He collected his items from the hospital and picked up the phone,
"21 missed calls from Yang Zi "
"Should I tell him about last night?? Uhh.. forget it. I don't want to trouble him."
He exited from the hospital and hailed a taxi. The distance between the hospital and his home is not more than 30 kilometres.
___________________
[At home]
When Yu Han entered, he saw two steamed buns and congee kept on the table.
"Where is Yang zi...has he already left for the class. This man!!" But deep down he wanted to stay alone.Yu Han took shower and wore bathroom robe, sat on a chair, the breakfast was on the table but still he didn't have any will to eat it.
The memories of the previous night still lingered, casting a dark shadow over Yu Han's mind. The terror he had faced had left an indelible mark, one that he struggled to shake off. He felt lost and helpless, unsure of how to navigate the treacherous waters of his own emotions.
A deep melancholy had taken hold, weighing him down like an anchor.
He was drawn into his deep thoughts until his phone rang.
"Bastard where the fuck you have been the whole fucking night?? You didn't even pick my calls or texted me. I called Shin Lao last night, he said he saw you at the store..."
Yang Zi was furiously talking on the phone
Yu Han already knew about this, he just came with an excuse,
"Ughh.. why are you shouting like this as if I'm your girlfriend. Don't worry ,I'm fine. I was just with a girl last night."
Just after hearing the word "GIRL", Yang Zi's eyes and mouth widened like hell,
"Huhhh?? What did you say just now?? You were with a girl last night?? I fucking don't trust you.You don't even look at girls in our college. How is this possible??"
Yu Han felt irritated, "ughhh.. this bastard knows me very well."
"Then just fucking don't believe me. Bye!!"
He hung up the call and went straight into his room and lay down on bed covering himself with quilt and immediately went into dreamland,
A large black figure of a man appeared before him, pointing a gun towards his temple and then,
BAMM!!!!!!!!!
Yu Han woke up with fast heartbeat and sweat was drawing from all over his body.
"What the fuck was that???Who was he??" He remembered last night before he fainted, he saw silhouette of a man entering through the door but he vaguely saw his face.
Suddenly his phone rang. He picked up his phone , he was store manager,
"Yu Han, come to store RIGHT NOW!!!!" . The man on the other side of the phone was fucking furious.
Yu Han didn't say a word, but deep down he was fucking afraid to go to the store after last night's incident. He got up from the bed, put on his jacket and left for the store.
After walking in the alley where the store was located, he felt like thousands of horses marching in his heart. It was a sunny day, still his bright, round handsome face was full of gloom and fear, thousands of questions running in his mind.
__________________
[At store]
The automatic doors hissed open, and Yu Han stepped into the familiar, yet disturbingly alien, convenience store.
His eyes scanned the scene. Further down an aisle, an elderly woman meticulously compared two brands of frozen dumplings. The muted thrum of a chiller unit and the distant chatter from a morning news report on a small TV by the coffee machine were the only sounds.
"It's… normal", Yu Han thought, a cold dread twisting in his gut. "Too normal."
Just last night. Just hours ago. The chilling crack that reverberated through the quiet store, the sickening thud of a body hitting the pavement, the widening crimson stain under the harsh glare of the streetlamp.
He'd seen it. He'd seen the man fall right there, near the counter ,gasping his last breath. He'd seen the shooter , a dark silhouette melting into the shadows.
And now? No police tape. No lingering bloodstain – the pavement outside was pristine, almost scrubbed clean. No hushed whispers, no lingering fear in the air. Just the mundane rhythm of a Tuesday morning. The girl at the counter even hummed a little tune.
"How can they act like nothing happened?" he muttered under his breath, his voice catching. "Did I dream it? Am I going crazy?" He felt a detached, dizzying sensation, as if he were watching a play where he was the only one who knew the true, horrific script. The world around him felt like a well-oiled machine, smoothly erasing the glitch in its system.
A hand, surprisingly firm, landed on his shoulder. Yu Han flinched violently, spinning around with a gasp.
Standing there, looking at him with that same imperturbable expression he always wore, was Shin Lao. His uniform was crisp, his hair neatly combed, and his eyes held a calm, almost weary, understanding.
"Yu Han," Shin Lao said, his voice a low, even murmur that cut through Yu Han's swirling thoughts. "The manager's calling you. He needs to see you in his office. Now."
Yu Han entered the office, where his manager was lighting a cigarette, his back was facing Yu Han,
"Good afternoon sir" , he greeted him politely.
His manager turned around and told him to come inside, "Yu Han, you know last night I had big fight with my wife, she caught me cheating and now she is demanding divorce..."
Yu Han was standing there in confusion, "why the fuck is he telling me about his personal life, I fucking have my own problems, just come to the point."
"... after fighting with my wife, I came here and I was surprised.."
The expression on Yu Han 's face became more dense, his heart started beating faster than the lighting hitting the clouds in the sky.
"..I saw there was no one on the counter. You left the store unattended, what if someone robbed my precious store, who the fuck will take responsibility for that.."
"What!!!!! He didn't saw the dead body or even blood. What the fuck is he saying. *Actually Yu Han didn't care about the store.*
...But , actually what happened last night, where did the body go and the blood..."
"You don't have to come to work from now on, get lost". These words pulled Yu Han back to reality.
"Please sir, don't do this to me, I apologise for my mistake sir , I assure you that it will never happen again,some tragedy happened with me last night but sir please don't fire me .." Yu han kneel down and grabbed this person's leg and kept apologizing.
"Okay okay get up, fucking leave my leg alone, already I'm in lots of stress , don't give me a headache. " He grabbed Yu Han from his collar, "this is my first and last warning, if this happens again, then fucking hide in the graveyard ."
"Thank you so much sir, I assure you that I will do my work honestly and diligently."
He came out of the office, when Shin Lao saw him , he hurriedly grabbed Yu Han and asked him , "Did he beat you??"
"Nahh!! He was just going to fire me but I managed the situation*bravely*."
"Thank God, I was just worried about my funeral coat, if you have died today who will lend me this"
"You fucking asshole, I'll kill you."Yu Han blew a fuse.
_________________
[At Night- Convience store]
The convenience store hummed with the muted thrum of refrigerators and the faint, high-pitched buzz of the fluorescent lights.
Yu Han stood behind the counter, the chilled air raising goosebumps on his arms that had nothing to do with the temperature.
His eyes, dark and wide, swept across the deserted aisles: neat rows of snacks, gleaming soda coolers, the silent coffee machine. Every shadow seemed to deepen, every creak from the old building echoed like a gunshot.
"Just… breathe, Yu Han," he whispered, his voice thin in the stillness. It was 10 PM. The start of his night shift. The start of another eight hours of this suffocating silence, broken only by the occasional jingle of the door, a sound that now filled him with dread instead of routine annoyance.
Last night. The memory flashed, raw and vivid. The deafening bang that still rang in his ears.
It hadn't been him, thank God.
But the terror, the spilled blood – it was all etched into his mind. He'd hidden, frozen, his heart a frantic drum against his ribs.
Now, every movement outside the large glass windows, the distant whoosh of a car, the rustle of a plastic bag caught on a streetlight pole – each sent a jolt of ice through his veins. Someone could come from anywhere. The thought coiled in his stomach, tight and cold. Just like him.
His hands clenched, then unclenched, around the smooth, cool surface of the counter.
"Quit. I should just quit."
But the bills.The rent. He couldn't just give up. Not now. Not when he was so close to saving enough for the new semester.
"No. I can't," he muttered, shaking his head. "I won't."
He forced himself to take a deep, shuddering breath, then another. He looked at his reflection in the dark glass of the store window – a pale, anxious face staring back.
"Control it, Yu Han," he told himself, trying to sound firm, but his voice still trembled. "It's just… a night. Nothing's going to happen. It was a one-off. A random thing."
He reached for his phone, his fingers slick with sweat. He needed a distraction, something to pull his mind away from the terrifying possibilities lurking in the dark corners of his mind. Unlocking the screen, he found the familiar icon of his favorite fantasy RPG. The loading screen glowed, vibrant and inviting.
He almost smiled, a small, fragile upward curve of his lips. Maybe it would be okay. Maybe he could make it through the night. The game… the game was good.
__________________
[At Somewhere]
"Did you find the snakes who are helping Shi Wang?? " Li Hao asked in deep voice while sitting at the backseat of Mercedes, wearing a full black suit and red bottom shoes, looking outside the window.
"I'm diligently trying Mr. Li. You just wait ,I'll expose everyone who is leaking our secrets to Shi Wang."Gang zi assured him while driving.
"Mr. Li, last night..I took care of everything at the store." Gang zi told slowly.
Li Hao didn't say anything and took out a packet of cigarette from his pocket, but the packet was empty. He crushed the packet and throw it on Gang zi.
"Bring me a cigarette ."
"This fucking psycho." Gang Zi cursed him of course in his mind.
He stopped the car in front of a store.
He unfasten his seatbelt but Li Hao told him to wait in the car.
The night was dark and cold. Wind was blowing feeling like thousands of needles piercing on the face.
Li Hao stepped out from his car, and these cruel wind didn't even leave him. His face became like a cherry because of cold, still he was standing there enduring and fighting with these winds.
Li Hao entered the store after battling with cruel winds. The store was empty, no customer was there, just like last night.
His gaze fell on a thin figure who was wearing thin and loose clothes even in this cold weather. His loose clothes showing his slim body. His gaze was fixed on the mobile screen.
As Li Hao stepped into the store, the biting winds died down, but his heart was just beginning to stir. The empty store seemed to fade into the background as his gaze landed on the lone figure standing behind the counter.
The young man's slender frame was draped in loose, thin clothing that seemed to defy the chill of the winter air. Yet, it was his delicate features that truly caught Li Hao's attention – the sharp jawline, the soft curve of his lips, and the dark eyelashes that framed his eyes as he gazed intently at the mobile screen.
Li Hao's eyes lingered, captivated by the quiet beauty of the stranger. For a moment, time stood still, and all that existed was the gentle hum of the store's fluorescent lights and the soft glow of the screen illuminating the young man's face.
"Your manager must pays you for playing games on the duty." A high pitched voice shivered down Yu Han's spine.