Chapter Twenty-Six: The Vacation Villa

As she spoke, she stepped into the pool. The dagger dug around the bones, revealing even more remains.
“There’s more beneath—looks like they’re all here.”
Su Man wasn’t sure if the pool had been rebuilt later or constructed anew, but the fact remained that the bones had been cast in cement.
The surface, perhaps battered by frequent drops of water, was pockmarked with holes of varying sizes.
“Could her sudden disappearance be connected to this dried-up pool?”
There was nothing novel to be seen except for these, so she turned and asked,
“It does look rather like a binding formation,” Xiao Liang said uncertainly. “I haven’t seen one myself, but it’s said such formations can suppress sinister entities.
Have you heard of binding earth spirits? This kind of formation generally restricts the movement of sinister creatures, only allowing them freedom for fixed periods.”
Xiao Liang guessed the formation had reached its binding phase, forcing Xin Ling back inside.
“Probably Zhou Bin’s handiwork.” He wasn’t entirely sure, but for now, they seemed safe.
Safety, however, meant nothing if Xin Ling couldn’t be found—how could they proceed?
Everyone else in the villa was dead; only she and Xiao Liang remained, and delay had lost its meaning.
Su Man’s gaze focused intently on the central water fountain pipe, and after a moment, she told Xiao Liang to step back.
“Be careful,” Xiao Liang said, believing Su Man could revive at will, so he wasn’t too worried.
But Su Man’s dagger had already struck the iron pipe.
There was a sharp crack, and the pipe broke cleanly in two, as if something inside were about to burst out.
Su Man quickly jumped out of the pool.
The next instant, several blades of water shot skyward, so sharp they carried a chill—had Su Man remained inside, she would have been sliced to ribbons.
Even as she darted clear, a water blade gashed her arm.

After the water blades dissipated, the pipe fell silent for two seconds before several massive jets of water suddenly surged upward.
“This… why is the water black?” Xiao Liang’s mouth hung open, and the more he looked, the more wrong it seemed.
“Don’t look—it’s hair!”
Su Man shouted, bolting for the villa without turning back.
A thought was forming in her mind, though it would take time to confirm.
The hair sped after them, only to halt at the threshold of the villa, as if reaching its limit, unable to extend further. It reluctantly withdrew into the pool.
Su Man and Xiao Liang dashed inside, and were caught off guard by their sudden encounter with Xin Ling, standing in the center of the house.
She stood beneath the crystal chandelier, white dress backlit, her face pale as jade, long hair cascading down her sides, eyes fixed on them with a chilling gaze.
“This… this isn’t right, is it?” Xiao Liang’s scalp tingled with a glance. “If it’s a binding formation, its range shouldn’t be this large.”
“Could it be that the one buried isn’t Xin Ling?”
He voiced a reasonable doubt.
As far as he knew, binding formations never covered such a wide area.
Su Man sensed the increasingly forceful aura emanating from Xin Ling, and after careful thought, she said suddenly, “Is it possible that her power isn’t limited to the level of a vengeful spirit?”
“Huh? But the one before us is clearly a vengeful spirit.”
Su Man ignored his question, instead asking, “Can wrathful spirits split themselves?”
“You mean—?”
“Perhaps what’s sealed in the pool is a wrathful spirit.” Su Man affirmed his suspicion.
“But… but this is just a guidebook,” Xiao Liang protested, still doubting.
“Isn’t it normal for games to have bugs?” Su Man remained calm. “Logically, very few would leave the villa for the pool outside, so they’d never discover the massive sinister entity sealed within.”
Her reasoning was solid: if they didn’t venture outside, they’d only face a vengeful spirit—like the white-clad Xin Ling before them.

“So… so we don’t need to worry about the one outside, then.” That was beyond the scope of the game, and truthfully, Xiao Liang knew he couldn’t handle a wrathful spirit, even if it was sealed—he was starting to believe Su Man’s words.
“That depends whether she’ll let us go. And if we deal with the one outside, would the game reward be greater?”
Xiao Liang hadn’t expected Su Man to consider rewards at a time like this.
But there was no time for complaints, as Xin Ling suddenly rushed at them. Without any visible movement, she flicked her hand through the air, sending Xiao Liang flying sideways as though struck by a heavy force.
The next instant, Su Man felt an irresistible pressure bearing down on her. She swiftly raised her dagger to block, though nothing was visible. The dagger took the brunt of the blow, but the impact was so great that she too was hurled aside.
Xin Ling seemed uninterested in Xiao Liang, floating straight toward Su Man, her grip tightening around Su Man’s throat and lifting her off the ground.
Su Man felt a coldness around her neck, as if fingers were digging into her flesh, making it hard to breathe.
Yet her expression barely changed, and she struggled to speak, “It seems you’re about to kill me—before I die, can I at least know the truth?”
Xin Ling appeared to savor Su Man’s final struggles, staring at her for two seconds before replying, “True—once you’re dead, no one will hear my story.”
“So you’ll die with clarity…” Her tone softened, but in the next moment, she sneered viciously, “Why should I let you die knowing anything!”
With that, her grip tightened, and Su Man’s face flushed red from suffocation. Using the last of her strength, she shouted, “Hurry! I can’t hold on!”
Startled, Xin Ling turned, only to see Xiao Liang behind her, holding the dagger Su Man had dropped earlier. The dagger’s gleaming blade reflected her shocked expression—then, in the next instant, her head was severed.
“Cough, cough!”
Xin Ling’s figure dissolved into light and vanished, leaving Su Man to collapse to the floor, coughing uncontrollably.
“So your dagger is the real treasure,” Xiao Liang said, covering his mouth as he coughed, even spitting blood, but more amazed by the dagger’s feel.
“Do you want it?” Su Man glanced at him as she slowly rose to her feet.
Xiao Liang shook his head, “If I took it, you wouldn’t let me live, would you?”
“And besides, treasures like this recognize their own masters.” He watched the dagger, now eager to return to Su Man’s hand, and dared not claim it—such things could turn on their wielder if mishandled.
Su Man retrieved the dagger, dropping the subject. “Is it over, then?”