“Then I will go to her house to look for her. I hope I will not scare her. Because it involves privacy such as her address, I will not broadcast it live later. Everyone, please wish me good luck.”

He was clearly saying that with a smile, but I felt like his eyes were looking directly at me through the screen, as if he was saying.

“I found you.”

After saying that, Troy turned off the live broadcast.

I shuddered all over. I turned off the computer without even having time to exit the live broadcast, picked up my phone and keys, then went out.

Looking at the two elevators rising at the same time, I didn't know which one he was in.

When I went out, I checked the surveillance video in the lobby of the apartment building and saw him walk into the elevator.

In order to avoid meeting me, he chose to take the stairs.

But when I hurried to the 10th floor, I felt inexplicably anxious.

I didn't know if it was because I was just nervous or if it was my sixth sense that danger was coming.

I stood there unable to move forward, so I looked down from the corner.

Since the downstairs signs were not on, it indicated that no one had come up.

But the pitch-black darkness always made me feel that if I went any further, I would end up in an abyss.

As a result, I just stood there in silence.

As time went by, every minute that passed seemed so long.

I was scared but also looking forward to it. I thought I might be crazy.

Could it be that after I died once, my brain was damaged, or maybe the composition of my body cells was messed up because of the dismemberment Troy did to me before?

But the stairwell was so quiet that my breathing sounded heavy.

Just as I was hesitating, I heard footsteps coming from downstairs.

I did not know why it didn't even alert the emergency lights, but his step felt like it was stepping heavily on my heart.

Although I kept comforting myself that my house was on the 18th floor and Troy would not be able to use the stairs, I still did not dare to act rashly.

But at that moment, the security door of the stairwell was pushed open with a magnetic click.

The sudden voice made me almost scream as I was already nervous and I looked at the person who came with my eyes wide open.

Gordon was probably also frightened by me and just as he was about to speak, I covered his mouth.

Only after I dragged him into his house did I sit down on the ground along the door frame, exhausted.

He handed me a glass of water while asking, “Miss Lutz, what's wrong with you?”

My mouth was dry so I took it and drank it in big gulps without bothering to explain.

“Is there a surveillance camera in front of your house? Can you bring it up for me to see?”

I just noticed that there was a surveillance camera in front of Gordon’s door, facing the direction of the corridor, so I asked about it.

Looking at the picture on the phone from a minute ago, I tried my best to control my hands from shaking.

In the picture, just a few seconds after Gordon and I closed the door, a hand pushed open the door of the emergency staircase.

Troy appeared in the camera with a bouquet of flowers in his arms. He looked around and then stared gloomily at the door of Gordon's house.

He did take the stairs, but why?

I unconsciously stepped back, pulled Gordon away from the door and muttered, “That is impossible. Why is this happening?”

He clearly entered the elevator and there was no one on the stairs before, so why did he appear on the stairs from the elevator?

During the four years that Troy and I were together, there were many times when we had such spiritual connections.

Sometimes, he knew what I wanted to eat before I even said it, even if the idea just came to me.

Then, every gift he gave me also was what I wanted, even though I never told or discussed it to him before.

Even when we quarreled, he always knew exactly what made me angry and apologized accordingly.

At that time, I felt it was sweet, it was a tacit understanding, it was the feeling of two people loving and familiar with each other.

But then I just found it unbelievable, even terrifying.

The feeling of being unable to escape made me feel suffocated.

“Miss Lutz, why are you muttering to yourself?”

Suddenly, there was a knock on the door, followed by Troy's voice. “Aubrey, is that you?”

I fell down on the sofa, making Gordon take the phone and looked at the surveillance camera.

“Did you meet a pervert? Is he following you?” he asked again.

My whole body was tense and I couldn't come up with an answer.

After all, I watched him walk towards the gate on the surveillance video, so I could not help but be scared by his actions.

At that moment, Gordon suddenly walked to the door.

I directly pulled his arm and shook my head wildly. “Don't, don't open the door," I begged him.

Gordon Craig was a new computer teacher in our school and he happened to be in the same office as me.

In fact, we didn't say much to each other, but I didn't expect that he actually lived downstairs from my house. So, he was the only lifeline I could grasp at that moment.

Since I also did not know what Troy had on him. Would there be an ax in the flowers besides the drugs?

Gordon saw that I was trembling all over and squatted down to comfort me. “Don't be afraid, relax and take a deep breath.”

He gently pried my hand open, but then I noticed that I had pinched his arm and broken the skin.

“I'm sorry," I said, apologizing for my action.

Before I could finish my words, the phone screen lit up again. I almost cried when I saw Troy's name on it.

Even though I had turned off the sound before, I still wanted to throw my phone away out of stress, but I didn't dare to make any sound.

I had no choice but to curl up in the corner with my head in my hands. 

I didn’t know how much time had passed until Gordon's voice sounded again. “Don't be afraid, he's gone. Do you need me to call the police for you?”

With that, I suddenly remembered something. So, I handed over my cell phone while asking, “Mr. Craig, can you help me check if there is a location tracking system installed on my phone?”

Half an hour later, Gordon told me that there was no tracking plug-in in the mobile phone.

I also checked my whole body in the bathroom and there was nothing special about my clothes and hairpins.

That truth made me even more confused. Could love really make people have telepathy?

But he didn't love me. If he loved me, how could he kill me so that he could be with Terra?

Finally, I briefly told Gordon about what happened between me and Troy.

“He is my ex-boyfriend. He proposed to break up but came back to get back together. I think he was being too aggressive so I want to avoid him.”

I just told Gordon that I had seen too many cases of wife-murdering on the Internet and what netizens said, so I was a little scared when Troy showed up in the middle of the night.

Fortunately, Gordon didn't ask much, just comforted me.

“If you have emotional problems, it's better not to meet in private easily. It's better for a girl to be cautious. You did the right thing. The other person doesn't look like a stable person either.

“I think we should call the police. At least they have a record of it.”

But I shook my head, since it was no use.

An hour later, accompanied by Gordon, I went home and packed some clothes.

I did not dare to live at home anymore, plus I was a little scared to go to a hotel alone. So, it was Gordon who took me in. I slept in his room and he slept on the sofa.

As for the reason why I did not call the police was because I really could not give them any proof. 

Troy had not done anything to hurt me so far. Apart from coming to my house to find me, he had not done anything else extreme. 

So, the last thing I could do was to stay away from him.

Luckily, the school was on summer vacation recently. I also found a travel guide pamphlet on Gordon’s bedside table, so I spoke shamelessly.

“Mr. Craig, are you going to travel? Can you... take me with you?”

He was stunned for a few seconds, then felt helpless.

“Sure.”

On the way, I learned that Gordon was going back to his hometown to visit his grandmother first and I agreed to temporarily play the role of his girlfriend to prevent him from being forced to get married.

Gordon's grandmother lived in an ancient tourist town. 

What shocked me was there was a platform on top of the two-story building where she could bask in the sun, so I often went there to calm myself.

As a result, I had been infected by the slow pace of life there. But the result was good, since my heart seemed to have calmed down because of it.

I couldn't help but sigh.

“I really want to stay here forever.”

“Then stay.”

I didn’t expect Gordon’s Grandmother to show up with a quilt in her arms. I felt a little embarrassed and guessed that she was going to dry the quilt in the sun.

“Grandma, let me help you.”

But she sighed and complained, “My grandson is so unlucky. Even if he brings such a good girl home, she won't be his.”

“Grandma, I…."

Before I could finish my sentence, she took my hand and sat me down. She said that she knew I was not Gordon’s girlfriend the first time she saw me.

Just when I was wondering if I had exposed myself in some way with Gordon, her words made me freeze in place.

Grandma gasped for air when she said, “There's something in your body. It looks like they are a couple, which means you have someone you love.”

Suddenly Gordon's voice came. “Grandma, you are talking nonsense again. We should believe in science.”

Then he said to me, “Aubrey, ignore her. When I was a child, she often told me this nonsense to scare me.”

But I vaguely felt that what grandma said was true.

“Grandma, what did you see? What's inside my body? Is it a locator?”

She was more surprised when I asked about that. “So, you do not know about it?”

I shook my head blankly.

After that, she muttered something angrily, “Shame on you, scum.”

She asked me to tell her if anything strange had happened recently, so I told her about Troy.

“I don't know why he can always communicate with me. I used to think it was great, but now I think it's scary.”

After listening to my story, Gordon’s grandmother clapped my hands.

“Girl, you are in trouble.”

After that, she asked me to wait and went downstairs to make a phone call.

Gordon and I were left looking at each other and we both saw confusion in each other's eyes.

Half an hour later, his grandmother took me to see a little girl. She was wearing a traditional costume and looked only 15 years old.

She said after looking me up and down before saying, “Aubrey, it is called Substitute Insect.”

“Huh?”

I was even more confused, but emotionally speaking, I did feel like Terra's stand-in.

But what she said next made me feel really stupid.

“Aubrey, you have a Substitute Insect in your body. Originally, the female insect and the male insect were a pair, but because of the Substitute Insect, the male of the pair will ....”

After digesting it myself, I finally understood what she meant.

What she meant was that Terra and Troy were originally a couple, but Terra asked me to be her stand-in in order to study abroad.

As long as she did not show up, Troy would want to get close to me and fall in love with me. So, as long as Troy and I were within a certain range, his body would automatically sense me.

The tacit understanding between Troy and I was also due to the magnetic field connection generated in this way.

That would explain why I softened when I saw him and why he wanted to kill me blindfolded.

“And the Insect in your body, for some reason, seems to have been destroyed, so you can now suppress it rationally.”