Transmigration; Married to My Ex-Fiancé's Uncle-Chapter 317; Lu Yuze & Shuyin 6

Shuyin thrust her hands forward and a wave of silver light exploded outward, catching three of the creatures mid-strike. They shrieked as the celestial magic burned them, their translucent bodies bubbling and smoking. But her magic flickered, sputtered. She was running on fumes.

One of the creatures she’d missed coiled around her ankle. She felt it immediately, the crushing pressure, the burning mucus eating through her silk pants. She dropped to one knee, trying to pry it off, but its slick surface made it nearly impossible to grip.

Lu Yuze was there in an instant, a letter opener from the desk in his hand. He drove it into the creature’s body, sawing through the eel-like flesh. The thing released her with a shriek and he kicked it away, but not before another wrapped around his other leg.

Then the air changed.

A hissing sound filled the room, and Shuyin’s stomach dropped.

From the gills along the creatures’ sides, a greenish-black vapor began to pour. Thick. Cloying. The miasmic gas spread rapidly, filling the bedroom with terrifying speed.

"Don’t breathe it!" Shuyin gasped, but it was already too late.

The moment the gas touched her lungs, the world tilted. Her vision blurred, doubling, tripling. The bedroom walls seemed to pulse and breathe. Lu Yuze’s voice sounded distant, underwater.

She could see things in the gas, visions. The ocean depths. Drowning. Her mother’s face twisted in agony. The celestial realm is shattering. Kailani and Shuyin are separating, tearing apart at the seams.

Hallucinations.

Lu Yuze staggered, his grip on the letter opener loosening. He blinked hard, trying to clear his vision, but the gas was everywhere now. His muscles felt weak, unresponsive. One of the creatures took advantage, whipping around his torso and beginning to constrict.

Shuyin tried to stand, tried to summon more magic, but her reserves were gone. The gas was draining what little she had left, pulling the magical energy from her like a parasite. She could feel her consciousness slipping, the world fading to black at the edges.

No.

Not like this.

Not when Yuyan and Chen Xiao were still vulnerable, somewhere in the mansion. Not when these things were spreading, hunting. Not when Lu Yuze was gasping for air beside her, fighting creatures he couldn’t even see properly through the toxic haze.

She bit down hard on her tongue, using the sharp pain to anchor herself to reality. Blood filled her mouth, a clean, real sensation that cut through the hallucinations.

"Windows," she managed to gasp. "Open the windows."

Lu Yuze heard her through the haze. He ripped the creature from his torso, leaving bloody welts where it had gripped, and stumbled toward the nearest window. His fingers fumbled with the latch. Once. Twice.

A creature launched at his back.

Shuyin threw what little magic she had left, not at the creature, but at the window. The glass shattered outward in a spray of silver light.

Fresh air rushed in. Not much, but enough.

The creatures recoiled from the sudden influx of outside air, their gas dispersing slightly. They shrieked in fury, their coordinated attack dissolving into chaos as they scrambled away from the window.

But there were more coming.

Shuyin could hear them now, throughout the mansion. Slithering through pipes. Emerging from drains. The wet sounds of dozens of bodies moving through the corridors below.

The sitting room where she’d healed her mother had been saturated with magic. They’d spent all day gorging themselves on it, growing, multiplying. And now that source was depleted.

Now they wanted her.

Lu Yuze grabbed her arm, hauling her to her feet. "We need to move. Now."

She nodded, her head still spinning from the gas. They staggered toward the bedroom door, but before they could reach it, it burst open.

A servant, one of the night staff, stood there, eyes wide with terror. "Master Lu! Miss Shuyin! They’re everywhere! The sitting room is completely overrun, and they’re heading toward the children’s wing...."

"Get everyone to the east wing," Lu Yuze barked, his voice cutting through the panic with military precision. "Lock the doors. Seal any water sources. Do it now!"

The servant fled.

More creatures were pouring into the bedroom now, from the bathroom, from the vents, even emerging from a decorative vase that had held flowers. The water in the vase had been enough for one to hide, to wait.

There had to be twenty of them now, their bioluminescent bodies creating a nauseating light show in the gas-filled room. They moved as one, a coordinated swarm, cutting off the path to the door. 𝒇𝓻𝓮𝓮𝙬𝙚𝒃𝒏𝓸𝙫𝒆𝙡.𝓬𝓸𝒎

Shuyin’s mind raced. She was too weak to fight them all. The gas was still affecting her, making it hard to focus, to think. And every second they wasted here was another second these things were getting closer to Yuyan.

"The balcony," she said suddenly. "We go around."

They turned as one, racing for the shattered window. Behind them, the swarm surged forward with a collective shriek that made the remaining glass shudder in its frame.

Lu Yuze went through first, turning to help Shuyin climb out onto the narrow balcony. The cool evening air hit her face, clearing some of the fog from her mind. Below them, the mansion grounds spread out in manicured perfection, oblivious to the horror unfolding within.

The creatures reached the window, but hesitated at the threshold. The fading sunlight, even the weak rays of approaching dusk, made them recoil, hissing.

But the sun was setting fast.

"We have maybe ten minutes before they can come out here," Shuyin said, her breathing ragged. She looked at Lu Yuze, saw the burns on his shoulder and torso, the blood seeping through his shirt. "Can you climb?"

He followed her gaze to the trellis that ran along the side of the mansion, leading down to the gardens and around to the east wing where Yuyan’s room was located.

"Can you?" he countered, eyeing her own injuries, the burned ankle, the cuts from where she’d clawed at the creature wrapped around her leg.