Sang Que woke up again with a start. Her heart pounded from weak to strong, her breathing became increasingly rapid, and the ticking of a clock echoed incessantly in her ears.
Her whole body felt weak and powerless; it took her a while before she could sit up. She was still in the bedroom of her small courtyard in Wangshan City, and there was still no sign of Xia Chan and Xuan Yu.
A burning pain shot through her arm. Sang Que rolled up her sleeve to find her pale arm covered with scratches, with fresh blood oozing and skin turning outward, healing slowly, the flowing blood carrying the scent of rice wine.
The healing made her mouth dry and tongue parched, inducing a craving for blood.
The ghosts she saw banging bowls at the intersection were not an illusion; the ticking in her ear indicated that the power of Recovery had been triggered and now the countdown of side effects was in progress.
