Chapter 156 Painted Body Swallowing Charcoal (5)
The driver was so frightened that he curled up in a ball inside the car and shakily raised his hands.
Shu Ningmiao stared intently at the gap in the trees where dust was rising.
After a while, a familiar reddish-brown serval silently darted out, its soft paws landing silently on the grass, its golden eyes staring at her.
The piercing, unsettling gaze disappeared.
Shu Ningmiao glanced into the darkness again, and after confirming that there was no movement there, her gaze gradually calmed down.
She knocked on the car window: "Go back now."
The driver chuckled and nodded, then without hesitation stepped on the gas. The sound of the car rolling over the road faded into the distance before the serval wagged its tail and swaggered into the yard.
Its tail slammed onto the lawn, sending grass clippings flying like a long, tough steel whip, leaving a muddy mark on the ground.
Shu Ningmiao observed its fur; it was smooth and soft, unlike a creature that had wandered and roamed. The situation in Gaber was too chaotic before, and she hadn't had the energy to pay attention to where it had gone. Who would have thought that this serval would now travel thousands of kilometers to find her again?
However, it had a precedent of suddenly appearing on campus from a new location, so its appearance in front of her this time was no longer surprising to her.
The serval gracefully walked over and sat down beside her, scratched its muzzle with its paw, tucked its tail between its legs, and meowed softly, looking all ingratiating and obsequious.
"Don't come any closer." Shu Ningmiao wasn't having any of it. She simply picked up her bag, slung it over her shoulder, walked to the door, and gave it a warning glance: "I won't keep you."
Its origins are unclear, and just because Yu An and his group are overflowing with kindness doesn't mean she is the same.
The serval dragged its tail and followed her for a few steps, then laid down on its front paws, looking at her with a pitiful expression.
Shu Ningmiao leaned against the entrance hall and glanced at it.
Serval: "Mimi."
The door slammed shut in front of it with a click.
The room fell silent again, but Shu Ningmiao could hear the soft whimpers of a beast outside the door. Her overly acute hearing allowed her to clearly perceive all its movements, from humming to scratching at the door.
She pretended not to hear and continued washing up as usual.
As night approached and she had just leaned against her pillow, the restless noises wisely quieted down, almost too human-like.
She wasn't actually that annoyed by its little antics.
After these days of research, she discovered that once she falls asleep, there is an 80-90% chance that she will connect with the consciousness of Wei Sheng Qian Heng and have some random dreams.
So she easily figured out a solution—just don't sleep so soundly.
Playing loud or soft noises while trying to sleep prevents her from entering a deep sleep. This prolonged inability to fully relax makes her nerves more sensitive. However, as long as there are no microorganisms, it is the best rest for her.
Wary of the serval that was still in the yard, she didn't turn on the stereo, but surprisingly, she slept soundly without any dreams, and nothing happened.
The morning sunlight shone on her eyelids, and Shu Ningmiao seemed to wake from a dream. She slowly walked to the window and looked down into the yard.
A soft, reddish-brown creature lay on the steps in front of the door, its long tail drooping down the steps.
It remains in the same spot as yesterday, without moving an inch.
Shu Ningmiao opened her terminal and called the housekeeper, instructing him to repair the lawn.
"About a meter, is that right? Okay." The butler asked cautiously, "What caused the damage?"
"It was damaged by the cat."
Shu Ningmiao ignored the long silence on the other side, paused, and said, "When you're cleaning, bring some raw meat and bones over and put it in the yard. No... lock the door, don't let it in."
She hung up the call and had just sat down at the dining table in the living room when another call came in.
The person who called was her current boss, Sun Chongqing. Although it was early morning, her voice was already full of fatigue: "You don't need to come to the United Building today. We don't have enough field staff. I'd like you to go somewhere to assist with on-site deployment. I'll send you the details later."
Shu Ningmiao agreed without any objection. Lucico was not at work today, so it didn't matter where she was.
The serval at the door remained obediently nestled in the yard, not lunging at her.
Shu Ningmiao swiped through the pop-up messages on her terminal with one hand while casually closing the door.
The serval swished its tail slightly, opened one eyelid to glance at her, and seeing that she didn't intend to kick it away, it closed its eyes again and pretended to be asleep.
The address Sun Chongqing sent her was in the suburbs of Enyi District, which borders Lingtian District. It wasn't far from the old site of the Shi family. She vaguely remembered that there was a freshwater lake there, near Jingshan Mountain, with beautiful natural scenery. It was considered a tourist attraction in the main capital.
As for what they were monitoring, Sun Chongqing did not tell her.
Her job was to patrol the surrounding area to ensure that no one else would interfere with their engineers' wiring. In the end, although Sun Chongqing said that her superpower was useless, he still intended to make the most of her and let her, the intern, support the field operations.
The field missions were directly assigned to her terminal by Sun Chongqing, and after confirmation, her schedule was made public in the internal system.
There are standard procedures for field missions, and the terminal will refresh the individual's location in real time to ensure that she strictly follows the regulations.
In other words, for ordinary field missions like this, her rank does not qualify her to apply for special transportation; she must use public transportation designated by the Pinheis government for reimbursement purposes.
She couldn't use her own car and had to waste time commuting. She glanced at the clock and mentally planned her transfer route.
The city rail transit system in Pinhes is quite extensive, but due to the long-term need to mine Pandora, it is mainly elevated monorail, which means that finding stations and taking elevators takes a lot of time.
This is why she didn't want to take the light rail. After following the stations noted in the task notes and getting on the train, it was already twenty minutes later.
Fortunately, there weren't many people on the train. There were only a few passengers in this carriage besides her, so Shu Ningmiao casually found a seat and sat down.
Two seconds later, she realized something was wrong.
She seems to be a little carsick.
The high-speed train made a slight humming sound, but what made her even more uncomfortable was the sound of rushing water underneath the train—for efficiency reasons, many tracks have concealed pipes for transporting Pandora installed underneath them.
The train sped past, and Pandora's liquid splattered and splashed through the pipes, rolling into her ears with a crackling sound.
Perhaps because she hadn't rested well for a long time, or perhaps because her heightened sense of Pandora made her feel a little nauseous, Shu Ningmiao propped her arms on her legs and held her forehead.
The dizziness made her throat dry, and when she lowered her head completely, she could feel a hidden gaze on her, unblinking and with a very strong presence.
It felt so familiar…like the way I watched her in the dark last night.
As if doused with a bucket of ice water, she immediately pinched her palm with her fingertips and looked up to scan the long, narrow carriage.
On the other side, a boy and a girl in school uniforms were huddled together whispering, while several people with their legs crossed on the chairs were intently scrolling through their terminals.
No one looked up; no one was looking at her.
Her intuition wouldn't be wrong... Something must be watching her!
It couldn't be Wei T Sheng Qianheng. He always watches her openly and honestly, so there's no need for him to hide in the shadows. Then who could it be?
The cacophony of running noises and the frantic, thrashing motion of the car beneath her all interfered with her judgment.
Shu Ningmiao got up and grabbed the handrail in the carriage to steady herself amidst the swaying. There were several people in the empty carriage, and she used her peripheral vision to monitor everyone's actions.
The train had already left the city center, and the tracks ahead would pass through a tunnel. The sunlight was swallowed up by the darkness in the narrow passage, and the only light source on the ceiling of the carriage was not lit.
The only light in the entire carriage was the faint glow of the mobile terminal screen.
"Damn, the internet's gone."
The only light on the screen flickered, before the owner, bored, turned it off.
From the darkness came the whispers of the two students at the far end: "Is the light broken? Why is it so dark?"
"Don't be afraid, baby, the tunnel will be over in a little while."
Apart from the whooshing sound of the train, the carriage quickly fell silent. Shu Ningmiao stood there, staring at the window directly opposite her.
Outside the car window, there was only blackness, no color, no light.
Her better-than-average eyesight allowed her to see the moisture spreading on the car window even in the dark.
Her illusory reflection was shown in the windowpane, gradually covered by the semi-transparent moisture, as if a thick layer of fog had formed.
On this intact patch of water vapor, a handprint appeared out of nowhere, as if by mischief.
It seems her stalker really enjoys watching horror movies.
She took a few steps forward, raised her hand to touch the car window, and gently placed her fingers on the spot where her handprint was visible through the glass. The glass was scalding hot and not damp, and the handprint seemed to have been made from the outside.
This is a rail train that travels at speeds exceeding 150 kilometers per hour. The airflow speed of the train at high speeds can easily sweep up and crush all humans in the vicinity. There is no space to escape in this narrow tunnel.
Shu Ningmiao looked outside, and her blurry face was reflected in the dim windowpane, with the reflection of her hand in the glass where her fingertips touched the glass.
But this is not the reflection of her hand.
The hand's reflection in the glass was darker than her own skin, completely black, like a piece of charred, withered wood. The dark fingertips moved down, touching hers through the glass, making it even clearer that this person could see her movements.
Her gaze followed the hand upwards, and before she knew it, her reflection in the car window overlapped with another completely different shadow.
The man pulled his hat brim down to cover his eyes, but the eyes behind the cloak seemed to still be watching her.
Q
The reflection in the car window is nothing more than the scenery inside and outside, and this person is right next to her!
Where?
She turned around abruptly to look behind her.
Is she behind her? No, if she were behind her, she couldn't possibly be reflected in the car window; she would be outside the window—how could that be!?
If this person were right outside the window, she could break the glass, but the sudden change in air pressure inside the carriage might cause the train to stop abruptly. The other passengers on the train are all ordinary people without any special abilities…
Reality didn't give her much time to think. She had already seen glimpses of the sky through the tunnel entrance. The train rushed out of the tunnel, and suddenly the view opened up, with vast green mountains and fields flashing past the train window.
Countless water droplets flew across the glass and flowed down the car window, turning all the reflections she had just seen into mottled illusions, which were swept away by the sunlight.
The student sitting at the far end suddenly stood up and pressed his face against the window: "There's so much water on the window, did it just rain?"
"We were inside a tunnel just now, so we wouldn't have gotten wet even if it rained."
It's condensation.
Shu Ningmiao placed her hand back on the glass in front of her to test the temperature.
The condensation on the train window was caused by the large temperature difference between the inside and outside. The thermometer in the station showed 24 degrees Celsius before she entered the train, and the temperature inside the carriage is usually kept at around 22 degrees Celsius.
After entering the tunnel, the temperature outside the train surged, stimulating the automatic temperature control system inside the train, so the people inside did not notice anything unusual, but this further increased the temperature difference between the inside and outside.
The temperature difference between the inside and outside of the train exceeded 15 degrees Celsius in just one minute, which is definitely not caused by natural factors.
This person's special ability seems to be related to temperature.
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