Die in My Place

"Xiaodan?!" Chuan Nayi panicked.

He was just there a minute ago; where did he go? His stitches were way far from getting healed so he must have not gone away in a hurry.

She was then met with Li Yunru who tried to calm her down. The role student then grabbed on the exorcist's sleeve. "Where's Xiaodan? Why isn't he here? He was just here!"

"I don't know; I just came." Li Yunru was shocked. Chuan Nayi was in the room, and she didn't notice Liu Xiaodan vanish. However, she could only look at the direction of the door.

Three stern-looking women walked in, with one of them assisting Mian Tianni who now had a mellow aura. The old woman looked around and finally cast her gaze on the vacant bed. She then spoke, "Who owns this bed?"

Li Yunru answered, "Liu Xiaodan. He should be here; I swear he should be here. There's no way he couldn't have been discharged already."

Chuan Nayi tightened her hold on Li Yunru. "He was just there! I didn't fall asleep; he was just there!"

Mian Tianni then walked closer and bent down a little to feel the warm mattress. Her eyes widened, and she looked around like trying to find something. She then cast her gaze at the bedridden woman. "Are you this Liu Xiaodan's girlfriend? Is that why you're rooming with him?"

Rooming? Hehe, they were undeniably really close since their beds were placed side-by-side. However, both patients couldn't even move around; what's the danger of having them too close?

"Ex..." Chuan Nayi had a bitter smile as she calmed down.

Right, she remembered; they were through. Nothing had officially started, and yet they were already through.

Chuan Nayi had long depended on Liu Xiaodan's warmth, and she now felt like winter had arrived. However, she shook her head. "I'm really sure he was just there..."

"No need to say it too many times. I can understand." Mian Tianni didn't smile. She then looked around some more and gestured to Li Yunru. "Yun'er, the man has fled. Let's go back now."

"Has fled?" Li Yunru gasped. She forced herself to be removed from Chuan Nayi's grip even if she was still appeasing the other woman. The newcomers then left as fast as they came. She then looked up at her blood grandmother. "Master Granny, Liu Xiaodan has fled? If he did, why didn't we see him?"

"Remember what you said Feng'er said about the man? He could inherit the demon's abilities. He must have phased through the walls." Mian Tianni only looked calm on the outside, but she was already enraged in her heart.

The demon who breathed the cursed miasma dared afflict her grandson and exist in a place away from the shrine? The audacity!

The woman walking Mian Tianni then answered her phone and handed it to the grandmother, "Master Tianni, Master Tianyu is calling you." She only nodded, and the woman placed it on the loudspeaker. Mian Tianni spoke, "Tianyu?"

A distressed hiss came from the other line. Mian Tianyu seemed to be soaking in sweat. "Big Sister, I... I failed..." His words made the granny frown. "It's not here anymore; it escaped. The demon is not sealed anymore; it had broken out. I am going to find out how—"

The granny cut him off, "Go back home, Tianyu. Prepare the Cleansing Squad. We have to hunt this demon down before it makes another kill... worse yet, have its host make a kill for it."

...

Blazing red was in the skies when the sun started to set. Ruan Jin squinted at the red sky before sipping some of his soft drink. Ye Ling was seated next to him, enjoying the view around them. Xu Disung and Wen Taio were eating quietly, but it was easy to say that they were just stuffing their mouths.

They had all lost their appetite after receiving the news about Li Feng. One of the best students in their college was kicked out because of the successive deaths happening in the school.

Ting University was rather on edge as well so they needed to blame someone. Besides, the police had arrested Li Feng already; it was enough to damage the reputation of their university.

As for Liu Xiaodan, he was still allowed to rest in the hospital. His parents had asked the school to give him a month worth of recovery period. His belly was split open, and he had to not move for a very long time. He was even barred from eating solid food.

"Damn, when will everything go back to normal?" Ruan Jin whispered, but no one answered him. He just sighed and hummed before putting his drink down.

"You think Xiaodan will still go back to school?" Xu Disung murmured as he was trying to open his soft drinks in a can. He then gave it to Wen Taio for him to open. "I mean... even if he recovered, a lot of people would be eyeing him differently. Same with Chuan Nayi."

"We can only believe that the people wouldn't take them as villains. They're victims, too... all three of them, to be honest." Wen Taio easily popped the can and handed it to the other person. He then collected his own drink. "We should see them again this weekend. They must be getting really broken, staying together..."

"Huh? What do you mean?" Ruan Jin turned around in his seat again. Since they were seated outside the diner, the seats didn't have back supports. He then gestured his drink towards Wen Taio, "What do you mean?"

Wen Taio only regarded the other before saying, "Come on, guys. There's no way Chuan Nayi wouldn't talk about it. She was almost killed by Xiaodan's kid. If she's not insane, she would break all hell loose on Xiaodan.

"Our man isn't up for that kind of convincing just yet." He then lowered his gaze. "I mean, if I were Chuan Nayi, I would beat the living shit out of Xiaodan."

Silence followed as they all felt the same. Ruan Jin was probably the only one who felt complicated. He wanted to talk Liu Xiaodan into leaving Guangru, and yet he was sitting here next to Ye Ling.

Even if he wanted to argue about the massive difference between the two, Guangru and Ye Ling were still ghosts one and the same. If he tried to fight more, he was only proving that he was a hypocrite.

The three soon left after finishing their food. The red sky would only appear for a while before nighttime hit the streets. Going home late could be punishable as the school imposed stricter rules now.

However, it didn't escape the three horsemen's sights that a few familiar-looking people were waiting for them at a corner. Ruan Jin would pull Ye Ling closer to him if she wasn't a ghost.

One of the men noticed that they were already acknowledged. He then laughed out. "If it isn't that Liu Xiaodan's friends... you were out for so long; what's keeping you guys, ah?"

"Ren Ditian, why are you out here waiting for us?" Wen Taio stood in front, blocking their view with his rather big body. He was only in the third year, but his build made people mistake him older than that. Ruan Jin and Xu Disung stepped to the side as if not scared of those thugs.

"Heheh, well, we just wanted to ask some questions. My friends and I were hoping we could get an answer or two." Ren Ditian smirked after spitting at the side. He then led his goons out of the corner to block the three's path. He then started. "Jiang Hou went to see you guys that night. Where were you?"

"Outside, getting fresh air." Ruan Jin barked. "The dorm stinks because of you."

"What did you say?!" Ren Ditian gritted his teeth.

He was a fourth year with a bad reputation in school. It was just that his family was so much more influential than the Lis that he could just screw up college and still get a degree. He was also in that circle of goons where Huang Kun, Li Feng, and Jiang Hou belonged to.

"Don't think that I can't send you three to jail after this! Tell me why weren't you in your room? Were you plotting against Jiang Hou and Li Feng?!"

The reason why Ren Ditian was mad was that Li Feng was kicked out of school. The person who would do his homework and projects just because the latter was bored got kicked out; who was going to make them now? He cared shit about Huang Kun and Jiang Hou, but he wanted to keep Li Feng around a lot. Then again, guess who picked the short end of the stick?

The three horsemen were furious. They were going to get framed by hoodlums? Even if Ren Ditian did so, at least they could have caved in that ugly face of his before they get sent to jail!

However, before anything could start, a massive draft whizzed across the alley. Everyone felt a chill up their spine and a shiver that told them to run.

One of the goons then pointed at the distance. "Hey, someone's coming."

Ren Ditian spat at the side. "Let him."

"It's Liu Xiaodan..." Another goon recognized the man from his face; however, something seemed to be so wrong with his presence.

"Xiaodan?!" The three horsemen were shocked.

Wasn't Liu Xiaodan still bedridden? Walking all the way here would have aggravated his wound. Was he expecting them to catch his intestines when they fall out?

Ruan Jin then yelled, "Xiaodan! What are you doing here? You're supposed to be in the hospital!"

"I know, sorry." Liu Xiaodan chuckled before he pulled on the hood of his jacket. His face was still pale as if he was enduring pain. His hoodie was blood-red so it somehow stood out in such a menacing alley in the evening. "You're getting blocked by Huang Kun's friends...?"

"Bastard, you're faking your hospital stay?!" Ren Ditian didn't grow tired of spouting nonsense. He then pulled out a switch knife and aimed at Liu Xiaodan. "Since all four of you are here now, let's have some fun!"

"Shit!" Ruan Jin cursed and went to protect the limping Liu Xiaodan, but what he didn't expect was that Liu Xiaodan rushed forward swiftly like he wasn't injured.

Wrong... even if he wasn't injured, he couldn't run that fast; no human could run that fast.

It only took him a few seconds to cross five meters that separated him and Ren Ditian. Even if Ren Ditian was armed, he wasn't able to swing his arm when Liu Xiaodan grabbed his face. The supposed weakling horseman then sent him down to the ground with a single blow.

The goons were supposed to help, but they saw Ren Ditian jolting and screaming in pain. He dropped his knife and tried to shield his abdomen. Soon enough, blood started to dye his yellow shirt, and the fabric moved like someone was continuously stabbing him in that area.

Liu Xiaodan finally got up after Ren Ditian stopped moving. Piss and blood stung their noses before the scared goons started to attack. However, Liu Xiaodan didn't even pay attention to them.

In a second, their necks somewhat exploded as if someone stabbed the necks of those who wielded knives while the heads of those with pipes cracked open.

Blood painted the alley as everyone left inched away from Liu Xiaodan. Then, he looked over his shoulder and stared at those goons. His gaze was freezing cold like they were staring at the dead instead. "Don't think about how you're going to kill me. I can make you all die in my place."

THE END OF VOLUME TWO