Yu Nai stood perfectly still, without moving a muscle.

“You’re the one who should leave, Ms. Yu Nai.” Juxi slowly closed his eyes. “It’s already getting dark. Maybe you shouldn’t go.”

At those words, Yu Nai suddenly stepped back and drew her sword.

“What are you doing?! I know you’re in terrible shape, so you brought this on yourself, Juxi. I’d advise you not to try anything!”

“You’re the one who shouldn’t try anything!”

It was Yuanhui who spoke. Somehow, he’d appeared behind Yu Nai and caught the blade of her sword with his bare hand.

Juxi smiled faintly. Even Yu Nai couldn’t hope to beat Yuanhui. Juxi was skilled in Taoist arts for hunting evil spirits, but when it came to fighting people, Yuanhui was the expert. That was why he’d come along.

People had said plenty about the mysterious powers that appeared in Harilan, but not a word of it was true.

Yuanhui had no intention of wasting his energy explaining Yu Nai’s situation, and he especially didn’t want his black-iron sword to suffer any damage.

He ducked beneath Yu Nai’s swinging sword, then slammed the hilt into her temple.

“You… bastards!!!”

“Sigh. I told you she couldn’t be trusted. Happy now…?”

“You’re wrong. She wasn’t going to kill me just now. Yuanhui, honestly—you were way too quick to act!”

“Uh, I was worried about you. She was being way too arrogant, like she didn’t know there’s always someone stronger. We’re important people at the Tiandao Academy, after all. How could some kid from Harilan possibly compare to us?”

Yu Nai woke up not long afterward and looked around in the pitch darkness.

She realized she was tied up. She couldn’t see Juxi standing beside her, but by instinct, she knew

where she was—and began to wail.

“Quiet,” Juxi said. “Or you’ll wake those things before midnight!”

“You damn murderer! Untie me right now, you bastard! You’ll hang for this! Don’t think the people from the Tiandao Academy can save you!”

“Quiet.”

Juxi panted heavily.

“Are you going to leave me tied up so they can eat me, or… Oh!” Her voice had already grown quieter, and she’d nearly stopped swearing.

“No.” Juxi stopped Yuanhui. “I’ll let you go, but not now.”

“You bastard!” Yu Nai rasped. “You’re using me as bait?”

“Uh… All right. If that’s what you think, then yes!”

At Juxi’s answer, Yu Nai fell silent. She stopped struggling and lay still.

“Juxi?”

“Yes? What is it, Miss Bait?”

“Don’t call me that. I’m not the only one who thinks so, but if I’m the only one who dies, you won’t have anyone left to pay you in cash, will you?”

Juxi fell silent for a moment. Yu Nai’s eyes lit up at once—her tactic was working!

“Nope!”

“…”

Yu Nai was completely stunned. Her last bargaining chip had failed. Was she just a lamb now, helpless at their mercy?!

Yu Nai had been so bold just moments ago, but now she immediately backed down. Not knowing what was going on, she had no choice but to give in.

“Waaah, don’t kill me! If you kill me, who’ll give you your gold coins?!”

Yu Nai sobbed and bawled like a little girl. Of course, she was a girl already, but now she was acting even more childish—and Juxi was completely fed up with it.

Juxi sighed helplessly, then said, “All right, all right, I was joking. If you keep yelling like that, we really will leave you here. Don’t think we’d be kind enough not to abandon you in a situation like that!”

“Then you can’t trick me! I’ve never even had a boyfriend. I’ve got a six-year-old little sister, and… cough, the king’s maid… I love them… Juxi, are you still listening?”

“I’m listening.”

“I know what you’re thinking, but it’s not like that! Believe me, I wasn’t going to kill you. I’d never kill anyone—I was just so angry that I said it… It was only once, Juxi. Can you forgive me?”

“Hmm… I don’t know. That depends on how you behave.”

Juxi couldn’t bring himself to forgive Yu Nai this time—or rather, he couldn’t forgive her yet. What if she was behind some kind of scheme?

“…I told you, I was just so angry I lost my head and said something awful… Forgive me!”

“That doesn’t matter anymore.”

“But… Juxi, it’s almost midnight, isn’t it?”

“It’s getting close.”

“Let me go sooner. Give me more time.”

“No. You’d better rest until dawn—or come up with a good reason to let you go.”

Yu Nai didn’t hear the creak of the floor hatch being lifted, but Juxi did.

He bent down and used his sword to cut the ropes around Yu Nai.

Yu Nai hadn’t even recovered her wits or figured out what was happening when she heard Juxi shout, “Run!!!”

Before Juxi had even finished speaking, Yu Nai scrambled to her feet and started running, awkwardly dragging her stiff, numb legs along.

By then, her eyes had adjusted to the darkness, and she could find the way from the third floor to the window.

The floor hatch covering the second floor below suddenly burst open with a bang.

The loud crash put Juxi, Yuanhui, and the others on high alert. Hiding behind the stair railing, he saw several ugly silhouettes.

Following the sound of Yu Nai’s voice, the monsters moved quickly and precisely toward their location.

Then, all at once, the sounds beneath the broken boards stopped.

A shrill, frenzied, trembling cry tore through the night, shaking even the old walls.

The screams didn’t stop. They rang out one after another, echoing all around them.

Juxi couldn’t accurately judge the distance—his heightened senses made it easy to misjudge—but he knew the monsters were after Yu Nai!

And… they were moving too fast!

Juxi walked to the center of the hall and stood beside the entrance. He tossed his coat to the ground, rolled his shoulders, adjusted the position of his sword, and put on his gloves. There was still some time.

Although these mutants had eaten their fill on the night of the blood moon, she wouldn’t abandon Juxi’s corpse so soon.

During their long slumber, the mutants treasured hearts and livers as nourishing delicacies.

Juxi waited quietly. By his calculations, dawn was still about three hours away.

“Wait a little longer. It’ll be over soon. Hang on, and don’t make a sound!”