I raised stunning young ladies, but they all wanted to possess me.

Gu Yan needed to figure out exactly where she was as quickly as possible.

Just as he reached out to touch the wall for the light switch...

A hand silently reached out from the darkness.

They covered his mouth.

The palms were soft and had a faint peach scent.

Amidst the intense stench of blood, this smell stood out remarkably clearly.

Her fingers were long and strong, resting on his chin.

The arm encircled his shoulder, the force not strong but very steady.

The person came up from behind, their chest pressed against his back.

Gu Yan's pupils contracted sharply, and she gripped the hilt of the knife with her other hand.

All the muscles in my body tensed up in that instant.

Adrenaline explodes in the blood vessels.

Just as he was about to draw his sword, he heard a very soft voice.

"I couldn't find you for ages, so here you are."

"it's me."

It was Fu Wanqing's voice, very soft and gentle.

She spoke almost right next to his ear.

Her breath brushed against his earlobe, carrying a warm temperature.

The voice carried a hint of complaint and a touch of coquetry.

"What are you doing down there? It's so dark in here."

But in this dark basement filled with bloodshed.

But it sent chills down one's spine.

Gu Yan was completely stunned.

The hand holding the knife froze in front of him, unable to pull it out.

If Fu Wanqing were to hug her like this normally, Gu Yan wouldn't think much of it.

It's not like she hasn't hugged him before. She hugged him when she dragged him out of the secret realm, and she hugged him when she helped him up in the hospital.

But at this moment, he felt cold sweat trickling down his spine to his lower back.

The back of my clothes was soaked with cold sweat, and it felt cold and sticky against my skin, like a layer of wet paper.

The string in my mind was about to snap, and my temples were throbbing.

He opened his mouth as if to say something, but Fu Wanqing's hand was still covering his mouth.

Her palms were soft but her grip was tight, and one finger was held upright against her own lips.

That means you must not make a sound, not even the slightest noise.

In the darkness, I couldn't see her expression, but I could feel that her body was very tense.

Her entire body was in a state of readiness, like a cat that had sensed danger.

His shoulders were slightly hunched, and his breathing was extremely low and shallow.

Just as Gu Yan was preparing to use her superpower, Fu Wanqing made a move.

Her reaction was a beat faster than Gu Yan's, as if she had a premonition of something.

He was practically dragged to the side and suddenly squatted down.

The movements were quick and precise, without the slightest hesitation.

The two of them huddled into an extremely narrow corner against the wall.

My back was pressed against the cold, damp wall, which was covered in sticky water stains.

The icy chill seeped through the clothes and into the very bones.

There were several burlap sacks piled up in front of me, their contents unknown, bulging and full.

The burlap sack emitted an indescribable stench, like something had rotted.

Fu Wanqing squatted down in front of him, wrapping her arms around his shoulders.

Her knees were pressed against his knees, and her chest was almost touching his chest.

The person stood in front of him like a shield.

Gu Yan was pinned against the wall, her back pressed against the wall, with Gu Yan's face in front of her.

The two were so close that they could feel each other's eyelashes fluttering.

The strong smell of blood was mixed with a faint, almost imperceptible stench of decay.

It has a cloyingly sweet taste, like meat that's been sitting out for a long time and is starting to rot.

It was mixed with the musty smell unique to damp, enclosed spaces, which seeped into my nostrils in waves.

The smell wasn't just unpleasant; it was a smell that instilled instinctive fear.

My stomach was churning violently, and acid was rising up my throat.

He gritted his teeth to keep from spitting it out, and the veins on his forehead bulged.

His Adam's apple bobbed up and down several times, managing to suppress the nausea.

Fu Wanqing seemed to sense that he was trying hard to hold back, so she pressed herself closer to him.

A faint peach scent wafted from her hair.

It drifted out from between her neck and collar, almost imperceptibly.

Amidst the stench of blood and corpses, this delicate fragrance is all the more precious.

It felt like suddenly taking a breath of fresh air when you were about to suffocate.

Gu Yan's furrowed brows relaxed slightly.

He was about to speak, but before he could utter a sound...

Fu Wanqing covered it again, this time even more tightly.

Her fingers parted slightly, covering his mouth completely.

She pressed her entire body against him, almost pinning him against the wall.

Her palm touched his lips, and she could feel the warmth and slight dampness of her palm.

Her heartbeat, transmitted through her thin nightgown, was faster than his.

Gu Yan felt a chill in her heart; was it all over?

Could all of this be a scheme set up by Fu Wanqing and her adoptive parents?

The moment this thought popped into my head, it felt like ice water being poured over my entire body.

But her expression was off; there was neither smugness nor scheming in her eyes.

His amber pupils gleamed faintly in the darkness, filled with tension.

She was nervous, genuinely nervous, not faking it.

The hand she was using to press on his shoulder was trembling slightly.

Just then he heard a sound; there were people not far away.

He suddenly held his breath, suppressing even his heartbeat.

A dark figure stood on the steps leading to the basement entrance.

He was carrying a lamp, the light of which was dim and yellowish.

The light from that lamp was only enough to illuminate the first few steps.

The photo revealed a blurry outline; the figure was that of the foster mother.

She was still wearing the same floral apron she had worn during the day, but now there were several dark stains on it.

The mark gleamed a dark reddish-brown under the light.

Her shadow was stretched long by the lamplight, casting a crooked and distorted pattern on the steps.

Like a snake crawling along the ground.

"Did a mouse get in?"

Her voice came down from the steps.

It echoed through several basement levels, making a muffled, thumping sound.

It was completely different from the kind and warm voice she had during the day.

It's like someone talking to an empty can.

"I think I heard some noise downstairs just now."

"It sounds like footsteps, but it doesn't."

Another voice came from further away.

The deep, hoarse voice belonged to his adoptive father.

"I heard that too. Why are there so many rats lately?"

"They keep coming one after another, we can't stop them all."

Then came the sound of a cane hitting the concrete floor.

It was slow and steady, one step at a time.

As we got closer, the lights became brighter and brighter.

"Let's go down and take a look, just in case there are any dead rats down there."

"It'll be even more troublesome if it smells bad. The last one smelled bad for three days."

"The whole basement smelled like that; you could smell it upstairs too."

Gu Yan shrank further into the corner.

My shoulder was already pressed against the corner of the wall, with nowhere left to retreat.

Fu Wanqing's body completely blocked his way.

Her arms braced against the walls on either side of his body, trapping him in the deepest part of the corner.

His long pink hair hung down, covering half of his body.

Her eyes shone brightly in the darkness.

It was so bright that it didn't look like someone who had been in the dark for a long time.

Gu Yan's heart skipped a beat; a normal person wouldn't be able to stay in the dark for a long time in such bright light.

But he didn't have time to think about it.

The adoptive father's footsteps paused on the steps.

"I hope those packages we left out before haven't been eaten by rats."

"Those things still need to be dealt with."