CH SS 1 (1/2)

Chapter 1: The Children that Can’t be Touched—translated by lucathia (proofread by elisa & Trespa.s.serby; C/E edited by dahlys)

Although she knew that it was something she shouldn’t do, she still couldn’t resist breaking the taboo.

That’s because writing about them was already not enough. She wanted, oh how she wanted more!

She wanted to touch their faces, wanted to see them move, wanted to hear their voices as they spoke…

Listen…

Do you hear my summons? ******* *******.

Can you hear me?

“Yes, I heard you… Mistress.”

The phone suddenly rang, making Yu Shu jump in shock.

I thought I failed! She was feeling annoyed and felt no desire to pick up the call, but the ringtone was relentless and the phone kept on ringing. Yu Shu already knew who was on the other end. Only that fellow would let the phone ring on and on. She bet that if she didn’t take the call, it would keep on ringing all night!

Furthermore, she couldn’t pick up and hang up or directly pull out the phone cord, since that someone would then come straight to her apartment and ring the doorbell the entire night. Even if she pulled out her doorbell, thunderous pounding on her door would sound throughout the night.

Yu Shu had no choice but to walk over and pick up the phone. Once the call connected, she didn’t even have the chance to say “h.e.l.lo” before she heard the coldest voice on earth.

“Where’s the ma.n.u.script?”

Yu Shu braced herself and meekly said, “Give me a few more days, and I can get it done.”

“I recall that you said the same thing a few days ago. A few days before the few days, you said the same as well. A few days before the few days before the few days—”

Yu Shu hurriedly interrupted the other person and solemnly vowed, “I mean it. I’ll turn in my ma.n.u.script in three days.”

“I’m eighty percent sure that it’ll take another thirty days…” The other person muttered.

“Hey! You should at least say nine days. What the heck is up with thirty days?”

“Unfortunately, that’s the truth! But, don’t you dare dream of getting thirty days from me. If you don’t submit your ma.n.u.script by the tenth day, you had better brace yourself. I’ll drag my luggage to your place to stay over and watch you until you finish writing!”

Her tone was as cold as ice, so cold that Yu Shu trembled upon hearing her voice. But, she couldn’t help but want to get told off a bit more. In the real world, it was really difficult to meet someone as cold as ice! That person was a rarely seen source material that Yu Shu could reference. Just listening to her speak gave Yu Shu a lot of inspiration, and she really wished she could hear more—if only the other person weren’t her editor and currently pressing her for her ma.n.u.script.

“Xiao Luo Luo, ten days seems a little short!”

“My name is Ye Luo. Don’t call me Xiao Luo Luo. Besides, didn’t someone just say three days would be enough?”

Yu Shu immediately lowered her head and said in a small voice, “Well… I’ve been a little busy lately!”

“Busy? Since you haven’t turned in your ma.n.u.script, I’m guessing you weren’t busy writing, am I right?”

Yu Shu didn’t even dare reply.

“Remember, ten days! Otherwise, I’ll be dropping in!”

“Okay.” Yu Shu didn’t dare raise her voice in protest, afraid that if she did, Ye Luo would be unwilling to wait even ten days and would pound thunderously on her apartment door within an hour.

After she ended the call, Yu Shu didn’t sit back in front of her computer to continue typing her ma.n.u.script. She was a bit out of sorts. Actually, for some time now, she was nearly finished with the ma.n.u.script. She had already written up to the finale, but she really couldn’t bring herself to continue writing.

Every time she wrote a conversation, every time she described an action, she would feel as if those guys in the books would jump out from the text. They were like living people, yet she couldn’t see or touch them!

They were her children. They were all her children! She was like a mother who couldn’t see her children, and there was nowhere she could search for them. She was doomed from the start to never be able to see them!

“Just one…No! Two, just two!”

Actually, if possible, she wanted all of them! But that was impossible, so she had to make a choice. She would have two of her children. Yu Shu could not bring herself to give up on either one, so she had to have two.

One of them was already taking form, while the other was just somewhat of a “concept.” But even so, Yu Shu had exhausted herself mentally and physically. After writing for so many years, she was an expert at creating children, but to “give birth” to children was really not her forte.

Yu Shu felt that she was only doing so because she had already gone insane.

She knew that this world had already been modified too much, yet she had actually added oil to the fire; but—

“I’m crazy, aren’t I?”

She couldn’t help but laugh out loud. She yelled, “If I’m crazy, then I’m crazy! I want to see you both no matter what! ******* *******, and ****** ***, come out!”

“Yu Shu, open the door!”

A lanky person stood outside the door, wearing unis.e.x clothing—a dress s.h.i.+rt and a pair of jeans. The person’s appearance was also androgynous with an oval face, large eyes, and sharp eyebrows. However, her slim waist and her figure that couldn’t be hidden by her form-fitting white dress s.h.i.+rt revealed that she was female.

Without any expression, she forcefully rang the doorbell with her slim finger. The sinister, earsplitting doorbell rang incessantly, but no one came to the door.

“This is Ye Luo! Don’t think that playing dead is of any use. I said ten days, so ten days it is. Open the door!”

Even though her words were harsh, Ye Luo still remained expressionless.

There was still no response from inside. She finally felt a bit bewildered. She could hear the doorbell ring, so it couldn’t have been turned off. Why isn’t there any response, then? She didn’t believe that Yu Shu would be able to stand that kind of noise—this doorbell was one that Ye Luo had personally chosen and installed.

“Yu Shu—”

Ye Luo’s expression remained undisturbed, and her tone was also very calm too, but her volume had increased, and her actions weren’t tranquil in the least. She straightforwardly raised her foot and kicked the door. Originally, she just hadn’t wanted to hurt her hands by knocking, but once she kicked with her foot, the door actually got directly kicked open. Only then did she discover that the door hadn’t been shut. It had only looked closed.

However, she wasn’t very surprised. With Yu Shu’s personality, don’t even mention forgetting to lock the door. She could even forget the name of her editor that she’d worked with for more than five years!

Without any qualms, she pushed the door open fully to enter. The living room had all sorts of things. The books by the corner were piled higher than a person. Cardboard boxes littered the floor, and they weren’t empty either, filled with books and magazines.

Bookcases lined all four sides of the room, surrounding it. They could be considered organized, but they were packed to the brim, so packed that there wasn’t the slightest gap between anything. Any wall s.p.a.ce without bookcases had various weapons hanging there. In conclusion, this living room had everything—except its owner.

Seems like the stuff has increased, and what’s with that super large box leaning against the wall?

After a moment’s hesitation, Ye Luo decided not to investigate the super large box. The box was rectangular, and the length of it was longer than a person. The color wasn’t the usual color of a cardboard box—it was black. On top of it, there were also odd decorative designs. At first glance, it looked a lot like a coffin.

Even if Yu Shu had bought a coffin, it wouldn’t be strange. Ye Luo didn’t care for superst.i.tion. As long as Yu Shu was inspired by it and could turn in her ma.n.u.script, it was a good coffin. However, she had a feeling that Yu Shu wouldn’t be satisfied by a mere coffin. There might be something inside the coffin, such as a person’s bones or a thousand year old mummy. Of course, it was likely to be a model, but no matter what, it was best that she avoided looking.

Ye Luo walked into the study with an air of familiarity, then the kitchen, then the bathroom… Alright, now she was really astonished.

Yu Shu was actually not at home.

Ye Luo thought about it. Yu Shu must have been at the end of the line, with no choice but to go to the supermarket to buy daily necessities. Only then might she leave the apartment.

She walked to the kitchen, which was actually a lot cleaner than the living room and the study. Yu Shu was definitely very lazy, but she loved good food. Since she rarely left home, she would often make her own food. The kitchen was well equipped, and amongst the items, the most plentiful were the varieties of coffee.

Ye Luo offhandedly grabbed a jar of instant coffee. Although there was a coffee machine to the side, and there were also coffee beans that had already been ground, she really wasn’t very particular about her coffee, and she didn’t know how to use those machines. It had always been Yu Shu who would make coffee for her. Without Yu Shu present, instant coffee plus hot water was the fastest and most convenient.

After making her coffee, Ye Luo returned to the living room. She took out her laptop from her luggage, looking over a ma.n.u.script while waiting for Yu Shu to return.

The living room was silent except for the sound of typing, until suddenly, a small, rustling sound caught Ye Luo’s attention. However, the city was full of all sorts of sounds, so she didn’t pay it much attention. She continued to concentrate on the ma.n.u.script. But when the sound happened a second and then a third time, she finally reacted.

“Yu Shu?” Ye Luo turned her head to look. The front door hadn’t been opened, and the final sound had been really close, not like a sound from outside. It sounded more like it was right by her. She looked around her. She was the only one in the living room. Even though there were many miscellaneous things, there was no way that this apartment could hide a person without her realizing it. In order to find Yu Shu earlier, she had carefully searched the entire place.

Unless…

Ye Luo turned her head to look toward the gigantic, rectangular box. If it weren’t because the box wasn’t deep enough, it would really look like a box for holding a refrigerator. However, Yu Shu’s refrigerator was still alive and well. She should have no interest in buying another one to take up s.p.a.ce.

Unless Yu Shu is hiding in the box… No, she’s not that kind of person. It wasn’t that Yu Shu didn’t like to joke around by hiding in boxes to scare people, but it had already been at least half an hour since Ye Luo had begun proofreading the ma.n.u.script. She rather doubted that Yu Shu would be so into a prank that she would hide in a box for half an hour on such a hot day just to scare someone.

There was another rustling sound. Ye Luo was staring straight at the box, so she was certain that it sounded exactly like someone had s.h.i.+fted inside the box.

Ye Luo, who had been expressionless this entire time, finally furrowed her brows. She stared at the cardboard box and started considering how probable it’d be that a robot that could move was inside of it—but that probability tended toward zero as time pa.s.sed. She didn’t believe in the least that Yu Shu’s earnings were enough to allow her to buy such a huge robot to play with.

Then, what exactly is inside? Even if it’s a refrigerator, it wouldn’t make noise unless it was taken out and plugged in, right?

There was another small, rustling sound.

Since Ye Luo was staring straight at the box, she was absolutely certain that the sound had indeed come from the cardboard box. She looked toward the front door which remained closed. Evidently, Yu Shu wasn’t returning just yet.