"I came to bring you some water."

Aunt Wang stood outside the doorway, seemingly holding something, then approached the bed step by step.

Song Qingzhang had not been sleeping deeply to begin with. Woken by the noise, he realized something was wrong and lay rigid, not daring to move.

Li Xian did not make any rash moves either. Only when Aunt Wang was a few steps away did he make out what she was holding-

a kitchen knife.

Li Xian immediately sat up in bed, and Aunt Wang froze at his movement.

"What are you doing here so late, Aunt Wang?"

In the dim light, Li Xian saw Aunt Wang move her hand behind her back, then heard her say, "...I came to bring you some water."

Naturally, Li Xian did not believe such a clumsy lie, but he refrained from exposing it so as not to provoke her.

"It's all right. We're not thirsty. Please take the water back out."

Aunt Wang did not answer. Instead, she kept inching closer with her hands behind her back. Alarmed, Song Qingzhang scrambled up, grabbed Li Xian, and tried to flee.

Li Xian let Song Qingzhang pull him away from the bed, but rather than follow him toward the door, he threw open the window in the wall with a bang.

Rain instantly soaked the window frame, fine droplets spattering the bed against the wall.

Song Qingzhang understood Li Xian's intention in an instant. He stopped himself short and stood by the wall.

Li Xian stared at Aunt Wang and said, emphasizing every word:

"If you dare attack us, I'll splash this rain in your face."

His expression was calm, his tone nothing like a threat. He sounded as though he were simply stating a fact, and that only made him more unnerving.

[Ah!!! The streamer is so cool!!]

[Player ** tipped 30 points]

[This newbie has nerves of steel. He threatened a villager without even blinking.]

[Did you see Aunt Wang's face? She looks like she just ate sh*t. I'm dying.]

[With the streamer acting like this, I can barely tell who's the villain anymore!!]

Aunt Wang reluctantly drew back the knife, glaring hatefully at Li Xian. Seemingly conceding, she said, "I won't attack. Close the window."

Li Xian leaned against the window, unmoved by her words. "Then drop the knife first."

Aunt Wang loosened her grip on the knife handle. Just as Li Xian thought she would give up on attacking him, she charged straight at him.

Although Li Xian had been on guard, the room was too small, and Aunt Wang moved too quickly. She seized one of his hands, while he barely managed to catch the wrist of her knife hand with the other. To his surprise, he found himself struggling against her strength.

The knife tip hovered a few centimeters from Li Xian's eyes, slowly advancing under Aunt Wang's pressure. A thin sheen of cold sweat broke out on his forehead.

Song Qingzhang panicked. He snatched a cup from the table and smashed it against Aunt Wang's head, but despite putting all his strength into the blow, he only made her head tilt slightly.

Seeing that his attack had no effect, he tried to pull Aunt Wang away.

She won't budge!

How is she so strong?!

Aunt Wang was a woman over forty and stood almost a head shorter than either of them. Yet her knife hand kept pushing forward, while the hand gripping Li Xian's wrist held him with such force that he might as well have been nailed to the wall.

Her strength defied all reason.

[There it is. A classic newbie mistake: thinking you can beat a dungeon character in a fight.]

[I made that stupid mistake back in the day, too. Nearly got beaten to death by an old man with a cane. Ever since then, I've treated every dungeon character like royalty...]

As that comment appeared, Li Xian suddenly released her wrist and jerked his head aside. Unable to check her momentum, Aunt Wang drove the knife deep into the wall.

While Aunt Wang was pulling the knife free, Li Xian swiftly drew the Wedding Invitation he had received that day from inside his clothes. He thrust it out the window, letting the rain soak half the paper, then slapped it against Aunt Wang's face with a smack.

Aunt Wang froze on the spot.

For a moment, the live chat was dumbstruck.

[You can...use that thing like this?]

[With that slap, the streamer turned a wedding invitation into a Taoist talisman.]

The invitation slipped from Aunt Wang's face. Beyond the window, a red figure flashed through the steady drizzle.

Under the three of them's gazes, she stepped through the window, looked around, and fixed her attention on Aunt Wang.

Aunt Wang stood rooted to the spot, trembling uncontrollably. Then, shaking all over, she began walking toward the Red-Clothed Woman.

With only a few steps between them, Aunt Wang suddenly let out a wail and dropped to the floor, clutching the woman's ankles.

"Xiao Mei, Xiao Mei, you're here? I wronged you. Take me with you-"

"Xiao Mei? She...she's Xiao Mei?"

Song Qingzhang clearly had not expected this turn of events and instinctively looked toward Li Xian.

Li Xian watched in silence, without the slightest trace of surprise.

His guess had been right. The woman he had seen in the bridal chamber was Shen Xiaomei-Aunt Wang's daughter.

But Shen Xiaomei was not moved by Aunt Wang's anguished sobbing. Instead, seemingly enraged by the noise, she reached for Aunt Wang's throat.

Aunt Wang shuddered slightly. She looked up, her face streaked with tears, and asked, "Xiao Mei, do you resent me? If it weren't for me, the River God wouldn't have taken you alive..."

At that, Aunt Wang broke into a violent coughing fit, then could not utter another word. Shen Xiaomei's hand had suddenly tightened around her throat. Fighting the sudden suffocation, Aunt Wang struggled to lift her eyes to Shen Xiaomei's face, her gaze clearer than it had ever been before.

Song Qingzhang recoiled a step, his face pale.

Neither of them had touched the rain, but there was no guarantee that the woman before them would spare them.

He said to Li Xian:

"Let's get out of here! Then find something to barricade the door!"

"No!" Li Xian objected.

His instincts told him he had to stop what was happening.

Aunt Wang could not die yet.

Li Xian turned his gaze to Shen Xiaomei. Undisguised hatred filled her expression, as though the person struggling in her grasp were not her mother, but a sworn enemy.

"That's your mother!"

Li Xian shouted.

His shout drew Shen Xiaomei's attention away from Aunt Wang and back to him.

Yet her eyes held confusion rather than anger.

She seemed to be pondering the meaning of his words.

"That's your mother."

Li Xian repeated himself.

Shen Xiaomei's hand paused. She turned and leaned closer to Aunt Wang's face. After studying it carefully, she released her grip in apparent panic.

"Cough, cough..."

Clutching her throat, Aunt Wang coughed painfully twice, then raised her tear-streaked face, confusion creeping into her eyes.

Shen Xiaomei clutched her head, seemingly struggling to remember something. Then, for some reason, she suddenly lashed out again.

This time, her target was not Aunt Wang, but Li Xian.

None of the three, Li Xian included, had expected Shen Xiaomei to attack again. It happened so abruptly that her hand was around his throat almost instantly, cutting off his breath.

Why?

She had clearly recognized her mother and stopped showing any aggression. Why had she suddenly started hurting people again?

Had he judged this wrong? Was Aunt Wang not enough to restore even a little of her sanity?

Li Xian suddenly realized something. He waved at Song Qingzhang, pointing toward the red invitation on the floor.

Cover it...or throw it away. Don't let Shen Xiaomei see anything related to marriage!

Li Xian wanted to say those words, but the hand clamped around his throat prevented him from making a sound. He could only hope Song Qingzhang would understand what he meant.

[Under attack! HP -5!]

[HP -5!]

Urgent system alerts rang through Li Xian's mind.

Song Qingzhang followed his pointing finger to the invitation on the floor, his mind racing as he tried to work out what to do.

Was he supposed to show the invitation to Shen Xiaomei? Or destroy it?

Remembering what Aunt Wang had said about Shen Xiaomei's aversion to marriage, Song Qingzhang gritted his teeth, picked up the paper, and threw it out the window. Then he shouted at Aunt Wang, who sat slumped on the floor:

"Quick! Say something! Your daughter...is about to become a murderer!"

Song Qingzhang's words snapped Aunt Wang back to her senses.

Xiao Mei had become like this because of her. Her own hands were already stained; she could not let her daughter spill innocent blood, too!

"Xiao Mei! He...he's from outside the village! You have no reason to kill him!"

By then, Li Xian's face had flushed red from lack of air. At Aunt Wang's shout, Shen Xiaomei's grip loosened. He hurriedly seized the chance to draw a breath and wrench himself free.

At some point, the rain outside had stopped, leaving only the sporadic patter of water dripping from the eaves. Shen Xiaomei, too, seemed to have lost the ability to remain there, and her figure gradually faded.

Aunt Wang hurriedly reached out to catch her, but her hand closed on empty air.

Just before Shen Xiaomei vanished, Li Xian looked up at her one last time.

In the darkness, a red mark seemed to have appeared on Shen Xiaomei's formerly pale neck.

Before Li Xian could confirm it, she disappeared completely.

...Had he imagined it?

Li Xian suddenly sucked in a breath as the pain finally hit him.

He raised a hand to rub his neck. Several deep red marks had been left on it, and he suspected they would turn into dark bruises before long.

Meanwhile, Song Qingzhang swiftly picked up the kitchen knife from the floor and held it tightly.

Aunt Wang stared for a long time in the direction where Shen Xiaomei had disappeared. Only then did she slowly come back to herself and turn toward the two men.

She sighed, as though she had finally come to a realization.

"...I've already committed enough sins. I shouldn't have dragged you into this, too."