Chapter 89: The Sinister Dark Shadow

She had only just begun reading the report on the corpse-water when a knock came at the door behind her. Wang Pu stood in the doorway holding a bowl of pear soup, looking slightly embarrassed. “Sister Sui Yi, may I come in?”

Though the door was not closed, Wang Pu still knew basic courtesy, especially in front of Sui Yi.

“Come in.”

Sui Yi casually closed the page on her laptop, took the bowl, and let Wang Pu sit to one side. “How is it? Are you getting used to school?”

“Mm... the classmates are a little unfamiliar, but it’s all right... the atmosphere is much better than at my old school.” Wang Pu chose the pleasant things to say and said little of the rest.

Sui Yi nodded. “That’s good.”

“But how did you do on this exam, Sister Sui Yi?” Wang Pu’s eyes flicked over the desk. Seeing the stack of miscellaneous history books beside the computer, he was a little surprised. Sui Yi was a science student, so why was she not reviewing physics or chemistry? Instead she was reading history books meant for the liberal arts, and these were not even within the college entrance examination syllabus... at most they counted as extracurricular reading.

“So-so... what about you?” Wang Pu had not missed class for very long. Since the Second High School wanted to assess his academic level, they had allowed him to take the later exams. Although he had missed the first day, the remaining subjects were enough to show what kind of student he was.

Wang Pu naturally said he had done all right. Then he glanced once more at the loose nightclothes Sui Yi had changed into, his face reddened, and he quickly left.

Before going, he pulled the door partly shut and looked once at Sui Yi’s back.

That night, Sui Yi once again sank into that strange dream she could not break free of. It seemed clearer each time, and more intense each time. Countless faces overlapped, all kinds of voices layered together, ridges upon ridges, heavy and oppressive...

A sharp clatter rang out, startling in the deep stillness of the room. Sui Yi’s eyes flew open. She was drenched in sweat. After a dazed moment she realized the air conditioner remote by the bed had been pushed off onto the floor by the quilt.

So it was only the remote. For a moment she had thought...

Sui Yi turned her head, and her gaze fixed on the desk in front of the bed. In front of the desk was a chair, wedged between bed and table.

The computer on the desk was still on. The pale white screen cast its glow, flickering and crackling as though shocked by electricity, and in that glow was reflected a dark figure crouching on the chair...

Small. Gloomy. Heavy, like a strip of black funeral cloth hanging down beneath the seat.

Crouching. The very word was terrifying.

Sui Yi stared at the shadow, and it seemed to sense her, for it slowly turned its face toward her...

Crack!

Another crisp sound. The computer screen suddenly went black, and that face vanished into darkness in an instant, so that Sui Yi never saw it clearly. She only vaguely remembered skin bluish-purple and deathly pale...

The most urgent thing before her was the icy sound of wind.

The windows were shut. Where could wind possibly come from?

With a rush, Sui Yi rolled off the bed, narrowly avoiding the black shape that leapt from the chair. Riiip—

In the darkness she could hear the shrill tearing of claws raking across pillow or quilt. In the instant of turning, her hand slipped from beneath the softness under the cup and drew out the Xiefang Dagger. One foot sprang against the bed, her body twisting half around as she slashed backhand at the attacking shadow.

The blade hissed through empty air, leaving only a cold gleam. The shadow had already moved to her side.

Bang bang bang!

Several strikes in rapid succession. In the darkness Sui Yi was at a distinct disadvantage, but with the Xiefang Dagger in hand, whenever the blade-light turned, the thing seemed especially afraid and retreated sharply. Seizing the chance, Sui Yi reversed the tide. She sent a flying kick forward and seemed to hit its elbow, knocking its small body away for a moment. Though it lunged up again at once, she had already retreated.

A sharp screech burst from its mouth, strangely familiar. Then—

Its claw slashed viciously toward Sui Yi’s head.

She blocked with the Xiefang Dagger, while her other hand had already found the switch on the wall behind her.

Click!

The light came on. At once the room blazed bright.

As if it had expected this all along, the black shape abandoned Sui Yi immediately, spun toward the computer, and leapt onto the desk...

Straight through the glass.

The window shattered completely, glittering fragments sweeping the curtains into chaos.

Sui Yi rushed to the window and saw the black shape land from a drop of five meters onto the platform between the first and second floors. How could she let go of the thing she had long feared? She had encountered it once before in the Bowl Kiln Pool, and now it had come all the way to her side...

It was simply too frightening.

Sui Yi pushed off with one foot and jumped out the window as well. With her agility, a drop of seven or eight meters posed no difficulty. After several bounds she landed on the soft lawn of the courtyard and chased after the fleeing shadow more than a dozen meters ahead...

One before, one behind, they disappeared straight into the dark.

By then, the commotion in Sui Yi’s room had drawn the attention of many people, including Aunt Wang and Wang Pu in the villa.

Aunt Wang’s first instinct was to check on the old madam, but Wang Pu grabbed her and said urgently, “Mom, something happened on Sister Sui Yi’s side... let’s hurry over and take a look.”

“Oh, right, right—I’m so flustered I’ve gone silly.”

Mother and son rushed straight for Sui Yi’s room.

The nearby security personnel heard the disturbance as well and naturally came running.

For a time the villa district was in an uproar.

Though the villa complex lacked no streetlamps, and every household had lights in front of its courtyard, behind the villas stretched a grove of misty willows, part of a small park. It was not large, but it was a perfect place for darkness, and the black shadow vanished into it. Sui Yi did not want ordinary people to see her either...

Shadow and girl darted through the darkness.

A few minutes later, Sui Yi discovered there was no road ahead.

Only a sheer rock face, with relief carvings upon it.

This was the end of the villa district.

To the left stood towering railings blocking the way. To the right was the last villa at the edge.

Had the black shadow vanished?

Sui Yi’s gaze flicked sideways, and she caught sight of a patch of darkness on the relief wall... She sprang sharply to the right.

With a rustle, she leapt into a tree in that villa’s courtyard.

Damn it. If that thing hurt someone, it would be disastrous.

Sui Yi’s brows drew tight. With a tap of her foot, she climbed the relief wall as well, grasping the carved figures like a nimble monkey all the way to the top, then borrowing force to jump into the tree...

Leaves cascaded down in a rush. Sui Yi looked around, but there was not the slightest trace of the black shadow anywhere. She could not help frowning. How could that be? That thing...

Then suddenly, the second-floor room opposite flared with light. The curtains were drawn back, and the floor-to-ceiling window opened with a sound.

The sudden brightness stabbed Sui Yi’s eyes, and she was just about to leave—

when someone was already standing on the balcony.

Looking at the figure in the tree with startled astonishment.

The light streamed softly, tree shadows broken and shifting. The person in the tree wore thin drifting nightclothes, bare-legged, and thus without the least shield she crashed into Yan Qingwu’s sight.

Before Yan Qingwu could react—

“Who’s there?... Miss, get inside!”

A streak of light shot up from below.

A gun. A silenced gun.

Pop!

Sui Yi leapt down from the trunk. Her feet had only just touched the ground when the armed man charged at her.

The instant they met, several attacks came in succession.

Savage. Deadly. Without mercy.

Smack smack smack!

Sui Yi pivoted on her feet and casually blocked a few blows. The Xiefang Dagger in her right hand had never moved.

“Uncle Wang, stop! It’s A Yi!”

What?

Only then did Wang Jin release and step back, his eyes still sharp and cold on Sui Yi.

Only then did he remember that the girl before him was the one from earlier...

How had she come here, and in such a way?

Sui Yi glanced at Wang Jin, her gaze lingering briefly on the gun in his hand.

A driver was one thing, but he was also a bodyguard. A bodyguard was one thing, but one with extraordinary skill and a firearm.

Added to Tang Hanyan’s Tang surname...

The background of this classmate of hers ran deeper than she had imagined.

Wang Jin did not lower his guard, but the killing intent in him eased somewhat as he secured the weapon. “My apologies, Miss Sui. I did not know that the person trespassing here so late at night would be you.”

There was a faint hostility there.

Sui Yi felt helpless. Nor did she want to speak of what had happened in her own home. For one thing, she herself still did not fully understand it; for another, they might not believe her anyway.

Click. The door opened, and Yan Qingwu came out in slippers. “Sui Yi, how did you end up here? And moreover...”

Her gaze fell on Sui Yi’s nightclothes. Whether one was making a visit or launching a surprise attack, one really ought not to be dressed like that...

Sui Yi knew her appearance was rather strange, and gave a bitter smile. “Just think of it as me coming here to borrow a place to sleep.”

It was meant as a joke, but Yan Qingwu only stared for a second, then directly took Sui Yi’s hand and said urgently, “Come inside.”

Wang Jin was left speechless. Miss—even if she really had come to mooch a bed, why did you look so anxious? What exactly is this?

As soon as Sui Yi entered Yan Qingwu’s house, she was pressed down onto the sofa. Yan Qingwu pointed at her legs. “Didn’t you realize your feet were bleeding?”

“Hm?” Sui Yi lowered her head to look at her feet and only then felt the stinging pain. The soles of both feet hurt.

Presumably a few tiny shards of glass had fallen onto the grass and balcony and she had stepped on them. She had felt nothing at the time; only now did the pain register.

Bloody footprints marked the floor where she had walked.

Yan Qingwu immediately fetched the medicine kit. Ignoring Wang Jin’s stunned expression, she directly told Sui Yi to lift her feet...

“I can do it myself... I can just go back and deal with it there.”

Yan Qingwu frowned at Sui Yi, her gaze cool and faint, as though refusing would mean the end of their friendship.

Helpless, Sui Yi could only let Yan Qingwu use tweezers to remove the glass splinters embedded in the flesh of her feet.

Watching this scene, Wang Jin thought to himself that his young lady truly seemed to have taken this mysterious Sui Yi as a good friend. Whether that was good or bad, he could not say.

And if the young masters and young ladies in the provincial capital ever learned that his young lady had bent down for someone like this—and even insisted on doing it herself—they would probably go mad.

Before long, Sui Yi’s feet were wrapped in bandages. Yan Qingwu had wanted her to stay the night, but Sui Yi still wanted to return and deal with matters at home, so in the end Wang Jin drove her back.