It was already very late when Luo Ren saw Mu Dai out. In that moment of haziness, it felt like the night when Uncle Luo Wenmo had his incident—the entire Xiaoshang River town was as silent as if no one lived there.

Mu Dai comforted him: “Don’t worry too much. There will be a way.”

Luo Ren smiled: “But Pin Ting can’t wait much longer.”

Shen Gun was right. Pin Ting now had no self-control whatsoever. If that venomous evil thought flicked its tongue, the consequences would be unimaginable.

Suddenly, Luo Ren had a bold yet dangerous idea.

What if he transferred whatever was in Pin Ting’s body to himself? Those who were possessed didn’t suddenly act out. From previous cases, it seemed that the “human skin” had a dormancy period of at least a year in its host.

It certainly wasn’t a fundamental solution, but for now, it was the best option.

Luo Ren appeared quite depressed. Yes, if it were oneself, the mood would only be worse. Deep in her heart, Mu Dai sighed softly and said, “I’ll head back now.”

She put her hands in her pockets and walked back with her head down. The wind had picked up again, blowing against her face with the dry taste of sand.

Luo Ren called out to her from behind: “Mu Dai.”

Mu Dai stopped, looking at Luo Ren questioningly.

Luo Ren looked up at the sky. The stars seemed to shrink from the cold, emitting a sparse, cold light from an extreme distance.

“Nice weather. Let’s go for a drive.”

The car left Xiaoshang River and plunged into the vast darkness. No lights were on inside the car. Mu Dai pressed her forehead against the window, trying hard to see the surrounding scenery, but it all looked the same—barren desert wherever the headlights reached.

The car moved quickly, but Luo Ren was familiar with the road.

“I like driving at night. Places without people are best—quiet, with no one to bother you. You can stop anywhere, get out and sit, feeling like you’re the only person in the world.”

He soon turned off the main road into the Gobi Desert. The uneven ground made the car bounce continuously. After a while, he accelerated and climbed higher on a very steep slope that ordinary cars probably couldn’t manage, and the ascent seemed endless.

Mu Dai grew nervous, unconsciously gripping the edge of her seat.

Luo Ren suddenly asked: “Mu Dai, would you like to die with me?”

Mu Dai was dumbfounded: “What?”

Luo Ren said nothing, just gestured ahead.

Mu Dai instinctively looked, and her scalp exploded with fear: they’d reached the top, and there was no road ahead!

She screamed: “Luo Ren, stop! Stop! There’s no road!”

The car’s front suddenly tilted downward. Mu Dai’s mind went blank, and her heart nearly stopped. She thought: Is this how I’ll die, in a crash?

…

It seemed like a century had passed, though it was only a moment. The car slowly came to a stop.

It wasn’t a dead end or a cliff, just a visual illusion. There was a road—an extremely steep downhill slope that was completely invisible from their position, and Luo Ren hadn’t slowed down or given her any warning.

It felt like they had briefly walked between life and death.

Luo Ren came over, helped open her door, and unfastened her seatbelt. Mu Dai’s soul was probably still floating outside, and she forgot to settle accounts with him.

Luo Ren pulled her: “Come on, get out.”

Mu Dai was pulled out of the car, but her legs gave way the moment she touched the ground. She heard Luo Ren laugh at her: “You’re not up to this, Mu Dai.”

Fine, whatever, she didn’t even have the strength to argue back.

Luo Ren took some cushions from the car, and they sat down, leaning against the vehicle.

Before them stretched vast darkness, with the undulating silhouettes of dunes visible at the far horizon. Looking up, the stars had multiplied. Stretching out her hand, she could see countless stars between her fingers.

Luo Ren said, “Some stars are very far from us. Their light takes many light-years to reach Earth. What we think we’re seeing now is light emitted many, many years ago.”

He casually pointed to a star: “That one, for all we know, might already be dead.”

Mu Dai had heard this explanation about time in the universe before. Sunlight takes eight minutes to reach Earth, so the sunlight you see now was emitted eight minutes ago. After the sun, the closest star to Earth is Alpha Centauri, 4.2 light-years away, meaning the starlight you see now was emitted 4.2 years ago.

In a sense, the human eye only ever sees the past.

Mu Dai said, “Hearing you say that makes me feel like the stars hanging in the sky are all skeletons, and all starlight is just phosphorescent fire.”

After saying this, she suddenly felt quite clever.

Luo Ren affirmed her greatly: “You’ve truly ruined the mood for stargazing for the rest of my life.”

Mu Dai laughed heartily and asked him, “Did you come here often before?”

“I brought Pin Ting here.”

Oh, he had brought Pin Ting here, on a starry night like this, driving, with the wind echoing in their ears, rushing down the cliff slope.

Mu Dai suddenly felt oddly deflated.

Just then, Luo Ren said, “My father had two wives.”

Mu Dai responded absent-mindedly.

Luo Ren didn’t speak, as if waiting for her to react. Sure enough, after a pause, Mu Dai suddenly looked up, so shocked she stuttered: “T-two?”

“The law doesn’t allow that.”

“The law doesn’t allow murder either.”

That was true. How strange that she was so easily persuaded by Luo Ren. Mu Dai thought for a moment and said, “Then your family must have been very rich. Poor people can’t afford two wives.”

Luo Ren smiled slightly: “My mother was my father’s original wife, introduced through matchmaking. She suffered with him, accompanied him in building his business. Later, when he finally became wealthy, he felt he should compensate himself, pursue what he truly wanted, including…”

He paused: “Including love.”

Mu Dai said: “Damn it!”

Luo Ren found it strange; Mu Dai didn’t seem like a girl who would swear. But seeing her sitting there with her head tilted, grinding out those words through clenched teeth, he felt quite warm inside.

Countless times, he had wanted to curse like that, too.

“Then my second mother moved in. Except for not having a marriage certificate, the banquet gifts and everything else were even more extravagant than for my mother. She was shrewd and capable, inside and out, more like the lady of the house.”

He smiled: “Sometimes, I got very angry at my mother, like Lin Daiyu, crying and wailing when mistreated, coughing until she coughed up blood.”

His tone was so flat, as if telling someone else’s story.

“Originally, life was still manageable, just having one more mother than others. But after my second mother gave birth to a boy, things changed.”

“Strangely, in the same year, two incidents happened to me. First, I was nearly hit by a car. Second, I don’t know what I ate, but I vomited and had diarrhea so badly I was sent to the hospital to have my stomach pumped.”

He looked at Mu Dai and smiled: “Fortunately, I have a strong constitution. The character ‘ren’ in my name, meaning ‘tough,’ isn’t there for nothing. My mother suspected my second mother was behind it, but had no evidence. As for my father, one way or another, he always shielded my second mother.”

“My mother felt I couldn’t stay at home anymore; staying there, I might not survive. She found my uncle Luo Wenmo and asked him to look after me for a while. Uncle took me directly from the hospital.”

“At that time, Uncle wasn’t living on Xiaoshang River. I was still groggy from having my stomach pumped when I woke up, and the first person I saw was Pin Ting.”

A gentle smile appeared at the corner of Luo Ren’s lips.

“Pin Ting was small then, four or five years old? I remember she wore a white gauze dress, long socks, red sandals, and had her hair in two small braids, one on each side of her head. She carried a large wooden knife.”

“It was one of those children’s toys from those days, a wooden knife with red tassels, probably taller than she was. She told me, ‘Little Knife Brother, Dad says bad people want to hurt you. Don’t be afraid, I have a knife. If bad people come, I’ll chop them.”

Mu Dai imagined the scene and thought Pin Ting was even more adorable than she had imagined.

Luo Ren’s voice was low: “I stayed at my uncle’s house for six years. Even after I left, I still returned frequently. In my heart, Pin Ting and Uncle were more like family than my parents. Uncle is already gone; I don’t want Pin Ting to suffer any more harm.”

Mu Dai said, “Don’t worry, there will be a way.”

She wanted to comfort Luo Ren, but all she could offer were these two unconvincing phrases.

Luo Ren looked at Mu Dai: “In any case, I’m glad to have met you, Mu Dai.”

“Really? The first time we met, you pressed a knife to my throat. That doesn’t seem like being glad.”

Luo Ren laughed heartily: “You’ve been holding onto that.”

He took out the knife tucked behind his back, drew it partially to check it, then slid it back into its sheath and handed it to Mu Dai: “It’s yours now.”

Another unexpected moment. Mu Dai could hardly believe it: “For me?”

Luo Ren said, “Yes. Next time you’re angry, take out the knife, slam it on the ground a couple of times, stomp on it, and you’ll feel better. Don’t always think of my bad points.”

The knife in her hand was larger than she had imagined, and much heavier. The sheath was leather, but holding it still gave a chilling sensation.

By the time they returned to the hotel, it was nearly morning. Mu Dai was exhausted. She collapsed into her room, and when she rose again, rubbing her aching head, she was startled to find twilight already falling.

She quickly washed up, wondering while brushing her teeth: Why hadn’t Yi Wansan and the others called her to eat together?

After getting ready, she went to knock on Yi Wansan’s door. After just two knocks, the door suddenly opened, and Yi Wansan looked at her meaningfully: “Little boss lady, you’re up?”

Cao Yanhua was there too, smiling suggestively: “Sister Mu Dai, you’re finally awake?”

Mu Dai laughed awkwardly: “What’s wrong with you two? Why didn’t you call me to eat with you?”

Yi Wansan was surprised: “Little boss lady, do you still need to eat with us?”

It seemed these two had seen something. Mu Dai couldn’t be bothered to explain: “Whatever you saw, it wasn’t that. If you don’t talk normally…”

She made a threatening gesture, full of menace. Yi Wansan cautiously stepped back.

Fortunately, Mu Dai’s phone rang.

Strangely, it was Uncle Zheng.

His voice was panicked: “Mu Dai, was there anything strange about Luo Ren when he was with you yesterday?”

Strange? Taking her for a night drive was that strange? Telling her about his family was that strange? Giving her a knife, did that count as strange?

Mu Dai walked to the window and pulled back the curtain. Huh, there was a car parked at Luo Ren’s front door.

“I feel so uneasy. Luo Ren asked for a nurse to come again today, instructed her to bring emergency equipment. This morning, he suddenly told me that many suffocation victims can recover if first aid is administered in time. Just now, he took Pin Ting to the large room… what is he planning to do, Miss Mu Dai, do you know?”

Mu Dai was completely bewildered: “I don’t know either…”

No, wait, hold on.

An ominous thought began to grow.

Shen Gun had said it ultimately wasn’t a good solution, that there would always be another host.

Luo Ren had said he didn’t want Pin Ting to suffer any more harm.

And he had said, “In any case, I’m glad to have met you, Mu Dai.”

Mu Dai, you fool, how could you not have realized!

The large room had a genuine security door that couldn’t be kicked or forced open. Even the gap at the bottom was stuffed with cloth. Mu Dai was so anxious she nearly cried. She asked Uncle Zheng: “Is there a window? Does this room have a window?”

There was, but when the window glass was broken, Mu Dai was dumbfounded. Luo Ren must have prepared in advance, sealing off any path the “human skin” might use to escape. The window was blocked by a large cabinet that couldn’t be moved even by kicking.

They had no choice but to return to the door and pound desperately. Uncle Zheng, who had only been uneasy before, was now frightened seeing Mu Dai like this. Trembling, he asked her: “Has something happened, Miss Mu Dai?”

Mu Dai wanted to say something, but before she could utter a word, tears were already flowing.

Just then, a sharp command came from behind: “Let me!”

Looking back, it was the formidable Cao Yanhua, with a small electric lock pick in her left hand, a four-headed professional cross lock pick in her right, and a lock picking kit tucked under her arm.

In that moment, she was truly… majestic and imposing, radiating an aura like… a deity descending.