Chapter 566: Indoor Crisis

Over the next few days, since the Thunder Tiger Sect case had been resolved, and it was a rare chance to visit Jiangxi.

Mu Lingxue then proposed taking advantage of this business trip to stay in Jiangxi for two extra days, treating it as a publicly funded trip to relax.

Lin Yuan and Yin Yirou had no objections, so they agreed.

Over the next two days, the three figures appeared amidst the mountains and waters of Gan Province.

Mu Lingxue and Yin Yirou accompanied Lin Yuan as they toured all the famous scenic spots around Changnan City and sampled all the local specialty snacks.

During the day, the three walked side by side on the blue‑stone paths, or took a boat to glide across the lake with rippling blue waves; chatting and laughing, they seemed especially harmonious.

Mu Lingxue has a cheerful personality and always finds interesting topics to liven the atmosphere;

Yin Yirou, by contrast, is much quieter; most of the time she simply follows beside them, though her gaze unconsciously keeps landing on Lin Yuan.

But beneath this surface harmony lay an unknown ambiguity and sourness.

Mu Lingxue always finds an excuse to be alone with Lin Yuan.

Taking advantage of the moments when Yin Yirou went to buy water, take photos, or pause to admire the scenery, she would quietly move close to Lin Yuan and quickly plant a kiss on his cheek.

Or she would reach out and hook her fingers with his, her eyes full of mischievous amusement.

"Don't let Yirou see." After each intimate moment, Mu Lingxue would lower her voice to warn him, her tone carrying a hint of the thrill of an affair.

Lin Yuan each time felt a bit at a loss, wanting to push her away but unable to bear it, so he could only let her have her way.

And all of this was seen by Yin Yirou not far away.

Yin Yirou deliberately slowed her steps, pretending to focus on the scenery before her.

Yet her peripheral vision firmly locked onto the two figures, her heart feeling as if gripped by an invisible hand, sourness and jealousy surging incessantly.

Yin Yirou envied… Mu Lingxue's bold frankness, and even more resented that she could openly draw close to Lin Yuan.

But she herself had no qualification to even approach.

Yin Yirou could only bury all her emotions deep in her heart, not daring to show even a hint of anything unusual.

During the outing, Lin Yuan kept feeling somewhat uneasy.

Several times, he vaguely sensed a cold gaze falling upon him……

But each time Lin Yuan followed the sensation and turned to look, he saw only bustling tourists, with no way to find the source of the gaze.

That feeling of being watched in the dark made Lin Yuan's whole body tense.

Lin Yuan's inner unease also gradually grew.

He even reminded Mu Lingxue and Yin Yirou to pay attention to safety.

But the two thought he was being overly suspicious.

……

The two days of leisure passed in the blink of an eye.

The three packed their luggage, bade farewell to Changnan, and set out on the journey back to Hangcheng.

The vehicle left the territory of Gan Province.

Lin Yuan leaned against the passenger seat, gazing at the fleeting scenery outside the window; his inner unease not only did not fade, but grew ever stronger.

He constantly felt as if something in the dark was targeting him.

But for a moment, Lin Yuan couldn't put it into words.

Because he could find no evidence……

……

After returning to Hangcheng, the three each returned to their normal work and life.

Mu Lingxue immersed herself in the daily work of the police bureau.

Lin Yuan continued to go to work at the Su Group.

Yin Yirou also returned to the Forensic Center, daily dealing with cold instruments and corpses.

But on the third day after returning from Jiangxi, Yin Yirou noticed something was off.

That day, Yin Yirou worked overtime until evening; when she left the Forensic Center, the sky had already grown dark.

She had just turned into the alley leading home when she felt footsteps following her from behind.

Those footsteps were light, yet extraordinarily eerie.

Yin Yirou walked fast, and the other party also walked fast;

she slowed her pace, and the other party slowed as well.

Yin Yirou's heart leapt; she forced herself to stay calm and quickened her steps, not daring to look back, relying only on the sound of footsteps to gauge the distance.

Fortunately, the end of the alley is her residential compound, where guards stand watch at the gate.

Yin Yirou practically ran into the compound; only after entering the unit building, pressing the elevator button, and watching the elevator doors slowly close did she finally breathe a sigh of relief.

Yin Yirou's back had already broken out in a cold sweat.

She thought it was merely her own nervousness, or a coincidental passerby……

But over the next two days, this feeling of being followed never disappeared.

……

On the fourth night, Yin Yirou deliberately left work an hour early and took several detours before getting home.

She double‑locked the door, carefully checked the windows, confirmed they were secure, then leaned against the door and took deep breaths.

She took out her phone, hesitating whether to tell Lin Yuan or Mu Lingxue……

But after thinking it over, she had no evidence; perhaps it was just a false alarm, so she put the phone down again.

Late at night, all was silent.

Yin Yirou had already fallen asleep; in the room only her even breathing could be heard.

Suddenly, a soft "click" of the lock turning broke the night's tranquility.

In the darkness, a tall black shadow silently pushed open the ajar door.

He somehow opened the door lock that Yin Yirou had bolted from inside.

The black shadow tiptoed toward the bedroom, his slippers making no sound on the floor.

His eyes adjusted to the darkness for a moment, and he clearly saw Yin Yirou asleep on the bed.

Moonlight streamed through the gap in the curtains, outlining her soft profile; her long eyelashes lay still, making her look especially fragile.

The black shadow stopped, stood beside the bed, and greedily took in Yin Yirou's figure.

The black shadow let out a low growl from his throat, his eyes full of ill‑intentioned desire.

He slowly raised his hand, extending his rough fingertips toward her cheek, wanting to touch her delicate skin.

Just as his fingertips were about to touch her cheek, Yin Yirou seemed to sense something; her eyelashes twitched slightly and her body moved a little.

The black shadow froze, jerked his hand back, held his breath, and warily stared at her, afraid she would wake up.

After about half a minute, seeing that Yin Yirou hadn't woken, only turned over.

Only then did the black shadow relax, a wicked smile curling his lips.

He slowly bent down, brought his face near her ear, and in a hoarse voice whispered: "Little beauty, don't sleep… Brother's here to keep you company…"

His warm breath, reeking of sweat, blew onto her ear.

Yin Yirou jolted awake!

She opened her eyes and saw an evil black shadow standing before her!

Yin Yirou was about to scream when the black shadow's large hand clapped over her mouth.

Yin Yirou could only make muffled whimpering sounds.

"Don't shout! If you shout again I'll kill you!" the black shadow threatened, his grip tightening until Yin Yirou could barely breathe.

Yin Yirou struggled desperately, flailing her limbs, trying to push the black shadow off her.

But her strength seemed pitifully small against the tall, sturdy black shadow.

The black shadow easily pinned her hands and feet.

"Let me go… Who are you… Help!" Yin Yirou sobbed, tears blurring her vision, she could only see the black shadow's blurry outline.

At the moment of life and death, only one thought remained in Yin Yirou's mind.

She couldn't just wait for death!

She forced down her fear, stopped flailing her limbs uselessly, and quietly moved her hand toward the head of the bed.

There lay an anti‑wolf electric baton, which she normally kept for self‑defense as a backup.

Her fingertips fumbled frantically over the sheets until they finally touched that cold, hard object.

Yin Yirou gripped the electric baton with all her strength and slammed her thumb onto the switch.

"Zap!" a piercing electric crack rang out; the baton's tip, surrounded by blue arcs, jabbed into the black shadow's waist.

"Ah!" the black shadow, caught off guard, let out a horrific scream!

The black shadow's whole body jerked in a spasm, and the force restraining Yin Yirou vanished instantly.

He fell backward like a puppet with its strings cut, hitting the floor with a heavy thud.

Yin Yirou seized the fleeting opportunity, practically rolling and crawling off the bed.

She didn't even bother to straighten herself, barefoot she ran toward the bedroom door.

Upon reaching the living room, she snatched the phone and car keys lying on the coffee table.

Yin Yirou burst out of the front door.

After finally unlocking the screen, she immediately opened WeChat, trembling as she found Lin Yuan's chat and typed a frantic plea: 【Lin Yuan! Save me! Someone broke into my house and means me harm! I need to get out now!】

At the crucial moment, the only thing Yin Yirou thought of was Lin Yuan!

In her heart, the only one she could rely on was Lin Yuan.

No sooner had she sent the message than Lin Yuan's reply popped up instantly.

Lin Yuan replied urgently: 【Don't panic! Get up right now, go downstairs, take the car from the garage and flee! I'm on my way! Turn on WeChat location sharing immediately—I'll follow the signal to find you!】

【Okay】 Yin Yirou choked out a single word and immediately turned on WeChat location sharing.

Then she clutched the car keys and stumbled toward the exit.

Just as she opened the door, she heard a heavy thud behind her…

The black shadow that had been knocked down by the electric shock actually climbed back up!

Yin Yirou was terrified out of her wits, didn't dare look back, and sprinted with all her might toward the elevator.

She could clearly hear heavy, hurried footsteps behind her, plus the black shadow's hoarse roar: "You little slut! You can't get away!"

The elevator was taking forever, and the footsteps behind her grew closer.

Yin Yirou was so anxious tears streamed down her face; fortunately, at that moment the elevator dinged, arriving at her floor, and the doors opened just a crack…

She slipped inside, hit the close‑door button with her other hand, and frantically pressed the "-1" button for the basement garage.

As the elevator doors slowly closed, she saw the black shadow's ferocious face appear at the threshold…

That black shadow was wildly pounding on the elevator doors, shouting obscenities.

Yin Yirou leaned against the cold elevator wall, gasping for breath, her back soaked in cold sweat.

Only when the elevator began to descend did she let out a slight sigh of relief.

But she didn't know that the electric shock she'd just given him seemed not to have caused any fatal injury…

The pain from the electric shock seemed merely to have temporarily numbed his nerves.

During the elevator's brief descent of a few dozen seconds, Yin Yirou's fear did not lessen at all; she sensed that this black shadow would not be easy to shake off.

When the elevator reached the basement garage and the doors opened, Yin Yirou bolted out immediately.

The garage was dimly lit, only a few indicator lights glowing; she relied on memory to locate her car quickly, her hands shaking badly as she fumbled the key into the lock several times before it finally went in.

The car had just started when she saw, from the rearview mirror, a tall black shadow rush in—it was exactly that robber!

What made Yin Yirou's scalp tingle even more was that the black shadow directly mounted the motorcycle parked near the garage entrance……

The motorcycle's engine roared to life, emitting a piercing 'wong' as it sped after her car!