love on the turquoise land

Chapter 18

Anyway, Sun Zhou was also tied up, so there was no need to fear him suddenly becoming violent and hurting someone. Nie Jiuluo bent down cautiously, carefully examining his head and face. The bandages on his head and face, due to not being changed in time, along with the messy situation, had started to ooze blood and turn black.

As she looked, she suddenly noticed that there was a patch of black short hairs along the edge of the bandage on Sun Zhou's neck.

Sun Zhou had a crew cut, so it couldn't possibly be hair growing in that area. Nie Jiuluo extended her right index finger and gently touched it. It was a bit hard, like stubble.

After a few seconds of being stunned, a terrifying thought flashed through her mind.

"No way?"

Nie Jiuluo's heart pounded wildly. She didn't care about being gentle anymore, she immediately started to pull at Sun Zhou's bandages. She couldn't pull them off at first, so she went to another room to get a pair of scissors. With a few snips, she cut off all the bandages.

What she saw made her feel a chill in her heart. There were at least a dozen bite marks and scratches of various sizes on Sun Zhou's head and face, all of them oozing blood and flesh. Of course, there was no bleeding at the moment, only the skin and flesh were rolled up. But between the rolled up skin and flesh, black hairs had grown—some were jet black and coarse, while others were grayish-brown, like fuzz, soft and curly.

Nie Jiuluo stared at them for a few seconds, then suddenly reached out and pulled out a few of the thick, coarse hairs.

It was strange to say that Sun Zhou, who had been convulsing and rolling his eyes just now, was now as still as death, without even the usual physical reactions. It was as if even if she were to cut into him with a knife right now, he wouldn't flinch.

But pulling out the hairs wasn't the end of it. At the root of the hairs, there were long, sticky filaments, somewhat like lotus root threads, with a faint yellowish color.

Nie Jiuluo muttered to herself, "Damn it."

***

Being strangled to unconsciousness was a peculiar experience. Different people would have different experiences: some would black out instantly, while others would see colorful visions and find the scene before their eyes incredibly beautiful.

Gou Ya belonged to the latter category. He just felt extremely comfortable, the light was soft, and the whole world felt soft and squishy, like a piece of kneadable meat, and he was a resilient bubble bouncing up and down on this piece of meat.

Suddenly, the piece of meat rolled over and stood upright, then turned into a rushing torrent of ice water, jolting him awake.

There was really water, Nie Jiuluo had just splashed a basin of water over his head.

Through the droplets hanging on his eyelashes, Gou Ya vaguely saw that she was holding an already empty, gaudy red basin in her hand, then she tossed the basin aside with a clatter, wrapped her hand with a piece of tissue, bent down, picked up a plastic slipper, and walked over to him in big strides, leaning down.

The feeling of suffocation was still there, and his vision was a bit blurry. Gou Ya shook his head, then shook it again.

Nie Jiuluo said, "I'm asking you, who caused Sun Zhou's injuries, was it you or Yan Tuo?"

A surge of anger rose in Gou Ya's heart. He raised his neck to spit at her, but Nie Jiuluo raised her hand and slapped him across the cheek with the slipper, making his face twist. "Answer me, who did it? If you don't say it, I'll keep hitting you until you open your mouth."

As she spoke, another slipper came down.

Just moments ago, she was speaking to him gently, asking him if your wound needs to be bandaged. Now, she was cold and ruthless, as if she were two different people.

After enduring several hits with the slipper, Gou Ya's anger surged to his head, and he shouted, "It's me, I killed you!"

Very good, the first question had an answer now.

"Was Yan Tuo the one who cleaned up after you? You caused trouble outside, and he helped you clean up?"

Gou Ya shook all over, not answering immediately. It was this hesitation that earned him another hit with the slipper—no matter how tough his skin was, after enduring these hits, his mouth was already split and bleeding.

He desperately shook his head, trying to avoid her. "Who are you? What are you?"

"The third question..." Nie Jiuluo's free hand pressed against his abdomen, "Is the woman from Xingbazixiang here?"

There was a thunderous roar in Gou Ya's mind, and all the hairs on his body stood on end. He heard Nie Jiuluo's voice, "It doesn't matter if you don't say it. It's only been two days, and what can't be digested will be cut open and examined."

Soon, she brought the scissors over, the sharp blades clinking and clashing against each other, snip, snip.

Gou Ya had a terrifying premonition: this woman could actually do what she said.

He screamed, "Yes, yes, yes!"

The snipping sound stopped.

The room was eerily silent, and Gou Ya felt like his heart was about to stop beating. Why hadn't Yan Tuo come back yet? It had been so long, he should have come back by now, right?

Nie Jiuluo slowly squatted in front of him, her gaze level with his. "One last question."

Gou Ya's lips trembled slightly. In extreme panic, he suddenly became distracted: in the cornfield in Xingbazixiang, there was an abandoned dilapidated temple. He had been inside and seen a broken statue, very beautiful, but upon closer inspection, it always felt very creepy.

Nie Jiuluo's features were as vivid as the statue, but she was even scarier, no, she was much scarier.

"Are you a Ground Devil?"

***

Yan Tuo returned to the inn well past midnight.

Except for the signboard with red letters on a white background still lit up, the courtyard was pitch black, not even a dog barked—upon hearing the sound of the car, it lifted its head slightly, then lazily and disinterestedly lowered it again.

Yan Tuo parked the car and headed straight for the room.

Before leaving, he remembered leaving the light on in the bathroom himself, but now it was pitch black. However, this was normal too. Gou Ya always disliked light, saying that the light bulb hanging there, swaying, was like the sun and made him nauseous.

He opened the door.

The moment the door opened, he suddenly felt tense. Something was off in this room.

Something was indeed off, and he quickly noticed the anomaly. The room was naturally pitch black, but in the center of the room, there was a darker humanoid silhouette, swaying unsteadily.

He shouted, "Who?"

At the same time, he swiftly reached out and flipped the light switch. For the convenience of guests, the switch was located on the right side upon entering.

The light came on.

Under the light, there was a person, unexpectedly Nie Jiuluo.

Her condition was terrible, her face was deathly pale, her mind seemed confused, her clothes were disheveled, and what was even more terrifying was that her face and body were covered in blood, even her hair was tied up in blood-soaked knots.

Yan Tuo's mind buzzed. Gou Ya caused trouble.