"This is just... it's just like it's alive!" Bo Yu whispered in astonishment from behind the door.
"No." Bo Yi shook his head and said softly, "It's not 'like it's alive'..."
Rather, "It is alive."
Sure enough, as his words fell, the fingers on the arm twitched gently. In response, the villagers still giving the arm its "beauty spa treatment" immediately stopped what they were doing, got up from the ground, and stepped aside-as though making room for the arm on the floor.
Then, under Bo Yu's astonished gaze, the arm slowly moved-
It twisted a few times on the ground, managing to turn its "body" from faceup to facedown. Its palm, which had been pointing upward, finally touched the floor; its five fingers gripped the ground tightly, and its palm wriggled as it slowly crawled toward the statue.
The sight was so bizarre that Bo Yu was struck speechless. She stared blankly at it, her mouth opening and closing several times as though she wanted to say something, yet not a single word came out.
"So that's where the arms on the statue came from..."
Bo Yi, beside her, reacted in exactly the opposite way. Looking utterly fascinated, he watched with relish as the arm slowly crawled onto the raised platform, found a suitable spot among the many other arms, and fitted itself into place.
But that was all of the show he could watch, because he noticed that their host had begun casting subtle glances toward the temple door.
It seemed this "ritual" was over.
"Time to go..." Bo Yi roused Bo Yu, who still hadn't recovered. "The NPCs will be coming out any moment."
"Oh, okay..." Bo Yu instinctively followed behind Bo Yi. Still caught up in the temple's bizarre "ritual," she could only trail after him in a daze. Only after they were far from the Lady's Temple and back in familiar surroundings-the house where they were staying-did she shudder and fully come to her senses.
"Those things back there..." Still shaken, she swallowed. "Those... what exactly were they?"
"What we're supposed to worship... don't tell me it's... it's that thing?!" As she spoke, she shuddered again, her whole body radiating resistance.
Bo Yi neither confirmed nor denied it. Unlike Bo Yu, who was still absorbed in what she had seen in the temple, his mind was occupied entirely with his research. "You spent quite a while watching..." He took out his little notebook again. "So, in the end, did you figure out what in the temple could suppress that itching inside you?"
Bo Yu froze. Distracted by the sight in the temple, she had forgotten all about that. She could only struggle to recall her hazy memories. "I think it was... when I saw the Maiden Statue." The appetite she had kept suppressed within her had instantly faded when she saw the Lady's smiling lips.
Bo Yi nodded thoughtfully. They were about to discuss it further when, "Oh, Bo Yi, there you are..."
Xu Xiaoyang returned from outside with Du Yong and Jiang Xiaofeng. They greeted Bo Yi quite naturally. "Why didn't you come to the village chief's house for lunch today?"
Their expressions were perfectly natural, as though they had no recollection of the bizarre way they had wolfed down their food at the village chief's table, nor any memory of Bo Yi having been there.
"What are you talking about?" They eagerly gathered around, looking ready to join the conversation.
Bo Yi and Bo Yu exchanged a glance and had no choice but to put their analysis aside for now. "Nothing..." He shook his head at the three of them and brushed the question off with a casual excuse, then turned the conversation around. "What about you three? Did you find any clues?"
Xu Xiaoyang sighed, stepped forward, and suddenly tried to sling an arm over Bo Yi's shoulder as though they were old friends. "We just wandered around outside. Didn't find anything."
"Really?" Bo Yi stepped back, avoiding his hand. "That's a shame. In that case, I'll head back to my room and rest..."
"Oh, all right, then..." Xu Xiaoyang sounded rather disappointed.
Bo Yi gave the three of them a perfunctory nod, then turned and went into his room.
And so he failed to see how, the instant he turned away, all three suddenly gazed at his retreating figure with ravenous longing.
"Drip..."
"Drip..."
The faint, indistinct sound of dripping water was unusually clear in the room's late-night silence.
Woken by the noise, Bo Yi slowly opened his eyes.
...Where was that dripping coming from?
He turned toward the sound, but the instant his blurred vision cleared, his heart gave a violent jolt-
A dark figure sat silently at the head of his bed. Dim moonlight spilled through the window, outlining his silhouette; with the light behind him, Bo Yi couldn't make out his face, but he could see a pair of eyes-eyes filled with hunger and desire. They gleamed faintly in the darkness, staring fixedly at Bo Yi.
When he saw Bo Yi open his eyes, the figure slowly spread his lips into a grin. "You're... finally awake..."
"Jiang Xiaofeng?!"
Recognizing the familiar voice, Bo Yi started sitting up in surprise. But halfway through the movement, he realized something was wrong-Jiang Xiaofeng had one of his hands in a death grip. The force of it felt as though his nails were about to pierce Bo Yi's clothes and dig deep into his flesh.
In the moonlight, Bo Yi finally got a clear look at Jiang Xiaofeng, and finally understood where the dripping sound had come from-
It was the sound of saliva dripping from the corner of Jiang Xiaofeng's mouth.
"You..."
Bo Yi frowned and was about to speak when suddenly, with a loud bang, something seemed to slam hard against their bedroom door.
"Open the door!"
"Open the door!"
Two familiar voices rang out amid the pounding on the door.
They belonged to Xu Xiaoyang and Du Yong.
Yet Jiang Xiaofeng remained seated without moving, his mouth still stretched into a grin, as though he couldn't hear the commotion at the door at all.
"They..." Bo Yi had barely begun when Jiang Xiaofeng reassured him with a smile. "Don't worry. I've already locked the door."
"Those two definitely can't get in."
"After all..." He wiped haphazardly at the corner of his mouth with his free hand, never taking his eyes off Bo Yi's face. "I didn't get enough to eat at lunch. Why would I share... with those two now?"
He lifted Bo Yi's hand and examined it with an entranced gaze. "Because all of it..." He swallowed frantically. "All of it is mine... hehehe..."
The next second, he opened his mouth wide and, his face contorted viciously, bit down hard on Bo Yi's arm.
Before you continue