After learning that Suo Tian and Han Xue had gone missing one after another following Lili and Taozi, my heart began to tighten.
Given the current situation, there were only two possibilities.
The first was that the two of them had discovered something.
The second was… if Lili and Taozi had really been set up by Aunt Qing or someone else, then it was also possible that the two of them had fallen into the same trap by now.
Although I trusted Suo Tian deeply, Han Xue—who was timid—was with him.
On top of that, the enemy was hidden while we were exposed.
No matter how I thought about it, the situation felt extremely dangerous.
Yangyang, not knowing what was going on, looked around the room before stepping forward and pulling Chen Pu up from the ground.
Chen Pu wiped his tears harshly.
Although he stood up, his eyes were still red as he looked at Xu Shu.
Aside from the three of us and Uncle Gazi, no one else present understood what was happening.
At the moment, they simply assumed the siblings had gotten into an argument.
After Yangyang and Shen Feng each tried to comfort them for a while, we finally gathered together to discuss what to do next.
It was now certain that something had happened to Taozi and Lili.
During this time, Zhou Wen, who appeared restless, had no mood to analyze the situation with us.
He grabbed an umbrella and went out again.
We couldn’t really stop him, so we let him go.
Zhou Wen was trained and capable, so nothing major should happen to him.
Besides, he had taken a dagger with him when he left.
So when Jundi and Shen Feng wanted to follow, Uncle Gazi stopped them, saying, “Let’s wait and see what happens first. If more people go out recklessly, and those without the ability to protect themselves start disappearing one after another, then we’ll really have a big problem.”
After quite some time passed and no one had returned, I gradually couldn’t sit still any longer.
I paced back and forth by the door, my whole heart clenched tight.
…
On the other side, after Zhou Wen went out, he wandered around aimlessly at first.
The rain was heavy, severely obstructing visibility.
After walking a round under his umbrella, he decided to go back and take another look at the place Han Xue had taken him to earlier.
Because… when Suo Tian had arrived at that place, Zhou Wen had noticed that Suo Tian’s gaze lingered for a moment on one of the rooms.
At the time, since Suo Tian’s expression hadn’t changed, he had simply let everyone disperse to search and didn’t pay attention to that subtle detail.
Now that he had no leads anyway, wandering around blindly was pointless—it would be better to check that place again.
With that in mind, Zhou Wen stopped wandering aimlessly, fixed on his target, and ran quickly in that direction.
Whenever he stepped into patches of accumulated water on the road, splashes scattered everywhere.
As he approached the large, dark villa district in the distance, Zhou Wen slowed his pace.
He quietly reached for the dagger tucked at his waistband.
Now that he was alone, he had to stay extremely alert.
When he arrived at the building Han Xue had brought them to earlier, Zhou Wen stared at the pitch-black villa for a moment before stepping forward and knocking on the door.
“Hello? Is anyone there?”
Naturally, there was no response.
Aside from the sound of his own knocking, there was nothing.
Zhou Wen felt somewhat fortunate that he didn’t suffer from night blindness.
Otherwise, on a rainy night without even moonlight, standing alone in a pitch-dark, unlit villa area where he couldn’t see his own hand in front of him—forget knocking, he might not even see the door before walking straight into it.
He knocked again.
The only response was the overlapping, cold sound of rain falling all around.
Placing his hand on the doorknob, he tried turning it.
If he remembered correctly, the doors of these empty houses weren’t locked.
Sure enough, the door opened.
Inside, the house was empty and completely dark.
Large white sheets covered the original furniture.
Relying on his sense of where things should be, he found the light switch.
With a click…
The lights came on, instantly illuminating the entire interior.
A thick layer of dust covered the floor—no one had lived here for a long time.
After glancing at the floor, Zhou Wen’s brows furrowed slightly.
At the same time, without making a sound, he slowly drew the dagger from his waistband and gripped it tightly before looking again at the two sets of wet footprints on the ground…
They were clearly left not long ago.
Judging from the direction, they seemed to be heading upstairs.
Could it be that Taozi and Lili had come here?
With that thought, Zhou Wen had already decided—no matter what—to go upstairs and see exactly what was going on.
These footprints only went in—none came out.
The only explanation was… those two people were still inside the house!
What Zhou Wen didn’t see… was that the moment he stepped into the house, that pair of gloomy eyes hidden in the darkness outside appeared once again, lurking silently, staring fixedly at him—watching him arrive, watching him enter…
Doing his best to keep his footsteps quiet, Zhou Wen—who usually considered himself quite brave—still couldn’t help but feel his heartbeat quicken.
He tightened his grip on the dagger in his hand, as if to give himself a bit more courage.
Though he didn’t move quickly, he still reached the second floor soon enough.
When he arrived on the second floor, he didn’t stop, but turned directly toward the third floor.
He glanced around the entire second floor.
Since the switch downstairs only controlled the lights in the first-floor hall and the staircase, the second floor remained completely dark, giving off an indescribably eerie feeling.
Turning again toward the third floor, a thin layer of cold sweat formed on Zhou Wen’s forehead—whether from nervousness or heat, he couldn’t tell.
His palm ached from gripping the dagger so tightly.
Just as he was about to reach the third floor, a faint sound suddenly came from the pitch-black stairway above…
Zhou Wen’s already tense nerves tightened instantly.
After pausing for two seconds, his brows furrowed.
He gave up trying to stay quiet and rushed up the stairs in quick strides.
But the moment he charged up, a figure suddenly appeared right in front of him.
The distance was too close—instinctively, Zhou Wen raised his dagger, ready to stab.
Yet just as his hand came up, it was stopped by a powerful force.
Before he could even see who it was, Suo Tian’s voice came from in front of him:
“It’s me.”
Zhou Wen quickly pulled his hand back, only then realizing it was Suo Tian.
Han Xue was following some distance behind Suo Tian.
Upon seeing Zhou Wen, she finally let out a long breath of relief and said softly, “You climb the stairs like a ghost—took you forever to get up here.”
Zhou Wen looked at Suo Tian and Han Xue, puzzled. “Why are you two here?”
It seemed the two sets of footprints downstairs had been left by them… which meant… Taozi and Lili weren’t here at all.
Suo Tian released Zhou Wen’s hand, glanced at him, then turned and continued heading upstairs.
Zhou Wen was about to follow, but Han Xue grabbed him. “Don’t go up. Suo Tian is observing the person outside.”
“There’s someone outside?” Zhou Wen was surprised.
“Of course.” Han Xue glanced toward the top floor before continuing, “When you came just now, that person was hiding not far behind you…”
Hearing this, even Zhou Wen—grown man that he was—felt goosebumps rise all over his body.
Just imagine: on a pitch-black rainy night, surrounded by lifeless, towering houses, being alone in such an environment was already terrifying enough.
And then to realize that under those circumstances, there had been someone right behind you the whole time—hiding, watching you…
He stood stunned for quite a while before speaking again. “What are you doing here?”
“That person outside is monitoring us. Suo Tian decided to play both the cicada and the oriole—let him keep watching while we come inside this house, so we can better observe what he’s really trying to do.”
Hearing that, Zhou Wen’s eyes lit up. “Is it possible that Taozi and Lili were taken by that person?”
Han Xue shook her head. “He’s wearing a raincoat—we can’t see his face. For now, it’s only a guess that he’s related. But showing up out of nowhere to monitor us like this is definitely suspicious.”
Just as Han Xue finished speaking, Suo Tian suddenly rushed down from upstairs.
As he passed the two of them, he tossed out a single sentence—
“Follow me.”
—and quickly ran downstairs.
Han Xue and Zhou Wen didn’t hesitate.
They immediately broke into a run and followed.
Along the way, Zhou Wen asked, “Did that person make a move?”
Suo Tian ran ahead, only answering after he pushed open the villa door. “That person is gone.”
“Gone? How could that be? Did he hide somewhere else again?” Han Xue asked in surprise.
Walking quickly to the switch, Suo Tian turned off the lights.
After signaling Zhou Wen to close the villa door, he pulled open a small corner of the drawn curtains and, lips pressed tight, carefully observed the situation outside.
After scanning the area thoroughly, he still found no trace of anyone.
Frowning slightly, he let the curtain fall, then stood up and walked to the door.
Looking at Han Xue and Zhou Wen, he said, “Let’s go out and take a look. If something happens and you can’t keep up with me, head back on your own. Run all the way back—don’t stop, don’t talk to anyone, and avoid the grass and trees.”
As soon as Suo Tian finished speaking, Han Xue suddenly shivered twice, instinctively shrinking closer to Zhou Wen.
That movement, however, drew a thoughtful look from Suo Tian.
“W-what is it?” Han Xue asked nervously, feeling increasingly uneasy under his gaze.
“When Chen Yang gets scared, she does the same thing,” Suo Tian replied calmly.
Then he withdrew his gaze, opened the door in one motion, and rushed out into the rainy night.
Han Xue froze for a moment, then didn’t dare delay.
She immediately followed Zhou Wen out.
As mentioned before, the villas here were designed in pairs facing each other.
Diagonally across from the villa they were in, one household seemed to have previously planted a large number of flowers, grasses, and shrubs, leaving the lawn between the two villas lush and overgrown.
If someone really wanted to hide, this was undeniably an excellent spot.
— The end of the Chapter–
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