Kou Dong’s heart raced uncontrollably. He closed his eyes, and felt the cold and slippery snake’s skin skimming over his body – the scales were round and smooth, and when they rubbed against him, they seemed to be gently raised, the edges of which rubbed a little bit against his clothes, scraping against the thin material of his clothes.
It was gazing at him, as if pressing him into cold soaking water. The serpent had no arms, only a small section of bare shoulder, above which was a long-haired and handsome head belonging to a human being. He wagged his long tail and exhaled into the face of the child beneath him.
The breath was fishy, too, and Kou Dong had to hold to keep the goosebumps at bay. The golden python was amused by his reaction, and exhaled slowly into his ear.
Kou Dong: “!”
He wasn’t sensitive in other places except his ears, and blowing gently and delicately into them was basically equivalent to killing him directly. When he was blown, his whole body was like a rootless duckweed in the rain, and he was about to start shivering and swaying.
Ye Yanzhi was sensible enough to cover his ears, reminding him: “Don’t move!”
–Now it seemed that sleeping and waking were the most important criteria for this night. If Kou Dong was found out by the NPCs that he was not actually sleeping, he might end up worse than the little fat guy who was about to be made into a human dog.
“……”
Kou Dong clenched his teeth, struggling against his own reaction, his heart was filled with despair.
He also didn’t want to move, but this was ……
He didn’t know how this snake’s brain grew in the end, it was smart, aiming at his ear. Kou Dong’s body was tense, he almost twisted his body.
This wouldn’t work.
Ye Yanzhi made an immediate decision: “Think of something sad!”
Kou Dong was even more desperate.
If he could open his mouth at this moment, he would have shouted at his son – no ah!
Where was the sadness?
Ye Yanzhi gritted his teeth, so he put up a fight.
“You just wait,” he said quietly, “I’ll grow up and not be filial, I’ll bully you day and night …….”
And make you call out for Daddy in bed.
This sentence turned around on the edge of his mouth but he didn’t say it outwardly.
Kou Dong thought about that image in his head, and instantly it didn’t itch anymore. Not only was it not itchy, he was even a little angry – he worked hard to raise the child, why won’t he be filial to him?
There was no such reason under the sky! What was this? He still had some faith in child rearing. Could it be that someone who didn’t know any better had abducted his child and was instigating him?
Kou Dong︰He was so angry!
The more he thought about it, the more angry he got, and he even made up a drama in his head. And the main character wasn’t him, he was just the father who tried to break up the lovebirds – the real villain!
Kou Dong became even more angry.
He was so angry that he forgot all about the Golden Python’s actions, and was alone with his anger swirling around in his head. The golden python stayed in the room for a while and thought he would soon surrender, but unexpectedly , he became more and more brave, as if fighting a prolonged battle.
This made the beauty snake unhappy.
He hovered in place for a while, his eyes stared straight at Kou Dong, watching every tiny tremor.
But Kou Dong didn’t open his eyes, so there was nothing he could do about it.
A few moments later, the sound of the instrument sounded again at the door, so close that it was like urging. The beauty snake was reluctant, it almost took half a day before it turned its head and slithered toward the door of the room.
The room fell back into a deathly silence.
The two didn’t get up immediately, fearing that the NPC would come back. Until it was already dawn and a faint light shone through the crack in the door, the rest of the room began to react one after another, no longer sleeping in a state where everything was unknown.
Along with the morning light came the man from yesterday. He roughly pushed open the door, stirring a copper basin in his hand, in which was a porridge so thin that only a few grains of rice could be seen.
“Time to get up!” He tapped his chopsticks on the side of the copper basin a few times, and said gruffly, “How long are you going to sleep?”
These words were almost like a call to arms, and the children in the room all instantly opened their eyes. Even those who were only three or four years old and still in a daze were desperately rubbing their eyes with their hands in an attempt to wake themselves up.
The scene finally satisfied the man somewhat. He threw the basin to them, letting them grab it, and stood in the doorway himself, pulling out broken bowls from a large bag. After he got about fourteen or fifteen of them, he placed them on the floor.
Without him saying anything, the children automatically cupped the bowls in their hands and looked at him timidly.
“Old rules, understand?” The man said, shaking the bag in his hand, “Don’t get any ideas, – if you get caught, you’ll come back and go to the Woodman. Got it?”
No one in the room dared to retort. Only a boy who looked a little older whispered, “Uncle Liu, how much do we …… have to get back today?”
The man called Uncle Liu glanced away.
“How much should you bring back?” He snorted, “Do I need to teach you this? How much you can ask for is how much, if you’re able to do so, you can earn a piece of gold leaf back – we have at least raised you for a few years, and if you can’t even recover the capital by then, you’ll all go to me to the woodman!”
“Our circus …… is very profitable.”
This last unkind remark made the children present all shiver in unison.
They swarmed forward and picked up a broken bowl each. The two of them, Kou Dong and Song Hong, were sandwiched in the middle of the crowd, but they were not conspicuous, and each held a bowl in their hands as well.
The man opened the door to the room and gestured for them to go out.
There were several men at the door watching, with shovels and hoes in their hands, staring expressionlessly at each child. Yesterday’s cart was now parked in front of the door, and the figures coming out of the nearby yard were clustered together, also drilling into one of the cars.
Kou Dong squeezed toward the door of the car, and suddenly felt that someone beside him gently bumped him.
When he turned his head to look, the little girl looked to be only five or six years old, but her face was quite calm and collected, from head to toe there was a big brother temperament that didn’t fit her looks. She imperceptibly nodded to Kou Dong, Kou Dong also understood, without a trace, he grabbed her hand, pulling the two closer.
They squeezed into the same car. There were many people in the car, Song Hong smoothed out the hay on the ground and sat in the far corner, beckoning Kou Dong to come over.
Ah Xue followed behind Kou Dong and waved her hand at him as a sign of recognition.
One day after entering the duplicate, the three of them were all together.
The little girl didn’t come alone, and she also brought a player from the yard where she was imprisoned, who was also a little girl. However, looking at her, her nerves were much thinner, and she bit his lips with a look of wanting to cry or not. Her eyes were red, and she was said to be called Xiao Yu.
Song Hong was also finally relieved to see Ah Xue and asked her in a low voice how she was doing.
“Well? Are you two alone in that house of yours?”
Ah Xue said more than that, “There are three.”
Song Hong︰”…… Three?”
He looked around.
“Where did the third one come from?”
Ah Xue said, “You’ve already seen him.”
These words caused several people to fall into silence for a moment, instantly realizing that she was originally talking about Little Fatty.
Xiao Yu’s voice was dry and she suddenly interjected, softly saying, “You guys have seen him too?”
The two nodded. She shrank towards the corner, her eyes reddened, and a few more tears fell downwards, sobbing and burying her face into her hands.
Ah Xue explained briefly, “They knew each other.”
The two of them had some ideas in their minds, but due to the limited system rules, they didn’t know how to comfort her, so they could only lightly pat her on the shoulder.
Song Hong held his breath and could only say: “Maybe you’ll see each other again.”
But after seeing him, could the other party still be a human being? Song Hong couldn’t guarantee it. The Fatty drew a dog, he was afraid that immediately he would also be made into a human dog, if he didn’t survive, he was dead; if he survived ……
That living, could it really be considered a good thing?
Xiao Yu obviously also knew the consequences of being captured, she curled up even more, whimpering non-stop, shoulders shaking up and down, and soon soaked a small piece of the blanket under her feet. The girl was born very white, with big eyes. Crying like this could have been very pitiful and even sparked some fatherly love. Unfortunately, at this moment, none of the three people next to them were in the mood to showcase their loving sides, and were only busy exchanging clues.
Ah Xue glanced around and asked, “Did you guys find Little Bolt?”
Song Hong shook his head, “There is no such person in our courtyard.”
After inquiring around, the result was nothing, and the children in the house couldn’t tell which person was called Little Bolt.
Ah Xue said, “I don’t have one here either. I tried asking a few people, but they all said they had never heard of him.”
She was silent for a while, finally still saying her guess, “This Little bolt …… may not be a person at all?”
If these words were placed in other places, perhaps they would point to ghosts; however, when placed in the context of this replica, the meaning was obvious.
Kou Dong frowned, vaguely uncomfortable at the idea.
“You mean-”
Ah Xue’s gaze cleared.
“- Could he be, like, in the circus?”
“……”
That was actually the most likely, except neither of them really wanted to think in that direction.
The system’s mission, was to rescue Little Bolt from the Town, so it was evident that this child must be special, and perhaps the most special of all.
And in this place, what kind of people would be more special than the half-human, half-monsters in the circus?
Song Hong pressed his forehead and couldn’t help but curse, rubbing his temples hard.
“If that’s really the case, we still have to find a way to get into the circus.”
“-Into the circus?”
Xiao Yu’s voice snapped up, like she was very incredulous, “Why?!”
She definitely wouldn’t want to step into a place like that! She had already taken a sneak peek in the middle of the night, and the human bear, the human dog, the human snake, the circus members with missing arms and legs, trapped in vases and baskets, were enough to make her heart skip a beat,-these were the kind of looks that would give her nightmares just by looking at them.
She had so easily forgotten that scene, but now that the word circus was mentioned, she couldn’t help but think of it anew.
“I’m not going!” She lost her voice, “Whoever wants to go can go – I’ll never go!”
Ah Xue frowned and reached out a small hand to cover her mouth.
“It’s too noisy.”
Xiao Yu whimpered, her eyes bristling with resentment.
She glared at Ah Xue, a little hatred even sprouting inside.
“I’m going to save him in the morning and you don’t agree ……”
The little girl’s patience was also exhausted, she impatiently said: “What do you rely on to save him? Relying on your one meter two height, or relying on your fist that doesn’t even hurt when you hit people?”
Kou Dong: “……”
It was still familiar words, still a familiar flavor.
The little girl’s meanness was back.
Xiao Yu was also blocked to death by her words, her chest rose and fell up and down, and she froze, unable to say anything else, just staring at Ah Xue with a deadly stare and biting her lips tightly.
“I know what you’re thinking,” Ah Xue said, “it’s just a little bit of money, you haven’t been wronged since you were a kid, you thought this was for excitement and a relationship on the side? Hmm?”
“……”
Xiao Yu couldn’t say anything, apparently every single one of those sentences was correct.
“There aren’t that many rules here,” Ah Xue said, her gaze still leveled at her, but somehow that look vaguely sent shivers down Xiao Yu’s spine, “Either you stay alive and figure out a way to get out, or, you die. Understand?”
Xiao Yu trembled even more, she just opened her mouth to answer something, but then she heard the carriage creak.
The person outside was the first to leap down from the carriage, lifting the curtain as he did so, his grim face appeared in front of him, a smoking gun still in his mouth, from which wisps of white mist were sprayed out, “We’re here.”
The person who spoke was Triangle Eyes, his voice was hoarse, and he looked around the children in the carriage once, “Everyone, get off.”