When the earthquake struck, Shi Xue had just walked out of the school's small supermarket.

At first, she only felt a little dizzy, as if someone was shaking herself. The people around also noticed it, and they all ran outside in a panic.

Shi Xue reacted and ran towards the playground. Along the way, students from the school building and dormitory flocked to the school.

The amplitude was not large, the time was very short, and there was no substantial damage, but the tremor was noticeable.

She stood in the playground with a shopping bag and wanted to call her roommate, but found that she didn't have her phone.

"Shi Xue!"

A small boy was squeezed out of the crowd. He waved at her happily and ran towards her.

"Ah, Chonglin, did you bring your phone?"

"I put it in my dorm. Are you in a hurry?"

"No, it's okay......"

"What did you buy?"

"It's not too heavy, just snacks or something, and a box of refills. The dormitory plug-in board seems to be a little leaking, I bought a new one, but I saw a storage bag when I checked out at the door, it was very good-looking, and I also bought ......"

"I don't understand you girls buying things...... You've been like this since you were a child. ”

Chonglin is her neighbor.

These two are childhood sweethearts, playing from childhood to adulthood. Although they have different classes in primary and junior high schools, they also attend the same school. Later, the two went to different high schools, and now they meet again, in the same class.

"Y-alright?" she was a little embarrassed.

After standing on the noisy playground for a while, the students dispersed one after another. Chonglin took the bag in her hand and sent her back. Along the way, the two of them chatted without saying a word.

"It's rare that we're not in an earthquake zone. ”

"Maybe I'll be in the news after I go. Eh, where do you look......"

When he came to a corner, before Chonglin could react, Shi Xue rushed to the shade of a big tree.

He walked over and saw her bending over to pick up a ball of furry.

"It's a little bird...... "her eyes flashed with a novelty, "a species I've never seen before." ”

Chonglin leaned in and took a look. The bird was still small, with not very full wings, and its whole body was gray, except for a warm red mass on its chest.

"It's like a mockingbird's fledgling, it's rare. It doesn't look like it can fly yet. ”

"Did it fall during the earthquake?"

Shi Xue raised her head as she spoke, and sure enough, she found something that looked like a bird's nest in the dense canopy. But no other birds were wandering, perhaps the earthquake had scared them away.

"I want to raise it. When it flies, release it. ”

"Okay. I'll help you look it up. ”

Chonglin responded with a smile. He knew that she had been a good child with love since she was a child.

Such a good girl, why did she ...... at that time?

"Yikes!"

A girl who turned the corner walked by them briskly and accidentally bumped into Shi Xue.

She didn't apologize, she didn't slow down, and she looked in a bad mood.

She wore a purple flower on her head.

"Hey, really, be careful around the corner, not even apologize...... Are you alright?"

"Ah, it's all right, and so is the robin. ”

Shi Xue carefully covered it. It can be seen that she really likes this little guy.

In the afternoon, as soon as Liu Xili entered the dormitory door, she was pulled to the desk by her enthusiastic roommate and mysteriously showed her something.

"Will the dormitory committee approve of the birds...... Where did you catch it?"

"I didn't catch it, I picked it up when the earthquake caused it to fall off the tree. ”

"Earth, earthquakes?"

Liu Xili went to the bank outside the school at noon and was not with Shi Xue. But she doesn't remember the earthquake.

"And this is not a pet bird, so it's not easy to raise. ”

"It's okay, it's okay......"

Anyway, the birds settled in their dormitory.

Under Shi Xue's careful care, the robin quickly recovered his spirits. Within a week, it was flying short distances from their desks and beds.

Chonglin also helped to check a lot of information and bought some supplies and things suitable for it.

It was smart and seemed to know who saved it.

Every day, it jumps around Shixue. It bounced on her homework book, drank water from their cups, and occasionally stole a snack.

Soon, almost the entire grade knew that she had a bird. Everyone likes to play with this little guy who loves to play, and even the dormitory manager turns a blind eye to it.

The little bird adds a different color to the ordinary college life.

One day, it died.

Very suddenly.

It's a pity for everyone. Of course, the saddest thing is Shi Xue.

"Don't you think...... Isn't it weird? It's weird, it's okay the other day. ”

When she said this, Liu Xili was looking at her phone in bed. She was a little impatient and very perfunctory to Shi Xue's words.

"Feral cats bite me. ”

"But it has no wounds......

"That's when you fed strange things. It's all said that this kind of bird is not easy to raise. ”

"No, I strictly follow the feed ...... on the Internet."

"Didn't I raise it to death?"

She replied without taking her eyes off her phone.

She didn't want to argue about boring issues anymore and turned her back to her.

This made Shi Xue very sad. She stopped dwelling, walked to the table, opened a wooden box and looked at it.

Liu Xili didn't know if she regretted her attitude just now, or if she was simply curious. She turned her head and glanced at Shi Xue's back.

"What are you doing?"

"I'll take another look at it. ”

"Why don't you throw it away? That thing rots quickly, okay. ”

“...... I don't want to. ”

"You're disgusting. ”

Even if there were, those guiltes vanished. Liu Xili pulled the bed curtain hard.

Perhaps for her, even if an animal is cute, it is just an animal after all. But for Shi Xue, this bird poured a lot of special feelings.

In fact, there is indeed something strange about its death.

Originally, in order to dispel Shi Xue's concerns, Chonglin agreed to help her see the robin's corpse. Unexpectedly, he really found something unusual in it.

In any case, it is also a biochemistry major. Blackened beaks, spilled blood, delicately colored feathers......

"Chemical poisoning. And it's probably cyanide," Chonglin explained, "but it's somewhat rotten, and the smell of corpses can mask the bitter almond smell that may be there." ”

"What? wouldn't it......"

Faced with such an answer, Shi Xue felt a shudder.

"Why would anyone do such a thing? No...... Can we borrow the school's lab?"

"I think it's unlikely. It seems that someone is in and out of there frequently, and the locker lost something the other day. I didn't say what it was, but it was estimated to be dangerous goods, so I checked it very strictly recently. ”

"So, what to do ......?"

Shi Xue was about to cry.

Chonglin frowned, as if he wanted to say something, and hesitated. After a moment of silence, he slurred:

"It's not ...... No way. But, it's too superstitious......"

"Anything, you name it!"

"That's it...... Have you ever heard of the nameless house? A divination house near the school, Anjo from the first class of heavenly things said casually. Uh, sure enough, forget it, it's not very reliable, he hasn't been to it himself......"

I thought that Shi Xue would scoff at this. But she didn't.

"What Anjo said must be right. ...... now No, let's go in the afternoon!"

Chonglin was a little lost.

He didn't know if she really cared too much about robin, or if it was because of ...... It was Anjo who said it.

It seems that the two of them know each other.

Shi Xue used a noon to persuade Liu Xili to accompany her. At first, Yoo was unimpressed, but when she heard that the robin had indeed died by him, she became alarmed.

"People who abuse animals are psychologically dark, and sooner or later they will attack people. It would be too dangerous to have such people around us. ”

She agreed, albeit though she declared that she was not optimistic about the charlatans' tricks.

At dusk, they arrived at the Nameless House with a small box containing a robin.

There was a voodoo doll hanging outside the house, and the house was burning with strong incense.

Paraphernalia of various religions are scattered around. Chonglin said to Shi Xue, like a dragon's treasure house.

Liu Xili took out a wooden sword from the pile of debris, and drew some symbols with ink on it. She pulled the sword out of its sheath and looked at it carefully, it was indeed a peachwood sword, the same as the one at home.

It's so weird, it's really ...... It's weird. It's inexplicable.

Liu Xili frowned and couldn't help repeating. She felt uncomfortable. The rich aroma also made it difficult for her to breathe.

The air conditioning was also cold.

Sitting behind a red velvet tablecloth was a young woman.

The woman's nails were long, stained with ruby-like nail polish, and refracted a cat's eye under the candlelight on the table.

The lower end of her long hair was permed with large curls. On her hands, ears, and neck, she carries all kinds of dazzling jewelry.

The robe, with its gold thread, is exactly like the witch in the fairy tale book.

The woman lowered her gaze and stared silently at the crystal ball in front of her.

The store manager claimed that he could not perceive anything from a non-human body, let alone a corpse. But she still followed the procedure, overlapping her hand with Shi Xue's hand on the crystal ball.

After a long time, she opened her eyes.

"I'm sorry, my child. She shook her head. It's been so long since your little one left that I can't see anything, and I'm ashamed. ”

She said as she looked to her right. Shi Xue looked over, and there seemed to be only one mirror in the shadows.

"That's why I said it was a lie. ”

Liu Xili's attitude was very insistent, and because of the presence of the store manager, she whispered to Shi Xue.

"Miss Liu, it's hard for me to pretend I can't hear your volume. ”

The manager smiled helplessly. Liu Xili was a little surprised.

"How would she know my name?"

"The kid told me. ”

Chonglin and Liu Xili looked at each other, but they couldn't say anything.

When it came to Liu Xili, she was a little reluctant.

"Who is that white-haired kid?"

She asked her.

- To be continued -