Chapter 2 (2/2)

Just as he predicted, the sun had set by the time they arrived at the bus stop in the southern suburb.

Hao Ren disembarked, with Lily following closely behind. Before Hao Ren could catch his breath, Lily yelled, “Is this Whitestone Road?”

“It’s Southern Suburb Stop according to the road sign! Whitestone Road is an old street, we have to walk through the alley to get there. Have you ever seen a bus travelling through an alley?”

“Oops! Haha. Do excuse my ignorance,” she tittered and continued maundering. “It is quiet here.” She frowned as she was examining the surrounding.

The rickety bus stop was sitting on the shoulder of a disrepair road which was covered in potholes. The nearby buildings were old and run-down, with most of the shops closed. The 5-storey apartments behind the shops were equally ramshackle. This desolate place was the ‘downtown’ of the southern suburb. Sometimes, Hao Ren wondered whether this place was a castaway and forgotten by the modern society. But he would always remind and comfort himself at the end of every month that this place was not forgotten but very much remembered—by the water company, the electric utility, the gas supplier, and even the telephone and insurance companies.

“Hurry up,” said Hao Ren, “though this place is pretty safe, you don’t want to bump into some drunkards at night. Let’s head back to my place. And don’t be wandering around outside at night, I am not about to get into trouble because of you. Just a reminder.”

By right, as a landlord, he shouldn’t be that blunt lest the tenants were scared away. But Hao Ren was just trying to be frank; he despised dishonesty and took no advantage of others. This was the reason behind his failure to get keep tenants sticking around his apartment lately because prospective tenants were literally scared away.

However, Lily was totally at ease, “No worries, Mr. Landlord, I have learned a thing or two about fighting.”

Hao Ren felt as if he was talking to a weird fellow, “I am not saying that… Let me make myself clear: Aren’t you afraid of nasty fellers?”

He had only met her for less than a day, he knew he should not be a busybody. But she was the weirdest girl—who was gullible and yet amiable to the point of being naive—he had ever met. So he was prepared to go the extra mile.

Lily was unfeigned, “Landlord, you are such a good man! But I am not afraid at all. I think I am strong enough. I had fought bad guys off on my own before.”

“You surely have met bad guys before, but lowering your guard just because you have fought them off before is just…” Hao Ren murmured.

Lily did not respond. She looked at Hao Ren with a smile while lugging the massive suitcase behind her. Suddenly they heard two clunking noise—the luggage wheels had come off and rolled away.

“Hahaha, maybe the suitcase is too heavy.” Lily scratched her head in embarrassment.

“No, it was the potholes…” Hao Ren looked at the pothole-filled road and took a long sigh. As a man, he felt he needed play the gentleman, “Let me take your luggage…I’m wondering what’s in there.”

He grabbed the luggage from Lily. But immediately he felt like he was hauling a concrete block—the suitcase was so heavy that he could barely lift it off the ground.

Lily did not notice Hao Ren’s weird expression. She chuckled as she lifted the suitcase with one hand onto her shoulder as if it was empty.

Hao Ren was left slack-jawed as Lily carried the suitcase on her shoulder and went ahead. He froze as he couldn’t believe what he just encountered. Then he heard Lily yelled at him to hurry up. She murmured “That’s ok. I am just born with strong arms. You do see such thing on TV shows sometimes…”

As Lily kept rambling on while Hao Ren’s head was packed with unanswered questions, they veered off the main road into a pitch-dark alley. At the end of the alley was Whitestone Road where Hao Ren’s house was situated.

Along the alley were two street lamps, one already went out. The dilapidated old houses nearby amplified the spooky ambience. Hao Ren would have freaked out if not for the faint moonlight illuminating the road ahead, enhancing the visibility of the alley. He looked at Lily, who was following him closely. She appeared to be in a pleasant mood.

It was a dark night; not a soul could be seen on the road; a foreign place; and stranger—any one of these factors would have caused one to be more cautious. But Lily was not at all nervous. Was she just oblivious or was she really that capable of keeping herself safe?

“Flop, flop, flop…”

As Hao Ren was still worried for the girl, he heard the creepy sound of flapping wings right above them.

He was startled. Immediately, he looked up and vaguely saw a shadow gliding across the night sky above the high walls of the alley.

The shadow looked like a bat, but its size wasn’t so.

“Whoa, what was that thing?” Hao Ren shouted, trying to keep his composure as he did not want to lose face, especially in front of Lily. He turned around, expecting Lily to be as scared as a soaked monkey, but…

What he saw was a pair of ears like those of a wolf, popping up from her head!