance to say no.

Tang Mu frowned, annoyance written all over her face.

**

Tang Mu spent the whole day reading girls’ romance novels.

When evening came and the time for Zi Yushu’s invitation arrived, she of course did not go.

At eight o’clock, the window in Dorm 044 started to open and shut, shut and open, right on schedule.

Tang Mu was deeply averse to sharing a room with Zi Yushu.

Besides, she felt nothing for him now. That made her even less inclined to “entangle” herself with him.

“Quiet,” Tang Mu snapped irritably at the window that kept opening and closing. “If you’re really angry, come out and talk to me face to face. If you’re not, then get lost. Stop bothering me while I’m reading.”

Jing You, sitting nearby, was shocked—she was already terrified out of her wits, and now Tang Mu was actually scolding a ghost?

But astonishingly, the window really did fall silent.

A red-clad, delicate figure materialized in the dormitory.

“Tang Mo” was drenched in blood. Her petite, frail body was curled up in a corner, all but swallowed by shadow. Helplessness, weakness, darkness, and resentment pooled together in that small, shrunken form.

“Tang Mo” was Tang Mu from more than a decade ago.

They were the same person—so why could the present Tang Mu shine so dazzlingly, while she was left to endure a soul’s torment?

“How could you treat Zi Yushu like that?”

From the moment she appeared, “Tang Mo” poured out her dissatisfaction.

“You are me! You know me better than anyone else in this world! How could you not understand the suffering I’ve endured? How could you not know what I desire, what I love?”

“I’m so disappointed in you!”

But Tang Mu only gave a careless, scornful laugh.

“What’s so special about Zi Yushu? All he ever brought you was misfortune—he could give you nothing else.”

“But look at me, all it took was a few words, and I’ve surpassed your decade-long obsession!”

“People are perverse by nature. Whatever lands in their lap, they’re likely to ignore. But with just a few clever tricks, any man you desire will come begging at your feet.”

“So it’s just a man who’s hurt you—what’s so hard to let go of?”

“ Tang Mo” was silent.

She felt the difference between herself and Tang Mu, and yet, how alike they were.

“You don’t love Zi Yushu—is it because of him?”

By “Tang Mo’s” right hand, a vivid scene appeared in the air.

In it was Yan Xingwen.

Eighteen-year-old Yan Xingwen.

He was the boy Tang Mu would soon meet, when she herself was in her teens.

He was at the university shooting club, practicing his aim. Nine points, nine points, ten points—each shot struck near the bullseye.

And struck Tang Mu’s heart as well.

The image vanished quickly.

But this act by “Tang Mo” provoked Tang Mu’s deepest fury.

Her eyes narrowed to slits, venom glinting within.

“You should never set your sights on him.”

Tang Mu seized “Tang Mo” by the throat!

She lifted her slowly from the ground, forcing “Tang Mo” to claw at her hands, struggling desperately for release as her breath was cut off.

“You want to kill me? If you kill me, you’re killing yourself!”

In that moment, Tang Mu felt a terrible, crushing force on her own neck.

But she did not loosen her grip.

She had always been ruthless with herself.

A mere “Tang Mo” was not enough to make her let go.

“Are you insane?”

“ Tang Mo” cursed and raged.

“You’d kill yourself over a man? I am you! I know exactly how you’ve survived all these years. Family, friends, lovers—keep them in your heart, and they become knives, stabbing you again and again! And those knives, you hand them over yourself!”

“You ought to be like me! In the endless sea of suffering, you must train yourself to be fierce, to have a heart of stone!”

“You shouldn’t touch love again! It’s poison in a cup, only making you wish for death but unable to find it!”

“Don’t you want those who hurt you to taste retribution? If you and I join forces, they’ll know no peace, living forever beneath our shadow!”