Chapter 25: So It Was You

Li Banfeng had thought the fake He Jiaqing would follow him into the bathroom.

However, the imposter didn't do that. In fact, he didn't want to have any more contact with Li Banfeng. He had noticed Li Banfeng was acting a little strangely.

Nevertheless, the imposter wasn't worried. He believed that Li Banfeng's fate had been sealed from the moment he entered the house. He was destined to take the imposter's place and become the house's next prisoner.

To make that a certainty, the imposter had given Li Banfeng some tea laced with an extra ingredient, intending to put him into a deep sleep.

Worried that the tea might not be enough to send Li Banfeng into a deep sleep, the imposter had tried to get Li Banfeng to drink the soup as well. However, Li Banfeng hadn't touched it.

Clearly, the tea hadn't worked as intended. Perhaps the dose was too light, or maybe Li Banfeng was simply too robust, and one cup wasn't enough to knock him out cold.

Nonetheless, that wasn't important.

The only thing that mattered was that Li Banfeng couldn't get out.

There was no way he could find the exit.

After all, the imposter had searched the house for days and still hadn't found a way out.

Once dawn breaks, I'll be free.

Li Banfeng, you fool. Let's see how long you'll last in this place.

The imposter went downstairs and lay down to sleep in the room near the front entrance.

Li Banfeng entered the bathroom and saw a yellow cat and a white cat by the washbasin, looking around for food.

The washbasin did not have a faucet. Instead, there was a hand pump for drawing in well water. The white cat jumped onto the pump handle while the yellow cat crouched by the spout, watching to see if any water would come out.

So, these two cats made that rustling sound earlier. But how did they get in here?

There are quite a few cats in this house... How did the others get in?

Through the windows?

There was indeed a porthole window in the bathroom—a very small one.

The porthole window was shut tight. Li Banfeng tried pushing it several times, but it was just as solid as the one in the bedroom. It was impossible to open.

Noticing the white cat was wary of him, Li Banfeng hissed softly at the two cats. The white cat jumped in fear, fur bristling. It bolted straight into a small hole beneath the washbasin.

The yellow cat tried to escape through the hole too, but Li Banfeng grabbed it quickly.

He looked at the hole beside the floor drain.

It seemed to be a ventilation duct, just barely wider than an adult's fist.

Cats really are amazing creatures. How do they squeeze through such a tiny hole?

"

Meow~

"

Through the frosted glass, Li Banfeng saw a small, blurry white figure outside the window. It was calling for its companion.

The white cat had made it outside!

It had gotten out through the ventilation duct.

Humans couldn't leave, but cats could!

The bathroom door handle suddenly turned, and the door opened with a click. The imposter entered the bathroom.

He had heard the meow.

"Banfeng, what are you doing?"

"I'm sitting on the toilet."

Li Banfeng was sitting on the toilet, cradling the yellow cat in his arms.

"You're petting a cat while sitting on the toilet?"

Li Banfeng nodded. "There's a cat in the bathroom. If I don't sit on the toilet to pet it, where else am I supposed to do it?"

The imposter silently stepped out of the bathroom and closed the bathroom door behind him. He couldn't figure out what Li Banfeng was up to.

After all, Li Banfeng always behaved extremely strangely, yet he always managed to come up with a logical excuse.

Why bother questioning his odd behavior?

Once morning comes, I'll never have to see him again.

Li Banfeng reached into the ventilation duct beneath the washbasin. He couldn't figure out the layout of the ventilation duct from there, but he could tell the ventilation duct didn't lead directly outside.

Li Banfeng could feel a cool night breeze blowing in through the ventilation duct. However, he couldn't just throw his house key into it and expect it to get outside. He had no idea how long it was or how many turns it had.

If he couldn't throw the key, then he had to take a gamble.

The yellow cat looked quite timid. If Li Banfeng wanted to win this gamble, he'd have to give the yellow cat a little motivation.

𝓯𝓻𝓮𝙚𝙬𝓮𝙗𝒏𝙤𝒗𝙚𝙡.𝒄𝒐𝓶

Li Banfeng pulled out the fedora that he had tucked into his pajama pants.

Earlier, when he changed into the pajamas, the imposter had taken his wallet and other belongings.

However, there were two things Li Banfeng never parted with: his house key and his

latiao

. He had hidden them inside the fedora.

Li Banfeng pulled out the key and entered the Pocket Dwelling. He reached into his backpack and took out his charging cable.

Then he went back out to the bathroom and used the cable to tie the key securely onto the yellow cat.

Li Banfeng carried the cat over to the vent opening. He turned the key and unlocked his Pocket Dwelling once more.

Just before stepping inside, Li Banfeng pulled out a strip of

latiao

and tucked it into the yellow cat's ass.

With a sharp, pitiful yowl, the yellow cat took off, darting into the vent like a flash of yellow lightning.

Li Banfeng immediately stepped into the Pocket Dwelling.

Little cat, if you rush straight outside, then I've won this gamble.

If you choose to stay in the duct, then I've lost!

And if I end up trapped in this house, you're doomed too. The spice from that latiao will burn right down to your soul!

Hearing the noise, the imposter burst into the bathroom again, only to find that Li Banfeng was gone.

Where did he go?!

The imposter's mind buzzed in a panic.

Then he heard footsteps outside. He rushed down to the living room, stopped at the floor-to-ceiling window, and looked outside.

Li Banfeng was standing in the garden. Beside him was the yellow cat, now soaking itself in a puddle.

The imposter was horrified. Li Banfeng looked perfectly calm.

Just moments ago, the imposter had been so certain that he would soon be free. He had believed that Li Banfeng could never escape the He Family's old residence.

Well, just moments ago, Li Banfeng hadn't been certain whether the yellow cat would run out the other end of the ventilation duct. But now, that very cat was sitting in a puddle, whimpering softly.

Earlier, when Li Banfeng entered the

Pocket Dwelling inside the bathroom, the yellow cat ran through the ventilation duct and out the other end. It brought the key out of the house.

And of course, the Pocket Dwelling followed the key, bringing Li Banfeng out of the house as well.

At this moment, the imposter was pounding hard on the floor-to-ceiling window of the living room. He called out to Li Banfeng, but Li Banfeng couldn't hear him.

The imposter clawed at the window frame with both hands, forcing it open a crack with an ear-piercing screech.

The gap grew wider and wider. Once it reached over ten centimeters, the imposter wedged his head through the opening and stuck it outside.

"Banfeng, you're my only bro. Are you really just going to leave? Ditch me here? Didn't you come here to save me?!"

Li Banfeng took a few steps back. He could tell that the fake He Jiaqing was more powerful than him. After all, he hadn't been able to open any of the windows, yet the imposter managed to do it.

"Who are you really?" Li Banfeng asked. He gripped his house key tightly, ready to run at any second.

The imposter tried to push the rest of his body out through the gap, but he couldn't. The window frame was clamped tightly onto his shoulders.

"Li Banfeng, come here. Just come a little closer, and I'll tell you. I'll tell you exactly who I am!"

Seeing that the imposter still refused to reveal his identity, Li Banfeng decided to leave. Unexpectedly, someone else answered his question.

To be precise, it wasn't a person but the dwelling spirit.

The dwelling spirit would not allow the imposter to leave the house.

Even if he opened the window, he still couldn't get out of the house through the window. And even if he opened the front door to let Li Banfeng back inside, he would still be trapped in the house, unable to leave.

Nevertheless, the imposter struggled with all his might, continuing his futile attempt to escape. Then the vines hanging down from the roof suddenly whipped down and wrapped around his face, ripping off a fine layer of skin. He Jiaqing's face disappeared, unveiling the imposter's real face.

It's Lu Xiaolan! Jiaqing's girlfriend!

Why is she in the He Family's old residence?

No wonder she mentioned so many private things about me and He Jiaqing in her messages.

She knew about that time when she had dinner with He Jiaqing, and I'd tagged along.

She even knew about that night when they were sleeping together, but I called him to hang out with me, so he left midway.

Did she also know that Jiaqing had passed me answers during an exam? That he had worked at a construction site to pay for my hospital bill?

Did he tell her those things?

How was she able to hook onto my phone?

Was it because of that call Jiaqing had me make?

Is Jiaqing her accomplice?

Did Jiaqing betray me?

Wait a second. If Jiaqing's her accomplice, why wasn't he the one who came to trick me?

If it had been him, there would not have been so many holes in his story!

She's a Spycraft Cultivator. She wouldn't have needed Jiaqing to tell her about many of those things. She probably found out about our private affairs by spying on him.

The text messages... It had been her the whole time, and I'd walked right into her trap.

But once we met in person, it was inevitable that there would be flaws in her disguise since no Spycraft spell could catch every little detail.

In any case, Jiaqing probably wasn't her accomplice. How did she end up trapped here?

As Li Banfeng's thoughts whirled through his mind, Lu Xiaolan screamed hoarsely from the window, "Li Banfeng! Don't you want to save He Jiaqing? If you do, come find me! I'm the only one who knows where he is!

"Li Banfeng, I love Jiaqing. I truly love him. Besides you, I'm the only one in this world who has ever sincerely cared for him!"

Upon hearing that, Li Banfeng turned and walked away.

What's the point of saying that? It's not like I'm in that kind of relationship with He Jiaqing

.

"Li Banfeng! Don't go! You'll regret it for the rest of your life! You've already become a Dark Ability User, haven't you? I bet you're a Physique Cultivator! You can turn invisible, can't you?

"Tell me how to get out of here! Whatever you want, I'll give it to you! Anything! I've got all kinds of treasures!"

However, Li Banfeng vanished into the night. Tears streaked down Lu Xiaolan's face as she moved her head back into the house.

She had no choice but to retreat. The vines had torn off her fake face. If she kept her head outside any longer, her real face would be next.

In the past few days, the vines had ripped into her real face time and time again. Each time brought searing, bone-deep agony and scars that were difficult to heal.

Lu Xiaolan slumped to the floor by the window, breaking into bitter sobs.

She couldn't understand why she had failed to fool Li Banfeng.

She had successfully lured Li Banfeng to Puluo and tricked him into entering the house. So why did he still manage to escape?

***

Not long after the train derailed, He Jiaqing had received a phone call from Li Banfeng.

That call had saved He Jiaqing's life.

Lu Xiaolan had attacked He Jiaqing, but she failed to kill him. Then He Jiaqing struck back, but he failed to kill her.

Thanks to that phone call from Li Banfeng, He Jiaqing had managed to flee back to Yuezhou and even sent Lu Xiaolan to the He Family's old residence.

However, it was also because of that call that Lu Xiaolan had been able to use her clairaudient ears to hook onto Li Banfeng's phone.

Once she was trapped inside the He Family's old residence, that hook became Lu Xiaolan's lifeline.

However, Li Banfeng's phone died on the train.

The connection was broken. Lu Xiaolan was terrified and anxious. She began wallowing in despair.

She feared that something might have happened to Li Banfeng.

To her surprise, he still came.

Bound by the dwelling spirit's restrictions, Lu Xiaolan had no plans to use force, nor did she intend to break character before Li Banfeng discovered the truth on his own.

To ensure that Li Banfeng would spend one full night in the house, she planned out everything she would do after he arrived and went through every detail of her plan many times, rehearsing over and over again.

She showed remarkable restraint, never once rushing to mention the Arcane Crimson Lotus. Even when Li Banfeng said he'd left the Arcane Crimson Lotus at the train station, she didn't lash out at him.

She did her best to imitate He Jiaqing's mannerisms, down to the smallest details. When Li Banfeng entered the house, she even mocked his backpack the same way He Jiaqing would always do.

All she had to do was hold out until morning, and she'd be free from this house.

***

Why?

Lu Xiaolan truly couldn't understand why Li Banfeng had run away.

What did I say wrong? Where did I mess up?

Why did Li Banfeng run?

Lu Xiaolan clutched her hair and bawled in anguish.

For the first time, she realized she might actually die in this house—starve to death and rot into a foul, disgusting corpse.

After crying for a long time, her voice faded to a whisper, and the tears on her face had dried up.

Lu Xiaolan went to the kitchen, chopped up some cat skin and bones into bits, and tossed them into a pot.

Then she took out a small porcelain vial from her pocket and poured out a bit of powder, sprinkling it onto the mixture of skin and bone.

The powder was incredibly precious. This was all she had left.

Smoke rose from the pot, like oil fumes from using high heat to stir-fry rapidly in a wok.

Beneath the smoke, the minced cat skin and bones slowly turned into an unidentifiable paste with a faint, fishy odor.

She portioned the paste into five cat food bowls and placed each one in a different corner of the house.

One was placed in the entrance hall, one in the living room, one in the kitchen, one in the bathroom, and one in the upstairs corridor.

The subtle fishy scent could travel far into the distance, luring in stray cats or even weasels. These creatures had their own ways of entering and leaving the house.

Once they ate the food in the cat food bowls, they would fall into a deep sleep, just like the calico cat in the kitchen.

Lu Xiaolan picked up the calico, sank her teeth into its fur, and ripped it open. She tore into the flesh with her teeth, eating ravenously.

She wanted to eat cooked food, but she couldn't waste the firewood. It was too precious. She needed to use it to trick the next person she lured into the house.

As she chewed a large mouthful of raw meat, she muttered under her breath.

"I can't die. I absolutely can't die. I have to live. I can still get out."

***

After escaping the He Family's old residence, Li Banfeng ran through several alleyways until he reached a narrow lane. He hid his house key beneath the windowsill of a nearby house and entered the Pocket Dwelling.

Sitting quietly inside, Li Banfeng sank into deep thought.

Where has the real He Jiaqing gone?

Could the person lying comatose in the hospital be the real He Jiaqing?

Author's note:

P.S. Li Banfeng didn't take back the latiao he had stuffed into the yellow cat's ass. Hope that the yellow cat will be all right.