It Was All Retribution

The Porsche pulled out of the alley in the urban village.

Lin Yuwei gripped the steering wheel, her fingers tightening and relaxing against the leather.

Whenever she stopped at a traffic light, her gaze would drift involuntarily toward the passenger seat, as though she wanted to say something but swallowed it back.

Wen Ning leaned against the passenger seat. Seeing her hesitate, he suddenly asked a question.

"Does your brother have any bad habits?"

Lin Yuwei was signaling, about to turn onto a service road, when she heard his question.

"My brother's been well-behaved since he was little. He doesn't smoke or drink, and he didn't fall in with any dodgy people after starting college. He mostly just plays games and watches anime. He's never even been to a nightclub. Those don't count as bad habits, do they?"

Wen Ning shook his head.

"That's not what I mean. There are two ways to become infected with Grudge Poison. One is to encounter it by chance. The other is to bring it upon yourself by touching something you shouldn't or doing something you shouldn't."

Lin Yuwei thought it over carefully.

"My brother must be the first kind."

Realizing he probably wouldn't get any useful information out of Lin Yuwei, Wen Ning said,

"Let's take a look first."

As the traffic gradually thinned, the car turned onto a quiet, tree-lined road. The plane trees on either side blocked most of the sunlight, dimming the interior.

The Porsche stopped outside a detached villa. It was a two-story European-style house, with several neatly trimmed osmanthus trees in the front yard.

They had barely gotten out of the car and had yet to reach the entrance when the door opened from inside. A middle-aged woman in dark loungewear stood in the doorway.

Her makeup was