Chapter 30: Main Quest

“You really are just a boy, so shy…” Sister Mei chuckled while looking at Lü Yang. Though she said that, Lü Yang’s current reaction actually pleased her. Had he behaved like a hungry wolf right then, she definitely would have been scared.

“No way…”

After they fell silent, Lü Yang’s gaze met Sister Mei’s again. The master bedroom’s atmosphere grew charged once more. After a while, Lü Yang was once more utterly defeated under Sister Mei’s eager eyes.

Just as Lü Yang considered whether to push Sister Mei down onto the bed and ‘take care of her’ to prove his manhood, his mobile phone rang.

“Lü Yang, where are you?”

As soon as the call connected, Yi Ya’s voice came through.

“I… am…” Lü Yang struggled for something to say. Yi Ya calling at that exact moment made him feel like he’d been caught cheating red-handed.

He had completely forgotten about Yi Yi and Yi Ya, swept away by animal instinct moments before.

“Why do I always get through but hear nothing? Can you hear me? I’m outside the Qingyuan Residential Area, but… there’s Black Mist everywhere, I can’t find the entrance…”

“Xiao Ya! Xiao Ya!” Lü Yang’s heart lurched when he heard Yi Ya’s words. He screamed her name into the phone.

“Ah…!”

After a sharp scream, the call abruptly ended.

A terrible feeling gripped Lü Yang. He shot up in the bed, disregarding his freshly stitched wound. He snatched his torn pants nearby and scrambled to pull them on.

“What happened!?” Sister Mei jumped, startled, quickly asking Lü Yang.

“Xiao Ya’s in trouble! Go to Xia Yan’s room first, I need to see what’s wrong!” Lü Yang yanked on his torn pants and rushed frantically towards the door.

“Xiao… Ya?” Sister Mei murmured the name blankedly. She hurried out after Lü Yang, but he was already charging down the stairs. With a loud ‘BANG!’ he slammed shut the Iron Gate to Xia Yan’s apartment.

…

He didn’t understand how his phone, showing no signal, could have received Yi Ya’s call. He didn’t understand how Yi Ya could be outside in the mist. But Lü Yang had no time to puzzle over it; he was terrified Yi Ya had met a horrible fate.

The image of the skinny Porter’s bloody, violent death in the Black Mist at the residential area gate was still vividly implanted in his memory.

Since his Maternal Grandmother died, Lü Yang had no real family left. After getting involved with Yi Yi, he began to think of both Yi sisters as family. With Yi Yi missing, Yi Ya was now Lü Yang’s only remaining family. He absolutely could not lose her too.

Besides, if he ever found Yi Yi again, how could he possibly explain it if something terrible happened to Yi Ya?

Lü Yang sprinted full speed to the residential area entrance. Staring at the thick Black Mist beyond, hearing the strange, shrill howling sounds within it, he plunged inside without a shred of hesitation.

Upon entering, Lü Yang felt everything spinning. When he finally steadied himself somewhat, he found himself enveloped by impenetrably thick Black Mist. He couldn’t even see his own hand in front of his face.

“Yi Ya!”

Lü Yang screamed her name.

No answer.

“Yi Ya!!”

He yelled again. Still nothing.

“Yi Ya! Where are you!?”

Roaring like a wounded beast, Lü Yang blindly charged deeper into the mist. But he found no sign of Yi Ya, just increasingly heavier darkness pressing in on him.

Something huge brushed past Lü Yang from behind, whistling loudly. The gust of wind it stirred nearly knocked him off his feet. Lü Yang whirled around instantly, but saw nothing.

The huge thing had thinned the mist slightly near him. Straining his eyes, Lü Yang could just barely make out shapes within half a meter of himself.

“Yi Ya! Yi Ya!!”

He screamed her name again and again, then plunged back into the dense wall of Black Mist ahead.

Suddenly, the thick mist around him seemed to clear, though visibility only extended about ten meters. Beyond that radius, the choking mist resembled ferocious demons, constantly lunging at the cleared circle, emitting eerie wails as if desperate to tear Lü Yang apart.

If the silence inside the residential area felt like a nightmare, being in this Black Mist was a full-blown sleep paralysis demon.

The cleared space Lü Yang stood in was clearly the four-lane street bordering the residential area. A car burst out of the mist, hurtling straight towards him. Lü Yang reacted instantly. In the nick of time, he leaped hard to the side, narrowly avoiding the collision.

The car sped through the mist-free patch. It blared its horn before crashing headlong into the opposite wall of Black Mist, vanishing completely. Its strident horn sound instantly warped into something distant and distorted.

Lü Yang stumbled, regaining his balance. He flung curses after the vanished car. Gasping for air, he opened his mouth to scream for Yi Ya again, when he saw Yi Yi.

Yi Yi, dressed in the very pajamas she’d been wearing when she vanished, stood looking utterly bewildered just meters away from him.

At that precise moment, another small car burst from the mist, speeding straight towards the dazed Yi Yi.

“Yi Yi!!”

Blood surged to Lü Yang’s head. He bellowed her name. With a desperate lunge, he slammed into Yi Yi, shoving her clear, in the nick of time.

But he himself took the full impact. A sickening ‘THUMP!’ echoed as the car smashed into him, sending him flying backwards.

The car that hit Lü Yang screeched violently as its tires locked up trying to brake. It slowed slightly.

Then, a battered old truck roared out of the mist from the opposite side, smashing full force into the car that had struck Lü Yang.

A deafening ‘CRASH!’

The car swerved slightly but couldn’t evade the truck entirely. The truck hit its front left side. Momentum flipped the car sideways. It spun past Lü Yang’s crumpled body – just missing crushing him – and crashed into a roadside flower bed.

Debris shot from the tangled wrecks. A twisted piece of metal spiraled through the air like a lethal shuriken, embedding itself in the soil mere inches from Lü Yang’s torso.

Blood gushed into Lü Yang’s mouth. He screamed Yi Yi’s name, trying with all his might to stand up. Both his thighbones were shattered. He couldn’t lift himself. The excruciating pain threatened to plunge him into unconsciousness. Only sheer terror about Yi Ya and Yi Yi kept him semi-lucid.

A blood-spattered slip of paper floated down from the mess and landed on Lü Yang’s chest.

Instinctively, he grabbed it and squinted to read:

IOU/ Loan Note: On this day, borrowed from Li Yiyuan the sum of Twenty Million Fifty-Three Thousand Yuan Renminbi (¥20,053,000) for business purposes. Interest at 20% monthly. Principal and interest payable in full after one month. Signed as proof.

The signature field where the borrower’s name should be was smudged with blood. Combined with the poor light, Lü Yang couldn’t make it out clearly.

Wait! Li Yiyuan?

Wasn’t that Sister Mei’s husband’s name?

Such a coincidence? Was her husband that rich? To casually lend someone twenty million?

Why was this IOU here? Did it have something to do with the Main Quest of this Mysterious Domain?

A voice suddenly resonated in Lü Yang’s mind, perfectly matching his own frantic guess:

“The Main Quest for this Mysterious Domain has been triggered. Mysterious Domain Main Quest: Find the real killer behind Li Yiyuan’s homicide. Task Reward: 2 Eerie Points, 1 Eerie Stone.”