~~ A drop of blood ~~

At the end of the passageway was a wooden door with a streak of light visible from a crack between the door and doorframe.

Chai Gang carefully made his way to the front of the door. Looking at everybody that was behind him, he made a silent gesture and took out a rough piece of glass. This piece of glass seemed to be a magifying glass.

Placing the glass on the door, something magical began to occur. —— If they looked through the glass object, everyone was able to see the space on the other side of the door!

Although the image wasn’t clear, everyone one was instantly able to distinguish that behind the door, was a study. The study wasn’t large, but it was neat and orderly.

Everything seemed to be in order, directly facing the doorway behind a large study desk was a large, living person. This image made everyone feel very nervous.

It was a male, a male that was wearing sunglasses, dressed impeccably like a real gentleman. Although the image wasn’t very clear, Su Mo was immediately able to recognise this man’s identity. —— He is the father of the children in the picture, Tan Le’s step father.

Wasn’t Tan Le kidnapped? Why was his step father appearing over here?

This study must surely be important, for the sunglass-wearing-male to appear here at three minutes past midnight.

Everyone found it difficult not to suspect that this place was the place that Tan Le was kidnapped to, in order to be blackmailed. But now also whether this was really the step father’s home.

These doubts kept accumulating, to the point that none of them felt brave enough to rashly push open the door and enter the study. Rather they were all holding their breaths staring with rapt attention; carefully observing the man with the sunglasses.

In the hand of the man was grasped a piece of paper, with a grave expression on his face.

The strangest part was, that even in the dead of night, he was still wearing sunglasses.

As they were all hesitating, the man suddenly turned his head around!

“You’ve finally arrived….”

He spoke in a soft voice, similiar to a whisper, as the corner of his mouth began to tug upward until it turned into a smiling expression.

A strong sense of being in a crisis was suddenly felt. Su Mo subconsciously felt that they needed to retreat!

Too late!

They saw the man suddenly beckon towards them, and the door began to creak open.

At the same time, an unparalled force was felt, attracting them to him causing the six people to be hurtled into the room!

The six people instantly tried to get into a formation.

“Fuck! Do you have to be so irritating!”

Chai Gang continued to curse as the the man instantaneously appeared in front of the group. Grabbed Mark by the neck and pushing him against the wall. They only heard a ‘thud’ , when suddenly Mark’s face began to flush red!

This unexpected situation happened too suddenly, that nobody had had the time to mentally prepared themselves. The sunglasses man had caught them all off guard.

“Au…..help, help me….”

Mark was frantically struggling, but the male’s strength was just too incredible. His struggling was futile as he was unable to escape from the stonghold.

“Hey! Eat my sword old man!”

The first person to react was Chai Gang, as he jumped high into the air, the gleam of a sword flashing in his hand as he swung the knife towards the man’s arm. —— At this time who would still care about whether this was the step dad or not, they were all frends and had each other’s backs!

Without even glancing at the sword, the male □□ had an ordinary body and he was naturally unable to resist. However, his reaction was also quite fast. As he released his hold on Mark’s neck, he was able to simultaneously throw him into the air.

“Ouch!!”

As Chai Gang was coming at him with his machete, he collided with Mark mid-air.

At that moment, Dai Xing Zhang and Xiao Ya also reacted by drawing closer. With his physical attributes now having been strengthened, the male charged towards Chai Gang and Mark. As he did that, Chai Gang and Mark quickly seperated and stabbed towards the man’s now exposed back!

However, it was like the man had eyes on the back of his head. Because he was easily able to evade the two people’s offensive attack and in a calm manner.

With a few seconds to spare, Chai Gang got back onto his feet. He kicked Mark towards the corner of the room and immediately raised the machete, once more plunging it towards the male. Along with Dai Xing Zhang and Xiao Ya they executed a double attack.

Between the three people, Chai Gang’s physical abilities were the best, with a vicious offense. The man seemed to also realise this, as he turned his attention and focused mainly on Chai Gang. —— Although the man was unarmed, the continously abused Chai Gang couldn’t help crying out.

At this time, Mark also stood up. Picking up the iron rod that he had previously dropped and glanced bitterly behind him at Chai Gang. He wanted to join the fight, but the space in the study was very narrow and the limit to the amount of people that could be in the fight was four, so they wouldn’t be able to handle his interference.

Everything was in a state of chaos. ^[1] they used an idiom that translates to, chickens flying and dogs jumping, scraps of paper flying around. So you can imagine the scene of chaos unfolding With sounds of cracking, banging crashing accompanying it, the once pristine study had instantly fallen into a state of pandemonium.

In order to refrain from getting injure, as soon as the fighting started, Su Mo slipped away to the corner of the room and watched on as the three people waged an attack on the man. However, seeing how the man wasn’t showing any signs of panic, his brow began to furrow more and more.

“WTF! Is he a cockroach? How is he so slippery!”

The bewildered Chai Gang said in amazement. The man was just too talented when it came to being nimble. The space within the study was already pitifully narrow, however, in this small space, the man was like a fish in water. ^[2]Completely in his element, with great control of the situation Even though they were fiercely attacking him, they weren’t even able to touch the hem of his coat.

In comparison to the average man, the physical capabilities of these three people was much higher. Although they had limited knowledge when it came to fist fights, as they were armed against this man who was unarmed, surely they should have the upperhand. But the fact of the matter was tha,t not only were they unable to get even the slightest advantage in this situation, but the man kept stricking their weaknesses. Cries of pain filled the air.

The man clearly didn’t have a strong and muscular physique, however at this moment, the male seemed like a peerless master. ^[3]He is the best, no one can challenge him Every move that Chai Gang and the other two people used to attack was seemingly predicted in advance and easily dodged while delivering a counterattack.

Xiao Ya whose physical strength was rapidly decreasing. She was looking for an opportunity for when the male was careless, when suddenly a foot kicked out towards a vital point causing her to fall to the ground, unable to get up!

Xiao Ya was defeated and in the second, the difficult to achieve stalemate was broken!

The old Dai Xing Zhang was also knocked to the ground. Now the only person left was Chai Gang, who although was the strongest in terms of physical constitution, was also struggling to sustain against the force of the man.

Chai Gang was forcefully pushed back again and again. Mark really wanted to help, but he felt like a chicken. Too weak to move. Without waiting for him to lend a hand in support, the male dodged to the side and appeared right next to him!

“Ah!!!”

With a miserable cry, not only did the man dislocate Mark’s arm, but the metal rod that he had been holding in his hand was also forcefully taken from him!

He was so incredible while weaponless, so how would they be able to continue now that he had a weapon?

Within a second, his strenght seemed to double. All you hear is a “cling clang“, as the machete flies out of Chai Gangs hand and a severe pain is felt by his neck. —— The man was planning on choking him to death!

His face swelled and turned red as he began to see stars. Chai Gang, who was suffocating, felt himself giving up hope in despair……

“doofdoofdoofdoofdoof!!!”

\”Load up on guns.\”

\”AND Bring your friends……\”

At that moment, from the inside of the room the sound of intense rock and roll music suddenly began to blast!

The song was that of a 70’s rock band from M country called Nirvana. But that wasn’t important, what was important was that the instant that that rock song started to play, the man’s confident face unexpectedly revealed a distinct look of agitation.

The man immediately released his hand that was clamped around Chai Gang’s throat, and rushed at full speed towards the radio that was in the corner of the study!

‘doof, bang, clatter’ ^[4]The sound effects of him kicking things out of the way

The man kicked away every obstacle in his path, until he finally arrived before the radio.
Only thing is, that just as his palm came towards the radio, with his finger outstreched to touch it, a shadow appeared behind him along with a silver gleam of light….

‘Oof….’

The eerily cold dagger stabbed directly through the man’s chest. His stiff body no longer able to make anymore movements. The man’s arm went weak and hung down by his side as his body stiffly tumbled to the ground….

\”It’s fun to lose. And to pretend……\”

The rock song was still blasting on the speakers as everyone gaped at Su Mo, watching him silently wiping the dagger clean.

“Dead, he’s dead?!”

Finding it difficult to stand up, Xiao Ya’s face was full of disbelief.

“cough cough cough…… How fucking unlucky!”

After cupping his throught and coughing, Chai Gang yelled out at the top of his lungs, “Su my dude! What the hell is going on!”

The male was entirely too powerful. Everyone was shaken up by the death of the male to the point that they overlooked how Su Mo was able to handle the knife without injury.

Turning off the radio, Su Mo spoke with an indifferent air, “He is blind.”

“Huh?”

“No way…”

“Blind? How is that possible!”

The male’s extraordinarily brave and nimble behaviour left a deep impression on everyone. How is it possible that that sort of person could be blind?

Lu Lu Lan, who had instantly and uncaringly withdrawn to the corner of the room after they had entered the study, immediately ran to stand in front of the corpse. Removing his sunglasses, “It’s true! He really is blind!”

However, when they saw the man’s bulging, blood covered eyes, they noticed that in the middle of the eye there wasn’t any pupil, but rather, a small black dot. It was incredibly terrifying.

“Auugh, I feel sick!”

Goosbumps rose on their skin. Xiao Ya looked away, daring not to look too long at it.

At that moment Mark was covering his dislocated arm in a cold sweat. “That….. Who can set my bone back? The pain is going to kill me!”

“Really useless!”

Chai Gang who was black and blue grimaced as he went over to Mark. After shoving a piece of rag into Mark’s mouth, a “crackle snap” sound was heard as the two sides were set back to their original position.

Chai Gang was able to put them together in a clean motion, although Mark’s face turned a purplish-red colour.

However, Chai Gang didn’t see the bitterness in his eyes, because as soon as he had finished setting his bone right, he went straight over to Su Mo. Falling at his side with a look of eager curiosity written on his face.

“A blind person’s hearing is much better than a normal person’s and when you guys were fighting, I was paying attention to his ears.”

Whilst Su Mo was explaining, he was making his way towards the front of the desk. Sitting there was the piece of paper that the male had been looking at. He continued, “The densely packed bumps that we found at the back of the iron gate was exactly like braille.”

Also taking into account the passageway that was full of bumps and holes as well as the sides of it having those strange engravings on it, it really wasn’t difficult to infer that he was blind.

The chandelier in the study was also bright enough to cause one’s eyes to burst. So who would guess that the person sitting inside the study was actually blind?

“To be precise, he isn’t completely blind.”

The reason why the light in the study is so bright is probably so that the male can also see a little bit. —— The fact that the letter in Su Mo’s hand wasn’t written in braille was evidence enough.

Of course these points weren’t important. The important part was why the male would appear here and now at this location and would suddenly attack them without any reason and what the contents of the letter were.

From within the letter, everyone learned of the male’s real name, He Wan Zhou. Also, that his daughter is the owner of the diary, and that her name is He Bei.

The letter was sent by He Wan Zhou’s brother, He Wan Li. Excluding a few of the boring superfluous words, everyone was able to obtain a few important points of information:
Firstly, He Wan Zhou was a chemist and that he wasn’t born blind. Rather an accident occured one day whilest doing an experiment that caused him to go blind.

Secondly, Tan Qing is the younger brother that He Wan Li introduced to his older brother. After two days he will go check up on Tan Le.

Thirdly, He Wan Zhou’s mental state was unstable, that he even had an inclination towards domestic violence.

Lastly, the brother mentioned it vaguely, but he really didn’t have to state it explicitly. The fact that the way in which He Wan Zhou’s first wife died was not as simple as an ‘accident’.

“Haha, this is becoming more and more interesting.”

From what appeared in the letters, they were pretty sure their mission wasn’t just about a simple kidnapping case.

Everyone began to search the entirety of the study in hopes of find something. But they didn’t find any other useful information, so they went to open the door to leave as quickly as possible.

“Were we tranported?”

“Fuck, where the hell is this place now!”

After everyone had pushed aside the door, they discovered that the space before them was black. Afterwards they found themselves entering the main hall of the abandoned residence!

The main hall was large and spacious, with the interior conforming to the 70’s style. Even though there wasn’t much light in the room, there was plenty to be seen.

The most unexpected thing was the large oil painting that was on the previously empty wall, in front of the main entrance.

Everyone’s attention was drawn towards the painting. The oil painting had on it even something the ‘illiterate’ Chai Gang could understand. After looking at it, everyone’s face became ugly, even Su Mo’s.

“The heavens were rolling with blood and fire, arousing shock and horror….”

The red colour of the setting sun, falling on a twisted and distorted world. In the middle of the painting there was a small, similarly distorted male with his hands covering his ears. His eyes open wide, with his mouth open continuously screaming something…. This extremely large painting with it’s thick and heavy colours was unlike another. It was exactly the historical painting by that Norwegian artist Edvard Munch’s, “The Scream”.

“Loneliness, despair, terror…. This is a tribute to life.”

Su Mo frowned. They were suspected to be in a paranormal mansion, in the 70’s, so why would this sort of oil painting suddenly appear here?

The “the Scream” painting, was enormous. In the pale yellow light of the lamp, it seemed as if they were back in the real world. —— The hair on every person’s neck stood on end.

Besides the oil painting, there seemed to be no other clues within the main hall.

At the back of the hall to the left, there was a wooden ladder leading to the first floor^[5]Second floor for Americans with a corridor on the right.

“I propose we divide into two groups. The first group will stay on the ground floor and the second group will go to the first floor.” Su Mo proposed.

He hadn’t even finished saying his suggestion, when he was instantly overruled.

“This place is way too strange, seperating is way too dangerous!”

“Right, right. It will be better to stick together!”

In the end Chai Gang concluded. “Since we don’t have any time constraints, it should be fine for us all to go together! Hm, how about we inspect the ground floor first?”

The corner of Su Mo’s mouth raised slightly as he coldly spoke. “Since it’s now like this, you five people stay on the ground floor and I’ll go to the first floor!”

After saying that, he didn’t wait for everyone to respond and took a step to go towards the staircase.

“Hey hey! What are you doing?”

Su Mo making arbitrary decisions and acting without thought of himself, instantly made everyone become angry. Seeing him paying no attention to their protests and just climbing up the stairs, Chai Gang gritted his teeth and spoke firmly. “You four go and search the ground floor and I will go with him to the first floor!”

After saying that, Chai Gang hurriedly ran towards the staircase. Leaving behind Xiao Ya and the three other people staring at each other with large eyes…..

~~~~

Author has something to say:

Su Mo: I just want to be by myself. (Cold expression)

Chai Gang: Don’t even think about it!

Chu Han: Who is Jing Jing?^[6]【静静】Jing Jing is the character Su Mo says which means quite, when he says he wants to be by himself (jealous face)

Just got jealous. Will update in an hour… (awkward)

~~~~

TL Smol_Aries’s note:

Hello everyone. I’m sorry this took so long. I’m certain we’re all aware how busy one can be when in university, not that that’s an adequate excuse. I will try to update more frequently from now on I promise.

Good luck for any difficulties you or your families may have and well done for surviving thus far into the year.( ˘ ³˘)♥