Chapter 10: 010 Rong Rong’s Demise, Part 2

Chapter 10: 010 Rong Rong's Demise, Part 2

With a large family to feed, every mouth demanded expenses. The gold ingot Cao Yuanfang had given Rong Rong was only sufficient for a week's sustenance. The items she had taken from Ruomu Huating were of great value, and it wouldn't be easy to find a buyer anytime soon.

Driven by the necessities of life, she had no choice but to seek out Cao Yuanfang after a week...

The moon hung high above the withered branches, casting an eerie silence upon the surroundings. A distant cottage glowed with a soft light.

"Sure enough, she still lives in the same place," Rong Rong observed, gazing at the distant speck of illumination.

Snap! —— A twig cracked softly, its crispness piercing the silence.

Rong Rong spun around, her senses heightened, her eyes shining bright in the darkness.

Fu You stood silently by the osmanthus tree, "Rong Rong, if you're facing any difficulties, you can always turn to me, as long as..."

"As long as I hand over the Rong family's heirloom? Let me tell you, Fu You, I'd give you anything else from the Rong family, but not that. I've heard from Azu that you even pursued her for that treasure when she was young." Rong Rong's words dripped with sarcasm and ridicule.

"But you're different. Fu You truly likes you."

Rong Rong truly didn't wish to waste time with him. She urged, "Don't bother me, just stay out of the way."

As she approached Cao Yuanfang's house, Rong Rong involuntarily quickened her pace, inadvertently neglecting the path underfoot and stepped on something round, causing her to stumble and fall.

She got up, kicked the object away, and limped towards the thatched cottage.

Just as she entered Cao Yuanfang's home, she heard him call out, "You're here. I'm in the kitchen. My wife just made some old hen soup. Would you like a taste?"

Rong Rong responded and found Cao Yuanfang sitting alone at the table. Looking around, she asked, "It's just you? Where's Wenwen and your wife?"

Cao Yuanfang's eyes seemed even darker in the night as he said, "Our house is barely livable, with just mud floors. How could I bear for them to continue living in such conditions?"

Rong Rong surveyed the surroundings. One of the kitchen windows was broken, covered by a piece of cardboard that had faded over time. "I never expected the Cao family to be in such a..."

Cao Yuanfang chuckled, "Ah, let's not dwell on the past. Sit down quickly."

She sat down as invited and observed Cao Yuanfang across the table, his appearance unkempt with greasy lips. It reminded her of their childhood, "Back then, you were so clean and fair. Many girls told me they liked you when we grew up. It's a shame that..."

"I was dirt poor and couldn't afford to burden anyone," Cao Yuanfang said, casting a sidelong glance at Rong Rong. "You looked stunning on your tenth birthday. Your dress was adorned with jewels, shimmering like pearls and jade. Now my appearance has changed greatly, but you haven't."

One was barely clothed, while the other was adorned with luxurious attire; yet now, it was the latter who sought help from the former.

Upon hearing this, a subtle twitch could be seen at the corner of Rong Rong's mouth.

Cao Yuanfang chuckled inwardly and delved into the main topic, "Well, let's just say our mayor isn't very adept at handling matters and tends to act on assumptions. It's not feasible for those children to keep living with you, so I plan on constructing an orphanage in town to accommodate them as a means to make up for my mistake."

"Building any structure in the town requires approval from the mayor, though."

"No worries. I have a gift prepared for Dong Tianyi, one that will ensure his agreement. Rong Rong, would you mind delivering it to his hilltop estate tomorrow?"

Seeing Cao Yuanfang's pale and haggard face after several days apart, Rong Rong noticed the dark circles under his eyes and asked, "Why don't you deliver it yourself?"

Cao Yuanfang chuckled again and explained, "There was some unpleasantness three years ago regarding the mine incident. I'm afraid he wouldn't approve if I were to go myself. Besides, having the orphanage built in your name will only benefit you."

Rong Rong felt a heavy weight in her chest upon hearing this. She recalled that Cao Yuanfang, due to financial struggles, had dropped out before completing junior high, and his speech used to be rough. Yet now, his words carried a compelling logic that left her without a retort.

Indeed, the burden of caring for those children was beyond her capabilities.

"Certainly." She nodded in agreement.

Another three days passed...

Rong Rong suddenly felt an unusual itch in her throat, as if something was tickling her from within. When she spoke, a faint odd sound could be heard.

By then, Cao Yuanfang had already brought the box intended for Dong Tianyi to her side.

Her hand caressed the half-human-height rosewood box, curiosity urging her to open it. Yet, Cao Yuanfang's warning echoed in her mind: "Inside is the Night Orchid. This flower has miraculous healing properties for wounds. Legend has it that after the Demon God died beneath Xixuan Men, he reincarnated by possessing a corpse. To preserve his body from decay, he consumed the Night Orchid daily. The moment he stopped, he turned into dust. The patient consumes the flower – that flower is the Night Orchid. It thrives in the darkness of decaying corpses; exposure to light would kill it. You must not open the wooden box..."

Surveying the children in the room, she suppressed her curiosity for their sake.

Unfolding the note that came with the wooden box, a string of numbers caught his eye -- it was Dong Tianyi's phone number.

She followed the note meticulously, pressing each digit with care, fearful of dialing the wrong number.

After a brief moment, the call was answered on the other end.

Driven by her strong will and the belief that she had done no wrong, Rong Rong hadn't reached out to anyone from Ci Ye's family since being expelled from the Rong household. Nervous, she raised her hand to massage her throat before saying, "Uncle Dong, it's Rong Rong!"

"Uncle Dong, it's Rong Rong!" The eerie voice mimicked her words.

"…" Dong Tianyi paused for a moment before he replied, "Oh, it's Rong Rong. What can I do for you?"

"I have something to give you…"

"Alright." Without hesitation, Dong Tianyi agreed and arranged a meeting with Rong Rong at a hotel that same night.

...

"In the silence of the night, the gift that Cao Yuanfang sent through Rong Rong was the Jian Songxiang box containing the echo insects," Dong Tianyi's voice resonated deeper in the stillness.

"If I hadn't sent someone to Scarlet Water to invite Yi Shujun, the box might have been opened, and those echo insects released," Dong Tianyi looked at An Zhi. "If that happened, the entire Ciye Town would have relived the catastrophe from a thousand years ago, leaving no survivors."

Feeling uneasy under his gaze, An Zhi said, "But you shouldn't have killed Rong Rong."

"Rong Rong…" Dong Tianyi murmured. "Before entrusting the box to Rong Rong, Cao Yuanfang approached me, asking for my help to raise the echo insects using the townsfolk's bodies. I refused. Then, he threatened me, saying, 'If you don't agree, I'll infect everyone in town with these insects, and they'll all die.' Since then, I've kept an eye on the townspeople. As soon as anyone showed any unusual signs, I'd confine them in the water prison until…"

"Until you received Rong Rong's call, and you realized she had been infected by the insects. So, you pretended not to know and arranged a meeting at the hotel just to kill her!" An Zhi's anger grew. "She had a good heart. If you told her about Cao Yuanfang's scheme, she would have given you the box. You could have isolated her and found a way to cure her. How could you just take her life like that?!"

Dong Tianyi didn't even furrow his brows. With a calm and detached expression, he said, "I didn't want to either. I did it for everyone's benefit. I hope she won't blame me in the afterlife."

An Zhi asked again, "Then why did you hang her body up?!"

"Hang her up?" A hint of confusion flashed across Dong Tianyi's eyes.

"Who else could have done it if not you?!" An Zhi found Dong Tianyi incomprehensible. "How could you humiliate the deceased like that and still expect them not to blame you?!"

Dong Tianyi shook his head. "The moment Rong Rong took her last breath, I panicked and only thought of bringing Jian Songxiang home." Lowering his head, he continued with a chilling tone, "Haha—I knew the law, enforced it, but still broke it. What was I? That day, my wife happened to overhear my conversation with Rong Rong. She thought I was seeing another woman behind her back and threatened to report me. In a fit of anger, I... "

"Yes..." Under the gold-rimmed glasses, his gaze flickered as he said, "I strangled her to death, so why was she still preparing breakfast for Quan Quan the next morning?..."

Upon hearing this, An Zhi felt a chill run down his spine.

Dong Tianyi was no longer the cold-hearted man described by Xuan Zhu. He had become so indifferent to life that he was bordering on madness. Who knew what kind of evil spirits this madman had provoked!

An Zhi fell silent for a moment before saying, "If only we hadn't driven Rong Rong away back then..."

"Ai... It's all fate's doing that the echo bug returned here. The karma of the world is fickle. If we were to trace back a thousand years, if that malevolent spirit hadn't appeared in Ciye Town, none of this would have transpired," Rong Azu's head, peppered with white hair, bore the marks of time's relentless passage.

A thousand-year-old malevolent spirit?

If Fu You was right about the echo bug following Shen Yuan, could it be that he was that spirit?

The scene captured in the Shadow Pearl showed Shen Yuan's hands warm and his nostrils filled with the scent of rust.

That must be him, the malevolent spirit.

An Zhi quietly clenched his fists, digging his nails into his palms. The pain served as a reminder: He was An Zhi, so why was he getting too immersed in this?

"Rong Azu..." He glanced at the elder briefly before quickly averting his gaze. Hesitantly, he asked, "Do you know who that malevolent spirit is? Could it be me?"

Putting aside his usual nonchalance, this was one of the few moments he was genuinely serious.

"Do you think it's you?" Rong Azu's smile remained gentle on his lips.

"I... I don't know..." An Zhi's gaze was downcast as he shook his head.

"Not having personally experienced something, I dare not nor should I make assumptions. But I trust the judgment of our ancestors. If the Rong family's ancestor believes in you, don't you believe in yourself?"

Rong Azu's words carried the weight of a life full of experiences, a clarity that pierced through confusion with a single utterance.

"Cough!" Chi Zuo opened his eyes and coughed. "Based on my impression and understanding of you, that malevolent entity couldn't possibly be you."

A wave of relief washed over An Zhi's heart. "Thank you."

Outside the window, small insects chirped softly against the dry air.

"Haha, what thanks do I need? I'm just speaking the truth..." Ci Zuo's tone suddenly shifted, "Courting death!"

His gaze darkened, sharp as a blade, with a hint of irritation in his voice. He sprang to his feet, his eyes fixed on a point outside the window. His clothes fluttered behind him as his slender, red-clad figure burst through the door and leaped into the pitch-black night.

The flames from the flour factory explosion showed no sign of abating; instead, they grew more intense, illuminating the southeastern sky with an eerie red glow. The piercing and urgent sirens reverberated throughout the entire Zhi Ye Town.

It was destined to be a sleepless night.

Two figures, one in red and the other in black, moved in tandem, leaping and dashing swiftly towards the southeastern forest, each in hot pursuit of the other.

Moonlight flowed like water, casting shimmering shadows on the swaying trees. Chi Zijie moved between the trunks with the mysterious figure.

Chi Zijie found the man's behavior rather peculiar:

When he slowed down, so did the man; when he hastened his pace, the man did the same.

They maintained a consistent distance.

Finally, Chi Zijie came to a halt.

Sure enough, the man followed suit.

Chi Zijie took a step forward.

The man retreated a step back.

"Stop, beast!" Chi Zijie called out to the dark silhouette ahead.

Flames illuminated the night, revealing the man draped in a black cloak that billowed slightly in the wind, giving him an eerie, ghostly appearance. He let out a soft, haunting laugh. "Heh heh heh..."

Chi Zuo'e's brow furrowed, and he plucked a branch from a nearby shrub, throwing it at the figure.

The instant the branch struck the person, they dissipated into a cloud of black mist, vanishing.

Witnessing this, Chi Zuo'e's heart tightened. "I've been tricked!... Oh no! That youngster!"

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