Fang Marks

**Chapter 4 Title: "The Encounter"**

Sebastian told Lila Bennett that they were chasing a few deer.

When they returned to the house, the chandelier had been lowered, and the maids were lighting the candles on the rings.

The dark polished wooden floors, glass windows, ceramic items, and metal picture frames all reflected the warm glow of candlelight, reminiscent of a medieval scene.

People hurried back and forth, one busier than the other. Lila Bennett wasn’t sure which hall he was in, only that he overheard Sebastian instructing people to repair the power station overnight.

Everything on the island was self-sufficient, with its own power system, and power outages were rare.

Based on what he heard, the strong wind had probably blown down a tree, which had knocked out some power lines.

Someone had found Lila Bennett’s backpack and guitar case, which he’d lost in the woods, and returned them to him. The backpack was wet, but the guitar case was waterproof. Lila knelt down to check if the guitar was still intact.

When he heard about the deer, he turned around in surprise. “Deer?”

“Yes,” Sebastian told him. There were many wild animals on Ferry Island, but most were herbivores, such as deer, cattle, and rabbits. The Reed family also had their own livestock farm.

However, this wasn’t a hunting incident—it was an accident.

The strong winds that night not only knocked down trees and power lines but also startled some deer sheltering in the woods for the winter. In their panic, they followed the light and ran straight into the mansion, crashing through the windows.

Someone got injured in the chaos, which was why they had to use guns.

“Injured?” Lila Bennett asked, recalling the blood in the snow and the terrifying screams.

“One of the kitchen helpers was gored in the waist by a deer antler. It’s pretty serious,” Sebastian explained, sighing. “It’s been many years since something like this happened. Tonight, no one got a good night’s sleep—not just you.”

Such an incident would definitely have thrown everyone into disarray.

No wonder Lila hadn’t seen anyone inside the house earlier; it wasn’t until he went outside that he encountered people.

Sebastian said, “Good thing you met Mr. Reed. Otherwise, in this icy weather, if you’d fallen into the lake by accident, you’d have been in serious trouble. The water would’ve given you frostbite.”

Lila Bennett asked, “Was that man earlier Alexander Reed?”

“Of course,” Sebastian replied. “I don’t think anyone could mistake him.”

Although Lila had already guessed, he still found it hard to believe.

He’d run outside without a coat, wearing only indoor slippers. By the time he got back, his clothes and shoes were soaked through with snow, his lips purple, and his body trembling. His hands clutched tightly at the clothes Sebastian had given him.

But out in the snow earlier, Lila had seen that Alexander Reed was dressed even lighter than him.

He clearly remembered Reed’s exposed neck and ankles in the freezing wind. Even an ordinary person would have been shivering from the cold. Could Alexander Reed, who was supposedly ill, really be unaffected?

Lila couldn’t come to a conclusion.

Sebastian walked him back to his room, reassuring him along the way not to worry—there would be electricity by morning at the latest.

At the door to Lila’s room, Sebastian added, “Tonight was our oversight, but if there’s any noise again, don’t run off. The island is big, and aside from us, there’s no one else living here. Where could you even go? If you got lost, we might not even be able to find you.”

Lila blushed, feeling that while he hadn’t done anything wrong, he didn’t know what to say in response.

Sometimes, people make the wrong choices even when they think they’re right.

Sebastian’s eyes crinkled with a smile. “But you’re very brave. In the middle of the night, with a snowstorm outside, when I first came to the island at your age, I wouldn’t have dared to run out like that.”

Lila asked, “You came here when you were young?”

“Almost fifty years ago.” The elderly man’s face was kind, his eyes full of warmth. “No one knows this house or this island better than I do.”

Without hot water due to the power outage, Lila returned to his room, hurriedly stripped off his wet clothes, dried himself as best as he could, and shivered his way under the blankets.

After his late-night escape, he found himself wide awake, with no trace of sleep left.

He thought about Sebastian’s words and suddenly realized something: Alexander Reed had only purchased Ferry Island two years ago, but Sebastian said he’d been on the island for fifty years. Could it be that Sebastian had already been working here?

Staring at the ceiling, Lila began to understand why the house looked so old—the building had likely been here for much longer than he’d initially thought.

Once he warmed up in bed, Lila tossed and turned several times before finally pulling out his phone from under the covers.

After playing a few rounds of his single-player puzzle game, someone knocked on the door.

A servant had come to deliver a pair of headphones, saying they were from Alexander Reed.

Standing at the door, Lila still had red pillow marks on his face. “From Alexander Reed?”

The servant nodded, holding a candle. “Yes.”

Lila was puzzled. “Why would Alexander Reed give me headphones?”

The servant replied politely, “Mr. Reed said that if you’re having trouble sleeping, you might try using these to listen to some soft music. It should help you fall asleep.”

After the servant left, Lila stood there, stunned for a minute or two before opening the box.

The wireless headphones were brand new, fully charged with a green light indicator.

It seemed Alexander Reed was accustomed to giving gifts.

But they barely knew each other, and why would anyone give headphones in the middle of the night?

The game screen still glowed on Lila’s phone.

A thought flashed through his mind, and Lila was taken aback.

During dinner, a servant had told Sebastian that Alexander Reed had been disturbed that afternoon and couldn’t sleep well—specifically mentioning that Reed had been in the southern wing.

Lila’s room was also on the south side of the second floor.

Did that mean Alexander Reed was sleeping directly above him?

Lila walked around the pitch-black room a few times, using his phone’s flashlight to inspect the room’s structure.

After confirming that the walls were soundproof and unsuccessfully trying to locate any hidden ventilation ducts like those in the movies, he suddenly stopped.

Was he being paranoid?

Even if he had spent the entire afternoon playing his puzzle game with the volume at half, there was no way someone could hear it through a whole floor, right?

Lila returned to the soft bed.

He thought of those deep, black eyes and the strange light they seemed to reflect.

*

The next morning, Lila Bennett was awakened by the light.

He had pressed the switch on the bedside lamp last night, and the light finally responded, indicating that the electricity was back on.

He sat there dazed for a moment, confirming that everything that had happened last night wasn’t a dream. His heel stung a little. Upon checking, he found a small splinter embedded in his skin, likely from the woods, which he hadn’t noticed before.

After spending some time removing the splinter, a tiny drop of blood appeared on the small wound.

The bedsheets were pristine, and not wanting to stain them, Lila hopped over to the bedside table on one foot, using a tissue to wipe away the blood.

He opened the curtains and saw someone pushing a cart in the distance.

The snow had stopped, leaving a thick layer on the ground.

The cart left two long tracks in the snow.

A deer’s antler hung from the front of the cart, the frozen carcass likely dead. From the glimpse Lila caught, the cart’s contents were a bloody mess, impossible to distinguish between intestines or other organs—a truly gruesome sight.

Lila watched as the cart was wheeled into the woods where he had been the previous night.

Sebastian arrived at his room and apologized, telling Lila that he couldn’t have breakfast because today was the day he needed to donate blood to Alexander Reed.

The doctor had mentioned this to Lila the day before, so it seemed his blood sample had passed the necessary tests.

“You should take a bath,” Sebastian advised. “Mr. Reed is very sensitive to smells.”

Lila hadn’t slept well for two nights, and he was both hungry and exhausted, his face pale and his mind foggy.

Hearing this, he immediately sniffed himself.

Did he smell?

Sebastian was kind but firm, clearly not making a request: “I’ll have someone bring your laundry for you.”

With that, Sebastian left.

Lila sniffed his clothes again. After taking off his shirt, he even smelled his arms and underarms, concluding that he was clean enough.

However, out of respect for the money he was being paid, Lila took a quick shower.

As he put on his fresh clothes, he thought about the vegetarian meal he had eaten the previous night.

Eating vegetarian beforehand, showering before the meeting—it all felt a bit like the ritual cleansing and fasting described in ancient practices.

Lila felt like he was preparing for a sacrificial offering.

Traveling from the mainland to this remote island in the middle of the sea, with every detail in place, it all felt highly ceremonial.

For the first time, Lila felt that his blood, flowing through his veins, carried a unique significance—something capable of providing immense help to someone else.

He didn’t delay for