chapter 4

Zheng Rou’s wardrobe had two broad sliding doors. When I opened one, I noticed it already stood three centimeters ajar. To be safe, I left the same narrow gap after hiding inside.

Her footsteps soon entered the room. She closed the bedroom door and locked it.

For some reason, she did not turn on the light. She sat at the vanity near the wardrobe and began playing with her phone.

The buildings opposite my apartment were all office towers. Their lights gave me just enough illumination to see everything she did.

She checked WeChat, closed it, then opened Kuaiyin.

A bad feeling rose inside me.

Kuaiyin, the app I streamed on, was not well known. I had asked all three roommates about it before, and each of them claimed not to use it.

Zheng Rou navigated expertly to her following list.

“Wonder if that bitch is live.”

Her voice was deep and hoarse, like someone was strangling her. Gooseflesh prickled all over me.

“Huh. Why is that bitch Lin Qingqing’s stream so dark today?”

My soul nearly left my body.

I was Lin Qingqing.

My first instinct was to end the stream. If she scrolled up through the chat, she would know something was wrong.

But she was too close. The slightest sound could expose me.

Just as I gritted my teeth and reached for my phone, Zheng Rou tossed hers onto the vanity and began removing her makeup.

At first, everything looked normal. She peeled off her false lashes and wiped away her lipstick.

Then she began wrenching at her wig. The double-sided adhesive must have held too tightly; pain twisted her face into something monstrous, and sweat rolled down her skin.

Perhaps she felt hot, because she began stripping.

First the jacket. Then the T-shirt.

Finally –

A padded breast vest and a full-body silicone skin suit.

The blood in my body froze. My heart seemed ready to burst through my chest.

Zheng Rou was a man.

A man wearing a woman’s silicone body from head to toe.

The Zheng Rou reflected in the mirror was bald. His upper body had almost no flesh, only a cage of ribs draped in scarred skin. He had clearly suffered full-thickness burns. Hypertrophic scars and contractures warped his chest and back.

He stared at himself in the mirror and began clawing at his skin like a madman.

“Stop itching! I don’t want another cold shower!

“I’ve rubbed myself with cat blood so many times. Why does it still itch? Are all those remedies lies?

“Do I have to kill more cats?”

My legs nearly gave way. Fragments of my history with Zheng Rou flashed through my mind.

We had met while feeding stray cats in the neighborhood. Later, we worked together to catch one and have it spayed, and gradually became friends.

Then Zheng Rou happened to mention that a landlord had broken a lease, leaving “her” desperate for a place to stay. I had not planned to rent the last bedroom after giving two rooms to my cousins, but Zheng Rou seemed so kind that I made an exception. We signed a bare-bones lease. I had not even photographed “her” ID.

Now that I thought about it, the neighborhood’s stray cats had begun disappearing only after Zheng Rou moved in.

One piece of good news: Zheng Rou had no hair. He was not the water monkey.

One piece of bad news: Zheng Rou was a man and a deranged animal killer.

In my current situation, the second fact terrified me more.

If he had been the water monkey, the pot of earth in my arms could have destroyed him. If he was simply a psychopath, I was the one who would be destroyed.

I barely dared to breathe. I kept my eyes fixed on him and prayed that he would go take another shower.

Instead, he picked up his phone and scrolled.

“Strange. Why has this bitch’s stream been black the whole time?”

Phone in hand, Zheng Rou slowly approached the wardrobe and chuckled.

“She wouldn’t happen to be livestreaming from some hiding place, would she?”

Every blood vessel in my body felt ready to burst. I could sense his hand resting on the sliding door. One gentle push would open it.

My own hand closed around my phone. If he opened the door, I would film his face immediately.

I prepared for the worst. If he killed me, the thousands watching the stream would lead the police straight to him.

Just as despair closed over me, a soft knock sounded at the door.

Knock, knock, knock.

“It’s me.”

Those two words sounded heavenly.

Zheng Rou instantly released the wardrobe door and began dressing at frantic speed. In one minute, he had even patted cushion foundation over his face. After a few more seconds checking every detail in the mirror, he opened the door.

Lin Xiaomei stood outside.

The moment the door opened, Xiaomei threw herself into Zheng Rou’s arms, lifted her face, and kissed him on the cheek.

I gaped from inside the wardrobe. Xiaomei and Zheng Rou barely spoke in daily life. What was happening?

Xiaomei gazed at Zheng Rou with unmistakable affection.

“Rou, will you come to my room? I have something to tell you.”

Zheng Rou lowered his head shyly and answered in the soft, delicate voice he used as his disguise. “Mm-hm.”

It all happened so quickly that it felt unreal. Before I could process it, their footsteps receded. I waited until I heard Xiaomei’s door close, then shoved open the wardrobe and ran into the living room.

Xiaomei’s door across the hall was shut tight.

At least Zheng Rou had not discovered me.

I let out a quiet breath and hurried toward my room.

Then I saw Dayao standing outside the bathroom, staring at the cactus in my arms with a livid face.

“Qingqing, why are you carrying a cactus around in the middle of the night?”