Chapter 4 Blood Orchid of the Breath of Earth ② - Hatred in the Face of the Black Car, Sister Yin Has It...

[Sister Yin! Come join the fan group sometime!]

Everyone misses you so much! We're waiting for you to come back!

As soon as Lan Shuyin returned to her hotel, she received a message from Wu Yang.

Looking at the vibrant words and undisguised enthusiasm, she seemed to see those bright, innocent eyes again.

Lan Shuyin shook her head with a chuckle, never expecting that she would have such a vibrant male fan.

She replied with an "Mm," then locked the door and removed the black mask that concealed her face.

After washing up in the bathroom, Lan Shuyin dried her dripping long hair with a towel.

In a fleeting moment when she glanced down, she noticed an envelope on the floor.

It must have been slipped in through the crack under the door.

Lan Shuyin slowly bent down and picked it up.

The plain black envelope, unsigned, felt slightly cool to the touch.

In the lower right corner is a pattern of a three-legged incense burner emitting a silvery-black fluorescence, with wisps of smoke seemingly rising from inside, giving it a mysterious and eerie feel.

There was a high-quality sticky note inside.

There was no salutation, no signature, just one line of text.

The handwriting was cold and sharp, each stroke penetrating the paper as if carrying an undeniable will, fiercely carved into the surface:

【Feng Zhi Zhao Yin, I've found you】

"...Again?"

Lan Shuyin held the thin piece of paper in her hand, standing in the brightly lit hotel room, yet felt a chill run down her spine.

This is the third time.

What she said to Wu Yang earlier wasn't entirely a lie—she did quit being an adventure blogger because she encountered some... bizarre and strange events.

For the first two years of Lan Shuyin's career as a ruin exploration blogger, everything went smoothly, even to the point of being smooth sailing.

But adventure can be addictive.

Her threshold for stimulation was raised time and time again, making ordinary abandoned hotels, shopping malls, and factories no longer able to satisfy her.

So, a year ago, Lan Shuyin found the renowned yet taboo-ridden "Ghost Cave Dream Garden" in Siam.

On the night the expedition ended, a strange envelope silently appeared under the hotel room door—

【Feng Zhi Zhao Yin, I've found you】The words almost pierced through the paper.

At first, Lan Shuyin thought it was just a silly prank or a delivery error.

The four characters “Feng Zhi Zhao Yin” sound like a person’s name but not quite. Apart from the last character being the same as hers, they sound completely unfamiliar.

However, strange things began to happen one after another.

First, she developed a severe facial allergy for no apparent reason. Then, for several days in a row, she was awakened from her sleep by a strong feeling of being watched, as if something was silently standing by her bedside, coldly staring at her.

In the empty room, faint, almost inaudible, yet undeniably real sighs often echoed.

Online sources say that Siam is a place with a certain reputation, easily attracting unclean things and bringing them back. Driven by intense fear, she immediately changed her flight and fled in panic.

I thought that was the end of it, but the video of Ghost Cave Dream Garden unexpectedly went viral, and many media outlets sent interview requests.

During the few days that it was exposed to the public, that familiar black envelope reappeared.

The same words convey a deep sense of hatred and threat.

After that, Lan Shuyin always felt uneasy.

Even when sitting in front of a familiar computer editing old video footage, I often feel a chill down my neck for no reason, as if an invisible gaze is penetrating everything and coldly watching me from behind.

This feeling of being constantly on edge eventually became unbearable for her, so she decided to quit the entertainment industry.

She used to be bold and fearless, but after the Ghost Cave Dream Garden, she became unusually sensitive and vigilant about her surroundings.

In the past, a place like Qigu Village would never have caused her such a strong physiological aversion, but now, whenever she stays alone in a dark environment for a long time, a strange chill will unconsciously spread from her spine.

If the person who contacted her this time hadn't been willing to offer a reward of 200,000 yuan, which would have been just enough to pay off her friend's medical expenses, she would never have agreed so readily.

Lan Shuyin subconsciously leaned closer to the peephole and peered out carefully.

The corridor was deserted, with only the pale light from the overhead lamps.

She hesitated for two seconds, then turned the doorknob and leaned out to look around.

As expected, no one was there.

Lan Shuyin decisively tore up the note and threw it, along with the envelope, into the trash can in the hallway before retreating back into her room.

She locked the door behind her, leaning against the cold door panel, her mind filled with doubts.

"Who exactly is this person?"

—It can't really be haunted, can it?

The thought had barely crossed her mind when Lan Shuyin suppressed it.

As a child raised by a somewhat famous shaman, she had witnessed some mysterious things in folklore, but deep down she didn't believe in any real, ethereal "ghosts."

Lan Shuyin believed more that someone was just playing tricks than ghosts or monsters.

But... who could it be? Staring at her in such a strange and precise way?

Crazy fans? She's just a niche blogger with just over 200,000 followers, who wears a mask and never shows her face. What makes her so special that she attracts sasaeng fans?

A variety of complex and contradictory thoughts lingered in her mind all night, and she barely slept a wink.

So much so that the next day, when Lan Shuyin walked into the internet cafe with dark circles under her eyes, the self-proclaimed humorous internet cafe owner joked, "Hey, beautiful lady, your smoky eye makeup is quite unique? Like the national treasure's?"

Lan Shuyin entered the innermost private room with a dark expression, plugged in the hard drive, and opened the footage shot last night.

Then, by skillfully selecting angles, splicing together segments, and adding post-production color grading and voice-over, a carefully crafted illusion of time slowly passing under changing light was created.

Finally, it was edited into a realistic video of someone spending the whole night in the ancestral hall.

Indeed, the mysterious benefactor who approached her made the same core demand as Wu Yang and his group: they had to spend the night in the room where the grand master chair was placed.

But Lan Shuyin is quick-witted and by no means a single-minded college student.

In her view, presenting evidence to complete the task is far more important than adhering to rigid rules.

Most importantly...

She didn't want to stay in that gloomy, ghostly place until dawn.

...

As Lan Shuyin emerged from the internet cafe, yawning, she was pondering whether to return to the hotel for a nap or find a place to have breakfast when her gaze inadvertently swept across the street, causing her to pause in surprise.

Across the street corner, a dark-skinned, muscular man was making a phone call, his brow furrowed. His strong build and slightly fierce profile instantly caught her attention.

—Is it that forest ranger?

Lan Shuyin narrowed her eyes slightly.

She has excellent eyesight; even in the dim light of last night, she could still clearly remember the other person's expression and features.

However, the person was wearing a dark blue security uniform, with the lettering on the chest illegible.

A doubt arose in her mind, and Lan Shuyin turned and crossed the road, wanting to see the company name on her uniform.

Just then, my phone vibrated.

Wu Yang: [Sister Yin! Do you have time? Can we chat?]

The moment Lan Shuyin glanced down at her phone, she unexpectedly bumped into someone's arms.

A crisp, clean scent instantly filled my nostrils, mixed with a very faint, almost imperceptible aroma of tea. The fabric felt soft and luxurious cashmere.

"I'm sorry." A clear and gentle voice sounded above her head.

Lan Shuyin suddenly looked up and met a pair of beautiful, bewitching peach blossom eyes.

The young man in front of me was very tall and handsome, with jet-black hair forming a beautiful widow's peak on his forehead. He was the kind of extremely handsome guy who would make people take a second look if he walked down the street.

The curve of his lips was very sincere, revealing a hint of white teeth, and his smile was full of infectious gentleness and kindness.

Lan Shuyin subconsciously said, "It's nothing, I wasn't watching where I was going."

The young man smiled and didn't say much. He simply stepped aside to make way and reminded the pedestrian in a gentle voice, "Don't look at your phone when crossing the street. It's dangerous."

After saying that, he nodded politely, turned around, and calmly disappeared into the crowd.

Lan Shuyin stared at that exceptionally tall and graceful figure for two seconds before suddenly remembering the forest ranger.

She immediately turned to look at the street corner across the street—

The place was empty; the person was nowhere to be seen.

At that moment, the phone vibrated again.

Lan Shuyin looked down and saw that it was a voice call from Wu Yang.

She frowned slightly, thinking that the other person was, after all, her fan. After hesitating for two seconds, she still swiped to answer the call.

Before she could speak, an anxious voice came from the other end, "Sister Yin, are you still in Qinyang?"

"Hmm, what's wrong?"

"Zi Gui has disappeared!"

Wu Yang's voice was almost distorted, filled with panic and helplessness, "I woke up this morning and he was gone, and... and there was some blood on the floor! I, I've already called the police, they just left, but..."

He hesitated, his voice filled with doubt and uncertainty, "I felt those two policemen who came earlier were acting strange, Sister Yin... are you free right now?"

"Where are you now?" Lan Shuyin asked as she flagged down a seemingly ordinary taxi parked on the side of the road.

However, she did not expect that this casual gesture would actually stop a black cab.

As soon as the car entered the highway, the driver bared his fangs, insisting on charging 200 yuan for a 20-kilometer journey and refusing to use the meter.

Faced with Lan Shuyin's questioning gaze, the driver spoke eloquently, spitting as he spoke:

“Sister, I’m not trying to scam you, but this place is… a bit tricky! That section of mountain road outside Qigu Village can’t even be called a road anymore! Half of it was washed away by the heavy rain before the New Year, and now it’s full of potholes and loose rocks, with steep slopes on the side. It’s terrifying to look at! My car is for driving in the city, and the chassis isn’t very durable. If I go to that godforsaken place, the tires and chassis will suffer terribly, and the repairs alone will cost several hundred yuan when I get back.”

He paused, glanced at her in the rearview mirror, and his tone became increasingly mysterious.

"And that place... hey, it's eerie! It's always shrouded in miasma, a white expanse that even headlights can't penetrate, making it easy to get lost. More importantly, it's bad luck! We drivers all value safety. Taking you on this trip is too risky. We'll have to burn incense and wash the car to get rid of the bad luck when we get back. All of that has to be factored into the cost."

"So this price isn't just arbitrary. It includes fuel costs, vehicle damage, risk fees, and the cost of driving back empty. To be honest, not many people are willing to take this job. I'm just brave enough to give you a ride."

Lan Shuyin listened to him expressionlessly and did not argue with him.

After the car came to a stop, she calmly paid the fare, then closed the car door as if it were a routine transaction.

But the next second, she opened the complaint and reporting platform and uploaded the audio and photos she had just recorded in the car.