C50 — Cai Sheng (XII)
by UntamedSThe abductor’s whereabouts were followed by Song Hong. Unlike Kou Dong, he was under strict supervision, but with the title of friend of the young master, it was more convenient than before. Even if the Triangle-Eyed man and the others saw him on the way, they couldn’t say anything because the circus people were asked to escort him, so they could only stare at him with blank expressions.
Therefore, able to move freely, Song Hong followed the abductor for a few days; it wasn’t easy to reach the other side of the residence.
It was said that a cunning rabbit had three caves; these abductors were doing something unreasonable. Naturally, they dared not expose them openly and only secretly carried out their activities. Their hidden place was deep in the alley, beyond the reach of ordinary people, so naturally they couldn’t be noticed.
“We need to stop at the entrance of the alley ahead, “he whispered.”If we go further inside, they’ll see us.”
Kou Dong nodded and got out of the carriage on the neighboring street. From a distance, he could indeed see a beggar standing there with hands out, his eyes sharp and probing from side to side. He looked weak, but with a fierce aura that couldn’t be concealed from head to toe, which was completely out of place with his appearance.
Kou Dong looked at him for a while and frowned.
“Why are there children?”
He vaguely caught a glimpse of a kidnapper carrying something from there, wrapped in swaddling clothes. From a distance, it looked like a cluster of floral blankets.
After seeing this, his heart sank instantly.
——That’s right.
Since they were abductors, how could they not be engaged in the business of selling and buying?
He sneered, “Their business chain is quite complete.”
The youngest children, who wouldn’t even remember, were sold, and the older ones went out on the streets to beg. If they couldn’t get any money from begging, or if they made a mistake, they were put in the circus to be reformed, and then they came out to perform and earn money again—in this way, the value of each person was squeezed cleanly, and there wasn’t a single bit of value left.
The teenager in the wheelchair kept his eyes lowered, as if he was used to it; he didn’t have any reaction to such a scene.
He got into the carriage and didn’t speak, nor did he ask where they were going, and it was only now, when he got back inside, did he ask, “Is this where you wanted to go?”
Kou Dong twisted his head to look at him and asked, “Sir, what do you know?”
The young man’s voice was faint as he responded, “This is no fun.”
These words caused Song Hong to panic in his heart. Although they had guessed that the circus and the abductor were not on the same side, this was in the end a guess. If this person suddenly called the abductors over at this moment…
His gaze was a bit hesitant, and he secretly made enough preparations to make a move.
Kou Dong died panic because of this sentence. He looked at the person in front of him and said, “Why is it not fun? I think it’s fun.”
On the other hand, he displayed a coquetish and pampered demeanor, as if he were talking to a close elder.
This look made Song Hong even more flustered. Although Kou Dong seemed to be from a side storyline, he was obviously acting coquettishly with an NPC, but the other party was likely to be the ultimate boss…
It made him panic.
What if he didn’t fall for it?
What if he got angry and sent them to be transformed without saying a word?
The pale fingers of the young man lightly tapped on the armrest of the wheelchair, showing no signs of anger, and his aura softened even more. He took out a plain silk handkerchief from his pocket, wiped the face of the child in front of him, and then replied, “Carefully hurt you.”
“……”
Sure enough, there was no such thing as’ what if ‘in Kou Dong’s place.
Song Hong’s heart fell back into his stomach, and he even felt a little bit of toothache.
Why were they like a young couple who just got together and were still sticky?
He couldn’t even help but start thinking freely for a while, until the little girl patted him without a trace, signaling him to look at the teenager’s empty pants, which caused Song Hong to snap out of it.
That’s right. How could any normal person be like this?
Besides, this wasn’t a good person.
Being ruthless and unpredictable, the previous few players were tortured like that, and naturally, it was by the orders of the true ruler of this circus. The boy had no intention of being kind at all; he just had extra patience with Kou Dong.
“I want to go in.”
Kou Dong said, pointing at the people inside, “They bullied me; shouldn’t I fight back?”
The young man put away his handkerchief and replied, “Naturally you should.”
Kou Dong got this sentence and also relaxed, knowing that even if this person wouldn’t help him, he would definitely not obstruct him. He waved at Song Hong and the others and crouched in the corner, the three of them quietly waiting for an opportunity.
It was nearly lunchtime when the watchers relaxed considerably, and they waited for their companions to come and take over. When Kou Dong left the house, he was carrying some valuable playthings that the teenager had prepared for him, so he took out a gold leaf from his pocket and handed it to the coachman, signaling him to drive up.
The coachman didn’t take the gold leaf but instead cast his eyes on the teenager. It was only when he saw the person in the wheelchair nod that he took the item and held it in his hand.
The abductor stood loosely at the mouth of the alley and suddenly saw a carriage pass in front of him, and it grazed his shoulder, splashing up quite a bit of dust.
He was almost caught in the crossfire, wiped his face haphazardly, and was inevitably angry. “How do you watch the road?”
When he looked again, the carriage was slightly askew as it moved forward. The abductor’s eyes are sharp, and he immediately saw something rolling out from the gap in the car door, shining golden.
In their line of work, their eyesight needed to be fast and accurate. He didn’t even hesitate; he immediately pretended to unintentionally take a few steps forward to see what it was, and then his gaze froze there.
Gold!
It was gold!
He looked around and saw that no one cared, then immediately went to pick up the gold leaves. The back of the alley entrance was empty and unattended. Taking advantage of this opportunity, Kou Dong hurriedly tried to push the man inside, but the teenager stopped him, not too fast or too slow.
“Go in first,” he said. “I’ll be right behind you.”
As an NPC, he needed to have some skills, especially since he wasn’t person at all. Kou Dong nodded and went in with Song Hong in one fell swoop. They were all small in stature and didn’t attract much attention. The kidnapper was completely focused on this fortune that fell from the sky and didn’t see them.
The three of them smoothly entered the alley and walked inside for a long time before seeing an inconspicuous courtyard. The entrance was dirty and covered in mud and plaster marks.
It was daytime, and most of the abductors hadn’t gotten up yet. Because there were often strangers in and out, the yard also didn’t keep dogs. Only the courtyard door was locked from the inside, making it difficult to get in.
Song Hong walked around the courtyard, then he found a gap. “There is a place in this area.”
It looked like it was dug by a dog. Fortunately, all three of them were children at the moment, and after barely squeezing themselves in, they were able to pass.
They drilled through the hole and stood in the abductor’s yard.
The front yard was where the abductors live, and they could still hear the snoring. The three of them looked at each other, and Kou Dong said, “Let’s go to the backyard first.”
Song Hong and the two others secretly felt their way along the wall to the back. In the back was a firewood room; inside were piles of firewood. There were also two separate small rooms, both locked and the doors tightly closed.
Walking closer, inside came the sound of a woman coaxing a child.
“Sleep sleep sleep, oh oh, sleep sleep sleep…”
There is only one room left without any movement.
Kou Dong took out a thin wire from his pocket and crouched down at the door, familiar with it. Even if he had seen this posture before, seeing it again was still shocking. Song Hong lowered his voice and asked, “Will you pry open the door again?”
Kou Dong nodded, the wire turning back and forth in the lock eye.
“But it won’t necessarily open; I haven’t tried it many times.”
Before the words left his mouth, he heard a slight click, and the lock opened.
Song Hong: “……”
Ah Xue: “……”
Ye Yanzhi: “……”
Kou Dong paused, changed this sentence, and politely said, “Sometimes luck works better.”
He really wasn’t the kind to steal chickens and dogs.
“It’s okay, I understand, “Song Hong said after a while, feeling a bit complicated.
Kou Dong didn’t know what he understood but felt that his gaze had changed.
It was as if he was looking at an outlaw who harmed society.
The door was opened with a narrow gap, and all three of them hurriedly squeezed in. The room wasn’t big, and it was suddenly packed to the brim.
Song Hong whispered, “You’re stepping on my foot!”
“Hush,” the little girl retracted her foot and heavily patted him. “Don’t say anything… There’s a heavy smell of blood; there seems to be something inside.”
It was dark in front of his eyes, and there wasn’t much light. Song Hong fumbled to pull out a box of matches from his pocket, polished one, and shone it in front of him. At this moment, he was startled and suddenly threw the match while cursing.
“Crap ……”
It was so quick that both were a little dazed before they could see it.
“What?”
Song Hong stared at the sinking darkness in front of him, hesitating for a few seconds before answering, “Eyes.”
“What?”
“–Eyes.” Song Hong repeated, “Eyes all over the ground…”
These five words sounded like a strong visual effect, inexplicably making people feel a chill in their backs. A Xue, who had always been bold, remained silent for a while, while Kou Dong remained calm and asked, “Is it the eyes of humans or animals?”
Song Hong said, “I didn’t see it clearly.”
Ye Yanzhi, who was sitting on Kou Dong’s shoulder, answered, “It’s animal eyes.”
Kou Dong then relaxed and said to Song Hong, “Then, let’s light it again.”
Song Hong: “……”
This one was really bold.
But Kou Dong was right; it wasn’t a good idea to keep delaying here. He fumbled again and pulled out a match, used some force in his hand, and rubbed it hard against the side of the box.
A cluster of small red flames suddenly jumped up, reflecting the pale faces of the three people and illuminating a small area around them.
The moment she saw it, the little girl also drew a low breath.
Song Hong was half right; the ground was full of eyes.
Those eyes were scattered on the ground, laying so densely that at a glance, it was almost like some kind of special decoration. There were things piled up in the corner, with tangled hair, all in one place, but with different colors and thicknesses of hair.
Some of them were not piled too steadily and rolled down from the heights with a grunt until they reached Ah Xue’s feet. The big, fierce eyes stared as if it couldn’t close its eyes in death.
Ah Xue calmed down now, turned the head over with her foot, and said, “It’s a dog’s head.”
“The skin hasn’t been peeled off yet,” Kou Dong said. “I guess it’s going to be saved to sell for money.”
The little girl nodded and said, “This place gives me a strange feeling. Let’s search again; it might not necessarily be the only thing here.”
The three of them each took a match and carefully bypassed the dried bloodstains on the ground and searched inside. When they reached the bottom, Kou Dong’s hand suddenly touched something—an extremely hard wooden box.
He held it upwards but surprisingly couldn’t move it.
“Give me a hand.”
He said to Song Hong.
Song Hong also reached down with a hand, and the two of them simultaneously moved the wooden box upwards and, after a lot of effort, finally lifted it up. It turned out that this was actually not much of a wooden box; looking at the size, it was more like a half-finished coffin—only as a coffin, it was too short to fit an adult.
The lid was densely covered with iron nails, countless of which were palm-long, deeply and fiercely inserted into the coffin.
Ye Yanzhi said, “Broody dogs and iron nails seal the soul. They are afraid of this thing.”
Kou Dong: “Open it?”
Song Hong looked carefully and replied, “I am afraid it will take some effort to open it. There are too many nails on it; it is not easy to pry.”
Besides, they were in someone else’s territory, so it wasn’t a good idea to make too much noise. In case the abductors found out, it would be another trouble.
Hearing this, Kou Dong simply wrapped his hands around the coffin and directly picked it up.
Song Hong: “……?”
What was the meaning of this?
Kou Dong: “Since we can’t open the box here, let’s carry it away.”
Song Hong was confused.
Carry it away?
“Change to a place where we can open the box,” Kou Dong said. “This could be a key prop, so we definitely can’t leave it here.”
In fact, he suspected that this was the teenager’s skeleton, as it was shorter than an unusual person’s coffin.
Of course, most of the people in this house were children, and their stature wasn’t tall in the first place, so the coffin didn’t need to be large. But as Kou Dong looked at the width of this coffin, he felt in his heart that it should belong to the teenager—he possessed the shoulder width of a normal person, but due to his disability, he was missing his two legs, so his coffin would naturally be shorter than others.
He made up his mind not to leave it here, and when he did hold it, he was about to go out. Song Hong couldn’t stop him, and after thinking about it, he thought it would be good to take it out, so he let Kou Dong carry it as he wished.
They had just slipped out of the door of this small room, ready to escape to the gate. But suddenly they heard another sound.
After Kou Dong picked up the coffin and took a big step towards the door, the child in the room next to him seemed to suddenly wake up and open his mouth wide, starting to howl.
“Oooh wow, oooh, oooh, oooh, oooh…”
When one cried, it instantly stirred up a group. For a time, the entire courtyard was simply going to be drowned out by this tidal wave of crying.
The children’s cries were very infectious, especially those who were still in swaddling clothes, crying with a strong and loud voice, waking up the woman next door who was coaxing them. The woman held them and repeatedly paced around the house, “Oh oh, good boy, oh oh…”
The abductors at the front woke up as well, raising their voices impatiently.
“What’s all the crying about?” He snapped, “It’s like a mourning hall all day long…”
Kou Dong keenly sensed that the situation wasn’t good and fiercely said, “Duck!”
The NPC ahead looked like he was coming out!
The three, quick as a flash, flew to lock themselves back into the house where they had found the wooden box again. Not two seconds later, footsteps sounded outside the door, and the abductor stood in the doorway next to theirs, grimly opening it with the key on his belt. “What’s all the crying about? You have no milk? Don’t you know how to coax them?”
The woman snapped, “I don’t know what’s wrong; they suddenly cried…”
She was at a loss in her mind and whispered, “I’ve already breastfed them.”
“Let them be honest,” the abductor said sternly, “cry, cry, cry again, and I’ll pull them all out and bury them!”
As he finished his sentence, his eyes suddenly glanced to the side, to the room’s unlocked door.
“What’s going on?”
He slowly said, his eyes steeped with chilling ruthlessness, “The door of that room—how did it open?”
Kou Dong’s heart trembled, knowing that they had been discovered.
“What movement did you hear?” The abductor asked the woman.
The woman shook her head, quickly speaking: “I didn’t hear anything. Here is normal; there’s no one else.”
The abductor said, “Is that so?”
He obviously didn’t believe this sentence; although the woman said so, he still strode toward this place. That hand rested on the door, about to open it.
The three held their breath, unable to care about anything else for a moment, and hurriedly stuffed themselves into that pile of fur to cover their bodies. Just as they hid themselves, a light shone in from the doorway. The strong and sturdy abductor stood in front of the door and suspiciously looked inside.
Inside, it was dark and bloodstained.
The abductor didn’t immediately look at the room but turned his gaze to the ground first. At first glance, Kou Dong knew it wasn’t good. When they first searched, they carefully avoided the bloodstains on the ground and didn’t leave any traces, but now they just rushed in to hide again; there was no time to light a match, let alone pay attention to their feet.
As a result, although those bloodstains had already dried, they were still trampled and dragged, leaving a few sporadic footprints that he knew belonged to children at a glance.
The abductor saw them too. His tongue licked his palate, and he grinned.
“I’ll say what it is,” he hissed. “So, there’s little mice hiding in there…”
Kou Dong’s scalp began to tingle. He held his breath, his mind judging.
There weren’t many footprints on the ground, and the abductor didn’t know how many were in the room.
Looking at it this way, if they all surged up at the same time, it would not necessarily be impossible to get an opening.
Just ……
Before he could finish thinking, his eyes suddenly met a sharp edge. The kidnapper unexpectedly pulled out a sharp knife from inside his own clothes.
The appearance of the knife made all three’s hearts sink downwards.
They were all children now, and compared to the other party, their strength was already insufficient, not to mention the fact that the abductor was holding a weapon in his hand!
How could they possibly take advantage?
They could only hold their breath and try not to be noticed by him, trying to seize the opportunity to run out. The room was pitch black, with a bloody smell mixed with the stench of fur; they could clearly hear their heartbeat.
Thump-thump-
Thump-thump-
Kou Dong kept his head down as a larger light suddenly appeared in front of him. The abductor had reached his eyes at some point and violently removed the cover in front of him.
When he raised his head, he was right in front of the other party’s smile that was full of malice and even appeared to be a bit hideous due to his excitement.
“–Found it.”
He grinned delightfully as his iron-pincer-like hands firmly grabbed his hair and dragged him outward without mercy.
“The little mouse… is still the prettiest one.”
Kou Dong’s heart thumped wildly as he struggled harder. As the abductor laughed and dragged him out, he suddenly said, “Aren’t you afraid that the man in the circus will be angry?”
These words made the abductor, who was carrying him, freeze. Then, as if he had remembered something, he resurveyed Kou Dong.
Naturally, he knew that the teenager had left three people in the circus. One of them was said to be extra special.
But –
If he were normal, the abductor might have let go. But now that he was carrying the boy, the dark thoughts in his heart bubbled upward one after another, not wanting to give in at all.
On what grounds?
Such good goods… why should he give up?
“So what?” He sneered. “Do you think that being with him means having a talisman? Even if he comes, it’ll be after. Can he come to save you now?”
His hand strength increased, causing Kou Dong to feel pain and clench his teeth. Ye Yanzhi was also a bit anxious, but at this moment his strength was suppressed, and he could only move a little. He could only say anxiously in the child’s ear, “I’m coming soon; please hold on a little longer.”
“Coming soon…”
He somewhat hated himself for being in this state. Obviously he wanted to, but he couldn’t do anything; he could only watch from the sidelines.
Kou Dong endured the pain; his hand patted the hair of his cub, and he said in a low voice, “It’s fine.”
He knew that with the NPC’s obsession with him, they would definitely come.
The abductor heard the word “it’s fine” and thought that he was being stubborn, and the smile at the corner of his mouth was even bigger.
“You’re still holding out hope?” He said it miserably.
“That’s the most useless thing in this place.”
Before the words left his mouth, there was a loud boom from the gate of the courtyard. Immediately afterward, some other abductors hurried over and said, “What’s going on?!”
He gulped; his expression couldn’t hide his panic, and he stuttered, “The door was… open.”
The abductor who was holding Kou Dong lurched.
“What door?”
“What else could it be!?” The speaker stomped his feet and said, “The calamity—the calamity has come to the door.”
He shivered a bit when he said the word calamity.
They had never fallen in this matter…
The only time was on that person.
That kid—
He didn’t even think the other person was a kid.
He remembered what that calamity looked like when he went berserk. At that time, it was clear that they had already broken his legs and crippled his body; he could only struggle to use his two elbows to hold his bloody body up, but in his eyes, there was actually still a wolf-like ruthlessness.
One of his hands was still tugging at the corner of the child’s tattered coat. But the body he had been protecting wasn’t in his arms anymore, and the head abductor snatched the child away and stepped on the soles of his feet.
Blood flew all over the ground.
The legless teenager fell into a pool of blood and snapped his mouth open, letting out a wail that was no longer audible as a human being.
“I will not spare you,” he said grimly, sweeping his gaze across the yard. “I will not spare all of you…”
Some of the children were frightened by the look in his eyes and opened their mouths to cry. The sky was bleak, and blood dripped from his eyes as he said word by word, “If I turn into a ghost—in life, I will eat your flesh! In death, I will drink your blood!”
The abductors were shocked by this vicious curse and even developed a sense of fear. They quickly raised their sticks and beat them wildly, causing blood and flesh to fly everywhere. They didn’t want him to continue speaking. They didn’t know who grabbed a handful of soil and stuffed it into his mouth, making him unable to speak.
But they didn’t know what kind of power it was; with a hoarse voice, he still shouted out the last sentence.
“I want you day and night, life and death… to be reduced to a beast to be slaughtered!!!”
That scene, the abductor still remembered to this day, and in his midnight dreams afterward, it was all about that scene.
It almost became his nightmare. When he closed his eyes, he saw the calamity that was coming to claim his life.
He came back.
He would definitely avenge this and make them pay for that child’s life back then.
The good thing was that the abductors kept a trump card, and the scrupulous calamity had never made a move on them. But every time he heard of this person, he still couldn’t help but tremble, feeling unprecedented fear.
“Calamity is coming… Calamity is coming!”
This word was simply like a magic spell: the crowd scattered in all directions, pushing and shoving each other, hurriedly giving a road. Looking toward the end of the road, the courtyard door was wide open, and there was the sound of wheels reeling. The boy sat on a wooden wheelchair, swaying his wheelchair slowly forward amidst the startled and fearful gazes of the kidnappers.
His face hadn’t changed. Only now, without the blood and dirt on it, was it still strong enough to make people’s hearts tremble.
The wheelchair slowly drove towards the backyard, and the hand that was originally holding Kou Dong suddenly loosened its grip, letting him catch his breath.
He didn’t dare to look at the teenager, but only stumbled on his feet and took a step backward.
The teenager, however, didn’t even look at him. In the eyes of the crowd, he took out a plain colored handkerchief, wiped his hands, and then extended a hand towards Kou Dong, who had just fallen to the ground.
“Scared, right?”
He said softly.
“Nui Nui, let’s go.”
“Brother will take you home.”
Thank you for the chapter!
Thank you for the chapter!!
Thanks for reading, I’ll update tomorrow