Te Rang

Outside the High Wall, a cold moon hung in the sky, its fragmented light reflecting off the Tao River as it flowed beneath Bishuiwan Manor.

The Tao River is one of the three main water veins of Qinzhou. Ancient Tablet Town is located in its upper reaches, so the river is not wide here; the clear water cascading down from Xuanhu Waterfall nourishes the farmland and the layered, verdant mountains. The lower reaches of the Tao River flow eastward for over a thousand kilometers before merging into the Yangtze River.

"A fine view." A Middle-aged Man dressed in gray casual wear stood on the tree-lined path outside Bishuiwan Manor, leaning against a marble railing carved with Clivia reliefs, admiring the rushing Tao River below.

A man wearing denim overalls and a sun-shading baseball cap stood behind the man in casual wear. He did not join the other in admiring the river's current, but instead cast his deep, hollow gaze toward the Bishuiwan Manor within the High Wall.

If Feng Yushu were here, she would have been astonished to recognize that the Middle-aged Man in casual wear was none other than her Husband, the largest shareholder and CEO of New Homeland Group, Bai Fugui.

And the man in the overalls was a renovation worker responsible for moving materials within Bishuiwan Manor.

"Are you sure Zhaoyou is in there?" the renovation worker asked in a low, raspy voice.

Although it was a question, his tone held no hint of doubt, and there was no expression on his face, as if it weren't he who was speaking, but some vocal component inside him—as expressionless as a heartless repeater fitted with human skin.

"I am sure. Zhaoyou is in the manor," Bai Fugui replied in a low voice. "Tai Su sensed His arrival."

"Tai Su..." The renovation worker pondered for a moment, accepting his statement. "Can you find out who released Zhaoyou?"

"No." Bai Fugui shook his head. "I know you desperately need Zhaoyou, need His ability of Averting Bad Luck... but you cannot rush such things."

"Zhaoyou has been entrenched in this land for many, many, many years. You know that His state has always been relatively stable; among all known 'ghosts', He is considered one of the most stable."

"But in recent years, Zhaoyou's mental state has continued to deteriorate for some unknown reason that cannot be probed. He has become Disqualified to the edge of madness, and the 'door' connecting this area to the Present World has also begun to become unstable."

"I originally intended to use the scenic area project as a cover, using construction accidents to mask the deaths, and find a way to locate the 'door' to go in and take Zhaoyou away, but who would have thought..."

Who would have thought that the speed of Zhaoyou's mental deterioration would far exceed his expectations? Before his plan could even be implemented, "Zhaoyou" had already been released.

And the world that existed in attachment to Zhaoyou had shattered and fallen apart along with Him.

"It is possible that the unstable opening of the door caused some people from the Present World to accidentally enter Zhaoyou's world," the renovation worker said after a moment of contemplation. "Currently, three people can be confirmed, and all of them are dead."

"Dead people have no value," Bai Fugui said. "What we are looking for is a living person—the one who cracked Zhaoyou's Killing Rule and brought Zhaoyou back alive from the reflection of the world."

"He is inside this manor," Bai Fugui emphasized.

"Is there any way to confirm exactly who it is?" the renovation worker asked again.

Bai Fugui shook his head.

"Fine..." The renovation worker nodded expressionlessly. "Have Tuyu seal the manor; I am preparing to release 'Te Rang'... Remember to clean up the aftermath."

"I understand." Bai Fugui nodded.

As the words fell, the renovation worker turned and walked up the steps, arriving in front of the main gate of Bishuiwan Manor.

He fished a red candle and a match from the pocket of his overalls, lit the candle, and placed it directly in front of the gate.

The dim candlelight flickered pitifully under the bright moonlight. The renovation worker stared expressionlessly at the burning red candle at his feet, wrapped his hands around his own head, and twisted with force—

Crack, the sound of cervical vertebrae snapping.

The renovation worker broke his own neck and died in front of the main gate of Bishuiwan Manor.

The dim candlelight shone on the warm, fresh corpse of the man. From the renovation worker's already breathless throat came a gurgling hiss, and a mass of thick, ink-black shadow crawled out from beneath his body, as if driven by the candlelight, and darted into the manor in a flash.

After that "shadow" entered the manor, Bai Fugui arrived beneath the High Wall and slowly pressed his palm against the marble-white wall.

The next moment, the moon inside the manor was extinguished.

Looking down at the renovation worker who had collapsed in front of the gate, Bai Fugui sighed and shook his head. "To be willing to release even 'Te Rang'... It seems your condition is truly failing."

Otherwise, he wouldn't be so anxious, so desperate to obtain "Zhaoyou" to extend his own life.

"Now, it all depends on whether that lucky person who cracked Zhaoyou can survive under the pursuit of 'Te Rang' until the blockade of 'Tuyu' is lifted."

Bai Fugui bent down, grabbed the ankle of the renovation worker's corpse, and dragged the body away from Bishuiwan Manor.

He did not care that his wife and daughter were still inside the manor; after all, having a family member die at the hands of Te Rang would only lower the risk of him being suspected by those sensitive people.

What's more, Baizhi... would never die, no matter what.

Even if she wanted to die herself.

After Bai Fugui left, the isolated manor was instantly plunged into dark chaos.

"Ghosts are everywhere." The first sentence of Baizhi's high school diary was so glaring in Ning Zhe's eyes now.

In the brightly lit manor, desperate shouts and hysterical screams rang out incessantly; phrases like "There's a ghost!" and "People are dying!" frequently erupted under the night sky, sounding noisy and chaotic.

In the chaos, Ning Zhe saw a group of people scrambling out of the bright manor, running toward the gate for their lives, but Ning Zhe could not find anything or anyone chasing them from behind.

A group of panicked people ran in a frenzy along the Welcoming Avenue that faced the main gate of the manor, the tall Pomelo Trees on both sides of the road rustling in the evening breeze.

Thump. The man running at the front of the group died instantly without warning, falling to the ground and completely losing his breath.

The remaining crowd was instantly stirred into a cry of alarm and scattered in flight, but immediately after, another person fell to the ground and died instantly without warning.

It was as if an invisible, intangible Evil Ghost was wandering through this manor, patiently hunting everyone present one by one.

"A ghost..." Feng Yushu's face turned deathly pale, her eyes filled with fear and unease. "Ning Zhe? Why is there a ghost here?"

"If you ask me, who should I ask?" Ning Zhe shook his head, returned the iPad to Feng Yushu, and transformed back into a small, agile Magpie. "I'll go check out the situation. You stay here and don't move."

The ghost wandering inside Bishuiwan Manor seemed even fiercer than the Snake God Zhaoyou and the Wandering Ghost Taiyi, and its efficiency in killing was higher as well. In just a few minutes, over a dozen gardeners and cleaners lay scattered across the Welcoming Avenue at the manor's main gate.

"Unlike both Taiyi and Zhaoyou... what is the Killing Rule of this ghost?"

Ning Zhe flapped his wings, flew low over the Welcoming Avenue, and landed on the branch of a Pomelo Tree by the roadside, tilting his head to observe the corpses on the ground.

But before he could observe carefully, a smear of ink-black, thick shadow suddenly flashed by. Ning Zhe's vision went black, and he tumbled headfirst from the tree.

--The Magpie was dead.