He was too late. Liu Xiaodan was too late when he arrived at the direction of the toy store. He could see the workers cleaning up the mess and the police taking statements from the witnesses. He was not sure if this was where Chuan Nayi and Liu Guangru had been, but he had a feeling they were there. He hid himself from the view of the people. He was too suspicious to come close.From the mobile, he saw an officer walking with the same detective they met earlier that day. Detective Hung was not accompanied by Officer Bai this time; it was Officer Yu. The bubbly-looking pretty girl walked next to him as she talked about the contents of her notebook. Normally, Liu Xiaodan could hear words when he read lips; however, it seemed that he lost this ability. Perhaps the ghost child took back the gifts he had given his father. He was not sure if Liu Guangru still sees him as his prospect father after all.
Tapping came to Liu Xiaodan"s shoulder. He slowly turned to see who it was, only to see officer Bai squinting at him. The father walked out of his hiding spot and took a deep breath as if prepared for the questions. "S-Sorry... I don"t want to be seen..."
"And why is that? What exactly is going on with you and that girl?" The police officer ground his teeth. "I still- no, we still haven"t wrapped our heads with what happened in your dorm. Now, we"re dealing with another curious case."
"...Is Nayi involved again?"
"Involved? She took a beating from falling off. She"s not in danger anymore, but she"s in pain." Officer Bai took out his notebook and reviewed a detail. "She must be taken to the nearest hospital. She was seen with a child. Black hair, dark eyes. Possibly five to seven years old." He lifted his gaze from the notebook to the man before him. "Is that what? A nephew?"
Liu Xiaodan only looked at the ground. He stared at his dirty feet, balling his fists in uncertainty how to get out of the situation. He took a peek to his side, noticing how open it was for him to just bolt and evade them. Then again, running would only make things worse. He was not a criminal so why should he act like one?
"We"re running records for the child"s name. If you know anything, you should tell us." Officer Bai brought his notebook down. "Seriously, we need to know what this is. I"ll believe everything you say to me..."
"It was a mogui." Liu Xiaodan refused to look at the officer. "He used to be good, but recent events started making him... very violent. It"s still connected to Huang Kun"s case..."
"I remember that girl, Chuan Nayi, saying something like... it was a child that killed Huang Kun. A ghost child." The officer scratched his head, annoyed by the fact that he considered the paranormal to be responsible. "Is it the same child as the one she was seen with?"
"As wild as it sounds like..." The man nodded. "I know this sounds very bad, but he only did it because Huang Kun blatantly threatened me. He"s rather protective of Nayi and me... but this..." Liu Xiaodan didn"t know why Liu Guangru would suddenly turn against his prospect mother. Perhaps, it had something to do with her "not loving" the child. "I never thought this would ever happen...
"Please! Let me get to Nayi!" The father grasped at the wrist of the officer in desperation. It was a good thing that his powers had seemed to vanish, or else who knew how easily he could break the officer"s arm? "Which hospital was she taken to?"
Officer Bai only watched his actions before looking at the scene next to them. Eleven civilians, including Chuan Nayi, were injured in what happened. Even a sales attendant, a security guard, and a handful of witnesses did say that a child hurled the woman to the gla.s.s walls. Whatever was happening couldn"t be explained by what he knew, but it didn"t mean that he could let this... ghost child... roam free. Right now, he could have Liu Xiaodan act as a strong tie to this maniac.
He closed his notebook and pocketed it. Officer Bai nodded at him. "Okay, I"ll take you to the hospital. Come with me." He walked off, hearing Liu Xiaodan profusely thanking him.
The door opened for Liu Xiaodan before Officer Bai got in the driver"s seat. The man seemed to be out of it as he was always looking out of the window. The only thing that snapped Liu Xiaodan"s attention from the vast outside was the feeling of cold metal on his wrists. His gaze darted to where his hands were, only to see that he was cuffed by the officer to the rail designed to hold detainees. Liu Xiaodan only stared at it while Officer Bai rolled off the parking and radioed his next actions. He was headed to the City Hospital to see one of the victims.
A sigh escaped the father"s lips before leaning against the seat. He didn"t like the feeling of being cuffed to a police mobile, but if he had to sit through this to see Chuan Nayi fast—so be it. He closed his eyes for a little while before getting a familiar whiff of fragrance in the air. His eyes opened and looked at the rearview mirror. Through the bars of steel to keep the criminals from disturbing the driver, he saw familiar black eyes of the coldest gaze.
Liu Guangru had run off earlier, but he wasn"t willing to stay far for too long.
"Tell me... how did you even get involved with this... mogui?" Officer Bai started to speak to Liu Xiaodan. He couldn"t take him to an interrogation booth to ask these questions, or else the police force would make fun of him. He dared believe accounts of these people about the supernatural? Most importantly, they believed that a ghost killed an actual living human?
"I just found him one night, and he said he wanted to stay with me." Liu Xiaodan made light of his situation. Stay with him? He was asked to be his father and copulate with a woman in order to bear this ghost child a body; how was that "staying with him"? He raised his head and closed his eyes. "He... then saw Nayi and grew fond of her. Then... the murder happened. Huang Kun took a step too deep, and he ended up being killed by him..."
"Him? You really refer to this ghost like a person. Does it have a name?"
"...Guangru... I named him Liu Guangru..."
"You gave it a name, and your girlfriend bought your story. Then, it went after a love rival... and now, it sent eleven people to the hospital—including your girlfriend." Officer Bai frowned as he listened. His eyes never left the road, and he was scared that if he looked at Liu Xiaodan, he would hit the guy. Really? Shouldn"t he be saying something about a curse? That would be a lot more believable to others.
Liu Xiaodan moved his head to turn to the surroundings. For some reasons, he felt like his energy was being drained from him. The air had gone suffocating while the fragrance was making him dizzy. The sky looked dark despite the good weather earlier; was it about to rain? "Stop saying "it". You might hurt his feelings."
Officer Bai glanced at the man who was inevitably falling asleep. He decided not to disturb him as they got to a red light. The officer then turned the blast of the AC down, but it didn"t help with the cold. Also, he felt that the car was moving a lot slower than usual. At this moment, his radio started making noises. At first, it was just static... until it started sounding like a girl"s voice was being thrown in the mix.
The man glanced at his radio before noticing that the other cars had moved. He continued driving, but he noticed the considerable slowing of the car. His foot was pressing on the gas pedal more, but the car seemed to be traveling at such a slow pace. Officer Bai then heard chunks of voices from the radio again. A hand took the radio and raised it to his ear.
"It"s in there... it"s in there with you..."
"What?" Officer Bai felt the hair at the back of his neck rose, and that a chill had crawled down his spine. The broken sounds the girl made kept on coming until it grew louder—not clearer. He placed the radio back down and used a hand to wake up Liu Xiaodan. However, the father was fast asleep. "Liu Xiaodan! Liu Xiaodan, wake up!"
Blot. Blot. A set of eyes darted towards his own windshield, only to see red drops dripping down the gla.s.s. What made it strange was that there were no more cars in front of them, and the car had come to a complete stop. He tried to make it move, but the car didn"t budge. The engine only purred, but the tires refused to roll.
Blot. Blot. Two more red drops blotted on the windshield. Officer Bai turned on his wipers to get rid of it, even spraying water for it to be cleaned. However, what spouted from the wipers wasn"t water... but deep red thick liquid that smudged onto the gla.s.s. The officer leaned against his seat in terror. It was like blood was being wiped on his windshield... more when what seemed to be hands helped the wipers spread the blood.
"It"s in there... it"s in there with you..."
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The girl started crying. She repeated those words more and more, and Officer Bai refused to believe that these things were more than just a nightmare in broad daylight. He wanted to get out, but as soon as he tried, he realized that the doors were locked. "Hey, what"s happening?!" He pried the lock and even the b.u.t.tons to unlock the doors.
Only when he was helplessly trying to free himself did he notice that eyes were peeking from the bars of steel behind his seat. He slowly turned behind him and saw a dark-haired child grasping at the bars with his wee little hands. His big eyes were like black holes that pulled his soul from his body.
"In there... in there with you..."
Officer Bai"s small eyes widened at an almost impossible size as he stared right into the pupils of the ghost child. The boy"s flat lips caused his heart to palpitate. Before he could make a sound, the boy"s lips moved.
"Officer, I have a name."
Snap.
An awful shock made Officer Bai scream as he woke up. Woke up? Right, he woke up. His eyes were wide open as he looked around. The cars were back, and Liu Xiaodan was barely awake. The officer checked his car and even tried on his wipers. His frantic movements attracted Liu Xiaodan"s attention. Also, by then, the heavy atmosphere vanished. He turned behind them and still saw the ghost child obediently seated on the backseat. However, he was lonely.
As if it was a reflex and ignoring the relief on the face of the officer, Liu Xiaodan frowned. He scooted to try and face the kid who was only hanging his head down. "Guangru, where"s your big brother?"
Officer Bai flung his head to the side before locking his eyes at the rearview mirror. His eyes widened at the sight of the ghost child lifting his face to look at his father.
"I lost—"
CRASH!