Terror at the Ranch (Part Three)

The cold wind howled along the wall, carrying the woman's words away like an inscrutable shadow.

Xia Lun's face remained calm, but countless thoughts flashed through his mind.

Delis is a bad woman?

Is she implying that Delis is controlling the ghostly figure?

"I think you're more like a bad woman," Xia Lun said after a moment, trying to provoke her.

The woman shook her head with an unreadable smile. She blinked softly, her long lashes trembling in the cold wind. Then she stuck out her tongue and pulled a playful face. Warm breath escaped her lips and became a veil of white mist among the snowflakes.

Without another word, she turned and walked back the way she had come.

Xia Lun stood where he was, deep in thought.

This woman really was impossible to read.

After a moment, he shook his head and followed her footprints along the barn wall, returning to the crowd at the front.

They had not spoken for long, but the snowfall had already grown heavier.

Snow poured from the sky, shrouding the entire barn in a murky haze. Darkness seeped down from above, lending the snowy mist a chill that reached the heart.

A sharp wind screamed past like a ghost's wail, so cold it seemed ready to freeze the air into crystals.

To ward off the cold and darkness, people switched on their lights. One by one, the beams cast halos through the snowy mist. Their hazy amber glow swayed like islands in the dark.

As the cold spread, unease and dread passed through the murmuring crowd like a plague beneath the dim yellow lights.

By the time Xia Lun returned to the front of the barn, Hornard, the ranch's owner, had arrived.

The plump rancher was arguing fiercely with his adopted daughter.