Chapter 97: The Haunted House 30

She was certain that this place was by no means Aiji’s domain of obsession. As for the notion that it was born from Aiji’s unwillingness to accept death, she found that even harder to believe.

If Aiji harbored any resentment, they would all have been subjected to attacks of varying severity. Yet, as it stood, all the casualties were merely a result of their own infighting.

However, Aiji, the Precious Princess, and that recurring scene of the great fire appeared here with unsettling frequency. Everything pointed toward the Precious Princess. That colorless, stick-figure creature was perhaps how she perceived Aiji.

Of course, this was merely her conjecture. The only one capable of revealing the truth was Qianji, who had been reborn here through the power of this obsession-fueled domain.

"So what if it is that dog’s obsession? What does it matter if you know?" Qianji sneered. He had understood everything the moment he entered this place. The idea that a dog could have an obsession was simply laughable.

"I will not let this space vanish, and I will not vanish myself! I will live forever! I can live on forever, even without any of you!"

The more he spoke, the more unwanted memories surfaced—his mother’s coldness, his father’s indifference, and the image of his grandmother whispering poison into his ears. These scenes played out one by one, souring his mood further. "I don’t need anyone! I just need to live well! I will live better than any of you!"

He took an offensive stance, and the spectral shadows of his grandmother and Hu Nian loomed behind him, growing increasingly grotesque.

Beside them, Qingnian tugged at Su Man’s sleeve in a panic. What were they to do? Should they run? As the primary culprit, his greatest fear was that Qianji would take his frustration out on him. Atonement was one thing, but death was another; he wasn't ready to die yet.

Su Man shook him off, too indifferent to care. She looked at Qianji and said calmly, "If you can live so well on your own, why is your mother present in your obsession? What do you need her for?"

"Do you hate her?"

Su Man fired off questions like a barrage. "Shall I kill her for you, then?" She gestured toward her dagger. "The manifestations within an obsession can be killed with a single strike."

"You wouldn't dare!" Qianji shouted, his reaction instantaneous, bypassing any rational thought. His face twisted into an awkward, pained expression. "She is my mother! If anyone is to deal with her, it will be me! It’s not your place!"

Su Man had long since seen through his facade. Perhaps Qianji, as the one caught in the middle, had not yet parsed his own emotions, his subconscious merely lashing out to stop her. But to Su Man, an outsider, the truth was crystal clear: he was a person with a twisted personality born of a lack of love—repulsing affection with his words while longing for it desperately in his heart.

He wanted to play the fool for a lifetime, but Su Man had no patience for such a charade. She would simply have to give him a nudge.

"No matter how pretty your words are, you won't actually do it. Let me help you." Su Man darted forward like a nimble cat, effortlessly dragging the bewildered mother of Qianji toward them.

Upon seeing Qianji, his mother seemed to trigger like a machine, screaming, "You should never have been born! I never loved you! I wish you were dead!"

Before she could finish, Su Man plunged her dagger into the woman's heart without a moment's hesitation. She looked at Qianji and said, "Don't thank me. I’ve taken care of such a wicked mother for you. Now, you’ll never have to deal with a mother like that again."

Rongrong covered her mouth in horror. She couldn't find the words to describe Su Man; what she had done seemed logically sound, yet it felt fundamentally wrong. How could she simply kill Qianji’s mother?

Qianji, meanwhile, descended into a state of total collapse, shrieking as if he had lost his mind. "You killed her! You killed her! You actually killed her! How dare you?"

He looked possessed, blood-red tears streaming down his face as he fell to his knees, howling hysterically, "Mother! Mother!!"

"I will make you pay! I will make you all pay!!"

His body began to swell, as if he were a balloon on the verge of bursting. Rongrong and Qingnian were terrified, but Su Man watched him with unwavering calm.

She even spoke with continued bluntness. "Didn't you say you could live well on your own? Didn't you say you didn't need anyone? I only killed someone you claimed you didn't need—why have you gone mad?"

"Who said I didn't need her? That was my mother!! She was my mother!" The lies he had used to mask his vulnerability were now stripped bare. "Do you know how much I wanted a mother? What do you know? You’ve severed the very last shred of my hope!"

"You are a devil! You belong in hell!"

Qianji trembled, his emotions pushed to the absolute limit. He was ready to drag them all down with him! She had killed the mother he wanted most!

"No one ever loved me. I should have realized that long ago. Someone as unlovable as me was destined to die anyway. Now, forcing me to watch my mother die before my eyes... this is your revenge on me..." He muttered, his gaze losing focus. Perhaps sensing his impending death, he suddenly recalled his mother from long ago, back when her temperament hadn't shifted. She had been so gentle then, so kind to him. He missed that version of her so dearly.

"That's not true!" A shout pulled him back to reality. He looked up to see Rongrong, his convenient sister. Why was she looking at him with such fury?

"It isn't that no one loves you. At the very least, Father truly loves you!" Rongrong felt a pang of bitterness as she watched the figure behind Qianji grow increasingly translucent. "I’m telling you, Father loves you sincerely. He cherished you like his own child—he treated you even better than he did me, his biological daughter. Before you say such things, have you checked your own conscience?"

"That’s not it! Don’t think I don’t know—everything he did for me was just to atone for his guilt!"

Qianji denied her vehemently. "There’s a reason for his kindness! He doesn't truly love me! If he knew I wasn't Jinghua’s child, and if he knew I was the one who caused his guilt..."

*Slap!* The sound of a sharp strike cut through Qianji’s madness.

Before him stood Rongrong, her face etched with profound disappointment. "You’ve gone too far..."

Her eyes were red. "Don't make excuses for Father's love. If he were only acting out of atonement, he could have easily given you up for adoption. There was no need to keep you by his side."

But her words brought Qianji no repentance; they only incited him further. "He is only your father! He was never mine!"

He even moved to attack her. Rongrong stood frozen in place, but at the last critical second, Su Man pulled her back.

Rongrong glanced at her, a flash of guilt in her eyes; it was Qianji’s cruel words that had made her lose her composure. Su Man didn't blame her—at a time like this, such sentiments were useless.

She threw her dagger at Qianji, but it was deflected before it could reach him. The enraged Qianji had become even more formidable.

And just then, a soft female voice echoed through the space: "Xiao Ji? What are you doing?"

Qianji whipped his head around, his eyes widening to their limit, his voice cracking. "Mom?"