Wang Kun's face had gone somewhat pale. He stared blankly at the few words in the text message, then slowly raised his head to look toward the straight alley entrance.
That lush, vivid rose swayed gently in the wind against the worn gray wall. A drop of dew slid down its petals and fell, tracing a long, thin crack across the wall.
Another shiver ran through him. The white mist from his mouth seemed about to freeze into ice, while the hand clutching his phone trembled uncontrollably, red and swollen.
He stared at the same spot where he had personally watched Ji Li and Mei Sheng vanish without warning, as though they had been pulled by the rose's reflection into another eerie and mysterious space.
After waiting the entire morning, the message he had both dreaded and anticipated finally arrived.
Wang Kun had spent nearly twenty minutes mentally preparing himself on the way here. He had originally worked up his courage, only for Ji Li to tell him before getting out of the car that he was not allowed to enter and could only serve as a gatekeeper.
That completely deflated the courage he had been holding onto. After witnessing Ji Li and Mei Sheng's bizarre disappearance, then seeing Xiao Qian return with news of Fang Shenyan's death... all of it made it difficult for him to gather the courage to go inside again.
Yet now, Ji Li had explicitly ordered him to quickly check into Rose Hotel. It practically scared half the life out of him.
Wang Kun slowly removed the sheepskin pad draped over himself. Even in a down jacket, he felt as though he were standing naked in a snowy field, exposed to drafts from every direction and chilled to the bone. Hugging his shoulders, he shivered