The Night Watcher of Great Jing - Chapter 2

The delight froze on Zhao Li’s face.

A young man in bamboo-green robes emerged slowly from the darkness, his expression vicious. Several guards followed behind him.

He stared down at Zhao Li as though she were filth stuck to the sole of his shoe.

“You really are an ungrateful little beast!”

The eldest young master of the Zhao family, renowned throughout the capital for his impeccable character, spoke with his handsome face darkened in fury. “We should never have brought you back!”

“Ha.” Zhao Li could not help sneering.

She had clearly walked into a trap.

Someone had known about this lonely corner where the body’s former owner had come to lick her wounds. Someone had known about her grievances after all.

“Disgusting as it is, we came from the same mother. If I’m a little beast, what does that make you?” Zhao Li raised a brow.

“You think I wanted to come to this nest of animals and look at your ugly mug?”

While speaking, she covertly judged the distance to the low wall and edged toward it, refusing to yield an inch in their battle of words.

“Zhao Li!”

Zhao Kaiyang had never imagined that Zhao Li would dare say anything so crude to him. His face flushed, and for a moment, he did not know how to respond.

“Grand-auntie’s right here!” Zhao Li cheerfully promoted herself by another generation.

“A thing that can neither be taught nor tamed! Have you finally stopped pretending to be obedient?”

Veins throbbed at Zhao Kaiyang’s temples. He ground out the words through clenched teeth.

“That’s right! Your ancestor is done pretending!” Zhao Li declared righteously as she retreated to the low wall.

“You—”

Zhao Kaiyang had never expected Zhao Li, usually as meek and cowardly as a quail before him, to become so brazen.

“Seize her and gag her!” he ordered the guards around him.

Five or six of them closed in.

Already backed into the corner, Zhao Li plunged headfirst into the vines.

She found the broken section of wall, no more than waist-high, pushed herself up with both hands, and vaulted over it. Then she picked a direction and sprinted.

“Where did she go?”

When he saw Zhao Li disappear into the vines, Zhao Kaiyang shouted at the guards to search.

The Zhao guards drew the sabers at their waists and hacked left and right. The tangled vines collapsed, revealing the gap in the wall behind them.

To Zhao Kaiyang, that gaping hole looked like a huge mouth mocking him.

She had committed the heinous crime of striking a parent and elder, yet she felt no remorse and still spewed the foulest abuse.

“That wretched slut!”

With a savage curse, Zhao Kaiyang snatched a long saber from a nearby guard and drew it with a metallic hiss.

“After her! She doesn’t know the way. She can’t get out.”

The bright blade reflected his face. “As long as she does not escape, it doesn’t matter whether she lives or dies.”

The final words emerged through clenched teeth, cold enough to chill the blood.

Firelight swayed through the neighboring abandoned estate as guards searched with torches.

“Young Master, she isn’t over here.”

“Not here, either.”

“Surround these courtyards! Dig three feet into the ground if you must, but find that wretch!”

Zhao Kaiyang’s brow furrowed. His expression grew darker as he summoned more guards to intensify the search.

He refused to believe that wretched girl had grown wings and flown away.

…

Drip.

A drop of water landed on Zhao Li’s forehead and made her shudder.

Her back braced against the slick wall of a well, legs stretched out and pressed firmly against the opposite side.

Suspended in the lower half of the shaft, she hid in darkness.

The damp air in the abandoned estate’s well carried a strange, rotting stench that made her chest feel tight.

Above her, footsteps pounded as the guards searched.

Zhao Li held herself motionless against the walls.

Without warning, a ball of firelight appeared at the mouth of the well.

“Think she might be down there?”

A guard leaned over with his torch and peered into the shaft.

Every hair on Zhao Li’s body stood on end. She held her breath.

“It’s too dark.”

The young guard gazed into the black mouth of the well, his own skin beginning to crawl.

He was about to toss the torch inside for a better look when another Zhao guard reached from behind and laid a hand on his shoulder.

“Enough. You think a little wench would have the nerve to hide in a well?”

“And don’t go near a well alone at night. Things haven’t been peaceful around here these past two years.”

The man pointed with his scabbard to a faded talisman pasted on the stone curb.

When the first guard bent down to inspect it, he accidentally tore off one corner.

He flinched and hurriedly backed away, drawing several laughs from his companion.

Only after the voices outside faded into the distance did Zhao Li cover her mouth and take several quick, shallow breaths.

All she could hear was her own heart pounding like a drum.

[Temporary quest detected.]

The voice that abruptly spoke inside her mind made her head explode with shock, and she slipped downward.

She dropped several feet before managing to brace herself again, stopping just above the water.

It took half a lifetime’s worth of self-control to swallow the second half of her scream. Instead, a torrent of curses poured through her mind.

At a time like this, only the most familiar swearwords—the sort requiring no thought whatsoever—could properly vent her terror.

[Identity match successful. Current class: cannon-fodder female side character.]

[Promote civility and wholesome conduct. Host, please refrain from verbally abusing your system!]

A long while passed.

Zhao Li’s heartbeat finally began to slow.

She was about to communicate with the apparent golden finger in her head when another line of text appeared before her eyes.

[Temporary quest: The Well.]

[Quest description: An innocent young woman sank into the well and rotted. The water is cold, but she cannot get out. Can you carry her up?]

[Note: She is already lying on your back. It would be best not to refuse.]

Against the surrounding darkness, the blood-red words were twice as terrifying.

At the same time, Zhao Li heard a faint sigh beside her ear. A pair of arms, cold enough to pierce the bone, reached around from behind and wrapped themselves around her neck.

For an instant, her heart nearly stopped.

She lowered her gaze and saw two pale, bloated arms circling her shoulders, like bars of soap left soaking in water until they had swollen.

I’m dead, I’m dead, I’m dead!

The words flashed wildly across her mind.

Of all the times to run into one of these things, it had to be now.

In those few short moments, another sigh drifted past her ear. The hands on her shoulders suddenly tightened. Zhao Li shuddered again. She knew she could delay no longer.

In her experience, once something like this latched onto you, it had no interest in reason.

She swallowed hard and began inching upward.