The Figure in thgShadows

A few days later, Lin Li's life seemed to return to normal. He tried to push aside the conversation he had with Xiao Ye that night, convincing himself it was just her way of teasing him or perhaps some kind of curiosity he couldn't quite understand. However, the unease lingering in his mind wouldn't go away, like a serpent lying in the shadows, waiting for the right moment to strike.

The campus was especially quiet at night. The breeze gently stirred the trees along the road, and the moonlight filtered through the leaves, casting mottled shadows on the ground. Lin Li was walking alone down a small path. He had just left the library, with a backpack slung over his shoulder and a few books in hand.

Over the past few days, he had sensed an unknown force creeping closer to him. That familiar dream-like sensation had once again engulfed his life, as if the boundaries between day and night had blurred. At times, he could almost hear those faint whispers again, the ones that had once haunted him in his dreams. They were like dust in the air—unseen but ever-present.

As Lin Li walked through a particularly secluded area, a sudden chill crept up his spine. Despite it being a summer evening, the air around him felt icy cold, sharp enough to cut through his skin. He stopped, glancing around with caution. The dim streetlights cast weak pools of light, leaving much of the area in darkness. The trees swayed gently in the wind, their shadows shifting, resembling figures lurking in the distance.

That's when Lin Li noticed a figure standing at the intersection ahead. The person was standing completely still under the faint glow of the streetlight, facing away from him. They were tall and thin, their face obscured. Lin Li's heart skipped a beat, and he immediately felt a wave of unease. He hadn't heard any footsteps, and the surroundings had been deathly quiet. The figure seemed to have appeared there out of nowhere.

He instinctively took a step back, nearly dropping his books. The figure didn't move, as if it were an extension of the shadows themselves, barely distinguishable under the dim light. Lin Li tried to tell himself it was just another late-night student, or maybe someone he hadn't noticed before.

But what happened next sent a cold surge of terror through his body.

The figure slowly turned its head, revealing a face with no features. There were no eyes, no nose, no mouth—just a blank, smooth, and pale surface where a face should have been. Lin Li's heart raced, his body frozen in place. He wanted to run, but his legs felt like they were glued to the ground.

The faceless figure began to move, drifting silently toward him. Its footsteps made no sound, as if it were floating in the air. Lin Li could feel an invisible pressure surrounding him, making the air thick and hard to breathe. His throat tightened, and he realized with growing horror that he couldn't make a sound.

The figure came closer and closer, and Lin Li's mind filled with panicked thoughts of escape, but his body wouldn't obey him. His eyes were locked onto the faceless entity, terror overwhelming his ability to think rationally.

"What… what is that thing?" he screamed silently in his mind, but no sound escaped his lips.

The figure stopped just a few steps away from him. Lin Li held his breath, paralyzed by fear. Then, the figure slowly raised a long, bony hand and pointed directly at Lin Li. The hand was ghostly pale, devoid of life, as if drained of all blood.

Lin Li's heart pounded wildly in his chest, and he felt a sharp coldness flood through his body. The finger seemed to hold some kind of cursed power, as if it had locked him in place, binding him to the spot.

Suddenly, the streetlight next to him flickered and went out with a loud "pop," plunging the area into complete darkness. The darkness seemed to swallow everything whole, and Lin Li could no longer see the faceless figure. Yet, even in the pitch-black void, he could still feel the oppressive presence, as though the figure were standing right in front of him, watching.

His heart pounded harder, his breath coming in quick, shallow gasps, and sweat trickled down his face. Just as Lin Li thought he would be consumed by this overwhelming fear, he heard soft footsteps approaching from the distance.

Lin Li forced his eyes open, squinting toward the sound. Through the darkness, he saw a blurry figure approaching, and his heart jumped into his throat—was it the faceless figure again? Was it still there?

But as the figure drew closer, Lin Li recognized that it was Xiao Ye.

"What are you doing here?" Xiao Ye's voice broke through the stillness. She looked surprised, but showed no sign of fear.

Lin Li could barely speak, his throat felt like it had been constricted. He took a deep breath, forcing himself to stay calm. "I… I just…"

He wanted to explain what had just happened, but when he turned to look at the place where the faceless figure had been, it was gone. There was nothing there—no figure, no shadow. It was as if the eerie encounter had never happened at all.

"What was it?" Xiao Ye tilted her head slightly, a puzzled smile on her face.

Lin Li swallowed hard, a deep chill settling in his bones. He had no idea how to explain what he had just seen. Had he imagined the whole thing? Was the faceless figure real?

"Nothing, I guess I'm just a bit tired," he managed to say, his voice still shaky.

"Get some rest, don't scare yourself," Xiao Ye replied casually, as though nothing out of the ordinary had happened.

Lin Li nodded, forcing himself to take a step forward. They began walking together toward the dormitory, but even with Xiao Ye by his side, the sense of dread clung to him. He couldn't shake the feeling that something was still watching him from the shadows.

What was that figure? Why had it appeared?

What unsettled Lin Li even more was that Xiao Ye didn't seem to notice anything strange. She continued chatting lightly, as if the faceless figure had never existed, as if everything had been normal.

But Lin Li knew it hadn't been a hallucination. The figure had been real, standing right in front of him. And somehow, he felt that this was only the beginning.

A much darker nightmare was waiting for him.