Chapter 85
Chapter 85
The moment he stepped inside, Wu Xiaojiu wanted to leave.
It stank. Worse, it was dark and stank, and he was terrified he would step in poop without knowing where to put his feet. Trembling, he rose onto his tiptoes and stood there in a panic.
He made two coaxing clicks into the room.
“Here, puppy. Puppy?”
No dog responded. Suspicious, Wu Xiaojiu looked all around the little hut.
It was far too quiet.
Usually, the second a dog caught a stranger’s scent, it would start barking like mad. And now a person had already entered the wooden hut, yet there wasn’t a single bark. He couldn’t even hear any breathing.
Wu Xiaojiu’s brows drew together.
He set the dog bowl in his hand on the floor, turned, and was just about to open the door and slip away when his pant leg suddenly tightened.
“Daddy? Is that Daddy?”
The girl’s voice was young and choked with tears. Wu Xiaojiu turned back in disbelief.
He lowered his head for a closer look and froze in shock.
Locked inside the little wooden hut was actually a girl. She looked eighteen or nineteen, just barely an adult, her face filthy and the white clothes on her body filthy as well.
The way she looked at him was timid.
When she realized he was not a familiar face, she quickly retreated into the corner.
“Who are you? You’re not Daddy!”
She was terrified. Wu Xiaojiu hurriedly spread his hands to soothe her.
“I’m your dad’s friend. Something came up for him, so he asked me to bring you food. Don’t be scared.”
As he spoke, he nudged the rice paste with the tip of his foot and smoothly grabbed the doorknob.
“Since you’re fine, I’ll head out first.”
“Wait!”
The girl stopped him, crawling little by little from the corner toward the front.
Her legs were intact, and there were no chains restraining her body, but for some reason she could not stand or walk. From beginning to end, she moved by crawling on her knees.
The girl held the rice paste in both hands and drank it incredibly fast. In only a few seconds, the metal bowl was empty.
“Did he tell you anything else? He promised he’d carry me outside to look at the stars today.”
Wu Xiaojiu shook his head.
The cramped space made him miss Bo Suihan terribly. Being alone in a murderer’s house truly gave him no sense of safety.
If Long Aotian were here, at least Wu Xiaojiu would not be like a startled bird, watching the girl every second.
She was watching him too. After a few seconds of silence, grievance appeared on that small face.
“But he promised me. Tonight, he was going to carry me outside to look at the stars. I’ve been like this for years. My only wish is to see the stars. Sir, can you help me?”
The girl’s voice was pleading.
Embarrassment appeared on Wu Xiaojiu’s face. It wasn’t that the girl’s wish was hard to grant, or that he was afraid of girls or anything like that.
It was that ever since he was ten, he had not seen a single star. Even the moon was a rare sight. Most nights, you couldn’t see it at all.
“How about I play you a documentary instead?”
The girl shook her head over and over.
“But it’s cloudy today. There isn’t even a moon, much less stars. Once you go out, aside from poop, all you’ll see are dark clouds.”
Helpless, Wu Xiaojiu could only tell her the truth.
The girl’s voice did not pause at all. She immediately seized on his words and tried hard to convince him.
“It’s okay if I can’t see the stars. Just letting me go out for some air would be good too! Sir, you’re so handsome. You can’t refuse a request like this, right?”
After several rounds of tugging back and forth with her, Wu Xiaojiu could only agree.
He reached out and moved the metal basin aside, then opened the door with great reluctance.
The wind outside poured in, sweeping away the stuffy heat and foul stench inside the little wooden hut.
The girl closed her eyes and enjoyed the air. In the next second, she opened them, stretched out her arms, and called for Wu Xiaojiu to carry her.
“Are you trying to ruin me?”
From beginning to end, Wu Xiaojiu had not wanted to help the girl. First, because something about her was truly off.
Second, with his father the way he was, if Wu Xiaojiu interfered and made even the slightest misstep, trouble would come knocking.
He had been taught since he was little not to let his sympathy run wild.
So when the girl pleaded with him again, he naturally waved her off and refused.
“Don’t you want to know the truth? You must have seen the bits of flesh by the door. You know there are human remains inside. I was forced into being locked up here too. Just get me out! As long as you get me out, I’ll report him!”
Wu Xiaojiu reached for the iron basin with one hand and moved to close the door with the other.
Just as he pulled the basin out and the door was about to shut, the girl suddenly lunged up and grabbed his arm.
An eighteen- or nineteen-year-old was not light. Wu Xiaojiu was yanked forward so hard he nearly fell, and after barely managing to steady himself, he found the girl staring fixedly at him, refusing to let go.
“He killed people. More than one! The Village Chief’s daughter didn’t just die a few days ago. She’s been dead for two whole months. The Village Chief’s second wife studied biological coding. After she fooled the police, they pretended to bury her!
“Do you know why so many dogs used to go missing in the village? They were all eaten by the dogs at this Dog Farm. The Village Chief’s daughter was eaten too. Any homeless man or woman my dad set his sights on-none of them escaped.”
The more the girl spoke, the more agitated she became, until she had practically thrown herself into Wu Xiaojiu’s arms.
Wu Xiaojiu, for his part, was stunned speechless by the bombshell she had dropped.
Only after a long while did he exhale heavily.
The door to the wooden cabin was shut again. Wu Xiaojiu looked at the girl solemnly and reached out his hand.
“No lying. As long as what you say is true and our investigation succeeds, you won’t have to be trapped here for the rest of your life. I’ll provide you with the best education, buy you an apartment, and make sure you never have to worry about food or clothing. But you must guarantee every word is true.”
The girl nodded hard. At the terms he offered, a faint shimmer appeared in her eyes.
But it vanished in the next instant.
The two clasped hands, sealing their cooperation.
“Then you can’t keep me locked in here anymore. Hand me over to those people,” the girl said softly. Wu Xiaojiu nodded at her, then shook his head.
“I’ll hand you over to them sooner or later, but the people coming to meet us have already gone down the mountain. We still have to wait. If you can’t stand staying here, I’ll put you somewhere clean in the yard.”
As he spoke, Wu Xiaojiu reached out to help her up. He had originally thought the girl only had simple muscle atrophy. Unexpectedly, she waved her hand and said with an aggrieved expression, “Everything you said makes sense. I have no objection to any of it. There’s just one thing-I can’t stand.”
“Why? You have arms and legs,” Wu Xiaojiu asked, puzzled.
A smile touched the girl’s face, but there was a viciousness in her eyes. She pointed lightly at her calves, hidden beneath the hem of her clothes, and said word by word, “I don’t have feet. Dad chopped them off with an ax.”
As she spoke, she lifted her skirt a little.
Her thighs and calves, the joints, were all there. Only below the calves, the ankles were gone, leaving two empty cross-sections.
Wu Xiaojiu stared at them and almost forgot how to breathe.
“All right, all right. Then I’ll carry you. I’ll carry you.”
There really was no other way. Wu Xiaojiu reached out, intending to pick the girl up.
But just as the girl took the opportunity to hook her arms around his neck, before he could actually lift her-
A thunderous crash sounded from outside the cabin.
“Let go!”
The front door was kicked open. Bo Suihan walked in slowly, grabbed Wu Xiaojiu by the collar, and hauled him back to a safe distance.
Then he frowned at the girl.
“Playing dumb and pitiful, using other people’s sympathy to achieve your goals. Your intentions are still far too vicious.”