The rain became strangely quiet. Xu Yang noticed it first because the drops were still falling, yet the sound had disappeared. Purple water ran down the prison walls and gathered between the stones, but the silence around them grew heavier with every passing moment. He slowly raised his head towards the gate. Something has changed. Before he could warn the others, a low creak came from ahead.The old prison gate began to open. Its doors moved slowly, scraping against the stone, though nobody stood near them.
Xu Yang shook his head.Of course. A prison gate opening by itself in the middle of strange purple rain. If this were a game, I'd assume someone had triggered a hidden event. The trouble was, there was no way to check the quest details, no map showing the danger ahead, and certainly no option to save my progress before walking into trouble. I really miss the simple days when my biggest worry was finding a way to survive another chapter of this novel...
Lin Chen immediately stepped forward, placing himself between the entrance and Xu Yang. His hand closed around the hilt of his sword. "Everyone, be careful." Xu Yang remained where he was, studying the narrow opening. "Don't draw your sword yet."Lin Chen turned towards him. "You think this is a trap?" "I think someone wants us to believe we have a choice." Xu Yang's gaze stayed on the darkness beyond the gate. "The door opened only after the rain went silent. Whoever is behind this knows we're here. If they wanted to attack us, they wouldn't need to make such a show of it."
Wei Han adjusted one of the rings on his fingers, watching the gate with a serious expression. "There may be another reason.The gate was closed when we first arrived, but none of us sensed anyone approaching it. If someone opened it from inside, we should have noticed some movement." "Unless they were already waiting there," Su Yuan added. He stood slightly apart from the others, his fox ears turned towards the entrance. "Or they never needed to touch the gate at all." Chen Yu leaned forward to see past Lin Chen. "So we're being invited inside?" "Would you accept the invitation?" Xu Yang asked.
Chen Yu considered the open gate for a moment. "That depends. Did they prepare a meal?" Qing Li gave him a flat look. "You are considering food at a time like this?" "I'm considering whether there's any reason to enter a place that has already tried to frighten us." Chen Yu folded his arms. "If there's food, at least we'll know someone expected visitors." "And if there's poison in it?" Qing Li asked. "Then I'll let you taste it first." Qing Li turned towards him slowly. "How generous." Yan Luo let out a quiet laugh, but Su Yuan interrupted before Chen Yu could answer. "If you two are planning to enter first, I suggest you settle that argument outside." Chen Yu looked at him. "You could at least pretend to be concerned about me." "I am. That's why I'm suggesting you stay outside."
Chen Yu gave Su Yuan an offended look. "Fine. I'll remember this the next time you need my help." Su Yuan casually straightened his sleeve. "You say that as if you help me very often." "That's cold." Chen Yu pressed a hand to his chest. "After everything we've been through together, this is how you treat me?" "You'll get over it." Qing Li glanced at them, while Yan Luo chuckled beside him. "Maybe we should leave the two of you here," Yan Luo said. "At least we might get some peace while investigating." Chen Yu turned towards him at once. "You're supposed to be on my side." Yan Luo raised an eyebrow. "I am. That's why I'm suggesting you stay somewhere safe." Chen Yu looked between him and Su Yuan. "You two have a very strange idea of friendship."
Their exchange faded when Yan Luo's wolf ears suddenly stood upright.His smile vanished, and he slowly turned towards the open gate. " Xu Yang! There's Footsteps!" he said, his voice lower than before. Xu Yang looked at him with confusion."What footsteps! I can't hear anything!" Lin Chen's fingers tightened around his sword. "Inside the prison?" Yan Luo nodded, listening again. "I think so. One person... perhaps two. They're walking along the corridor."
Chen Yu moved a little closer to Wei Han and looked into the darkness. "If they're walking, why can't we see them?" "Because they're not coming towards the entrance." Yan Luo replied. He lowered his head, trying to follow the sound, but his ears suddenly shifted in another direction. "Wait. They've stopped." Xu Yang looked towards the corridor. "How far away?" "I can't tell. The sound is strange. It feels close, but every time I try to locate it, it seems to come from somewhere farther away." Yan Luo's brows drew together. "I've never heard footsteps like that."
Qing Li's fox ears twitched. Instead of looking towards the entrance, he raised his head towards the upper floor. "There is something above us too." Wei Han turned towards him. "You sensed another person?" "I'm not sure." Qing Li's expression grew tense as he listened to the faint movement above them. "The spiritual energy is moving in two directions. One is inside the corridor. The other is near the upper windows." Yan Luo moved closer to Qing Li, his attention shifting between the entrance and the dark windows. "Can you sense whether it's coming down?" Qing Li shook his head. "It isn't moving like a person."
Lin Chen looked up at the broken windows, then back at the entrance. "Then what exactly are we dealing with?" Nobody answered immediately. Xu Yang's gaze moving from one dark window to another. Two different movements, but neither has shown itself. Are they avoiding us, or are they trying to make us look in the wrong direction?...If they were trying to attack us, why keep hiding? And if they only wanted to frighten us, why stop the moment we noticed them?..His eyes narrowed. Perhaps the footsteps are not meant to lead us towards them. Perhaps they're meant to keep us from noticing something else... "Don't follow the sounds," he said at last. "If we separate now, we'll lose sight of each other. Whatever is inside wants us to react before we understand what's happening."
Chen Yu swallowed and moved his eyes towards the upper floor again. "I suddenly miss the time when our biggest problem was strange rain." Su Yuan glanced at him. "You complained about that too." "I had good reasons." "Your clothes were wet." "And I was uncomfortable. Is that not a good reason?" Chen Yu tried to smile, but his attention kept returning to the dark entrance. "Besides, at least the rain was honest about being unpleasant."
A faint sound came from somewhere inside the prison. It resembled a slow scrape across the floor. Chen Yu stopped speaking. "Did anyone else hear that?" he asked quietly. Yan Luo's ears turned towards the corridor. "I heard it." He listened for another moment, but the sound did not return. "It came from deeper inside." Lin Chen stepped slightly forward, though he did not draw his sword. "Perhaps something fell." "Then why did it stop as soon as we heard it?"
Chen Yu asked.He glanced at the others, as if hoping someone would offer a better explanation. Qing Li looked towards the upper windows again. "Whatever is above us has stopped moving too." Wei Han raised one hand, and the rings on his fingers suddenly began to turn. He stared at them, his expression tightening. Unlike before, they were not pointing towards the upper floor or the corridor. All of them had turned towards the open gate. "Something is affecting them," he said. Lin Chen looked at his hand. "Can you tell what it is?" "Not yet." Wei Han slowly turned his wrist, but the rings continued facing the entrance. "Their reaction is different from when they sensed the purple lines between Xu Yang and Hei Long."
He moved his hand a little closer to the gate. The rings turned more sharply, and a faint metallic sound came from them. Wei Han's fingers stiffened. "Whatever it is, it's connected to this entrance." Su Yuan, who had been examining the ground near the gate, suddenly stopped. "Wait." Everyone turned towards him. Su Yuan crouched beside the old stone step and pointed to a small iron nail driven into the wooden frame.
A thin red thread was tied around it, almost hidden beneath the damp dust. "Was this here before?" Lin Chen stepped closer and examined it without touching the thread. "I didn't see it earlier." "Neither did I," Wei Han said as he moved nearer. He studied the nail for a moment before speaking again. "It was driven in from the inside." Chen Yu bent down beside Su Yuan. "Someone went to the trouble of hiding a thread here. What does it mean?" Su Yuan moved aside to let Wei Han see more clearly. "Look at the stitching." Wei Han leaned closer. A small mark had been sewn into the red thread. His expression changed when he recognised it. "This is the same mark we saw on Rao Jin's execution record." Lin Chen looked from the thread to the open gate. "Then someone connected to his execution left it here?" "It is possible," Wei Han replied. "But we cannot tell when it was placed."
Xu Yang stepped closer and studied the mark. Someone has left a sign from an event that happened thirty years ago. And they placed it where we would find it after the gate opened.How thoughtful. A mysterious invitation with no explanation, no name, and not even a proper warning. Whoever arranged this clearly has a strange idea of hospitality...His eyes moved from the red thread to the dark entrance. If this were a novel I was reading, I'd already be shouting at the main character not to follow the suspicious clue. Unfortunately, I'm the one standing here, and the person who left it seems to know exactly what we're investigating. Ignoring it won't make the mystery disappear. It will only give whoever is behind this more time to prepare the next surprise...
Xu Yang straightened and looked into the darkness. "This was not left here without a reason." Chen Yu straightened. "You mean it's a message?" "Perhaps. At the very least, it is meant to draw our attention." Xu Yang's voice remained calm. "The gate opened on its own, and now we have found a mark linked to Rao Jin. Whoever left it knew we would come here." Wei Han slowly drew his hand back. "Do you think someone inside is guiding us?" "Someone wants us to follow a certain path. That does not mean we should trust them." Xu Yang turned towards Lin Chen. "We should first find out whether anyone has been near this place." Lin Chen nodded. "Then we search the surroundings before doing anything else."
Before anyone could move, Hei Long suddenly turned towards the forest. The flowers growing between his dark scales began to close, one after another. He pressed a hand against the mark beneath his clothes,his face tightening as a faint red light appeared beneath his fingers. "Someone is here." Yan Luo turned at once. His wolf ears stood upright as he listened beyond the prison wall. "I heard something too." Qing Li moved away from the gate and took the other side of the path. "I'll search the trees." "Don't go too far!" Yan Luo called after him. Qing Li looked back. "I know how to search a forest." "I know. I just don't want you rushing into danger alone." Qing Li gave him a brief look. "Then keep up." Yan Luo followed him into the trees.
Su Yuan moved towards the broken wall, studying the ground, while Chen Yu and Lin Chen searched the nearby path. Wei Han watched his rings for a moment before joining them. Xu Yang remained beside Hei Long. "Can you still sense it?" he asked. Hei Long lowered his hand. "Something was watching us from the forest. I felt it before I turned around." "Could you recognise its spiritual energy?" "No." Hei Long kept his eyes on the trees. "But it was close enough to see the gate open." Xu Yang looked towards the forest. "Then it may have left something behind."
They searched the nearby trees and the narrow path beside the prison wall, but found no one. There was no trace of spiritual energy, no broken branches, and no movement beyond the falling purple rain. Yan Luo returned first, his ears still raised. "There is no one there. Whoever it was has already left." Qing Li came back from the other side. "I found nothing either." Su Yuan remained near the ground, following a line of faint marks through the wet soil. "There are footprints here." Lin Chen went over to him. "Where do they lead?" Su Yuan pointed towards the forest. "Away from the prison." Wei Han crouched beside the marks and examined them.Chen Yu looked towards the prison wall. "Where are the footmarks that lead here?" No one answered. He pointed at the ground again. "If someone came from the forest, there should be another trail." Wei Han followed the marks with his eyes. "There isn't one."
Chen Yu frowned. "Then did someone come out of the prison and walk into the forest?" Yan Luo examined the ground around the wall. "That would explain why the tracks begin here. But how did they leave without passing through the gate?" Xu Yang turned towards the prison. Its wooden doors remained open, and the dark corridor beyond them had not changed. "Unless they did not use the gate." Lin Chen began examining the wall, searching for a hidden passage or a broken section. "There may be another way out." "Or someone covered the tracks that led towards the prison," Wei Han said. He stood and looked along the trail. "Whatever happened, these footmarks were left for us to find."
Su Yuan suddenly stopped beneath a broken branch. A piece of red cloth was caught between the wood and a cluster of wet leaves. "Come and look at this." Hei Long approached and carefully pulled it free. The cloth was old and torn along one edge. He slowly unfolded it, and rainwater trickled from its surface. Near the centre was the same mark they had seen on Rao Jin's execution record. Lin Chen stepped closer. "This mark again?" Wei Han took the cloth and examined it carefully. "The embroidery is old. The pattern is the same as the one on the red thread at the gate." He ran his eyes along the torn edge. "But the tear is fresh."
Chen Yu frowned. "Could someone have kept this piece of cloth for thirty years, only for it to be torn now?" Wei Han looked at him. "We cannot tell how long it has lain here. The embroidery has faded with age, but the torn edge has not." Su Yuan leaned closer and pointed beneath the embroidered mark. "There is something beneath it." A faint stain could be seen beneath the faded threads. It was barely visible, yet its shape caught Xu Yang's attention. His mind returned to the vision inside the prison. He remembered the fifth figure standing behind Rao Jin, the pale hand emerging from a dark sleeve, and the strange mark on that person's wrist. That shape... I've seen it before.
Xu Yang stepped closer, keeping his eyes on the stain. "It resembles the mark on that person's wrist." Hei Long turned towards him. "You mean the fifth figure?" Xu Yang nodded. "The one standing behind Rao Jin." Hei Long lowered his gaze to the cloth, his fingers tightening slightly around its edge. "Could this have belonged to that person?" Xu Yang studied the stain once more. "I cannot say for certain. But the resemblance is too close to be mere coincidence."
Wei Han turned the cloth over. Beneath the faded fabric, two small characters were faintly visible. He brushed away the dirt with his thumb and studied them closely. "There are two characters here." Lin Chen moved closer. "Can you make them out?" Wei Han nodded. "These are old prison markings. They are not a person's name." Chen Yu looked at the characters with curiosity. "Then what do they mean?" "In the past, such markings were used to identify those who served in different parts of the prison," Wei Han explained. "Common visitors would never have been given one." Su Yuan's expression grew serious. "Then the person who carried this cloth was no ordinary visitor." "Perhaps their position was even higher," Xu Yang said. His gaze remained on the mark as he recalled the vision. "This was not a prisoner's mark. It belonged to someone who served within the prison."
Lin Chen turned towards him. "Do you think the fifth figure was one of the guards?" "Not necessarily." Xu Yang straightened and looked towards the open gate. "That person stood behind Rao Jin, yet we found no trace of them in the records. If they were merely a guard, why would someone go to such lengths to hide their presence?" Wei Han held the cloth more carefully. "They may have been involved in keeping the prison records." "Or they may have had the power to alter them," Xu Yang replied. The others fell silent. The purple rain continued to trickle down the prison walls, yet not a single drop could be heard.
Xu Yang glanced once more at the red cloth in Wei Han's hands before turning towards the gate. The mark upon it was connected to Rao Jin's execution, yet it had revealed nothing about the person who had left it behind. There was no point in remaining outside any longer. "Let us enter." he said, then stepped towards the gate. Lin Chen followed close behind, one hand resting near the hilt of his sword. Xu Yang placed his palm against the old wooden door and pushed. The gate slowly swung open with a long creak, its lower edge scraping against the ground.
The others followed, with Chen Yu bringing up the rear. Yet the moment Chen Yu crossed the threshold, the gate began to move behind him. He turned sharply as the heavy door creaked towards its former position. "Did someone close the gate?" he asked, staring at it. Su Yuan immediately returned to examine the wooden frame and the ground near its hinges. He found no one nearby, nor could he see anything that might have moved the door. "There is no one here," he said, after checking once more. Chen Yu continued watching the gate, his expression uneasy. "Then what moved it?" "Perhaps the gate is simply old," Su Yuan replied, stepping past him. "Or perhaps someone does not wish us to leave so easily."
Chen Yu looked at him. "You could have said something less troubling." Su Yuan gave no answer and continued forward. Xu Yang had already turned his attention towards the courtyard. The purple rain was still falling, yet it did not touch every part of the ground. Some stones were dark with water, while others remained dry. Even the weeds growing between them showed no sign of having been soaked. He raised his eyes towards the open sky. There was nothing above them that could have sheltered those patches of ground. How strange. Even the rain refuses to fall where it should. This place seems to have more secrets than I first thought...He stepped further into the courtyard, keeping his attention on the ground around him. Weeds had spread between the stones, and dead leaves lay scattered beneath the walls. Broken pieces of wood rested in several corners. Along the sides of the courtyard stood a row of old wooden cells. Their doors had rotted with age, and some hung crookedly from their hinges.
A few remained half-open, their dark interiors hiding whatever lay within. Lin Chen slowly surveyed the courtyard before speaking. "This place has stood empty for many years." Xu Yang crouched beside a patch of ground and examined the stones. "It may have been abandoned, but that does not mean no one has returned since." Wei Han came closer. The rings on his fingers turned faintly as his gaze passed over the wooden cells. "I sense no trace of spiritual power here." "That proves little," Su Yuan said, brushing a dead leaf from his sleeve. "A person who knows this place well would not need to leave such traces."
Xu Yang straightened and continued forward. His gaze travelled across the courtyard before coming to rest on a small guardtower near the far wall. Beneath its roof hung an old iron bell. Rust covered its surface, and the rope tied to its handle had grown thin and worn. Yet the bell was swaying gently from side to side. Xu Yang stopped and looked towards the others. "Is there wind?" Lin Chen turned towards the trees beyond the wall. Their branches stood motionless, and not even a leaf stirred. "There is none!" he replied.
Qing Li had already noticed the movement. His fox ears turned towards the guardtower as he kept his eyes on the old bell. Yan Luo stepped closer and lowered his voice. "Do you sense anything?" Qing Li continued watching the bell. "No spiritual energy. But it was still when we first entered." Yan Luo followed his gaze and looked towards the dark space beneath the roof. "Could something be hanging above it?" "It is possible," Qing Li replied, though he did not seem convinced. Yan Luo remained beside him, keeping watch over the roof and the shadowed corners of the guardtower.
After a while, Qing Li turned and found Yan Luo looking at him instead. "You should be watching our surroundings, not me." Yan Luo raised his brows, a faint smile appearing on his face. "I can watch both." Qing Li gave him a brief look before turning away. "Then do not neglect either." He stepped towards the guardtower, but Yan Luo moved at the same moment and came into his path. Qing Li stopped. Yan Luo shifted to the other side, and Qing Li moved in the same direction. They nearly stood in each other's way again.
Both paused and looked at one another. A faint crease appeared between Qing Li's brows. "Are you following me, or do you mean to bar my way?" Yan Luo coughed softly, trying to hide his amusement. "Neither. It seems we have chosen the same path." "Then choose another." Qing Li stepped to the right, but Yan Luo moved to the right as well. They stopped once more. A short distance away, Chen Yu pressed his lips together, struggling to hold back his laughter. Su Yuan noticed and gave him a warning look. Chen Yu quickly turned his attention towards the courtyard.
Yan Luo finally stepped aside and raised one hand towards the path. "After you." Qing Li regarded him for a moment before moving forward. "At least you know when to give way." He had taken only two steps when his foot slipped on a wet stone hidden beneath the fallen leaves. His body tilted, and before he could regain his balance, Yan Luo caught him around the waist and pulled him back. Qing Li instinctively caught Yan Luo's shoulder to steady himself. The sudden movement brought their faces close,Qing Li's lips accidentally touched Yan Luo's, and both froze.Qing Li's eyes widened in shock. His fingers tightened around Yan Luo's shoulder as he stared at him, momentarily unable to move. Yan Luo stared back, equally startled. His arm remained around Qing Li's waist.