Kidnapping!
The word hit Jiang Che's chest like a sledgehammer.
He sprang up, scanning the area, but the dark figure lurking in the cemetery mist was already gone.
Panic surged in Jiang Che's heart. He couldn't help but dash a few steps in that direction, only to have Ya yank him back.
"If you charge over like this, won't you alert them? How do you expect to save anyone then?"
"If you make them cautious, they might just kill the hostage." With no one in sight around them, Ya would never let Jiang Che take off after the figure.
Her plan was to have Jiang Che clash with those spirits. Whatever kind of spirit lurked in the dark, it was nothing a human new to the dungeon could handle.
She knew that the hidden spirit was likely after her.
After all, Jiang Che's aura was concealed. Whenever Ya stood near him, her heartbeat would unconsciously accelerate since he'd put on the doctor's white coat.
He had hidden his human scent, disguised himself as a spirit—so long as he didn't provoke them, the spirits wouldn't bother him.
The lurking spirit probably saw her as prey and wanted to snatch her from Jiang Che's hands.
Ya was fully aware of what she was—prey.
So she was determined to get hold of that white coat of Jiang Che's—this idiot could be tricked with a few words into provoking the spirits, but she wouldn't be.
She wanted the hidden spirit to believe Jiang Che was fighting back because he was guarding his food, defending his prey.
The spirits wouldn't care about his coat; they had no need to mask their scent, nor did they need to disguise themselves as one another.
Once Jiang Che was dead, she'd strip that coat off him instantly and find somewhere to hide.
Jiang Che hesitated for a moment. Every word from Ya pierced right into the things he feared most.
Yes, he couldn't act on impulse.
One rash move, and they'd never see the end of it.
"Then what should I do?" After everything, Jiang Che already deeply trusted Ya—she'd explained so much he'd never understood before.
Ya pulled Jiang Che into a corner. Once she was sure no one was around, she lowered her voice and said, "I have a plan..."
Jiang Che crouched beside her, watching intently, unwilling to miss a single word.
"In a bit, you and I will separate. I'll walk up ahead." Ya made up her mind to be ruthless with herself—if you can't bear to risk the child, you'll never catch the wolf.
"You follow behind me—don't get too close, but don't lag too far either."
"The one hiding in the dark will definitely make a move on me. That's when you rush in and kill him." Ya had decided to risk herself. The one clear thing was this: spirits reveled in the thrill of hunt and chase; they rarely executed prey right away once they caught it.
She wanted to provoke a fight between Jiang Che and the spirit!
Use herself as bait!
"But what if you're in danger..." Jiang Che hesitated. Letting someone else be bait for his daughter's sake—it weighed on his conscience.
"What could matter more than a child? We're adults—even if we get hurt, it's nothing."
"As long as you give it your all and do your best to protect me, I won't regret it." Ya looked up at the massive, clear, round moon above, her lips bitter.
Zhao Qi was dead. Wang Bing was dead too.
She felt that making it this far was already miraculous.
In this kind of dangerous dungeon, nothing could be done without taking some risks.
Minimizing risk within reason—the only thing that mattered now.
"If..." Ya ran her hand over her rough hospital gown, the blue and white stripes already faded from too many washes, the fibers stiffening.
"If I become the bait to lure out the enemy, will you run away in fear?" Though she was prepared, dread still gnawed inside her.
"No way!" Jiang Che replied with absolute certainty.
The other party was risking themselves for his cause; no way he'd leave them behind like that!
"Alright, then in a minute I'll head out first. You be careful and hide behind me." Ya clenched her fist secretly, steadying her resolve.
The live-stream from Jiang Che's viewpoint was crowded with viewers, and now everyone could see Ya quietly psyching herself up, her acting pitifully unconvincing.
[After today, I swear I'm really gonna practice my acting.]
[Ya's acting is so bad, only this lunatic doesn't see through it.]
[His mind is completely stuck in a rut. I get it now—whenever Ya mentions his family, his brain locks up.]
[Otherwise, how would he have ended up in a psych ward? A normal person, you tell him he's an orphan, he might be sad for a while but gets over it. Only a madman, you tell him 'you're an orphan,' and he'll stubbornly insist he doesn't believe it.]
[Jiang Che is Ya's luck. You couldn't envy her if you tried.]
[Ya's plan is far from perfect, but right now, it's the best option.]
...
Right now, only sending Jiang Che to his death gave them a shot at taking his things.
After settling on the plan, Ya got up and walked in front.
She had Jiang Che follow at a distance where she could just be seen.
Walking alone was when she realized just how huge this cemetery was.
The ground was covered in tiny gravestones, no names etched on them—just like oversized tokens, one after another, everywhere.
Behind each stone was a small mound. Ya made sure to avoid each one with every step.
The wind howled endlessly through the cemetery, always in her ears, and every so often she'd glance back to see Jiang Che following her.
Ya kept her fists clenched, eyes peeled for any sign of a shadow.
She and Jiang Che had agreed—when danger came, Jiang Che would charge forward…
No, to save her.
Jiang Che took a deep breath, following Ya so closely he barely dared to blink.
Terrified of missing an enemy.
Ya's steps were slow. Her goal wasn't to escape this place but to lure out the spirit hiding in the dark. She didn't care what kind of evil spirit it was, as long as it killed Jiang Che.
It hadn't been long before Ya felt a chill creep up her back.
That feeling of being watched was rising inside her again,
but this time it wasn't just one set of eyes—it was countless, a swarm, coming from every direction.
It was as if—
Ya froze, snapping her gaze to the gravestones at her feet.
—as if everything buried beneath these tombstones was crawling out!
Moonlight poured straight down from above. In this dungeon, even pale clouds were absent—no drifting over the moon, no waxing or waning. The night was utterly bright, casting everything in a silver glow.
For that reason, under this silver moonlight, every detail in the dungeon was starkly visible.
Faced with danger, there was not a single shadow where humans could hide.
In this hunt, there was nowhere for humans to run.