Shivering Mind

Chapter 73

Chapter 73

“What does Brother Lu think? Shall we help?” Li Shunxi gazed at Lu Sheng.

Lu Sheng’s face was dark. He had to admit that this Li Shunxi had some methods. He took another glance at him.

“Okay.”

He had come to investigate this manor in the first place. Little did he expect that he would lose one of his men before even figuring out what was wrong with this place. This irked him and made him reluctant to leave just like that.

“Alright then. I agree too,” Li Shunxi smiled. “Let’s go. Since you were taken to this cellar from your rooms, there must be traces left behind in your rooms. Let’s go back and take a look.

Of course, the most essential thing is to first find that young girl. She’s one of the owners of this manor. She and that pill-concocting Big Brother of hers, I heard.”

“That’s right! It must be that little girl’s fault! And her brother must be an evil person too! If we see them, we’ve got to arrest them first!” Duan Meng’an shouted in an uproar.

“SHUT UP!” Lu Sheng glared at him.

Immediately, shivers ran down Duan Meng’an’s spine. Not a word came from him again.

The group assented to Li Shunxi’s suggestion and rapidly made a beeline for the middle room in the courtyard.

In the pitch darkness, the courtyard was deserted. The group came to the main bedroom.

“Boom boom boom!”

Forceful knocks rang out. Dust was shaken off the top of the door frame and caught in the wind, causing some coughs among the group.

“Open up!”

Another few knocks.

“Ka-cha.”

The room’s door swung open by itself.

Li Shunxi glanced at the two guards shaking in fear, then stepped into the room.

Lu Sheng was the second to enter. Only then did the rest of the group hurry to enter.

“Is there anybody here?” Li Shunxi grabbed onto something and hid it in his sleeve as he shouted at the top of his voice.

In the left part of the room, a giant pill cauldron sat there. In the right part was dust-covered and weather-beaten furniture, including a bed. It was thoroughly deserted. An icy coldness permeated the room.

The bold Gong Ruqing walked up to the bed and pulled back the bed curtains.

“BOO!”

Without warning, a ball of black shadow pounced out of the bed.

“STRIKE!” Li Shunxi hurled his hand outwards, hitting the black shadow with precision.

A blood-curdling scream rang out from the black shadow, then it fell onto the ground with a strange infant-like shriek. It was a fist-sized black bat!

Gong Ruqing jumped in fright and retreated quite a few steps backwards. A trace of blood hung by the side of the bat’s mouth.

“Why’d there be a bat in this place???”

“That’s a Yin Bat. Heheh, no ordinary place can breed this stuff,” Li Shunxi looked at Lu Sheng with a faint smugness on his face.

But seeing Lu Sheng’s dark face which remained impassive, without any hint of surprise or amazement, his heart fell into disappointment.

“Does Brother Lu have any expert insights?” He asked.

Lu Sheng glanced at him and replied calmly, “None. Brother Li’s methods are impressive indeed. I’m impressed. Nonetheless, we should find those still missing as soon as we can. I doubt we’ll find that little girl and her Big Brother anytime soon.”

Li Shunxi narrowed his eyes at Lu Sheng, attempting to guess what he had discovered. But he didn’t ask. “Let’s go then. Since the Yin Bat came out, I think we’re not far away.”

Not having found anyone, the group exited the main bedroom and began searching the other rooms one by one.

In the process, Li Shunxi killed five more Yin Bats in a row. One of them was simply too fast and managed to land a savage bite on a guard’s neck, almost killing him.

Had it not been for Li Shunxi’s quick reflexes, the guard would not have been able to keep his life.

Thereafter, all of them, including Gong Ruqing and Gong Rumeng, grew in admiration of and dependence on Li Shunxi. The admiration of two pretty ladies made Li Shunxi especially smug.

He kept glancing at Lu Sheng, but saw no reaction from him. Only, his face seemed to grow more and more solemn as minutes ticked by without them being able to find any trace of the missing people.

:

:

:

: :

“Brother Lu… looking at your face, it seems like you’ve made some discovery?” Li Shunxi couldn’t resist the urge to ask.

Finding no one after another search, the group assembled under the withered tree in the middle of the courtyard.

Lu Sheng heard the question, but all he did was to survey the surroundings all around him.

They were the only people in the entire pitch-black courtyard. The rooms around them were all empty, without any movement or light in them.

“Someone’s not here yet. Where’s that Miss Gong Rumeng?” He suddenly remarked.

Startled, all of them realized that Gong Rumeng was not in the group. Gong Ruqing, however, was a face of perplexity.

“Isn’t my sister right behind me?” She asked. She had sensed someone following behind her all the way, and had even exchanged a few words with her sister just a few moments ago.

“Are you sure?” Lu Sheng gazed at her.

At this moment, all of them also turned their gaze on to Gong Ruqing.

Behind her stood a woman in a white dress. But her face was covered by Gong Ruqing’s hair and so none of them could see her face and simply assumed that she was Gong Rumeng.

Presently, the woman stood behind Gong Ruqing’s back silently, stiff as a statue, her arms hanging by her sides.

“But she’s clearly behind me…” Gong Ruqing’s face turned as pale as paper when she saw how everyone’s eyes fell on the area behind her and turned into looks of fright and horror.

If the one behind her wasn’t her sister Gong Rumeng, then who on earth was this woman who had followed her all this while?

Gong Ruqing’s hair stood on ends and goosebumps appeared all over her, from head to toe.

Trembling, she slowly turned around.

“Don’t turn around!!!” Li Shunxi dashed forward like an arrow and gripped tightly onto Gong Ruqing’s shoulders, pulling her towards himself.

“Boom!”

Both of them collided against each other.

Simultaneously, some silver sparks flew out from Li Shunxi’s hand. A dart seemed to fly towards the woman in white.

Just then, everyone’s vision blurred and the woman in white had vanished without a trace in the blink of an eye.

The silver spark landed on the ground and spun a few rounds before coming to a stop. It was a palm-sized silver top.

Li Shunxi was pinned to the ground by Gong Ruqing. Both of them were in an extremely awkward position, with Gong Ruqing arms clutching onto him for her dear life in fright like an octopus’ tentacles.

“Miss Qingqing, it’s alright now. It’s alright now… will you let go of me first?” Li Shunxi did not know whether to laugh or to cry.

Only then did everyone come to their senses. The two guards hurried forward to help the two of them up.

Lu Sheng’s brows were locked in a tight knot. Beside him, Duan Meng’an was scared out of his wits, his whole body covered in cold sweat and tremors.

“B…Boss… let’s get out of this manor first…”

Lu Sheng glared at him without a reply. No one had caught sight of the woman in white’s face or how she had disappeared earlier.

That Li Shunxi’s stuff must have worked.

“That was a Soul of the Will. No one should split away now… it’s hard to explain how dangerous these Souls of the Will are. Anyway, from this point onwards, please do not fall out of a ten-meter radius from me,” Li Shunxi instructed after getting to his feet. “If I’m not mistaken, it’s highly likely that the key to this Manor are these withered trees,” he pointed his finger at the withered tree in the courtyard as he said softly.

Lu Sheng looked at him. “Brother Li, care to share your insights?”

Li Shunxi explained calmly, “To find those who have gone missing, perhaps we’ve got to first destroy all the withered trees in this Manor.”

“Withered trees?” Lu Sheng’s face remained impassive.

“I suspect that these trees are the source and origin of the formation in this Manor. So one of our tasks is to destroy these withered trees. The other task is the locate a metallic object in the central bedroom from earlier. That should be the true eye of the formation in this Manor,” Li Shunxi continued.

“We can try walking in the direction of the Manor’s exit,” Lu Sheng interrupted abruptly.

Li Shunxi paused and looked Lu Sheng in the eye.

“Looks like Brother Lu disagrees with me. Leaving the Manor now won’t do any good.”

“We can try,” Lu Sheng said flatly.

Li Shunxi stared at Lu Sheng for a moment before slowly nodding.

“Alright then. Since Brother Lu says so… we can also escort these people who can’t help much out of the Manor and guarantee their safety first.”

“But my sister…!” Gong Ruqing’s pretty face was pale as she insisted.

“We’ll come back to look for her,” Li Shunxi consoled her with a smile and extended his arms over her in an embrace, pulling her to his chest.

Gong Ruqing’s face turned red. But she was completely at a loss of what to do now and Li Shunxi was the only one she could rely on. Moreover, one look at Li Shunxi showed that this man was either wealthy or an aristocrat and had probably come from a family even better than her own. It was very natural for her to be moved.

Pulled into embrace, Gong Ruqing struggled slightly and stopped resisting, allowing him to hug her gently.

“Don’t worry. With me and Brother Lu here, your sister is sure to be fine,” Li Shunxi guaranteed with a smile.

“Mm!” Gong Ruqing nodded lightly.