The weekend traffic was truly awful. Song Lianhe sat on the bus, which lurched forward and stopped, rocking her back and forth.
She yawned, rested her head against the window, and closed her eyes. It felt as if a lifeti had passed...
She saw the ruins of Huaxu Square, the Shadow Guards shouting sothing, and then Xuan i rushing over with the antidote for the miasma poison...
"Arriving at Binjiang Road. Passengers exiting, please use the rear door."
The automated announcent snapped Song Lianhe out of her daze. She quickly stood up and got off the bus.
Her college classmate, Liao Yuyu, was her best friend. They both worked in the sa city but on opposite ends, so it was rare for them to find ti to et up.
She arrived in front of a mall and was just pulling out her phone to contact Liao Yuyu when she suddenly heard a "CHIRP CHIRP" sound.
Song Lianhe looked up curiously and saw a bird perched on a utility pole. It looked a lot like an owl, but its gaze was sharper.
Seeing Song Lianhe look over, it tilted its head and stared straight at her.
Song Lianhe froze.
’Can I really see... emotion in a bird’s eyes?’
Besides, she felt that this bird was very familiar, as if she had seen it sowhere before.
The na "Chun Hua" slipped out, shocking Song Lianhe.
’See an owl-like bird and just call it Chun Hua? I’ve really gone off the deep end with this novel obsession!’
Soone suddenly clapped a hand on her shoulder, and Song Lianhe scread in terror. "Ah! Liao Yuyu! You’ll give a heart attack, scaring like that!"
"Heh, you still have any expectations for our ntal states?" Liao Yuyu was a lively, straightforward girl with short hair.
"What were you looking at?"
Liao Yuyu followed her gaze. "There’s nothing there!"
’Nothing?’
"You don’t see it? There’s a..."
When Song Lianhe looked again, the utility pole was empty.
"A what?"
"N-Nothing."
Song Lianhe ntally kicked herself. ’I must be hallucinating because I stayed up too late reading that novel last night.’
’Of course. That bird looked so out of place in this bustling city. The fact that I thought it was Chun Hua is just ridiculous!’
The two of them went to the buffet restaurant they had booked in advance—the kind that cost seven hundred per person. This ti, it was Song Lianhe’s treat to celebrate her big win as sales champion!
"By the way, did you finish that novel I recomnded to you?" Liao Yuyu asked casually.
Song Lianhe stared at her blankly, then slowly recalled that the novel she was reading, *Villainess*, did seem to be the one her best friend had recomnded.
’But why didn’t I rember that at all before?’
She asked abruptly, "Have you read the ending?"
Liao Yuyu didn’t notice anything strange and just went on, "Nope, I’ve been swamped at work lately, who has the ti? Have you gotten further? Tell about it!"
Song Lianhe shook her head.
"It’s not finished yet."
"Then I’ll wait until it’s finished to catch up. I can’t stand this kind of agonizing wait."
Song Lianhe put down her chopsticks, having lost her appetite.
"Hey, eat up! This buffet is so expensive, we have to eat our money’s worth! I’m telling you, I’ve been starving myself for a week for this al! Just a bowl of congee, a rice ball, and a starch sausage every day! I even turned down anything with at and avoided the sll of it! All to ensure a solid performance today!"
They had been like this since college. Whenever they decided to go for a buffet, anything less than a week of prep was considered a sign of disrespect to the entire buffet species!
"Do you think the female lead will end up with Zhou Cangyan? The villain is so popular, maybe the author will let him win her over in the end!"
"Oh, who cares if he wins her over or not! It’s just a novel! Co on, cheers!"
"Cheers—"
Watching her best friend dig in with gusto, Song Lianhe lowered her head and mumbled after a long mont, "Yeah... it’s just a novel."
Having eaten too much, Song Lianhe decided to walk ho to help with digestion.
On the way, she saw that strange bird again.
"CHIRP CHIRP—"
She stopped and looked up at it.
It was perched on top of a traffic light, occasionally dipping its head to peck at its scruffy feathers. It tilted its head again, its round eyes fixed on her.
Beneath it, traffic flowed endlessly, but it stood motionless, aloof and mysterious, like a king looking down upon all creation.
Song Lianhe had had a bit too much to drink, and her head was spinning.
She rubbed her eyes, afraid she was seeing things again.
’Chun Hua...’
Then she shook her head and chuckled at herself. ’I really am drunk.’
Song Lianhe turned and continued walking.
The bird on the traffic light suddenly spread its wings and took to the air, flying high and then low, always following her at a leisurely pace.
Song Lianhe kept glancing up at it, then at the passersby around her. No one was paying it any mind.
’This is weird,’ she thought. ’Am I the only one who can see it?’
Song Lianhe stopped in the middle of the sidewalk and pointed up at the sky. ’Can’t they see it? It’s a huge bird!’
The pedestrians were all hurrying on their way.
In fact, it was her gesture that occasionally drew sideways glances.
Song Lianhe pursed her lips, looked up again, then took out her phone, aid the cara at the bird, and snapped a few pictures with a CLICK CLICK.
* * *
After getting ho and taking a shower, she sat down at her computer and started an image search.
"Peregrine falcon..."
She stared, surprised. Though its feathers were a bit scruffy, it was a genuine peregrine falcon—one of the fastest-flying birds in the world.
Just then, soone suddenly knocked on her window.
TAP TAP TAP—
It ca in a steady rhythm.
Song Lianhe was so startled she almost lost her grip on the mouse. The sound was truly terrifying in the middle of the night.
’Wait!’
’I live on a high floor. How could soone be knocking on my window?’
A thought struck Song Lianhe. She imdiately got up, walked to the window, and, mustering her courage, yanked open the curtains...
Just as she’d thought—it was that strange bird!
Song Lianhe stared at it through the glass. Annoyed, she crossed her arms and glared at it. "Why are you always following ?"
It was hard to say if it understood. It tilted its head, looked at her, and pecked at the window a few more tis.
"You’ve been following this whole ti?"
It stopped and looked at her.
"Do you need sothing from ?"
It suddenly spread its wings and flew back up into the air.
Song Lianhe went to the window and pushed it open. "If you have sothing to say, then say it! Why are you flying so high? Do you expect to fly up there and talk to you??"
It flew away.
If it weren’t for the photos she had actually taken on her phone, Song Lianhe would have thought she was hallucinating!
She closed the window, drew the curtains, put on her headphones, and lay down on her bed to scroll through her phone.
A wage slave’s ntal state is already precarious enough; she didn’t want to be pushed over the edge by so weird bird.
She habitually opened her novel app and tapped on her library. She wasn’t expecting anything, but to her surprise, the author had actually updated!!
She shot upright, her eyes shining with an inexplicable light, her heart pounding in her chest.
She couldn’t quite identify her current emotions. Was it excitent? Happiness? Or was she overwheld by so other, more complex feeling?
Seeing the red text that read "New Update," she suddenly felt a flicker of fear.
Song Lianhe paused for a mont, but still tapped on the update—
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