The fallen necklace

But then she heard the man speak in a low, enchanting voice to Ji Chen, who was still in his arms, "Didn't you say you'd wait for me? Why are you playing hide-and-seek? Or do you think this is more exciting?"

Ji Chen pushed Li Xuan away. Exciting? Was she being teased again? "How did you know I was here? Did you not get the thing and just follow me?"

Ji Chen looked at him suspiciously. She had run so far and hidden herself. Logically speaking, even if she was found, it shouldn't have been this fast!

Li Xuan pinned Ji Chen against the wall with one hand and took out the gift box from the front desk from his bag with the other hand.

"So you wanted me to get this. It seems you really have some ulterior motives for me! But considering you're my store manager, I'll give in to you!" As Li Xuan spoke, he leaned his face closer to Ji Chen.

"You still know I'm your store manager? I didn't know you were so 'thoughtful'!"

As Ji Chen spoke, she pushed Li Xuan away and snatched the gift box from him. Then she looked at the gift box in her hand. In fact, she had no idea what was inside. This thing was a birthday gift that that naughty girl Tian Yimeng gave her not long ago.

Judging by Tian Yimeng's expression at that time, Ji Chen thought it was some kind of prank toy. So she casually put it in the cabinet at the front desk and then ignored it.

She thought of this thing now because she was eager to get rid of Li Xuan and had a flash of inspiration. While silently scolding herself in her heart, she didn't stop her hands. Ji Chen opened the gift box: a Durex condom set was openly exposed in the broad daylight. "Cough, cough, cough." Ji Chen was choked by the saliva she was about to swallow.

How could she not know what this thing was for? The last time it was Tian Yimeng's birthday, she gave her a candy in an iPhone-shaped package, and when opened, it looked like a condom. She originally wanted to play a prank on that girl.

But she didn't expect that girl to hold such a grudge. This time, she simply gave her a real condom. No wonder Li Xuan said she had bad intentions. It was true. She asked him to go back specifically to get this thing. Now she couldn't explain it away no matter what.

Ji Chen simply skipped this topic and walked towards the outside of the community, as if nothing had happened, and left a sentence: "Let's go have fun! I'll just show you around here!" Li Xuan just followed her.

What Ji Chen didn't know was that a necklace was lying motionless in the residential building where she had hidden.

Ji Chen took Li Xuan to a nearby mall and bought a lot of things. Li Xuan carried all the big and small bags behind her.

Those things should have been really heavy. Ji Chen deliberately wanted to make things difficult for Li Xuan. She only picked heavy things to buy: things like bowling balls, glass cups, table lamps... These heavy things were not only heavy, but many of them were also fragile.

It was obvious that she was trying to make things hard for Li Xuan. But no matter how many things she added to the purchase, Li Xuan always looked calm on the surface, as if he was holding nothing in his hands and was completely at ease. On the contrary, Ji Chen bought a lot of useless things and wasted a lot of money. Seeing this situation, Ji Chen became even more annoyed.

After shopping in the mall for the whole afternoon, Ji Chen's feet were really hurting. After taking Li Xuan to have dinner, she went home. After Li Xuan put all the big and small things in Ji Chen's room, he was immediately chased out by Ji Chen.

After being exhausted for the whole afternoon, Ji Chen just wanted to take a shower and go to bed as soon as possible. So she dragged her heavy body and shuffled towards the shower room.

The moment the showerhead was turned on, the hot water washed away Ji Chen's weariness of the day, and it instantly woke her up.

She was used to taking off the necklace around her neck as usual. But when she reached out to touch it, there was nothing there.

She was shocked. She immediately turned off the shower, dried her body, quickly changed into clean clothes, and went out. She followed the path she had taken today and searched all the way. She circled the mall twice but didn't find it. So she went back along the road to that old residential building.

As she walked along this road, the lights became darker and darker. There were also a few streetlights that couldn't work properly due to being old. The lights kept flickering. There were fewer and fewer people on the road. The moment she turned into that community, all she saw was darkness and silence. There was no more light, and there were no more people in sight.

With every breath, cold sweat immediately broke out on Ji Chen's head. She took out her phone from her pocket, turned on the flashlight for illumination, and kept muttering: "Please don't come to me. I'm not good at dealing with you. But I will burn paper for you on Qingming Festival! Please, please don't come! If you don't say anything, I'll take it as your acquiescence!"

Ji Chen tentatively took a step into the community. With a "swish" sound, a black shadow flashed by.

Ji Chen quickly jumped back and then shone the flashlight on that black shadow. Her breathing became more and more rapid. Suddenly—her flashlight shone on a pair of green eyes. In the dark night, those eyes seemed to be glowing.

It was a black wildcat. In the blink of an eye, it merged into the black night and disappeared without a trace.

Ji Chen could clearly feel the sound of her own heartbeat. In the dark and silent night, every tiny sound here was infinitely magnified.

She really wanted to run back, but the thought of finding the necklace held her back. She kept waving her phone in her hand, trying to see everything in the dark.

Finally, she saw the silver necklace shining brightly under the porch light at the entrance of a building.

She ran towards it and stopped at the place where the necklace had fallen. She was just about to bend down to pick up the necklace when she heard the sound of footsteps, one deep and one shallow.

She paused for a moment and then wanted to quickly pick up the necklace and turn around to run. But the moment her hand touched the necklace, there was a "creak" sound.

The dilapidated door behind her was opened. "Little sister, don't leave in such a hurry!"

She swallowed hard. With a "patta" sound, the sweat on her forehead dropped onto the uneven ground.

She picked up the necklace on the ground, quickly stood up, and ran towards the outside of the community. But when she was running for her life and didn't pay attention to her steps, there was a protrusion on the uneven ground, causing her to fall heavily to the ground.

She tried to get up, but the person behind her had already come close. A strong smell of alcohol wafted over from behind.

She looked back. The man was holding a beer bottle in his hand. He had a limp, but it didn't affect his walking speed. There was a visible scar on his dark skin. Except for that leg, his whole body looked tall and burly.

Ji Chen used her hands to prop herself up and slowly moved backward. She grabbed a stone beside her. As the man got closer and closer, Ji Chen threw the stone at the man's head with all her might.

"Bang..." It hit. The man covered his forehead, and a wave of dizziness came over him. Seeing this, Ji Chen quickly got up.

The man was enraged and threw the beer bottle in his hand towards Ji Chen. The bottle landed in front of Ji Chen, and the splashing fragments cut the skin on Ji Chen's neck. Dark red blood immediately flowed out.

The man ran up to Ji Chen. His hands were as cold, hard, and unbreakable as iron clamps. Then he forcefully dragged Ji Chen towards that building...