Supernatural World Chapter 22: Impasse

Translated by Vivian of Exiled Rebels Scanlations

Editor: Addis

 

No, this wasn’t real.

This wasn’t real!

Ding Xue trembled as she looked blankly at her mother’s body. She was dazed, and then suddenly looked up with red eyes at the people at the top of the staircase.

Mrs. Qi’s frail body was leaning against Qi Zhen, and she looked shocked. Qi Zhen’s expression was complicated as he looked at Ding Xue.

Both sides were silent.

The next moment, Ding Xue suddenly rushed up the stairs and grabbed and pulled at Qi Zhen, crying, “You did it on purpose, you did it on purpose, right? You purposely pushed her, you wanted to kill her!” Ding Xue then looked at Mrs. Qi and shouted hoarsely, “And you, you’ve wanted to kill her right from the start, you hypocritical bitch!”

Qi Zhen’s expression changed drastically and he hissed angrily, “You’re crazy, I didn’t do it on purpose. She was clearly trying to hurt my mom, so I came here to stop her, I, I didn’t do it on purpose…”

Ding Xue cackled madly. “You didn’t do it on purpose? Hahaha then why don’t you die, if I kill you then I can also say it wasn’t on purpose, right?”

Finch, Cesar, and Chen Jia heard the commotion and rushed inside. Chen Jia’s gaze landed on Ding Rong’s body, and his expression changed drastically. He hastily ran upstairs and hugged Ding Xue, not even bothering to hide their relationship anymore as he asked anxiously, “What happened?”

But Ding Xue could only sob.

Chen Jia looked at Qi Zhen.

Qi Zhen’s expression was a little unnatural, and he was silent for a moment before explaining, “Ding Rong was holding a knife and wanted to hurt my mom, so I came up here to stop her, and I accidentally pushed her…”

Although Ding Rong had made the first move, accidentally killing her put Qi Zhen in a very tough spot; this wasn’t what he had wanted.

Chen Jia didn’t understand. “But why would Aunt Ding want to…” kill Mrs. Qi?

Finch was also curious about this.

Ding Xue glared at Mrs. Qi and Qi Zhen resentfully. If it weren’t for Chen Jia pulling her back, she probably would’ve perished with them.

Mrs. Qi finally spoke. She still looked pale and frail, and she looked at the body downstairs. Her expression had hints of pity and sorrow in it as she said softly, “I might know why.”

Ding Xue suddenly looked up.

Mrs. Qi smiled bitterly in self-ridicule, and she covered her mouth as she coughed lightly. “Because she thought that I killed my husband, and she thought that I wouldn’t tolerate her, but… she really thought too much. So many years have gone by, and she’s not the first, nor is she the last; I’ve seen through it a long time ago already. Nowadays, I’m in poor health, and I only want to take care of my son as he grows up, how can I care about her…”

Mrs. Qi was speaking in euphemisms, and although she didn’t say anything directly, everyone understood at once, especially Ding Xue. When she heard Mrs. Qi’s indifferent and contemptful tone, she looked a little humiliated and bit her lip.

Mrs. Qi’s gaze swept across everyone as she said, “You all guessed right, Ding Rong and my husband had an improper relationship. I’ve always known this, and I have acquiesced in it. But she might’ve thought too much and thought that I wouldn’t tolerate her, so that’s why she would do this after my husband died…”

Ding Xue was so angry she nearly started crying again. “You slanderer! My mom wouldn’t do that, you must’ve wanted to kill her!”

Mrs. Qi looked at her in pity and didn’t say anything, but her expression seemed to say, Look, that’s just how it is. I don’t want to fight with anyone, but everyone always thinks that I won’t let things go.

Ding Xue was angry, embarrassed, and resentful, and she couldn’t wait to tear apart Mrs Qi’s indifferent face.

Chen Jia hastily held back Ding Xue. He didn’t suspect Mrs. Qi, because evidence of her words was in the knife that Ding Rong was holding. Ding Rong was undoubtedly the person who had tried to attack first, so Mrs. Qi definitely wasn’t lying.

Chen Jia said in a low voice, “Stop it.”

When Ding Xue heard this, she looked at Chen Jia in disappointment and sadness; she couldn’t believe that Chen Jia wasn’t on her side!

They all humiliated, bullied, and looked down at her!

Ding Xue suddenly waved off Chen Jia’s hand and shouted, “Get lost!” Then, she hugged her mother’s body and sobbed quietly.

Chen Jia stood where he was and looked embarrassed.

In the end, Finch couldn’t watch any longer, and he and the others helped Ding Xue clean up Ding Rong’s body and place it to the side. Ding Xue was silent the entire time.

Ling Bai was also watching all of this, and since it wasn’t convenient for Qi Zhen to come over because he didn’t want to provoke Ding Xue, Ling Bai went over to help move the body. Then, he said in a low voice to Finch, “Actually, Qi Zhen told me before that he wanted to leave this home a long time ago.”

Finch was stunned and said, “He knew about it?”

Ling Bai shook his head and smiled bitterly. “Maybe he did, or maybe he didn’t. But so what if he knew? You also heard what Mrs. Qi said, they’ve already become numb to it. Qi Zhen and I planned to study abroad, and we were going to leave tomorrow, but it appears that we won’t be able to now.”

Finch’s expression was a little complicated.

It seemed that life for rich families wasn’t easy either.

After saying this, Ling Bai left. He was staying in the room next to Qi Zhen’s.

Finch didn’t want to stay in the same room as the bodies, but he couldn’t leave either, so he decided to go upstairs and rest. He looked at Cesar and said tentatively, “Let’s go back too?”

After all, Finch was quite cowardly, and staying in a room by himself was very scary in a situation like this…

He didn’t want to be any more than three meters away from Cesar at all times!

Cesar nodded.

The two of them went back upstairs.

Finch didn’t know if it was because of the deaths, but the room felt dark and eerie. Everyone here seemed to have secrets, and there seemed to be something off about everyone…

In the corridor on the second floor, the carpet was dark red, and there was a large painting hanging on the wall. Finch looked at it casually and realized that the eerie oil painting looked a little familiar, it seemed to be from Van Gogh’s Sunflowers… 

It usually looked normal, but now, as Finch looked at the gloomy colors of the withered flowers in the painting, a chill inexplicably ran down his spine.

Finch wanted to leave quickly, but he saw that Cesar was standing there and looking at the painting thoughtfully. Finch wondered if there was really something off about the painting, so he went back and looked at it too.

Finch asked, “Is there something wrong with this painting?”

Cesar was silent for a moment before suddenly turning around and smiling faintly. “Mn, it’s fake.”

Finch was speechless.

Cesar said, “Let’s go back.”

Finch thought, So you stood there and looked with so much concentration for so long just to judge if it’s authentic or not? What a good mindset to be in!

That night, Finch occupied the spot closer to the wall on the bed again, and after Cesar laid down next to him, his mind couldn’t help but wander. He asked, “Say, is the ghost hiding among them?”

After all, Finch had already gone through the events on the cruise ship, so he was mentally prepared. At the time, Ceci was a ghost, and he hadn’t been aware of it at all, so was the ghost hiding among them, or did it pretend to die? Anything was possible!

Mrs. Qi had a motive for the murder, and Ding Rong had the opportunity. It seemed to all make sense… but at the same time, nothing made sense…

Finch racked his brains, but he couldn’t figure out which person could be a ghost, they all seemed pretty normal…

Cesar said, “It might not be a ghost.”

Finch said in surprise, “Could it be that it was really a person who committed the murder? But we’re trapped here and we can’t leave, so a supernatural event like this can’t be caused by a person.”

Cesar smirked and glanced at Finch. “Anything can happen here, so don’t overthink it. We’ll know in due time.”

Finch was silent.

Cesar said, “We’re trapped here either way, and none of us can leave, so what’s the difference if it was a person or a ghost?”

Finch was speechless. This really was something only the expert could say!

That night, Finch semi-consciously pretended to be asleep as he moved towards Cesar’s side. He moved his arm closer to his and felt Cesar’s warmth, and sleep slowly began to overtake him…

Suddenly, a cry for help sounded from outside!

Finch had accumulated a small bit of sleepiness with great difficulty, but all of it had been frightened away by this. He immediately sat up in the bed!

Upon hearing the voice, Finch dreaded that someone was going to die.

He and Cesar rushed out of the room together and saw that in the room across from theirs, Ding Xue had run out, still wearing pajamas. Her arm was covered in blood and seemed to have been slashed by a sharp weapon. Her face was pale and contorted in fear.

Because of the commotion, everyone was startled awake and had come out.

Ding Xue’s hair was disheveled, and when she saw Qi Zhen, she was suddenly scared and backed away, screaming, “Don’t come over here!”

Qi Zhen looked perplexed and didn’t understand why Ding Xue would say that.

Cesar said, “Who hurt you, did you see them?”

Ding Xue looked at Qi Zhen in fear and said, “It was him. I was by myself in my room, and I suddenly heard someone knock on the door. When I opened the door, it was him, and he tried to kill me! I ran away quickly, and when he heard me scream, he escaped out the window.”

For a while, everyone looked at Qi Zhen in alertness and suspicion.

Qi Zhen froze, and then his handsome face contorted in anger. “I didn’t do it. You can’t frame me just because I accidentally injured your mother!”

However, Ding Xue didn’t seem like she was lying, and she glared at him. “I didn’t see it wrong, it was you!”

Ling Bai stepped forward and grabbed Qi Zhen before saying to everyone, “It can’t have been Qi Zhen. Just then, he was in my room the entire time, and I was with him the entire time. How could he have ran to Ding Xue’s room to hurt her?”

Mrs. Qi looked at Ding Xue coldly, as she also felt that Ding Xue was framing Qi Zhen.

Chen Jia hesitated and stepped forward. “Little Xue, are you sure you saw it clearly? If Qi Zhen came out from Ling Bai’s and escaped through your window, then it would be really hard for him to return to such a faraway room in such a short time.”

Ding Xue looked at him, then at Mrs. Qi’s cold gaze, then at Ling Bai, and so on… Suddenly, she laughed bitterly. “None of you believe me! I’m sure that I didn’t see it wrong, it was him!”

Qi Zhen had somewhat calmed down, and his handsome face had a hint of derision as he said, “Is that so? Then what evidence do you have that it was me, or… in order to frame me, you purposely hurt yourself? That’s also possible.”

Ding Xue was exasperated, and her lips trembled.

For a while, both sides refused to give in and were at an impasse.

Finch was also a little confused.

Amid the awkward silence, someone suddenly laughed lightly, and everyone looked towards the source of the sound. Cesar looked up with his deep, black eyes, and smirked. “I know.”