The Mystery of the Inner Demon

Chapter 232 He is back
Heavy rainstorms have caused temperatures to drop below 20 degrees Celsius once again, just as summer is approaching.

With this unusual weather, unusual things always seem to happen.

There was a knock on the door outside the apartment.

Qi Fei, who had just returned home, opened the door.

Zhong Kui stood at the door, holding a bottle of whiskey, her alluring yet dangerous gaze lingering as she approached the homeowner step by step: "Tell me... should I reward you?"

"Shh!" Qi Fei pulled her inside. "The neighbors will hear."

"I meant let's have a drink together, what are you shy about?" Zhong Kui asked knowingly.

Qi Fei suddenly wrapped his arms around Zhong Kui: "I miss it so much, I miss that feeling so much..." His nose almost touched Zhong Kui's smooth cheek, tickling her.

It was as if they could hear each other's heartbeats.

"Knock knock knock..." The knocking sounded at an inopportune moment.

"Courier service, please." Qi Fei hugged Zhong Kui tighter, intending to ignore her, but the doorbell rang again.

Zhong Kui slightly avoided Qi Fei's burning lips: "This knocking doesn't sound like a deliveryman."

"Hmm? I hardly ever have visitors here." Qi Fei frowned slightly, clearly annoyed by the disappointing knock.

And the sound continues to ring out persistently.

Qi Fei reluctantly released his hand from Zhong Kui's slender waist and went to open the door.

Qi Fei almost didn't recognize the person who appeared outside the door at first glance.

The woman stood under the dim corridor light, her hair disheveled, her face covered in mud, and her body soaking wet.

"Qi Fei, save your father." The woman spoke, and Qi Fei recognized her voice as Lu Man's.

Those cold, wet hands suddenly grabbed Qi Fei's arm: "He's been kidnapped by Xi He. He said you have to go see him, but you can't call the police. If you do, he'll kill you!" Lu Man was trembling violently, and it was clear that she was doing her best to stay calm.

"Has he finally made his move?" Zhong Kui appeared beside Qi Fei at some point.

"Ten days. He said he'd give you ten days to find him. If you fail, he'll kill President Qi!" Lu Man trembled as she pulled a glass bead from her soaked pocket and handed it to Qi Fei. "He asked me to give this to you." After saying this, she seemed to have used up her last bit of strength. Her eyes rolled back, and she collapsed into Qi Fei's arms.

When Lu Man opened her eyes again, she saw a gray ceiling and the bright white light from the ceiling light.

A tinnitus struck, as if an electric current was passing through her brain, accompanied by a piercing sound.

Amid the noise, a woman's voice came from near and far: "You're awake. I checked your body and you seem fine. If calling the police doesn't work, I guess you're not planning to go to the hospital either."

“No, no one else can know.” Lu Man tried to concentrate, muttering, “Otherwise he’ll kill President Qi, only Qi Fei can know…” She gasped, struggling to sit up in bed, and saw Zhong Kui’s face in the bright light. “He said only Qi Fei can know, I… I didn’t know you were here…”

Zhong Kui blinked slowly, her eyelashes casting two shadows on her cheeks under the overhead light: "You kept muttering Zhong Xiaoyu's name while you were unconscious, so I suppose I'm fine here."

Upon hearing this, Lu Man clutched her head in horror and said, "I've never heard this person's name before, so why would I say it..." Strangely, despite her firm denial, she instinctively believed Zhong Kui's words—she had indeed said the name while unconscious.

"It looks like you've been through something terrible. You still haven't told me how you got to Qi Fei's doorstep?" Zhong Kui handed her a glass of warm water, her voice as soothing as the warm water itself, calming Lu Man's anxious nerves.

Zhong Kui, who was usually sharp-tongued, seemed like a different person at this moment, so understanding that Lu Man suddenly felt an inexplicable sense of dependence on him.

“I…” Lu Man tried to answer Zhong Kui’s question, but she didn’t know where to begin. “I can’t remember…” she said in frustration, staring at the mirror behind the flower stand in front of her. In the mirror, she had lost her usual exquisite makeup and looked particularly haggard and unfamiliar with her bare face.

"It's alright, I'll help you. Drink some water first," Zhong Kui's soothing voice came again. Lu Man obediently drank the warm water.

She only realized how thirsty she was when the warm water went down her throat.

Ignoring her disheveled state, she gulped down the entire glass of water.

“Come on, lie down and rest for a while longer,” Zhong Kui continued, with a professional and friendly tone.

Luman slowly lay down.

Guided by Zhong Kui, she closed her eyes. When she opened them again, she found herself standing in front of the small white building by the Luomeng River. She was perfectly fine, dressed in a business suit, holding a neat stack of documents in her hands.

She remembered that today was the day Mr. Qi worked from home, and she had compiled a week's worth of documents to get his signature for confirmation.

The door to the white building was ajar.

This left her with some doubts—Qi Dongjun was always meticulous in his work and would never leave the door open for no reason.

However, it was just a detail, and she didn't pay much attention to it.

She knocked lightly on the door a few times.

"Please come in." Qi Dongjun's deep voice came from inside the house, and her doubts vanished instantly.

When they got to the living room, the sofa chair behind the desk had been turned around and was facing away from her.

The high chair back blocked the view of the person sitting on it.

A figure was faintly reflected in the glass of the bookshelf opposite, and it looked a lot like Qi Dongjun.

"President Qi, is something on your mind today?" Lu Man and Qi Dongjun are not only superior and subordinate but also longtime friends, and her words were full of concern.

"Clang~ Clang~" A crisp sound rang out, the rhythmic clanging of glass.

Lu Man couldn't help but be curious, so she leaned forward slightly and saw that the hand was playing with a marble, hitting it repeatedly against the armrest of the chair. This was a marble that Qi Dongjun never touched.

Not to mention, the hand peeking out from behind the chair was fair and slender, clearly belonging to a young man.

If it were someone else, they might not have been able to react so quickly.

However, Lu Man had taken care of Xi He.

She will never forget the way that child played with marbles.

As she approached, the face reflected in the glass of the bookshelf gradually became clearer—a face younger and more angular than Qi Dongjun's.

The temperature in the entire living room seemed to be dropping.

Lu Man felt so cold that her whole body stiffened, and she could barely walk.

She tried to take two steps back quietly.

The sound of the marbles bouncing suddenly stopped.

"Sister Lu Man, it's been a long time! How have you been?" Xi He gave up on imitating Qi Dongjun's voice; Lu Man would never forget that tone and timbre...