Chapter 6, The Second Encounter

Shen Zhifei walked into the bathroom, and cradled in her arms was a sleeping, undressed Zhao Xiaokui. Walking up to the newly filled bathtub, Shen Zhifei gently lowered Zhao Xiaokui into the water. As she entered the water, Zhao Xiaokui’s eyebrows that had been furrowed in pain began to relax as the water wrapped around her, easing her pain. Under the bathroom lights, Zhao Xiaokui’s body appeared to glow with an ethereal luminance, as if she was an otherworldly beauty that descended onto this earth.

Snapping out of her trance, Shen Zhifei realized that she had once again been enraptured by Zhao Xiaokui’s looks. In shock, she snapped her head back up. Because of her trance, she had accidentally brought her face extremely close to the water. Any closer, and she would have submerged her face entirely. Forcefully pulling her eyes away from Zhao Xiaokui, she set her gaze on the checkered floor below. Rarely has she had so little control over herself like this. Her rapid breathing and thundering heart beat gradually calmed down.

Her first contact with the supernatural had left her thrilled. Never before has she been in a violent situation, or seen so much blood. Yet not too long ago, her life had been put under threat by someone she had only recently met.

Walking out of the bathroom, leaving Zhao Xiaokui alone in the large tub, she went upstairs to the master bedroom and entered the attached bathroom. Washing her face in the sink, Shen Zhifei looked up and saw her face, flushed a deep red. Drops off water slowly rolled down her cheeks, collecting on her chin, before dropping and staining her newly replaced shirt.

She was afraid of the unknown feelings, surging through her heart.

——————

But by the time Zhao Xiaokui woke up, the sky outside had already long turned dark with a few stars breaking up the black backdrop of the sky. She couldn’t feel Shen Zhifei’s presence in the house. Gripping the edge of her bath, with a clatter, she pulled herself up out of the water. Her long dark blue hair clung to her body as she stepped on the bathroom floor.

She grabbed the towel hanging from the bathroom wall and draped it around her body. By the time she stepped out of the bathroom, nary a drop of water was left on her body. Her long thick hair became soft and fluffy in an instant, as if it had already been treated to a blow dryer. However, all Zhao Xiaokui did was wrap the towel around her. The water on her body, as if it had a mind of its own, all traveled towards the towel.

Hydrokinesis, the ability to manipulate water. A simple, yet highly practical psychic ability.

As she walked across the bedroom, she could still feel pain coursing through her body, though it had fallen to a more tolerable level. However, the towel rubbing against her skin, and each step on the hard floor would amplify the pain. If it weren’t for her basic sense of shame, she wouldn’t have wrapped the towel around her, instead leaving it in the bathroom alongside the slippers that Shen Zhifei prepared for her.

Entering the living room, she noticed a note as well as her bag and phone on the coffee table. Using the moonlight gently flowing in from the floor to ceiling windows, Zhao Xiaokui approached the table and grabbed her phone. It was 12 o’clock. Having checked the time, she then turned her gaze towards the writing left on the note.

I’m leaving for an auction happening tonight and should be back around 12. There is chicken porridge being kept warm in the kitchen, and snacks for you on the table in the dining room. The water in the fridge is safe to drink. If you need anything, below are my phone number and my assistant’s.

Glancing at the numbers, Zhao Xiaokui put the note back down, and walked into the kitchen. Unplugging the slow cooker, she slowly lifted its lid, allowing the strong, unique aroma of chicken porridge to fill the room. Her stomach started to ache and rumble from hunger as the smell reached her nose.

——————

While she loathed her experience of transmigration, she couldn’t help but concede that it wasn’t without its own benefits. However, only after becoming human again, could she truly feel what those benefits were. As a human, hydrokinesis was much more useful than she would have previously thought. Whether it was using it to dry herself by moving the water on her body and hair to the towel, or to section the soup into parts to allow better heat dissipation.

These were uses of her ability she never considered before returning to her body. After all, the most she could do with this ability in the deep, was to control the current slightly to make it easier for her to capture fish. Draining an area to create a dry space? The sea pressure wouldn’t allow it.

As she ate the chicken porridge she cooled to just the right temperature, she finally started to feel revived. She even felt like the constant pain had eased a bit. After six hours of pain and suffering, the initial part of her soul’s remodeling of her body was done. All that was left were little modifications and adjustments. If the past six hours were the equivalent of an egg developing into a new born child with arms and legs, then her current state would be adapting and learning how to use said arms and legs to walk and hold stuff.

Luckily for her, the amount of time she needed to complete this adjustment period was much shorter than a child learning to walk. She estimated that this final adjustment period would take her about a year. She was fine with this rate. Although she would have to deal with the pain longer, it should lessen over time.

After finishing off the last of the porridge, Zhao Xiaokui glanced at the time on her phone. Shen Zhifei had yet to return home. She considered the possibility that Shen Zhifei grew frightened and ran away to hide from her, but quickly discarded that thought. After all, Shen Zhifei was the boss of a company, and had people relying on her. Walking back into the living room, Zhao Xiaokui typed in Shen Zhifei’s number. As she waited for the phone to pick up, Zhao Xiaokui felt a growing sense of shame. Not too long ago she had made a threat against Shen Zhifei’s life, and yet here she was, calling her to make sure she was safe.

——————

Walking out of the auction hall into the underground parking lot, Shen Zhifei felt a buzzing in her pocket. Looking at the unfamiliar number, she quickly answered the phone. Hearing nothing on the other end, she decided to speak first.

“Hello?” After a moment of silence, she heard a voice.

“It’s past one o’clock.” Suppressing the urge to laugh, Shen Zhifei felt like she had become a bad parent who came home late despite saying she’d be home on time.

The auction had originally ended a while ago, but she had to stay behind to talk to the host about some business. Although she had stayed beyond closing time, there were still a few other people walking to their cars in the parking lot with her. After finishing her greetings to some familiar faces, Shen Zhifei held her phone in one hand and opened the car door in the other. Throwing her bag into the passenger seat, she settled down in the driver’s seat before talking to Zhao Xiaokui again.

“Sorry, there were a few matters I needed to handle that kept me late. Would you like me to bring you back something to eat? I believe a few stores should still be open so I can get you something.” Shen Zhifei spoke into the phone with a tone of familiarity, as if the person she was speaking to was a long time friend and not someone she had only met a few hours ago.

As she listened to Shen Zhifei, Zhao Xiaokui couldn’t tell if Shen Zhifei was actually being sincere to her or showing kindness as a kind of coping mechanism to Zhao Xiaokui’s actions. Either way, she had always been weak towards soft-hearted older women.

“It’s fine.” Zhao Xiaokui responded, before continuing, afraid of Shen Zhifei misunderstanding. “It’s not that I wouldn’t be happy with whatever you buy, it’s just that I can eat anything you get me, so buy whatever you want. If it’s too troublesome, don’t feel obligated to buy anything, I’m not that hungry at the moment. Zhao Xiaokui was afraid to trouble Shen Zhifei more than she already had.

Hearing Zhao Xiaokui’s restrained response, Shen Zhifei couldn’t help but compare the person on the phone to the person she read about in the investigation done by a private detective. According to the thick report the detective compiled in the past six hours, Zhao Zijin was a woman highly skilled in deception and manipulation. She was someone who could get the CEO of the Rong family to travel 20 kilometers in the middle of the night, all so he could bring her back some barbecue, before she coldly kicked him from her house afterwards. The Zhao Xiaokui she met acted much more like a child who hadn’t fully grown.

“Should I get the same amount as this afternoon?” She asked, recalling the amount of food Zhao Xiaokui had eaten as she filled the bathtub for her. Twelve cakes, a vat of chocolates, and countless other snacks. Zhao Xiaokui didn’t answer immediately, as she found herself caught between being reserved, and her desire for food.

There was currently no point in acting like Zhao Zijin in front of Shen Zhifei anymore. But eating so much food in the middle of the night… she worried what Shen Zhifei would think of her. Although she hadn’t said anything, the silence had already answered for her. Recalling a few shops that should be open at this time, she quickly inserted the car key and started the engine. She couldn’t help but think about how much her car was gonna smell because of all the different types of food she was gonna get. Strangely enough however, this thought didn’t bother her.

Maybe it was because the other person she was bringing this for was really pleasant, even if they had threatened her life. Shen Zhifei chastised herself at that thought. It probably isn’t entirely her fault, she thought to herself, she has her own circumstances after all, plus she seemed reluctant to take such an action as well.

“I’m starting the car now, if you’re still feeling sleepy, then go to bed. If your still hungry, there should be extra food in the fri—”

Everything suddenly became dark as the lights in the parking lot went out without warning. No sound could be heard either, as the sounds of life from the other people disappeared. A deathly silence hung throughout the parking lot, as the darkness devoured all light and nose. Feeling her way around the dashboard, Shen Zhifei quickly turned off her car and lights. Shen Zhifei tried to look around, but was unable to pierce the darkness with her eyes, unable to even see her hand in front of her. She had been trapped by the darkness. It enveloped her entire being, and clung to her like a viscous liquid. Her heart turned heavy, as if a stone had been placed into her chest as she breathed in the moist air.

Something was wrong. Shen Zhifei had only learned about the existence of the supernatural this afternoon, but she was able to recognize that her current situation was probably related to it. As she sat in the car, she wondered what she should do now. She didn’t dare open the car door hastily. The car had an automatic locking mechanism, so if the creature didn’t enter the car at the same time she did, then it was safe to assume it was outside. But she had no idea how long her little safe space would last. The fear of the unknown began to encroach upon her psyche, washing over her skin and into her heart. She felt like a sword had been hung above her head, ready to drop without a moment's notice.

——————

The phone in Zhao Xiaokui’s hand went silent. Wondering if the call failed, she looked at her screen, only to notice that the call was still live. When she saw that the call hadn’t closed, she realized that something had happened, and it probably wasn’t a normal thing either.

After undergoing her transformation, the sensitivity of her five senses had shot through the roof, exceeding what was capable of a human. While talking on the phone with Shen Zhifei, she could hear the rustling voices of the other people in the parking lot through the phone. Yet these sounds had also disappeared. If Shen Zhifei had just gone quiet, then she still should have been able to hear the others.

“I hope there isn’t a strong opponent there.” Zhao Xiaokui thought as she dug through Shen Zhifei’s extra clothing. If there was something there stronger than she was, then she would just be delivering herself as dessert.