Just as I was about to run up the stairs to the roof, someone behind me suddenly called my name. It sounded like a female voice filled with resentment, and murkey as though it came from another time and space.
I gritted my teeth without looking back and rushed forward desperately.
Pushing open the door to the rooftop, I arrived at a wide empty space. But I saw a touch of white standing at the railing; it was Xu Zixi.
Her nightgown was white and at that moment she was standing by the guardrail. The wind blew her hair, and her skirt flew with the wind.
"Xu Zixi-" I shouted.
Xu Zixi turned back slowly. Her petite statue showed no sign of any blood. Under the moonlight, her dark and gloomy eyes were like the void.
I found that her right hand was tightly clutching my blindfold, and her feet were extremely close to the edge of the roof. If she took another step forward, the whole person would fall down.
Ming Si was right. If Xu Zixi had my blindfold in her hand when she fell, I really would not be able to explain it. Even if I explained it, no one would necessarily believe it.
There were enough rumors about me and I didn't want to have another rumor added related to the death of my classmates.
"Xu Zixi, you come down," As I approached Xu Zixi carefully, I tried to persuade her.
Xu Zixi looked at me motionlessly as if she was a wooden stake, eyes were cold and blank. I quickly ran to her and dragged her off the platform on the edge of the roof.
We both rolled to the ground.
I grabbed my blindfold from her hand, panting heavily; my heart was thumping like a drum.
Xu Zixi screamed and tumbled up. She looked around, seemingly confused and helpless.
"Why am I here?"
I put on my blindfold, got up, and patted the dust on my body.
She looked at me with a surprised face, her lips trembling, and asked in a shiver, "Ji Sixi, why are you here?"
I glanced at her, really speechless. She really did not know what she was about to do.
I dragged her up, she panicked and muttered to herself, "Was it Ah Zi?"
"What Ah Zi?"
"No... nothing."
She lowered her eyes, her face quickly returned to her former calmness. She turned around and walked toward the door to the rooftop.
I followed her and asked sharply, "Why did you steal my blindfold?"
She didn't speak and sped up her pace.
"I'm asking you. Why did you steal with my blindfold?"
She remained silent.
I hated interacting with such people the most. Why did she have to keep quiet?
I took her by the arm and dragged her forcibly. She stopped and looked at me resignedly.
"Why did you steal my blindfold?"
"I...I just..."
"Speak up! Stop mumbling."
…
After being in a stalemate for ten minutes, she slowly sat down on the stairs and told me the reason truthfully.
It turned out that she had been a repeater. At this time three years ago, she was in Grade Seven like me, but it was at this time on the same day that her best friend, Ah Zi, accidentally fell off the building.
She didn't know the reason why Ah Zi jumped off the building, but after that the school would always have someone jumping off the building on this day every year.
After Ah Zi died, she also began to have nightmares all night. She would always dream that Ah Zi had came to see her. On two occasions, she had even wandered to the rooftop and almost accidentally fell from the building too. Several girls were able to rescue her both times.
But because of the nightmares, her grades plummeted. She failed the high school entrance examination, and now was repeating Grade Seven, sitting the same class again. All the girls in the same dormitory had already been successfully promoted to senior high school, leaving her alone.
She was afraid that she would sleepwalk to the roof again, so she secretly took my blindfold.
The reason why she took it was actually to just save herself.
She had heard the rumors about me and thought that I might have been able to help her, so she took my blindfold unwittingly while I was washing my face in the bathroom, wanting to give it a go.
It turned out that she really was not wrong. I really saved her life because I wanted to get my blindfold back. Of course, it was all thanks to Ming Si's urging.
After learning about this and remembering what Ming Si had said, I guess the previous people who fell from the building were mostly because of ghosts looking for a new scapegoat.
Ah Zi's death might have also been forced by ghosts, thus becoming a scapegoat. Ah Zi had to know about this too. Hence, she wanted to lure Xu Zixi into become the scapegoat. With that, she could release her vengeance and proceed toward reincarnation. Ah Zi did not expect that she would fail to lure Xu Zixi into jumping off the building twice. Today was Ah Zi's third time, and I had disrupted it again.
Since I was able to stop Xu Zixi from falling off the building today, then according to Xu Zixi, Ah Zi would definitely look for Xu Zixi to be a scapegoat again next year.
"If you don't want to die, it's best to go to the rooftop right now to stop Xu Zixi."
Ming Si's words lingered in my mind.
I suddenly realized.
It turned out that Ming Si knew everything, so he only appeared to let me stop Xu Zixi.
But why couldn't he step into this?
I heard Shang Yi call him Hades. Since he's the king, why doesn't he have power?
I sighed deeply and switched on the flashlight in my hand.
The orange-yellow beam was swallowed up by the bottomless staircase; the light was too weak to reach the end, especially in the dark.
"I didn't intentionally steal your blindfold. I was also forced to do it," Xu Zixi looked at me in an apologetic manner, her eyes tearing up.
I looked at her coldly, got up, and extended my hand all of a sudden. I continued indifferently, "Let's go back to the dorm first. We will talk about it tomorrow."
She looked at my hand, hesitated for a few seconds, and finally reached out to hold my hand. With my support, she stood up.
"Thank you for today."
"En."
I responded, turned around, and walked down the stairs. She followed me from behind obediently.
Although there was no longer any danger tonight, I could sense that I had once again stirred up another troublesome situation for myself again.
This time, I disturbed Ah Zi's plan, she wouldn't just let me go.
Why? Why am I involved in this?
The more I thought about it, the more irritated I was, and my pace grew faster.
After walking down two levels of stairs, Xu Zixi's footsteps behind me suddenly stopped.
I paused; I turned my head back and shone my flashlight at Xu Zixi. She was standing in the corner and looking down at me from above.
Her face was pale and I could see her exposed calves trembling, eyes completely red.
"What happened?"
She gulped loudly and her arms gestured at something, seemingly wanting to tell me something.
My gaze followed her arm and found her index finger pointed straight at her foot.
I moved the flashlight down to her calves and feet. There was nothing.
"Save me," She squeezed out with her trembling voice.