She picked it up with trembling fingers and saw the caller’s na.
Lucian.
She hesitated before answering.
On the other end, Lucian’s calm voice greeted her. "Are you alright?"
He had called at midnight.
Lana swallowed. "No... I am not."
Then she asked, "Why did you call?"
Lucian paused before replying.
Today felt strange. He tried several tis to guide Lana into sleep, but she did not respond at all. It was as if she were not there. He beca worried.
He did not reveal everything.
He did not say that he had been afraid to investigate further, worried that Lana might discover sothing unusual about the jade bracelet.
He certainly did not admit that while working, he had suddenly been overco with a sharp, inexplicable anxiety, as if sothing precious to him was being taken away.
Hence, the very first thought that ca to Lucian’s mind was Lana.
Without hesitation, he called her.
The mont the call connected and he heard Lana’s trembling, fearful voice, his brows furrowed.
He imdiately understood that she must have been frightened, perhaps shaken by so kind of nightmare.
Yet that realization only made things stranger.
From his perspective, as long as Lana wore the jade bracelet, it was extrely difficult for any nightmare to invade her consciousness.
"Lana," his voice turned sharp with concern, "did you take off the jade bracelet?"
There was a brief silence on the other end.
Lana froze. Only then did she realize that in her disgust earlier, she had removed it and never worn it again.
"...Yes," she admitted quietly.
Lucian exhaled. "Put it back on. The jade bracelet is ant to stabilize your mind. It can suppress nightmares."
Lana slowly slipped the bracelet back onto her wrist, the cool jade touching her skin with a faint calming sensation.
After that, she told him everything that had happened that afternoon, the gel, the insects, the unease, and the strange fear that had followed her into the night.
Lucian listened without interrupting.
When she finished, he spoke in a calm, asured tone. "Until either Mr. Crow or Axel wakes up, stay on the call with . Do not remain alone."
Lana agreed.
Through the rest of the night, they spoke about trivial things, random mories, small argunts, aningless conversations that carried no weight at all.
Yet Lana did not realize that from the mont Lucian began talking, the fear inside her had started to fade.
’As long as he is here... nothing will go wrong.’
Ti passed quietly, and she remained on the call until morning.
When dawn finally arrived, Mr. Crow stirred awake.
He blinked slowly, rubbing his eyes, only to notice Lana sitting nearby with her phone pressed to her ear. He tilted his head, puzzled.
Lana noticed he was awake and quickly spoke into the phone. "Mr. Crow is up now."
Lucian replied, "Then go talk to him."
The call ended.
Lana turned toward Mr. Crow, who was already watching her carefully.
"What happened?" he asked. "You never look this frightened unless sothing is truly wrong."
Lana imdiately recounted everything: the dream, her fear, the strange night.
As he listened, Mr. Crow’s eyes narrowed.
His suspicions were nearly confird.
However, instead of reacting imdiately, he simply said, "Go take a shower first. It will help you calm down."
Lana nodded and left.
At the sa ti, Lucian, who had just set his phone aside, noticed a new ssage appear on the screen.
It was from Lana’s number.
The ssage read:
"I know you enter my dreams using the jade bracelet."
Lucian’s eyes narrowed slightly.
He did not panic.
Instead, he typed back, "What are you talking about?"
On the other side, Mr. Crow stared at the reply.
He hesitated for a mont but continued typing.
"You do not need to pretend. I already know."
Lucian read the ssage and imdiately realized sothing was off.
He knew Lana’s typing habits well.
She always wrote "know" incorrectly as "now." It was an odd quirk she had never bothered to fix.
But this ssage was written perfectly.
Lucian instantly understood.
’This is not Lana.’
He stopped replying altogether. Mr. Crow waited. No response ca.
After a while, he sighed and deleted the ssages, satisfied that his guess had been correct.
When Lana returned from her shower, she saw Mr. Crow holding her phone.
She frowned. "What are you doing?"
Mr. Crow looked at her, now fully certain that Lucian and Lana had indeed connected through the jade bracelet’s influence.
He wanted to expose Lucian... yet he held himself back.
"It was nothing," he replied.
Lana did not think much of it. Her mind was already occupied with a more pressing issue.
Later that morning, at the breakfast table, Lana turned to Axel.
"I want to withdraw from the exchange program today itself."
Axel hesitated at first, surprised by her decisiveness. But seeing her firm expression, he finally nodded.
That sa day, when Axel went to process the withdrawal, he discovered that there was still one more day required before the exit could be finalized.
One day.
Lana decided she would use that ti to warn as many people as she could.
She began with the university authorities.
Lana went straight to Principal Wayne’s office and told him that so kind of formation might soon be activated.
At first, Wayne looked skeptical, unsure whether to believe her.
Without another word, Lana placed the gel container on his desk.
Wayne glanced at it. "What about this?"
"Do you recognize it?" Lana asked.
"Of course," Wayne replied.
"A famous overseas company introduced this cream for testing. Students who tried it even received fifty thousand dollars each. After seeing the results, many began purchasing it themselves. It has spread throughout the university."
Lana’s expression darkened.
"If you had a third eye," she said quietly, "you would never have accepted this."
Wayne frowned in confusion.
Lana explained, "This cream is filled with white parasites. You cannot see them, but they are there. The entire substance is made of them."
User Comments
0 comments from readers