Bao Da Tong scratched his head. “I don’t remember offending those little fiends. I’ve lived in seclusion for most of my life. After entering the secular world, the only supernatural affairs I’ve gotten involved in are with you guys. How could I know them?”
“Or perhaps it’s from your past life?” Wan Li said.
“Boss, can you please think about it seriously?” Bao Da Tong stood up in irritation. “That old Daoist doesn’t even have a soul anymore. How could he reincarnate? However, he truly is a degenerate of my Daoist path. Dying is fine, but why have children accompany you in death? He probably intended to cultivate as a ghost and get some benefits. I’m afraid it wasn’t as simple as having them accompany him. He might have wanted to absorb their pure essence! Man, I don’t get it. If life is so important, why would you neglect the lives of others?”
“Did the old Daoist’s soul really get devoured?” Xiao Xia was very confused. “Weren’t they sealed in those vases? How did they devour him?”
“You don’t get it. If the old Daoist hadn’t been devoured, those two children who didn’t know how to cultivate wouldn’t have become such powerful fiends. Everything was transferred over using this ‘natural’ method.” Bao Da Tong explained. “Although the vases were truly sealed according to the outside world, there would naturally be links on the inside. How to put it? It’s like an apartment. No one outside can enter the locked door, but it is possible to walk freely between rooms on the inside.”
“But their attitude towards you doesn’t seem random. Instead, they seem to want nothing more than your death, the sooner the better! Why is that? There has to be a reason.” Wan Li said curiously.
“We can put this question aside for now.” Ruan Zhan spoke up. “You just have to know they are targeting you, and act more carefully from now on.”
Everyone agreed with his words. They all knew that since they found out where the fiends came from, they had to take the initiative to make a move. Their enemies wouldn’t wait quietly. Therefore, a confrontation was no longer avoidable. What they needed to do now was for them all to recover their spirits and energy, especially the exhausted Ruan Zhan.
However, Xiao Xia couldn’t rest. She still had to go work. Although Wan Li suggested she ask off, she knew she couldn’t treat her career this way anymore. Otherwise, no matter how biased Director Pan was towards her, she would be in danger of getting fired.
Since there was still some time before she had to leave, she napped for two hours. Luckily she could dress simply and not put on makeup since it was summer. Therefore, with Wan Li’s fast driving, she was only fifteen minutes late. Based on her recently sloppy record, this wasn’t too big of a deal.
She hadn’t actually slept well in those two hours, and kept getting weird dreams. She couldn’t clearly remember what she dreamt about, only that there were two groups fighting. She had been very scared but had forgotten everything after waking up. This made her feel somewhat uneasy. Perhaps it was something subconscious after hearing Ruan Zhan talk about the two fiend children’s origins, or perhaps something was about to happen.
Consecutive days of being nervous and sleepless made her extremely weary. She almost nodded off against the wall while waiting for documents to print. She was bleary the whole day. After finally getting through a day of work, she stumbled to the fourteenth floor to head back with Wan Li. However, she was told that one of his patients was threatening to commit suicide, so he had rushed over.
Dusk in the summer was still hot. Steam rose from the ground after being baked by the sun the entire day. Xiao Xia waited distractedly at the bus stop, her head spinning. The surrounding chatter and cars became a buzz in the background. She suddenly recalled a line: waiting for the bus was like waiting for a person. There were many buses and people going by, but it was never the bus, nor the person, you were waiting for.
Where was the person she was waiting for? He was so close, but they always seemed to brush past each other without being able to make contact!
She had so many men around her. The perfect husband archetype Wan Li, the cute lover archetype Bao Da Tong, the fashionable people in the marketing agency of her building. She could even crush on the mature uncle archetype, Director Pan. But why did she not fall in love with any of them, but instead that unfathomable man? Sometimes it felt as if he loved her and protected her like a treasure. But sometimes he was suddenly distant, making her uncertain whether her feelings were real or just foolish fancy.
The buses during rush hour were really something. When the bus she was waiting for finally came, she realized it was already packed. She didn’t have the courage to squeeze inside and decided to take the subway. Although it was a bit out of the way, the situation should be a little better. She felt her own place was still better. It was closer to the law firm so she could walk to and from work. No need to suffer all this. However, if she moved back home, she wouldn’t be able to brazenly stay by his side anymore!
She walked towards the subway stop, lost in thought. As she got close to the entrance, she suddenly saw a large billboard on a department store. It advertised name-brand lingerie. Her figure was pretty good so she paid more attention to lingerie. She was very willing to invest in them. Seeing the beautiful model and the dreamy bra, she suddenly felt the urge to go shopping, and irresistible urge!
Her steps halted and her reasoning failed to overcome her desire as she walked towards the store.
The department store was pretty famous, but it had been undergoing renovations the past few days. Therefore, Xiao Xia wasn’t too familiar with the new layout. Yet for some reason, she immediately made her way towards the third floor and arrived at the lingerie area, as if she had already been her after the renovations. Yet before she could notice this, her attention was drawn towards the beautiful bras.
She picked one out and noticed no salesperson had come over to take care of her. Therefore, she diligently went to try it on. She didn’t notice her actions were unusual. Normally when buying underwear, she just picked out the appropriate sizes. She had never tried them on in-store before. It was like a voice in her mind was guiding her, though she herself didn’t notice.
She also didn’t notice that next to the underwear section was the children’s clothing section.
Looking in the mirror’s reflection a few times, she was very satisfied with the bra’s effects. But right as she was about to put her own clothes back on, she noticed the door to the changing room was open by a crack. She was terrified, thinking there was some pervert that had already seen everything as she screamed.
But she didn’t make any sound!
From the wooden walls of the changing room, a child’s arms had stretched out, covering her mouth. Then, the wooden door opened, revealing Zhang Jia Lin standing outside!
She still had the same appearance. Long hair, a traditional dress, a pale little face, and large eyes without a hint of life that stared at Xiao Xia. A sinister aura billowed over!
Xiao Xia was scared stiff, forgetting to even struggle as they looked at each other. Zhang Jia Lin suddenly leapt forward and seized Xiao Xia! Xiao Xia never knew something could be that fast. Before she could blink, she felt a wave of pain against her chest and heard a scream.
Yet she wasn’t the one who screamed. Instead, it was Zhang Jia Lin. She had gotten too close to Xiao Xia’s amulet and was clearly burned by the radiance it emitted. Despite this, her hand still scratched five bloody marks on Xiao Xia’s arm and in the middle of her chest.
At that moment, Xiao Xia suddenly felt the little girl hated her!
But why did she hate her? Why did they hate Bao Da Tong? They had never provoked them before!
However, she didn’t have time to ponder over it. The moment her amulet glowed, the hands coming from the wall also shrank back. Xiao Xia hurriedly took the opportunity to rush out of the changing room.
She no longer cared that her body was exposed! Luckily her skirt was a separate piece as she used one hand to cover her chest with a shirt. She was betting on the fact that Zhang Jia Lin wasn’t corporeal, that she was afraid of her amulet and that she could attract attention by making a ruckus. Therefore, she forced her way out!
The pain in her knees and elbow indicated the Zhang Jia Lin truly wasn’t corporeal. She didn’t send her flying, but instead passed right through her and fell to the ground. Xiao Xia didn’t look back, calling for help as she scrambled up around the shelves and ran for it. But she immediately noticed that it didn’t matter how loud she yelled. The people in the area didn’t notice her existence, as if she were invisible. But she could clearly hear the clamor of the outside world. Why couldn’t they see or hear her?
A stick stretched out from nowhere and tripped Xiao Xia once again. Before she could get up, two slender legs appeared in front of her wearing small red leather shoes. One foot lifted and swung viciously towards her face.
She hurriedly shrank backwards. She turned, but Zhang Jia Lin appeared in front of her again. She tried another direction with the same result. It was like she was surrounded by countless Zhang Jia Lins. Only then did she understand her amulet wasn’t that effective against such a powerful fiend. It could only protect her vital areas. Yet despite this, Zhang Jia Lin had still clawed her skin!
A quiet noise sounded next to Xiao Xia’s ear, so close it was right next to her.
She looked around in shock, realizing she had fallen onto the unopened boxes of children’s clothing in the children’s section. The noise had come from behind the box while Zhang Jia Lin stood in front of her, staring fixedly!
“Aun…tie…” A rigid, inhuman voice came from the gap between boxes.
A head slowly peeked out from behind, with a picturesque face, red lips and pearly teeth. However, the smile was sluggish and the skin was shiny. It was actually a child mannequin. He called to Xiao Xia while walking out from behind the boxes. Because his knees couldn’t bend, his posture was extremely weird.
Xiao Xia scrambled to put on her clothes and tried to hide behind the boxes. However, she suddenly felt her wrists being grabbed by something cold and hard. Looking down, there were actually two more wooden mannequins. One was a boy and the other a girl. They wore the store’s display clothing that still had the price tags and branding. They pulled at Xiao Xia from either side, mechanically twisting their heads to look at her. The made clicking sounds like that of a watch being wound.
“Lets…go!” They spoke in unison.
“Go where?!” Xiao Xia struggled desperately to escape the grasps of the two small mannequins. However, she couldn’t do anything as she was dragged towards what seemed to be a fire exit. Zhang Jia Lin led the way walking backwards, her white eyes still fixed on Xiao Xia.
“I’m not going, let me go!”
She recalled that the mannequins in the store were very light Sometimes, she would inadvertently knock into them and they would topple over. Why were these two so heavy? Her arms were about to snap but she still couldn’t get free of their crudely-shaped hands!
Seeing the door getting closer and closer, she shouted and even kicked over several shelves of items, trying to attract someone’s attention. However, to her despair, she saw it was all for naught. She seemed to be a lonely island within all the busy shoppers!
As they reached the door, she braced her legs against the door frame, unwilling to get dragged away. Seeing Zhang Jia Lin glaring at her angrily, she even felt a thrill of victory.
She had finally made that cold fiend show some reaction. Zhang Jia Lin would have to spend some effort to subdue her!
“Watch out for us when entering the store!” Her legs went numb as two hands were placed on her legs while a snake-like voice came from beside her. Turning to look, it was actually a male mannequin used to display a suit. Xiao Xia’s legs went limp and she was no longer able to brace herself. She was dragged into the doorway.
Darkness, boundless darkness!
She didn’t know where the door led to, and only felt the darkness was unnatural. The two small mannequins still pulled her hands.She felt an overwhelming sense of oppression, as if she had entered a long corridor with wooden flooring that didn’t seem to descend.
She trusted her feelings. Wan Li had said she was claustrophobic, and was extremely sensitive to enclosed spaces.
Clack…clack…clack…
The sound of wooden feet walking on the wooden floor came from beside her. Two chilling white lights drifted ahead of her. They were Zhang Jia Lin’s eyes. What about her own footsteps?
Why couldn’t she hear her footsteps? Was Zhang Jia Lin messing with her, or had her soul left her body.
At that moment, she felt extreme regret. She shouldn’t have gone shopping. There was obviously danger since the two aggressive fiends wouldn’t just sit still. Why had she still been so careless?
“Even if you hadn’t gone shopping, I would have found another way to capture you.” Some words suddenly crammed into her mind.
Startled, she finally realized her inexplicable desire to shop had been implanted. Thinking about it, Wan Li’s patient probably hadn’t wanted to commit suicide out of the blue. It had all been planned to lure Wan Li away. His constitution made it hard for spirits to fool him after all!
Delicate childish laughter rang out sinisterly!
Xiao Xia knew Zhang Jia Lin could hear her thoughts, and knew she had guessed correctly, hence the smugness.
“Come at me if you want, don’t use such petty tricks to set a trap for Ruan Zhan!” She assumed she was being used as bait for Ruan Zhan as she roared towards the white lights.
She just wanted to love him, to give him warmth, to pull him out of his inner darkness. She never wanted to be a burden or a weakness. Why did everyone use her like that? She would rather die than drag him down! Therefore, she did her best to remain calm. She was afraid his intuition would tell him she was in danger! How many times has it been? He would sense whenever she was in trouble, and immediately hurry over. It was even the case within Si Ma Nan’s dreamkill spell. This made her feel like they were closely connected and incomparably intimate, but she also felt it endangered him.
She needed to try and resolve problems on her own! There had to be a way!
“What do I care about Ruan Zhan? He is insignificant!” The voice appeared in her mind once again. “The one I want is you!”
This fiend child wanted her? Why?
“Bao Da Tong as well!”
It turned out they were the targets!
