bookbashuk Chapter 530 Your faces... are mine now.
Chapter 530 Your faces... are mine now.
At the other end of the corridor, the door to room 22 was ajar, and dim yellow light leaked out from the crack, casting a thin strip of light on the floor.
The four women were each in their own beds.
The person on the upper bunk to the left is Suti from Indonesia.
She is 28 years old and a teacher at an international school in Jakarta. Her skin is a honey color from the tropical sun, and her eyes and brows exude the gentle grace unique to women from the islands.
At that moment, she was staring at a crack in the ceiling.
She misses her son.
The little one is five years old and in the last year of kindergarten. Her favorite food is the coconut rice she makes.
Every morning when I take him to kindergarten, he always wants me to hug him before he'll go in. He wraps his little arms around her neck, buries his face in her shoulder, and says softly, "Mommy, come pick me up early."
She closed her eyes and began to hum a lullaby in her heart—
That was a song her grandmother sang to her when she was little, and she sang it to her son.
………………
On the lower right bunk, Hani, from Madagascar, was sitting cross-legged on the bed.
She is 24 years old and works as a saleswoman at a French-owned jewelry company in Antananarivo. She speaks French more fluently than her native language.
Her facial features were deep and defined, and her curly black hair was braided into a dozen thin braids, tied together at the end with a red rubber band.
She sat on the edge of the bed, her hands folded on her knees, her thumbs unconsciously drawing circles on the back of her hands.
………………
On the lower bunk to the left, Tabus, from Zimbabwe, was lying on his back with his hands behind his head.
She was 26 years old and an intern nurse at a hospital in Harare. She was tall and sturdy with broad, straight shoulders, like someone who had trained in swimming.
Her skin was a deep obsidian color, with a healthy glow under the dim light.
She was wearing a faded gray sweatshirt and black leggings.
She is doing sit-ups.
One, two, three, four—she counted silently in her mind, her movements so precise it was as if someone was grading her.
After finishing her hundredth sit-up, she stopped to catch her breath, wiped the sweat from her forehead with the back of her hand, then rolled over and began doing push-ups.
………………
On the upper bunk to the right, Aygul, from Turkmenistan, lay on her side, facing the wall.
She was twenty-five years old, a young artisan in a carpet weaving workshop in Ashgabat, with long, nimble fingers and indelible indigo dye embedded in her fingernails.
Her gaze fell on the ring finger of her left hand, where a silver ring was worn.
It wasn't expensive jewelry, nor was it set with gemstones. It was just a simple, plain ring made of silver bars, its surface polished smooth and shiny, showing that it had been worn for many years.
Her thumb gently rubbed the surface of the ring, round and round, feeling the slight warmth of the metal after being warmed by her body heat.
This was a gift her husband gave her on her eighteenth birthday.
They weren't married at that time, and he wasn't even her boyfriend.
He was just an apprentice in the workshop, three years older than her, taciturn, and he arrived half an hour earlier than her every day to set out all the tools she needed.
He saved up three months' wages and had a silversmith in the city make this ring.
………………
"Sisters, time to wash up." After finishing three sets of push-ups, Tabus wiped the sweat from her forehead and looked up to remind them, "It's already 9:47."
The four of them left room 22 together and walked to the public restroom.
The door was half open, and the pale fluorescent light shone through.
Suti walked in front, reached out and pushed open the door, her gaze sweeping across the room:
All four toilet stall doors were tightly closed, while the doors to the two shower stalls were left open.
Suti stood in the doorway and called out, "Is anyone home?"
No one responded.
As Suti hesitated, Tabus, who was covered in sweat from his workout and eager to take a shower, went straight in.
When passing the fourth toilet stall—
"Click~"
The cubicle door was pushed open without warning.
Tabus paused in his steps.
A figure walked out from inside.
The young man, in his early twenties, had fair skin and delicate features, yet he exuded an aura of detachment and indifference.
Her slightly wavy black hair fell across her forehead, and she wore loose pajamas printed with Japanese ukiyo-e wave patterns.
The four women were shocked: Kuroki Hidetoshi?!
Suti came to her senses first, her tone full of confusion:
"This is the women's restroom... Why are you using the toilet here?"
Hideto Kuroki paused for a moment.
"Really?" He scratched his head, his eyes crinkling slightly, revealing an embarrassed expression.
"I'm sorry, I went to the wrong place."
Hideto Kuroki started walking towards the door, but stopped abruptly just before reaching it, turning his head slightly to the side.
"I suddenly remembered that my appearance here caused you to trigger the second rule of the dormitory. Quickly recite those two verses to avert the danger."
Aygul was startled by the reminder: "Thank you for reminding me."
The four women didn't dare to delay. They quickly left the bathroom and stood in the hallway, closing their eyes and silently chanting:
"All phenomena are illusory..."
When she read it five or six times, Suti felt something touch her face.
Like a cool fingertip, it started from between her eyebrows and slowly traced down along the bridge of her nose.
After passing the tip of the nose, without stopping, I continued to trace the philtrum, the cupid's bow of the upper lip, the curve of the lower lip, and finally lightly touched the tip of the chin.
Suti broke out in a cold sweat instantly.
There was an almost imperceptible pause in her recitation, but she didn't open her eyes and squeezed the two sentences out from between her teeth with double the force.
It wasn't just her.
Hani, Tabus, and Ayiguli all felt the same way.
But no one opened their eyes.
They continued reciting until they finished the twentieth recitation.
Suti took a deep breath and opened her eyes.
She instinctively turned to look at Hani beside her—
Then her blood clotted.
That's not Honey.
No, that's Honey—the clothes are Honey's, the braids are Honey's, the body is Honey's.
But there was nothing on that face.
It has no eyebrows, no eyes, no nose, and no mouth.
The grayish-white skin and flesh clung tightly to the skull, leaving only a vague outline of a "face".
Suti felt her stomach churn violently.
She stiffly turned her head to look at Tabus and Hani, who were like uncolored paper masks.
Then she touched her face; there were no eyes, nose, or lips, only a taut, smooth membrane.
Two meters away, Hidetoshi Kuroki stood quietly, his head tilted, a strange smile on his lips.
Then, a chilling scene unfolded—
His facial features began to jump wildly, sometimes showing Suti, sometimes Hani, sometimes Tabus, and sometimes Aygul.
Then, all the fragments came together with a crash, and a brand new face emerged from beneath the old skin...