novelraw Chapter 12
Chapter 12
Chapter 12
The Vanished Lu Li
The afternoon passed slowly.
Lu Li lay on the sofa, staring at the ceiling, her thoughts drifting aimlessly.
Watching the sky outside the window gradually darken, Lu Li got up from the sofa.
Lu Qi was still a high schooler. The money at home wouldn't last long. More importantly, that strange thing inside her body might not give her much time—who knew when something might go wrong...?
Just then, the sound of a key turning came from the front door.
CLICK.
The door opened.
****
Dinner was made by Lu Qi.
Although Lu Li had wanted to help—to prove that she wasn't just a useless freeloader who only knew how to eat—considering that she currently couldn't even hold a plate steady, she was mercilessly driven out of the kitchen by Lu Qi, with the explanation: "Don't make more work for me."
And so, 20 minutes later, 2 steaming bowls of tomato and egg noodles sat on the dining table.
The red tomato broth was rich and thick, the golden egg pieces had soaked up the soup, and a small handful of bright green scallions was scattered on top.
She hadn't expected it—in just a few days, this girl's cooking had already improved so much compared to what she remembered.
Lu Li cradled the bowl, slurping the noodles in small mouthfuls. Even though it didn't ease that strange hunger deep within her soul, at least her stomach was warm, giving her a tangible sense of being alive.
"....Is it not good?" Lu Qi's voice suddenly came from across the table.
"Hm? No." Lu Li snapped back to her senses and hastily swallowed the noodles in her mouth—only to nearly choke from eating too fast.
"Cough... It's very good. Really."
Lu Qi rested her cheek on one hand and watched her slightly flustered appearance. She seemed reasonably satisfied with this answer. She said nothing more, just lowered her head and continued eating.
Lu Li, however, felt utterly uncomfortable.
That gaze... Even though Lu Qi had her head down, she always had the feeling that a pair of eyes was sticking to her, faint but persistent.
"What is it?" Lu Li instinctively touched the corner of her mouth. "Is there something on my face?"
"It's nothing."
Lu Qi slowly withdrew her gaze, the corner of her lips curling into an almost imperceptible arc.
"Just thought... the way Xiao Li eats is like a hamster. It's kind of cute."
Lu Li had no idea how to respond to that, so she could only fall silent.
****
The living room quickly fell quiet, with only the sound of noodles being slurped. Lu Li snuck a glance at the phone resting beside Lu Qi's hand.
She had to speak up.
Lu Li took a deep breath and set down her chopsticks.
"Hey, um...."
Lu Qi kept eating. "Mm?"
"Um... could I borrow your phone for a bit?" Lu Li's voice was slightly taut. She tried her best to sound like she was mentioning something trivial. "I want to check if there are any messages."
Lu Qi finally put down her chopsticks.
She raised her head and watched Lu Li with a calm, steady gaze. Just when Lu Li thought she was about to ask some other question, Lu Qi simply slid the phone across the table.
"Take it."
Lu Li froze for a moment, then reached out to take it. The screen was black—it needed a passcode.
"Um... what's the passcode?"
Lu Qi lowered her head again to drink her soup, her voice muffled.
"1215."
"...?"
That was, in fact, Lu Li's—the original Lu Li's—birthday. Lu Qi's phone passcode used to be set very casually; sometimes 4 zeros, sometimes 4 ones. At some point, she had changed it to her brother's birthday.
Lu Li pressed her lips together and entered the string of digits. She didn't dare look at anything else—she went straight to QQ and logged into her own account.
****
DING DING DING DING DING——
The moment she logged in, the phone began buzzing like mad.
A dense torrent of message notifications burst out like a dam breaking, instantly freezing the interface.
Unread messages: 99+.
Actually... it had only been about 1 day since the incident yesterday, hadn't it?
‘Either way, I should check the unread messages first.’
[Dorm Group (6)]
"@Lu Li The instructor called attendance in class, where were you?"
"Where are you? Haven't seen you all day."
"You're not sick, are you?"
[Tabletop Group]
"Where's the GM? Where the hell did the GM go?"
"Are we running a session this week or not?"
Then there were a handful of other scattered group chats, along with a few private messages.
Looking at those familiar usernames, reading those complaints and greetings full of everyday life—Lu Li suddenly felt an intense, jarring sense of disconnect.
The world inside the screen was lively and loud. That was the life belonging to "Lu Li."
But outside the screen, the one holding the phone was a genuine monster girl.
‘There's no going back... is there.’
She took a deep breath, fought back the burning sting behind her eyes, and began typing.
Her fingers were a little clumsy from being unaccustomed to the small screen.
"Had some personal things come up lately, might need to take time off for a while. Don't worry, still alive."
Copy, paste, send.
Then she sent a quick check-in to a few important friends to let them know she was safe.
Without waiting for any replies, she swiftly logged out of the account and cleared all traces of the login.
She didn't dare look.
****
"Done?"
Lu Qi's voice pulled her back to reality.
Lu Li hastily locked the screen and pushed the phone back across the table.
"Yeah... done. Thanks."
Lu Qi pulled out a napkin and wiped her mouth, picked up the phone, and didn't bother checking what Lu Li had done with it.
She stood up and began clearing the bowls and chopsticks.
"How about I wash them..." Probably still not used to her current circumstances, Lu Li instinctively moved to take over the chore.
"Sit."
Lu Qi pressed down on her shoulder.
"Can you even hold onto a plate?"
Lu Qi glanced at Lu Li's excessively slender hands. "I don't feel like cleaning up shards off the floor again."
"..."
Fair enough—there was no arguing with that. The memory of not being able to hold the kettle steady that morning was still fresh.
****
The night grew late.
Lu Qi had already gone to sleep; she had class tomorrow.
Lu Li lay in bed. Moonlight slipped in through the gap in the curtains, casting a pale stripe across the floor.
She curled up under the blanket, her body exhausted, yet her mind inexplicably alert.
‘Am I still alive?’
She raised her hand and, by the moonlight, looked at her fingers—so transparent they were almost see-through, veins faintly visible beneath.
This body was alive. It breathed. It had warmth. It even had a heartbeat.
But... "Lu Li"? From every meaningful sense of the word, that person had already died.
‘This feeling... it's so cold.’
She didn't know how much time passed before drowsiness finally surged up like a tide.
Her consciousness began to sink.
Sinking.
Sinking all the way down to that abyss without light, without sound.
****
Lu Li dreamed again.
Gurgle.
Gurr-gurgle.
The familiar sound rang out once more.
At the far end of the darkness, that round little lump was crouching there quietly.
It looked a little clearer than the night before—the misty blurring around its edges had lessened. She could even make out the layers of dark, asphalt-like substance flowing slowly across its surface.
It sat crouched at her feet, tilted its head, and looked up at her, making its gurgling sounds.
『Hungry.』
"...I know." Lu Li looked down at it.
『So hungry.』
『Empty.』
『Want to... be filled.』
"Stop saying that, I'm hungry too."
Lu Li felt an ache spread through her own chest.
It was the same hunger.
The same lack.
Because she had lost her "identity," lost her "existence"—a gaping hole had opened in her heart.
And that hole was frantically craving something to fill it.
『Want to eat.』
"I know, but I don't know what to eat."
The little black lump squirmed, as if expressing some kind of displeasure.
Then it suddenly swelled up a size, its surface bubbling up with several bumps, and slowly... split open a seam like a mouth, letting out a sound louder than usual—
『HUNGRY!!』
Lu Li jolted awake.
The ceiling. The familiar ceiling.
Her heart pounded, and her back was damp with a thin layer of cold sweat.
Outside the window, a faint trace of daylight was already seeping in—barely dawn, still a murky grey.
She lay in bed, staring at the ceiling, and didn't move for a long time.
The hunger from the dream hadn't faded with waking. On the contrary, it was like a seed, taking root and sprouting inside her stomach.
Lu Li murmured to herself, her gaze gradually sharpening, a flicker of resolve breaking through.
"Today... I have to find a way to figure some things out."