After Mistakenly Marking Her Stunning Omega Stepsister - Chapter 8

“How is it not right? This is perfect,” Zhu Huan interjected. “This is our last chance. If you two are really scared, you don’t have to go in.”

Wen Xiangzhu and Lu Xiaomeng exchanged glances and shook their heads. “I’m going.”

Lin Sui remained silent, feeling the hand clasping hers. The soft warmth enveloped her fingers, damp and sticky.

As the group entered the Haunted House, the heavy door slammed shut behind them.

The dim white light above their heads illuminated a narrow corridor stretching ahead, ending in empty space.

To their right, another identical corridor led to the same emptiness.

Lin Sui glanced around and realized: “This is like a maze. We need to find the right path and go upstairs to find the owner of this house.”

“But that man said we should go right,” Lu Xiaomeng said, swallowing nervously. “Should we take the right path?”

“That man was clearly off,” Zhu Huan said. “He said there were five of us, and… he said we’d be ‘delicious’?”

Silence fell. No one spoke. Lin Sui could only feel the hand on hers tighten.

After a moment’s hesitation, she didn’t pull away. Instead, she asked, “Class Monitor, which path do you think we should take?”

The person beside her blinked, glancing around. “I don’t know. Both paths are empty. There’s no way to tell.”

“What about you, Lu Xiaomeng? What do you think?” Lin Sui tilted her head.

Lu Xiaomeng was startled by the attention, then stammered, “Why don’t we go right and see if what that person said was true?”

“Sure,” Lin Sui said with a smile, though she didn’t know why. “Let’s go right.”

Zhu Huan stared at her in surprise but didn’t object.

Truthfully, Lin Sui didn’t know what she was expecting either. Maybe it was a twisted sense of amusement. She knew the path was wrong, but she wanted to see how they’d react when they got scared.

At the end of the right path was another path leading left.

They’d barely turned the corner and taken a few steps when a strange noise came from behind.

Wen Xiangzhu’s grip on Lin Sui’s hand tightened. “Wh-what was that sound?”

Lin Sui glanced back and paused. “There’s… someone else here.”

Wen Xiangzhu was clearly frightened. She stopped just clinging to Lin Sui and started clinging even harder, clinging to her arm and practically burrowing into her. “Wh-wh-wh-what?!?!”

The faint scent of Wen Xiangzhu lingered in the air, and the softness of her arm against Lin Sui’s made Lin Sui’s expression stiffen. For a moment, she didn’t know whether to shake her off or let her cling.

Zhu Huan glanced at Wen Xiangzhu, who was clinging tightly to Lin Sui, and hesitated. “Um, if you guys aren’t running, I’m running.”

With that, Zhu Huan took off running ahead.

Lu Xiaomeng stood to the side, glanced at the two still frozen in place, and hurried after her.

“Wait for me!”

The narrow corridor quickly emptied. Lin Sui took a deep breath. “Stop dragging me.”

Wen Xiangzhu shrank back, her voice trembling with fear. “I’m scared…”

Lin Sui’s eyebrow twitched. She glanced back at the NPC closing in behind them and lowered her head, whispering, “If we don’t move now, the servants with knives will be here.”

The moment the words left her lips, Wen Xiangzhu screamed and yanked her forward. “Run! Run! Let’s run!”

Lin Sui scoffed. “Run, run, run.”

The NPC was remarkably diligent, following them steadily at a measured pace, maintaining a fixed distance.

Yet Lin Sui couldn’t shake the feeling that the NPC’s gaze carried a hint of resentment.

Just as she’d suspected, this was indeed a maze. Every turn revealed a new fork in the path.

The two wandered aimlessly, encountering several more NPCs along the way, until they finally stumbled upon the stairs.

Zhu Huan and Lu Xiaomeng had been waiting for them for who knew how long.

“You’re moving pretty slowly,” Zhu Huan remarked.

Lin Sui shot her a glare.

Her arm had been in Wen Xiangzhu’s grip the whole time—how could she walk fast?

Wen Xiangzhu snapped out of her daze, as if realizing something, and quickly released Lin Sui.

She lowered her head, pursed her lips, and her cheeks flushed crimson.

Zhu Huan gave Wen Xiangzhu a cryptic look before turning to Lin Sui. “You two… you’ve been up to something, haven’t you?”

Lin Sui, utterly bewildered, rolled her eyes at her.

The rest of the process was straightforward. By the time they emerged from the Haunted House, night had fully fallen.

Zhu Huan sighed languidly. “Boring. This was way too easy.”

Lin Sui glanced at her phone. “It’s about time. Everyone else has already left.”

“Mm,” Zhu Huan nodded, turning on her phone. “Let’s split up, then. My driver’s waiting at the gate.”

Lu Xiaomeng came over and gently tugged at Wen Xiangzhu’s sleeve. “Let’s leave together. We can keep each other company.”

The words hung in the air, and the others froze in place.

Oh right… How did we forget that?

Zhu Huan, aware of Lin Sui’s need to avoid suspicion, quickly covered with a joke as she pulled Lu Xiaomeng away. “I’ll have my driver drop you off too. No thanks necessary.”

“Ah? But Wenwen will be alone…”

“Don’t worry about her. Lin Sui will take care of it.”

“Okay.”

As the two walked off, Lin Sui turned to glance at Wen Xiangzhu.

“Let’s go home.”

“Okay.”

By the time they reached the gate, the car was already parked and waiting.

As soon as they got in and closed the door, Uncle Wang announced, “Eldest Miss, Second Miss, I’ve already bought the motion sickness pills.”

Following his gaze, Lin Sui picked up a pack of pills and handed it to Wen Xiangzhu, along with a bottle of water from the side.

“Take one.”

Wen Xiangzhu froze, staring blankly at the pills and water.

“What’s with that look?” Lin Sui raised an eyebrow, calmly observing her.

Wen Xiangzhu snapped out of her daze and pursed her lips. “Nothing…”

The car slowly started only after she’d taken her medication.

Lin Sui, exhausted from her day of play, leaned back in the car, half-asleep.

Just as she was drifting off, she felt a light touch on her hand.

Her mind cleared slightly. She turned her head, squinting through half-closed eyes, and saw Wen Xiangzhu looking at her with grave seriousness.

“Sister, I need to tell you something.”

“What is it?”

“You said last time that I…”

Wen Xiangzhu paused, seeming to struggle with the words.

Lin Sui looked at her quizzically. After a moment, she pressed the button on the car door.

As the partition rose, it completely separated the back seat from the front.

“Go ahead. He can’t see or hear us now,” Lin Sui said, leaning back again, her voice weary.

Wen Xiangzhu blinked, bit her lower lip, and whispered, “That day during my estrus period, when you gave me the Inhibitor, you said I liked… Chen… Chen So-and-so Xing.”

Hearing this, Lin Sui lifted her eyelids, her gaze flickering as she focused on Wen Xiangzhu’s delicate face.

“It’s nothing, I don’t even know him!” Wen Xiangzhu explained. “He gave me a love letter that morning, but I rejected him. I didn’t know who he was until Sister mentioned him later that day. I asked around and only learned his name then.”

She looked up at Lin Sui. “Sister, I really didn’t do anything.”

Lin Sui remained silent, staring intently into Wen Xiangzhu’s eyes as if trying to see through them. But she was too tired and quietly averted her gaze. “Why are you explaining this to me?”

“I was afraid you’d misunderstand.”

Wen Xiangzhu’s voice was soft and sticky, like she was chewing on sticky rice, carrying a hint of sweet stickiness.

Still half-asleep, Lin Sui replied absently, “Does it really matter?”

“It matters a lot,” Wen Xiangzhu said firmly, as if afraid Lin Sui wouldn’t believe her. “It really, really matters.”

Hearing this, Lin Sui chuckled. “I understand.”

She remembered telling Wen Xiangzhu not to disgrace the Lin family, not to do anything harmful to them, or she’d have no choice but to kick her out.

Now she understood why Wen Xiangzhu had gone to such lengths to explain herself. The girl really didn’t want to leave the Lin family.

With that settled, Lin Sui turned away and dozed off.

Beside her, Wen Xiangzhu watched her retreating figure, her eyelashes trembling slightly, a hint of loss coloring her eyes.

When Lin Sui got home, she luxuriated in a long, hot shower until she felt weak and boneless, then collapsed onto her bed.

Dark hair spilled across the white bedsheet.

As Lin Sui drifted into a daze, a knock came at the door.

“Sister, can I come in?”

Lin Sui’s eyes refocused. Not wanting to move, she called through the door, “What do you want?”

There was no answer. The knocking continued softly. “Sister, can I come in?”

Headache building from the annoyance, Lin Sui got up and opened the door. Wen Xiangzhu stood outside, wearing a beige nightgown. Her hair was damp, with a towel draped over her shoulder, wrapped around the ends.

“Sister, my hair dryer broke. Can I use yours?”

She looked freshly bathed, her cheeks rosy and her full lips glossy, as if coated in lip rouge, making her seem soft and delicate.

Lin Sui narrowed her eyes, her gaze unconsciously darkening. After a moment, she stepped aside. “Go ahead.”

“Thank you, Sister.”

Wen Xiangzhu smiled sweetly and walked into the room.

A faint fragrance followed her as she moved.

Lin Sui lowered her gaze and silently closed the door.

Wen Xiangzhu walked to the dressing table, brushed her damp hair aside, and picked up the hair dryer, facing the mirror.

Lin Sui watched Wen Xiangzhu for a while, and before she knew it, she had walked right up behind her.

Wen Xiangzhu saw her in the mirror and quietly turned off the hair dryer.

“Sister, do you want to use it?”

“No, you can use it.”

Lin Sui lowered her gaze, her eyes falling on the exposed scent gland at the back of Wen Xiangzhu’s neck.

No wonder.

She had just gotten out of the bath and hadn’t put on a Blocker Patch yet.

Unconsciously, that sweet, red wine-like fragrance had already spread throughout the room.

Light, yet omnipresent, permeating every corner.

For a moment, Lin Sui felt dazed, her teeth itching slightly. Realizing this, she turned and walked out onto the balcony.

The cool night breeze cleared her head a little.

After an unknown amount of time, Wen Xiangzhu stood beside her, her voice muffled.

“Sister.”

“Hmm?”

“Do you… hate me?”

As the words hung in the air, Lin Sui felt her heart skip a beat.

She wasn’t one to wear her heart on her sleeve. Some things were meant to be felt, not voiced. Why force an answer?

Moreover, she wasn’t sure if she actually disliked Wen Xiangzhu.

After a long silence, before Lin Sui could speak, Wen Xiangzhu let out a bitter laugh.

“I understand.”

With that, she turned to leave.

Feeling inexplicably panicked, Lin Sui blurted out, “No.”

Wen Xiangzhu paused, slowly turned around, and looked at her cautiously. “No what?”

No what? No, I don’t dislike you?

Lin Sui didn’t know either.

But she felt that if she didn’t say something, she’d regret it later.

“Um…”

“I don’t dislike you.”

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