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The Black Robe Residence
Time: 11:30am
It was Sunday and I had already packed all the necessary things to stay in the dorm.
“Your senior said he is going to pick you up?” Chu Ming Yue, who was standing at the side of the door, asked lazily, and on her hand was a cup of fruit tea, looking extremely relaxed.
Your little brother is stuck between a rock and a hard place, and you’re still in the mood to drink tea! “He called earlier to say he probably needs a little more time before the car will arrive.”
Speaking of calls, he called the strange cell phone. But up till now, cell phone still didn’t need to be charged, what the hell?! Wait a moment, a car?
My first thought was that wildcat car. If it were that car being sent here, I won’t go even if I’m beaten to death.
“Take it.” My sis handed me a snack box, “Someone sent this earlier.”
I took it, and as usual, it was a desert box. After staying in the dorm, I guess there would be no one who would help my sis to consume her snacks anymore.
“But the dorm is very close, so I’ll still come back during the weekends.” Come on, I’m also very reluctant to leave home, if it wasn’t for that wildcat car… Sob, sob, I hate that wildcat car!
“I thought you would say you would be doing jobs during the holidays and won’t be coming back.” My sis sipped her tea while glancing at me with her beautiful eyes.
In fact, I didn’t even need to wait for the holidays, I’ve already started to take on jobs. In addition, I had mysteriously completed two jobs, and I currently have the check I had just received inside my bag. On top of it all, it had a fine print of, for me, what felt like a horribly astronomical number.
“Haha…” What else can I say? I pulled up the last zipper of my suitcase. In fact, I didn’t bring much stuff: three sets of school uniforms, the uniform’s jacket, some casual clothing I normally wear, and a few books. There was nothing else besides those.
No matter how strange it was over there, I think some daily necessities should be available to be bought. Senior also told me before that new blanket and pillow will be provided by the dorm, so bring as little as I possibly could.
“Yang Yang!” My mother’s voice came from downstairs, “Someone is looking for you!”
Someone is looking for me? Feeling suspicious, I hastily ran downstairs, and saw my mother giving off an ambiguous expression.
“Ah, ah, you little rascal. You’re pretty popular, eh?” She lightly jabbed her elbow into my side while smiling strangely.
I recognize this smile, the last time when Miao Miao came over, she smiled in the exact same way. Could it be that Miao Miao came again!?
I quickly hurried to the anteroom. Someone was standing there, and it wasn’t Miao Miao. He was wearing a typical casual shirt, and a pair of jeans below; a very normal way of dressing up. On his head was a cap, covering up a large amount of his face, showing only the very white skin of his chin. His long black hair was also tied up into a bundle.
Who? I started to shift gears around my mind, however, I couldn’t remember getting acquainted with this person.
My mother was hiding behind, peeking at us. “Uhh… is…”
“Took you long enough to pack up.” The person was faster at opening his mouth, and then he took off his cap.
I opened my eyes wide, totally shocked. Under the cap was senior’s face. He actually dyed his hair black! The hell!?
With a “flop” sound, the cap was thrown at my face. With this, I was even more sure he was senior.
His eyes were black, lacking the normal pressure from his reddish glare, “Do you want your whole family to become curious about the people in school?!” He tugged my ears and said with lowered voice.
I understand now, he was in a disguise, just like a chameleon being camouflaged in its environment.
That’s true. If Senior came in with his usual looks, I think my mother won’t just be curiously ambiguous, she would most definitely make a fuss out of it. She would grab me and interrogating me.
“Chameleon, yourself.” Senior removed his hand and stood upright, and politely greeted my mother, “Hello aunty, I’m Chu Ming Yang’s Senior. I’m here to help him with moving into the dorm.”
My mother immediately jumped out, but I think she was a little disappointed because senior was not a female senior.
“You’re Yang Yang’s senior, and yet, you’re even helping him move. My house’s little brat is really troubling you so much.” But my mother quickly recovered her feelings and smiled, “Have you eaten? Aunty is cooking right now, would you want to come in and sit down?”
Senior curved up a perfect smile, but his smile was very business-like, somewhat similar to those commercial counter lady, “No need to trouble you, aunty. The driver is waiting outside.” And then he glanced at me.
“That’s right mom, then I’ll be going to the dorm with senior, I’ll have my lunch outside.” I knew senior was very impatient, who knows if he would suddenly release dinosaurs to chomp on people. Thus, I hurriedly grabbed onto the luggage I had prepared, put on my shoes, and jumped down to the anteroom, “You, father and sis, don’t miss me too much.”
But I will miss you guys, I will miss my home; warm with no mental stress.
I heard my mother saying, “Have a safe trip!”
* * *
The weather during that day was very clear. I followed senior out of my house, and saw a white SUV parked in front of my house. Fortunately, it wasn’t the wildcat car. I secretly rejoiced.
“Hello, dear student!” On the seat was the assistant. On the driver’s seat was actually the assistant!? The wooly lion!
Senior turned his head away, and I definitely heard a “pfft” sound; he actually laughed!
“Get inside the car, quickly.” He opened the door, kicked me in, and sat at the seat beside the driver.
I didn’t expect this car to be so ordinary; internal organs and whatnot were not present. Thank God, thank God. I was really scared that as soon as I climbed into the car, internal organs would appear. That would really make me want to scream.
The assistant looked at me through the rear-view mirror, “Don’t worry, my driving skill is very good, especially with this type of ordinary car, which is similar to a toy car.”
Boss, then please do drive this toy car with care. I’m very afraid this car would suddenly fly in the sky, burrow into the earth or whatnot.
“This car can’t fly.” Senior, who was sitting in front, had already turned his hair back into its original look, this reminds me of some kind of… uhh, insect, “But if you continue thinking nonsense, you’ll be the one who will immediately fly.”
I know, you’ll send me flying with your kick.
“Uhh,… how are we going to get to school?” The only way I knew to get to school was to get hit by a train, and the operating hours was only during the mornings.
“Rather than going to school, don’t you think we should take advantage of this nice weather, and go for a ride?” The assistant was smiling so happily for some reason.
I had a really bad feeling, especially when I saw senior, who was at the front seat, adjusting his seat belt. This can’t be right!?
Just as my mind went blank, the assistant really stepped on the accelerator! He stepped on the accelerator on a residential street!
At that moment, the first thought that came to mind was: fortunately there were less people on the street since it was an off day. But this was not the problem, ahhhh—!!!
I saw the speedometer rising up from sixty to a hundred and thirty. However, the most terrifying thing the fact that the maximum limit on the speedometer was actually one thousand.
Wait a moment! A thousand kilometers!? A thousand kilometers per hour!? What kind of damn car is this?!
“In my younger years I rushed towards the sunset~~” The assistant was actually singing! And his singing sucks!
“Chu, why are you not sitting properly?” Senior, who at the front, turned his head around and saw me tightly hugging on to the back of his seat, like a koala.
Because I’m very afraid of being flung out.
“There are seat-belts in the back seat.” Senior reminded me, it’s only then that I noticed the two straps bouncing about. I immediately struggled towards the seat and tied myself onto the seat.
“Mmmmmmmmust you drive so quickly?” I almost bit my tongue because the car suddenly braked and did a sharp turn.
“Tyre is a fan of racing.” Senior was very calm, I suspected he often rides in the assistant’s car, so he was already numb towards this speed.
“Ahaha, you don’t have to put it that way; I’m the messenger who pursues love and speed.” The assistant flirtatiously winked at the both of us and continued, “Just the same way I admire the beautiful Highness and the cute Yang Yang.”
I saw senior’s vein popping out, I suspected that if we weren’t in a car, he would most probably have given him a kick. So to say, from the day I was born, this was the first time being complimented as cute by a lion hair. But at that second… I felt like vomiting.
When I finally brought my attention back to the situation, the SUV was already speeding on the coastline. That’s not right, coastline!? When did he reach the seaside!?
“Still haven’t had enough yet?” Senior’s tone had already become very impatient, so the assistant turned the steering wheel, “Alright alright, that’s it, we’ll go out for another ride next time.” He said regretfully, as though he still wanted to speed up for another run.
There won’t be a next time! My whole body was stuck to the seat, as I thought to myself.
I suddenly saw senior pressing the button to roll down the window, took off his seat belt, and sat on the window. The sea breeze blew his silver hair into a mess, looking like silvery waves.
“Dear student, you need to sit well.” I had yet to understand the meaning of what he had said, when he suddenly hit the emergency brake and the steering wheel sharply turned to the right— Rushing towards the sea!
“Ahhhh—!!!” I don’t want to jump into the sea to commit suicide!
Surprisingly, senior did not get thrown out, and was sitting very securely. From the pocket of his jeans, he took out a small yellow crystal-like object, “Five seconds before teleportation. Four, three, two, one!”
Then the SUV drove into the water.
I heard the screams of the visitors at the coast. Outside the windows of the SUV, the space started twisting. This allowed me to realized we were heading straight to school.
But… Do you really need to take it to such a spectacular scale each and every time!?
* * *
When I opened my eyes for the second time, we were not at the beach anymore. The car stopped in front of a building, that looked like a medieval architecture.
Although I called it a building, it looked a bit like a tower, but also looked a little like a belfry. There was a very ancient type of feeling portrayed on it. It was occupied a very large amount of land. It seemed like it was big enough to build a luxury mansion there, and the building was around four or five stories high. It also had a sharp pointed top, and big clock.
I don’t know why, but this big building made me think of something that always appeared in the movies… The place where killer ghosts came out from!
Senior and the assistant had already gotten out of the car. All around the building was a small garden, looked like the type of small garden in a western-style house, the type where roses will bloom there, but unfortunately, the flowers planted here weren’t roses, seemed like I’ve never seen this type of flowers before.
“We’ve arrived.” Senior walked over and opened the door to the back seat, “Come down quickly, and stop daydreaming.”
I immediately held on to my luggage and jumped out of the car. Taking a closer look, the building made me feel even more pressured; the imposing feeling was very strong.
“Don’t forget, you owe me one.” The assistant smiled, patted Senior’s shoulder, and went back into the car, “I’m going back to work, see you again, dear student.”
“Oh, see you.” I waved at the assistant. If you’ll be driving again next time I see you, I’d rather not see you again.
Senior walked over here, “This is the black robe’s only dormitory, Black Vine Dorm.” He looked at the tower, and continued, “Of all the dormitories, this is the one is with the least amount of people living in it. Also, the place where the most people cannot get near to.”
His explanation made me very scared. No matter how I looked at the tower, it looked like a haunted mansion. Extremely scared!
For some reason, this place felt very chilly. Even when I’m standing far away from it, I could feel a type of sinister energy drifting over. It was obviously very sunny just a moment ago, so why was there not even a ray of sunlight here!
All black robes live in a demon collecting and distributing center, right!?
Senior gave me a punch behind my head, “What nonsense.” He then walked up ahead by himself.
I quickly followed him. After taking just two steps forward, I stopped. The door… There was a face stuck on the door! That’s not right, there really was a face stuck on the door. There wasn’t only one… but a large number of them!?
I saw many faces appearing one after another on the black glass door in front of senior, as though they were being forcefully crammed together, with varying expressions. There were faces, but there was no body!
I took two steps back.
“It’s here again!” Senior’s tone was full of disgust.
What, what is here again!? Just as I was about to turn around and flee, I saw… a face coming off the glass door, heading straight for senior!
“Charles!” Just as if he was swatting at a mosquito, senior gave it one slap, and smacked the face back into the glass. I witnessed the face being crooked towards one side, along with its eyes, nose, mouth, and whatnot, becoming totally deformed.
“Charles!” Senior used one leg to kick the glass door open (I was under the impression that he did not want to use his hands to touch those faces) and roared.
The well-kicked face was completely flattened down. I suspected senior’s habit of kicking people was probably nurtured here.
Just as senior roared the second time, I faintly heard the sound of someone running, and someone suddenly appeared at the door.
A very pale person who didn’t look much different from a corpse.
He had short brown hair, and it looked like it was set with a very strong hair gel… Cough Well you know, his whole hair was combed backwards, glaringly shiny, that kind of hair. The shriveled face had a pair of sharp khaki eyes, that kept moving about. He didn’t feel like he was a normal person. He was wearing a black robe similar to the one the senior usually wears.
I suddenly understood the saying “Not everyone would look good wearing nice clothing.”
When senior was wearing the black robe, he was very handsome, absolutely handsome. But when I saw this guy wearing the black robe, I suddenly thought he was actually wearing a black plastic garbage bag, the one we always use to put garbage in when we are preparing to move to a different house.
“I’ve said before: if you continue to place your collection of souls carelessly, I’ll burn the whole damn lot of them!” Senior’s tone was extremely crude. Beside him, there was another face trying to get out, but was given a punch and it retracted back inside.
Collection of souls!? I stood at the same place with my eyes wide opened. Just now, I didn’t hear wrongly, did I?
“Gaaaa… I’ll immediately put them away, immediately put them away…” The big black garbage bag seemed to be very afraid of senior, shrinking behind the glass door.
In a short moment, all the faces on the glass door had disappeared. Senior turned around, looked at me, and said, “Chu, come in.”
I knew I was going to die. This building was definitely not an ordinary place. Without any choice, dragged my feet, one step at a time, towards the path of death.
God, please bless me so that I’ll be safe. Even if you can’t bless me, you still must bless me!
* * *
The dorm’s hall was a lot cleaner than I had imagined. The faces on the glass door had me thinking that as soon as I enter the building, I would most probably see a running skeleton waving its hands at me while rushing past or something similar, and thus, I had prepared myself mentally. However, I never thought that as soon as I entered, there would be nothing inside, even the black rubbish bag from earlier had disappeared without leaving a trace.
This was the first floor hall of the Western building. From here, I could see the long, big, and beautiful staircase. The high ceiling reached up all the way to the third floor, with a huge crystal lamp decorating the highest point; the type seen in movies. It was that kind of extremely gorgeous and luxurious item.
Inside the hall, there was a sofa, and some tables and chairs. Further ahead on the walls, were paintings, some pretty pastoral paintings, and portraits. There were also animal paintings, giving off a very warm feeling.
“This is the common hall. On the first floor, there the a kitchen and warehouse, the dining room, and a few small rooms, but the rooms are saved for… people to live in.”
‘Those dots absolutely had some problems!’ I was screaming in my mind.
“From second floor onwards, there are six rooms in each floor, up until the fourth floor; a total of eighteen rooms. There are currently fifteen black robes, so there are still three empty rooms. Each floor has some ancillary social centre, small library, etcetera. You’ll understand as soon as you see them, and bathrooms are available in each room; no sharing.” Senior first gave me a simple introduction, “Each and every one of the black robes has their own different habits, so I suggest you better not loiter around.”
I definitely would not loiter around. Basically, I’m very hesitant to even stay here. I have even started to doubt whether or not my decision was the right one.
This place looked like a place Vampires or some other demonic aristocrats lived in… There might even be screams, and sounds of whipping and torture every night. Thinking this, I involuntarily shivered. However, I soon noticed something, “What about fifth floor?” I remembered seeing it was a five-storey building earlier, and on top was a pointed triangular roof. It should be where the attic was located.
Senior turned around to look at me, “You can’t go to the fifth floor and above, there are no stairs going up there.”
I shouldn’t have asked.
“I live in a room on fourth floor. The three empty rooms on that floor, so you can pick one of them to stay in later.” Completely ignoring my thoughts, senior continued, “The other two people living on fourth floor are very easy to get along with, as long as you don’t break their taboo.”
I took two steps back.
“I’ll take you to see your room, let’s go.” Without giving me a chance experience a slimmer of regret, senior walked up the stairs.
Very hesitant, extremely, extremely hesitant. I was very hesitant as to whether I should follow him up the stairs. Suddenly, I saw the statues beside the stairs, they should be made of copper, something that always appear inside the movies; the two knightly statues were placed each on each side.
That’s strange, were they there before? Why did I not notice them when I entered earlier?
However, what felt strange wasn’t the copper statues, it was the paintings. The paintings all around me seem to feel… a little unnatural… For example, the portrait of a girl to my left…
“Gaaaaaaahhhhhh—————”
The second I turned my head around, the girl inside the portrait suddenly opened her mouth wide, with her whole face covering the entire painting, and screamed at me!
“Whoaaaaaahhhhhh—————” Mom, oh mom, oh mom, oh mom—!!
The black glass door behind slammed shut with a “bang”. I didn’t even dare to look back. I started scrambling up the stairs.
This was a haunted house! This was definitely a haunted house! I want to go home!!!
* * *
“Which hundred meter race are you participating in?” Stopping at the end of the flight of stairs on fourth floor, senior looked at me with a skeptical expression, who was awkwardly panting like a dog.
“There’s something, there’s something, there’s something, there’s something, there’s something strange——” I started shouting hysterically.
Red eyes glanced at me and then looked away, “There’re a lot of them, but after looking at them for a long time, you’ll get used to it.” He then walked towards the corridor.
A lot? What do you mean by a lot!? I quickly rushed toward senior, closely following him.
The corridor was very long; on one side, there were arched tall windows, whereas on the other side, there was a gallery, where most of the decorations were either plaster, or copper statues, and a small amount of paintings.
“This is my room.” After walking a set distance, turning at the third junction of the corridor, there’s no more path ahead, senior stopped. However, there was a silverish white door, with an unknown decoration hanging on it. It looked somewhat like a bird.
Then, he continued onwards. While walking, I felt the decorations in the corridor seemed to have come alive… Every strand of hair on my body stood up.
“This room is available.” After walking for less than ten seconds, we stopped for the second time, after turning at the corridor there was another room, a dark blue door with nothing hanging on it, “The layout of all the rooms are the same, you can take a look before deciding which room…”
“I’ll stay in this room!” Without using even two seconds to consider, I immediately decided.
Because this room was the nearest one to senior’s room. If anything were to happen, it would be easier for me to get help.
Senior gave me an understanding look, “Alright.” He took out a key from his pocket; it was also dark blue in colour. He unlocked the door, and passed the key to me, “This is the key for this room, keep it properly, it’ll be troublesome if you lose it.”
I looked at the object in my hand, it was a tetrahedron shaped key, the handle was decorated with small pieces of gems, and it looked really beautiful.
“The basic necessities have already prepared.” Senior opened the door and went in.
To be truthful, the interior of the room was extremely normal, but extremely broad. As soon as I entered, it felt really huge. There was one table, a set of sofas. There was even a television, bookcase, and whatnot. There were also two other doors at both sides of the walls, “This is the bedroom.” Senior similarly opened another door, inside was a large bed. On top, was a set of new pillows; it looked very soft and very comfortable. There was also a large wardrobe. He pointed at the other side of the door, and said, “The other side is the bathroom.”
If this was not a haunted house, this room could be called as a completely luxurious single-bedroom residence.
“I remember there is a notebook inside the bookcase. The internet here is already connected properly, so you are free to use it.”
Truthfully, this dorm is really too good!
I put the luggage on the sofa, and walked around the area, when I remembered that senior still hadn’t opened the bathroom yet, so I thought of opening it to take a look.
I’m not sure who said this, all the tragedies occurred due to having an itchy hand. Which was referring to people like me.
As soon as I opened the toilet door, I immediately regretted it.
“Whoaaaaaaahhhhhhh———!!!”
Inside the bathroom, on the wall, there was an upper half of a human body embedded in it. However, the main point was… he was biting onto a shower head.
Which pervert built this dormitory!?