Chapter 581: Gu Worm

Su Qing thanked the dorm manager and picked up the gift box from the desk.

As she held the gift box, Su Qing subconsciously sensed its contents. To her surprise, she detected a faint life force within it.

’Is there something alive in this box?’

Su Qing paused. She pursed her lips slightly, instinctively feeling a hidden danger within the gift box. If she took it back to her dorm room, her friends would probably start clamoring for her to open it, so...

"Hey, Su Qing, lights-out is in a little over an hour. Don’t be back too late," the dorm manager called out hurriedly when she saw Su Qing walking out of the dormitory building with the gift box.

"Okay, ma’am. Don’t worry, I’ll be back soon," Su Qing said to the dorm manager with a smile, then hurried back to her own courtyard house with the gift box.

Once she was home, Su Qing shut the doors and windows. She frowned at the gift box before her. With a flick of her hand, a dozen or so Vine Seeds appeared in her palm. Instantly, a dozen vines shot out and grew rapidly, tightly surrounding the gift box.

Su Qing didn’t open the gift box herself. Instead, she controlled one of the vines, making it slowly open the box.

Inside the gift box was a beautiful silk scarf. Seeing the scarf, Su Qing gave a cold smile. ’The scarf is just a decoy.’ The instant the box opened, she had felt a dozen or so faint life forces leap from the scarf and lunge straight toward her.

However, they never had a chance. The moment they lunged at Su Qing, they were firmly trapped by the vines surrounding the box, unable to move at all.

Su Qing looked closely, her eyes narrowing dangerously. They were a dozen or so tiny, transparent insects. She realized that if she couldn’t perceive their life force, if she didn’t have her Wood Ability to protect herself, she would have fallen for the trap the moment she opened the box.

If she wasn’t mistaken, these dozen or so transparent insects had to be Gu Worms.

’Someone is trying to use Gu Worms against me!’

Su Qing didn’t know who was behind this, but she was certain they were no ordinary person.

’Is it a Feng Shui Master from Xiangcheng, or an Onmyoji from Japan?’

Su Qing couldn’t guess for the moment, but...

Su Qing thought quietly. It was obvious that the jadeite from last time and the scarf from this time were sent by the same person, or the same group of people. She looked inside the gift box; besides the scarf, there was still nothing else.

’Oh, wait, there are also a dozen or so transparent insects.’

For now, Su Qing had no intention of killing the insects. She wanted to see what the other party’s goal was.

After some thought, Su Qing directed one of the vines to absorb the dozen or so transparent insects and embed them within its branches. This vine had been grown with her Wood Ability and was under her control. To a certain extent, it was like an extension of herself.

With the insects now hidden inside the vine, Su Qing would be able to sense any unusual movements.

Su Qing retracted all the other vines, leaving only the one concealing the Gu Worms. She wrapped it around her wrist. As for the gift box and the scarf inside, she disposed of them casually.

Gazing at the vine on her wrist, Su Qing’s expression grew grim. ’Just who is trying to deal with me this time?’

"Su Qing, what took you so long to get one thing? Hey, where is it?" Seeing Su Qing return, her dorm mates all started talking at once. They had been waiting for a long time, but Su Qing had come back empty-handed.

"It was a prank. Someone sent an empty box, so I just threw it away," Su Qing replied casually.

"Ah? Who would be that bored?" Liu Juan said after hearing Su Qing’s explanation.

"Who knows?" Su Qing shrugged and smiled. "It’s almost lights-out. I’m going to go wash up."

"Okay."

「In a two-courtyard house in Beijing」 Master Wen stared at a small bulge on the middle finger of his left hand. At that moment, the small bulge was wriggling gently on his fingertip, transmitting a feeling of pleasure.

"It’s a success!" Master Wen’s eyes lit up, and he let out a soft laugh. Then, he turned to look at a woman tied to a chair, shivering uncontrollably.

When the woman saw Master Wen look over, she trembled so much her voice was choppy. "P-please... please, let... let me go. I don’t want it anymore. I... I don’t want anything anymore."

The woman was, in fact, Su Mei.

At this moment, Su Mei was filled with a regret so deep it felt bottomless. If she could turn back time, she would never have come to Beijing. She would have stayed in Lihua Village. Even if her face was ruined, her parents were willing to support her, and it wasn’t as if her future was completely devoid of marriage prospects.

But now, she truly felt that she might not even make it out alive.

Su Mei now hated Brother Liu to the bone. Brother Liu had lied to her, saying he’d found someone who could treat her face. He said that although it wasn’t Mr. Gong, this person’s medical skills were still superb. And she had actually believed him so easily. She followed Brother Liu to this two-courtyard house, and then she saw the man before her. After that, she knew nothing.

When she woke up, she found herself tied to a chair, and this man was letting her blood from her arm.

And then, what did she see!

It was the most horrifying scene Su Mei had ever witnessed in her life. She saw a blood-red, rice-sized insect emerge from the tip of the man’s left middle finger. The insect was placed on the wound on her arm, and then she felt her blood draining away.

This tiny, rice-sized insect was actually sucking her blood!

Su Mei struggled and begged him to let her go, but the man before her was completely unmoved, merely watching quietly as the insect drank her blood.

Su Mei had never known, nor could she comprehend, how a rice-sized insect could drink so much blood. Where did it all go? She couldn’t figure it out, not even by the time she fainted from blood loss.

If she could, Su Mei would have wished to never wake up again.

But things didn’t go as she wished.

"Y-you, don’t come over here! Please, just don’t come over, okay?" Su Mei cried and begged.

"Heh heh, don’t be afraid." Master Wen looked at Su Mei with a smile. "I’m just using a little of your blood, that’s all. Relax, I won’t let you die."

At least, before this whole affair was over, Master Wen would keep Su Mei alive. Of course, as for the *quality* of her life, that was another matter entirely.

Su Mei shook her head, crying. "Please, don’t let the insect drink my blood again. I really can’t take it anymore."

The thought of that terrifying insect crawling on her skin and drinking her blood made goosebumps erupt all over Su Mei’s body.

"I’m afraid that’s not up to you. Who can you blame but yourself for your bad luck? To think you just had to be related by blood to *that* person."

Master Wen smiled, took out a knife, and cut open the skin on Su Mei’s arm again. Then, a red, rice-sized insect once again landed on the wound.

Su Mei felt the world spin, and she fainted once more.

Before she passed out, only one thought remained: ’Who? Who am I related to by blood?’

’Is it Su Qing?’