Volume One: The Ghost Mansion Chapter 21: Sinister and Vicious

Cheng Fan certainly understood the implication behind Zhao Linxuan’s words. The so-called "sneaking away" was a direct reference to his unannounced departure back then. Despite this, he found it difficult to speak at this moment.

It was not that he did not want to, but rather that he was in too much pain. Not only was his entire body aching from the beating, but his vision was swimming with stars.

"Ugh..."

Listening to the woman’s cold, accusatory tone, Cheng Fan did not respond immediately. Instead, he groaned on the ground for a long while before his senses finally returned. Only then did he look up at Zhao Linxuan. The difference was that when he looked at her again, his eyes had changed—they were calm, indifferent, and even tinged with a faint sense of contempt.

It was a strange, abnormal, and highly irrational gaze. Having just been beaten by her, one would expect Cheng Fan to be afraid, yet the moment he recovered, he displayed nothing but disdain.

Noticing that trace of contempt in his eyes, Zhao Linxuan frowned slightly. "What is that look for?"

Cheng Fan still did not answer. Instead, his gaze shifted slightly to the foot that had been pinning him down. Seeing this, Zhao Linxuan hesitated for a moment before retracting her leg. Cheng Fan gritted his teeth and struggled to his feet.

Once standing, before Zhao Linxuan could speak, Cheng Fan took the initiative. Staring at her, he asked, "What do you do in the real world?"

Perhaps expecting the question, Zhao Linxuan answered directly and accurately. "Fourth-degree black belt in Taekwondo. That’s right, I am a professional Taekwondo athlete."

"No wonder..."

Upon receiving the confirmation, realization dawned on Cheng Fan. "No wonder I couldn't beat you. With your skills, it’s certainly not hard to overpower an average person like me. And your performance was flawless—you’re the most formidable combatant among all the explorers, yet you insisted on feigning weakness."

He paused, his tone shifting. "Of course, in an extremely dangerous environment, feigning weakness isn't necessarily wrong; it’s just a means of self-preservation. But you shouldn't have pretended to be dim-witted as well. You are clearly very intelligent, yet you insisted on pinning all your hopes of survival on me."

"Heh, you truly are the person I chose for a reason."

Seeing Cheng Fan call out her schemes, Zhao Linxuan was not surprised. In fact, she smiled—a strange, enigmatic smile—before slowly shaking her head in denial. "No, you might be wrong about that. I admit I feigned weakness at the start, and there was indeed some pretense of ignorance, but I cannot deny that I am inferior to you. At least in terms of deductive reasoning, I am far behind you. I am good at reading people; I could see the signs from your actions. My intuition told me that if I wanted to leave this building alive, I had to follow you."

At this point, Zhao Linxuan looked at Cheng Fan and noticed his expression shift slightly.

"So that’s why you’ve been following me, right?"

Finally, having learned Zhao Linxuan's true intent, Cheng Fan rubbed his swollen right cheek. He understood now, though he knew this was only part of her motive. The mystery that had plagued him—the one for which he could never find a definitive answer—remained.

This was the moment to uncover it.

Looking her squarely in the face, Cheng Fan went straight to the point: "Tell me, what is your awakened talent?"

"Don't lie. Since you know I deliberately stayed away from you, you should be able to guess why."

Upon hearing his question and the pointed warning, Zhao Linxuan’s expression changed. The smile vanished, replaced by hesitation, as if she were struggling with whether or not to speak. Cheng Fan stood opposite her, waiting in silence.

After a moment, as if she had finally made up her mind, Zhao Linxuan ended her hesitation and revealed her long-hidden secret:

"My awakened talent is [Calamity Transference]."

Through her explanation, Cheng Fan learned the whole truth. Just as they had been told, before the paranormal instance began, every explorer could draw an awakened talent. Cheng Fan had, as had Zhou Cheng and Zhao Linxuan. If Cheng Fan was lucky enough to draw an S-rank deduction skill that allowed him to glimpse the future, Zhao Linxuan was equally fortunate.

Before the instance, she had drawn an S-rank talent skill called [Calamity Transference].

The skill was chillingly unique. Once activated, the user could mark others. The marks were invisible, and the victims would have no idea they had been marked. However, if someone was marked, the female ghost would be influenced by an unknown energy to ignore the skill user and prioritize attacking the marked individuals. Only after all marked people were dead would the ghost target the skill user.

Simply put, while the ghost would eventually hunt down everyone trapped in the building, including Zhao Linxuan herself, she would always be the last one targeted as long as other explorers were around.

It had a usage limit of five, allowing her to mark five people. In fact, ever since she drew [Calamity Transference], she had secretly used it the moment they left the top-floor room, marking Cheng Fan and everyone else present!

"Damn it!"

"You... you... you are a vicious woman! How did I or the others ever wrong you? How could you do this to us?"

Sure enough, upon learning of her talent and realizing he was marked, the previously calm Cheng Fan was instantly enraged. He could no longer maintain his composure and began cursing at her.

He hadn't imagined that the Ghostly Realm would have such a malicious, self-serving talent, and that it had been drawn by a woman as treacherous as Zhao Linxuan. No wonder that ever since they teamed up, the ghost always prioritized attacking him whenever it appeared—so that was the reason! She had secretly marked him!

If he hadn't discovered it early and fled, he would have ended up just like Zhou Cheng—eventually being led to his death by this woman.

But wait...

As he cursed, Cheng Fan suddenly realized something. Wasn't he still here with Zhao Linxuan right now?

And Zhao Linxuan was watching him with a constant, thin smile on her face!

"You bastard!"

Realizing he was in immediate danger, he didn't bother to continue cursing. Cheng Fan turned and bolted, desperately trying to put distance between himself and Zhao Linxuan.

But the moment he turned, Zhao Linxuan lunged forward in pursuit, as if she had known all along that he would run.