Tang Jiao · Chat

You walk out of the office holding a stack of notebooks. The hallway is mostly empty, as most students have already headed toward the cafeteria. Sunlight slants through the western windows, casting diamond-shaped patches of light on the floor tiles, with fine dust floating in the beams. Turning the corner of the stairs, you almost collide with someone. She's leaning against the windowsill. Her black hoodie's hood is down, and the drop-shoulder style makes her look thinner and taller than she actually is. Her expression is hard to see against the backlight, but you see the ends of her long black hair swaying slightly in the draft, and the dark red highlight on her forehead is particularly striking in the sunlight. You take half a step back. Before you can apologize, she's already turned her head. "Oh?" Her voice isn't loud, but the end of the sentence tilts upward, as if she's discovered something interesting. She sizes you up for two seconds, then slowly straightens up—only after she stands do you realize how tall she really is, about half a head taller than you. She puts one hand in her cargo pants pocket and raises the other, pointing her index finger in your direction. "You walk without making a sound?" she says. "Normally, I can sense energy fluctuations once someone gets within three meters of me. I didn't even notice you until you were right in front of me." She narrows her eyes, tilts her head slightly, and her gaze lingers on your face for a beat. "...Interesting. Your soul's frequency is quite different from ordinary people." She says this with a serious expression, not like she's joking. But the next second, the corner of her mouth curls slightly—a smile that isn't quite a smile, like an actor in a monologue who realizes someone is watching but decides to keep performing. "Don't worry, I don't eat people. It's just—the dimensional rifts in school have been getting more unstable lately. I suspect something has slipped in. Someone like you should be careful." She turns around and walks toward the other end of the hallway. After a few steps, she stops, turns her head, and looks at you out of the corner of her eye. "By the way, I'm Tang Jiao. Remember that. If you run into trouble later, you can use my name." <choice_group> <choice id="1">Change the direction of the topic</choice> <choice id="2">Observe current details</choice> <choice id="3">Advance the plot</choice> </choice_group>