Chapter 38: Te Rang

Beyond the high wall, a cold moon hung in the sky, its fragmented light reflecting on the Peach River flowing beneath Bishui Bay.

The Peach River is one of Qinzhou’s three main waterways; Guzhen lies upstream, so the river here is narrow, nourished by the clear waters cascading from Xuanhu Waterfall, sustaining farmland and the layered green hills. Downstream, the Peach River flows eastward for thousands of kilometers before merging with the Yangtze.

“Beautiful scenery,” said a middle-aged man in gray casual wear, leaning against a marble railing carved with orchid reliefs at the edge of the Bishui Bay estate’s shaded path, gazing down at the rushing Peach River.

Behind him stood a man in overalls, wearing a sunshade baseball cap; he did not admire the river’s flow but cast his deep gaze inward, toward the Bishui Bay estate beyond the wall.

If Feng Yushu were here, she would be stunned to recognize the man in casual wear as her husband, Bai Fugui, the largest shareholder and CEO of New Homeland Group.

The man in overalls was a construction worker responsible for transporting materials within the Bishui Bay estate.

“You’re certain ‘Zhao You’ is inside?” the worker asked in a low, hoarse voice.

Though phrased as a question, his tone held no doubt, his face no expression—as if the words came not from him but from some internal vocal mechanism, his expression as blank as a soulless playback device clad in human skin.

“I’m certain. Zhao You is inside the estate,” Bai Fugui replied softly. “Tai Su sensed His arrival.”

“Tai Su…” The worker paused, accepting his words. “Can you trace who freed Zhao You?”

“No,” Bai Fugui shook his head. “I know you need Zhao You—need His ability to ward off misfortune and attract fortune… but this isn’t something you can rush.”

“Zhao You has dwelled on this land for many, many, many years. You know His state has always been relatively stable—among all known ‘ghosts,’ one of the most stable.”

“But in recent years, Zhao You’s mental state has steadily deteriorated due to some unknowable cause, slipping to the brink of madness, and the ‘gate’ linking this realm to His has begun to destabilize.”

“I originally planned to use the scenic project as a cover, hiding deaths under construction accidents, to locate the ‘gate’ and retrieve Zhao You. But who could have foreseen…”

Who could have foreseen that Zhao You’s mental collapse accelerated far beyond his expectations—his plan had barely begun when Zhao You was already freed.

And the world clinging to Zhao You shattered, disintegrated.

“Perhaps the unstable opening of the gate allowed some people from this realm to accidentally enter Zhao You’s world,” the worker mused. “So far, three confirmed cases—all dead.”

“Dead people have no value,” Bai Fugui said. “We need the living—the one who broke Zhao You’s rules and returned alive from His world’s reflection.”

“He is inside this estate,” Bai Fugui emphasized.

“Can you identify exactly who?” the worker asked again.

Bai Fugui shook his head.

“Alright…” The worker nodded without expression. “Have Tu Yu seal the estate. I’m about to release ‘Te Rang.’ Remember to clean up.”

“I understand,” Bai Fugui nodded.

As his words faded, the worker turned and climbed the steps to the main gate of the Bishui Bay estate.

He pulled a red candle and a match from his overalls pocket, lit the candle, and placed it directly before the gate.

The dim flame flickered pitifully beneath the bright moonlight; the worker stared impassively at the burning red candle, then clasped his own head and twisted hard—

A crack—sound of a snapped cervical spine.

The worker snapped his own neck and died before the main gate of Bishui Bay. The dim candlelight illuminated his still-warm, freshly dead body; from his lifeless throat came a gurgling hiss, and a thick, ink-black shadow slithered out from beneath him, as if chased by the candle’s glow, darting swiftly into the estate.

After the ‘shadow’ entered the estate, Bai Fugui approached the high wall and slowly pressed his palm against the white marble surface.

The next moment, the moon inside the estate went dark.

Looking down at the worker’s corpse lying before the gate, Bai Fugui sighed and shook his head. “Even ‘Te Rang’… you’re willing to unleash it. Your condition must be near its end.”

Otherwise, you wouldn’t be so desperate—so eager to obtain Zhao You to prolong your own life.

“Now we’ll see if that lucky one who broke Zhao You’s rules can survive ‘Te Rang’s’ hunt until Tu Yu’s seal is lifted.”

Bai Fugui bent down, seized the worker’s ankle, and dragged the corpse away from the Bishui Bay estate.

He didn’t care if his wife or daughter remained inside—their deaths at the hands of Te Rang would only reduce suspicion from those overly sensitive to his actions.

Besides, Bai Zhi… would never die.

Even if she wanted to.

After Bai Fugui left, the isolated estate plunged into darkness and chaos.

“There are ghosts everywhere.” The first line of Bai Zhi’s high school diary now struck Ning Zhe as painfully sharp.

Within the brightly lit estate, desperate shouts and panicked screams echoed constantly: “It’s haunted!” “Someone’s dead!”—noisy, chaotic under the night sky.

Amid the chaos, Ning Zhe saw a group of people bursting out of the bright estate, sprinting desperately toward the gate—but he saw nothing chasing them.

The terrified crowd fled in panic across the grand avenue facing the estate’s main gate, the tall pomelo trees on either side rustling in the evening wind.

Thud. The man at the front of the group collapsed without warning, dead on the spot, breath gone.

The rest screamed in alarm and scattered—but instantly, another person fell dead, without warning.

As if an invisible, intangible ghost wandered the estate, patiently hunting each person one by one.

“Ghosts…” Feng Yushu’s face turned ashen, her eyes filled with terror and unease. “Ning Zhe? Why are there ghosts here?”

“You ask me? Who am I supposed to ask?” Ning Zhe shook his head, returned the iPad to Feng Yushu, and transformed back into a small, agile magpie. “I’ll go check the situation. Stay right here. Don’t move.”

The ghost wandering Bishui Bay seemed deadlier than She Shen Zhao You or You Gui Tai Yi, killing with greater efficiency; within minutes, over a dozen gardeners and cleaners lay sprawled across the grand avenue before the main gate.

“Different from Tai Yi and Zhao You… what’s this ghost’s killing rule?”

Ning Zhe flapped his wings, flew low over the grand avenue, and landed on a branch of a pomelo tree, tilting his head to observe the corpses below.

But before he could examine them closely, a thick, ink-black shadow flashed past—Ning Zhe’s vision went black, and he tumbled headfirst from the branch.

—The magpie was dead.

(End of Chapter)