Chapter 160: Shadowman

After watching for a while longer, Lin Yun finally grew bored of the whole spectacle and made her way back to the sofa, deciding there really wasn’t much more to see out there.

She spent some time hauling vegetables in from the backyard and keeping herself occupied with odd little chores, and it wasn’t until all of that was finally done that she had a moment to actually sit and rest.

A glance at the time told her it was nearly ten o’clock.

"Hey, that black creature outside is still wandering around out there. Think it’s looking for that thing the cat grabbed earlier?"

Sang Biao had climbed back up onto the windowsill and spotted the creature once more.

"Probably. Don’t worry about it too much. Just be careful not to tumble off the ledge." Lin Yun gave him a couple more warnings, worried he might not be paying enough attention and end up falling.

She opened up the task center with a swipe of her finger — she hadn’t yet claimed today’s rewards.

Daily Quest: Complete 3 rounds of Whack-a-Mole (Completed)

Reward: 30 points

Daily Task: Complete and clear the Puppet Theater (Completed)

Reward: 2 random food items

[Daily Task: Watch the "Red Sleeve Pavilion" performance (Completed)]

Reward: 20 points

The random food reward turned out to be a serving of sweet and sour pork along with a serving of braised pork belly.

Lin Yun yawned. She’d originally planned to turn in early, but the thought of that black creature returning to knock at midnight again made her reconsider, and she reached instead for a book off the shelf to pass the time.

The books in her shelter had all come from a supply delivery box.

She’d almost tossed them aside without a second thought, but then reconsidered — they might come in handy someday, if only to kill time.

Beep beep beep.

Song Xizheng: "Sister Lin, something’s off. Usually at this hour it’s just the black vests around — never any of the other two colors. So why are the green vests wandering through the gardens right now?"

Song Xizheng: "Also, I swear the green vests and that black creature both seem to be searching for something specific?"

Green vests?

Lin Yun replied, "Hold on, let me go take a look."

She got up quickly and walked over to the window. "Sang Biao, did you notice anything else out there?"

"Nope. Just that black thing pacing around like always." Sang Biao yawned; it had been sprawled there watching for what felt like ages.

The creature never seemed to tire — it kept wandering endlessly, to the point that even the cat had grown bored of watching it by now.

Sang Biao glanced around idly and suddenly caught a flicker of green darting behind one of the mushroom houses.

"There! Right there!"

Sang Biao sat up fast, worried Lin Yun might have missed it, and pointed sharply with one paw toward the exact spot.

Lin Yun followed the direction of his paw and looked over — sure enough, there was a small figure in a green vest, tucked away in the shadows near the wall.

"Shadowman, have you found it yet?"

The black creature paused in front of the green vest, gave a small shake of its head in response to the question.

Not found.

Under normal circumstances, scent alone would have been enough to track it down — but the storm had rolled in so suddenly and so heavily that every trace of the scent had been completely washed away, leaving it with nothing to follow.

The little green vest looked distinctly uneasy at the news, shifting his weight from foot to foot. If they failed to recover the item, there was no telling how badly their little master’s temper might flare once word got back to him.

The black creature stared back at the green vest, utterly unimpressed by the excuse. It was clearly their own carelessness that had let the item go missing in the first place — and yet somehow it, one of the Shadowmen, had been the one dragged out into the storm to clean up after them.

What a nuisance, honestly.

There was still other work waiting to be done later.

It let out a silent sigh, stepped past the green vest, and pressed on with its search regardless.

It had already passed through this same stretch of ground more times than it could count by now — surely there couldn’t possibly be any corner left unchecked at this point. So why, then, hadn’t it managed to turn up anything at all?

The little green vest watched the creature move off, muttered a curse under his breath, and went back to searching elsewhere on his own.

"Shadowman"?

Lin Yun rubbed her chin thoughtfully. Was that its actual name, or simply the name of its species?

She hadn’t bothered checking its stats earlier, worried that doing so might somehow draw the creature toward her door for another round of knocking. Better to wait and check once it moved further off.

By now, the black creature had drifted around behind a nearby mushroom house and slipped out of sight entirely.

After a short wait, it reappeared, passing right by Lin Yun’s window once more.

[Shadowman: Cannot survive under direct sunlight; typically appears only on rainy days or at night. Has no mouth and cannot speak. Moves slowly. Its claws carry a mild toxin capable of paralyzing targets for roughly two minutes. Aggression level: moderate.]

Well, that’s manageable enough, at least.

After passing the information along to Song Xizheng, Lin Yun settled back into her book to pass the rest of the evening.

At midnight, right on schedule, the knocking at her door began again.

It arrived at her doorstep not long after and started up its usual rhythm.

This time, though, it lingered noticeably longer than usual at her door — a full half hour spent standing right outside before it finally moved on, apparently satisfied enough to leave the mushroom house alone for the moment.

Lin Yun had already drifted back off to sleep by then, only to be jolted awake once more by fresh knocking sometime around two or three in the morning.

The black creature had started right back up.

She dragged a tired hand through her hair, groaning quietly under her breath. Hadn’t things gone quiet again around one o’clock, just a short while ago? So why on earth had it started right back up now?

She dug out two more wads of cotton, stuffed them firmly into both ears, and lay back down on the bed once more, determined to try for sleep a second time.

Some indeterminate stretch of time later, Sang Biao and Tuan Tuan both stirred groggily awake, roused unwillingly from whatever sleep they’d managed to find. Ugh, is that thing seriously still knocking away out there? Can’t a cat get any decent rest around this place anymore?

The two of them squeezed in close on either side of Lin Yun, pressing their paws firmly over their own ears in quiet, put-upon protest.

...

"Still no luck finding it?"

A hoarse voice cut through the air from the stone chair up ahead.

"Not yet." Linglan lowered her head and answered honestly, without hesitation.

The moment she finished speaking, the stone chair before them began to slowly rotate, turning fully to face Linglan and the others gathered there.

The man in black robes seated upon it held a massive black scythe in one hand, while his other hand came down hard against the armrest of the chair.

"What a bunch of useless trash! You can’t even manage to find one measly thing!"

"Don’t you dare stop until it’s found! Take full advantage of this storm — with the garden already emptied of onlookers, search every last inch of it as quickly as possible. It absolutely must be found, and I’ll accept no excuses on the matter."

"As for those guards — drag them off and feed them to the haunted house, or better yet, the puppet theater."

Lily of the Valley bowed her head low and offered a soft, obedient "yes."

Just as the group turned to leave and resume their search, the black-robed man suddenly spoke up again, calling for her to remain behind.

Linglan felt a flicker of nervousness settle over her, wondering why he’d chosen to single her out from the rest.

"Lily of the Valley, I’ve heard you’ve been growing rather close to a few tourists lately?"

She startled slightly at that, then nodded. "Master, you already know how fond Lily of the Valley is of flowers."

The man in black let out a scoffing laugh. "Flowers? This entire world already belongs to us. There isn’t a single flower we couldn’t have for the taking."

"It’s been two years now, Lily of the Valley. You remain my most dependable blade. Don’t disappoint me."

"Yes, Master."

Lily of the Valley lowered her eyes, her expression carefully blank.

"You may go."

Linglan said nothing more and quietly withdrew.

Once they were both safely outside, Rose hurried over and pulled Lily of the Valley aside, whispering, "Did the little master give you a hard time in there?"

Linglan shook her head. "No, he just asked me a few questions, that’s all."

"Oh, good. I really thought he was about to punish you for something." Rose pouted slightly. "Sister Lily of the Valley, should we head back now?"

"You go on ahead. I still need to take those people over to the haunted house first."

"All right. Try to get some rest once you’re done, okay?"