Volume One: Monster

Chapter One: The Beginning

　　April 30th, Tuesday.

　　Labor Day was approaching. Students returning home for the holiday crowded at the school gate, waiting for the traffic light. Some drifted along both sides of the gate, turning the whole street into a sea of blue and white.

　　William Carter walked slowly under the shade of the sidewalk trees, dappled light and shadow along the way. He was in no hurry at all.

　　After walking a short distance, he took off his school uniform and slung it over his arm, then instinctively looked up at the sky.

　　The sky was clear and bright, not a single cloud in sight.

　　William Carter lowered his head.

　　Summer was coming a bit later this year.

　　It was starting to get hot.

　　At an intersection, William Carter turned his head to observe the traffic on both sides. Some students stood beside him, discussing where to spend the night gaming and other game-related topics. A light, sweet fragrance drifted in the air. William Carter looked back and realized that the street trees had already blossomed—clusters of small white flowers with a faint scent.

　　"Locust flowers."

　　Locust trees are commonly used as street trees in northern cities, but are rare in the south. In the city where William Carter lived, only a few streets near the school had locust trees; most of the others were small-leaved banyans and ginkgoes.

　　The locust flowers seemed to be blooming late this year as well.

　　Just as he reached the middle of the intersection, a vague melody suddenly drifted over on the breeze and entered William Carter's ears. The tune was quite pleasant, simple and distant.

　　Unfortunately, there were no lyrics—just humming.

　　William Carter didn't stop walking. He instinctively looked up in the direction the melody came from.

　　He saw a slender figure sitting on a branch of a locust tree, legs dangling and swinging idly in the air. He wasn't wearing shoes, and seemed to have a locust flower petal in his mouth. Humming the tune through his nose, he looked around as if bored.

　　It was a handsome young boy.

　　William Carter's gaze drifted downward. When he caught sight of the boy's bare, dirt-stained feet, he immediately frowned. As he looked back up, the boy happened to turn his head in his direction, looking idle and aimless.

　　In an instant, their eyes met!

　　William Carter naturally looked away, facing forward as if he hadn't seen anything, and continued walking.

　　But the locust tree and the boy were right ahead.

　　William Carter tried to keep his expression calm and his breathing steady. He even glanced at the roasted sweet potato stand at the opposite corner, but his peripheral vision told him the boy was staring at him.

　　Still staring, his gaze following William Carter as he moved.

　　William Carter didn't panic—for now. The weather had been warm lately, and it wasn't too strange for someone to run out barefoot to play or climb a tree to pick locust flowers. Locust flowers are edible and have some medicinal value; every year, some people come to pick them.

　　But then, a voice sounded in his ear—

　　"You can see me?"

　　The boy took the locust flower from his mouth and raised his eyebrows at him, his tone full of surprise.

　　William Carter ignored him.

　　Whoosh!

　　The boy actually jumped straight down from the tree. Though barefoot, he landed without a sound. The street was full of pedestrians, but not a single person glanced his way.

　　After landing, the boy immediately caught up with William Carter, as if he'd found a rare prey.

　　"You can see me, right?"

　　"You definitely can see me!"

　　"You looked at me just now!" The boy, still barefoot, walked alongside William Carter.

　　"Stop pretending, I've already seen through you!"

　　"Hey! Still pretending!"

　　The boy kept walking just ahead of William Carter, making it easy to turn and look at him. But William Carter remained calm, occasionally glancing at the cars on the road, sometimes at the locust trees full of white blossoms, and sometimes even in the boy's direction—as if his gaze could see right through him to the shops on the other side.

　　"Why are you ignoring me?"

　　"Why?"

　　"Hmm?"

　　The boy's questions came less frequently.

　　But William Carter's expression never changed.

　　Gradually, the boy slowed down, falling behind William Carter. He scratched his head—

　　"Am I that scary?"

　　William Carter kept walking forward.

　　About ten minutes later, he arrived home safely. Only after closing the door behind him did he finally breathe a sigh of relief, put his school uniform jacket on the shoe cabinet, and started changing into slippers.

　　A fragrant aroma wafted from the kitchen, accompanied by a woman's voice: "You're back?"

　　"I'm back."

　　"Where's Xiaoshuang?"

　　"I don't know, probably still behind me."

　　"I thought you two would come back together. Looks like we're out of vinegar..." A head poked out from the kitchen, just in time to see William Carter finish changing into slippers and let out another sigh of relief. She swallowed the rest of her words. "When Xiaoshuang gets back, before he changes his shoes, ask him to go to the supermarket across the street and buy a bottle."

　　"I'll go."

　　"No need, you just rest."

　　"It's fine."

　　"Thank you, then. Take some money yourself. Buy the Ninghuafu brand, the Shangshuijing one."

　　"Okay."

　　So William Carter put his shoes back on and went out again.

　　This was an old residential complex, right next to Yancheng High School. Turn left out the door and walk two hundred meters, and you'd reach the intersection where William Carter had met that boy. He'd taken a detour on his way home, and now having to go out again made him a little uneasy.