Chapter 583: Who Is It?

"Qingqing..." Li Huan grew even more panicked. She looked helplessly from the woman tied to the chair to Su Qing, a strange dread creeping through her.

"Cousin, come with me." Su Qing hurried to the refrigerator, grabbing some pre-made snacks and fruit. She packed them up and handed them to Li Huan before leading her to the storage room. The room was mostly used for tools and other miscellaneous items, so it only had a layer of linoleum laid over the dirt floor.

Su Qing moved some junk out of the way, lifted a corner of the linoleum, and scraped at the dirt beneath it a few times, revealing a wooden panel. She then lifted the panel and said to the stunned Li Huan, "Cousin, you stay here for now. Wait for me to come back for you."

"Wait, Qingqing, since when did our storage room have a cellar?" Li Huan’s face was a mask of confusion; she had no memory of it whatsoever.

Su Qing pursed her lips slightly. ’I dug this cellar myself later, just as a precaution. I never thought it would actually come in handy.’

"Cousin, don’t worry about that now. Just get inside," Su Qing urged.

"Okay, alright." Li Huan nodded out of habit, then anxiously grabbed Su Qing’s hand. "Qingqing, what in the world is going on? And my dad... did something happen to him, too?"

Li Huan was panicking. Just a moment ago, when Su Qing called Li Fenghuo, the call had been cut off before she could even finish a sentence. Li Huan knew something was wrong, but she didn’t know what, and the unknown was the most terrifying thing of all. By now, her mind had already conjured countless horrible possibilities.

"Don’t worry, Uncle will be fine." The abrupt end to the call had given Su Qing an idea of what was happening, but she didn’t want to frighten Li Huan. She only instructed, "Just stay here in the cellar for now. Rest assured, you’ll be perfectly safe."

"Okay... Then... then you have to be careful." Li Huan knew that worrying wouldn’t help; she was ultimately powerless. For now, the best she could do was protect herself and not get in Su Qing’s way.

With that, Li Huan hugged Su Qing and resolutely climbed into the cellar.

Su Qing gave Li Huan a few more words of instruction before closing the wooden panel, piling the junk back on top to hide any trace of it. Only then did she return to the main room.

Back in the main room, the young woman was still unconscious. Su Qing sighed softly, carried her to a bed in one of the side rooms, and then left the courtyard.

Su Qing followed the direction indicated by her vine.

Rage burned in Su Qing’s eyes. ’This person has completely crossed the line. No matter who they are, I won’t let them off easy.’

The vine’s guidance led Su Qing to the gate of a house with a double courtyard.

As she neared the area, Su Qing had already activated her superpower, scanning every location within her range. Eventually, in a room in a nearby courtyard, she found the unconscious forms of Li Fenghuo and Li Wan.

And aside from Li Fenghuo and Li Wan, in the very courtyard Su Qing was about to enter, she was surprised to find Su Mei. Su Mei was clearly in bad shape—her face was deathly pale, her lips were colorless, and she clearly looked as if she’d lost a great deal of blood.

Su Qing glanced at the vine on her wrist, her eyes glinting. ’Looks like Su Mei has served some purpose for them after all.’

Good. Very good.

Fury burned inside Su Qing. She discreetly commanded the surrounding plants to form a protective barrier around Li Fenghuo and Li Wan, and only then did she knock on the courtyard gate.

The one who opened the gate was a blond-haired punk in his teens. He opened it, looked Su Qing up and down, and gave her a lecherous grin. "Come on in."

Su Qing shot the punk a cold glare and stepped into the courtyard.

The blond punk, angered that Su Qing had dared to glare at him, was about to start cursing. But then he remembered his boss’s important business, so he just snorted heavily, slammed the gate shut, and said gruffly, "Follow me."

Su Qing said nothing, simply following the blond punk toward the main room. ’Thanks to this sudden turn of events, I know they’ve likely discovered I’m not infected with the Gu Worm, so there’s no longer any point in pretending. Since they’ve captured my uncle and mother, they must have a follow-up plan. I’ll just have to see what it is they want... and who exactly is targeting me.’

In the center of the main room sat a man in his sixties, with another man in his thirties seated in a subordinate position nearby. Several other people stood around them, clearly henchmen.

Although Su Qing had already seen these two men’s faces with her power before entering the courtyard, she was certain she didn’t recognize either of them.

Su Qing walked into the main room with a stony expression. She didn’t say a word, her gaze fixed coldly on the two men.

The man in the subordinate seat frowned at Su Qing, a bone-deep hatred suddenly flaring in his eyes. The animosity was so intense that Su Qing couldn’t help but meet it with a cold stare of her own.

Seeing her look his way, the man startled, shot to his feet, and gritted out, "You’re not infected with the Gu Worm?"

"Indeed, she is not." The speaker was the old man in the center of the room. He sized Su Qing up, his eyes narrowed. "You’re Su Qing? You’re no Feng Shui Master. What are you?"

"You’re the one who surprised me. A Feng Shui Master who uses things like Gu Worms," Su Qing said coldly. "Do you Feng Shui Masters learn your craft just to harm people with it?"

"Heh, listen to the little girl questioning me." The old man glanced at the vine on Su Qing’s hand and said calmly, "You’ve hidden all my Gu Worms in that vine of yours, haven’t you? I’m rather curious what method you used to trick even my Mother Gu. My, my, I was almost completely fooled by a little girl. If I hadn’t received a tip, I’m afraid I would have been outmaneuvered today."

This old man was none other than Master Wen, and the man beside him was Brother Liu.

Master Wen knew Su Qing had some skill to have tricked his Mother Gu, but he wasn’t afraid. This was his territory, and he called the shots. No matter how capable the little girl was, she couldn’t escape his grasp. Besides, he still had hostages.

"You received a tip? You’re certainly well-informed," Su Qing scoffed, though inwardly she was puzzled.

’This was the one thing Su Qing couldn’t figure out. For the past week, she hadn’t found Gu Worms on anyone close to her, nor had she detected any unfamiliar auras or faces in the vicinity. So how did this man know she wasn’t infected? The vine was essentially an extension of her own body. Someone must have tipped him off; there was no other way he could have known.’

’Unfortunately, unlike in the apocalyptic world, the plants here couldn’t develop sentience and communicate with her. And for the Gu Worms hidden in the vine to feel the pull of the Mother Gu—a pull she simultaneously needed to be aware of—the vine had to be placed right over her pulse.’

’And the only people who knew she wore the vine on her wrist were those closest to her. Who had betrayed her to this old man?’