CH 313

313: The Murders Begin

“Xiao Wu, I can’t stay for long. I wanted to ask you, did that mysterious person say anything to you?” Jier was a maid with work to do, so he couldn’t disappear for too long. It would be over if he were to be discovered.

“He said it was my task to live to the end and find out the truth.”

“Yeah, he said the same thing to me, live as long as possible and find out the truth. It seems like something unexpected is going to happen.” Jier touched his chin. “I can’t stay any longer, but I’ll come by again later tonight.”

Feng Wu saw him to the door. He left after confirming the coast was clear.

The remoteness of the room worked out for them. Had it not been so remote, they may have been discovered.

That night, Yanaimo arranged a delicious meal for everyone.

Feng Wu had no resistance to food, so she ate in the dining room with everyone else. The dishes had been carefully prepared by the chef, so they were delicious. Feng Wu received a lot of eyerolls for her enthusiasm toward her food, but unfortunately for the people rolling their eyes, she didn’t notice them at all. She was only interested in eating.

The others knew Yanaimo didn’t like Zhēn, so they ignored Zhēn or mocked her. Had this been the real Zhēn, she would have been saddened by the entire charade, but this was Feng Wu, and Feng Wu wasn’t socially adept enough to understand such subtle hints. She returned to her room after dinner.

Thunder and lightning accompanied heavy rainfall that night. Feng Wu closed her windows and drew the curtains. When Jier returned later that night, they found they had no valuable information to share. He had failed to find anyone else in the group.

A scream sounded out the next morning, followed a few minutes later by a relentless banging on Feng Wu’s door.

When Feng Wu opened it, she found Annai with a horrified look on her face. “It’s not good Zhēn! Alunde is dead!”

“Dead?!” Feng Wu’s eyes widened in surprise. Both she and Jier had guessed something big would happen soon, but neither of them expected it to happen so soon. Someone was already dead and it was only the first day.

Feng Wu and Annai went to Alunde’s room.

It was a horrible death, and from the way his remains were found, it looked like he went unwillingly and with strong grievance in his heart. In fact, his heart lay gouged out along with his severed limbs while his swollen eyeballs protruded from their sockets.

The death was horrific and had happened on her island, so Yanaimo felt her reputation was at stake. She ordered a thorough investigation regarding the matter.

No one could have foreseen that it was just the beginning. From that day onwards, someone died every day, from students to servants. It didn’t matter their status. The shadow of death loomed over the entire island.

Four students and three maids were dead by the seventh day; however, they failed to make any headway into the investigation. Because of this, the teachers decided to leave Songwei island and return to school.

Yanaimo didn’t want to remain on the island either, so on the eight day everyone agreed to leave together.

But would they really be able to leave?

They found their boat destroyed when they returned to the beach. And it wasn’t just their boat either, all the boats on the island were destroyed. That wasn’t the worse of it. From that day onwards, everyone on the island lost their abilities and reverted to being ordinary people. They were about to go crazy.[notes]

Zhēn’s strength, though never strong to begin with, completely vanished. It was just like death island, none of them could keep their abilities.

The death tally increased every day, until eventually, there was only fifty people left alive, then just as suddenly the deaths stopped. Originally, including all the servants, there had been one hundred people.

The remaining fifty were like frightened kittens who were surrounded by death’s shadow.

Jier was finally reunited with Ink, Ming Xi, and Leo, however none of them had had their genders changed. [notes]

Ming Xi was a male guard on the island; Ink was an unremarkable and thin male classmate; while Leo was probably the oldest out of all the them – he was a middle-aged servant.

Unfortunately, they couldn’t find any one else from their boat. Were the others just really good at acting and hadn’t given themselves away?

...

“Zhēn, I want to bathe. Will you come with me?” Annai stood outside Feng Wu’s door with a change of clothes in her hand and a worried expression on her face.

“OK.” Feng Wu nodded easily.

The conditions on the island were very good. Every room had its own washroom with a toilet, so the only time anyone had to leave their rooms would be to bathe in the public bath.

Yanaimo’s family had a large hot spring bathing area built for her because they knew how much she liked to bathe. It was divided into two parts: one private bathing area for Yanaimo and another public area for everyone else.

Feng Wu and Annai held their clothes as they walked into the bathing area at the back of the castle. The girls relaxed as they soaked in the hot spring.

“Zhēn, I have to use the toilet. Wait for me.” Annai climbed out of the water and put her clothes on.

Feng Wu nodded, letting the other girl know she had heard. Her eyelids were getting heavy as she soaked in the water. Eventually they were so heavy, she couldn’t keep them open.

A rope appeared from behind and snaked around her neck.

Feng Wu instantly woke up, but there was no strength in her body, so although she wanted to resist, she was unable. Breathing became more and more difficult, until eventually she lost consciousness.