Underworld Player
Underworld Player - Chapter 8: Swept Along

It was almost autumn, but the temperature remained as high as ever, and walking home under the glaring sun was enough to make Bai Zhi sweat buckets.

Once he got inside, he took a much-needed shower, then sat at his desk with the chemical reagents he had "liberated" from the school labs. He was about to use the chemicals to recreate his explosive formula—albeit with some improvements—but before he could begin, he heard a knocking sound at the door.

Hmm? Is the landlord here for the rent? So soon?

He frowned slightly, then lowered the vial in his hand. Then, carefully tiptoeing to the door, Bai Zhi looked through the peephole.

What he saw sent an involuntary ripple of astonishment through him.

Standing outside his door was a tall, thin, middle-aged man in a white shirt and black-rimmed glasses. His hair was perfectly coiffed, his expression alert but still. He carried himself with a certain air of unruffled elegance.

Bai Zhi recognized him—it was his chemistry teacher, and form teacher, Mr. Chen.

What had shocked him was not so much the fact that his teacher was looking for him, but... Mr. Chen had been his teacher from before he transmigrated! He was the one who, as a result of Bai Zhi's experiments in the chemistry lab, had unfortunately ended up in the ICU and had to be hospitalized for two weeks after. Somehow still able to forgive Bai Zhi for his blunder, Mr. Chen had even joked that the next time he heard news of Bai Zhi, it would be either through the papers or the television.

Seeing that very person standing outside his door led Bai Zhi to wonder... Had Mr. Chen transmigrated too?

He reeled at this new information, momentarily unable to react.

The figure outside was the spitting image of what Bai Zhi remembered of Mr. Chen. The same stillness, the same elegance, even the same tacky glasses... Ugh...

Bai Zhi stroked his chin and thought about it for a moment. Realizing that he needed to be prepared for things to get hairy, he quietly made his way back to the desk, where he grabbed the towel draped on the chair and placed it over his head instead. As he made his way toward the door, he toweled his hair as if he had just come out of the shower.

"Who's there? Who could it be... Oh my gosh, Mr. Chen?"

Bai Zhi opened the door and allowed his features to transform from irritation to surprise, then from surprise quickly into gladness.

"Mr. Chen, are you here to deliver my allowance for the month? Thank you so much for coming all this way."

"Naturally, why else would I be here?"

The teacher's expression did not show any sign of surprise, and he even struck up some friendly banter with Bai Zhi.

"Hey now, I've come all this way, as you know. Surely you wouldn't turn me away without so much as a sip of tea?"

"Of course not!" Bai Zhi stepped aside with a self-deprecating chuckle. "Come in, Mr. Chen, I'll make some right away, and as soon as I have the money, I'll go down, get us some snacks to go with the tea and we'll have a nice chat."

"Ah you cheeky brat, no need to splurge on snacks and such, I'm not here to mooch off you."

With that humorous little jab back at Bai Zhi, the teacher glided past him and into the apartment.

Bai Zhi followed closely behind, and quickly poured his guest a cup of tea. Then he stood before his guest and sheepishly put a hand to the back of his head.

"Uhh, well... about my allowance, Mr. Chen?"

"Of course, I wouldn't forget."

Mr. Chen put down the cup and retrieved an envelope from his pocket. As he handed it over, he said, "Remember, spend it wisely, but if you're in any trouble, you can come to me for help, alright?"

As he took the envelope, Bai Zhi secretly gauged its weight and thickness, before giving a few enthusiastic nods.

So far, nothing about the "Mr. Chen" standing before him seemed out of the ordinary. If he had not been absolutely sure that people from his past life would never show up in this world, Bai Zhi might have believed that this was the same Mr. Chen who had been so good to him before.

It remained to be seen if the money was even legal tender...

"Well then, Bai Zhi, let us discuss some proper matters." Mr. Chen's mouth widened into a smile as he nudged his glasses up along his nose. "You know, as your teacher, I—"

"Oh! Perfect timing, Mr. Chen. I actually had some questions about the assignments."

Before the teacher could finish his sentence, Bai Zhi clapped a hand to his forehead and quickly laid out several textbooks before the teacher, clearly eager to learn.

"Here, here and here. I'm having some trouble with these concepts, could you possibly offer me some guidance so I can properly understand, Mr. Chen?"

"Umm..." As he looked at the open books, "Mr. Chen" began to sense that things had somehow taken an unexpected turn.

"Let's start with this one, Mr. Chen. So, here's how far I got...

"Ohhh I get it now! Then, how about this one, Mr. Chen? Could you help me understand what's going on in this experiment?

"Oof, my apologies, Mr. Chen. The room is really messy, huh... I simply haven't had time... Here, hold this..."

Two hours later, after handing over an allowance, solving all the problems for his student and even helping tidy up the room, swept along by the sounds of Bai Zhi's sincere gratitude, a dazed Mr. Chen finally found himself once again standing at the doorstep. Except this time, he held two large garbage bags in hand as the chilly night breeze blew gently around him.

Looking down at the garbage bags, the creature sank into a profound silence.

It had come here to hunt, hadn't it?! How did things turn out like this...

The Face-Borrower was a rare entity in that it was the only vengeful spirit that had the ability to peer into the hearts of living humans. Naturally, such power came with a catch—it was almost completely determined by the degree of fear that its victims felt toward it, so its strength could fluctuate wildly. If its target felt no fear whatsoever, it was no more terrifying than a toddler.

By scanning Bai Zhi's mind, it had stolen an appropriate disguise, which it was sure perfectly mimicked a real person. Bai Zhi did not seem to have any supernatural abilities, so the creature could not understand how its plans had become so thoroughly foiled.

All it really needed to do was plant the seed of fear in Bai Zhi, and things would fall naturally into place, eventually trapping its prey just like last time. However, not only did it fail to instill any fear in its target, instead, it had been Bai Zhi's uncomfortably enthusiastic gaze that gave the Face-Borrower goosebumps...

There was something weird about this situation, something very weird indeed.