The Mystery of the Inner Demon

Chapter 349 The Mask in the Pond
"I think I fell asleep, and slept very soundly, without even having any dreams." Faced with Qi Fei's repeated questions, Zhong Kui just shook her head. "I don't know how Zhong Xiaoyu did it, it's like she set up a barrier between us, completely isolating us."

"Wasn't it like this before?" Qi Fei asked softly.

Zhong Kui shook her head: "This body is like a building, and Zhong Xiaoyu and I are both residents of this building, vying for ownership of the entire building. Sometimes it's me, sometimes it's her. No matter who's in control, the other person can hear what's happening inside, not completely, but can roughly know what happened while I was away. But this time it's completely different. Before I woke up, my last memory was in Sanwu Town. Back then..." When she recalled this part, her face suddenly turned pale, as if she had encountered something extremely terrifying.

Qi Fei rarely saw her like this, and involuntarily took her hand. He was afraid of losing her, yet he also longed for Zhong Xiaoyu's reappearance. This conflicting feeling brought him immense guilt. Zhong Kui's fingers were colder than before, which worried Qi Fei. The Zhong Kui he knew was fearless; what could possibly frighten her?
However, even Zhong Kui herself didn't know the answer. Confused, she muttered to herself, "Why am I afraid?"

"Did Zhong Xiaoyu do something to you?" Qi Fei tried to prompt.

Zhong Kui tried to recall, but ultimately shook her head: "It seems to have nothing to do with her, it seems like there's a dark shadow..." As she spoke, she pulled her hand away from Qi Fei's grasp, looked down at her own hands, and murmured, "These hands dragged me to a very dark place, a bottomless abyss..."

For some reason, Zhong Kui's words reminded Qi Fei of the crime scene at Villa No. 3 on Crescent Moon Mountain. The bottomless darkness, just like Zhong Xiaoyu's eyes in the photo, lingered in Qi Fei's mind.

There was a knock on the ward door, interrupting Qi Fei's thoughts. He turned around and saw that it was Jiang Tianyi.

"I heard Xiaoyu is back, so I came to visit her." He smiled, maintaining his usual refined demeanor.

"Heh, then you're probably going to be disappointed," Zhong Kui retorted, her tone carrying a natural aversion to Zhong Xiaoyu.

Jiang Tianyi didn't seem to mind. He lowered his head slightly and adjusted his gold-rimmed glasses. "Looks like Zhong Kui is back. Whoever it is, we can always have fruit, right?" he said, placing the fruit basket on the bedside table.

Zhong Kui glanced at the fruit basket, but instead of thanking her, she said, "You don't come here unless you need something. It seems you have something to discuss with Zhong Xiaoyu."

Jiang Tianyi laughed again: "As expected of the fortune teller, that's right, Zhong Xiaoyu came to me before she disappeared."

"You didn't mention it last time," Qi Fei said in surprise. The last time he was referring to was obviously the time when he came to him for help after reading the case file.

“At that time, I didn’t know Xiaoyu had an accident. She gave me this.” Jiang Tianyi took out the USB drive. “But it was password protected, so I didn’t know what was inside. Later, I heard that she had disappeared, and I was worried that it contained her last words. I originally wanted to come and find her to ask her about it.”

"She gave you a USB drive?" Zhong Kui's eyes flashed with displeasure.

"I remember receiving a USB drive from you when we first met." Qi Fei said, taking the USB drive out of his pocket. It was given to him by Zhong Kui more than a year ago when he showed him his address, and he had carried it with him ever since.

"Tch, she's just copying my methods," Zhong Kui said dismissively, her tone towards Jiang Tianyi laced with disdain. "So what?"

“So, I want to ask her what the password is,” Jiang Tianyi said calmly, then sighed. “She came to me in the wind and snow that day. Looking back now, it felt like a well-thought-out farewell. I should have kept her a little longer. I wonder what happened to her these past few days.” “Heh, this coward is hiding again, using me as a shield. If she didn’t always take over this body without warning, Xi He would have been killed by me long ago,” Zhong Kui said disdainfully.

"Kui, are you sure Xi He killed Zhong Xiaoyu's family? Is it possible that this is what Zhong Xiaoyu wants you to believe?" Qi Fei couldn't help but ask.

Zhong Kui was stunned for a moment; this was a question she had never thought about before.

"She created you, and she also created a worldview that belongs only to you..." Qi Fei's words were like needles pricking Zhong Kui's nerves.

"Shut up! I am me, she is her, and I am a hundred times stronger than her." Zhong Kui tossed her head aside, her long black hair covering half of her face.

"You just said that you two are like two residents living in the same building. So, can you also glimpse some of Zhong Xiaoyu's memories? What exactly happened at Villa No. 3 on Crescent Moon Mountain ten years ago? Can you see it?" Qi Fei asked cautiously.

“Crescent Moon Mountain?” Zhong Kui frowned. “I don’t know why, but every time I think of this place, I feel very cold, as if I’m walking barefoot in the snow.” As she spoke, she started shivering, and the shivering became more and more violent.

Jiang Tianyi noticed her unusual behavior and said in a deep voice, "Zhong Kui, stop and come back to reality."

Upon hearing this, Zhong Kui suddenly seemed to have exhausted all her strength, and collapsed into Qi Fei's arms, losing consciousness.
-
This winter has seen a once-in-a-century cold wave, with temperatures in southern regions like Yuanxi plummeting to zero degrees Celsius.

The seawall had finally dried up due to the continuous dry and cold weather. Under the winter sun, the black silt turned white. Fishermen worriedly packed up their still-ripe catch, hoping to salvage some of their losses.

The cold wind blows down the frost-covered seaweed, and half a human face emerges from the mud, lifelike.

The sight startled the fishermen, but upon closer inspection, they realized it was a silicone mask, another piece of trash carelessly discarded by someone.

He breathed a sigh of relief, picked up the crab claw to grab the mask and put it in the trash can, but the mask seemed to be rooted in the mud, and he couldn't pick it up on his first try. He had no choice but to put down the claw and try to grab it with both hands. The mask was wrapped around something, which was being torn and deformed. With a forceful pull, he heard a crisp "crack" from the mud, like tearing a vine apart when picking a watermelon. He fell backward into the mud, still holding the thing wrapped in the mask.

The mask, covered in mud, was deformed in his hands, looking both bizarre and comical.

Before he could react, a round, plump thing fell from under the mask and landed with a thud back into the mud.

The winter sun shone high, illuminating everything in the mud pit with perfect clarity. The thing, with its two large black holes facing the fishermen, grinned as if mocking them—it was clearly a skull.

"Oh my god! It's a dead person!" The fishermen's frightened cries for help came from the dried-up seawall, startling the seagulls all around.