Entangled Grudges

Chapter 8: Entangled Grudges

When he touched Li Yuejun's shoulder, Bai Yanliang felt her terror even more clearly.

Her entire body was trembling like chaff in the wind, her face was deathly pale, and her pupils were dilating violently.

However, after Li Yuejun blinked, she looked toward the space under Bai Yanliang's bed again... it was pitch black, and there was nothing there.

But having already survived two Cursed Journeys, Li Yuejun knew very well that this was definitely not a trick of the light, nor was it an illusion.

"No... I'm fine." Li Yuejun forcibly suppressed the fear in her heart, but her left hand gripped Bai Yanliang's arm with a death grip; the strength subconsciously unleashed by a person in terror is immense.

Bai Yanliang's right arm had already been pierced by her sharp nails, drawing blood, yet his expression remained unchanged.

He simply said, "That's good. Let's go find the others."

With that, he didn't look back and closed the room door behind them.

Li Yuejun finally let out a sigh of relief. By the time she fully regained her senses, she had already been led by Bai Yanliang to the elevator.

The elevator descended from the sixth floor and stopped before them, empty inside.

Bai Yanliang stepped into the elevator with his usual composure, and Li Yuejun hurriedly followed.

Only then did she realize that she had clawed through Bai Yanliang's right arm.

"You... why didn't you remind me?" Li Yuejun looked at Bai Yanliang with a sense of embarrassment, her tone sharp.

But Bai Yanliang shook his head, not even glancing at his wounded arm. He simply wiped the blood away with his clothes and said, "It doesn't hurt."

Li Yuejun was stunned, staring blankly at him.

She knew very well what kind of person she was. The three months she had spent in the Mist Gathering had nearly driven her insane; her emotions were becoming increasingly volatile, and she was making more and more enemies.

Although she wasn't unattractive, people trapped in a curse were, at the end of the day, just a pile of people waiting to die.

No one would be interested in a pile of flesh on the verge of an emotional breakdown, nor would they tolerate her.

It had to be said that Bai Yanliang's assessment was accurate. She was indeed lonely, but precisely because of that, fear and isolation made her temperament increasingly perverse and strange, forming a vicious cycle.

The elevator fell into silence.

Bai Yanliang glanced at the buttons; this hotel actually had six floors.

He couldn't be sure if that "Xu Zhi'an" was still on the first floor, but the situation was different from before—it was now daylight.

Although he couldn't pinpoint exactly what had changed, nor could he be certain if the daylight had any effect on "him," the atmosphere of the hotel had at least shifted from suffocating oppression to something slightly more relaxed.

If they didn't take advantage of the daylight to conduct an investigation, Bai Yanliang didn't think the night would be a good opportunity.

"Ding—"

The chime signaling their arrival at the first floor startled Li Yuejun. The woman gave Bai Yanliang a strange look, as if wanting to say something.

But seeing that Bai Yanliang had already stepped out of the elevator, she hurried to follow, ultimately not saying a word.

The first floor was a decent lobby; the decor was quite high-end.

A female attendant in her thirties walked up to them and asked, "Sir, Miss, would you like us to prepare breakfast?"

Her attitude was professional, her smile perfectly measured, but there wasn't a hint of genuine pleasure in her tone; instead, there was a faint trace of malice.

Bai Yanliang was sensitive to emotional reactions. Although his own emotional responses were muted, that didn't hinder his ability to observe others.

Moreover, judging by how she addressed them, it seemed the two of them had just arrived here.

"Yes, please prepare two portions of breakfast for us."

Operating on the principle of not passing up a free meal, Bai Yanliang responded with a smile.

Just as the attendant nodded, Bai Yanliang suddenly seemed to recall something and asked casually, "By the way, do you have any..."

Before he could finish his sentence, the attendant's expression changed completely.

"Sir, if you are a reporter, please leave immediately, or I will call security at once." Her face was ugly, her slanted eyes staring fixedly at Bai Yanliang, as if trying to see right through him.

A thought stirred in Bai Yanliang's mind; this "the thief crying stop thief" attitude was far too contrived.

It was as if the other party was deliberately trying to tell him that something had happened here.

But on the surface, Bai Yanliang shook his head and said, "No, I'm not a reporter. I'm just here for a vacation. By the way, what I wanted to ask just now was, could you help me change my pillow? To be honest, I didn't sleep very comfortably last night."

The attendant's expression was strange. Her eyes wandered oddly between Bai Yanliang and Li Yuejun, but while one stared back at her with indifference, the other kept her head down, lost in thought.

A moment later, she said, "Very well, I will have your pillow changed. I hope you sleep soundly."

Her words seemed to carry a hidden meaning, but Bai Yanliang acted as if he didn't understand. He looked around and, this time, he saw three people.

Xu Zhi'an, Feng Xinghan, and Jiang Li.

Xu Zhi'an looked exactly as he had before: dressed like a clerk, his hair combed meticulously. He wasn't old, but his waist was somewhat hunched.

Feng Xinghan seemed to be someone who had long engaged in manual labor. His build wasn't tall, but he was lean and muscular. He was about the same age as Yang Wanlong, but his physique looked even better than that of Yang Wanlong, who worked as a criminal police officer.

As for Jiang Li, it was somewhat strange; Bai Yanliang couldn't even determine his gender.

He wore his hair short, a white shirt on his upper body, and a pair of casual jeans on his lower body. He didn't look old, seemingly under twenty, and his eyes were scanning Bai Yanliang without restraint.

Bai Yanliang and Li Yuejun walked over to the sofa by the lobby window, finally reuniting with the three of them.

"Sit," Xu Zhi'an said, his voice weary as he looked at the two of them.

Bai Yanliang's expression remained unchanged as he sat on the sofa opposite them.

This experience was truly novel; after all, not long ago, an "Xu Zhi'an" who looked exactly like him had come knocking on his door.

Thinking back on it now, if he had opened the door just then, this game of life and death might have ended immediately.

"I didn't expect a newcomer like you to be the Grudge-Bound this time." Xu Zhi'an seemed to have not rested well, his voice raspy and strained.

Grudge-Bound?

Bai Yanliang looked at the four of them with a puzzled gaze; this was indeed a new term he had just heard.

"Do you remember the three people whose names turned red first at the Mist Gathering?" Feng Xinghan suddenly spoke up.

Mist Gathering?

It seemed this was what they called that eerie place behind the door.

Bai Yanliang nodded, turning his gaze toward this sturdy, middle-aged man.

"The so-called Grudge-Bound, as the name implies, are those most easily targeted by malicious ghosts. For instance, right now, if the probability were one hundred, our chance of being targeted by a ghost is fifty percent, while yours is ninety percent. And if we are discovered by it at the same time as you, your probability of being targeted becomes one hundred percent."

Feng Xinghan did not sound like he was gloating; after all, whether it was fifty percent or ninety percent, the final outcome was only life or death, so there was nothing to celebrate.

"However, it is not without its benefits. As long as the Grudge-Bound safely survives the current mission, they are guaranteed not to be selected by the Mist Gathering for the next one."

Bai Yanliang nodded in understanding, and at this moment, two waiters arrived with breakfast.

"Gentlemen, miss, here is your breakfast."