In the darkness.
Su Mu kept his eyes tightly shut as he held the large, shadowy hand—it was slender, cold, and hard.
That was definitely not a human hand. It felt more like holding the hand of so monster’s corpse.
With his eyes closed, Su Mu couldn’t tell what kind of place he was in. Though his mind was strong, it wasn’t strong enough to replace his sight. He was like a blind man, led forward slowly by the shadow.
Here, ti seed aningless. He couldn’t sense it passing. It felt like he had walked for a long ti… or perhaps only a short while.
Everything around was completely silent. Not even the sound of footsteps from himself or the shadow could be heard.
Gradually, Su Mu heard the sound of liquid underfoot. But it was muffled—not like walking on wet ground in the rain, more like stepping into sothing thicker.
Blood?
Su Mu guessed casually, but his heart didn’t waver. In fact, he felt a faint sense of anticipation.
Back in the Ti Silhouette, when he saw Tingting holding hands with the shadow, he had speculated that those taken into the darkness by the shadow weren’t killed directly.
The logic was simple: if Tingting had been killed, she would likely have turned into a monster like Wang Li. But among the villagers, there was no sign of her.
Furthermore, Tingting clearly recognized the shadow in the Ti Silhouette, even speaking to it, “Are you the nightmare Grandma ntioned?”
That line suggested Tingting had long known of the shadow’s existence from her grandmother.
And the lullaby Grandma sang just now was probably sothing she had sung to Tingting every night.
Why hadn’t Tingting turned into a monster after being taken by the shadow? Most likely, she had followed Grandma’s instructions—closed her eyes and held the shadow’s hand.
That’s why Su Mu chose to go with the shadow. He didn’t have many days left to live.
In his mind, even if he couldn’t beco a Transcendent, turning into a nightmare creature like the villagers might not be so bad. After all, their bodies were extrely strong and hard to kill.
Ti passed.
The sounds in Su Mu’s ears beca clearer. He could even hear the howling of wind.
Thud!
His foot stepped onto solid ground—no more liquid.
As he continued forward, he noticed the ground sloping upward, curved.
A bridge?
He recalled the lullaby: “A hand in the dark wants to take you across the bridge.”
He kept following the shadow. Once the incline reached a certain height, it began to descend again, as if walking down the other side of a bridge.
Soon, he stepped off the bridge—and just then, a voice reached his ears.
“Chief!”
The voice was familiar. Su Mu instantly recognized it—it was the voice of one of his subordinates who had previously been taken by the shadow.
The voice sounded excited, as if the subordinate hadn’t expected to see Su Mu here.
“Chief, you ca to save ?” The footsteps of soone running grew louder in the dark, clearly the subordinate rushing toward him.
But Su Mu didn’t respond, nor did he open his eyes. Instead, a curious smile curled at the corner of his mouth.
Interesting.
“Chief, why won’t you speak? Open your eyes and look at !” The voice was now right beside his ear.
Su Mu frowned slightly but still kept his eyes shut. “Get lost.”
The footsteps paused. The voice turned resentful, trembling, “Chief… are you abandoning ? I’ve followed you all this ti!!”
“Yup,” Su Mu replied calmly.
He had always rembered the lyrics: “Sleep, sleep, don’t open your eyes or hide. The lost soul finds no salvation. Slumber in the night. Don’t ask what’s false or real. Until dawn breaks, the nightmare shall fade.”
The aning was clear: keep your eyes closed, don’t be deceived by illusions. Otherwise, your soul would be lost in darkness. As for when to open your eyes—when dawn arrived.
When it ca to resisting psychological tricks, Su Mu was second to none. Illusions like this? They couldn’t fool him.
The rejected subordinate’s breathing grew heavier, and his voice turned cold, “Since you’re abandoning … then you don’t get to live either. Die!”
The resentful voice burst out as the subordinate charged toward him.
Anyone else would have panicked and opened their eyes—but not Su Mu. He kept moving forward, calm and unaffected.
Sure enough, just as the sound of the charge reached his ears—it suddenly cut off. Silence returned.
He continued walking. Slowly, he began to feel warmth, and a beam of light pierced through his tightly shut eyelids. It was like facing the sun in daylight—even with his eyes closed, he could feel the blinding brightness.
“Chief!” Zhao Chaoyao’s voice ca from a distance, filled with ecstatic surprise.
“Mr. Su, you’re back?” Ye Fanyu’s voice also carried a hint of joy.
“Su Mu, wake up! Why are your eyes still closed? What happened when you followed the shadow?”
Voices ca at him from all directions. But Su Mu still didn’t open his eyes. Instead, he sneered.
“How clumsy. If you’re going to deceive soone, at least try harder.”
He couldn’t be bothered to point out all the flaws.
Any sane person seeing soone return alive after being taken by the shadow wouldn’t imdiately welco them. They’d be suspicious—just like with Wang Li, who had turned into a monster.
Also, the shadow only appeared at night or in darkness. Yet now, the sunlight was so bright, and sohow the shadow was still holding his hand? Impossible.
All the voices stopped. Then, Zhao Chaoyao and the others’ tones turned ice-cold.
“He found out.”
“Kill him!”
“Yes, kill him!”
A group of people charged at Su Mu, letting out inhuman roars as they did.
But as before, once the voices got close—they vanished.
Su Mu continued forward.
Soon, he heard a different kind of voice—children’s voices!
“Idiot!”
“Hehe, big dummy Tingting is here!”
“Let’s go, let’s go. We don’t play with dummies.”
A group of children were laughing and jeering. In the midst of their ridicule, a small, aggrieved voice cried out—Tingting’s.
“I’m not a dummy!”
“Bleh bleh bleh… look, the dummy’s crying!”
“You say you’re not a dummy? Your parents didn’t want you anymore because you’re so dumb!”
“That’s not true! Grandma said Mama and Papa just went away for work! They didn’t abandon !”
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