Volume 1, Chapter 54: Someone Under the Bed

Robin remained lost in thought, his gaze still fixed blankly on the door.

Was it possible that, besides his mother, there was now another person in this lifetime whom he would risk his life to protect?

At that moment, Robin felt as innocent and clueless as a young boy.

He was falling.

A wave of self-mockery washed over him; the past twenty-something years of his previous life had probably been lived in vain.

Just this tiny bit of kindness, this slight tenderness, was enough to leave him utterly flustered and helpless.

Yet, compared to an artificial digital girlfriend, Zhang Yunling was not a virtual creation; she was ten thousand times more real, ten thousand times better!

"I must leave Guishan!" Robin silently swore to himself.

He cast a sidelong glance at his arm. The wound had been stitched with meticulous care, and a layer of ointment was applied over it, making bandages seemingly unnecessary.

Standing up, Robin genuinely felt that the pain had subsided.

Perhaps tenderness was also a miraculous remedy?

He decided not to leave his room just yet, avoiding the awkwardness of staring blankly at Zhang Yunling in the main hall.

Closing the door and locking it, Robin finally returned to his desk.

He took out all the lamp oil he had left. The quantity was minimal, enough to last for about seven days.

The depletion was mostly due to the heavy consumption on the final night.

Was it because of his injury, which made the instincts of craving blood and hating light even harder to suppress?

It seemed he would have to make a trip to the edge of the village, head up the mountain, and fetch some more lamp oil. This time, he needed to prepare containers in advance; wrapping the oil in clothes last time had resulted in quite a bit of waste.

He changed into a clean set of clothes and kept the lamp oil close at hand. Given the situation regarding Gu Yiren, the village would most likely search the houses tomorrow, and this item must not be left lying around carelessly.

Robin sat down at the desk once more to review the situation.

He possessed quite a bit of information concerning Guishan. Luofeng had team awareness; he had reported the details to the village chief, allowing the chief to make judgments and the villagers to pull together.

However, deep down, Robin knew that Gu Yiren might be the crucial piece of the puzzle.

This basically ran counter to the will of the entire village. Zhang Li had been utterly foolish to push Gu Yiren to such extremes.

If they could find Gu Yiren, they could consider extracting the method to leave the village from her.

And he might even gain an extra companion—the person hiding Gu Yiren?

There was another issue: Zhang Li had gone missing earlier.

Was he dead?

Faintly, Robin felt that a dark cloud still hung over his head.

He fished out a slip of paper and read the words written on it: "Those who can influence the mountain will be hunted."

Earlier, on their return journey, he had instinctively muttered in front of Luofeng and Gu Ya that the village was never the problem—the mountain was. This had drawn Luofeng's attention and Gu Ya's suspicion.

The two had naturally questioned him about it, to which he had given a very reasonable explanation.

For instance, evil spirits came from the mountain, where there were two-legged sheep and another village.

Since there was Guishan Village and Qiang Village, there might very well be other villages, right? It was just that the villagers had never explored and remained unaware of each other.

Precisely because of this, the mountain was the key reason why people could not leave.

That was why Gu Ya had asked no further, and Luofeng had said nothing more.

He needed to be more careful with his actions. Xu Kaiguo had left a warning.

Robin certainly didn't want to end up like Xu Kaiguo!

A knock sounded on the door—three rhythmic raps—followed by Gu Ya's voice: "Dinner's ready, Xiaoshan."

Robin stepped out of his room. A sumptuous spread of dishes covered the table, and Zhang Yunling was helping set out the bowls and chopsticks.

Luofeng sat in the seat of honor. His gaze swept over the injury on Robin's arm, his brow furrowing slightly, though his expression softened as he nodded slightly to Zhang Yunling.

"Xiaoling's medical skills are indeed remarkable," Gu Ya said with a smile in her eyes, before adding, "Xiaoshan, you must thank her properly."

"Not at all, Aunt Gu, you're being formal again," Zhang Yunling said prettily.

"Mm-hmm, once my wound heals, I'll chop more firewood," Robin replied.

"You child, always talking about chopping firewood. How much firewood can Xiaoling use by herself? If you're free, you could help her gather medicinal herbs. Old Lu, don't you think so?" Gu Ya glanced at Luofeng again and said, "Since Xiaoshan used up so many herbs, shouldn't he help gather some back?"

"Mm," Luofeng nodded.

Gu Ya's smile widened even further.

From this, one could tell that Luofeng's view of Zhang Yunling had also slightly improved?

No, actually, he had never really had any problem with Zhang Yunling; he just didn't want to get tangled up with family matters.

Robin thought silently, gaining yet another layer of insight into Luofeng.

Luofeng possessed not only the fierce ambition of a tiger, but also the gentle appreciation of a rose.

A tough man also had his tender side; it simply required sincere reciprocation, and this tenderness was not about romance.

For instance, Zhang Yunling treating his wounds with genuine care had earned her even more of Luofeng's favor.

This meal was eaten in a very pleasant atmosphere.

After the meal, Zhang Yunling helped Gu Ya clean up the kitchen before heading home.

Dusk was deepening, and night was about to fall.

Gu Ya carefully bolted the front door, while Luofeng sat in the main hall, waiting for nightfall to light the oil lamp.

Left with nothing to do for the moment, Robin walked back to his room.

The moment he pushed the door open and stepped inside, Robin felt a sense of strangeness, something abnormal... though he couldn't quite put his finger on what was wrong.

He carefully scanned the room, finding nothing out of the ordinary. Walking over to the window, he saw that the wooden planks still sealed the opening, every single one secure, and the window gaps tightly shut.

Outside, the twilight was heavier; absolute darkness was about to descend.

Was it the coming of night that was causing his instinctive discomfort?

That couldn't be right... He didn't reject the night... In fact, he kind of liked it.

If it weren't for the lamp oil, he would rather step out into the darkness...

There was definitely something wrong!

The tick-tock of the clock grew very clear, its hands rewinding to five minutes ago.

In the retrospective of his memory, he had pushed the door open.

Normally, when a person opened a door, they might lower their head or glance briefly into the room without focusing their eyes.

This time, Robin observed the room with extreme care.

His scalp instantly went numb.

The bedsheet hanging over the edge of the bed drifted lightly downward.

There was no wind in the room; the bedsheet couldn't have drifted up and fallen down on its own.

Even the motion of him opening the door hadn't created that much air current.

Robin felt a chill run through his hands and feet.

He noticed a pair of hands pressed against the floor beneath the bedsheet, retreating backward.

Clearly, someone was hiding underneath his bed!

That person was spying on him!

The moment Robin had opened the door and entered, that person had remained concealed!

And earlier, Robin hadn't noticed this detail in his field of vision at all!

As the visual scene in his mind approached the window, Robin's thoughts halted, and the flashback vanished.

He turned around and stared fixedly at the bed.

This meant... there had been someone in his room all along.

This meant that the scene of Zhang Yunling tending to his wounds just moments ago had been witnessed by that person.

That wasn't even the most crucial part.

The most crucial part was that he had taken out so much lamp oil earlier!

His biggest secret had been spied upon like this?!

Taking a stride, Robin walked over to his desk, drew a knife from his leather belt, and then crouched down, glaring at the space beneath his bed.

What made Robin's heart sink even further was that the space under the bed was completely empty, without a ghost of a shadow, let alone any person!

???

Had he seen a ghost?

The memory flashback made Robin 100% certain that there had definitely been someone under the bed!

Yet now, in reality, there was truly no one underneath.

Robin was not an atheist; he had previously uttered the words "ghost wall."

The village was far too bizarre—the mountain paths one couldn't walk out of, the evil spirits roaming at night. If someone told him there were ghosts, he wouldn't even find it strange, though Luofeng had dismissed his remark and said it would be good if ghosts actually existed.

It wasn't a ghost...

Where had that person gone?

Robin kept his eyes fixed on the underside of the bed, his gaze unwavering.

He took a deep breath and maintained his composure.

Two words popped into his head: cellar.

When there was no lamp oil, the villagers relied on cellars to hide from evil spirits. It seemed there was one in his room as well?

Did Luofeng and Gu Ya know about the existence of this cellar?

Robin didn't ask them.

The crucial point was that the other person had seen his secret. This matter could not be underestimated. Leaving aside the villagers, even Gu Ya and Luofeng must not find out!

Retreating to the door, Robin latched the lock.

His heart grew increasingly heavy, and a cold edge crept into his eyes.

Taking something without asking was stealing; what about barging into someone else's house uninvited and refusing to leave even after dark?

At the very least, he could be certain this person was no good guy!

Squatting back down by the edge of the bed, Robin observed for a few seconds and quickly spotted a detail.

There was a thick layer of dust under the bed, accumulated in a dead corner that was hard to clean. Amidst it was a clean streak, ending about half a meter inward against the wall.

Taking a deep breath, Robin crawled beneath the bed.

When he reached the spot where the clean streak ended, he noticed a crack in the ground, wide enough for a person's fingers to slip into.

In truth, this spot was extremely concealed; looking straight at it from the outside while crouching wouldn't reveal the crack's location at all.

Perhaps Gu Ya and Luofeng both knew about it, and the original owner of the body had known about this cellar as well?

Robin could only insert his left hand into the crack while his right hand gripped the hilt of his knife.

The wound on his arm throbbed dully, and his temples pounded.

With a burst of strength in his left arm, a wooden board was easily lifted, exposing a pitch-black opening. A gust of cool wind blew against his face, carrying a stale, moldy odor.

An environment left uninhabited for a long time would always have this kind of moldy stench.

The opening dropped vertically downward, with an old rope ladder hanging along the cave wall.

Faint light trickled in slowly, remaining very dim.

The illumination in Robin's room relied merely on a single candle; one couldn't expect even an electric light to pierce into such an environment.

Swallowing hard, Robin steeled his nerves, turned his body around, and began to descend the rope ladder.

He was exceptionally careful and cautious. Despite the pain in his right arm, he kept a tight grip on the knife hilt.

Yet, his mind was in a chaotic mess.

Once he found the person who had been spying, what should he do?

Kill them to silence them?

Commit murder...

Was he capable of doing such a thing?

However, if he didn't make that person keep their mouth shut, once the lamp oil was exposed, he would inevitably become the target of public criticism.

Besides, the person had sneaked into his home and his bedroom, which in itself showed malicious intent!

Sweat beaded on his forehead as Robin began to wonder: if he were Luofeng, what would he do?

The vertical shaft was about four meters deep—roughly the height of a floor and a half.

With a soft thud, he landed at the bottom of the shaft. It was a small chamber, about the same size as his room upstairs.

There was light here, coming from half a candle placed on a small square table. Next to the table sat a small wooden stool, upon which someone was curled up, tightly hugging their chest, looking at him with extreme terror.

"It's you?"

At that instant, Robin felt as though his heart was about to leap straight out of his throat!