Ruyi

Chapter 34 Ruyi

Bai Yanliang's voice was not impassioned, yet it pierced into Ding Peng's heart like a series of sharp blades.

He possessed Ding Lei's face, wore Ding Lei's clothes, used Ding Lei's identity, and enjoyed Ding Lei's wealth, but... he was not Ding Lei.

He was merely a low-life scoundrel who was dragged into the Criminal Police Bureau every other day.

Bai Yanliang released his grip on the man's hair and looked away.

The safe was still open.

He stepped closer to the safe, only to discover that inside lay a primitive Jade Ruyi.

This Jade Ruyi was shaped like a long-handled hook, with a head as flat as a bay leaf. Its entire body was rounded, pure white, and smooth; the delicate whiteness seemed as if clear water were flowing within the jade, moist and lustrous.

But... upon closer inspection, Bai Yanliang noticed a faint, thin red line hidden within the primitive white Jade Ruyi.

"Is this what you were after?"

Bai Yanliang turned his head to look at Ding Peng.

The man had been silent since just a moment ago, his head bowed as if lost in thought.

Hearing Bai Yanliang's voice, he lifted his head slightly, looked at Bai Yanliang, and said in a dry, hoarse voice: "Do you know... why this place is called Ruyi Inn?"

Bai Yanliang just watched him quietly.

Ding Peng squeezed out a rather ironic smile: "This is the most valuable thing in this inn, the heirloom of Li Yuhua's family."

Seeing that Bai Yanliang remained silent, his eyes not even resting on the Jade Ruyi anymore, Ding Peng finally truly looked at Bai Yanliang:

"You are different from me."

"Qiao, it was my fault..." A look of pain surfaced on Ding Peng's face. Bai Yanliang could tell that this pain was different from the one he felt when a dagger had been driven through his palm just moments ago.

"I stole the Li family's treasure, and I also released a monster..." Ding Peng covered his face tightly with his left hand, his voice trembling.

Bai Yanliang finally spoke. He looked at the Jade Ruyi and asked: "Did it kill Zhang Qiao?"

Ding Peng nodded, his expression filled with both remorse and terror.

"After I got my hands on it, I gave it to Qiao for safekeeping, but... ever since then, Qiao started having nightmares every single night."

From Ding Peng's account, Bai Yanliang heard a terrifying story and finally understood why Zhang Qiao had died under the bed in Room 405.

"At first, it could only appear vaguely in Qiao's dreams, but then... its form became clearer and clearer, and it got closer and closer to Qiao..."

"Qiao was terrified, but back then... I thought it was just her own inner anxiety playing tricks on her, so I didn't take it to heart, until... it crawled out of Qiao's dream and appeared right in front of us."

Ding Peng was shaking like a leaf; just thinking about that monster made his scalp tingle and his fear unbearable.

"The moment it appeared, it walked toward Qiao. Qiao was so scared she ran out of the room, and I... I was so terrified I lost my wits, grabbed the Jade Ruyi, and ran... By the time I finally gathered the courage to go back, Qiao was already dead... dead under the bed in Room 405."

Bai Yanliang looked at Ding Peng, who seemed to be in great pain, and for the first time, a trace of obvious mockery flashed in his eyes.

The pain and regret this man felt at this moment were less about mourning Zhang Qiao and more about indulging in his own self-pity.

His selfishness and baseness were carved into his very bones. It was evident from his description that at the moment of life and death, the thing he thought of was clutching the treasure and fleeing for his life?

Bai Yanliang couldn't be bothered to look at him again.

He turned and picked up the Jade Ruyi. As it touched his hand, Bai Yanliang couldn't help but shudder.

This Jade Ruyi had none of the warmth typical of jade; instead, it was as cold as ice, as if... it had just been dug out of a thousand-year-old tomb...

"Where... where are you going?"

Hearing Bai Yanliang's movements, Ding Peng hurriedly raised his head to ask.

However, although he was asking Bai Yanliang, his eyes were subconsciously fixed on the Jade Ruyi in Bai Yanliang's hand.

Bai Yanliang stopped, turned to look at him, and without another word, closed the office door.

He had no interest in saving or preaching to such a beast.

And what he had to do now, of course, was the final task.

To put back what had been let out.

The day had turned to night.

Li Yuejun, accompanied by the criminal police, was already on her way; in the end, this woman had not listened to Bai Yanliang.

Jiang Li and Xu Zhi'an were hiding on the rooftop. On the other side were three water tanks huddled together, two of which contained the rotting remains of two dead people.

Xu Zhi'an was not worried about his severed hand; as long as he could return to the Mist Gathering, he could recover even if he had only one breath left.

What he worried about was the success or failure of this mission.

As for Jiang Li, she was leaning against the wall, saying nothing, silently looking up at the familiar yet strange starry sky, wondering what she was thinking about.

As the night deepened, a chilling aura swirled above Ruyi Inn, like the foul-smelling blood flowing from a rotting corpse.

"Ding..."

The elevator stopped at the fourth floor.

A man stepped out.

Bai Yanliang looked at the place before him, now unrecognizable, yet his heart remained largely untroubled.

Although he had anticipated that the fourth floor would be perilous, he had not expected it to have transformed into such a state.

Water stains spreading everywhere looked like congealed blood under the dim light.

The hallway, which should have been pristine white, was smeared with filthy, foul traces.

At a glance, it looked as if the place had been abandoned and left to rot for years.

Bai Yanliang stepped onto the sodden floor, feeling the water stains cling to him with excessive persistence.

Looking down, he saw they had transformed into faces of mangled flesh and blood.

An unsettling, terrifying aura permeated the surroundings; the walls and floor seemed like living skin beginning to fester, faintly emitting a nauseating stench.

Room 406 was just ahead, its door already standing open.

Bai Yanliang turned a blind eye to the grotesque and bizarre scene before him, clutching the Jade Ruyi as he walked straight ahead.

However, at that very moment, a drop of water silently landed on Bai Yanliang's head!

Bai Yanliang looked up, his calm heart stirring slightly.

Because... a pale, bloated woman with no pupils was crawling on the ceiling, soaked through, staring at him with malice!

At the same time, a figure slowly emerged from the pitch-black stairwell in front of him.

And with the appearance of that figure, a look of immense surprise flashed in Bai Yanliang's eyes for the first time!

It was a man who looked seventy percent like him, dressed in a suit and appearing quite mature; he was looking at him with a smile...

Brother...

The surprise in Bai Yanliang's eyes vanished as quickly as it had appeared, and he rapidly returned to his calm state, completely ignoring the female ghost above his head and the man in front of him.

He continued walking toward Room 406.

The malicious pupils on the ceiling followed his movement, and the smile on Bai Yanren's face gradually turned eerie.

But... Bai Yanliang was absolutely certain.

These two ghosts could not harm anyone.

Because the one that truly killed... was it!

Bai Yanliang stopped in his tracks, standing at the entrance of Room 406, and lifted his gaze to look inside.

There... a mass of twisted, humanoid shadow was spreading in the darkness.

Like a boneless snake, it moved toward Bai Yanliang in a bizarre fashion.

Its long, twisted limbs reached from before Bai Yanliang toward his back, and a terrifying, icy aura rose from behind him; Bai Yanliang could clearly feel its presence... it was death.

But... the more this was the case, the more confident he felt.

"Although I don't know what you are, this place... is not your world."

Bai Yanliang raised the Jade Ruyi and smashed it with force into the depths of Room 406!

There... a large mass of twisted darkness was gestating.

The unremarkable Jade Ruyi underwent a sudden transformation the moment it touched the darkness!

The twisted monster seemed to be caught by a suction force, rapidly recoiling; not only it, but the female ghost on the ceiling and Bai Yanren in the hallway were all sucked in!

Yet, Bai Yanliang did not feel any suction at all!

He watched with calm eyes as the Jade Ruyi lay on the ground, emitting a faint white light and frantically absorbing the surrounding anomalies. After a few breaths, all the bizarre phenomena vanished completely!

Bai Yanliang finally let out a breath, leaned against the doorframe, and took two earplugs out of his ears.

He had succeeded!

He was gambling! This time, he had gambled correctly!

The reason Ding Lei, Li Yuhua, and Zhang Qiao had all been able to turn into ghosts was by no means a coincidence.

They had been influenced by the thing inside the Jade Ruyi, but they possessed no ability to kill.

The one that truly could kill was that twisted black monster!

And the medium it required to kill was... sound.

To be precise, the sound of water.

Bai Yanliang, who had just relaxed, suddenly froze. A blood-red mist rose from above his head, and at the same time, the surrounding scene rapidly faded!

Bai Yanliang watched this bizarre scene with flickering eyes, just as he reached out to touch the door beside him, which had turned into black and white.

The world shattered into pieces like a mirror!

Figures gradually appeared before him.

He... had returned!