Peace closed the door again without locking it. She stood by the door, leaning against the wall and waiting. It didn’t take long.
Knock, knock, knock.
The Door-Knocking Aberration came again.
Peace raised her hand and opened the door.
The thing rushed in, and she pointed her index finger at it. The aberration collapsed.
She picked up the Ghost Crystal from the floor and handed it to Little Frost. Little Frost took it and put it in the bag.
Then Peace leaned back against the wall and waited for the next one.
They came one by one, and she killed them one by one.
Sometimes two came at once, but Peace didn’t exert much effort. She used her left hand for one and her right hand for the other, without even changing her gesture.
Mu Yingying watched from the side for a while, then sheathed her knife, pulled up a chair, and sat down, resting her chin on the handle.
“Peace, this is just too ridiculous, isn’t it? Killing these things is like swatting flies. You don’t even need to change the way you raise your hand?”
Peace didn’t answer her.
Little Frost sat next to White Night, organizing the Ghost Crystals into the bag one by one, occasionally looking down at her.
White Night counted very carefully, memorizing each one in her mind as it was added.
Over the course of the night, the knocking gradually stopped.
Before it was fully light, Peace walked away from the door and sat down on a chair.
White Night brought over the box and counted once, then again.
“Twenty-eight crystals.”
Mu Yingying sat bolt upright.
“Twenty-eight? Does that mean we can charge up the motorcycle a bit and let me take Little White Night for a spin?”
“No.” Little Frost refused without a second thought.
“You have a vehicle and you won’t ride it? I’ll tell you the story of the donkey that wouldn’t be ridden.” Mu Yingying said, a bit reckless.
“Are you calling White Night a donkey?” White Peace asked with a dark face.
“Ah, I misspoke. I’ll slap my own mouth.” Sensing the killing intent, Mu Yingying quickly slapped her own mouth, terrified that Peace would stab her to death with one finger, just like she had killed the aberrations.
After the knocking completely stopped, Peace suggested leaving the door open and waiting for the remaining aberrations to come to them.
The door remained open, and the wind blew in from the street, carrying a slight chill from the night.
There was no movement.
They waited for nearly half an hour, but nothing came.
Mu Yingying poked her head out through the door crack to look outside, then pulled it back in.
“Not a single shadow out there. Did they all run away?”
“They didn’t run. They’re all hiding,” Peace said.
“Then what do we do now? We can’t just wait here, can we? How do we lure them out?”
Peace was silent for a moment.
“Let’s not wait any longer tonight. These things aren’t that stupid. After suffering such a loss, they know they won’t gain anything from a direct confrontation. They won’t foolishly deliver themselves to us anymore.”
“Huh? We’re just giving up? Then we stayed up all night for nothing?”
“Let’s go back and rest first. Recharge our energy, and think of something tomorrow.”
Mu Yingying wanted to ask more, but seeing Peace already heading for the stairs, she swallowed the rest of her words and sighed at Little Frost. “Why did these things become so smart? They know to hide when they can’t win. Not stupid at all.”
Little Frost closed the door. “Come on, let’s go upstairs and rest.”
Upstairs, there were two large beds. Without a word, Mu Yingying pushed them together and patted them. “See? When you put them together, it’s so spacious. Plenty of room for four people. Come on over.”
No one objected.
The four of them lay down. White Night was sandwiched in the middle, and her Small Scooter was parked by the bed.
Her soul form shrank under the blanket, hugging the box of Ghost Crystals, and closed her eyes.
Soon, their breathing became steady.
After an unknown amount of time, something drifted over. It was very light, noiseless. Something approached White Night and gently hugged her.
Peace sensed it first. She opened her eyes and turned her head to look.
Little Frost’s body was still lying there, breathing steadily, but—
The wisp of consciousness that had drifted out of her was curled up next to White Night, holding her, completely still, as if it just wanted to lean against her without any other intention.
Peace watched for a while. She reached out her hand, trying to grab that thing. She didn’t catch it.
Her fingers passed right through it. The thing was like smoke, impossible to grasp, but it didn’t dodge—it just couldn’t be caught.
Peace frowned. If her strength couldn’t catch this thing, it meant its origin was not simple.
But it didn’t harm White Night. It just held her, very quietly.
Peace withdrew her hand, lay back down, and didn’t close her eyes again. She just watched.
The wisp of consciousness stayed for a while, as if sensing Peace’s gaze, then slowly retreated, slipped back into Little Frost’s body, and disappeared.
Peace stared in that direction for a moment, but didn’t wake anyone.
When dawn came, Peace told what had happened the night before.
Little Frost’s first reaction was to sit up, her face dark. “It came out again.”
“Mhm.”
“It didn’t touch White Night, did it?”
“It just hugged her. Didn’t do anything else.”
Little Frost pinched the bridge of her nose.
“I’m sorry. I really can’t do anything about it. When it comes out, I’m completely unaware. I can’t sense it even when I’m awake, let alone when I’m asleep.”
“Maybe I should sleep farther away from White Night at night, just in case…”
“You don’t need to.”
White Night spoke. She was sitting on the edge of the bike basket, still holding the box of Ghost Crystals. “I really feel like it doesn’t have any ill will.”
Little Frost looked at her. “How can you be sure? What if it just hasn’t acted yet?”
“It’s just a feeling. When it came close, I was actually awake, but I wasn’t scared at all. It doesn’t have any other intention. It just wanted to lean against me quietly.” She paused.
“Auntie Frost, don’t worry. I don’t want you to sleep so far away from me.”
Little Frost was silent for a while, and didn’t bring up separating the beds again.
Mu Yingying propped her chin on her hand and watched the drama.
“Hey, seriously, if I also had such a mysterious soul living inside me, that would be great. It feels pretty cool. Maybe it could even help me fight.”
“Stop talking nonsense,” Little Frost said.
“Copy that! Shutting up now!”
Before the morning was over, Wang Ziming arrived.
He knocked, came in with a smile, and placed some food on the table, saying it was from the town and they should try it.
After a few pleasantries, his expression gradually sobered. He sat down on a chair and placed his hands on his knees.
“Actually, I came today because there’s something I want to discuss with you. I didn’t mention it before because I felt the timing wasn’t right. Now I think we can talk.”
White Night looked at him but didn’t speak.
“I heard the commotion from your side last night. You’re collecting Ghost Crystals, and you killed over twenty Door-Knocking Aberrations in one go. Your strength truly exceeds my expectations. To be honest, I know where the Mayor is right now.”
The room went quiet for a moment.
“The Mayor is currently in closed-door cultivation. Only I know the exact location. I can take you there.”
“Go ahead. What reward do you want?” Little Frost asked.
Wang Ziming didn’t beat around the bush.
“It’s simple. After the Mayor dies, this town cannot be without a leader. Someone has to come forward to take charge. I want to be the new Mayor.”
White Night raised her head and asked directly, “I only have one question. What are you really?”
Wang Ziming smiled and didn’t dodge the question. “You want to ask whether I’m a True Human or a Fake Human like them, right?”
White Night didn’t deny it.
“I’m a True Human. A complete True Human, just like you. I was accidentally trapped in this damned place. I made a deal with them: they spared my life, and I handle some miscellaneous tasks for them. In exchange, I got a bit of status and freedom in this town.”
He was still spouting lies, not knowing that White Peace had already seen through his true nature.
“So you help them trick outsiders into coming here to die, right?” Mu Yingying said, her tone not harsh, just stating a fact.
Wang Ziming didn’t deny it. “Yes.”
A few seconds of silence.
“I’ll apologize to you first. When I first met you, I didn’t explain these things right away. That was my mistake.”
White Night looked at him. “Then why should I trust you? Once you become mayor and have all the power, won’t you continue to help them trick people in?”
Wang Ziming glanced at her.
“I can’t give you any guarantees, and you can’t truly believe me. But I can show my sincerity. I know how many True Humans are still trapped in this town, and I know where they’re locked up. I can take you to rescue them first. That’s the greatest sincerity I can offer.”
White Night didn’t speak immediately. She turned to look at Peace.
Peace was sitting by the window, lightly tapping the window frame with her finger.
She glanced at White Night. She didn’t say yes or no.
White Night turned back to face Wang Ziming.
“We need to discuss this. Go back first. We’ll let you know when we’ve decided.”