Chapter 231
Chapter 231
Song Xiaotian had me absolutely furious.
I rushed over and yanked him out. “What the hell are you running for? I told you we shouldn’t play, and now that we’ve summoned something, you’re the first one to run!”
He trembled and said, “Sorry, I got a little scared…”
“If you were scared, why did you make me summon it? Are you toxic or what? You’re bad at this but still love playing.”
“Are you talking about yourself?”
“You…”
We were in the middle of arguing when we suddenly heard a commotion in the distance.
The two of us stopped bickering and followed the noise over to see what was going on.
From afar, we saw several homeless men trying to rob a child.
The kid was dressed fairly cleanly, but he was also picking through trash. He had collected a whole sack of mineral water bottles, only to end up surrounded by several adults.
The kid looked about eight or nine. He was terrified, but he still refused to hand over the sack.
“You little brat, everything in this area belongs to us! Who said you could pick anything up?”
“We’ve warned you so many times, and you just let it go in one ear and out the other, huh? Hand over the bottles!”
“No! I won’t!”
Even with a group of adults threatening him, the kid still refused. He hugged the sack tightly to his chest.
One of the homeless men cursed and raised his hand to hit him.
The moment I saw that, I couldn’t stand it. They were robbing a child, and now they even dared to hit him?
Before the man could strike, Song Xiaotian picked up a rock and hurled it straight at his forehead.
The man let out a scream, and his companions immediately looked over at us.
“Fuck! Who was that?”
“You got a death wish?”
Song Xiaotian and I stepped out.
When those homeless men saw there were only two of us, they came right over and surrounded us.
Song Xiaotian cursed, “What the hell are you doing? You’re even robbing a kid? Get lost. If you don’t, I’ll deal with you.”
The man who had been hit by the rock swore and reached out to hit him.
Song Xiaotian grabbed him by the throat, his face going cold. “Don’t make me say it a third time. Get lost.”
Those homeless men knew how to read people. They must have realized Song Xiaotian was not someone to mess with, because they turned and left without looking back.
Song Xiaotian and I helped the kid up.
His clothes looked pretty clean. Though they weren’t nice, he probably had family looking after him.
As Song Xiaotian brushed the dirt off him, he asked, “Where are your parents? Why are you out so late? Don’t your parents care?”
The kid had a sturdy, round-faced look. He said, “I don’t have parents. It’s just my grandpa, my brother, and me at home. Those people are always bullying me and stealing my stuff. I’m going to tell my brother and have him beat them up.”
I smiled. “If they want to take it, just give it to them. You’re a kid, and they’re adults. If they hit you, it’s going to hurt.”
“But I picked these up.” The kid still guarded that sack of bottles. “It took me a long time to find this many. I need to sell them for money. If I give them away, I won’t have anything to sell.”
He was probably from a poor family. His household must have been pretty hard up.
Song Xiaotian said, “Where do you live? We’ll take you home. Otherwise you might get robbed again in a minute.”
As he was speaking, an Old Man’s shout came from far away.
The Old Man was calling for “Xiao Xuan.”
When the kid heard the call, he immediately answered, “I’m over here, Grandpa!”
After that, he ran toward the Old Man and said something to him. It sounded like he was telling him he had just been robbed, and that Song Xiaotian and I had helped him.
The two of us walked over, intending to greet the Old Man.
But when we got close and saw him, we were instantly startled and thought we had seen a ghost.
Half of the Old Man’s face was almost twisted together. His skin was shriveled and wrinkled, as if it had been burned by fire, making him look extremely terrifying.
It really was frightening, seeing that in the middle of the night.
And he was holding a white cane, so it seemed he couldn’t see, either.
He asked the child if we were here. The child nodded.
“Did I scare you two?” the Old Man asked us.
I quickly said, “No, sir. Is this… is this child your grandson?”
He nodded. “Good, good. I came out looking for him. It’s too late, but he always likes running off.”
I didn’t know what to say. When a family was that poor, there was nothing they could do. Maybe the kid just wanted to lighten the burden at home.
“It’s fine. Just don’t let him run out again. It’s not safe outside at night.”
“All right, then. Thank you both.”
With that, the Old Man led his grandson away.
I watched the grandfather and grandson’s backs and sighed. “What a hard life.”
The yin energy around here was too heavy, so Song Xiaotian and I didn’t linger. We went back to that hotel.
After showering, the two of us lay down on the beds, but we didn’t fall asleep. We couldn’t fall asleep.
Before lying down, I stuck the Yin Gathering Talisman to the headboard, hoping that Little Ghost would be drawn over.
Since he liked stealing things, I also took out five hundred yuan in cash and placed it on the nightstand. I didn’t dare take out too much. If I did, I wouldn’t be able to bear losing it.
To avoid scaring that Little Ghost away, Song Xiaotian and I didn’t even play on our phones. We just lay there with our eyes open, staring at the ceiling.
But late at night, lying in bed meant it was time to sleep. Especially with the room so quiet. The longer I stared at that ceiling, the harder it became to hold on.
Eventually, I got sleepier and sleepier, so sleepy I could barely keep my eyes open. I thought, I’ll just close them for one minute. Just a quick doze.
But as I dozed, I actually fell asleep…
Sometime in the middle of the night-I had no idea what time it was-a faint noise suddenly sounded beside my ear.
Maybe I’d slept enough, or maybe it was already the latter half of the night, but the noise startled me awake. The moment I opened my eyes, I saw a grayish-white hand reaching toward my nightstand, grabbing the five hundred yuan.
Startled, I turned my head and saw a boy, grayish-white from head to toe and about thirteen or fourteen years old, looking at me furtively.
It wasn’t like I’d be scared by one Little Ghost, but opening my eyes in the dead of night to see a scene like that made me leap straight out of bed. I shouted for Song Xiaotian at the top of my lungs.
“Brother Tian! The ghost is here!”
The moment I finished speaking, Song Xiaotian jumped out of bed too, but he wasn’t getting up to catch the ghost with me.
He didn’t even put on his shoes. He ran out screaming, even faster than that Little Ghost.
“Ahhh!! There’s a ghost!!”
“Seventh Master! Seventh Master, come catch the ghost!”
I stared, dumbfounded, then quickly roared, “Song Xiaotian! Get back here!”
That Little Ghost glanced at me, then quickly ran out of the room too.
I hurried after him, shouting as I chased, “Rat, stop! I’m here to help you! Don’t run!”
I chased and chased, and just as I reached the stairwell, something suddenly blocked me.
It felt like a net, stopping my way, but I couldn’t see anything in front of me at all.
Alarmed, I quickly raised my hand and slapped myself across the face.
That slap made my cheek hurt, but it also woke me up. Only then did I realize I hadn’t reached the stairwell at all. I’d chased him to the window of another room.
Luckily, the hotel owner had installed anti-theft bars on the windows of every room. Otherwise, I would have jumped straight down from the fourth floor just now.
Holy shit!
That Little Ghost was ruthless. He stole my money and tried to take my life too!