Chapter 3

Chapter 3

“Master Danjia, there really is someone in the well. Didn’t you see them?”

Jiang Haoyan stepped in front of Danjia to stop him, but Danjia simply shook his head.

“I didn’t see anything. The light under the tree is quite dappled; perhaps your eyes are playing tricks on you?”

Jiang Haoyan shot me a meaningful look and took the opportunity to stall Danjia. I spun around and rushed back to the edge of the well, grabbing hold of that pale hand.

With a forceful tug, I pulled up the upper body of a soaking wet woman. Her hair was very short, plastered against her face by the water, obscuring half of her features.

Yet, that face remained shockingly familiar.

With trembling fingers, I reached out and brushed her hair aside. She slowly lifted her head and gave me a smile, her heterochromatic eyes particularly striking in the sunlight.

“Qiao Moyu, come down and stay with me.”

I was horrified. It was Fang Qian, Fang Lu’s younger sister.

I turned my head to call for Jiang Haoyan, only to find that Lama Danjia had vanished at some point. Jiang Haoyan stood behind me, his expression grim.

“Jiang Haoyan, it’s Fang Qian! Fang Qian, why are you here?”

Jiang Haoyan nodded, then suddenly curled the corners of his lips into a bizarre smile.

“I know. Why don’t you go down and ask her? She’ll tell you everything.”

As soon as he finished speaking, he gave me a violent shove. I felt a massive force hit me; my body stumbled, I lost my balance, and I tumbled into the mouth of the well. Fang Qian’s pale arm was still clamped firmly onto mine, her fingernails digging into my flesh.

“Hahaha-Qiao Moyu, come down and stay with me!”

Accompanied by a burst of shrill, eerie laughter, I fell backward into the water.

An icy, bone-chilling, slippery sensation enveloped me. I took a sharp breath and sat up abruptly. Only then did I realize I was lying on the bed in the guesthouse. The quilt felt damp and heavy, pressing down on me until I could barely breathe.

I sat up and glanced out the window in a daze. The sun was sinking in the west, and layers of pale gray were already beginning to shroud the orange-red glow. Sunset was imminent.

I had fallen asleep in such a short amount of time? And I’d had such a bizarre dream.

I wiped the cold sweat from my forehead, threw back the covers, and walked out onto the balcony.

Looking down from the balcony, I could see directly into the inner courtyard of the neighboring temple.

In the corner of the courtyard grew a lush cypress tree, and beneath that tree sat a well.

As the last rays of the sun reflected off the inner wall of the well, a pale hand suddenly reached out from within.