CHAPTER 848: CHAPTER 848: MISTAKE

"You didn’t even pretend to care about him."

Then she pointed at herself.

"And me?" Her voice was quiet now, but sharp like glass. "You let me suffer for fifteen years. While your real daughter, the one you had with your mistress, got everything. You showed up to her school plays. Her parent-teacher meetings. Her birthdays."

Yu Lin looked away.

"You were always there for her," she said. "But never once for us."

The room went completely silent.

Yu Holea crossed her arms.

"And now you say we should honor you? Respect you? Be good kids to a father who wasn’t good to us?"

She shook her head.

"You made your choices, Yu Lin. Now it’s time to live with them."

Yu Lin stood up, looking hurt but angry.

"I still gave you all a good life!" he shouted.

"Even if I wasn’t around much, I provided everything! And you..." he pointed at Yu Holea, "...you weren’t even supposed to be treated like this. It was a mistake, okay? I didn’t believe you were my daughter back then. But once I did... I was even ready to give you shares of the company!"

Yu Holea let out a cold chuckle.

"Shares? You think giving me some papers makes up for fifteen years of pain? That’s your idea of redemption?"

Yu Lin frowned. "You can’t talk to your father like that!"

Her smile faded. "You’re not my father."

Yu Lin’s eyebrows furrowed. "You’re just angry right now. I’m still your..."

"You’re not listening," Yu Holea said calmly. "You’re not my father. Your twin is."

Yu Lin froze.

"Wait... what are you saying?"

"You don’t know, do you?" she asked, almost amused. "The man you forced Mom to sleep with... was your own twin. And the one who gave you that wonderful idea to do it... was Ruo Lan."

Yu Lin’s mouth opened in shock. He didn’t want to believe it. He shook his head.

"No. I—I was an only child. That’s what I was told. I was the only child—"

Yu Holea turned her head toward Yu Sicong.

Yu Sicong silently opened his bag and pulled out a thin file. He handed it to Yu Holea, who walked up to Yu Lin and held it out.

"See for yourself."

Yu Lin grabbed it with trembling fingers and flipped through the pages. Birth records. Photos. Hospital forms. A hidden adoption contract. DNA matches.

It was all there.

It was real.

His twin brother had been given away, handed to the prestigious Ou family as part of a secret alliance deal. And worse... that very twin was the one his wife had truly loved.

She thought he had rescued her, but Yu Lin had tricked her. She had married the wrong man.

Yu Lin’s lips trembled. His heart raced. It felt like a hundred ants were crawling under his skin. He threw the file on the table with a loud slap.

"LIES!" he shouted. "THIS IS NOT TRUE!"

Yu Holea smiled bitterly. "It is. And now that you know... we’re done here."

Ten minutes earlier

Ruo Lan sat alone in the guest room, the curtains drawn tightly shut.

She opened the small black mirror again and whispered, "Sister."

The mirror shimmered, and the headless witch appeared in the dark glass.

"How do I activate the circle?" Ruo Lan asked in a low voice. "They’ll be leaving soon."

The witch’s voice was raspy. "Chant the spell. That’s all. I will come soon. The circle takes ten minutes to finish once it starts."

Ruo Lan nodded. "Good. I’ll begin."

She closed the mirror and knelt on the floor. Her hands trembled slightly as she began to chant the ancient words the witch had given her.

She spoke slowly, carefully, not missing a single syllable.

When she finished, she let out a long sigh of relief.

"It’s done," she whispered. "Now I just wait."

But she didn’t notice the color of the summoning circle under the table, glowing black instead of green and red.

Something was wrong.

Back in the dining room

Yu Holea suddenly gasped.

She turned toward the dining table, her face pale.

"What’s wrong?" Yu Shuchang asked.

Yu Lin narrowed his eyes. "What is it?"

Yu Holea slowly raised her hand and pointed. "The dining table... something bad is happening."

Everyone turned to look.

A strange heat filled the air. The shadows under the table looked darker, heavier.

Yu Holea didn’t wait.

"We need to go!" she said sharply.

Without giving Yu Lin a chance to argue, she grabbed Yu Shuchang and Yu Sile by the arms and yanked them toward the hallway.

"Hey, what’s going on?!" Yu Sile yelled, confused.

"Just move!" she snapped.

Yu Lin followed behind them, confused and worried. "Holea! What’s happening?!"

"If we don’t leave now," she said, pulling out a glowing yellow talisman, "we’ll regret it for the rest of our lives."

She held it up and waved it in the air.

The talisman glowed bright gold, and then in a flash of light...

Yu Holea, Yu Shuchang, Yu Sicong, and Yu Sile vanished.

Yu Sicong had already disappeared through his own escape spell, prepared for emergencies.

Yu Lin stood alone.

Staring.

"What the hell is going on...?"

Then....

CRASH!

One of the windows in the living room shattered.

A cold wind rushed into the room as a figure entered.

She floated... no feet.

Yu Lin backed away, eyes wide. "W-Who are you?!"

The witch floated silently for a second.

Then she turned slowly, as if sniffing the air.

"Where is she?" the witch whispered. "Where is Yu Holea?"

Yu Lin couldn’t speak.

He stumbled backward, bumping into a chair.

The witch hovered closer, the black mist swirling like smoke.

"I said... where is she?"

"She left!" Yu Lin shouted in scared tone.

The witch’s smoky form froze in mid‑air.

Her empty hood swung toward the dining table. The black glow beneath the table was swelling—like ink spilling in water.

"H‑how did she know?" the witch hissed. "That girl shouldn’t have escaped!"

A sudden crackle of lightning flashed outside.

Sunlight vanished; thick gray clouds rolled over the mansion. An icy wind howled through the shattered window, rattling every picture frame on the walls.

Inside the guest room, Ruo Lan tried to stand, but her body wouldn’t obey. It felt as if unseen ropes had tied her to the floor.

"Move... MOVE!" she whispered, panic filling her eyes. Nothing happened.

Even Yu Lin, halfway between the sofa and the hallway, found his legs glued to the spot. His heartbeat hammered in his ears.

The lights flickered once... twice... then burned a sickly green.

From under the dining table, a low gurgling sound rose, like thick mud boiling. Black liquid symbols slid across the tiles, joining together into a wide, shining pool.

The witch’s voice cracked with fear. "Ruo Lan, you fool! You drew the wrong lines... this is a Greater Summon, not a trap!"

Ruo Lan’s lips trembled. "W‑what does that mean?"

"It means," the witch snarled, "you just opened a door even I can’t close!"

With a wet squelch, four shadow‑gray tentacles slithered out of the glowing pool.

They were long, boneless arms, each tipped with black claws that scraped the marble floor, leaving sizzling burn marks.

Yu Lin screamed.

The witch tried to phase through the wall, but invisible chains yanked her back.

A fifth tentacle, thicker than a tree trunk, shot forward, wrapping around the witch’s cloak. A second coiled around Ruo Lan’s waist.

A third slammed into Yu Lin’s chest like a steel whip and pinned his arms tight.

All three were dragged across the floor toward the circle. Nails scratched, shoes squeaked, but nothing stopped the pull.

"Help! Somebody help!" Yu Lin cried, but his voice echoed uselessly in the empty mansion.

The pool bubbled louder. A giant, lidless eye surfaced, dark purple, with cracks of red lightning inside the iris. It stared at them with hungry delight.

The tentacles yanked.

Ruo Lan, Yu Lin, and the witch were yanked beneath the table, straight into the pulsing black circle.

With a thunder‑clap thud, the glow vanished.

The dining room fell silent. The lights stopped flickering and returned to normal... as if nothing strange had happened at all.

They landed hard on icy ground.

Ruo Lan opened her eyes to pitch‑black darkness, no floor, no sky, just endless night. Thin gray fog curled around her ankles.

Yu Lin lay nearby, shaking. The witch’s cloak floated beside them like a torn flag.

Then came the laughter.

It rose from every direction, dry, hollow chuckles that sounded like broken violins and cracking bones.

"New snacks..." a raspy voice hissed.

"So soft... so fresh..." another giggled.

"They still have hearts that beat... let’s see how long they last..."

Pale shapes moved in the fog, spidery silhouettes with too many joints, wide mouths full of needle teeth, eyes that opened sideways.

Yu Lin staggered to his feet, clutching his chest. "W‑where... where are we?"

The witch’s glowing hood turned slowly. Even she seemed frightened.

"A pit," she whispered. "A world below worlds. Even the lower gods fear to enter."