Love on the Turquoise Land

Yan Tuo put his phone back in his pocket, casually took off his overcoat, folded it neatly, and placed it by the tree.

In this season, going without an overcoat was certainly cold, but his nerves were so tightly wound that his back was even slightly damp with sweat—wearing it or not hardly mattered anymore.

He followed them all the way to the side door, paused briefly to steady himself, then pressed his back against the wall and quietly slipped into the corridor.

Late at night, without any lights, he could barely see. Fortunately, the flashlight beams from the group ahead inadvertently became a light source he could rely on. Moreover, once inside the building, they seemed noticeably more excited than before.

Feng Mi: "Aunt Lin, this pitch-black darkness is so atmospheric—doesn’t it feel like we’re back in Heibao Gap?"

Li Yueying snorted dismissively. "Not even close. Worlds apart."

Feng Mi pouted. "That’s because there’s still light. Try turning off all the flashlights, and you’ll see."

Yang Zheng retorted impatiently, "How are we supposed to see the way then? You think this is the old days?"

Feng Mi sighed. "Honestly, back then, I had such sharp eyes... and my nose too—"

Lin Xirou cleared her throat. "Don’t dwell on having everything. The past is the past."

Feng Mi fell silent. At the front, Xiong Hei unlocked the door, the grating sound of the turning key unnervingly loud.

Soon, one after another, the flashlight beams disappeared into the darkness. Seizing the moment, Yan Tuo dashed forward, crouched low, and pressed his palm against the ground, inching ahead. The heavy iron door creaked shut—within seconds, the edge of his hand blocked the door’s lower rim.

This temporarily halted the door’s movement. The closing force was immense. Yan Tuo leaned forward, bracing his shoulder against the door, then peeked through the gap.

Luckily, all five were walking ahead—no one looked back.

Steeling himself, Yan Tuo swiftly slipped inside. Almost simultaneously, Lin Xirou asked Feng Mi, "Did you close the door properly? Don’t let it be like this afternoon."

Feng Mi scoffed. "Aunt Lin, do you really think there are so many thieves here? You’re being overly cautious."

Even so, she turned around.

Yan Tuo saw a flashlight beam swing back midair. His mind jolted—instantly, he ducked. The light swept over where he had just stood and settled on the iron door.

The door wasn’t fully closed yet. Feng Mi, annoyed, strode back. Yan Tuo’s ears buzzed with tension, but the basement level was originally a storage area for miscellaneous items, full of large objects to hide behind. Holding his breath, he shifted forward and ducked behind a discarded packing machine.

With a heavy thud , Feng Mi slammed the door shut and gave it a firm tug. "There, Aunt Lin. Satisfied?"

Yan Tuo stayed hidden behind the packing machine, partly to calm his nerves and partly to let his eyes adjust to the dark. The first door was breached—but there was still the second.

The second was a coded door, and once opened, the space beyond was completely exposed with no cover. He couldn’t follow too closely this time.

Only when the group had moved far ahead did Yan Tuo rise from behind the machine, straining to discern obstacles in the dark. Half by memory, half by touch, he made his way to the second door.

The coded door ran on batteries, unaffected by power cuts or blackouts. The keypad’s dozens of buttons emitted a faint blue glow in the darkness.

Yan Tuo pressed his ear to the door, listening intently, then crouched and pressed his ear to the floor to confirm no movement on the other side before standing again.The password for the second underground level was updated daily. When he had come down during the day, he had watched Xiong Hei input the code—it wasn’t yet midnight, so the day’s password should still be valid.

He swallowed hard and carefully entered the digits from memory.

A beep sounded, and the lock clicked open.

The noise wasn’t particularly loud, and high-end doors nowadays often had sound-dampening hinges. Yet, Yan Tuo froze at that single beep, not daring to move for a long moment. As he slowly pulled the door open, a cold sweat trickled down his forehead, clinging to his eyelashes.

Inside was pitch black.

During the day, he hadn’t noticed it, but now the air carried a distinct scent—stale from being trapped underground, slightly warm, and tinged with the mustiness of earth.

The idea of "letting your eyes adjust to the dark" had barely worked on the first underground level. Here on the second, it was utterly useless. This place was deeper, too dark, and too silent—not even the hum of electronics could be heard.

Feng Mi had just mentioned something called the "Black-White Chasm," asking if it felt like returning there. Could the Black-White Chasm be the original lair of the Earth Fiends?

Yan Tuo cautiously took a step forward, stretching his hands out like a blind man feeling his way. He roughly remembered the layout near the entrance: if he could reach the left wall and follow it forward, then turn left, he’d be on the path to the rest area. From there, walking to the end and turning right would lead him to a crossroad. After that, his memory grew fuzzy—the underground had changed significantly over the years, and his visits had been few and far between.

He decided to move forward step by step, counting his strides silently. This was the path he’d taken in; later, it would have to be his way out as well.

At the crossroads, he hesitated. Three directions—none of them an easy choice.

Taking a gamble, he exhaled and continued straight ahead. Just a few steps past the intersection, he heard Feng Mi’s giggling, quickly silenced by a sharp reprimand.

The next moment, a dim orange glow flickered to life—clearly firelight—casting wavering light on the path he’d just walked. The elongated shadows of figures soon stretched across the walls.

If they turned into this corridor, they’d run right into him. Yan Tuo’s mind blanked in panic. He quickened his pace—this hallway only allowed a right turn at the end. He swiftly rounded the corner, then glanced back and cursed inwardly.

The firelight and footsteps were drawing closer. Clearly, they were heading his way.

When luck turned against you, everything went wrong. Earlier, he’d had three paths to choose from. Now, there was only one. Yan Tuo held his breath, silently reminding himself to stay calm. Moving as lightly and swiftly as possible, he tested the doors along the way—whatever happened, he couldn’t let them see him. At this point, witnessing the "death sentence" was secondary; hiding was the priority.

Yet, three doors in a row were all locked with passcodes. Worse still, the footsteps and firelight behind him were closing in, but no one spoke. Since Feng Mi’s laughter had been cut off, not a single voice had been heard.

Had the "death sentence" begun?

Miraculously, the fourth door opened. Yan Tuo slipped inside without a sound. As the door shut, the faint light from outside revealed Gou Ya tied to a chair in the center of the room.

Gou Ya’s head hung low, his shirtfront stained with blood. He seemed half-unconscious but still breathing, his shoulders rising and falling faintly.

Holy shit!What kind of luck was this? Should he call it good luck, or should he say it was downright rotten to the core?

There was no time left. There was nowhere to hide in this room. Yan Tuo's heart pounded wildly. In a flash of inspiration, he suddenly thought of something and dashed toward the wall.

Gou Ya was clearly startled by the noise. His body twitched as he lifted his head and opened his eyes, then immediately turned away to avoid the light—the door had opened, and the first candle held aloft burned with a flame as red as blood.

In the darkness where the candlelight couldn't reach, a long glass-framed "Operation Rules" poster gently closed shut. Yan Tuo pressed himself against the wall behind the frame, covering his mouth and nose slightly as he gasped for breath.

Beside him was a half-open door leading to the dark room where Gou Ya had been confined for months. In the center was a muddy pool, reeking of a nauseating stench.

But at this moment, Yan Tuo didn’t mind it at all.

The long glass frame was just a decoy—essentially a poster pasted on the inside of the glass. After catching his breath, Yan Tuo gently pried at the edge of the poster with his fingernail, creating a small gap just big enough for one eye to peek through.

He saw Lin Xirou and her group entering the room in eerie silence, spaced about half a meter apart, moving in single file. The order of the procession strangely matched the numbering sequence in an Excel file—Lin Xirou led the way, while Yang Zheng brought up the rear. Each of them held a lit white candle, the flames flickering in the darkness like restless ghost fires.

Moreover, Yang Zheng wasn’t just holding a candle—he also carried a small porcelain bowl.

This bizarre, ritualistic atmosphere spreading through the darkness was truly chilling.

The five of them circled Gou Ya once before taking their positions, effectively trapping him in the center. Lin Xirou stood directly in front of him, her expression icy and menacing.

Gou Ya’s head swung back and forth like a pendulum, looking at one person, then another, before finally fixing his gaze on Lin Xirou—Yan Tuo couldn’t see his face from this angle, only the back of his head.

He heard Gou Ya scream hoarsely, "Lin, what gives? Who the hell do you think you are? You’ve got no right to kill me!"

Sure enough, though his tongue was swollen and painful from the injury, it didn’t stop him from speaking—though his words were slightly slurred and disjointed.

After saying this, he suddenly twisted toward Li Yueying. "Aunt Li, are you siding with her too? I’m just like you—we’re both victims! If we hadn’t been dragged out, we’d still be living just fine. Think about how miserable you are—it’s all because of her. It’s all this woman’s fault—"

Lin Xirou stepped forward and slapped Gou Ya across the face. "Shut up!"

The force of the blow was tremendous—Gou Ya, still bound to the chair, was knocked to the ground, landing on his back. He burst into wild laughter. "Aunt Li, are you just standing there watching me suffer? You’re next!"

Then he screamed curses again. "Lin, I hope you die a horrible death, you bitch, you whore, you filthy c***! The Ghost Hunters are already closing in—you’ll all be dead soon, wiped out!"

Feng Mi couldn’t take it anymore. She stepped forward, raising her foot to kick him in the mouth, but Yang Zheng said coldly, "That mouth still has its uses later!"

Right. Feng Mi redirected her kick at the last second, slamming her foot into Gou Ya’s chest instead. The impact knocked the breath out of him, leaving him coughing violently—forcing him to temporarily swallow the rest of his venomous words.Lin Xirou signaled Xiong Hei to lift Gou Ya along with the chair and said, "The Turbanned Army has indeed come, but they're nearly wiped out. So, I'm afraid you'll be disappointed."

She then extended her hand, palm up, as if demanding something. Yang Zheng stepped forward and placed the small porcelain bowl he had been clutching into Lin Xirou's hand.

Strangely, Gou Ya, who had been as frenzied as a rabid dog earlier, suddenly trembled at the sight of the bowl and quieted down momentarily.

Everything in the room seemed to freeze, with only the flickering candle flames remaining restless.

Lin Xirou brought the bowl to her lips, as if it were filled with fine wine, ready to sip. She said, "Gou Ya, we share the same origin, having struggled to emerge into the light. You once swore to be born from the blood sac and nourish it in return. Tonight, I send you off because you've tainted the blood by consuming impurities, broken the rules, and are unworthy of worshiping the sun or dying under its light."

Her expression darkened as she slowly extended her tongue, rolling it over the rim of the bowl. Short spines emerged from beneath her tongue, and soon, transparent mucus dripped slowly from their tips into the bowl.

Lin Xirou retracted her tongue and handed the bowl to Xiong Hei.

Xiong Hei held the bowl and glared at Gou Ya, his face full of scorn. "Gou Ya, you're such a waste. Everyone else can do it—why can't you? I'm sending you off, and you deserve it. No regrets!"

With that, he similarly rolled out his tongue, dripping mucus into the bowl, then passed it to Li Yueying.

Li Yueying smiled, her powdered face ghastly pale under the candlelight. Yet her tone was calm. "Gou Ya, if you've done wrong, admit it. Don't blame others. Some are unfortunate, but you brought this on yourself. We're not the same."

After adding her mucus, she handed the bowl to Feng Mi.

Feng Mi grinned and asked Gou Ya, "I pierced your tongue, making you suffer one last time. Do you hate me for it? And you cursed us to be slaughtered by the Turbanned Army? Trash like you shouldn't have been allowed to emerge in the first place."

Finally, the bowl reached Yang Zheng.

Yang Zheng remained expressionless as usual. "If you'd just held back, you'd have a name by now. Since you couldn't, you should've seen this coming. So many of us are sending you off—you're getting quite the farewell. Go in peace."

After adding his mucus, he brought the candle flame to the bowl. With a whoosh , fire erupted inside, while the others simultaneously blew out their candles.

Now, the only light in the room came from the bowl's flame, which started crimson but soon darkened into a terrifying purplish-blue.

Xiong Hei stepped forward, gripping Gou Ya's head with one hand and forcing his mouth open with the other.

At the last moment, Gou Ya broke down, thrashing and screaming desperately, "Aunt Lin! Aunt Lin, I won’t do it again! Give me a chance, please, give me a chance—"

Through the glass, Yan Tuo watched as the purplish-blue flame slid into Gou Ya's mouth, and Xiong Hei clamped his jaws shut.

The last light vanished as Gou Ya swallowed it, plunging the room into darkness.

Silence reigned, broken only by Gou Ya's muffled struggles. Finally, Lin Xirou sneered, "Unworthy of the sun in life, unworthy of it in death. Serves you right."Then, with a clattering sound, Xiong Hei withdrew his hand, and Gou Ya, along with the chair, slumped limply to the ground once more.

Feng Mi murmured softly, "It's pitch black now, just like the Black-White Abyss."

Yan Tuo took a step back, smoothing out the crumpled corner of the poster with a gentle touch.

He heard Xiong Hei's voice: "Sister Lin, what... should we do with the body? Just leave it here?"

Lin Xirou replied, "Wouldn’t it be filthy to leave it here? Take it into the room. We’ll deal with it later."

Before Yan Tuo could react, a blinding light suddenly pierced his vision—someone had turned on a flashlight again. Having been in the dark for so long, his eyes couldn’t adjust to the sudden brightness, and he saw nothing but flashes of black.

But his hearing remained sharp: footsteps were approaching his direction.

He suddenly understood—"the room" referred to Gou Ya’s hidden chamber.

The light quickly reached him, separated only by the glass covered with the poster. Yan Tuo swiftly retreated into the inner room, barely steadying himself before the framed glass was yanked open.

By the faint light filtering in, he saw a pool of murky, shimmering muddy water.

There was no time to hesitate. Gritting his teeth, he stepped into the pool, took a deep breath, pinched his nose, and submerged himself completely.

Almost the instant he disappeared beneath the surface, Xiong Hei entered, flashlight in one hand and Gou Ya’s limp body in the other. With a toss, he hurled Gou Ya’s corpse into the pool.

It was past two in the morning when Yan Tuo finally left the main building.

Honestly, he didn’t even want the clothes on his back anymore, but he couldn’t exactly walk out naked. Besides, he hadn’t brought any luggage to the farm—was he supposed to wrap himself in just a coat tomorrow?

Wearing them wasn’t an option either. The clothes were soaked inside and out with foul water, leaving muddy footprints with every step—a trail that would lead straight back to his room.

So, forced by necessity, he used a lighter he found in the break room to light his way and, in the dead of winter, took a cold shower under the basement restroom faucet. He soaked and scrubbed his clothes, wrung them until they were barely dripping, and put them back on.

But that wasn’t all. He had to carefully inspect and wipe away his footprints as he walked. Otherwise, what would Lin Xirou and the others think when they entered the basement tomorrow and saw two rows of dried, watery footprints?

In short, the cold midnight wind cut through his damp clothes, delivering a double dose of bone-chilling cold. Fortunately, he found his coat along the way and wrapped himself in it, shivering but at least somewhat shielded from the cold.

By the time he climbed back through the window into his room, he was nearly frozen stiff. Stripping off his clothes to hang them up, he rushed through a hot shower and immediately burrowed under the covers, taking several minutes to finally warm up.

As he turned off the bedside lamp, he suddenly remembered—he still had to "report his safety."

He grabbed his phone but hesitated before dialing.

It was past two in the morning. Wouldn’t a call at this hour be inappropriate? Nie Jiuluo might already be asleep.

After some thought, he settled on a compromise and sent a text instead.

—I’m back. Safe and sound.

The message vanished like a stone sinking into the sea, with no response from the other end.

Yan Tuo chuckled wryly. She must indeed be asleep.

He turned off the light and pulled the covers tight. The night had been too eventful, his emotions too turbulent, his thoughts too scattered to revisit each moment or analyze every word.

At least, for now, he was safe.

His eyelids grew heavy, but just as he was drifting off, his phone let out a soft "ding."

Was that... a message coming in?

In an instant, Yan Tuo’s drowsiness vanished. He rolled over onto his stomach, reached for his phone, and—Sure enough, the message came from Liu Changxi's account, with just one word in reply.

—Okay.