"Ghost!"
At the instant the shadow appeared on the wall, Sui suddenly leaned back and fell off He Ao’s shoulder.
Having anticipated this, He Ao caught Sui with a backhand grip, then lifted her up and placed her back on his shoulder.
The shadow on the wall seed startled by this as well, slowing its gathering pace, but ultimately it still ford into the shadow of a child missing a left arm.
"This— this— this—"
Sui pointed at the shadow on the wall, her body slightly trembling.
"Don’t be afraid," He Ao smiled, "Didn’t you just sense their presence earlier?"
"Right, yes," Sui vaguely recalled, staring at the shadow on the wall, hugging He Ao’s head, hesitantly nodding, "So they’ve been here all along? Were they hiding from us just now?"
At this point, He Ao had already turned his gaze back to the void in front of him, extending the leaf in his hand.
But the child’s shadow on the wall didn’t accept it, instead looking at He Ao, seemingly waiting for his question.
"Do you know how to enter the orphanage?" He Ao quickly asked, "No need for much information, just a simple hint will do."
Upon hearing this, the shadow of the child on the wall flickered, then retreated a few steps, disappearing entirely from the wall.
"He’s gone," Sui leaned on He Ao’s head, peering at the shadows on the wall, "Did we ask for too much?"
"Maybe?" He Ao’s words also carried a hint of doubt.
He glanced at the wall but didn’t get up; instead, he remained crouched there, quietly waiting.
After a mont, the shadow reappeared on the wall, still the child missing a left arm.
But behind the child, nurous blurry shadows could faintly be seen.
"They’ve all co out," Sui said excitedly, looking at the shadows on the wall.
The child missing the left arm rely lifted his head to look at Sui, paused briefly, then reached out to take the green leaf from He Ao’s hand.
This ti, he cautiously glanced at He Ao before withdrawing rapidly, putting so distance between them.
He then looked at He Ao one more ti before his shadow vanished from the wall.
Along with him, even the surrounding illusory shadows disappeared from the wall.
"He didn’t seem to answer your question," Sui said, puzzled.
As she spoke, the previously dim lights dimd even further.
"Huh?!" At that mont, Sui seed to sense sothing, looking around, "It seems to have beco cooler here, not as hot."
Drip—drip—
Seeping droplets of water erged from the cracks in the wall.
Soon after, the droplets collected into gentle streams, gradually covering the wall.
The narrow corridor also seed to beco unusually damp at this mont, with a sticky sensation perating the air.
The flow of the water on the wall grew larger and larger, until it covered the entire floor, spreading upward along He Ao’s foot.
"There’s a leak here, big guy!" Sui nervously grabbed He Ao’s hair, looking around the corridor, "This house’s quality is really poor, will we drown?"
"Probably not." He Ao shook his head.
He glanced down at the ’flowing water’ that reached his feet, and in the next mont, the entire stream completely vanished, leaving only an empty building.
"Whoa, it’s gone?!" Sui widened her eyes.
"So, can you let go of my hair now?" He Ao asked with a smile.
"Oh oh, okay." Sui glanced at the strand of hair her small hands were tightly clutching and let go.
He Ao lifted his head, looking around.
It seed that the ’water’ just now was the shadows’ answer to him.
He Ao turned his attention to Sui, "I’m done here. Now, we want to get out. Can you find where the exit is?"
"?" Sui pointed at herself, slightly stunned.
"Try to feel it?" He Ao calmly suggested.
"Hmm—" Sui closed her eyes, pondered for a mont, then raised her hand to point at a door nearby, "Here!"
The door was slightly ajar, and behind it lay a dim darkness, seemingly no different from the surrounding doors.
After pointing, Sui was also sowhat uncertain. She lifted her gaze to look at He Ao, "Though it might not be certain?"
But as she spoke, He Ao had already walked to that door and opened it.
A bright elevator shaft appeared in his field of view, "That’s right."
He nodded lightly and walked directly into the elevator.
Very quickly, he left the anomaly and arrived at the building’s first floor.
He raised his wristband to make a call to Reid.
As the call connected, Reid’s voice ca through, "Hey, Loren, did you find anything there?"
"I got a clue," He Ao said directly, "How’s the case file you’ve got?"
"There have indeed been many missing persons cases in that area over the years," Reid’s voice slowed slightly, with a hint of helplessness, "We’re trying to find any lucky ones who returned from the anomaly alive, but we don’t have any leads."
"So, all the missing persons who went in stayed there forever?" He Ao whispered.
"We can’t confirm that for now," Reid replied calmly, "but there’s a great chance it’s the case. Are you coming over? We’re in the eting room you ca to this morning."
"Alright." He Ao nodded slightly.
——
Click—
With the crisp sound of unlocking, the eting room door was pushed open directly.
Lily walked into the eting room, looked at Reid inside, and shook her head, "Still no trace of information about the orphanage on the internet, not even any ’Abnormal’ discussions on Lorinse Street."
"That’s normal," Reid glanced at Chen and the mustached man in the eting room and returned his gaze to Lily, "We’ve all been there. There’s a strong exceptional force, causing people to forget the presence of the orphanage there."
He looked at Lily, "Do you want to go back to the office and rest for a while?"
"No need, Captain," Lily shook her head, "I had plenty of sleep at ho before coming."
"Then have the information departnt conduct a more in-depth search to see if any content was missed," Reid said calmly.
"Alright." Lily nodded, opened the door once more, and left the office.
"Your staff works harder than you, Reid." Chen, watching Lily leave, picked up his coffee and took a sip, breaking the slightly oppressive atmosphere.
"Another internet search probably won’t help," the mustached man placed the tablet in his hand on the table, sighing, "The orphanage isn’t just a pure anomaly; it’s managed by the Abnormal Sect, and they are likely monitoring the internet constantly. Any information appearing would probably be cut off imdiately by them."
Click—
Just then, the door opened.
"Search completed? So fast?" Reid instinctively raised his head, looking towards the door.
Then he saw He Ao, with a red dress doll sitting on his shoulder.
Reviews
All reviews (0)