Worship the Lady (20)

The beam of light that had been about to leave the cave abruptly stopped on the stone wall.

Getting no response, Song Yunyi also realized something was wrong. Soon, by the torchlight that had returned to the cave, he saw the villagers holding torches and looking up.

"Holy shit!"

Caught completely off guard, Song Yunyi met one of the villagers' eyes and jumped in fright. His head instantly vanished from the cave entrance.

But it was clearly too late. Bo Yi had already heard some of the villagers inside the cave chasing after him.

He pinched the bridge of his nose, feeling a headache coming on.

He had no idea where Song Yunyi had gone to look for things earlier. Somehow, he had completely missed the fact that the matter of opening the village well had been resolved, and had also managed to miss the villagers returning to Back Mountain.

But he had no attention to spare for Song Yunyi now, because he could already hear the remaining villagers beginning to move around the cave.

Several sets of footsteps spread out in different directions as their gazes swept between firelight and darkness, meticulously searching every shadow and corner. At some point, the cave had fallen so quiet that only the barely audible footsteps and the occasional crackle of flames remained.

They were looking for him.

Bo Yi gently slowed his breathing. Trying to find some comfort in his predicament, he thought that at least Song Yunyi had taken half the villagers with him when he left.

"Tap..."

"Tap..."

A figure walked toward the coffin he was hiding behind. Whether deliberately or not, this person's footsteps sounded particularly heavy compared with those of the other villagers.

Each time the soles struck the ground, it felt as though they were stepping on Bo Yi's heart. As the footsteps drew closer, the air around him seemed to grow colder, a chill slowly creeping over his skin. Bo Yi crouched lower, trying to tuck himself into the coffin's shadow, and could only hope the person would leave after a glance.

The long, slanting shadow flickered in the dancing torchlight, but little by little, it merged with the coffin's shadow, shattering Bo Yi's hopes. He did not even need to look up to sense the towering shadow looming over him.

Two more steps forward, and the person would certainly find him.

I can't just sit here waiting to die.

Bo Yi gritted his teeth and carefully listened to the movements around him. Then, before the next footstep landed, he pressed close to the coffin and cautiously began edging around to its other side.

One step, two steps, three steps...

At last, before that shadow could cover him, he rounded the right-angled corner and slipped completely out of its path.

Phew...

Bo Yi breathed a sigh of relief. Only then did he notice that the hand he had braced against the coffin as he moved was trembling involuntarily from nerves.

But before he could finish exhaling, he heard those nightmare footsteps pursuing him relentlessly, slowly rounding the coffin's corner as well.

"!"

Bo Yi's breath caught. But with the threat of capture hanging over him, he had no choice but to grit his teeth and slowly begin moving along the coffin again.

It was like hide-and-seek: one hid, the other pursued. By the time they had circled the third coffin, Bo Yi was already considering whether he should simply rush out and take his chances-

At least that would be better than circling endlessly here.

He had hidden, yet it hardly felt as though he had. And this was far more exhausting than running away.

Just then, the village chief's coarse, hoarse voice rang out, sounding like heavenly music at that moment. "Has anyone found him?"

"No."

"Nothing over here either..."

Bo Yi even saw the shadow of the tall figure that had pursued him around three coffins shake its head.

The village chief pondered for a moment. "If not, then forget it."

"Let's go. It's time to return to the village... We've stayed here long enough today."

Scattered footsteps began moving toward the exit, and the figure that had been relentlessly pursuing him slowly wandered away as well. Only when its shadow had completely disappeared from sight did Bo Yi finally dare to breathe a full sigh of relief. As though all his strength had drained away, he slid limply down the coffin's side, panting silently as he listened to the receding footsteps.

But as he listened, he picked out something else amid the fading footsteps.

"Splash..."

"Splash..."

Bo Yi frowned and listened carefully.

It sounded... like something stirring water, or something swimming through it. And although the sound was muffled, as though something stood between them, it sounded very close.

Wait... water, something in between, very close-

Bo Yi slowly raised his head.

A soaking-wet hand clung to the edge of the coffin he was leaning against. Water dripped from its wet fingers onto the wood, then slowly trickled down, spreading across the ground beside him.

This was one of the coffins he had opened earlier. Although he had quickly replaced the lid after looking inside, he did not know whether he had failed to shut it properly or whether the thing inside had come alive and decided to embrace freedom. Either way, the arm soaking inside had crawled out of the coffin on its own.

Little by little, it widened the gap and squeezed itself out. Unfortunately, the receding footsteps had not yet gone entirely out of earshot, so Bo Yi could only shift his body cautiously, moving away from the hand.

But the hand seemed fixated on Bo Yi and actually began moving along with him. More and more of the arm emerged from the coffin, until, from a distance, it looked like an arm was reaching out of it. The arm kept waving up and down, groping about as though continually checking Bo Yi's location.

Drops of sickly sweet, rotten-smelling water flew everywhere with the arm's movements. Bo Yi had no desire to be splashed with that liquid of unknown composition, so he had to keep dodging it.

The receding footsteps were almost lost in the air, and the cave was about to fall back into darkness. Just then, a sharp thunk rang out-

While dodging the arm's harassment, Bo Yi had accidentally struck the coffin above his head.

The dull impact was not actually loud, but it stood out starkly in the silence of the cave.

At the very least, Bo Yi had already heard the receding footsteps stop once again. But this time, he would not be as lucky as before-

Because the impact had given away his position.

No longer searching aimlessly, the villagers now walked straight toward his hiding place. And this time, they extinguished their torches.

In other words-he could no longer use their shadows to judge their positions and evade them.

Listening to the footsteps drawing closer, Bo Yi slowly reached toward his pocket.

Looks like there's no escaping this time...

He took a deep breath and was just about to rush out and strike first when a hand suddenly reached from behind him at an angle and clamped over his mouth.

The next second, he was dragged bodily into someone's arms.