When Cheng Shuang contacted Luo An, the ghost doll was sobbing softly, its voice hoarse from crying.

Upon sensing her consciousness, Luo An was overjoyed and, in his excitement, began to hiccup and cry.

The human and the ghost began communicating with a single sentence followed by three or four hiccups.

Even though she was extremely anxious, the little girl didn't immediately ask how the bear cub was. Instead, she gently comforted Luo An and concealed the truth that she was in excruciating pain and unable to move when Luo An asked her about the situation.

When Luo An calmed down a bit and said that the bear cub had become a tattered rag doll, Cheng Shuang was stunned for a long time. Then an indescribable fear overwhelmed her and her eyes immediately welled up with tears.

"Drinking water, putting on makeup, feeding the baby, I am the baby's little mother!" The bizarre song rang out loudly. Cheng Shuang thought of the little girl not far away who was chopping something with a "DuangDuangDuang" sound, and she forced back her tears.

The little girl sobbed silently twice, her mind filled with the incoherent words from Luo An, and with a little sensing, she knew her current unease.

The ghost doll had no idea where it was. Once it left the forest, it found itself in a human city. It quickly circled around the city but didn't find any familiar faces, so it had no choice but to return to the forest.

It was too young, and wandering alone left it feeling lost and helpless. Even though it was fast enough that it wouldn't be easily spotted or captured, it still couldn't act freely.

In this unfamiliar city full of adults, it lost all courage.

Even their voices carried a hint of trembling and fear.

Cheng Shuang tried her best to calm herself down, not wanting to deepen Luo An's panic.

When Luo An asked about her location, the little girl gently told him, "Follow the river."

She carefully felt the texture of the bed on her back and recalled the slightly hollow footsteps of the brother and sister. "I saw the house built on the ground, and that's where I was. Oh, and the river, and the house next to the river."

Luo An wiped away his tears and said cheerfully, "I'll come find you right away, I'll be there soon!"

Cheng Shuang suppressed her unease and said, "Don't worry." She paused, "Go back to the city and look for her again. If you see Sister Liu Juan, tell her my location."

Luo An happily agreed.

Through the ghost doll's incoherent narration, Cheng Shuang learned that she had been unconscious for a day and a night. The bear cub had eaten a powder pill but had not recovered. Carrying the bear cub would not slow down its speed, but it dared not run too fast because the bear cub was now truly starting to shed its fur (cotton).

Cheng Shuang felt a mix of wanting to cry and wanting to laugh.

Soon, her smile faded. Footsteps approached again, and a hot, slightly burnt smell wafted over, the scalding heat hitting her face.

Unable to move an inch, Cheng Shuang immediately understood what the little girl wanted to do.

She wanted to feed herself hot food that could burn her skin.

Just as the spoon was about to touch her lips and teeth, Cheng Shuang's heart tightened, and she hurriedly muttered to herself.

'pottery!'

Time seemed to freeze in an instant, and then her body was lifted up by a pair of not-so-strong arms. The next second, she was moved outside, where the blinding sunlight shone on her face.

The boy's voice was slightly hoarse and urgent, "Time's up."

'A weirdo!'

A black cloak suddenly appeared, lifting Cheng Shuangshua as if in a relay, and floated behind the row of bamboo houses. The gaps between the green hills and the bamboo houses became the best place for concealment.

Almost the instant they landed, a piercing scream came from inside the bamboo house.

"My baby!" A child's unrestrained shouting can always sound a bit unpleasant, but its shrill voice also drew everyone's attention.

The children and adults who were huddled inside the house all ran out. The children were faster than the adults, as if they had discovered something fun and interesting and rushed into the little girl's bamboo house.

"Who stole my doll!" the little girl screamed angrily. "Who was it?"

Why don't you take good care of your own doll?!

"Oh, is the baby awake?"

"What a pity, I was hoping to borrow it and play with it!"

The children chattered excitedly, while the adults began checking each room.

The brother and sister, both teachers, walked behind, with the younger sister repeating her earlier question, "Should we report it?"

This time, the older brother hesitated. "Let's look for it first. Maybe some child took it while playing."

The bamboo house has a simple structure, and it can be seen in its entirety at a glance. It took the group about half an hour to see it from beginning to end.

"There's none in the house!" someone reported.

Cheng Shuang silently calculated that an adult's walking speed is about four kilometers per hour, which means that the total area of ​​all the houses here is no more than 2 kilometers. Of course, this is calculated with all the roads straight. If the time spent searching the houses is added, then it is between 1 and 2 kilometers.

It's roughly the size of a small residential community.

As the strange creature led her away, its gaze swept across the scene, confirming that the bamboo houses were single-story structures connected by bamboo bridges, and that they were situated on the riverbank.

As Cheng Shuang had predicted, the bamboo house was nestled against the mountain on one side and beside the water on the other. The foundation of the house against the mountain was driven into the rocks, while the house near the water had several thin wooden legs supporting it and anchored into the water.

Although the two could not communicate verbally, the strange creature answered all of Cheng Shuang's questions in its mind with one sigh and two sighs.

Cheng Shuang originally wanted to hide on the mountaintop, but there were no trees or flowers on the mountain, so it was impossible to hide her figure well. Therefore, the current gap became the best temporary hiding place.

Each bamboo house was small, and Cheng Shuang could hear the sounds coming from in front of the house very clearly from behind it. The adults had already started arranging the search and rescue operation in the river.

For the time being, no one seemed to doubt the not-so-wide gap.

My dear reader, there's more to this chapter! Please click the next page to continue reading—even more exciting content awaits!