Chapter 103: We Escape Together (Part 2)

At that moment, I could no longer hold back; my body shuddered, and I let out a startled cry.

Huff, huff, huff!

The instant the sound escaped my lips, I suddenly opened my eyes, drenched in sweat.

It was only a dream!

I wiped the cold sweat from my forehead and got up to pour myself some tea, my throat parched.

But as I poured from the teapot, I was dumbfounded.

Ah!

Inside the teapot was not tea, but fresh blood—an utterly horrifying sight. Instinctively, I dashed to the door and flung it open.

The room was empty.

Staring in disbelief, I saw the two yin-yang practitioners—one thin, one stout—already sitting there eating. The thin one must have heard the door open; he turned and smiled kindly at me.

At that moment, the waiter by the stairs walked toward me step by step.

Seeing him, a chill ran down my spine, and my body trembled uncontrollably.

“Mr. Yang Dong, good morning.”

I stared at the waiter, somewhat dazed, then forced a smile. “Morning.”

As I spoke, I unconsciously took a step back.

If last night’s visitor was just a dream, then the earlier events...

“Mr. Yang Dong, here is your facial water...”

While I was lost in thought, the waiter spoke again. His face bore a gentle expression, but for some reason, I found it hard to trust him.

This waiter was already dead—I had seen with my own eyes last night how the innkeeper hacked him to death with a cleaver, severed his head, and carried it to the back room.

“Mr. Yang Dong, are you alright? Didn’t you rest well last night?”

I waved my hand and pressed my fingers to my temples.

Could it all be an illusion? Or maybe a dream within a dream?

I let out a bitter laugh, uncertain even if I believed this explanation myself.

“Mr. Yang Dong, would you like something to eat? Perhaps the vegetarian noodles from last night?”

I nodded, though I secretly wished not to see the waiter again. The whole affair was too eerie. If what I saw before was just a hallucination, then waking up now meant everything I saw earlier was but a phantom?

I tried calling out for Nie Xiaoke and Tu once more, but no sound came, as if they were no longer with me at all.

Better to wash my face first.

Glancing out the window, the gray sky signaled dawn had just broken.

I rose and headed toward the basin of water.

Just as I reached out to touch it, the door suddenly burst open.

“Little brother, don’t touch that water!”

The thin yin-yang practitioner appeared in a flash, standing before me and grabbing my hand.

“Who are you...?”

“I am Feng Yang, a yin-yang master from Qingyang Temple. This place is extremely dangerous. I can’t escape on my own; only by working together can we get out!”

Escape?

I was confused. Why escape? Wasn’t this place freely accessible?

Still, I kept silent.

Feng Yang looked at me doubtfully, then said anxiously, “After spending one night here, haven’t you noticed how strange this place is?”

Strange?

I was puzzled but had indeed witnessed many odd things since last night. If I attributed it all to dreams, even I found it hard to accept.

“You’re alone? Don’t you have a companion?”

I asked what I thought was a crucial question. If Feng Yang said his companion had disappeared or died last night, then everything I saw before had truly happened.

Just as I suspected, he whispered into my ear, “To be honest, my junior brother vanished mysteriously last night. I searched for him everywhere but couldn’t find him!”

“But just now...”

“That was a paper effigy I made as a stand-in to attract the killer’s attention. Just now, when I saw the waiter bringing that basin of corpse water to wash your face, I knew you were their next target!”

“Corpse water?”

My face turned pale. Corpse water was terrifyingly corrosive, and the older it was, the more potent its power.

I hurriedly looked at the basin before me.

Though I had activated my yin-yang eyes, all I saw was ordinary water.

Noticing my reaction, Feng Yang’s voice deepened, “Look closely. It’s an illusion. Your unique body cannot see through it.”

He bit his middle finger and let a drop of blood fall into the basin.

Ssshhh...

Immediately, black mist rose from the once-clear water. Underneath that shadowy vapor, the water and basin began to transform.

It was a blood-red wooden basin filled with boiling corpse water.

A shiver ran through me as I stepped back four or five paces.

“Now, little brother, do you believe me?”

I nodded.

“What do we do now?”

Having woken early, I had already suspected the innkeeper. Before dawn, I followed him and discovered he entered a small back room. It took at least two people to enter that place; someone had to keep watch outside. To avoid alerting him, I came to find you.

“How do you know that room is suspicious?”

I trembled violently as I spoke. Last night, I saw the innkeeper decapitate the waiter and kill Feng Yang’s junior brother, dragging the bodies into that room.

“My junior brother and I have a heart-linked talisman. When I woke this morning and couldn’t find him, I used the talisman to divine his whereabouts. It led me to that room. So I’m certain he’s inside.”

Fear gripped me, yet I felt this yin-yang master beside me was the one person I had to trust—after all, he was human, just like me.

I had no choice but to believe him.

Knock, knock, knock...

At that moment, my door was knocked upon once more...