Transmigration; Married to My Ex-Fiancé's Uncle-Chapter 316; Lu Yuze & Shuyin 5

"We can find a viable excuse," he countered, already problem-solving. "No one would doubt it. You could choose to stay at the Lin estate, or we could all stay together at a nearby property. Should I tell the staff to start packing?" His hand was already reaching for the telephone on the nightstand.

"Geez, too clingy," she muttered, though there was no real bite in her words. She caught his wrist before he could lift the receiver. "If I don’t stay there, how am I supposed to toy with them? How am I supposed to get my revenge properly?"

Lu Yuze set the phone down, his expression serious. "I already have all the evidence of their crimes compiled. Financial fraud, embezzlement, and attempts on your life. You could send it directly to the police and be done with them."

"That’s not satisfactory at all." Her eyes glinted with cold calculation. "Prison is too clean, too quick. They need to suffer the way they made others suffer. My stepmother and stepsister need to feel the walls closing in, need to watch everything they’ve stolen crumble in their hands. They need to know it was me."

"Shuyin..."

"My father," she continued, her voice dropping to something dangerous, "needs to lose everything before he understands what he threw away when he chose them over his own blood. The company, his reputation, his precious new family, all of it. And he needs to know, beyond any doubt, that his discarded daughter was the architect of his downfall."

Shuyin knew the real Shuyin needed her revenge exacted. She owed her that much.

Lu Yuze studied her face, seeing the cold fury that she kept so carefully controlled. "You’re not just going for revenge. You’re going to dismantle them piece by piece."

"Systematically," she confirmed. "The evidence goes to the police when I’m ready, when they’re already broken, when there’s nothing left for them to salvage. Not before."

He was silent for a moment, then sighed. "Three days?"

"Maybe longer. It depends on how quickly they fall apart."

"Then I’m coming with you," he said decisively.

"Lu Yuze..."

A wet, slithering sound cut through her protest.

They both froze. Shuyin’s head snapped toward the en-suite bathroom, her entire body going still with a predator’s alertness. Lu Yuze’s hand moved instinctively to her waist, protective.

The sound came again. Slow. Deliberate. Like something dragging itself across tile.

Then they saw it.

A trail of black, oily water snaked out from beneath the bathroom door, spreading across the bedroom floor with unnatural purpose. The liquid gleamed in the fading evening light, leaving a slick residue that smelled of rotting seaweed and copper.

"What is that?" Lu Yuze’s voice was low, controlled, but his body was already moving, positioning himself between Shuyin and the bathroom door.

Shuyin’s eyes narrowed, her mind racing through possibilities, then landing on the most likely culprit with a sinking dread. "The healing," she breathed. "This morning. My mother....."

The bathroom door shuddered.

Something was testing it from the other side. Not pushing, feeling. Learning.

Shuyin slid off the bed, her exhaustion forgotten as adrenaline and magical awareness flooded her system. She could feel it now, the wrongness in the air, the taint of corrupted magic that had been building all day while she slept, oblivious.

"Stay behind me," she said sharply.

"Not a chance." Lu Yuze moved to her side, his jaw set. He might not have magic, but he was no stranger to danger.

The door handle turned.

Slowly. Deliberately.

It opened with a soft click.

For a heartbeat, nothing happened. Then a shape emerged from the darkness of the bathroom, long, sinuous, translucent. An eel-like creature, perhaps three feet in length, its body pulsing with bioluminescent veins that glowed a sickly green-purple. Where its face should have been was a circular mouth lined with rings of crystalline teeth.

It paused in the doorway, eyeless head swaying as if tasting the air, the magical signature that permeated the room.

Then it lunged.

The creature moved with horrifying speed, launching itself across the bedroom floor. Lu Yuze shoved Shuyin aside and grabbed a heavy lamp from the nightstand, swinging it in a vicious arc. The base connected with the creature’s body with a wet CRACK.

The thing shrieked, a sound like grinding glass mixed with dolphin clicks, and recoiled, but didn’t retreat. Instead, black mucus oozed from where the lamp had struck, hissing as it ate into the bedroom carpet.

"There are more," Shuyin said, her voice tight. She could sense them now, feel the wrongness multiplying throughout the mansion. "They’ve been here all day. Feeding on the residual magic from the sitting room."

As if summoned by her words, movement flickered in her peripheral vision. Another creature, this one emerging from the air vent near the ceiling. Then another, sliding out from under the bedroom door, its body compressing impossibly flat to squeeze through the gap.

Six. Seven. Eight of them, all converging on the bedroom with single-minded purpose.

"Shuyin," Lu Yuze said, his voice deadly calm despite the situation, "what do we do?"

She raised her hands, calling on magic that was already depleted from the morning’s healing, feeling the familiar burn of overtaxing her reserves. Silver light sparked between her fingers, weaker than it should have been, flickering.

"I’ll handle them. You need to get to Yuyan. Now."

"I’m not leaving you...."

One of the creatures whipped forward, its body extending like a lash. The tip caught Lu Yuze across the shoulder, and he hissed in pain as the mucus-covered flesh seared through his shirt. The creature immediately began to coil, wrapping around his arm with terrifying strength.

Lu Yuze grabbed the thing with his free hand—ignoring the burning pain of its acidic coating, and slammed it against the wall with brutal force. Once. Twice. The creature’s grip loosened and he threw it across the room.

But now the others were moving, emboldened. They struck from multiple angles, one from the ceiling, two from the floor, and another launching from the bedpost. Their movements were coordinated, tactical. One was distracted while another attacked. One whipped while another positioned to constrict.