Ch 157: The Cannon Fodder Won’t Play Along Anymore [QT]

Zhu Wei and Xiang Shen’s psychiatric evaluations naturally didn’t reveal any problems.

But they were truly terrified and didn’t dare go anywhere.

Moreover, they discovered that on the night they stayed at the police station, they hadn’t seen any of those strange things.

That made them even more unwilling to leave.

But having two adults stay at the police station and leaving a ten-year-old child at home—what kind of situation was that?

No matter how the police persuaded them, the two absolutely refused to go back, and they were even more unwilling to see Mu Xing.

Mu Xing found his way to the police station himself.

“You want to go to Donghai City?”

Mu Xing nodded. “I originally belonged to the Hope Orphanage. I’ve been away for so long this time, the director mama and the children all miss me.”

The policeman asked curiously, “But haven’t you found your biological parents now?”

As soon as he said it, he thought of that crazy couple, and felt they didn’t seem very reliable.

Mu Xing said, “I was very happy at the orphanage. Everyone treated me well. Uncle and Auntie, they…”

He hesitated a little before saying, “I can’t feel from them the same love that the director mama gives me.”

“I don’t want to stay here anymore.”

The policeman felt a little troubled: in principle, a child this age, once they’ve found their biological parents, should live with them.

But then Mu Xing suddenly said, “I heard director mama and the uncles and aunties talking—I still have a twin brother. That day, two uncles and aunties also came to the orphanage, I think they were that child’s parents. Police uncle, can you help me find him?”

As he said this, his eyes were full of curiosity toward that unknown brother.

The police had already discovered information that Xiang Shen and Zhu Wei had another child, but they had never been able to trace him.

Now that Mu Xing mentioned it, they suddenly had a lead.

It wasn’t long before the police contacted Donghai City. Through feedback from the orphanage there, they traced it back to Xu Tingfeng and his wife.

Both were university professors, with a ten-year-old child, living in Changping City’s Moon West University Town, XX Street.

The policeman felt that this address seemed a little familiar.

He thought for a moment, and suddenly his eyes sharpened.

Mu Xing, meanwhile, returned to the Hope Orphanage.

Because she received a call from the police, Director Mei felt worried about him, so she personally rushed over from Donghai City.

When she asked Mu Xing, he roughly described Xiang Shen and Zhu Wei.

Hearing this, Director Mei’s face darkened with anger. “I originally thought little Xingxing had finally found his biological parents, that after all his suffering he could live a good life. Who would have thought that this couple would be so unreliable?”

What kind of words were those?

Calling a child a monster? A vengeful ghost?

That very day, Director Mei took Mu Xing on the high-speed rail back to Donghai City.

“We’re going back. That couple is crazy—how could I possibly entrust you to them? Even if they make trouble, even if they sue, I’m not afraid of them!”

Mu Xing sat quietly next to her, nestled in her arms, and said softly, “I won’t go with them. They’re bad people.”

Director Mei just assumed it was his broken heart speaking childlike words.

But on the police side, following the clues, they made a shocking discovery.

For the past ten years, Xiang Shen and Zhu Wei’s activity patterns had two recurring locations.

No fixed times, but every few months, or as long as nearly a year, one or both of them would always appear in the same two places.

One was the old street in the old district of Donghai City.

The other was Changping City’s Moon West University Town.

They were ordinary places—if it were anywhere else, you could say they had friends there, or maybe there was a restaurant they liked and visited every year.

But those two places—one was home to the Zhao family, who had adopted Mu Xing.

The other was home to the Xu family, who had adopted Xu Xiyang.

And Xiang Shen and Zhu Wei were the biological parents of both children.

To say this was a coincidence was far too strange.

But if it wasn’t a coincidence…

The policemen’s hearts went cold. Could it be that this couple had known all along that these were their children?

If they knew…

Xu Xiyang at least had grown up beloved, well-cared-for, according to the records.

But Mu Xing—everyone in the neighborhood knew he had been abused and beaten terribly by his adoptive parents.

And his biological parents had turned a blind eye?

What’s more, they remembered that day when Zhu Wei looked at young Mu Xing with sheer terror, saying he had come back for revenge.

Could it be that hidden within this was some darker secret?

Unaware that the police were now watching them, Xiang Shen and Zhu Wei, upon hearing that Mu Xing had been taken back to the Hope Orphanage by the director, finally felt some relief.

They no longer dared think about squeezing any benefit from him—they only wanted to stay far away from that vengeful ghost.

As for their other son, Xu Xiyang?

An ordinary, unremarkable child, he had never been on their minds.

But they were far too naïve.

Once fear is planted, it can never be uprooted.

And besides, they truly had done heartless, inhuman things. That thorn would always remain lodged in their hearts.

That night, when the couple returned home, with no one else in the house, they felt somewhat calmer.

Exhausted from those days, they quickly washed up and went to bed.

As usual, they were awakened by a chill wind.

What they saw was the grown-up Mu Xing.

He was gaunt, nothing but skin and bones, with blood-red eyes streaming tears of blood. Grinning eerily, he reached out to grab them both.

This was the image of Mu Xing that lived in their minds.

The vengeful ghost let out a hoarse, terrifying laugh. Black, razor-sharp nails sank into their flesh. “You think just because I went back, you can escape? Dream on.

“As long as you’re alive, I’ll haunt you forever.

“Dear father and mother, I want you to be with me, forever.”

Thick blood mist wrapped around them. Their mouths and noses burned with suffocating pain, their bodies pierced by those sharp claws until agony became unbearable.

Both of them woke with a scream.

It was still dark.

But they could no longer sleep.

They thought it was a dream, but when they saw the look on each other’s faces, they knew it wasn’t.

That thing had truly come, truly killed them once.

Even if it was only a dream, it left them tormented and restless, never at peace.

*

Hope Welfare Home.

After a night of good dreams, Mu Xing woke to sense that the seeds of fear he had planted in their minds had grown larger again.

He wondered, amused: Just how afraid of me are those two?

He had only taken a peek the first day, curious to see what those two imagined him to be.

After that, he stopped looking. He didn’t want to disgust himself with their faces, nor see the sticky, horrifying version of “himself” they envisioned.

But judging from the growth of the fear seeds, it seemed they were imagining something extremely gory and terrifying.

Ugh! Mu Xing shook his head, jumped out of bed, and got dressed.

He stepped out of his room, greeting people along the way:

“Good morning, Uncle Li. Good morning, Aunt Bai.”

“Morning, Xiao Jin.”

“Brother Hui, so diligent—reciting so early in the morning?”

“…”

“Uncle Wang, what’s good to eat today?”

Uncle Wang carried several large baskets to the stone table in the courtyard, cheerfully lifting the lids.

Billows of white steam spread out.

“Steamed buns for breakfast—big meat buns!” Uncle Wang picked one up, weighed it in his hand a few times, then passed it over. “Come on, try your Uncle Wang’s craft. Careful, it’s hot.”

Mu Xing took it and bit down. “Smells amazing!”

The children swarmed around all at once.

Uncle Wang happily handed out buns, occasionally barking, “Mei An, go wash your hands! Look at those claws, all black!”

“They didn’t wash either!”

“They weren’t crawling around in the dirt catching crickets!”

Mu Xing sat on a little stool, gnawing on his bun, thinking happily: This is what life should feel like.

As for that couple, still losing sleep over “evil ghosts”?

Weren’t they themselves just human-faced monsters?

Those two monsters, when the police came knocking, had already been tormented by the ghosts of their own imagination until they were in shambles.

There was hardly any resistance or concealment. When the police questioned them, Zhu Wei’s mind had already collapsed, her words riddled with holes.

From the study, police found the diary Mu Xing had once seen.

Some things were laid bare, bloody and undeniable.

Pressed further, Zhu Wei cracked and confessed everything.

Even though the police had suspected they might have known about both children all along, hearing the truth was still shocking and absurd.

Some of the officers were parents themselves; hearing this filled them with fury. “What did you take these children for? They’re living, breathing human beings—your own flesh and blood! Experiments? Watching them be abused, and all you did was record so-called data?”

“Even beasts know to protect their young. You’re worse than animals!”

“Whether it was surrogacy or abandonment, it’s illegal in our country. And your case is especially vile. Get ready to face justice!”

Based on their testimony, police searched another of the couple’s properties and found even more evidence.

Records of recruiting volunteers. Notes on the female volunteer’s pregnancy. Page after page of meticulous plans.

The wording was so cold, it was clear they never saw the two children as human beings—only as they themselves admitted, “experimental products.”

Because of the severity of the case, the police wasted no time. They immediately contacted the other parties involved: Hope Welfare Home, and the adoptive parents of the other child, Xu Xiyang.

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