Forced to Act out a Strange Script with a Rival - Chapter 58

Following the pebble path, which was unevenly eroded by the sea breeze, Li Ting soon arrived at the only clinic on the small island. Only a green wooden door with peeling paint was ajar, and inside was quiet.

Lin Xiu pushed the door open, familiar with the place as if returning home, and walked straight toward an old wooden medicine cabinet leaning against the wall.

“Looks like Dr. Chen went out for a house call again.” Lin Xiu pulled open the creaking cabinet door, rummaging through the cluttered medicine bottles and gauze while muttering, “Most of the people on our island are elderly and have trouble getting around, so it’s hard work for Dr. Chen to run all over the mountain. When he’s not here, we just get our own medicine. You go ahead and sit, I’ll find something for you.”

She pointed to a dusty old bench in the corner.

Li Ting didn’t sit down immediately. She stood in the slightly brighter light near the doorway, her gaze calmly sweeping over the small clinic.

The white-washed walls were mottled and yellowed, many places stained with dark watermarks and mold. The air was a mix of disinfectant, old medicine smells, and an inescapable briny dampness, consistent with the island’s dilapidated and humid tone.

The simple examination table, the rusty iron-frame bed—everything conveyed a sense of forgotten poverty.

Everything felt so real.

“Thank you, Sister Lin.” Li Ting accepted the few sheets of pills and a small bottle of gentian violet from Lin Xiu.

The pill packaging was old, and the label on the gentian violet was worn.

Li Ting didn’t use them right away; she simply held them in her palm, her fingertips feeling the cool, sharp edges of the pill sheets.

Then, she asked, “Do you know if there’s anywhere nearby I can stay? Like an inn or something?”

Her tone carried the exhaustion of surviving a disaster and a perfectly measured hint of confusion.

“Oh! This small island is tiny, where would we have an inn!” Lin Xiu’s smile was so simple it was almost guileless, coupled with an undeniable warmth: “If you don’t mind, stay at my place! It’s just me and my husband at home, and we have an empty room that can be tidied up and used!”

This excessive, almost forceful enthusiasm instantly tightened the string of vigilance in Li Ting’s heart.

Just as she was about to politely decline, a slightly familiar male voice, laced with laughter, came from the doorway, breaking the silence in the room.

“Sister Xiu, are you back to your old habit of picking people up?”

“Oh my! Dr. Chen, you’ve finally come back!” Lin Xiu immediately looked as if she had found her anchor, the joy on her face becoming a few shades more genuine as she went to meet him.

The light in the doorway was blocked by a figure in a washed-out white coat with frayed collar and cuffs.

The man looked to be in his early forties, short, and thin. His face was unremarkable, with a pair of frameless glasses perched on his nose. The eyes behind the lenses were calm, reflecting the kind of slow, bookish temperament unique to a country doctor.

However, the moment Li Ting clearly saw that face, a bone-chilling coldness, like a venomous snake, instantly shot up from her tailbone to the crown of her head, almost freezing her breath.

This face! She had seen it before!

It was the same as the priest who presided over the sacrifice, with his empty eyes and a voice like an echo from the deep sea!

Is he a doctor? Or a priest?

Two completely different identities were now eerily superimposed on this one face.

All of Li Ting’s muscles instantly tensed, like a bow poised to fire. If the other party attacked, she could react swiftly and appropriately.

Her peripheral vision, like the most precise radar, rapidly scanned the small room’s only window, the back wall, and the distance between herself and the doorway.

The route she had memorized upon entering flashed clearly in her mind: right turn out the door was the main road, and a left turn led to a narrower alley behind the house.

She subtly shifted her weight backward, adjusting to the position most favorable for an instant burst of force.

However, the other party’s reaction was vastly different from what she expected.

“Who is this?”

Dr. Chen pushed up his glasses, his gaze resting on Li Ting with pure curiosity and a hint of professional assessment. His tone was gentle and natural, as if he were genuinely seeing her for the first time.

Lin Xiu quickly explained: “This young lady was fished out of Black Water Bay. She seems to have hit her head and can’t remember many things.”

“I see. Does she have any identification or anything?” Dr. Chen nodded, entered the small clinic, and naturally placed his medical kit on the table, his tone remaining unremarkable.

Is it a disguise? Or… does he genuinely not recognize her?

Li Ting’s heart was pounding heavily in her chest.

A massive mystery enveloped her like a cold fog.

If the other party truly possessed that kind of superhuman power, why bother disguising himself in front of her, a “distressed person”? Wouldn’t it be simpler to just act?

Moreover, no islander seemed to recognize her on the way here, as if… everyone had collectively agreed to forget.

This island seems normal but feels odd in every corner… she must proceed with caution.

She suppressed the turmoil in her heart, quickly showing a fragile and confused expression appropriate for someone who had “hit their head.” She even carried a hint of lingering fear, slightly lowered her eyes, shook her head, and avoided Dr. Chen’s scrutinizing gaze.

Seeing Li Ting shake her head, Dr. Chen mused for a moment and said, “This is tricky. There’s an empty room in this clinic; otherwise, you could…”

“Thank you for your kindness, Doctor. I’ve already accepted Sister Xiu’s invitation,” Li Ting said with her eyes lowered, cutting off his next offer.

Compared to dealing with this strange doctor, she preferred to test the seemingly less cunning Lin Xiu.

Dr. Chen nodded and did not extend the invitation again.

Afterward, Li Ting followed Lin Xiu and left the simple clinic.

Lin Xiu lived at the head of the village, near the pier. It was a very traditional, somewhat old, but neatly kept island dwelling. The whole house had only three rooms, and Lin Xiu tidied up the empty room belonging to her fourth daughter.

Speaking of her children, Lin Xiu said with a hint of pride: “I don’t have a son; I gave birth to five daughters in total!”

Five daughters? Li Ting was secretly shocked. Did she keep trying to have a son to bring honor to the ancestors? Is that why she kept having children?

“Ah, young lady, you’re from out of town and don’t understand. On our small island, daughters are precious,” Lin Xiu explained, noticing the difference in Li Ting’s expression: “I have the most daughters in the whole village, and that’s why my man became the village head.”

Li Ting nodded, though she found the statement absurd. Why would having more daughters make a man the village head? And was that wooden, clumsy man leadership material? Logically, if daughters were precious, women’s status should be high, yet she had barely seen any young women on the way here.

It was truly too strange.

“What about your daughters?” Li Ting looked at the empty room Lin Xiu had cleaned up; there were no signs of recent occupancy.

“They’ve all married out!” Lin Xiu answered with a smile.

All married out?

Logically, in a closed-off island fishing village, marriage usually keeps resources local. Even if they marry, they should be able to visit their parents’ home often. But this place… seemed to have been unoccupied for a long time.

It seemed her daughters had married far away.

“Auntie’s house doesn’t have much good food, so you should eat some steamed buns to fill your stomach and get some rest.” Lin Xiu brought out a plate of steamed buns from the inner room. Perhaps aware of Li Ting’s caution, she broke a bun open, took half for herself, and handed the other half to Li Ting.

“Thank you, Sister. When I remember things and contact my family and friends, I will definitely thank you properly,” Li Ting showed immense gratitude, but her inner caution dared not relax even a bit.

“You just rest easy. Don’t mention thanking me or anything. I see you, young lady, you’re about the same age as my youngest daughter. Having gone through such a huge ordeal, I’ll help as much as I can…” Lin Xiu’s tone was extremely sincere, not sounding like a lie.

Li Ting observed Lin Xiu for ten minutes, confirming that the other party had no reaction whatsoever, before eating a few bites of the bun.

She didn’t know how long she had been drifting at sea, and she was genuinely starving. She definitely needed to replenish her strength.

Afterward, Li Ting chatted with Lin Xiu for a few more minutes. When she brought up the so-called “Sea Goddess,” Lin Xiu brushed it off with a laugh, saying it was just a local custom. Li Ting didn’t get any particularly useful information.

Soon, the sky darkened. Li Ting returned to her room to rest. She deliberately sneaked a knife from the kitchen and placed it under her pillow. She locked the door and windows and tied a rope to the doorknob, with the other end tied to her wrist. If anyone touched the door, she would be alerted and could instantly draw the knife from under her pillow to fight back.

This place was so bizarre; she had to preserve her energy, and she couldn’t afford not to sleep.

At a time like this, Li Ting found herself missing Si Xiaoxiao. If they were together, they would at least be safer. Unfortunately, Si Xiaoxiao seemed to have already been ‘checked out’ of the script.

Perhaps because she thought of Si Xiaoxiao before sleeping, she had a dream about Si Xiaoxiao that night.

In the dream, Si Xiaoxiao was lying flat, frantically shouting: “I’ve been wronged! I’ve been wronged! You must avenge me! You must avenge me!!”

There was no romance whatsoever, only pure torment toward Si Xiaoxiao.

Perhaps because she was being so mean, the shouting Si Xiaoxiao suddenly rushed toward her and grabbed her neck.

The icy feeling of asphyxiation clamped down on Li Ting’s throat like an iron vise.

She abruptly woke up from the dream. Her consciousness hadn’t fully returned, but her body’s instinct had already sounded the alarm of imminent death.

This was not the illusory grip of Si Xiaoxiao from her dream, but a real, slimy, cold, and powerfully constricting foreign object, tightly wrapped around her neck.

Li Ting’s pupils instantly constricted in the darkness.

Pain and asphyxiation swept over her like a tsunami. The air in her lungs was instantly squeezed out, and her throat bones emitted a groan of distress.

Her vision swam with black spots, and her face rapidly turned a terrifying purplish-blue from lack of oxygen.

It was that thing; it had still tracked her down! How did it get in? The warning rope hadn’t moved at all…

She felt like she was going to die, too…

It was so difficult…

A thick, nauseating smell of brine, mixed with an indescribably sweet, decaying stench, instantly filled the small room.

The thing constricting her neck was slimy and cold to the touch, like a deep-sea giant python wrapped in thick mucus, its surface covered with countless tiny, powerfully adhesive suckers.

She could clearly feel those suckers frantically wriggling. Each contraction brought agonizing stinging and deeper suffocation, as if countless greedy, miniature mouths were trying to pierce her skin and suck away her life force.

What was even more terrifying was that the tentacle’s strength was continuously increasing…

It wasn’t just constricting; it felt like it was trying to lift her entire body upwards!

Li Ting’s body was yanked off the bed by an immense force. Her feet dangled in the air, kicking futilely at the coldness.

In the nick of time, the instinct for survival overwhelmed all her terror. Li Ting’s right hand shot out like a flash of lightning, plunging under the pillow, her fingertips instantly touching the cold, hard metal of the knife handle.

Without a second of hesitation, the moment her body was lifted into the air, Li Ting channeled all her remaining strength and explosive power into her right arm.

In the darkness, the blade cut a shrill, cold streak. A dull, sticky tearing sound rang out.

The terrifying force constricting her neck suddenly slackened.

Li Ting’s body slammed back onto the hard bed board, the impact sending stars bursting before her eyes. But she ignored the pain. The hand holding the knife did not relax in the slightest; the blade was still firmly embedded in the severed part of the tentacle.

At the same time, Li Ting felt a cold, slimy sensation creeping up her ankle. Looking down, in the darkness, it was another equally thick, sucker-covered, dark purple tentacle.

One was already incredibly difficult to handle; now there was more than one?

Had she reached a dead end?

No… there must be another way.

The script had just begun; it shouldn’t fail like this… and she hadn’t even met her living partner yet…

Li Ting recalled everything she had experienced in this script and the scenes from earlier. A bolt of lightning struck her mind. As if inspired, she suddenly shouted—

“Si Xiaoxiao!”

[We must… keep one word to confirm that the person standing across from us is still each other.]

[How about using our names… what do you say?]

That was a conversation they once had.

If her name… was once her anchor, then what about for Si Xiaoxiao? Could calling her name also wake up Si Xiaoxiao when she was in a special state?

“Wake up! Si Xiaoxiao!!!”

The force disappeared. The tentacles suddenly stopped, but they were still wrapped around Li Ting’s body.

Close call.

It seemed she had made the right gamble.

Li Ting collapsed onto the bed, drenched in the cold, viscous, dark blue fluid.

She gasped for air, each breath pulling at the excruciating pain in her throat and chest.

A deep purple, terrifying strangulation mark remained on her neck. Her skin burned with pain, and the dense red dots left by the suckers were like vicious kiss marks.

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