Xiao Xia removed the amulet from over her heart. After adjusting its straps, she wore it like a circlet on her forehead. This time, the amulet was used to prevent Zhang Jia Lin from probing her thoughts!
She merely wanted to warn Ruan Zhan not to come save her carelessly. Therefore, the moment she sensed his worried response, she immediately cut off the connection. Allowing him to contact her spirit and find his way here was not what she wanted!
She was his companion, not his burden. These words weren’t just for show. She would definitely accomplish it! Thinking of this, she calmed her breathing and bravely started trying to save herself.
Her cell phone was on her left wrist. Because she was afraid of missing calls, she would put her phone in a wrist strap every summer. The first thing she did after getting dragged here was secretly take the battery out. This phone was her only way to contact the outside. It could even save her life. She couldn’t let Zhang Jia Lin find it!
Secretly putting the battery back, she hesitated for a moment before covering the phone tightly and pressing a button. The “beep” of the button still transmitted from her palms, seeming exceptionally loud in the silent room. She jumped.
Luckily, the room still remained silent. Xiao Xia gulped and slowly took the phone out from her palms.
The screen’s faint blue light after a long period of darkness was a little dazzling. Xiao Xia needed several seconds to adjust. From the abnormal darkness, dampness and smell of mildew, she had assumed she was locked in a windowless basement that was around a dozen square meters. The screen’s light completely confirmed her guesses.
She raised the phone and looked blearily around. Five meters in front of her was an empty wall. There was nothing else apart from a very sturdy-looking wooden door.
Despite knowing the door couldn’t possibly be unlocked, she still slowly walked over and gave it a try. Her footsteps echoed, each one seemingly stepping on her own heart, putting her on edge. She only now realized that loneliness was eerie. The smallest sound would get magnified, clashing with the silence and weighing heavily on the heart.
When she touched the door handle, the cold, sticky sensation of rusted metal or perhaps a layer of lichen made it seem like she was touching a snake. Xiao Xia immediately jerked her hand back and wiped her hand on the wall, having confirmed this path was blocked. Thus, she thought to look around the room to see if she could find any wooden planks or metal rods to use as tools. But she had just turned around when she got the strong feeling that there were many “people” in the room, not her alone!
This whole time she felt she was the only one in this basement, and had never sensed anyone else. Yet at this moment, she suddenly did, making her hairs stand on end. Thinking of having sat here in the darkness with many “people” staring at her whilst she was unaware made her heart almost stop beating!
Without any warning, her phone’s light vanished, plunging her back into darkness. It takes some time to adjust to light from darkness, but to adjust to darkness from light took even longer! The darkness in front of her eyes was like a bottomless abyss. Even worse, she knew she was surrounded by many “people” at the moment!
She stood frozen, not daring to move.
The silence continued, as if they were in a standoff. Gritting her teeth, Xiao Xia pressed the button on her phone again, enduring the beep that seemed to shatter the air. She took a step forward so the screen’s light could reach further.
The darkness across wasn’t the solid surface of the wall. Instead, it was a dense shadow obscuring irregular shapes of varying heights. Although she couldn’t see clearly, Xiao Xia could still tell those were many humanoid shapes. Based on their appearances, they seemed to be…many children!
Her heart pounded, making it hard to breathe. Only one thought slowly filled her mind. Her legs were limp, as if another step would bring her to her knees. However, she still involuntarily inched forwards.
One of the children’s figures appeared in her vision.
It was a girl around five or six years old. Her curly hair was brushed neatly but her clothes were sloppy, the buttons unbuttoned and her shoes were on the wrong feet. She was leaning against the wall in a strange posture, almost as if reaching out for a hug.
Her skin, hair and eyes all seemed real, but her expression was dull and her eyes were unblinking. She merely stared ahead vacantly and remained unmoving, more wooden than a piece of wood!
At that moment, Xiao Xia wasn’t sure if it was a puppet or a real person. Therefore, she forced herself to reach out and lightly touch the little girl’s face and hair. As she made contact, she immediately jerked her hand back. The sensation told her that the girl was real, but it was also a soulless puppet. It was a living doll!
In shock, Xiao Xia shifted her phone to the side. Next to the child was another child, and another beside that one. A rough glance showed her there were over a dozen of them, the majority being girls. They were all in the same state, as if their souls had been stolen with only husks left behind.
Were these the missing children?
What was that sensation? Xiao Xia wasn’t able to describe it. Normally, being surrounded by young and innocent children was a very joyous occasion. Yet in this dark basement, seeing their corpse-like figures, staring, breathless, and without any cheer, a chill crept up from her heart. She was extremely afraid. The most fragile people had become the most frightening demons!
They were stacked close to each other, and there were enough of them to form two or three layers. They were lined up on either side of where Xiao Xia had been sitting earlier. Some were standing while others sat, but the area in between them was empty as if they had left a space for Xiao Xia. It was as if the room wasn’t a basement, but rather someone’s toy shelf. These children and Xiao Xia were all toys on that shelf!
Xiao Xia had experienced being placed on a shelf when her soul was inside the porcelain doll. At this moment, all the “dolls” looked like real people, making it even more horrifying!
A familiar face drew Xiao Xia’s gaze.
It was Zhang Jia Lin! She stood on the very edge of the lineup, wearing the same clothing as Xiao Xia had previously seen on her. Yet while all the other dolls had their eyes open, only hers were closed!
Whenever Zhang Jia Lin had attacked them, she had always been a vision or illusion. In reality, it was one of the two fiend children. According to Ruan Zhan’s investigation, it was probably the girl used as a funerary object. Therefore, Xiao Xia had always suspected that Zhang Jia Lin, as the first child to go missing, had already died. Seeing the little girl’s body in front of her now, she couldn’t help but want to confirm it.
Her extremities were cold and she wasn’t breathing. Zhang Jia Lin was no different from the other children. However, scientifically speaking, lack of oxygen for a period of time would result in brain damage, as well as other harmful effects to the body. So were these children alive or dead? If they were dead, then these children were just flesh puppets. Although they appeared human, they didn’t have souls. However, if they were still alive, could they turn back to normal after the fiend children were defeated?
“I’m here!” Zhang Jia Lin suddenly spoke as her eyes snapped open, startling Xiao Xia into stumbling back and falling to the floor. Her phone’s screen happened to turn off at that moment.
In the dark, soft footsteps echoed as if something was walking towards her. She hurriedly pressed the button. As expected, the blue glow showed Zhang Jia Lin standing in front of her, her little face seeming weird and eerie under the light.
“I don’t like this body!” She spoke again.
No. although Zhang Jia Lin stood there, her mouth hadn’t moved. The voice didn’t seem to be coming from inside her either, but rather from behind Xiao Xia!
Xiao Xia swiftly got up and turned around.
On the wall behind her, the one with the door, a dark shade stepped off. The movement was easy, as if walking down the stairs, landing on the floor in one go!
The shade seemed to also be that of a five or six year old child. The hair was done up in horn-like pigtails and it wore tattered red clothing. An ornament hung in front of its chest, like some sort of locket. On its clothes was a visible smudge. For some reason, Xiao Xia felt it was the moss she had wiped on the wall earlier!
The small shade approached step by step, but the features were still obscured. It gave off a strange smell, as if it had already decayed. It didn’t just smell foul, but there was also the smell of medicine, incense and mud!
At this moment, Xiao Xia no longer worried about her thoughts being read. She pulled her amulet off and held it in front of her. “Stay away!” She yelled!
“That thing is useless against me!”
Xiao Xia shivered. Who said only vicious things were scary? The scariest thing in the world was when something was discordant. For example, a child with an adult’s eyes, like Lil’ Tong. Another example was an infantile voice speaking chilling words, just like the one before her!
“Then bring it on!” Xiao Xia’s anger overcame her fear.
There was a swish as a gust of wind suddenly swept up in the enclosed basement. The wind was so cold that Xiao Xia felt as if she had been plunged into icy water. Her teeth chattered uncontrollably.
“After locking you up for ten or so days, your amulet will run out of holy light. After all, it is no treasure. It only protects you via the magic and willpower imbued upon it.” The small shade spoke in an adult manner. “However, I cannot wait that long. In ten days or so, your skin will shrink from hunger and it’ll make things difficult!”
Xiao Xia was horrified! Was she going to peel her skin off?
As the small shade approached, she instinctively retreated until her back het the wall.
“Don’t worry, I’m not after your skin. What I want is your body.” Without the amulet to shield her thoughts, Xiao Xia no longer bothered to try and the small shade started reading her mind again. “I am already over three centuries old. I can’t keep looking like a child, right? My soul can’t be supported by just skin. Therefore, I want all of you.”
It turns out this small fiend girl wanted her body? But why her?
“You aren’t that beautiful, but my big bro likes you.” The fiend girl suddenly changed her tone as she grumbled. “Besides, I don’t just want one body. I will also prepare a few other sets of ‘clothing’!” She started laughing cheerfully, her laughter echoing in the empty room.
Xiao Xia imagined herself hanging in this basement like an outfit for the little fiend girl to wear whenever she pleased. A sense of resistance arose in her heart.
“But I really wish I had my own body, just like big bro. That way I can slowly grow up!” The fiend girl sighed gloomily, her tone extremely sad and helpless. Hearing it in the current situation was both pitiful and frightening.
“Go reincarnate!” Xiao Xia responded. Recalling the Ksitigharba Bodhisattva, she was about to recite the first phrase when she was interrupted.
“Invoking her name is meaningless against me. I’ve never been to her side, so she cannot affect things on my side!” The fiend girl suddenly turned fierce, waving a hand at Xiao Xia. A gust of Yin wind struck her. Although it’s might was halved by the amulet, the remainder still felt like daggers across her arm. But at this moment, a thought flashed through her mind that distracted her from the pain.
Did she just say “big bro”? Was it Lil’ Tong? She said her big bro could grow up naturally. Lu Yan had only become pregnant after Zhang Zi Xin died. Could Lil’ Tong be a ghost child from birth? But according to common knowledge, humans had souls when they were born. Then what was Lil’ Tong’s soul? Why hadn’t the fiend girl also become a ghost child?
“No one gave me the chance to reincarnate, so now I don’t want to go!” The fiend girl was lost in her resentment and hadn’t noticed Xiao Xia’s thoughts. “No one will have power over me ever again!”
“I pity you. However, you’ve already turned from victim to aggressor.” Xiao Xia knew persuading the fiend girl whose grudge ran deep was definitely not going to be effective. However, she still spoke for the sake of buying time. At the same time, she pushed the button on her phone again, preventing the room from falling into darkness. “You cannot escape causality, and will only bring trouble upon yourself!”
“Fool!” The fined girl said disdainfully. “I really don’t understand why big bro wants to marry you!”
Marry her?! What was going on here?
This was the first time she conversed with the culprit of the two cases. The consecutive reveals were difficult for Xiao Xia to accept, but none were as scary as this one! Was the big bro the fiend girl mentioned really Lil’ Tong? But he was only five. No, no, he was over three hundred years old! But no matter how old he was, what did it have to do with her? Why did he choose her? Why did these siblings both choose her? Was she especially unlucky or was there something she didn’t know?
Xiao Xia’s mind was a mess, somewhat unable to process the situation. While she was frozen, the fiend girl took a step forward but was rebuffed by the glow of the amulet.
This infuriated her. She sneered and made a seal with her hand, pointing towards the children!
