Chapter 108: The Moon in the Bottle

“Almost there! Almost there!”

Yu Guo gripped his iron shovel tightly, eyes fixed on the well’s mouth above.

Tongguan likewise drew the short knife from his bag, wedging its tip into a crack in the rock, the handle clenched firmly in his hand.

When the moonlight once again bathed their heads, its silver glow illuminated their eyes. They stood ready, anticipating who they might encounter once the wall was broken through.

Yu Guo hoped to find Fang Shenyan; Tongguan’s thoughts lingered on his wife, Chang Nian. Tao Xiaoyi seemed forgotten by everyone, perhaps because she had little presence in this mission.

Five minutes passed in a blink. The two of them frantically worked their tools, stones flying in every direction, yet nothing could halt their progress.

The moonlight shone into another neighboring well. With a dull crash, rocks from the wall fell, and two disheveled figures squeezed in, looking down at the empty well with joy.

Empty. Absolutely empty.

And it wasn’t that someone had been taken from here—it was that no one had ever been here.

Tongguan froze, a sense of foreboding washing over him. Why was this well so unusual? Why had the spirit placed it here without arranging for any trapped staff?

Yu Guo, equally at a loss, looked up at the moonlight and gritted his teeth. “We keep going!”

He made up his mind—who was missing no longer mattered.

In truth, seeing the ghost in the bridal gown had made it clear: if they could finish the mission tonight, they would survive. If not, no one would.

At that moment, Tongguan grew frenzied. He held the short knife in reverse, striking the rock wall again and again.

Even now, the moonlight had not shifted, and the wall he was hitting was imbued with supernatural power, seemingly impenetrable.

He feared losing Chang Nian.

Yu Guo swallowed hard, seeing Tongguan’s tense, distorted face, and thought of his fiancée.

Infected by the same emotion, he struck the wall repeatedly, despite knowing it seemed futile.

Five minutes later, the moonlight began to shift.

Their attacks were unstoppable. The wall, no longer reinforced by supernatural power, proved weaker than ordinary stone.

Yet what they saw was still emptiness. No trace of any trapped staff existed here.

Both Tongguan and Yu Guo were stunned, unable to understand this discrepancy.

“No! No, no, no!”

Tongguan struck his forehead, pulling Yu Guo close. “Do you remember when we first saw the ghost? Did the man in white disappear with everyone else?”

Yu Guo’s gaze went blank. After a moment, he said, “I don’t know. I just saw everyone disappear and then ended up in the well.”

Tongguan loosened his grip, staring at his knife and the moon above, unable to speak.

If the ghost had pulled the staff and the man in white into the well together, there might still be hope. After all, that would involve over a dozen lives, reducing the chance of Chang Nian being harmed.

But if the ghost only targeted specific staff…

Seeing Tongguan’s unsettled expression, Yu Guo understood he was consumed by worry. He couldn’t confirm Chang Nian’s fate yet, and his mind was already in turmoil.

He didn’t fully agree but didn’t argue. Instead, he drove his shovel into the rock wall, striking it again and again, waiting for the moonlight to shift.

Yu Guo spoke no words, but his actions confirmed his resolve—to press forward with Tongguan. Life or death was still undecided.

Seeing Yu Guo act, Tongguan felt gratitude, abandoning silence to continue the effort.

Soon, the moonlight began another shift.

But halfway through, darkness suddenly enveloped them. The moonlight vanished, leaving no trace of illumination.

“Yu Guo?”

“Tongguan?”

In the darkness, they could only call to each other, unable to see or touch one another. The distance between them felt immeasurable.

Just as panic set in, a light appeared above. Unlike the gentle moonlight, this glow was bright and scorching, like a ball of fire.

Crack, crack~

Tongguan felt a tearing pain explode in his head, unbearable, yet the darkness slowly receded. A scorching light appeared before them.

Through his blurred vision, he caught the scent of something burning—it was his own hair.

He quickly rolled to the ground, smothering the burned section, and raised his head in confusion.

Before him stood a silent, indifferent man with fresh gauze wrapped around his neck, holding a torch and watching him.

He also watched the other man lying on the ground.

Six eyes, three men, all awakening from the Li Mansion’s backyard. Tongguan immediately recognized the spot—it was where Fang Shenyan had been attacked by the ghost before.

Yu Guo rubbed his temple, wincing from the pain, and looked at Fang Shenyan, bewildered. “Teacher Fang, what’s happening?”

Fang Shenyan scanned their faces, then pointed the torch toward an object on the ground.

The two of them focused on it: a transparent glass bottle, roughly the size of a vase, standing upright.

Inside, several partitions divided the small bottle into separate compartments.

Now, five of these partitions had been broken from the middle.

Yu Guo’s eyes widened; he nearly jumped to his feet. If he hadn’t realized by now, he’d be a fool.

They had all been trapped in a real illusion, placed inside this glass bottle by the ghost.

The well they had thought they were in was only a projection—the broken partitions corresponded exactly to Tongguan and Yu Guo’s wall-smashing efforts.

Tongguan stayed calm, though the situation was astonishing. For a ghost, this trick was nothing.

He focused on the bottle, staring at the two central compartments.

There was no trace of anyone having been there. Instead, Yu Guo, Tongguan, and even Fang Shenyan each occupied separate spaces in the bottle.

This meant Fang Shenyan had escaped first, then rescued Yu Guo and Tongguan.

But Chang Nian and Tao Xiaoyi were not in this bottle.

Tongguan turned toward the desolate Li Mansion. Where had they gone?