Love on the Turquoise Land

Gou Ya roared, "If you don't shut up now, I'll kill you!"

The handcuffs were fastened to a wastewater pipe. Though Nie Jiuluo couldn't move far from the pipe, she could still stand or sit freely. Her fingers lightly gripping the pipe, she slowly rose to her feet. "Yan Tuo gave you orders not to touch me."

Gou Ya grinned savagely. "That was before. Now, even if I kill you, Yan Tuo won’t object."

Hmm. Before, now. What was the difference?

Nie Jiuluo repeated for the third time, "You really aren’t human, are you?"

At first, the idea of "not human" had sent a chill down her spine. But then she remembered—when she stabbed his eye socket with a pencil, he had still fled in pain. No matter how formidable, he was still flesh and bone. "Not human" wasn’t the scary part. Chickens, ducks, and geese weren’t human either, yet they were slaughtered for food. The real question was—what exactly was he?

The killing intent in Gou Ya’s eyes flared. He was already hideous, with one eye missing, and when his expression twisted, he looked no less terrifying than a demon. Just as he was about to lunge, Nie Jiuluo barked, "A woman went missing in Xingbazi Village. Did you have anything to do with it?"

She had pieced it together—everything had started in that field of straw. Sun Zhou, covered in blood, had driven away like a man fleeing ghosts. Yan Tuo had tossed a heavy duffel bag into the trunk. The dried bloodstains, the trampled straw, a foul-smelling burrow slanting two or three meters deep…

And just the day before, a woman had vanished. If anyone called that a coincidence, even a three-year-old wouldn’t believe it.

Gou Ya’s voice dripped venom. "You’re the one asking for death."

Before the words fully left his mouth, he lunged at her.

Nie Jiuluo gauged his trajectory, suddenly tightened her grip on the pipe, and used the leverage to swing her body into the air. Kicking off the wall, she wrapped her legs around Gou Ya’s neck in a crushing scissor hold, then twisted midair. Releasing her grip on the pipe, she let her full weight slam down onto his neck, dragging his bulky frame to the ground with a heavy thud.

Even as he hit the floor, Gou Ya was still conscious, trying to lift his head. Nie Jiuluo pressed her knee harder against the side of his neck, compressing his carotid artery. His vision blacked out instantly, his brain pressure plummeting. Without so much as a grunt, he was choked unconscious.

Nie Jiuluo didn’t dare release the hold immediately. Only after a few more seconds did she finally unwind her legs and sit up.

The entire sequence had taken less than ten seconds.

With her hands cuffed, the maneuver had inevitably injured her. Just the swing and twist alone had scraped a layer of skin off her wrists.

Nie Jiuluo exhaled sharply, then swiftly flicked up her bracelet.

Both ends of the bracelet were embedded with pearl-like beads the size of rice grains. She slid one bead into her palm, pinched it between two fingers, and twisted rapidly. Soon, the bead came loose, revealing a sharp, needle-like tip.

In the next moment, she inserted the tip into the handcuff’s keyhole. As her fingers worked, faint clicks of shifting tumblers sounded until—click—the cuffs sprang open.

Nie Jiuluo immediately stood, shook out her wrists, then cuffed Gou Ya to the pipe. She grabbed the wide tape Yan Tuo had left behind and, without hesitation, bound Gou Ya’s legs tightly.

Why hadn’t Yan Tuo thought to tie her legs too? Well, she ought to thank him for underestimating her—otherwise, she wouldn’t have had such an easy time pulling this off.

With Gou Ya secured, Nie Jiuluo finally let out the breath she’d been holding. Wiping sweat from her brow, she walked over to the duffel bag, crouched, and unzipped it.Sun Zhou was still unconscious, his pale face lifeless, though his breathing was steady.

Sleeping this long couldn’t be natural—drugs had to be involved. Nie Jiuluo had no intention of waking him. The bag was left open anyway, letting him breathe freely and recover for now.

She straightened up, about to head to the outer room to search through Yan Tuo’s luggage, when Sun Zhou suddenly convulsed. A long, rasping gasp tore from his throat as his eyes flew open.

It would’ve been better if they stayed shut. The moment they opened, only the whites were visible, bulging like dead fish bellies stuffed into his sockets, swollen to the point of bursting. Nie Jiuluo recoiled with a sharp inhale. But before she could take a closer look, his eyelids drooped, his breath settled, and he went still again.

What the hell was that?

Sun Zhou was tied up anyway, so there was no fear of him suddenly attacking. Nie Jiuluo bent down, carefully examining his head and face—the bandages there, left unchanged for too long and further dirtied by their rough circumstances, were already stained dark with dried blood.

As she looked, she suddenly noticed something: at the edge of the bandage on Sun Zhou’s neck, there was a patch of short black hairs.

Sun Zhou had a buzz cut, so that spot shouldn’t have had hair. Nie Jiuluo reached out with her right index finger and lightly touched it. It felt stiff, like coarse stubble.

After a few stunned seconds, a horrifying thought flashed through her mind like an electric shock.

No way…

Her heart pounded wildly. She abandoned any pretense of gentleness, grabbing at Sun Zhou’s bandages. When they wouldn’t come loose, she rushed to the outer room, grabbed a pair of scissors, and snipped through the bandages in a few quick cuts.

What met her eyes sent a chill straight to her core, freezing her chest from the inside out.

Sun Zhou’s head and face bore at least a dozen bite and claw marks, all deep enough to draw blood and expose flesh. Of course, they weren’t bleeding now—just raw and torn. But between the torn flesh, black hairs had sprouted—varying in shade and texture. Some were pitch-black and coarse, others grayish-brown, soft and curly like fine fuzz.

Nie Jiuluo stared for a few seconds before abruptly reaching out, gripping a few of the coarse strands, and yanking them out by force.

Strangely, Sun Zhou—who had been convulsing and rolling his eyes just moments ago—now lay as still as a corpse, not even reacting to the pain. It was as if he wouldn’t flinch even if she carved into him with a knife.

The hairs didn’t just come loose—their roots were attached to long, sticky filaments, resembling lotus root fibers, with a faint, murky yellow hue.

Nie Jiuluo muttered under her breath, “Holy shit.”

Being forcibly choked unconscious was a bizarre experience, and people reacted differently. Some blacked out instantly, while others saw vivid colors, as if witnessing something breathtakingly beautiful.

Gou Ya belonged to the latter category. He felt nothing but comfort—soft light, the world around him pliant and malleable, like a giant lump of dough. He was an elastic bubble, bouncing gently on its surface, rising and falling in a soothing rhythm.

Then, without warning, the dough twisted violently, rearing up like a towering cliff before collapsing into an icy deluge. He shuddered and jolted awake.

There really was water—Nie Jiuluo had just dumped a basin of it over his head.Through the water droplets clinging to his eyelashes, Gou Ya hazily saw her holding a gaudy red basin that was now empty. She tossed it aside with a clatter, tore off a piece of toilet paper to wrap around her hand, picked up a plastic slipper, and strode over to him before bending down.

The feeling of oxygen deprivation lingered, making his vision blurry. Gou Ya shook his head once, then again.

Nie Jiuluo asked, "Tell me, who caused Sun Zhou's injuries? Was it you or Yan Tuo?"

A surge of resentment welled up inside him. Gou Ya stiffened his neck, about to spit at her, when Nie Jiuluo swiftly brought the slipper down, striking his cheek so hard his face twisted. "I’m asking you a question. Who did it? Not talking? I’ll keep hitting you until you do."

As she spoke, another slap from the slipper landed.

Just moments ago, she had been gentle, asking him, "Do you want your wounds bandaged?" Now, she was cold and ruthless, as if she were a completely different person.

After taking a few hits, Gou Ya’s anger boiled over. He roared, "It was me! I’ll kill you!"

Good. The first question had its answer.

"Yan Tuo is the one who cleans up your messes, isn’t he? You cause trouble outside, and he fixes it for you?"

Gou Ya shuddered but didn’t answer immediately. That hesitation earned him another strike—his rough, hardened skin couldn’t withstand the blows, and the corner of his mouth split, bleeding.

He desperately shook his head, trying to dodge. "Who are you? What the hell are you?"

"Third question…" Nie Jiuluo pressed her free hand against his stomach. "The woman from Xingbazi Village—is she in here?"

Gou Ya’s mind exploded. Every hair on his body stood on end as he heard Nie Jiuluo’s voice. "No need to answer. Two days isn’t enough to digest her completely. I’ll just cut you open and see for myself."

Soon, she brought over a pair of scissors. The sharp blades clicked together—snip, snip.

Gou Ya had a terrifying premonition: this woman meant every word she said.

He screamed, "Yes, yes, yes!"

The snipping stopped.

The room was eerily silent. Gou Ya felt his heart nearly stop beating. Why hadn’t Yan Tuo returned yet? It had been so long—he should be back by now.

Nie Jiuluo slowly crouched in front of him, her gaze level with his. "Last question."

Gou Ya’s lips trembled slightly. In his extreme panic, his mind suddenly wandered. In the cornfields of Xingbazi Village, there was a dilapidated temple. He had gone inside once and seen a broken statue—beautiful, but upon closer inspection, terrifying.

Nie Jiuluo’s features were as vivid as that statue, and just as terrifying. No—she was far worse.

"Are you a Dixiao?"

When Yan Tuo returned to the inn, it was well past midnight.

Apart from the red-and-white neon sign of the shop name still glowing, the courtyard was pitch black. Even the dog didn’t bark—it lifted its head slightly at the sound of the car, then slowly, disinterestedly, let it droop back down.

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

Before leaving, he remembered leaving the bathroom light on. Now, it was completely dark—but that wasn’t unusual. Gou Ya had always hated lights, saying the dangling bulb looked like a sun and made him sick.

He opened the door.

The moment the door swung open, his nerves tensed—something was wrong in this room.Something was off. Soon, he noticed the anomaly: the room was pitch black, of course, but in the center, there was an even darker human-shaped silhouette swaying unsteadily.

"Who's there?" he barked.

At the same time, he quickly reached out to flip the light switch—conveniently located by the entrance on the right for guests.

The lights came on.

Under the light stood a person—it was Nie Jiuluo.

Her condition was terrible. Her face was deathly pale, her expression dazed, her clothes disheveled. Even more horrifying, her face and body were covered in blood, her hair matted with it, tangled in clumps.

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

Seeing Yan Tuo, Nie Jiuluo's lips trembled slightly as she staggered toward him. But she couldn't steady herself—after just two steps, she collapsed straight forward.

Reacting instinctively, Yan Tuo rushed forward to catch her. "Miss Nie, are you—"

Before he could finish, he felt a slight sting in his upper abdomen, as if bitten by something.

Alarm bells blared in his mind. Instantly, he recalled the syringe the limping old man had jabbed into his neck—it hadn't contained ordinary anesthetic. Typically, anesthetics were administered intravenously, rarely intramuscularly, because intramuscular injections took too long to take effect. Yet the syringe's contents had knocked him out for nearly ten hours with just a small push, still via intramuscular injection.

He had carefully wrapped up that syringe—still mostly full—and packed it in his luggage, intending to have it analyzed by professionals later...

He tried to push Nie Jiuluo away, but it was too late. The syringe had already been fully depressed. Instead, it was Nie Jiuluo who shoved him away, using the momentum to steady herself.

Yan Tuo stumbled back two steps, now too preoccupied to worry about Nie Jiuluo. He yanked out the syringe and flung it aside, then pressed on the injection site. The drug was terrifyingly potent—within moments, the area had gone numb and stiff. Worse, he could clearly feel the numbness spreading like a swarm of scattering ants...

Nie Jiuluo tossed aside the wet towel in her hand and looked at Yan Tuo while calmly smoothing out a strand of hair, wiping away the filth as if nothing had happened. "I'm fine. It's Gou Ya's blood, not mine. No need to worry."

Damn it!

Yan Tuo felt like he was about to vomit blood from sheer frustration. He swiftly reached behind his back and drew his gun. But while his arm still had strength when drawing, by the time he tried to raise it, his entire forearm had gone numb. His fingers spasmed, and the gun clattered to the ground, sliding several feet away—closer to Nie Jiuluo.

He lunged to retrieve it, but his leg joints had also gone numb. Instead of stepping forward, he collapsed face-first onto the floor. Nie Jiuluo ignored him, picking up a nearby chair and placing it squarely before sitting down.

Summoning all his strength, Yan Tuo stretched his hand toward the gun. His trembling fingers had just brushed the grip when Nie Jiuluo's foot came down, pinning both his hand and the gun beneath her boot.

She wore short boots—hard-soled, polished to a shine, with a glimpse of slender, pale ankles peeking from the tops.

Yan Tuo looked up.

Nie Jiuluo leaned forward from her chair, a few strands of her long hair draping over his shoulder.

She said, "You really shouldn't have invited me here."