Chapter 170: Serious Consequences

It all started when Li Mengmeng planned to grab coffee with her best friend.

Her friend was running late so she sat waiting alone in the coffee shop below the mall, bored.

Only eighteen this year she had already graduated from Qinggang Satellite City No. 2’s Third Middle School.

She was at the peak of her youth her radiance could light up an entire street.

Today she wore her hair long straight and black. Her clothes were simple too a short-sleeved T-shirt with a blue cartoon print and denim shorts barely thirty centimeters long. Already standing at 168cm her long straight legs were strikingly noticeable.

She was beautiful and she knew it.

Whether walking down the street or sitting in the coffee shop too many gazes confirmed this fact.

Being a teenager she rather enjoyed soaking up such attention.

Sipping her coffee and playing on her phone half the cup was gone.

Her friend still hadn’t arrived but outside the glass window a man caught Li Mengmeng’s eye.

The man sat under an umbrella outside the coffee shop wearing a light grey trench coat over a suit. He was tall and handsome a rare sight, but what drew Li Mengmeng’s attention was his gaze.

Ever since sitting down outside the coffee shop he hadn’t taken his eyes off Li Mengmeng.

His stare was direct bold and utterly undisguised.

This made Li Mengmeng uncomfortable. If he had approached her normally she might have exchanged a few words. But as his gaze grew bolder and lingered longer she felt increasingly repulsed.

She decided to gather her things and wait for her friend somewhere else.

Unexpectedly the man suddenly stood up entered the shop and sat down right in front of Li Mengmeng.

“Waiting for someone?”

His eyes scanned Li Mengmeng’s face and chest his pupils dilating slightly before he grinned.

Li Mengmeng didn’t intend to answer. She just silently gathered her small bag ready to leave.

“Why the rush to leave?”

The man grabbed Li Mengmeng’s bag his eyes fixed on her. He smiled, “Let’s be friends!”

“I have a boyfriend!”

Li Mengmeng pulled her bag free frowning as she refused.

The man frowned for a moment then his expression quickly smoothed out. He chuckled “That doesn’t matter. You can always switch boyfriends.”

As he spoke he leaned back in his chair. “After all the Red Moon has appeared. What can’t happen now?”

Li Mengmeng was annoyed and rejected him outright “I don’t like this way of being hit on. Find someone else!”

She stood up as she said this.

“Wait!”

The man suddenly called out his eyes still fixed on her with a look mixing appreciation and greed. He smiled “I know what you women want. Isn’t it just money and handsome men? I happen to have both!”

While speaking he pulled a roll of cash from his pocket flashed it then stuffed it back.

“How about it?”

His smile grew increasingly unrestrained. “Have dinner with me. You won’t regret it.”

Li Mengmeng couldn’t hide the disgust on her face anymore. “I like money and handsome guys but I just don’t like you!”

“The Security Hall is right next door so you better not bother me.”

…

After saying this she turned sharply and left pulling the chair out with a loud scrape.

The man indeed didn’t follow her. He just sat there a smile slowly spreading across his face.

“Think carefully…”

He suddenly shouted after her “Rejecting me has serious consequences…”

…

“You…”

Li Mengmeng disliked the threat in his words and whirled around to face him.

But she found the man just gave her one deep look then slowly got up smiling and walked out of the coffee shop.

After exiting he even turned and waved at her.

…

…

“Is he crazy?”

Li Mengmeng really didn’t like his smile but for some reason his parting grin sent a chill down her spine.

“Hey…”

Suddenly someone tapped her shoulder making Li Mengmeng jump. It was her best friend.

“What’s wrong with you?”

Her friend noticed Li Mengmeng’s pale face and asked curiously.

“Nothing just ran into a really annoying guy. I told him I had a boyfriend but he kept bothering me.”

“Haha…”

Her friend burst out laughing “Since when do you have a boyfriend? I didn’t know.”

Li Mengmeng rolled her eyes at her friend “Isn’t it you?”

…

…

Seeing her friend Li Mengmeng quickly forgot the unpleasant incident.

The two linked arms and entered the mall across the street.

They chatted excitedly about finding jobs after graduation while happily browsing through various shops.

Although they wandered around all afternoon and only ended up buying a cheap pair of plastic earrings they felt incredibly content.

After shopping they went to her friend’s rental apartment kicked off their high heels relaxed their toes and sprawled on the bed watching movies from the Age of Civilization copied onto the hard drive of a refurbished pre-catastrophe computer.

In this era this was a common form of mass entertainment.

Many entertainment enthusiasts collected these pre-catastrophe movies and songs recommending or even selling them to each other.

“So boring…”

This time the movie wasn’t good. Halfway through both lost interest rolling around bored on the bed. “It’s always pre-catastrophe movies. Nobody makes them anymore and the few that get made are unwatchable.”

Li Mengmeng nodded “Yeah but I heard Qinggang plans to develop an entertainment industry. Wonder what that’ll look like.”

Her friend looked Li Mengmeng up and down a smile gradually appearing on her face.

Her gaze slowly traveled down from Li Mengmeng’s face past her modest chest to her exposed waist and finally rested on her long straight legs filled with both admiration and a hint of envy.

Shaking her head she chuckled “Well if they really do it you’d definitely be star material…”

Li Mengmeng felt a prickle under her friend’s gaze momentarily stunned.

Then she snapped back to reality and playfully slapped her friend’s shoulder “Your stare is totally creepy you know?”

“Haha…”

Her friend laughed heartily then flipped over and jumped up grabbing a bottle of red wine from the cabinet. “Let’s have a drink!”

Li Mengmeng was surprised “Isn’t this your prized possession? You’re actually opening it?”

Her friend looked at Li Mengmeng her lips curling into a smile “Wine is meant for drinking right? My treat…”

Li Mengmeng was tempted but instinctively felt her friend was acting strangely different from usual.

Maybe she’s having one of her moods again…

Thinking about her friend’s temper she might generously share the wine now only to regret it later and try to freeload meals off her to make up for it. So she just smiled and said “Nah let’s save it. You keep it safe…”

“I heard pre-catastrophe red wine and white wine are getting more and more expensive these days…”

…

Hearing Li Mengmeng’s refusal her friend’s smile vanished for an instant.

Then her lips slowly curled up again as she whispered with a low laugh “Rejecting me has serious consequences you know…”

A sudden shiver ran through Li Mengmeng and she quickly looked up at her friend.

But now her friend seemed normal again busy looking for a bottle opener.

“Was that just a hallucination?”

Li Mengmeng wondered subconsciously feeling deeply unsettled.

…

…

In the end her friend opened the wine but they both spat it out after just one sip.

Not all wine ages well. Her friend’s prized bottle looked fine but it had completely spoiled.

Still the happy pair played late into the night and at her friend’s insistence Li Mengmeng stayed over.

It wasn’t her first time sleeping over; she even had her own toiletries in the bathroom.

But this time though usually a sound sleeper she suddenly felt stuffy in the middle of the night and woke up. She saw her friend sprawled on top of her head buried low her hand resting on Li Mengmeng’s lower abdomen.

“Your sleeping posture is terrible…”

Li Mengmeng pushed her friend’s hand away but she lazily draped it back onto Li Mengmeng’s leg.

Pushing it away again Li Mengmeng decided to get up for some water.

“Where are you going?”

Just as she moved a voice suddenly sounded startling Li Mengmeng.

Looking down she saw her friend whose face had been buried slowly lifting her head.

Her eyes stared straight at Li Mengmeng her face holding a strange smile.

She looked at Li Mengmeng with an almost greedy expression her fingers slowly walking up her leg like tiny legs.

Bit by bit moving upwards.

Her eyes however remained fixed on Li Mengmeng’s face her tone somewhat eerie as she slowly said:

“You really are beautiful. Pretty face great body too…”

…

Both her actions and her voice made Li Mengmeng extremely uncomfortable.

She quickly sat up and forcefully pushed her friend away “What are you doing? Are you crazy?”

“Haha just kidding with you…”

Her friend suddenly laughed loudly pulling off her pajamas. “It’s so hot let’s go shower together okay?”

“Shower? In the middle of the night?”

Li Mengmeng felt an indescribable awkwardness and instinctively shook her head repeatedly “I’m not going. You go if you want.”

“Not going?”

Hearing Li Mengmeng’s reply her friend’s face instantly darkened.

Colorful faint light from the street’s neon signs filtered through the window casting onto her friend’s face. Parts of her features were dyed different colors by the light but more were shrouded in shadow creating an eerie feeling.

“Do you know?”

Her eyes stared directly at Li Mengmeng glinting with a bizarre light her voice low and heavy.

“Rejecting me has serious consequences you know…”