Chapter 148: Interstitial Space

“Do you think I am afraid of death? Do you think I really want to know what the Path of Survival in this Mysterious Domain is? Hahahahahaha… That’s too ridiculous! Do you know how many Mysterious Domains I have been through? Would someone who has survived countless Mysterious Domains be afraid of death? Would they not, like you, enter each time with the determination to face death? Stop pretending! If you have the guts, shoot me right in the head! Let you, me, and Yi Ya all be destroyed here together!” Zhou Ling burst into wild laughter again.

“It’s you who is pretending, not me. Although you have experienced many Mysterious Domains, this is the first time you have been dragged into one by another Mystic Scholar—and a Junior Paranormal Master at that. If I die, at least I can take a Senior Eerie Practitioner like you with me. That’s worth it no matter what. But if you die, you’ll be killed by a Junior Paranormal Master. Don’t you find that humiliating?” Lü Yang snorted coldly; he would not be fooled by Zhou Ling’s words.

Not afraid of death? Nonsense! Lü Yang held onto the belief that he must face death in order to survive in a hopeless situation—not to seek death. Since Zhou Ling had survived so many Mysterious Domains, her will to live was surely no weaker than Lü Yang’s; otherwise, she would have died long ago in the Mysterious Domain.

“Fine, fine. It seems you want to compete with me in intelligence and psychology? Then I will play along with you to the end.” Zhou Ling stepped back a few paces and sat down on the reception desk in the lobby, looking at Lü Yang with keen interest.

“I have no interest in competing with you. If you don’t release Yi Ya, this Mysterious Domain will not end. We will just keep going until the Mysterious Domain ends on its own, and then we’ll both be erased by it.” Lü Yang also stepped back a few steps, placed his hands on the hotel front desk, and sat down, locking eyes with Zhou Ling from a distance neither too close nor too far.

After both of them fell silent, the hotel lobby became extremely quiet. The entire lobby was filled with corpses and bloodstains. Only Liu Yin sat dazedly on the floor in the middle of the lobby, looking as if he had gone completely numb.

“Sitting like this, don’t you find it boring?” Zhou Ling looked at Lü Yang and smiled, her tone turning gentle, completely different from the fierce killer she had been moments before.

Zhou Ling was very beautiful. Of course, Lü Yang guessed she probably did not have just this one face; otherwise, Han Cheng would not have failed to recognize her when he first saw her. The police had not linked the previous Death Livestream incidents, likely for this reason as well.

If one did not know she was the Death Killer, at first glance she would appear to be an elegant white-collar beauty—the kind that would turn heads as she walked down the street.

But if people knew how twisted and cruel she was, probably few would dare to look back at her on the street.

“I don’t find it boring to be stuck here with a Senior Eerie Practitioner until we die. In one word: worth it!” Lü Yang replied to Zhou Ling in a very calm tone. To an uninformed person, hearing them speak in such a manner would make it seem like two old friends catching up.

“Since we have nothing else to do, let’s play a game of revelations. I think you must be very curious about what exactly happened before and after all this…” Zhou Ling looked at Lü Yang with a grin; at this moment, her expression was like that of a mischievous girl.

Lü Yang snorted coldly. He did want to know what was really going on, but he knew that Zhou Ling’s offer surely did not come with good intentions.

“In fact, this time, I have almost figured out the Mysterious Domain you created. It’s quite interesting. I never expected you to have such a talent for designing Mysterious Domains, creating such a unique trap-type Mysterious Domain. I was almost deceived by you, haha.” Zhou Ling smiled with an innocent, radiant expression, as if the two were not discussing a dangerous Mysterious Domain, but rather like playmates chatting about a game of make-believe.

Liu Yin lifted his head and looked at Zhou Ling with confusion. The way Zhou Ling was acting now seemed more like the Zhou Ling who had been by his side earlier. He found it hard to connect the cruel, twisted Zhou Ling with the person before him now.

“Keep bluffing then.” Lü Yang replied to Zhou Ling indifferently. He tried hard to suppress all his negative emotions, because anger and hatred would not save Yi Ya—instead, they would cloud his judgment, playing right into her hands.

“If I reveal everything you designed right now, it wouldn’t be fun anymore, and you would lose face. How about we start from the beginning instead?” After thinking for a moment, Zhou Ling spoke again.

Lü Yang narrowed his eyes slightly and did not comment on Zhou Ling’s words.

However, Zhou Ling was not bothered by Lü Yang’s attitude and continued on her own: “After last month’s Death Livestream, I actually stopped because I had taken revenge on everyone I wanted to. Do you remember what I told you before?”

“For justice… justice requires sacrifice…”

“Those women who died were all foolish, blindly in love—just like I used to be. They spoiled men, turned them into worthless men! To restore fairness and justice in the human world, I directed these Death Livestreams, using their sacrifices to warn all the foolish women and worthless men in the world. It’s a pity no one understood my good intentions!” Zhou Ling looked up at the ceiling at a 45-degree angle, wearing an expression of deep regret.

…

“Haha, don’t look at me like that. I know my idea of justice is different from what you call justice, so you don’t need to understand—just listen to what I have to say.”

“I had already stopped, but Director Liu swore to catch the Death Killer, so he brought me to Guishe City. Han Cheng also came to Guishe City early to build hype. Various media rushed to cover it, and many national departments got involved… It was really lively…”

“But what can these ordinary people in the mundane world do to me?”

“You’re different… We are the same kind of people…”

“Pah!” Lü Yang, who had been silent all along, could no longer hold back a sound of disgust.

“Hahahaha… Don’t be angry! What I mean is, we are both people cursed by the Mysterious Domain…”

“On the evening of the 3rd, I went to your place with Director Liu. As soon as we entered, why did you have to say something like you would do anything for your girlfriend? Moreover, I confirmed that you were indeed a junior Mystic Scholar who had just entered the Mysterious Domain. That piqued my interest. Since I knew I’d be staying here for several days and would be bored, I thought I might as well have some fun with you.”

“Actually, as you said, you and I have no grudges against each other, so I only intended to play around with you. I didn’t really want to hurt Yi Ya. After having my fun, I would have returned her to you unharmed… But…”

“Things have reached this point not entirely because of me. Most of it was pushed forward by you yourself, which made the game more and more interesting… Originally, I just wanted to have some fun with you and call it done, but now I just don’t feel like giving Yi Ya back to you. It’s all because you… Hmph! Don’t blame me—blame yourself.”

“Damn!” Lü Yang cursed.

“Haha…” Zhou Ling laughed again.

“Let me start by teaching you some basics about the Mysterious Domain. Hmm… As a Mystic Scholar, do you know there is something in The System called an Interstitial Space?”

Lü Yang remained silent.

“An Interstitial Space is a special reward that a Senior Eerie Practitioner specializing in engineering might obtain after surviving an extremely dangerous Mysterious Domain. It’s an independent space that can hold many things, just like a storage ring in fantasy novels. Of course, it’s not just for storing items; you can also arrange and disguise the space inside as you wish, and then place objects, yourself, or friends inside.”

“The Interstitial Space can mimic any space or environment at will. It can be placed anywhere in the world, overlapping with spaces or objects in the real world. You can design an entrance for it, allowing someone to accidentally walk in without knowing, and then you can close the entrance, trapping them inside. Those trapped inside temporarily lose their short-term memory and become very disoriented.”

“That day when Director Liu and I went to your home to talk with you, Director Liu mentioned your little girlfriend Yi Ya. Unexpectedly, that angered you immediately. I could tell you cared a lot about your girlfriend, but I wasn’t sure how deep your love for her really was—whether it was as deep as you claimed. So I decided to test you.”

“Believe me, at that time I had no ill intentions toward you or Xiao Ya…”

“Do you remember when I went to your bathroom? Actually, I went there to set up the Interstitial Space in your home, completely cloning all the furnishings.”

“Then, I used your Mobile Phone to call Yi Ya, imitating your voice to tell her that you had something very important to discuss and asked her to come over.”

When Lü Yang heard this, it seemed he remembered something…

That’s right—the knocking. While he was talking with Liu Yin and Zhou Ling, there had been a knock at the door. At the time, he thought it sounded like Yi Ya’s knock. Zhou Ling went to open the door. She opened it just a crack at first, then fully, but by then there was no one outside.

“You tricked Yi Ya into the Interstitial Space and confined her!” Lü Yang finally understood how Zhou Ling had managed it—right in front of him, she had taken Yi Ya, and he had been completely unaware.

This woman was too formidable. With such an overpowering treasure by her side, failing to eliminate her would surely lead to endless trouble.

“Haha, that’s correct.” Zhou Ling laughed.

“When I called Yi Ya later, she was already inside the Interstitial Space without realizing it. You later simulated the Interstitial Space to look like her Rented Room. Having lost her short-term memory, she didn’t know she was no longer in the real world.” Lü Yang sighed. Without learning about the Interstitial Space from Zhou Ling, he would never have been able to guess how Yi Ya was taken that night.

“Correct again. You really are clever.” Zhou Ling smiled and nodded at Lü Yang.