A caged beast

The Wu Family Manor was shrouded in damp, cold air in the early morning. Lin Chaoying relied on her memory to find a new path through countless twisting and turning corners. With each turn, she couldn't avoid the panic in her heart, fearing that she would encounter the servants and members of the Wu family around the corner.

She walked through the garden and entered Cuihua Courtyard. The first thing to do was to go back to their previous room and check if their phones and the medicine in their suitcases were still there. Logically speaking, they disappeared in the middle of the night yesterday, and even if a housekeeper was arranged to clean the room, it would have to wait until the next working day. It was the middle of the night now, so it was very likely that their belongings were still in their original place.

The already gloomy weather suddenly started to drizzle, with fine raindrops falling like a spray.

Lin Chaoying gripped the knife tightly in her hand, her ears scanning for danger ahead. Her clothes were already covered in mud and bloodstains.

Suddenly, the familiar sound of high heels echoed down the path leading to Cuihua Courtyard. Realizing the walking habits and sounds were exactly the same as Steward Zhang's, she immediately turned and darted into the courtyard behind her, only to find a memorial tablet over ten meters tall inside!

Is this an ancestral hall?

Lin Chaoying heard the footsteps getting closer and closer, so she crawled under the offering table and hid in the tablecloth. Unexpectedly, the wooden door was pushed open the next second, and she heard high heels approaching step by step, finally stopping in front of the table.

She held her breath, raised the knife in one hand, and was ready to attack at any moment.

The footsteps circled around, seemingly finding nothing, then left the ancestral hall, closing the door behind them. Lin Chaoying cautiously came out, peering through the doorway to listen as the footsteps receded into the distance, heading towards the crabapple courtyard to the north.

Only when there was no sound at all did she feel relieved and push open the door.

Who knew that the moment the door opened, a powerful impact kicked her into the ancestral hall. Her body rolled uncontrollably several times, her back hitting the table, and offerings fell all over her. Lin Chaoying couldn't stop herself and immediately gritted her teeth and stood up.

Butler Zhang smiled mysteriously. "Producer Lin? What are you doing here?"

"Butler Zhang? Where do you think I should be?" Lin Chaoying wiped the bloodstains from the corner of her mouth and composed herself.

Butler Zhang said, word by word, "Young Master will be displeased if you suddenly run out like this!"

Lin Chaoying sneered: "Did they forget to inform you when the People's Republic of China was founded? Why are you speaking with such servility?"

Steward Zhang's expression changed drastically. A dagger appeared out of nowhere in his hand and stabbed towards her eyes. Lin Chaoying skillfully dodged it and then lifted the offering table with one hand and smashed it down.

Her physical strength was completely exhausted, while Butler Zhang was like a beast poised to pounce. After several rounds of fighting, she had no strength left, and her knife was almost knocked from her hand several times. Lin Chaoying had to rely on her mental fortitude to parry each attack.

Butler Zhang cornered her, and Lin Chaoying used her knife to firmly block the dagger.

Butler Zhang's eyes flashed with a strange light. "Why are you so weak?"

In the blink of an eye, Lin Chaoying released her left hand, and the moment the knife fell, her right hand caught it. Her upper body followed the force of the other person's movement to the side and dodge, while the knife in her right hand pierced into Butler Zhang's body.

Butler Zhang was like a robot; her expression didn't change at all when she was stabbed. Lin Chaoying couldn't withstand her attack. She grabbed the dagger with her left hand and stabbed it repeatedly into the wound with her right hand. Only then did Lin Chaoying clutch her abdomen and take a few steps back.

Lin Chaoying stood there panting, her eyes noticing the memorial tablet stand beside her. She raised her hand and chopped down, and with a sound of the wooden stand breaking, all the memorial tablets crashed down.

A strange emotion finally appeared in Butler Zhang's eyes.

Taking advantage of the situation, Lin Chaoying pushed open the window, climbed out of the ancestral hall, and quickly ran out of the courtyard. Since the commotion had become so great, she no longer dodged, but instead frantically ran through the courtyard, randomly pushing open a courtyard gate.

The Wu Family Manor is like a maze, full of corners and courtyards. Without a map or someone familiar to guide her, she would get dizzy running around. It wouldn't be surprising if she ended up in the main courtyard now!

This courtyard, though seemingly clean, had a musty smell. Normally, places where people live regularly have a sense of life, while places that are uninhabited for years will have a musty, damp smell, like something unwanted.

If we count that Wu Yang lived in Qingfeng Courtyard and Wu Liang's family lived in Cuihua Courtyard, then this place is very likely the Haitang Courtyard that has never been mentioned on the map. In her memory, she only glanced at it and remembered that unlike the other two normal courtyards, Haitang Courtyard was composed of three independent courtyards in a straight line.

Lin Chaoying didn't care about anything else at the moment. She casually pushed open the courtyard door, barged in, and headed straight for the innermost room. As soon as she opened the door, she was met with a visual shock—a mixture of nobility and corruption.

The room has two floors, and the decorative items look quite valuable, with very sophisticated placement.

Lin Chaoying stood at the top of the stairs, seeing an incomprehensible landscape painting hanging on the wall, and a solid gold dragon displayed on a table beneath it. She couldn't quite place whether the overall style was that of a refined scholar or a nouveau riche...

The wooden stairs creaked and groaned as she climbed them quickly.

Lin Chaoying stood by the second-floor window, observing the activity in the courtyard through the intricately carved wooden window. Making sure no one was chasing her, she rummaged through drawers and cabinets to find banknotes. Sitting by the window, she sketched a simple map, relying on her memory to trace the route she had taken, trying to find the shortest path back to her room or closest to the main gate.

Suddenly, a whistling wind rushed towards her, hurtling towards her. Without thinking, Lin Chaoying immediately turned to the side, but the arrow still grazed her shoulder, tearing her clothes and leaving a bloody mark.

She crouched down in fear, crouched by the window, and peered through the latticework.

Butler Zhang held a mechanism in his hand, staring at her with great interest.

How could this be? This woman is like a ghost! How could she accurately locate her sitting position even when there were completely obstructions?

Lin Chaoying suddenly realized, could it be that Butler Zhang's superpower is X-ray vision? That would be the end of them! How could they possibly escape from X-ray vision now? No wonder there were no security cameras at the manor.

Wait a moment!

If it really is see-through?

Has Butler Zhang been to the back garden? Isn't Feng Yang in grave danger?! We need to grab the medicine and head back right away!

Lin Chaoying calmly considered what she feared most about X-ray vision.

Whenever she uses her hearing to probe, she is most afraid of sudden loud noises. X-ray vision, in essence, is also about seeing with your eyes. What are the eyes most afraid of? Something glaring?

She knows! Light!

There didn't seem to be any powerful light source tools like flashlights in this dilapidated house.

Lin Chaoying turned to look at the mirror by the window, then looked at the rising sun outside. The house was facing east with its back to the west, so it was right in front of the sunlight. It was as if even God was helping her.

According to the law of reflection of light, the three rays (ray, ray, and normal) are coplanar, located on opposite sides of the normal, and the angle of reflection equals the angle of incidence!

She stood by the window, calmly opened it, and looked directly into the mocking and sarcastic eyes below. "Butler Zhang? Have you ever been to school?"

Butler Zhang laughed and said, "Producer Lin, have I knocked you out of your mind?"

Lin Chaoying laughed loudly: "Did you also give your face to the Wu Liang family to trample on? It seems like I've stabbed you more than anyone else, right?"

Butler Zhang snorted coldly and said provocatively, "It's fine, your friend will treat us anyway."

As expected, Kong Yue was caught.

Lin Chaoying's expression was unpredictable. Out of the corner of her eye, she noticed that the ceiling height on the second floor wasn't particularly high, and more importantly, there was a roof that could provide some cushioning and a covered water tank. Without giving herself time to hesitate, she raised the mirror and aimed it in the right direction. A powerful beam of refracted light shot into Butler Zhang's eyes without warning.

Butler Zhang's eyes couldn't take it, so he covered them and took a few steps back.

Lin Chaoying leaped down, holding the mirror, and used the eaves as leverage to jump onto the water vat. She landed on the ground with lightning speed. She dropped the mirror, and the moment the knife pierced through Butler Zhang's right shoulder, she stared intently into his half-closed eyes.

Zhang, the housekeeper, was knocked to the ground by the series of attacks. As she prepared to fight back, Lin Chaoying showed no mercy and stabbed at her other shoulder.

Lin Chaoying was a good, excellent, and law-abiding citizen. At most, she participated in fights and brawls when she was in school. She had been involved in both one-on-one and group fights, but she had never really hurt anyone. Unlike now, she lives a life of licking blood off the edge of a knife every day as soon as she opens her eyes.

She noticed that Butler Zhang had indeed fainted due to excessive blood loss and prepared to leave.

Unexpectedly, just as she stood up, Butler Zhang suddenly opened his eyes, grabbed her with one hand, and just as the dagger was about to slice across her cheek, Lin Chaoying was unable to dodge in time, and the knife finally landed on her collarbone.

She endured the pain, pried the dagger away with one hand, and with the other, brought the knife down on the wound again. Butler Zhang lay on the ground, covered in blood, his eyes closed, his breathing weak.

Lin Chaoying's head was throbbing with pain. She ripped off Butler Zhang's coat, tore off a piece to cover her bleeding collarbone, and then immediately left the courtyard.

Fortunately, she had just redrawn the route upstairs. Although it wasn't complete, it was much clearer than when she came out. Exhausted, she prepared to go back to the garden.

After all, it was unknown whether Butler Zhang had discovered Feng Yang and Cen Ting.

Leaning against the wall, she spat out the bloody taste in her mouth and weakly cursed, "Jiang Chuangu, you absolutely have to hold on! Qin Ming, you bastard, if you can't protect them, I'll fucking work myself to death today and settle the score with you! Twelfth Street has to pay me this time!"

Things took an even worse turn, because when they returned the way they came, the back entrance to the artificial hill was empty...

Feng Yang and Cen Ting have disappeared!

Lin Chaoying lay exhausted on the ground, her face surrounded by damp grass and plants. Above her was a square patch of blue sky framed by the house, like a giant prison. No matter how much she struggled, the owner outside the cage just smiled and watched her angrily resist...

I'm so tired...

She was exhausted not only physically, but also mentally.

Lin Chaoying even considered giving up, thinking that she should just lie there, since running away would only lead to a dead end and any attempt to save her would be in vain.

Just as she was about to lose consciousness, she heard footsteps beside her. Lin Chaoying instinctively sat up, holding the knife, remaining alert. Blood was constantly oozing from her collarbone and shoulder, and her face was dotted with blood. Her lips were pale, and her eyes were fierce, like a frightened leopard cub with the wildness in its blood.

The person who came was neither the housekeeper, Zhang, nor the nanny or driver.

It turned out to be Wu Liang's wife, Madam Tang.

Mrs. Tang, dressed in a cheongsam and with elegant manners, was not alarmed when she saw her. Instead, she said with pity, "Come with me, I will not hurt you."

Lin Chaoying naturally didn't believe it. "Are you dreaming? Who in this manor doesn't want to kill me?"

Madam Tang sighed, her eyes filled with sorrow. "I am not a member of the Ghost Gate, and I have no grudge against Twelfth Street. I only want to accumulate good karma for Ting Chun. If you don't believe me, they will be here in less than a minute."