A Mistake?

As Ren Yexue spoke, she walked down the spiral staircase.

She was wearing a white spaghetti-strap nightdress tonight, revealing her pale arms and collarbones, her hair cascading down her back as smooth as a waterfall.

The soft fabric gently reflected the warm light, while the evening breeze from the second-floor terrace stirred Ren Yexue's hair and the hem of her dress.

If Su Yang had to describe Ren Yexue at that moment in two phrases, he would have chosen "untouched by dust" and "gentle and lovely."

"Su Yang, why do you have so many injuries?"

Ren Yexue had not been frightened by the sight of Su Yang smashing the door lock open with one punch.

Instead, when she saw his blood-soaked right hand and the swollen, reddened scrapes on his arm and knee, her lovely face lost its color and her heart raced with alarm.

Ren Yexue hurried over to Su Yang, her slender legs moving beneath her dress.

As for Su Yang, only when he saw that Ren Yexue was still safe and sound did the weight hanging over his heart finally lift.

Thank goodness nothing had happened!

The piano music he had heard just now must have been played by Ren Yexue.

But just because Ren Yexue was not in danger right now did not mean the Tentacle Monster wasn't in her house!

So Su Yang did not let his guard down in the slightest. He took a deep breath, walked up to Ren Yexue, and stared fixedly at her.

"You said you smelled a dead rat. Was that true?"

"You smelled it last night?"

Su Yang's tone was grave and his expression deadly serious, but Ren Yexue still paid no attention.

Ignoring Su Yang, she crouched down in front of him and carefully examined the wound on his knee.

After giving his wounds a quick examination, Ren Yexue stood up and turned to go to the bedroom.

"I'll get some alcohol from the bedroom to disinfect your wounds!"

She wanted to bandage Su Yang's wounds.

But how could Su Yang care about those wounds now? All his attention was focused on the tentacle that might be hiding in Ren Yexue's bedroom!

The word "bedroom" was like a sharp needle, stabbing deep into Su Yang's eardrums.

The miserable sight of Teacher Zhao's corpse surfaced in Su Yang's mind once again.

The next moment, Su Yang grabbed Ren Yexue as she was about to walk away.

He tightened his grip on her arm, the powerful muscles beneath his clothes bulging against the fabric.

"No! Absolutely not!!"

"Get back here!"

Su Yang's strength was far beyond that of an ordinary person. With a tug, he easily pulled Ren Yexue back, right in front of him.

At that moment, the two of them were closer than ever before.

Ren Yexue could even feel Su Yang's chest rising and falling as he breathed.

Looking at Su Yang so close before her, Ren Yexue felt a little short of breath.

"Su Yang, you..."

"Stay by my side!"

Su Yang looked up at the second floor. If his guess was right, the tentacle was in one of the rooms up there.

Su Yang was thinking only of the tentacle and did not notice how suggestive his words had just sounded.

When Ren Yexue heard what Su Yang said, she was completely stunned.

She could feel the slightly rough sensation against her arm. It was Su Yang's palm.

A warmth gradually spread from the spot where Su Yang held her arm.

That warmth crept at an unhurried pace up to her collarbones, her neck, and her cheeks.

Her snow-white skin was now tinged crimson, her flushed cheeks looking good enough to eat...

The sudden closeness, with the two of them almost embracing, left Ren Yexue's mind completely blank.

"Is there anyone else in your house? Did that stink come from under your bed?"

"Huh? A stink?"

Her brain having already shut down, Ren Yexue looked into Su Yang's eyes.

Those eyes were crystal clear, clean and pure, like stars against the curtain of night, and Ren Yexue became a little lost in them.

"Yes, the stink! Didn't you say in your message that you smelled something foul?"

"Ah... right, um, there was a nasty stink in my bedroom..."

"Good! Stay here and don't move. Wait for me to come back!"

Su Yang released his tight grip on Ren Yexue with his right hand, left her where she stood, and headed for the second floor.

At first, Ren Yexue still hadn't reacted, immersed in the "accident" that had just happened.

By the time she came to her senses, all she saw was Su Yang's retreating figure as he headed upstairs.

With his back to her, Su Yang gave a light wave of his right hand and actually drew a Black Longsword out of thin air!

"Where did that sword come from?"

Ren Yexue rubbed her eyes, thinking she must have seen wrong.

When she looked at Su Yang again, he had already entered her bedroom.

Bang!

Su Yang shut her bedroom door.

When Su Yang stepped onto the second floor, he did indeed smell something strange!

And the smell was exactly the same as the stink he had smelled in Teacher Zhao's home!

Su Yang would probably never forget that intensely pungent smell, like a dead rat, for the rest of his life.

Following the stench, Su Yang entered a room on the second floor—the very source of the stench!

The room was huge. Su Yang estimated it was as big as his living room at home.

There was a dressing table, a mirror, three enormous wardrobes, and a terrace. If the room hadn't been filled with that stench, sleeping and resting here would have been very comfortable.

He closed the door and locked it tight—Su Yang didn't want Ren Yexue to see the terrifying, revolting tentacle.

Su Yang gripped the Black Longsword tightly, his eyes fixed on the space beneath Ren Yexue's bed.

He lightened his steps and slowly walked over to the bed, which was giving off the stench.

Ren Yexue's bed was a solid-wood unit. To see what was underneath it, the only way was to lift the whole bed.

With Ren Yexue's strength, she certainly couldn't have done that.

Su Yang turned the Black Longsword sideways and slid it beneath the solid-wood bed.

He exerted force with his wrist, sending tremendous strength through it and into the blade. The heavy bed was easily pried up.

Su Yang didn't rush. He levered the bed up little by little.

The bedroom light crept beneath the bed bit by bit, and Su Yang focused all his attention on the space slowly being revealed.

One second.

Two seconds.

Three seconds.

Suddenly, Su Yang heaved!

Using the longsword, Su Yang sent the half-raised solid-wood bed flying. It spun several times in the air before landing on the floor with a tremendous crash.

Once the bed had been flung aside, Su Yang flipped his right hand, which gripped the longsword, and the Black Longsword slashed fiercely toward the space beneath it!

But the longsword traced only a quarter-circle through the air.

Su Yang stopped when the longsword was about to strike the floor.

Because there was no tentacle at all under Ren Yexue's bed!

The things giving off the stench were two rotting dead rats!!

The hideous, revolting tentacle Su Yang had imagined simply did not exist.

Su Yang: ...

So they really were dead rats?

Had he made a mistake?

After a minute of silence, Su Yang put away the Black Longsword, walked forward without a word, and picked up the two dead rats.

Two minutes later, Su Yang opened Ren Yexue's bedroom door.

As soon as he opened it, he saw Ren Yexue's eyes, full of worry.

"Su Yang, what on earth is going on?"

"Why have you been acting so strangely today?"

Meeting Ren Yexue's worried gaze, Su Yang was at a loss for words. He didn't know how to answer her.

He couldn't very well tell Ren Yexue, "I suspect there's a monster in your house"!

After pondering for a moment, Su Yang raised the dead rats in his hand.

"Here. Didn't you say there were dead rats under your bed? I came over to help you catch them."

"That's it?"

"What else?"

"Then why did you smash my door lock, and my bed too? You sent it flying!"

"...If there's nothing else, I'll head home first. Goodbye!"

"Su Yang! Don't you run away!!"