“Mmph!”

Terror expanded infinitely in Ruan Ya’er’s eyes.

Her ten fingers splayed open, knuckles taut, desperately clawing at the wooden board, producing a series of eerie creaking sounds that twisted one’s heart into a knot.

Like the sound of fingernails scraping across a blackboard!

The tall, upright figure before her concealed their entire face beneath a hooded cloak, making it difficult to see their features clearly.

But that hand gripping the cleaver—with its slightly wrinkled skin, somewhat elongated finger bones, and bulging veins—was clearly the strong hand of a woman.

“Don’t be afraid. It will be over soon.”

The voice was deep and gloomy!

It seized one’s heart, sending waves of cold shivers!

As that cleaver slowly lifted, Ruan Ya’er’s fear had already transformed into despair.

She even forgot to struggle!

The blade seemed to emit a pale light as it descended bit by bit.

Suddenly!

Thud thud—

A sound came from the wooden ceiling above!

The cleaver also paused in mid-air.

This sound rekindled Ruan Ya’er’s will to survive. She turned her head toward the opening being pulled apart above, where light gradually filtered in.

“Mmph~ Help…”

Ruan Ya’er used all her strength to make a sound!

The woman standing over her let out a sinister laugh, put down the cleaver without the slightest trace of tension, and instead leisurely walked around to sit in a chair!

Waiting for the person above to come down.

Jingrong had completely lifted the wooden boards of the underground chamber. Light from above streamed directly in, illuminating tiny specks of dust.

He descended first, with Ji Yunshu following behind.

The fire starter in her hand reached down, illuminating this foul-smelling underground chamber.

The light fell upon Ruan Ya’er bound to the wooden board, and simultaneously upon the woman sitting in the chair.

“You’ve finally arrived!” the woman said.

Jingrong lit an oil lamp inside and extended it forward.

He said coldly, “Release her!”

“Does a woman like this deserve to be saved by you?”

“And what have you gained by killing so many people?”

“These people deserved to die.” The woman became somewhat agitated.

Jingrong pressed forward step by step. “Whether they deserved to die or not isn’t for you to judge. You also have no right to kill them.”

“I do!” she roared furiously.

She suddenly stood up, the cleaver in her hand falling onto Ruan Ya’er’s neck, though she didn’t strike down. This frightened Ruan Ya’er so badly that her legs kicked and she fainted.

The woman laughed loudly several times. Those eyes hidden in darkness flashed with an orange light, moved past Jingrong, and settled on Ji Yunshu.

Pointing her finger, she said, “If not for you, everything would have proceeded perfectly.”

Ji Yunshu looked at her calmly and took a small step forward, only to be held back by Jingrong.

“It’s alright.”

Only then did Jingrong slowly release his grip.

Ji Yunshu moved forward, gradually approaching. That faint scent of rouge and powder—she smelled it again.

The woman stared at her and said viciously, “You’re the one who caused my Xiang’er and Zhi’er to die.”

“It wasn’t I who caused their deaths, but you!”

“Me?” The woman sneered with a grin, extremely uncanny.

Yet Ji Yunshu’s expression remained calm as she continued, “Your son and daughter died for you. They used their own lives to atone for your crimes. In your heart, is there truly not a shred of conscience left?”

Son?

Daughter?

Could this person be Mei Xiang’er’s mother?

Wasn’t she already dead?

The woman sneered again coldly. “How did you know?”

“You needn’t concern yourself with how I know. That I could guess you were here naturally has its reasons.”

“Was it Xiang’er?” The woman’s voice trembled.

Ji Yunshu’s sidelong glance fell on her hand holding the cleaver. Her feet moved forward another step as she said, “The crimes you committed were ultimately borne by your daughter. Probably her greatest wish before death was hoping you would stop, but she was wrong. No matter how much she protected you, it couldn’t change a person with a cruel nature.”

“What exactly are you trying to say?”

From within her sleeve, Ji Yunshu retrieved the note Mei Xiang’er had left behind and extended it toward the shadowy figure in the darkness.

After a moment, whoosh!

From the darkness, that pale and withered hand swiftly reached out to receive it!

The woman quickly unfolded the note, reading the words in the letter one by one.

Ji Yunshu couldn’t see her expression but clearly saw her fingers tighten, slowly crumpling one corner of the paper into a ball.

“This note was slipped into my clothing before she died. Perhaps while Heaven was giving me an opportunity, it also gave her one. She asked me to deliver this letter to you. If you could see it, she hoped you would let go, stop harming people, because in this world, aside from her, there’s no one left who can protect you. She doesn’t want to die with her eyes unclosed, doesn’t want to see her own mother tortured in the abyss of sin and evil.”

Ji Yunshu decided to strike while the iron was hot and continued, “Now Miss Xiang’er is already dead. Until the moment of her death, she never blamed you. Even when your blood-stained hands peeled away her skin layer by layer, she never hated you. Instead, to protect you, she willingly used her own death and her brother’s to conceal the truth, without the slightest hesitation.”

That paper note trembled in the darkness.

As Ji Yunshu finished speaking, it slipped from the woman’s hand and fell onto Ruan Ya’er’s body!

For a long while, the woman made no movement. Only when the cleaver in her hand moved away from Ruan Ya’er’s neck and fell onto the wooden board with a clang did she turn around. She took out a fire starter from her waist, blew it into flame, and lit another oil lamp.

Turning around again, she raised her hand and pulled down her hooded cloak.

Revealing a head of grizzled hair, a pair of turbid, bloodshot eyes. As the light grew increasingly bright, that horrifying face was also revealed.

A face without skin!

Dark red blood vessels were clearly visible, nauseating in the extreme!

“Is it very frightening?” the woman asked Ji Yunshu.

Ji Yunshu shook her head, her eyes suddenly carrying sympathy as she said, “I think Miss Xiang’er’s story wasn’t told completely, was it?”

“…”

“Why don’t I finish telling it for her? Back then, because you gave birth to a son who was born with a strange illness, everyone in the entire village said he was inauspicious and drove you away. Not long after, you heard someone say that if you could find some skin to replace your son’s, he could become a normal person again. So you peeled off your daughter’s skin, then peeled off your own skin to replace your son’s, but neither worked. You had originally given up, but then two months ago, when you saw someone humiliating Mei Xiang’er because of the scar on her neck, you struck with deadly intent. But you didn’t expect to be seen by Gan Chouliang. To cover up your crime of murder, Mei Xiang’er pleaded with him to help you dispose of the body, so you killed again and again without restraint.”

“If I haven’t guessed wrong, you not only wanted to peel off their skin to replace your son’s, you even had your son defile them. Probably hoping these women would bear descendants for your son, right?”

The woman listened quietly without voicing any rebuttal. Evidently, she had tacitly acknowledged it.