After Swapping Identities With My Archenemy - Chapter 58

Chapter 58: Her Eyes

Startled, Jiang Huaiyi grabbed the hand on her shoulder and spun around with such force they almost collided. She gripped the stranger’s hand tightly in her palm before realizing who it was and letting go instantly.

Wary, she slipped her satellite phone back into her bag, her fingers fumbling for the buttons.

“What are you doing?” Jiang Huaiyi glared, backing away to put distance between herself and Zheng Ji.

The woman chuckled, still wearing those sunglasses, one hand casually tucked in her pocket. “Just passing by. Didn’t expect to see you here.”

“Passing by?” Jiang Huaiyi almost laughed in anger. Who would believe a “chance encounter” in a mountain range this vast?

Anxiety gnawed at her. If this woman had been tailing them, why hadn’t any of them noticed? Jiang Huaiyi’s internal alarm hit its peak. She discreetly checked her bag—the call on the satellite phone had gone through. She hoped she hadn’t pressed the wrong button.

Her palms were slick with cold sweat. Xiao Die’s furry head nudged her hand from inside the bag, trying to peek out, but Jiang Huaiyi pushed the cat back down, her eyes locked on Zheng Ji.

Zheng Ji smiled, a soft, playful expression. “Are you afraid of me? I don’t mean any harm. I just want to be friends. I’m Zheng Ji. What’s your name?”

“I have no interest in being your friend,” Jiang Huaiyi countered, refusing to relax. “Why target me specifically? What is your goal?”

Jiang Huaiyi wasn’t afraid of a fair fight, and even if she couldn’t win, she just needed to stall until Shen Wensi arrived. She stole another glance at the phone it was definitely recording.

Zheng Ji tilted her head. “Actually, I already know your name; I heard your friends call you. I’m just curious… why is a Taoist like you hanging around two people who reek of the Underworld?”

Jiang Huaiyi’s heart skipped a beat. For a second, she thought her “protective barrier” had shattered and her true identity was exposed. But then she realized that if that were true, her Senior Sister would have recognized her immediately. How could this woman see through her?

A flicker of hope rose in her mind. If she knows who I am, could she know where my Master is? But she kept her guard up. Zheng Ji popped a piece of gum into her mouth, her defiant, “street-thug” swagger reminding Jiang Huaiyi of a village delinquent, yet on her, it felt strangely natural.

“You’re here for the Dragon,” Zheng Ji said. “Follow me, and I’ll show it to you.”

She explained that the Zheng family had been “Dragon Hunters” in the Qinling Mountains for generations. She had been watching the group, unable to find a moment to approach Jiang Huaiyi alone.

“Why help me? What do you want?” Jiang Huaiyi asked bluntly.

Zheng Ji’s smile widened, becoming brilliant. “I told you, I want to be friends. Or,” she leaned in closer, her voice dropping, “to put it another way: I want you.”

Before the words could fully settle, the sound of dry leaves crunching echoed through the trees.

“Impossible,” Shen Wensi’s cold, sharp voice rang out from nearby.

Shen Wensi appeared, satellite phone in hand, her eyes icy as she stared Zheng Ji down. She wore a black knit face mask that hid everything but her piercing gaze.

The atmosphere turned volatile. Shen Wensi stepped to Jiang Huaiyi’s side, radiating a chill even sharper than the winter air. Jiang Huaiyi ended the call, adjusted her backpack, and huddled close to Shen Wensi.

Zheng Ji’s expression soured. She looked displeased by Jiang Huaiyi’s choice of “protection.”

“How did you get here so fast?” Jiang Huaiyi whispered.

Shen Wensi didn’t look away from Zheng Ji. “I smelled something foul. Stay away from her; she isn’t human.” Her voice was loud enough for Zheng Ji to hear.

“You’re talking about me like I’m not here, you ghost?” Zheng Ji snapped.

“You’re just a stench,” Shen Wensi replied flatly.

Jiang Huaiyi had never seen someone’s hair literally stand on end from rage, but Zheng Ji’s short ponytail snapped taut. Without warning, she threw a punch at Shen Wensi.

Before Jiang Huaiyi could even process the movement, Shen Wensi shoved her safely out of the way. Zheng Ji’s fist whistled over her head. Seeing the woman attack Shen Wensi ignited a sudden, nameless fury in Jiang Huaiyi.

Any shred of trust she had for Zheng Ji vanished. She lunged forward and grabbed Zheng Ji’s leg. “You can hit me, but why would you hit her!”

Both women froze in surprise. In that split second of distraction, Shen Wensi’s fist collided squarely with Zheng Ji’s face.

The sunglasses flew off and shattered on the ground. Jiang Huaiyi scrambled up and watched as Zheng Ji slowly turned her head back.

Her face was deathly, unnaturally pale. But more terrifying were her eyes: they were inorganic, pupilless, grayish-blue orbs. Her right eye looked ruptured, as if it had been pierced, but it was dry, with no fluid leaking out.

Jiang Huaiyi’s blood ran cold. She recognized those eyes. They were the same eyes she had seen behind the wall last night. The antenna she had jammed into the hole had been the thing that “ruptured” that right eye.

“You were peeping on me!” Jiang Huaiyi’s fear turned into pure loathing.

As the sunglasses fell, the “foul smell” Shen Wensi mentioned hit Jiang Huaiyi like a physical wall. It was the sickening, overwhelming scent of corpse decay raw pork left out in the summer heat for days. It was the unmistakable smell of a dead body.

Jiang Huaiyi nearly gagged.

Realizing her secret was out, Zheng Ji scrambled to pick up her broken glasses, turned, and vanished into the thick forest with a few powerful leaps.

Shen Wensi placed a hand on Jiang Huaiyi’s shoulder, pulled a dried orange peel candy from her pocket, and popped it into the girl’s mouth to settle her stomach.

They hadn’t even entered the heart of the mountains, and they were already being stalked by a “corpse-peeper.”

The two decided not to separate again. They returned to the camp where the others were waiting. As the sun reached its zenith, they stood at the highest peak. In the distance, between the emerald pines and white snow, a massive, awe-inspiring Observation Deck sat nestled in the cliffs. It was over a hundred meters long, a towering corridor that looked both ancient and majestic.

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