At around 6 PM, close to evening, a knock suddenly echoed through the room.
Isana and the others, who were playing cards on the bed in the room, paused their actions upon hearing the sound and all looked toward the door.
“Who is it?”
“Excuse me, is Miss Yao Xueyue here?”
A somewhat low female voice came from outside the door, carrying a faint aura of death that made it a bit unpleasant to listen to.
“Looking for you? Did you get into trouble?”
Mo Ling said with a mischievous grin, nudging Yao Xueyue with her elbow.
“Huh? No way, don’t talk nonsense. I’m a well-mannered young lady, you know.”
‘It can’t be someone I pissed off with my spoiled attitude, right?’
“Hmm? I heard that~ Spoiled attitude.”
Mo Ling kept taunting her, deliberately pausing between each word, until Yao Xueyue shot her a glare and she quieted down.
The look on Mo Ling’s face seemed like she was about to say “I’ll count to three.”
“I’ll go check it out. You two stay here, and don’t even think about peeking at my cards.”
After giving her instructions, Yao Xueyue walked to the door and opened it.
Standing outside was a young woman wearing a black dress, with short black hair accented by a few white streaks.
Yao Xueyue had a vague impression of her.
She had seen her earlier at the funeral—the woman seemed to be a family member of the deceased.
“Um… who are you?”
“Good afternoon. I am Lu Xinyin, daughter of Lu Luoquan. My father mentioned that you are a member of the Shadow of the World Association, is that correct?”
“Yes, is there something you need?”
“Well, in the snowy area outside the hotel, my father and the others found some strange tracks. They believe… that whatever made those tracks couldn’t possibly be a normal wild animal, so they wanted to ask you to come take a look.”
“Unusual tracks… Could it be an Abnormality?”
Out of professional instinct, Yao Xueyue immediately made the connection.
Although normally this kind of situation should be handed over to the Youxun Sentry Post for investigation, the snow had blocked the roads, and there was still a blizzard outside… having them handle it was indeed the best option.
At the same time, she keenly noticed that this seemingly lifeless young woman also carried a faint Nether Breath on her.
That wasn’t too surprising.
If she had indeed seen traces left behind by an Abnormality in action, it made sense for some residual energy to stick to her.
But…
Her demeanor, combined with her eyes hidden beneath the strands of hair on her forehead, was rather unsettling.
Yao Xueyue couldn’t help but entertain other suspicions in her mind.
“I understand… My companions and I will get ready first, then come out and follow you.”
“Alright, thank you for your trouble.”
After closing the door, Yao Xueyue frowned and returned to the bedside, picking up her thick coat and thermal leggings to change clothes.
“What’s wrong? What happened?”
Mo Ling asked.
Isana also turned her gaze toward her.
“It seems there are traces of an Abnormality. Mo Ling, come with me to check it out. Isana, stay here. If I haven’t messaged you in half an hour, bring Miss Li Meng and the others over. There should be some of my hairs on the bed—you can use those as a catalyst.”
As she spoke, she had already started unbuttoning her shirt to change her clothes.
“Why not bring them along right now?”
Mo Ling asked, puzzled.
“If there are too many people, I’m worried we’ll alert the enemy. Besides… Miss Qiu Qiqian can’t control her Nether Breath to suppress it, and she might also scatter the residual Abnormality Nether Breath.”
“Alright then.”
A short while later, after getting ready, Yao Xueyue and Mo Ling opened the door, exchanged a few brief words with the woman, and followed her downstairs.
After the hotel finished checking the room occupancy, some guests had started returning to the hotel’s facilities to enjoy themselves, but there weren’t many people.
Even passing straight through wouldn’t cause much trouble.
Yet this Miss Lu Xinyin deliberately led them along a path that was practically remote, staying mostly in the blind spots of the surveillance cameras.
“That’s strange…”
Yao Xueyue muttered to herself.
But if she tried to explain it with another reason, it could still work.
Pushing open the back door, the blizzard outside hit them head-on.
Even someone like Yao Xueyue, with a Nether Body, instinctively raised her hand to shield herself.
But Miss Lu Xinyin didn’t flinch at all, as if she couldn’t feel a thing.
“With this level of snowstorm, can you still find those so-called tracks?”
Mo Ling squinted.
Everything in front of her was a vast expanse of white, with no way to tell east from west or south from north.
In response to Mo Ling’s question, Lu Xinyin just gave a faint “mm,” then walked straight ahead.
The two had no choice but to follow.
However, the longer they walked, the more Yao Xueyue sensed something was off.
As a “Yexun,” her perception told her that there was a Nether Breath from an Abnormality nearby, and it was quite intense.
Intense enough to make even a normal person feel a sense of dread.
Whoosh—
The blizzard seemed to be getting stronger.
Accompanied by a sensation of spatial distortion, Yao Xueyue keenly realized she had been dragged into the Inner World.
She immediately released her Nether Breath.
In an instant, the snow within two meters beneath her feet melted, creating a small space that shielded her from the Inner World’s blizzard.
A crescent-shaped silver ring blade circled around her, ready to fend off anything that might suddenly burst out of the wind and snow.
This was a lesson she had learned from last time, when she defeated the Black-robed Abnormality.
“Mo Ling! How are you doing over there?!”
Yao Xueyue shouted, but the only response was the howl of the wind.
She turned around.
There was no one behind her—just the snowstorm kept at bay by her Nether Breath.
“Separated again? Damn it…”
“And that person? Where did she go?”
Yao Xueyue tried to search for traces of Lu Xinyin, but… there was nothing left either.
“This isn’t right! That woman… is definitely off! Either she’s someone bewitched by an Abnormality, or… someone who serves one!”
The thoughts racing through Yao Xueyue’s mind momentarily drowned out the blizzard around her.
In the Inner World, the chaotic Nether Breath was dense, and she detected no other Abnormality Nether Breath.
So she decided to directly initiate Mingxi Tracking.
But the result made her breath catch.
The Abnormality that created this Inner World… wasn’t here?!
At that very moment, outside the Inner World.
Lu Xinyin watched the spot where Mo Ling and Yao Xueyue had disappeared, her eyes devoid of any sympathy.
In her eyes, these people were no different from all those she had brought here before.
“It’s almost over.”
She murmured, then looked toward the hotel.
“If I trigger an avalanche in the end, then even the Association and the police will have to write it off as a natural disaster.”
As an ordinary person, she didn’t have the ability to cause an avalanche herself.
But…
From the blizzard beside her, a massive giant flesh worm emerged—and that was a different story entirely.
“Strange… I notified them so long ago; why is there still no movement?”
In the office, Lu Luoquan’s fingers tapped irritably on the desk as he anxiously waited for Yao Xueyue to arrive.
But over twenty minutes had passed, and she still hadn’t shown up.
“Did they not find it… or did something happen?”
“Boss, I’ve brought the reserved red wine you asked for.”
Just then, a waiter with a fringe slicked to the side knocked on the half-open door, then entered carrying a bottle of red wine that looked like it had some age on it.
“You… when did I ask you to get the reserved red wine?”
Lu Luoquan looked at the guy who had retrieved his precious wine, utterly stunned.
“Huh? Just now, when I was going to notify Miss Yao Xueyue, I ran into Miss Lu Xinyin. She said you changed your mind and told me to get the reserved red wine from the underground wine cellar, and that she would go notify Miss Yao Xueyue instead…”
“And you actually believed that damn brat’s words?!”
Lu Luoquan slammed his hands on the desk and stood up.
“Is she the boss here, or am I?!”
Seeing the waiter speechless from being yelled at, Lu Luoquan didn’t continue to berate him.
Instead, he sat back down, closed his eyes, and pinched the bridge of his nose.
“Tch… forget it, forget it. Get out. I’ll handle it myself later.”
“Alright, I’ll take the wine back then.”
The waiter quickly left with the bottle, afraid of angering the boss further.
“That damned brat… what exactly is she trying to do?!”
“I’ll go check the monitoring room myself!”
At the same time Lu Luoquan moved, over in Li Meng’s room, Isana, who had already briefed her on the situation, was keeping an eye on the clock.
“Half an hour has passed, and Yao Xueyue hasn’t sent me a message… Looks like something unexpected happened.”
“Let’s go, Xiao Qian. Time to move.”
Li Meng was already dressed, and Qiu Qiqian beside her had also changed clothes.
“Now then… it’s my turn.”
Isana picked up a strand of hair she had taken from Yao Xueyue’s bed and, as before, brought it to her lips.
After a gentle kiss, the silver strand dissipated into particles of light, then re-formed at her fingertip into a silver butterfly.
With a flick of her finger, the butterfly fluttered its wings and flew straight out through the half-open door, scattering a trail of silver phosphor that lingered in the air.
The group immediately followed the trace of phosphor out of the room.
But as soon as they left the residential area, they ran straight into Lu Luoquan, who was on his way to the monitoring room.
“Leaving in such a hurry, ladies—is something important going on?”
Lu Luoquan saw the three young women rushing about and, worried that something else had gone wrong, pressed them for answers.
“Sorry, our friend was taken away by someone and hasn’t come back yet, so we need to go check on her.”
Qiu Qiqian and the others didn’t stop.
They gave a quick explanation and hurried past Lu Luoquan.
“Taken away by someone… Could it be? Wait… are you talking about Lu Xinyin?”
Hearing Lu Luoquan’s words, the three instinctively halted.
Li Meng turned back to look at the middle-aged man with a hint of surprise.
“Huh? How did you know, uncle?”
“I’m sorry, that’s my daughter. I don’t know what’s gotten into that brat, but she tricked my staff and took your friend away without permission. I was just on my way to the monitoring room. Since you have a way to track her whereabouts, could you bring that brat back? I need to teach her a lesson myself.”
Lu Luoquan tried to keep his emotions in check, but Qiu Qiqian could still hear the grit in his teeth.
It was hard to imagine a father treating his daughter like an enemy.
“I understand. If we see her, we’ll do our best to bring her back.”
Qiu Qiqian replied, and then she and Li Meng continued following the silver butterfly’s trail.