Chapter 32

Chapter 32

The fake’s head shattered into a spray of wood chips, a testament to Yun Jianyue’s sheer strength.

“Heh.”

A quiet chuckle drifted from nearby in the darkness. With the surroundings utterly silent, it sounded unusually loud.

“Who’s there?” Yun Jianyue turned toward the sound, instinctively tightening her grip on the chainsaw.

Mo Chen stood seven or eight meters away, watching her from a distance. The smile still lingering on his face made it obvious that he had witnessed everything just now.

“What’s going on with Zhou Benxin? Can I carry him back?” Yun Jianyue knew Mo Chen had seen it all. She also knew he was no ordinary person, so she figured he would know how to deal with this.

Mo Chen merely shrugged and pointed at the short hair he had Yun Jianyue to thank for. “Do you really think I’d tell you?”

Yun Jianyue fell silent. How she regretted what she had done back then. She never should have cut off Mo Chen’s hair. She should have castrated the bastard instead!

Since she clearly wasn’t getting anything out of the Evil God, Yun Jianyue decided to head back and wake Fang Lin’an so they could figure out what to do.

Halfway back, she happened to run into Fang Lin’an, who was frantically searching everywhere while calling her phone.

“Where did you and Zhou Benxin run off to? I woke up after getting bitten by mosquitoes and found myself all alone in the room. Do you have any idea how deeply you’ve traumatized my poor, innocent heart?!”

Fang Lin’an roared, “You didn’t answer your phone either! Are both your phones just for decoration? If you aren’t going to use them, donate them to someone who will!”

Yun Jianyue was now absolutely certain that the raging man before her was the real Fang Lin’an.

After all, anyone who had managed to lose a shoe while running around didn’t look particularly bright.

“My phone was on silent. Come with me first.” Yun Jianyue led Fang Lin’an to the room where the Doppelganger was kept, explaining Zhou Benxin’s sleepwalking along the way.

When Fang Lin’an saw Zhou Benxin standing in the Doppelganger’s place, his expression turned grave. “He’s in bad shape. The Doppelganger is already on the verge of replacing him.”

It seemed the Doppelganger wanted to replace Zhou Benxin and become him, while turning the real Zhou Benxin into the Doppelganger as recompense for all the suffering it had endured over the years.

“I ran into a Doppelganger pretending to be you earlier, and I hacked it to death. Will that affect Zhou Benxin?” Yun Jianyue asked.

Fang Lin’an shook his head. “No. The Doppelganger won’t die that easily. You probably just destroyed one of its temporary bodies. It can create plenty more for itself.”

With that, Fang Lin’an bit open his finger and began muttering an intricate string of incantations under his breath.

Finally, he pressed his bloodied fingertip to the spot between Zhou Benxin’s brows and bellowed, “Awaken!”

Zhou Benxin’s tightly shut eyes flew open. As though jolted awake from some terrible nightmare, he gasped for breath, his face deathly pale.

Once he came to his senses, Zhou Benxin looked at the two of them in confusion. “What’s going on?”

Only after asking did he belatedly realize that they were in the room where the Doppelganger was kept, and that he was standing in the exact spot left empty by his own Doppelganger!

Zhou Benxin jumped in fright, leaping two meters away. “How did I get here?!”

The burly man let out a shriek so shrill that it made the already terrifying surroundings even more horrifying.

Yun Jianyue recounted everything that had happened. The more Zhou Benxin heard, the worse his expression became.

“I’m not about to die, am I?” Zhou Benxin had never imagined that death could come so close.

The most terrifying thing was not dying soon. It was knowing that death was imminent while being powerless to do anything but watch and wait for it to come.

Fang Lin’an said, “Let’s head back for now. It’s not safe to stay here any longer.”
The yin energy here was too dense for Zhou Benxin to remain any longer.

The three of them returned to the side room. With so much weighing on his mind, Zhou Benxin found it impossible to sleep, while Fang Lin’an and Yun Jianyue managed to catch up on some rest. Lu Changxue stayed by Zhou Benxin’s side, ready to wake them if anything happened.

Fortunately, the rest of the night passed without incident.

Not long after daybreak, Daoist Chu hurried over. Weariness was etched across his face. He had clearly spent the entire night searching for the Doppelganger without any sleep.

“Martial Uncle, how did it go?” Fang Lin’an asked at once.

Daoist Chu shook his head and sighed. “That Doppelganger is too cunning. It’s been hiding this whole time, and even the compass can’t pinpoint its location.”

Fang Lin’an’s expression grew grave. “We’re running out of time. He’s about to be fully assimilated by the Doppelganger.”

Fang Lin’an recounted everything that had happened the previous night. Daoist Chu’s expression darkened as well. After a moment, he removed an ancient-looking wooden plaque from his person and handed it to Zhou Benxin.

“This happened on Chongguang Mountain, so I cannot simply stand by and do nothing. This is a ritual artifact that can protect you from one calamity. Do not go anywhere alone today. Better yet, stay right here and wait for me.”

With that, Daoist Chu hurried off again, taking his disciples with him to continue searching Chongguang Mountain for any trace of the Doppelganger.

After all, Zhou Benxin was currently on Chongguang Mountain. If the Doppelganger wanted to replace him, it had to be lurking somewhere on the mountain, waiting for its chance to strike!

Zhou Benxin examined the wooden plaque. Intricate patterns had been carved into its surface, seemingly in the style of a talisman.

In the end, he hung it around his neck.

Yun Jianyue and Fang Lin’an took turns searching for the Doppelganger. They agreed to switch every hour, with one person staying behind to guard Zhou Benxin while the other went out to search.

The more people searching, the better their chances. Perhaps one of them might even find the Doppelganger before Daoist Chu and his disciples did.

At half past five that afternoon, Yun Jianyue returned empty-handed once more to relieve Fang Lin’an.

The moment she stepped into the side room, she saw only Fang Lin’an. Zhou Benxin was nowhere in sight.

“Where is he?” Yun Jianyue asked, her tone sharpening despite herself.

Fang Lin’an was reading an ancient-looking book he had gotten from who knew where. He pointed toward the small courtyard. “Isn’t he out there taking a leak? He probably saw you coming and ducked out of sight.”

There was no bathroom in their side room. If they needed to use one, they had to walk more than a hundred meters to the courtyard where the Daoists lived.

For convenience, whenever Yun Jianyue was away, the two men simply went into a corner of the courtyard and found a tree to stand behind when they needed to relieve themselves.

“There’s no one in the courtyard!” Yun Jianyue had seen the entire courtyard clearly on her way in. There hadn’t been a single person there!

A sense of foreboding struck Fang Lin’an. He hurried into the courtyard and found that Zhou Benxin really was gone.

“That’s impossible! I saw him standing under that tree just a second ago!”

Fang Lin’an panicked. He had only looked down at his book for ten seconds. How could a grown man like Zhou Benxin vanish just like that?

“Then hurry up and find him!” Yun Jianyue was already striding out of the room as she spoke.

Fang Lin’an rushed after her. Just as they reached the courtyard entrance, they saw Zhou Benxin walking in, shaking water from his hands.

At the sight of him, Fang Lin’an let out a long breath of relief. “Where did you go? Do you have any idea how terrifying it is when you suddenly disappear like that?”

“I suddenly had to take a dump, so I went over to borrow the young Daoists’ bathroom,” Zhou Benxin said with a slightly embarrassed smile.

Yun Jianyue instinctively looked down at his feet.

He had a shadow.