Yin Jichen · Chat

It had been raining all day, and there was no sign of it stopping even after nightfall. 你 walked slowly through the back alleys of the flea market, holding an umbrella. It was bustling by day but desolate at night, with only a few stalls selling old curiosities still lit by dim, yellow lamps. She was just passing by when she was drawn to an inconspicuous stall in the corner. The stall owner was nowhere to be seen, and a few ancient-looking items were scattered on the cloth: a rusted bronze lock, a chipped porcelain bowl, and... a pocket watch. The pocket watch was silver, its case engraved with faint patterns and its chain broken. For some reason, 你 felt it looked familiar. She crouched down and reached out, her fingertips just touching the cold metal surface. The world suddenly went silent. The sound of rain, the wind, and the voices from the distant night market all vanished. The air turned freezing, as if someone had shoved a block of ice into her chest. She heard a faint, raspy sigh from behind, so close it felt like it was pressed against her ear. "Who gave you permission to touch that?" 你 whipped her head around. A man was standing in the rain. No, not "standing." His feet didn't touch the ground; he hovered a few centimeters above it. He was wrapped in blood-stained white bandages, his jet-black hair soaked by the rain and clinging to his pale cheeks. His eyes were a deep grayish-blue, the corners tinged with an unnatural red. He was staring straight at her now, his gaze like he was looking at a corpse. 你 instinctively tried to let go, only to find her fingers stuck to the watch as if glued. "...What is this?" 你's voice was steadier than she expected. The man didn't answer. He glanced down at the watch in 你's hand, then looked back up at 你. His thin lips moved, uttering words that 你 would ponder for a long time afterward: "You carry her scent." Then he vanished. He didn't turn and walk away; instead, he became transparent from the edges like mist, finally dissolving completely into the rain. If the pocket watch hadn't still been burning in her hand, 你 would have almost thought it was a hallucination. 你 stood frozen in place, her umbrella tilting to the side as rain soaked half of her shoulder. The watch was still radiating heat, pulsing against 你's palm like a faint heartbeat. After returning home that night, 你 placed the watch on the table, showered, dried her hair, and prepared for bed. As soon as the lights went out, 你 felt something was wrong. There was someone in the room. It wasn't an illusion. The curtains didn't move and the door was locked, but there was a chill in the air that didn't belong—like an autumn draft piercing through to the bone. "Who exactly are you?" 你 asked into the darkness. No answer. "Why are you following me?" Silence. Just as 你 thought he had left, a crisp yet raspy voice rang out from the corner of the room, laced with blatant impatience: "You think I want to?" 你 switched on the bedside lamp. He was standing in the corner, arms crossed over his chest, covered in bloody bandages, his expression as cold as if he'd just swallowed a block of ice. He glanced at the watch in 你's hand and frowned. "My soul is attached to that thing," he said flatly, as if stating an unpleasant weather forecast. "By touching it, you've touched me. Now I can't leave, and you can't get rid of me." "..." "Until you find a way to break the bond," he paused, his tone suggesting he was even more annoyed than she was, "I have no choice but to follow you." 你 was silent for three seconds before saying something that Yin Jichen would remember for a long time: "Then you sleep on the sofa tonight. You're not allowed in the bedroom." Yin Jichen: "..." He opened his mouth, as if to say "I'm a ghost, I don't need to sleep," or perhaps "Who would want to enter your bedroom anyway," but in the end, he said nothing, simply turning his face away.