Chapter 7
The moment the hot water hit, Lu Li sucked in a sharp breath.
"Ssss…"
The first second felt like—burning.
The temperature was set to the exact same setting as always, but for this new body, it seemed to be a little too high. The delicate skin flushed pink the instant it made contact with the hot water, especially around the chest and collarbone where the skin was thinnest—a sharp, stinging pain shot through those spots—
She quickly turned the temperature down a little.
A little lower.
Still a bit painful.
A little lower again.
Finally it didn't hurt anymore, but now it felt slightly cool.
Lu Li stood beneath the Showerhead and spent a full 30 seconds finding a temperature she could barely tolerate.
Hot water streamed down through her hair, carrying away the dirt, sweat, and dark red stains she'd picked up from god knows where—pooling into murky rivulets at her feet. It was a little unsettling.
‘Don't look. Out of sight, out of mind.’
She reached for the shampoo.
It was the bottle Lu Qi always used. She'd caught the scent of it many times before while doing Lu Qi's laundry, but she'd never thought much of it—always felt it was too girly a smell.
But now, she was wrapped in that scent from head to toe.
Lu Li paused for a moment, then squeezed some shampoo into her palm and began working it through her long hair. Foam piled up on top of her head, the fragrance spreading all around her. The rising steam turned the entire bathroom into a sealed aromatherapy box. Wrapped in that clean, sweet scent, she felt… a sense of safety?
****
She was still reveling in that sense of safety, her hands scrubbing the lather with a little too much enthusiasm, when—
Shampoo foam got into her eyes.
"!!!!!"
Pain.
She frantically tried to rinse it out, but the more water she splashed, the worse it stung. Tears and shampoo foam mixed together, her entire face wet and sticky.
Before, shampoo in her eyes would have been nothing—a couple of blinks and it was over. But now, even that tiny bit of foam made her eyes burn badly, tears spilling out beyond all control.
After a good while of struggling, she finally got her eyes rinsed clean.
Lu Li stood with her eyes shut, both palms braced against the tile wall, letting the hot water wash over and over this strange body.
‘Don't think about anything.’
Not what had happened in the alley just now. Not that black monster. Not the woman with the knife. Not her own body. Not what to do next, not what to do after the sun rose tomorrow. Nothing.
‘Just be blank.’
The hot water rushed over her skin. Steam billowed through the narrow bathroom, fogging up the mirror, obscuring the reflection inside—that reflection that was so irritating to look at.
She stood there with her eyes closed, listening to the sound of the water, feeling warmth seep bit by bit into her body. The cold in her limbs gradually receded. The tension in her muscles slowly unwound. The emotions tangled into a knot inside her—it was as if the hot water had softened them too, made them a little less sharp.
That pervasive, nauseating stench of blood and rain that had clung to her finally disappeared. In its place was a clean, soft fragrance.
She had no idea how much time passed. Maybe 10 minutes, maybe half an hour. Not until her fingertips had pruned and the bone-deep chill had finally been driven back somewhat by the hot water did Lu Li slowly reach over and turn off the Showerhead.
The Showerhead shut off; the sound of water died. The bathroom was left with nothing but the soft drip, drip, drip of water droplets falling.
Then she reached for her towel. As she dried herself, her movements were quick—the terry cloth dragged across her skin, and certain spots were particularly sensitive, goosebumps rising with every brush. She moved fast, finishing one area and moving straight to the next, giving herself no time to dwell on any feeling.
When she got to her hair, she realized it was going to be a whole ordeal. ‘Too long.’
This damned hair was far too long. It hung from the crown of her head all the way down to her waist, heavy as a waterfall draped across her back.
She wrung at it roughly with the towel, squeezing out a large fistful of water—but it was still dripping steadily.
‘Fine, good enough for now…’ She grudgingly wrapped the towel around her head, and pushed open the bathroom door—
A neatly folded set of clothes had been placed at the doorway.
Lu Li paused. She had no idea when Lu Qi had put them there—she hadn't heard a single sound during her shower.
She bent down and picked them up. It was a sleep dress—pale blue cotton fabric, soft to the touch. She recognized it. She'd washed it for Lu Qi many times before.
She held up the sleep dress and shook it open.
Just the sleep dress. Nothing else.
The most important thing—the innermost layer—was not there.
But then… in a situation like this, where was Lu Qi supposed to find her new underwear on short notice?
She couldn't wear Lu Qi's used ones, could she? That would be far too weird. And besides… the sizing probably wouldn't even be right.
'…'
She'd mentally prepared herself, but the moment she actually pulled it on, the wrongness hit her full in the face.
The length was just right—the hem fell just above her knees. But—
This body's frame was slimmer than Lu Qi's. Narrower shoulders, deeper collarbones, and the 2 thin straps kept wanting to slip down.
Lu Li tried lifting her arm.
The left strap slid off her rounded shoulder and hung around her arm.
She pulled it back up, face expressionless. Then bent down to pick up her dirty clothes from the floor.
It slipped again.
The right one this time. And because the neckline was already loose, the moment she bent over, a chill immediately swept across her chest—a wide expanse of snow-white skin laid completely bare to the air.
"…."
Lu Li snapped upright and clapped a hand over her neckline.
…Then she looked down and assessed the situation around her chest…
The fabric hung loose and slack on her body. The sleep dress's neckline gaped open—one lean forward and a wide stretch of white skin was visible. It had a kind of absurd quality to it, like a child sneaking into an adult's clothes. But this was Lu Qi's dress, and it fit Lu Qi just fine, which meant…
Which meant she was even smaller than Lu Qi?
Lu Li quietly complained to herself—'…So I'm not even up to my little sister's level now, huh'—and then decided to stop thinking about it, and set about dealing with the strap problem, face blank.
She fussed in front of the mirror for a long time, and in the end could only tie a knot in the back of each strap, forcibly shortening them by a section. It pulled a little tight and looked ugly, but at least she wouldn't risk any wardrobe malfunctions every 2 steps.
'Good enough.'
She gave a nod to her reflection in the mirror—a girl wearing an ill-fitting sleep dress, a towel turban on the verge of unraveling, and an expression of utter resignation on her face.
Then she drew a deep breath, rested her hand on the doorknob.
Lu Li pushed open the bathroom door. Steam billowed out into the hallway.
A neatly folded set of clothes had been placed at the doorway—Lu Qi's doing.
She bent down to pick them up, but something in her peripheral vision caught her attention.
The fog on the bathroom mirror was dissipating.
There were words on the mirror.
Traced by a finger, it seemed—crooked, uneven handwriting—
“Hungry”
Lu Li went rigid.
She had been inside the shower the whole time. She hadn't touched the mirror at all.
So who had written that?
The next second, the steam cleared, the mirror surface returned to its original clarity.
Nothing there.
As if it had never existed at all.