Taboo Mage - Chapter 136 - The First Person Disappears

mal, often liked to jump around in the middle of the night. However, ever since we arrived at this hotel, it slept straight through till morning, not even turning over once.

Additionally, back in our home country, Du Jun was plagued by nightmares every night. Now, he wasn’t even having ordinary dreams.

At first, I thought the Master had placed something in the hotel to give people peace of mind, but until today, I finally understood.

We weren’t sleeping well; we were sleeping like the dead…

That night, I deliberately lay on the bed pretending to be asleep, while actually forcing myself to stay drowsy. Beside me, Jue Chi was even more alert.

I don’t know how long passed, just when I thought I might have been overreacting, I suddenly heard a noise outside the door. I immediately stood up from the bed and pressed my ear against the door.

The noise outside was faint, but I could still distinguish it as footsteps, like the sound of high heels.

I frowned, having stayed at this hotel for so many days, I had never seen a single woman.

Where on earth could the sound of high heels be coming from…

Jue Chi also sensed something odd and got up to stand by the door. Suddenly, the sound of high heels stopped. I held my breath; the spot where the sound disappeared was right outside our door.

“Click!”

It seemed someone was turning the doorknob. Jue Chi and I exchanged a glance, then both returned to bed, pretending to sleep soundly under the covers.

The door opened, and a yellow light streamed through the crack. I covered my mouth tightly, preventing myself from calling out. Through the gap in the covers, I saw a Woman in Red lift Liao Qing, who was lying on the sofa bed.

Yes! She lifted him!

After the woman left with Liao Qing, she closed the door, plunging the room into darkness.

I still didn’t dare to speak loudly, hiding under the blanket. I didn’t know when I actually fell asleep.

When I woke up again, it was already the next morning.

I awoke with a start and looked at the sofa bed. Liao Qing still hadn’t returned. Turning to find Jue Chi, I saw he was gone too, even the little fox was missing.

I quickly sat up, rushed to Du Jun and Chi Rui’s room next door. Du Jun, rubbing his eyes, opened the door for me and I pushed past him, asking the still groggy Chi Rui if he had seen Jue Chi.

Both of them shook their heads, asking what on earth had happened.

I recounted the events from the previous night. Chi Rui rolled his eyes at me, breathing heavily with anger, “Why didn’t you tell me about this sooner!”

“I was only suspicious. I couldn’t just say something without being sure!” I replied, exasperated as I sat on the sofa.

This time, I felt an unprecedented sense of defeat. We hadn’t even seen what the other party looked like, yet we had already lost two people.

The opposing force was much stronger than us from the start.

Chi Rui sat on the bed with a cigarette in his hand, about to speak when the door suddenly opened. I thought it was Jue Chi and turned around excitedly.

Standing at the door was Liao Qing, who had been taken away by the Woman in Red the previous night.

“You’re back? Where did you go? Did you see Jue Chi?” I hurriedly asked.

Liao Qing was full of excitement, pulling out a green cord from around his neck. “Last night, I went to see Master Taka. He gave me a Buddha amulet for love! He said that in less than half a month, I’ll find the one I’m meant to be with!”

“I’m asking about Jue Chi! Did you see him?” I shouted in frustration.

Du Jun looked at the amulet around Liao Qing’s neck, opened his mouth as if to say something, but in the end, swallowed his words.

After being yelled at by me, Liao Qing shook his head blankly, indicating that when he woke up, he was in a pitch-black room. After Master Taka handed him the amulet, he fell asleep again, and when he awoke once more, he was on the roadside by the door.

I smacked my forehead in frustration. Why did I fall asleep last night! If I hadn’t fallen asleep, Jue Chi wouldn’t have gone missing!

“Mr. Gu, there’s no need to worry too much. Master Jue Chi is so skilled; nothing bad will happen to him. Maybe he just couldn’t sleep and went out for a stroll,” Du Jun said, trying to comfort me.

I knew that worrying wouldn’t help at this point, but it was the only thing I could do to slightly ease the anxiety in my heart.

Chi Rui was the first to calm down. He carefully asked about the events of last night and if anything unusual happened when Liao Qing went to see Master Taka.

Liao Qing shook his head but still recounted the whole sequence. I made sure to remind him about the woman in the red dress.

Chi Rui nodded, “It seems that Jue Chi probably followed them out of concern for Liao Qing. As for why he hasn’t come back yet, we can’t conclude anything now. If all goes as expected, tonight the master will be looking for me. At that time, I’ll adapt to the circumstances. As long as that master doesn’t have extraordinary powers, I will definitely bring Jue Chi back to you!”

After saying that, Chi Rui smiled and patted my shoulder.

I nodded; that was the only plan we had. To help Chi Rui with his mission tonight, I gave him several warding off evil runes to place in every corner of his body.

Then, Chi Rui also took out the life amulet I made back in Shenyang and hung it around his neck. It was meant for warding off evil and protecting life.

I carefully checked all his gear, and after confirming everything was in place, I had him stay at the hotel to prepare.

That night, I followed the same routine as before, hiding under the covers. Meanwhile, Du Jun and Liao Qing decided to actually sleep to cover for us.

At exactly midnight, the woman in the red dress appeared again and took Chi Rui.

As they were leaving, I bravely lifted a corner of the blanket to sneak a peek. Chi Rui opened his eyes and winked at me before closing the door.

I couldn’t sleep all night, sitting on the bed waiting for the next morning to come.

When morning finally arrived and Du Jun and Liao Qing woke up, Chi Rui had still not returned. Their faces were full of fear. Sitting on the edge of the bed, I felt an unprecedented calmness in my heart.

I didn’t know why, but a voice inside me said, Chi Rui wouldn’t be coming back either…