When Xiaozhu heard that, she finally noticed the green snake on the floor. She rushed over in two quick steps, grabbed its tail, and tried to smash it against the wall to knock it out.
But the snake seemed to read her mind. As if it had seen through her move long ago, it twisted back and coiled around her forearm, opening its bloody maw, about to bite down.
Fortunately, Xiaozhu reacted fast. She immediately grabbed its upper body with her other hand, barely dodging disaster.
Human and snake were locked in a stalemate. The green snake’s body wound tighter and tighter around her arm. Before long, Xiaozhu’s hand began to go numb, and her strength slowly drained away.
Those eerie golden pupils burned themselves into Taohua’s mind, dragging her back to the nightmare from her childhood, replaying over and over, refusing to fade.
Those sharp fangs, those emotionless eyes, that strange, crawling sensation on her skin, and that indescribable pain…
A crushing terror wrapped Taohua in a shadow she could not escape. The thin air felt like a pair of invisible hands clamping down on her throat, cutting off her breath.
Cold sweat drenched her forehead. Taohua stared blankly around her, her gaze unfocused. Her breathing came in harsh gasps. She felt like she was about to suffocate and die right there.
No. She had to get out of here!
Supporting herself against the wall, Taohua staggered toward the exit, desperate to flee this horrible space. Her steps unconsciously quickened. She didn’t even hear Xiaozhu calling after her.
“Protector!”
Xiaozhu finally noticed that something was very wrong with Taohua’s expression. Even if someone feared snakes, they wouldn’t be that terrified, right? Afraid something might happen, she slammed her hand down hard on the table, channeling her inner force through the impact. The shock snapped the snake’s spine. She flung the remaining coils off her arm and hurried after Taohua.
By the time Xiaozhu chased her out, Taohua was already close to the edge of the side courtyard.
To prevent enemies from infiltrating, the Night God Cult’s layout was extremely complex. Without someone to guide you, it was easy to get lost. On top of that, the cult was riddled with mechanisms and hidden weapons. For someone who didn’t know martial arts, triggering one by accident could easily be fatal. Only the guest courtyards were an exception; they were meant for visitors to stay in, so those were not trapped.
“Protector!”
Seeing Taohua about to run out of the courtyard, Xiaozhu rushed after her in a panic.
At that moment, Guan Fusha was in the study of Hibiscus Courtyard, discussing important matters with Yan Hong, when a sudden knock sounded at the door. The one knocking was A-Tian. Her voice carried a faint urgency.
“Protector, this servant has an important matter to report.”
“Come in.”
A-Tian pushed the door open and entered, her expression unpleasant.
“Reporting to Protector: there’s been a disturbance at the side courtyard. The Left Protector was startled and ran out from inside.”
“How could that happen?”
Guan Fusha shot to her feet, her brows knitting tightly.
“She ran out alone? What about Xiaozhu? Xiaozhu didn’t go with her?”
“Xiaozhu, she…”
A-Tian paused, afraid the Protector would blame Xiaozhu for mishandling things, and so she phrased it as gently as she could.
“Xiaozhu was dealing with an unexpected situation at the time and couldn’t split her attention. She did chase after her immediately, but…”
The rare hint of a smile vanished from Guan Fusha’s face. She didn’t wait for A-Tian to finish. Brushing past the two of them, she strode out of the room to look for Taohua.
A-Tian’s heart gave a jolt. It had been a very, very long time since she’d seen the Protector wear that kind of expression.
The Protector usually wore a mild smile, keeping all her true feelings locked away, neither taking the initiative to reveal them nor allowing others to pry into them.
A-Tian sighed inwardly. To the Protector, Miss Taohua must be someone special.
She could only hope Taohua was safe and sound…
A-Tian hurried after Guan Fusha’s retreating figure, leaving Yan Hong alone in the study, looking pensive.
Cui Taohua had only just assumed the position of Left Protector today, and something had already happened that very night. Coincidence, or man-made?
Was someone really stirring up trouble behind the scenes?
—
Taohua had barely made it out of the side courtyard when she was already gasping for breath. This body was frail to begin with; it couldn’t take this kind of strain at all. Her foot slipped on nothing, and she pitched headlong into the grass at the side of the path.
From deeper in the grass came a constant rustle, rustle, rustle.
Terrified that another snake would spring out, Taohua immediately tried to scramble away. She struggled to stand, but a stabbing pain shot through her ankle, drilling straight into the bone. Her leg gave out, and she fell back down, crying out in pain.
Her face went white. A fine sheen of sweat formed on her forehead from the agony. She looked around, hoping to see someone she could call to for help, but there wasn’t a soul in sight.
“…Help…”
Propping herself up, Taohua forced herself to shout for rescue. Her eyes darted nervously around, on edge, terrified that something would suddenly leap at her from the dark depths of the grass.
“Is anyone there? Help!”
Her voice grew weaker and weaker. After that frantic run just now, dizziness started to wash over her, making her vision swim.
Ugh, she absolutely hated this body that threatened to go on strike at the slightest thing!
She’d called out several times and still no one appeared. Taohua realized she couldn’t keep waiting around like this. She had to save herself.
Just as she was bracing herself to crawl toward the path, a fresh wave of rustling sounded behind her.
Every hair on her body stood on end. Her heart pounded wildly in her chest from sheer fright.
N-no way, don’t tell her it was…
She froze in place, not daring to move, stiff as if someone had struck her pressure points. She strained her ears, listening. The rustling seemed to be getting closer and closer.
Just then, Taohua felt something brush lightly against her calf.
She jolted in terror and screamed, tears immediately springing to her eyes.
“Ah! Don’t come any closer! Go away! Don’t bite me!”
Those eerie golden pupils kept flashing through her mind. She flailed her arms wildly, trying to swat the thing away. The crushing sense of oppression finally pushed her over the brink.
“Junior Sister, it’s me!”
Guan Fusha had run through nearly the entire Night God Cult before she finally found Taohua’s trail. She hadn’t expected to find her this terrified.
Recognizing Guan Fusha’s voice, Taohua’s movements slowed. She slowly opened her eyes.
The moonlight was especially bright tonight, silver radiance spilling across the earth. The usual false smile was gone from Guan Fusha’s face. Her brows were tightly drawn, pure worry in her gaze as she looked at Taohua.
Perhaps her expression was too gentle. The taut string inside Taohua suddenly snapped. Her tears fell without warning.
Guan Fusha hadn’t expected her to cry, and she panicked at once, at a complete loss for how to comfort her.
“Junior Sister, what’s wrong? Are you hurt somewhere?”
At that, Taohua only cried harder.
“D-don’t cry, don’t cry…”
Taohua’s reaction made Guan Fusha even more flustered. She used the pad of her finger to gently brush away the glittering tears from the corners of Taohua’s eyes. With her other arm, she drew Taohua into her embrace, her voice low and soothing.
“There, there. Don’t cry. I’m here.”
