Live Action Murder Mystery

Chapter 69

(The Secret in the Paintings, The Magician from the East, The Changed Wife.)

When all was said and done, everyone was inside the centralised discussion room.

Hence, Yang Ye and Gu Liang refrained from having any detailed discussions right then and there.

For the sake of economising their time, some of the players quickly ate their lunch and willingly gave up their resting time to investigate the ancient castle.

Whereas Gu Liang had always been a slow eater, to say nothing of the fact that he wanted to have a proper conversation with Yang Ye.

Thus, they lingered in the centralised discussion room until it was just the two of them left.

After going to the door to confirm that there were no players outside, Gu Liang closed the door without any qualms and returned back to his seat.

Gu Liang told Yang Ye: “Right, with regards to the wall paintings, we can explain it to everyone else later. Right now, I would like to ask, what are your opinions about the vote casting just now?”

Yang Ye contemplated it for a moment before he uttered: “Voting for Magnate Rong in the first question went without suspense. The third question on who killed Lady Rong and Butler Hao, the clues were too little and we could only surmise based on who was connected to Designer Mei. The voting results were very unified, there are no issues there. The fourth question asked who the vampires were, and the real vampires had to conceal themselves, but from a good person’s perspective, only voting for me and Su Lan wasn’t the wrong choice to make either.

“For the second question, however, the reality is that there were a lot of suspects and it was not limited to Su Lan, but everyone’s vote was unusually unanimous.”

“Yes, I concur.” Gu Liang said, “Su Lan voted for you probably to vent. Li Xiao Yu voting with me is within our expectations But even Meng Qian Cheng did not vote with me. Whereas the other two new players… Both of them voted for Su Lan.”

Yang Ye said: “This can only suggest that they know a lot more than they are letting on.

“Maybe we’re not the only ones the system had grouped together. Other people might also have a task to conceal something.

“From how I see it, the timelines for the majority of the players are overly blank. In fact, the others could have mutually testified for each other, but because of their side task, or for some other reasons, they also helped the other party conceal the matter, just like how you and I covered for each other.”

After hearing Yang Ye’s analysis, Gu Liang breathed out a sigh and pinched the space between his eyebrows. He thought in his mind, Perhaps that is truly the case.

When everyone was tackling the second question on “who killed the chef” during the discussion.

Su Lan had questioned Gu Liang, stating that his timeline was overly simple as well, and Gu Liang could only rely on the floor that the elevator had stopped on to give a preliminary explanation.

Yes, he only took the elevator to go downstairs after 9 o’ clock.

But it could not be denied that was a possible loophole.

The first pair to reach the kitchen was Mother Ai and Chief Mei. It was 9 o’ clock then, and they were the first to discover the corpse.

This meant that someone killed the chef before 9 o’ clock.

Pressing the elevator preemptively and making it stop at a designated floor was an incredibly easy thing to do.

If it were not for Li Xiao Yu saying that she had paid some attention to the elevator on her own accord, no one could prove that it had always been on the first floor before 9 o’ clock.

Therefore, the truth of the matter is that no one can prove that Gu Liang hadn’t gone downstairs before 9 o’ clock.

Gu Liang could understand why Su Lan did not continue contesting this matter.

Because the person who went the kitchen to enact the murder before 9 o’ clock was her, and the person who might have gone past the elevator in the main lobby was also her.

If she stuck to saying that she arrived after 9 o’ clock, the suspicions – or lack thereof – on Gu Liang would not change.

But if she was adamant about making Gu Liang the suspect, she could only say that she personally saw the elevator moving before 9 o’ clock. However, that was equivalent to exposing the fact that she had lied.

And under the circumstances where they did not have enough time, it was no longer necessary for her to defend herself.

Having thought of that, Gu Liang said to Yang Ye: “You speak correctly. Therefore, the probability of the two new players, namely Sister Mei and Chief Mei, hiding their stories is comparatively higher. It’s possible that they’ve been placed in the same group. But from a different point of view—”

“Chief Mei and Mother Ai went to the main hall together, whereas Sister Mei and Magnate Rong reached the ancient castle at the same time, and they could have formed groups of twos. The stories of the four people in question are a little mysterious, and they might have complementary stories.”

Yang Ye supplemented: “We were only designated 15 minutes for discussion, and when everyone was done explaining their timelines, there wasn’t a lot of time left.

“At that point in time, they must be thinking about one thing in their minds— since I concealed my story, my timeline is very empty as well. If someone asks me about it, how should I answer?

“Their first priority is to protect themselves, so they wouldn’t have the energy or the time to suspect you. That’s the first reason.

“Secondly, it’s like what I previously said. Since they were in pairs, and the four of them could cross-reference and verify their timelines, the reality is that the suspect has been locked on either you, me or Traveller Meng.”

Gu Liang heaved out a long sigh. “I get it… I completely understand it now.”

Gu Liang concluded: “Therefore, perhaps the actual situation was as such— in the eyes of others, especially where Chief Mei and Sister Mei are concerned, you as the question mark figure, Traveller Meng, and me, hold the greatest amount of suspicion. You should be a vampire, there’s no running. Therefore, they wanted to see who is more likely to be the vampire between Traveller Meng and me.

“In their eyes, the answer is actually a choice between Traveller Meng and me.

“In view and based on the ‘limited evidence’ they had, wherein there was no evidence of vampires being able to switch genders, the possibility of the vampire being female is higher. After all, Princess Rose is a Princess, not some kind of prince. Hence, they chose to vote for Traveller Meng. And like they expected, they were correct.”

After hearing Gu Liang’s deduction, Yang Ye nodded.

Simultaneously, his gaze became slightly deep with meaning.

Gu Liang asked him: “What are you thinking about?”

Yang Ye narrowed his eyes, which made his pupils appear a little abstruse behind the lenses. “Given those circumstances, the real reason why Meng Qian Cheng voted for Li Xiao Yu, makes him seem like he’s lost in wild and fanciful thoughts instead. Say… do you think it’s possible that he’s trying for a reverse logic?”

Gu Liang could not help but become stern. “You mean to say that his identity is worthy of suspicion.”

“When you were explaining your timeline, he helped you persuade everyone else by saying that you do have an obsession for cleanliness, which is why it’s completely within the realm of possibility that you chose to shower first before doing your task.”

Yang Ye said: “I was quite sceptical back then.

“Then there’s the final question where we had to vote for vampires. Everyone chose Su Lan and I, which was deemed incorrect. But the normal humans didn’t know why they were wrong, and that mostly boils down to the fact that they didn’t manage to find any clues concerning Earl William.

“But both of us know, it’s because there are three vampires. The reason why everyone answered incorrectly was not because they voted for the wrong people, but because— they were missing one person.

“If you don’t constitute as a vampire because you’re going through the transformation period, while I am the Earl and Su Lan is the Princess, then everyone failed to vote for another person— The Duke.”

* * *

After exiting the centralised discussion room, there were black walls and heavy steel doors like the first floor.

Yang Ye held onto his flashlight as he walked down the pitch-black corridor with Gu Liang.

It seemed like the other players had gone to the other floors because there was no movement on this floor.

Unexpectedly, some wind blew past, causing a certain room to emit creaking and groaning noises, and it made people shiver in fear, though not from the cold.

As Yang Ye held onto his flashlight with one hand, he automatically reached out to the side with his other to wrap around Gu Liang’s palm before he held it firmly.

“What are you…”

“I’m afraid that you’ll be afraid.”

“What is there for me to be afraid of?”

“Who the one who telephoned me because they were afraid of ghosts? And insisted on not wanting the doll because they were frightened by the dolls?”

“……?” Gu Liang furrowed his brows, “I was merely a little wary of the dolls, but what do you mean insisted on not wanting?”

“Cough.” Yang Ye became serious, “Let’s solve the case. This floor doesn’t seem to have much to it. Which floor do you want to go to?”

“……” Subsequently, Gu Liang said: “Let’s go to the fifth floor first. On one hand, our next task requires us to find Aimeili’s murderer, and it’d be better for us to check the floor she resided in first. On the other hand, the fifth floor is a semi-finished product, and I’d like to check each and every room carefully.”

The reason why Gu Liang termed the fifth floor as a semi-finished product was because compared to the entirety of the third and fourth floor, wherein the elevator would open up to carpeting, fresh flowers and walls with gilded ornaments installed, the fifth floor was identical to the first and second floor in the sense that it had black walls and large steel doors.

They had to walk a certain distance before there were gorgeous carpeting and decorations lining the corridor.

The wife’s bedroom was also in that section.

Yang Ye: “Semi-finished product? Mn, I understand what you mean. Why do you think it’s the way it is?”

Gu Liang said: “I think, this clue might be pointing towards the fact that— Princess Rose is not Aimeili’s daughter.

“The oldest owners of this ancient castle are only the Duke and the Princess. One of them stayed on the fourth floor, while the other stayed on the third floor. The steel doors on the first floor kept humans, the second floor kept beasts of burden.

“As for the fifth and sixth floors, they were left unused, and perhaps around that time the Duke felt that there weren’t enough prison rooms, so he installed steel doors on the fifth floor as well, in preparation of locking up either humans or animals.”

“That lasted until he met Aimeili and decided to make her his wife, and he allocated the fifth floor to her. He probably instructed his subordinates to furnish the master bedroom first, before working outwards and into the surrounding corridor by laying carpets, then he allowed Aimeili to stay there temporarily. With regards to the other areas of the fifth floor, he could allow his people to renovate it slowly.

“However, before he had the time to decorate the fifth floor fully, an unforeseen incident happened in the ancient castle.

“The story will only make sense if that was the sequence of events, and it can also explain why the fifth floor is in such a state.”

* * *

After entering the elevator, Gu Liang raised his hand to press for the fifth floor.

The elevator made its ascent but stopped at the fourth floor. It seems like a player on the fourth floor had called for the elevator.

Gu Liang suddenly thought of something and shifted his hand, thus drawing his hand out of Yang Ye’s grasp.

However, the sharp-eyed and deft-handed Yang Ye held his hand again, “Darling, are you feeling embarrassed?”

“What did you just call me?”

Gu Liang’s tone of voice changed, probably due to a mix of emotions like extreme shock, disbelief, mystification, and even the slightest panic.

Yang Ye smirked.

This was the first time he had heard Gu Liang’s intonation rise in such a manner.

But Yang Ye chose not to make it difficult for him in the end and released his hand. Instead, he said by his ear: “You can come over at any time to hold my hand if you’re scared. It’s fine. No need to be shy. You’re merely holding your husband’s hand, what’s so shameful about that?”

Gu Liang: “……”

The elevator doors opened.

The person outside the door was Li Xiao Yu.

Li Xiao Yu blinked her eyes. “Oh, both of you have finally made your way upstairs. I was just about to go upstairs to look for the rest. They’re all on the fifth floor.”

Gu Liang: “You were alone on the fourth floor?”

Li Xiao Yu shook her head. “No. I’m together with Su Lan. We found some things, and I wanted to go upstairs to call the rest over. Hey—”

Li Xiao Yu gave Gu Liang a one-over. “Why is your face so red?”

Gu Liang: “……”

Li Xiao Yu glanced at Yang Ye, gaze deep with meaning.

Raising an eyebrow, Yang Ye looked towards the notebook in her hand and got off the elevator together with Gu Liang. Towards Li Xiao Yu, he said: “What did you find? Share it with us first.”

“I finally understand! I know how the Duke travelled over!”

After she said that, Li Xiao stared at Yang Ye with squinted eyes, conveying the distrust she held for him in her expression, “Wait a minute, aren’t you the Duke? You definitely know about this ah.”

“I’m really not the Duke. Didn’t all of you vote incorrectly?”

Yang Ye asked: “Where did you find the information, bring us over.”

“Oh oh, that’s true… Fine, we found it in the Duke’s room.”

Li Xiao Yu trailed after Yang Ye and Gu Liang as they returned back to the Duke’s room, and she forgot about the fact that she was going to call the other players in the moment.

Li Xiao Yu uttered, “In any case, this clue states in absolute terms that the Duke brought everyone else in crossing over and he implemented some kind of magic with the wall paintings. You’ll understand what I mean once you read this book.”

Gu Liang opened his mouth to ask: “Wall paintings? This means that my conjecture wasn’t wrong. However, this is not a straightforward ‘crossing over’; only certain parts of the space have been affected by the space-time overlap. And the pockets of space I’m referring to are the places with wall paintings.”

Li Xiao Yu quickly asked: “Ah? Space-time overlap? What does that mean? Tell us the details!”

Gu Liang said: “Two space-times exist in one space, 300 years ago and 300 years after. Presently, these two space-time have merged. The intermediary that binds them together is the wall painting. Only the places that the wall painting will be affected, hence experiencing a space-time overlap. This would explain— why some things travelled over, while others did not.

“In the locked areas on the first and second floor, there were prison rooms used to lock up humans and animals respectively. The prison rooms don’t have wall paintings.

“Consequently, the corpses in those sections did not travel over. They decayed, were weathered down, and experienced 300 years worth of time before they saw the daylight again.

“Next we have the first floor lobby. There were three paintings: the portrait, the rose, and the sunflower. Since these paintings existed 300 years ago, they still existed 300 years after. Perhaps in consideration of its historical value, Magnate Rong did not destroy them after he bought the ancient castle, and chose to preserve them instead. Hence, those three wall paintings catalysed the space-time overlap in the lobby space, and the disorderly ancient castle lobby from 300 years ago which was littered with various objects, came over to 300 years after.

“From the third to fourth floor, the corridor and every room had wall paintings; the fifth floor was not fully furnished, but when we entered the rooms, like Aimeili’s for instance, the paintings inside were completely preserved. Hence, whatever appearance the places with wall paintings had 300 years ago, would remain unchanged even 300 years after. It would share the same situation as the lobby because these wall paintings are acting as the intermediary that links the two space-times together. All of the past objects came to this space-time directly, which is why the roses are still fresh and Aimeili’s corpse has yet to rot.

“Lastly, we have the sixth floor. Magnate Rong had renovated the space prior to this. No matter how you try and get around it, this ancient castle has been standing for 300 years; some of the wall paintings were probably damaged, so Magnate Rong hired new artists to redraw them. Whereas some of them remained undamaged, so they retained their original appearance.

“Or another possibility is that, the sixth floor from 300 years ago was left empty and unused, and it was barely decorated, which means that there weren’t a lot of wall paintings to begin with. The wall paintings that we’ve been seeing along the corridor and in every room might have been mounted by Magnate Rong when he was renovating the place.

“In any case, the wall paintings that Magnate Rong acquired do not have magic and they can’t act as intermediaries. Only bona fide, antique wall paintings will have such powers.

“Hence, some rooms on the sixth floor experienced the space-time overlap phenomenon while others didn’t. This would then explain why you saw bats in some rooms while others were completely normal, Xiao Yu.”

After giving the full explanation, Gu Liang recalled the first time he and Yang Ye met in the morning.

As the Earl, Yang Ye had gone into a certain room in the ancient castle to sleep.

That room corresponded to the room that Gu Liang stayed in as Actor Ming 300 years later.

In the morning, Yang Ye mentioned that his room had the same wall painting as Gu Liang’s room.

Hence, when the wall painting allowed for the space-time overlap, Yang Ye came over.

Yang Ye’s room was completely empty, so he did not bring anything with him apart from the bats in the bathroom.

His bathroom’s position, in comparison to the layout 300 years ago, was probably a dark room that the bats rested in. Since it was linked to the main room, it was within the wall painting’s scope of influence.

Thus, when time overlapped in the same space, the bats also arrived in the bathroom.

Judging from their current circumstances, it was not wrong to presume that the situation was as such.

The only thing which was undisclosed to them was, what had occurred last night in correspondence with 300 years ago.

As Earl William, Yang Ye had received the Duke’s message and went straight to the sixth floor to rest.

Hence, ever since Earl William arrived at the ancient castle, he did not see the Duke or the Princess once.

— Could this suggest that the Duke and the Princess were hiding on another floor as they implemented the spell last night?

By that time, the trio had reached the entrance to the Duke’s room.

“We found this book in the cupboard beside the coffin. You guys can go in and have a look.”

Li Xiao Yu gazed at Gu Liang, “Additionally, the space-time overlap you explained just now, I’ve grasped it. But I have a question.”

Gu Liang: “Ask away.”

Li Xiao Yu asked: “Where did the servants from the past go? Logically speaking, they should have travelled over as well, or at least a portion of them should have tagged along.”

Gu Liang mulled over it before he said: “One of the possibilities is that since we’ve directly entered the investigation segment, they don’t have to participate in the investigation because they’re NPCs that are similar to the guards and disciples in Xiaoyao Sect. But if that’s not the case… Then we’ll have some trouble on our hands.

“However, we can consider the matter slowly. Let’s do the task for the second segment first.”

* * *

Gu Liang, Yang Ye, and Li Xiao Yu entered the Duke’s room together.

Su Lan was also inside, and she was waiting for Li Xiao Yu to call the other players over.

When she saw the situation in front of her, Su Lan asked Li Xiao Yu: “Where are the other people? Why is it just the two of them?”

Li Xiao Yu blinked her eyes: “We can go upstairs together and tell the rest once we’re done investigating this room, yes? Either way, I get the sense that this matter doesn’t share a huge relation to the second segment.”

In lieu of speaking, Su Lan merely continued to flip through the other cupboards with a cold face.

Yang Ye and Gu Liang did not acknowledge her either. Instead, they pulled two armchairs over and sat down, heedless of the coffin beside them. Then, they used the light emitted by the candle to browse through the book.

There were two pages of content in the book that was pertinent to them.

The first page was a strange-looking drawn diagram, while the other page had written text.

The text were separated into two sections, the top was in Chinese, the bottom was in English.

The Chinese text wrote: “According to the venerable elderly man’s calculations, the deceased wife of the Duke will reincarnate 300 years later. If you do not want to wait for 300 years, you can use the space-time travel spell to go to 300 years after.

“A lot of people died in this ancient castle, the power of the accumulated resentment is extremely strong. You can make use of, transform its power, and make it work for you. The wall paintings all over the ancient castle can be repurposed into an intermediary to absorb the resentful energy. Draw according to the charm that I gave you, use your blood, and hide the blood spell inside the painting. They will absorb the resentful energy, then possess great powers.

“Of course, the positions of the wall paintings have to be carefully selected and arranged. Adjust according to the formulation I have ascribed. All the wall paintings inside this ancient castle, will then link up and form an array. After the array reaches full completion, you can travel 300 years forward, and find your lover’s reincarnation.”

As for the English written below the page, it was merely a translation of this passage.

It seems like the Duke looked for an eastern magic practitioner to write down the passage before he invited someone else to do the translation.

After looking through the book, Yang Ye said: “This indicates three things: one, the wall paintings are the reason why the different eras have overlapped; two, Aimeili was already dead before the words on this book were written; and three—”

Yang Ye looked towards Li Xiao Yu: “So, you’re the reincarnation of Aimeili, is that right?”

“I might be. But it’s true that I don’t have any memory of it.”

Li Xiao Yu knitted her brows as undisguised loathing seeped into her gaze. “If I was abused by this big devil in my previous lifetime, I would be disgusted to death. Moreover, I finally managed to die after enduring much agony and escape from his demonic claws, and yet I’m still being sought after by him in my reincarnation? Then I must be truly fucked.”

Yang Ye tossed Su Lan a glance. “Princess, you knew about the crossing over, right?”

“I didn’t know.” Su Lan said.

Yang Ye replied: “Sure. This was your father’s private matter. But you should know something about his wife’s murder right?”

Su Lan: “I don’t know.”

Yang Ye no longer pursued the matter, only looking in Gu Liang’s direction subconsciously.

He was fine with it, but he was rather worried that Gu Liang would start feeling awkward because of this matter.

Gu Liang, however, was only flipping through the rest of the pages in the book with a lowered head, mostly to check if he had missed out on anything important.

He did not express any opinions about the things happening before him.

Li Xiao Yu eventually realised something, so she went forward to pull on Su Lan’s arm. Lowering her voice, she murmured: “Truthfully speaking… I have a rough inkling. You’re upset. But… But there’s no way around it. According to experience, a straight man can turn bent. But if they were born bent, it’s incredibly hard to straighten them. You can’t force it. It’s better if everyone… prioritises the task?”

Su Lan shot her a cold look as she was pulling a long face. However, she could not withstand Li Xiao Yu’s words and she laughed angrily. “What would a little girl like you know? It’s not like you’re a man.”

“I’m not a man, but I have a deep understanding of those circles,” said Li Xiao Yu.

“Fine, fine.”

Su Lan patted her shoulder, “Yes, my attitude leaves much to be desired, and I am a little angry. Especially given that I failed my side task directly during the voting segment, and it was brought about by Gu Liang, so I was a little…”

“But since this game concerns our life and death, I wouldn’t go so far as to refuse cooperation. I wasn’t lying when I said that I didn’t know.”

Gu Liang raised his head at last and asked her: “We deduced that you’re not Aimeili’s daughter. Are you the child of the Duke and his previous wife?”

“Yes. I was only turned into a vampire after I was a matured adult.”

Su Lan stated, “My father was originally from an aristocratic family who married a wife of equal economic and social status, and gave birth to me. Later, the vampires engulfed the city we were residing in, and both of us were turned into vampires. And even later, my mother died in the midst of a great war between the werewolves and vampires. Thus, my father brought me and the servants to flee here, in distant parts.

“It’s similar to what you heard from the general plot in essence, I’m merely adding the details.”

Having said that, Su Lan did a brief recollection before she continued: “He bewitched the villagers here, and made everyone revere him as a god. He said that he would bestow upon everyone immortal life, but the truth was that he merely turned some of them into vampires. Afterwards, he caught a lot of people, and through sucking their blood, he made his own powers stronger and stronger.

“During one of the rounds, one of the humans that was captured and kept here went by the name of Aimeili. That was when he fell for Aimeili.

“At the very beginning, my father didn’t turn her into a vampire. Rather, he allowed her to stay by his side as a human.”

“Vampires don’t have souls and they can’t be reflected in mirrors. Actually this symbolises that after humans turn into vampires, they have already died in a certain sense. According to my personal understanding, the human self died and it was replaced with another creature to continue living. Hence, vampires sleep in coffins, not beds.

“Initially, my father did not want to ‘kill’ her so quickly. But she kept trying to run away, so my father killed her family, then killed her and changed her into a vampire to ensure that she would never return to the human world.

After giving a pause, Su Lan kept going: “There are three endings to a vampire taking a human’s blood: “The first is purely blood sucking, and the human is not sucked dry; the second is sucking all of their blood and leaving the human to die; the third is when the human is sucked dry of their blood and killed before some of their blood is returned to them, which will transform that person into a vampire.

“But under the third method, the human will not become a vampire immediately since there is a transformation period.”

When they heard this point, Gu Liang and Yang Ye exchanged glances while maintaining their composure.

Su Lan did not notice their interaction as she continued speaking. “The rough process of the transformation period should be, one hour human, one hour vampire, and they alternate.

“Aimeili genuinely loved the sunlight. Therefore, during the three-day transformation period, she would go to the garden every time she turned into a human. The garden from that time… was different from what it is now. My father specifically planted a field of sunflowers for her.

“Before she stayed in the garden for a full hour and turned into a vampire, she would be forcefully dragged back into the ancient castle by the servants. She was only allowed to return to the garden after an hour had passed.

“She would always be happy every time she left the ancient castle to go to the garden, but she would return to the ancient castle in a dispirited manner after the hour had passed.

“Okay. I’ve said everything I know and without any reservations. If I continue throwing a fuss, all of you are going to start believing that I’m actually narrow-minded.”

Su Lan looked at Yang Ye and Gu Liang, before she regarded Li Xiao Yu again. “Little girl, I’ve already said all that I know.”

“That matter regarding Aimeili—” Li Xiao Yu hesitated momentarily, but she still voiced her question.

Su Lan proceeded to frown. “I find this matter rather strange as well. I should have thoughts about killing her. After all, my father liked her too much, and I was afraid that my father would give her all the riches and magical powers instead of giving them to me.

“But… I didn’t do such a thing in the end. I don’t know. I really don’t know. Maybe I lost my memories too, which is why I’m also searching for clues related to Aimeili and Princess Rose.”

Why was this the case?

If Princess Rose could remember other matters from the past, why was she incapable of recalling the specific portion of memories which could confirm if she had killed Aimeili or not?

Furthermore, the great war between the werewolves and vampires that Princess Rose just mentioned happened to the Duke’s person.

It was the reason why Duke fled to the east.

But according to Yang Ye’s words that day, and in a feat of unexpected coincidences, he had also fled here because of a great war between werewolves and vampires.

— But was it because the two factions waged war frequently?

Gu Liang could not shake off the feeling that there was something wrong with these crucial details.

After a moment of contemplation, Gu Liang asked Su Lan another question: “Have you drank a lot of human blood?”

Su Lan shook her head. “I’m not as cruel as my father. I didn’t. The animals on the second floor were prepared for me. I drank the blood of animals, and Aimeili did the same later on.”

Gu Liang: “Your father is not afraid of light because he had grown powerful after drinking too much human blood. When Aimeili was undergoing her transformation period, she was unafraid of sunlight when she was human, and afraid of the sunlight when she was inhumane. What about you? Are you afraid of sunlight?”

When Su Lan heard that enquiry, she furrowed her brows unconsciously. Then, she said: “I don’t know. There is nothing in my story that precisely explains whether I have a fear of sunlight or not. But I reckon that I am not afraid.”

The translator has something to say: …. Hindsight is indeed a wonderful thing.