Imperial Treasure

Chapter 516 - 340: Back in the Day

"Many years ago, Fuan was quite bustling, with so many children in the orphanage... Because the orphanage was so beautiful, we children from outside would sometimes envy those living inside... Look, over there was their playroom, that side was the dining hall, over there was where they slept, and that’s where the directors and other orphanage staff stayed... If it hadn’t burned down.." Liew Yuan’s tone was somewhat wistful,

The orphanage’s architecture had already fallen into disrepair, having been ravaged by a great fire, bearing traces of flames everywhere. Some parts were tattered beyond recognition, others pitch black; the ground was covered in many patches of black ash that, over the years, seemed to have settled heavily and stubbornly clung to the place...

If someone thought too much, they could imagine all sorts of horrific things from such filth...

Liew Yuan and Ah Guna walked behind, whereas Sui Yi, a fragile woman, walked ahead. Sometimes, he glanced at the sword she had strapped to her waist.

With her movement, the sword sheath swayed back and forth...

This girl was strange. In such a place, if it were an adventure, wouldn’t you choose or hesitate about which way to go? But she seemed to have a clear purpose right from the start, entering this building, walking through the corridors, walking through the verandas—as if... as if she had been here before.

Snap!

Suddenly, a noise, and a dark shadow flashed in front of the three of them!

"Ah!" Liew Yuan gave a start, almost unable to hold onto the flashlight in his hand...

However, the shadow stopped atop the railing right in front of Sui Yi—a creature covered in black fur, holding something in its paws and gnawing on it, its eyes fixing on them, spectral yet wary...

Fur... a black cat.

"Heh heh, and I thought it was something else, just a black cat~~" Liew Yuan laughed awkwardly, stepping forward to shoo the black cat away, when suddenly Ah Guna blocked him with a hand.

"Don’t go over there."

"Why not?"

"That cat is strange; what it’s clutching in its mouth..."

Before Ah Guna could finish, Liew Yuan had already seen it—the black cat had bitten through the object...

It spat something at them, hitting Liew Yuan squarely. He caught it frantically and saw that it seemed to be... an eyeball.

Whoosh! Liew Yuan’s face went pale as he dropped the half an eyeball from his hand.

The black cat had already let out a triumphant, demonic yowl as if gloating, then with one swift leap disappeared into the wild underbrush, vanishing from sight.

Sui Yi looked at the half an eyeball on the ground, glanced at it just once, and asked Liew Yuan, "Do you want to go back?"

The question seemed to imply... are you scared?

Liew Yuan swallowed hard, "I... no... I’m not going back. This eyeball, it might belong to some... creature."

"It’s human, one hundred percent," Sui Yi said nonchalantly.

Liew Yuan: "..."

Can’t you just lie to me for once?

"Then I definitely can’t leave. There’s been a murder here; we need to figure it out and then report to the police," he said as if he had bitten his tongue.

Sui Yi glanced at him, "Suit yourself."

Then she took the lead, walking toward the broken door the black cat had darted through. The door was slightly ajar, just wide enough for the petite black cat to come and go, and now, she stretched out her hand, a hand so pale and delicate it could be called a work of art, and placed it on the dirty, decrepit door, slowly pushing it open...

The creaking sound elongated, drifting off into the twilight atmosphere...

It seemed as if it had opened up another world.

The door stopped, and there it was: a solitary world. The walls still faintly bore the colorful artwork of children’s paintings, and the floor was scattered with toys...

These toys and paintings were so out of place amidst the ruin, especially since... Sui Yi’s nose wrinkled slightly, Ah Guna had already gone in and was looking around. He suddenly grabbed the door.

Crack!

The entire door came off in his hand, revealing behind it... a hung corpse.

The body’s face was indiscernible, the flesh mangled; blood had run down the walls, dripping from the shoes onto the floor, forming a dark, coagulated pool of blood.

"One meter seventy-five, male, very young, a youth," Ah Guna commented indifferently, looking towards Sui Yi. "Dead for about a month, but the body was treated with some preservatives. It hasn’t decomposed significantly, and the smell of decay is masked. It’s just that cats or rats have been gnawing, spreading the scent of blood."

Such a clear report made Liew Yuan’s complexion turn even whiter, "Who is this young man? Is there a murderer around here killing people?"

He decidedly avoided mentioning anything supernatural.

Sui Yi did not bring it up either, "Surely, this place is an ideal spot for murder... No one comes to check, and even if someone dies here, there are plenty of excuses to cover it up..."

She looked at the hung corpse, then turned her face to scan the room, murmuring,

"Nothing here has changed at all."

What?

Liew Yuan was taken aback.

"Miss Sui, did... did you come here before?" He finally managed to ask.

Sui Yi did not respond to him, but Liew Yuan looked down, his voice somewhat hoarse as he said, "This place is where those orphans lived, my father... was a security guard back then. But he was good at cooking and sometimes helped in the kitchen when it was busy. I also came here with him when I was a child... The small kitchen is at the end of the corridor past this door. I think my father must have been helping out in the small kitchen, and then..."

He clearly wanted to take another look at the small kitchen. Sui Yi turned her head, "Go and have a look."

"Okay, I’ll take you there," Liew Yuan moved forward.

Sui Yi’s eyes glanced at some marks on the ground.

Then she turned her face.

And followed behind Liew Yuan.

The small kitchen was still there, the door slightly ajar. Liew Yuan carefully pushed the door open; it was covered in dust inside. Any food had long since rotted away, leaving only dusty or rusty utensils. These utensils were all from over a decade ago and not the same as those used today.

Liew Yuan walked in... turned around, and said to Sui Yi, "I have a very clear memory of this place... Miss Sui, you know for sure you’ve been here too. Do you know how many people have died here?"

The kitchen window was closing with the twilight, dimming the room and casting the young man’s silhouette in a faint, blurred outline.

His eyes were so sorrowful, so hopeless; it was as if he had never been able to walk out of that confusion for many years.

The people closest to him had died in this place.

Sui Yi said, "I have a very clear memory too... Perhaps I should tell you that there wasn’t only your father who left from here, but also me."

The young man’s expression hardened.

Sui Yi continued to say, "Since I could remember, I lived in this orphanage. The sky I could see was only so big, the people I could know were only so many. Beyond this world, there was nothing else. I did not know my own name, where I came from, or where I was going. But maybe because everyone here was similar to me, I didn’t feel life was too hard, until that day came."

"So Miss Sui was so pitiable... An orphan~~ I had thought that with your shimmering appearance of today, you had a happy past as well. Turns out you have had such pitiful times too~~ But you probably don’t have the strength to yearn for those days you didn’t quite enjoy anymore..." Liew Yuan said softly, in a tone filled with sorrow or perhaps sympathy.

Sui Yi frowned, her body weak as she leaned slowly against the wall—she had been drugged.

Her already delicate brow became more feeble; she took a breath and said, "That fire consumed everything, erased many traces... many died, but only three people survived, one Liew Kai, and you and me."

Sui Yi, speaking softly, looked at him as if conversing across the air, "Liew Yuan, the young man who died outside was the real Liew Yuan, Liew Kai’s son, wasn’t he? You killed him and deliberately lured me here... and you... are you called Zhuang Ziliu? I don’t quite remember the people from back then."

Liew Yuan, no, it should be said Zhuang Ziliu, chuckled lightly, his palm grasping his face, pulling off a Human Skin Mask, revealing his handsome and refined face: "I didn’t expect you would still remember me; it makes me quite happy. I thought you had truly forgotten me..."

He approached, his gaze tender, his steps elegant.

Drawing near, he said, "Back then, you went mad with demon qi and killed all our companions mercilessly... including my sister, who was left without a whole corpse! You even set fire to destroy everything. Don’t you remember anything at all these years? I’m really envious of your strange memory... Every evil deed seems to have nothing to do with you, leaving only the beautiful and peerless face you have today... the face like the one you have now. When I was a child, why did I ever think you were like an angel, when clearly, you are a demon... If it weren’t for my luck in surviving death, I too would be dead by now..."

His expression finally twisted, those eyes devilish, bloodshot and fierce as if longing to strangle Sui Yi, yet also somewhat dazed, as if wavering indecisively between ice and fire.

Yet he did not move to touch her, as if disdaining to lay a hand on her, or perhaps mockingly watching his prey struggling to death in the trap he’d set...

"Back then..." Sui Yi closed her eyes, her breath shallow, in some pain, but finally closed her eyes, "I indeed killed your sister."

"You think I need your confession? It was always you, always you..." Liew Yuan grasped Sui Yi’s throat, looking at the perfect face that could enchant men across the world, wishing he could devour her flesh and gnaw her bones!

But Ah Guna’s arrow was already aimed at his brow.

Or rather, it had been aimed since before.

Sui Yi, who had closed her eyes, now opened them, her gaze misty, swirling, yet finally bright.

"Zhuang Ziliu, killing Xiao Zhuang was indeed a killing done by my hands, yet it’s not your turn to kill me."

Zhuang Ziliu didn’t move, simply revealing a smile, "You really weren’t poisoned... I said so, since you knew early on who I was, how could you have easily drunk the water... Right, you even brought a man with quite impressive strength... a Guardian Knight, huh~~ hehe~"

He slowly let go of his hold.

As if ready to surrender.

But his smile was so demonically charming, yet so tender to the extreme.

"But Sui Yi, you are still like when you were young, too easily trustful..."

Whoosh!

Ah Guna released his finger, and the arrow on the bow had already shot out.

Aimed at...

The back of Sui Yi’s head! (To be continued. If you like this work, you are welcome to vote for it at Qidian (qidian.com). Your support is my greatest motivation. Mobile users, please go to m.qidian.com to read.)