[Soul-Shaking Ancient Village] Killing Shen Jing at Night
After they reached that conclusion, the atmosphere grew especially oppressive.
The other three exchanged glances, then all looked at Shen Jing.
Xie Ran asked, "Sister Jing, who do you think killed them? Or did they trigger the ghosts' killing rules?"
The warmth had vanished from Shen Jing's face. She sneered. "If someone did it, who else could it be but Si Yehan? But the more I think about it, the big guy was a veteran of the game and quite skilled. Even if Si Yehan was just as skilled, there's no way he could have come away without a scratch. Those two must have triggered a ghost's killing rule. This village is far too difficult. How can a newcomer instance have so many killing rules?"
By the end, Shen Jing was practically grinding her teeth, every word seeming to squeeze through them. At 1.8 meters tall, she towered over Chen Yong, Xie Ran, and Jing Xi. A gloomy air radiated from her, turning the atmosphere around her overbearing.
Xie Ran looked at Shen Jing and frowned slightly, but she was afraid of angering her in her present state. In the end, she could only remain silent.
Chen Yong felt somewhat apprehensive as he looked at the strangely unfamiliar Shen Jing, though not as strongly as he had when facing Si Yehan earlier. He gathered his courage and spoke. "Sister Jing, I think Brother Han might have done it too. That big guy threatened him so much before we entered the village. If he really is a murderer, he definitely wouldn't pass up a chance for revenge. As for their skills, you're assuming they were evenly matched, but what if..."
Chen Yong paused, leaving the rest unspoken.
"You're saying Si Yehan is far more skilled than that big guy? Are you kidding? A newcomer can't possibly be that strong. Even a special forces soldier couldn't easily kill a veteran of the game. Besides, he doesn't have the distinctive bearing of a soldier, and the big guy wasn't some useless fool who coasted along." The sneer suddenly froze on Shen Jing's face. She seemed to see a shadow standing on the spiral staircase.
In the darkness untouched by the light, a faintly visible face resembled Si Yehan's, and a pair of eyes stared at her indifferently.
A chill ran down Shen Jing's back. She hurriedly rubbed her eyes, but when she looked again, there was no shadow on the stairs.
The three naturally noticed Shen Jing's strange reaction and turned to look at the stairs.
Jing Xi asked with concern, "Sister Jing, what's wrong?"
The frozen sneer relaxed on Shen Jing's face, and she waved a hand. "Nothing. There's no need to dwell on this. You can be wary of Si Yehan from now on, but you need to be even more careful about the ghosts' killing rules. We can take a look inside the Elder Care Tower tomorrow."
Seeing that Shen Jing didn't want to say more, Jing Xi couldn't press her.
The four then divided up the rooms. Shen Jing would stay in 201, Jing Xi and Xie Ran in 202, and Chen Yong in 203. Room 204, where someone had died, was left vacant.
After briefly wishing one another good night, they returned to their rooms.
Back in her room, Shen Jing felt restless.
She was no fool to have made it this far, and she couldn't get what she had just seen out of her mind. At first, she had thought it might have been an illusion created by the instance, but on closer reflection, someone had stood there.
Pulling her tied-up hair loose, Shen Jing muttered to herself, "Si Yehan... Perhaps Chen Yong's guess really was right. I just didn't want to admit that a newcomer could be that strong. Even without being a special forces soldier, a person can grow stronger through martial arts. Great Xia's martial arts do have a long history, but most of what's widely taught nowadays is just for show. Without extensive connections, there's no way to learn real killing techniques. But..."
Shen Jing paused, and a steely killing intent suddenly rose in her voice. "It doesn't matter whether he killed the big guy or not. If he wants to kill me, I'll drag him down with me even if I die."
In room 205, Si Yehan raised his eyes and looked out at the night. After estimating the approximate time, he pushed the door open and stepped out.
He had heard their conversation from the stairs earlier. Shen Jing was no fool; she would make preparations, so tonight was the best time to kill her.
As for which room she had gone to, Si Yehan had a guess. Rooms 201 and 204 had been vacant, but someone had died in 204 just last night, so she was most likely in 201.
The two newcomers who had teamed up were most likely in 202. He would use them to probe the Elder Care Tower tomorrow.
And Chen Yong? For such a pitiful fellow, he would naturally give him hope of clearing the instance, then crush it. The miserable, furious look on his face as he died would probably be extremely funny.
As for the people who had lent him money and his gravely ill mother, their fates were easy enough to imagine. Si Yehan cut the thought short. Celebrating too early was no good. If he died in the instance along the way, he really would be like "the late emperor, who died midway through his great undertaking."
Still, that train of thought had indeed improved Si Yehan's mood a little, bringing a hint of a smile to his indifferent face.
He had reached the door to room 201. Raising his right hand, he knocked.
Behind the door, after the knocking sounded,
Shen Jing, her hair hanging loose, straightened her clothes slightly. She hadn't sensed any killing intent, but she still picked up the broken knife she had found during the day's search and held it behind her back.
The force of the knock was within human limits. It was probably a person, not a ghost.
Outside the door, Si Yehan kept his left hand in his trench coat pocket, rubbing the sharp knife inside.
Most people were more accustomed to using their right hand—right-handed in a roundabout sense. When they opened the door and saw someone's right hand was empty, they would most likely lower their guard a little.
"Who is it?"
Shen Jing's voice came through the door. Si Yehan didn't answer directly. "I have some information to trade with you."
His voice was highly distinctive, and Shen Jing recognized it at once.
When Shen Jing opened the door, her right hand was behind her back. She visibly relaxed for an instant when she saw that Si Yehan's right hand was empty.
She turned sideways without betraying anything and placed the broken knife behind the door. "It's you, Yehan. Come in."
Si Yehan naturally caught sight of the rusty glint. Wounds from a knife like that could easily cause tetanus, and they were quite painful too.
After he entered, Shen Jing closed the door herself. Her loose hair fell over her shoulders as she smiled and said, "What information do you want to trade with me? Unfortunately, the conditions in this instance are rather poor. Otherwise, I could have prepared some fine tea for you. I happen to have something I'd like to tell you too."
Si Yehan's tone was calm. "You can go first."
Shen Jing gathered her hair, her voice carrying a hint of recruitment. "Although we participants don't have a forum in the outside world, we do keep in touch privately and have formed organizations. For example, there's Worldwatch, the official agency in the capital, and there are some civilian ones too. The organization I come from is called Han Shu! Our boss is Jiang Shanghan. He's always welcoming to promising newcomers. He's a participant who has cleared ten instances, and he's also an extremely powerful Ghost Tamer. I think you have that potential, so are you willing to join Han Shu?"
"What are the benefits?" Si Yehan had always sneered at things like organizations. He was more accustomed to staying apart from the crowd, hunting without end and watching with cold eyes.
The so-called sages plunged into boundless flames and burned to ashes, while foolish, fanatical believers prayed, deceiving themselves and others as they walked step by step into a dead end.
Shen Jing understood. This was how a normal person would react; if he had agreed right away, she would instead have found it suspicious. Her guard had relaxed considerably by now, though her muscles remained tense so she could respond to any sudden development. "You'll gain a lot of information about instances, and you won't have to go to the trouble of finding connections among ordinary people in the outside world. Even if you want to slaughter an entire city, Han Shu can smooth things over for you, as long as you make sure no other organizations are involved. The big guy's death might have something to do with you, but I don't care. You just need to tell me whether you'll join Han Shu."
Si Yehan said nothing. Seizing the moment as Shen Jing pressed him for an answer, he pulled the knife from his pocket with his left hand and stabbed at her.
He threw a punch with his right hand to pin her down and raised his left leg to kick. The movements flowed together, happening almost in the same instant.
Shen Jing reacted and moved to block. She used her arms to stop the knife, but it pierced through both of them, and blood soaked her clothes. She was unable to stop the right fist that came crashing toward her. The blow knocked half her face askew, and a heavy kick struck her abdomen.
She fell to the floor with a somewhat muffled thud. Her consciousness grew muddled and hazy, and the world before her blurred. She had no time to ask a question.
Si Yehan stepped forward and pinned Shen Jing's head down with his right hand, driving the knife into her body again and again with his left. Her screams of pain rang out faintly.
Shen Jing's unfocused eyes stared fixedly at Si Yehan, but she couldn't make him out. Blood blurred her vision, and her fingers twitched. The gap between their levels of strength was considerable; otherwise, she wouldn't have been completely suppressed.
Chen Yong's guess was right. That was the only thought that surfaced in Shen Jing's mind before her consciousness dissolved. Then her head was mangled by the knife.
Si Yehan tore her clothes and flesh apart together, staining the bedsheet red with blood, then wiped the sharp knife on the curtains.
Si Yehan disguised the scene to make it look like a ghost had killed her.
He then dragged the body to the storage room on the third floor and used Shen Jing's tangled, bloodstained hair as a rope to hang her from a ceiling beam.
After doing all that, Si Yehan returned to his room. During the whole process, he had naturally gotten some blood on himself.