Chapter Nine: The Vacation Villa (9)

"Heh, ignorant and foolish."
A gentle voice, edged with blades, sounded softly. If one ignored the meaning, the tone itself was enough to make one's ears tingle.
"What?" A question mark flickered across Su Man's mind. This wasn't right—she hadn't heard this voice before.
She turned toward the sound, shifting slightly, and finally caught sight of a strikingly handsome profile nestled in the corner of the sofa. He had been hidden completely by the two men standing in front of him—no wonder she hadn't noticed him earlier.
Yet, he looked oddly familiar.
Just then, another flash of lightning ripped through the sky outside, causing the lights in the room to flicker. In that fleeting moment, the man's face overlapped with an image that had abruptly surfaced in her mind.
It was him—the man from the fountain!
She narrowed her eyes, her gaze drifting to her own charred corpse on the floor. Hu Meili, seemingly provoked by the man's words, appeared ready to vent her frustration by kicking the burnt body. But before her foot could make contact, it twisted in the air as if by some invisible force.
Hu Meili screamed in pain, clutching her ankle and wailing pitifully.
The others trembled in fear.
"Utter another insult to her, and you will all die."
"Cry. All of you, cry. How can you still laugh when she's dead? Truly annoying. I've waited so long to see her—why couldn't it have been one of you instead?"
The man spoke again, his voice gentle yet laced with venom.
Su Man was still reeling from the sight of Hu Meili's twisted ankle. She was certain this was the man's doing—is this the true power of a Dread Being?
Compared to this, Zhou Bin's earlier display was nothing at all.
She wondered whether she could withstand such an attack herself, and was puzzled—was this man defending her?
A quest-related role, perhaps?
But that face—she pondered for a moment. No, she didn't recall it from her memory. Most likely, he was a stranger.
Things seemed to be getting complicated.

Would this affect her mission?
Moreover, from the look of things, she shouldn't even be here right now.
But she still had a resurrection card in hand—there was nothing to fear.
As she pondered this, the two men in front, terrified by the Dread Being's supernatural power, fell to their knees with a thud.
Their kneeling wasn't a problem—except that it exposed Su Man, who had been hidden behind them.
She was still peering sideways when Zhou Bin, silent until now, seemed to snap and suddenly shoved her forward with a violent push.
She lost her balance and tumbled toward the blackened corpse at the center. All she could see was Zhou Bin's triumphant, twisted grin—the same expression she had seen on the face of the Dread Being that looked like Hu Meili.
But there was no time to think. Her hand landed on something solid—it was like crushing a rotten tomato, sticky and viscous, with the acrid scent of charred flesh invading her nostrils.
Before she could react, she was seized by a violent sensation of suffocation—a large hand clamped around her throat. "How dare you!"
Darkness swam before Su Man's eyes. Damn it, was she going to die again?
But before the furious owner of the voice could unleash his anger, his tone abruptly shifted to confusion—and an incredulous, wild joy. "Manman?"
The grip on her neck vanished. The shadow before her eyes hadn't faded when she was pulled into a fierce embrace. The faint metallic scent of blood filled her nostrils—it came from the man himself. Could a Dread Being be wounded?
If she stabbed him now, would he die? A powerful Dread Being—if she couldn't finish him in one blow, she knew she would have endless trouble in the future.
In the span of two seconds, countless possibilities flashed through Su Man's mind as her hand twitched, itching to draw the dagger. But suddenly, the man shoved her away with great force.
Steadying herself, Su Man met his gaze. His face was deathly pale, his body rigid. In his eyes, she saw panic, fear, and a complex, desperate longing. "Manman, I almost killed you."
A flicker of pain crossed his face, a struggle. "I am guilty. I am unworthy. No, it's not real—it's impossible..."
He kept muttering incoherently, face ashen, lost in his own turmoil. No one dared to move, not even Su Man.
Black mist began to seep from the man, shadowy figures writhing within it—only to be yanked back inside a moment later. The murderous aura from that mist was almost tangible, pressing down on everyone so heavily that Su Man could hear her own heart pounding—not from fear, but excitement. There was always someone stronger in this world, and this Dread Being was the most powerful she had ever encountered. He seemed a bit unhinged, but that was enough—it showed her a path forward. One day, could she become this strong?
If she grew powerful enough, no one would dare to bully her again.
Time seemed to freeze. All sound vanished.
Of all present, Zhou Bin was the first to break. Under the oppressive force of the black mist, he dissolved into smoke, screaming as he was sucked into the darkness.

The black mist around the man grew denser, nearly engulfing him.
"Manman, don't be afraid of me. I'm not a monster."
His trembling voice came from within the mist. If not for the darkness, he would have seemed no more than a drenched, shivering puppy.
He seemed only to want her to hear those words—without waiting for a reply, just as the mist was about to spread and consume everything, he vanished into thin air.
At the same moment, the sounds of the room returned. Su Man found herself able to move again. She glanced around swiftly. If not for Zhou Bin's disappearance, the flickering lights, and the chaos strewn across the floor, she might have thought it all a hallucination, a fever dream.
Confirming that the man was nowhere to be found, Su Man finally turned her gaze to Hu Meili and the others.
The three of them hadn't budged since the black mist appeared, frozen in place, faces ashen, eyes dull and lifeless.
She gave a gentle push—they toppled over limply.
But they weren't dead. Su Man checked their breathing—they were still alive.
If she wanted to know what had happened to them, she would have to ask the Dread Being himself.
But she knew nothing of him yet—not even whether he would appear again.
And from the intimate way he'd called her, what was their connection?
Would Xin Ling know?
She thought of the head she'd seen in the fountain... She pulled a photo from her pocket. Though the head was swollen, it was unmistakably Xin Ling.
He and Xin Ling had died in the same pool—what was their relationship? Why was the man missing from all the photos she had found?
All manner of questions wrestled in her mind.
Just then, the doorbell rang.