Chapter 127 Break
Although this puppet was wearing real human clothes and looked like a real person from a distance, Chen Chuan could not mistake it for a real person.
Director Lei said from behind him, "Did you forget to take something? Come out first."
Chen Chuan turned around and said, "Yes." He turned around and walked out of the room. Director Lei looked inside again. His son was playing with building blocks there, but he always couldn't put them together. He gently pushed the door closed.
When the two of them returned downstairs, Director Lei looked at him and said, "Did you see something just now? Tell me, I can accept whatever it is."
Chen Chuan glanced at the second me. There had been a faint sense of emptiness since I entered the room, and it still persisted. He considered his words before saying, "In Director Lei's eyes, what is the state of his own child?"
Director Lei was silent for a moment, then spoke frankly, "He's withdrawn, dull, quiet, and friendless, but that's not his fault. He was hurt back then, and has been haunted by unexplained anomalous substances. It's all my fault, so I can accept not treating him like a normal child. As long as he can grow up safely, that's all I need, even if he no longer recognizes me as his father."
Chen Chuanshuo said: "Then I will also tell you what I saw."
Director Lei looked over, waiting for his answer.
Chen Chuan also looked at him and said slowly: "What I saw was not a child, but a puppet."
Director Lei was stunned. He stood there for a long time, then suddenly looked up, strode forward, and grabbed Chen Chuan's shoulder.
Chen Chuan stood there without dodging. Director Lei stared at him: "Really?"
Chen Chuan nodded.
Director Lei murmured, "That's it, that's it..." Then his eyes seemed to turn red, and he shook Chen Chuan's shoulders vigorously, "Thank you, thank you, classmate Chen!"
Chen Chuan said, "Did Director Lei come up with something?"
Director Lei took a breath before saying, "Yes, this is a question that has troubled me for two years."
He seemed to have calmed down by now. He let go of her hand, took two steps back, and asked seriously, "Student Chen, are you sure you saw a puppet and not something else?"
Chen Chuan said: "I can be sure of that."
Director Lei nodded and said, "Then please wait here for a moment. I'll make a few calls."
Chen Chuan said, "Director Lei, please go ahead." Then he sat down on the sofa on the side.
Director Lei waited for him to sit down before leaving the room. Although he looked calm on the surface, Chen Chuan could tell from his slightly trembling back that he was very excited, but he suppressed it with his strong self-control.
After waiting for more than half an hour, Director Lei came back and sat down on the sofa opposite Chen Chuan, without speaking for a long time.
Chen Chuan didn't speak up either.
After a long while, Director Lei took off his black-framed glasses and fumbled around. He seemed to find nothing, so he wiped the fog off them with his sleeve. After putting them back on, he looked at Chen Chuan and said solemnly, "Mr. Chen, before today, I never thought I could save my son's life in this way. Thank you."
Chen Chuanshuo said, "Director Lei..." Director Lei waved his hand and said, "I'm not crazy. I know what you say is right."
He glanced at it. "Two years, two years. Who would have thought I'd be facing nothing but a puppet all day?" He chuckled to himself. "I call myself an expert in esoteric rituals, but I can't even discern the rituals happening right next to me."
Chen Chuan said, "Director Lei, it seems you believe what I said."
"Sometimes, emotion always takes over, so I don't want to think about it. But fortunately, when the truth appears before me, I can make a rational judgment instead of immediately denying it."
Director Lei said, "Without your reminder, it would have been difficult for me to break through this point on my own." He sighed, "Care leads to confusion."
Chen Chuan thought for a moment and said, "Maybe it's a bit presumptuous, but can I ask what's going on?"
"There's nothing wrong with saying this," Director Lei took off his glasses again, rubbed his red eyes, put them back on, and regained his composure.
“As the director of the Esoteric Religion Inspection Bureau, I often come into contact with illegal sects. When I was investigating a certain esoteric sect, my residence was leaked.
Later I learned that a member of the illegal sect had escaped and entered my temporary residence and performed a ritual curse on my son. It is not complicated to explain it simply, which is to make my son connected with a strange story.
Afterwards, I tried many methods to solve the problem, but none of them worked.
This incident also attracted the attention of my ex-wife. When she saw me performing the ritual on the child, she immediately reported me. However, she did not understand that if the curse ritual lost its suppression, it would affect the people around her.
There are regulations that these things cannot be disclosed to ordinary people except law enforcement officers. I didn't want to tell her directly, but I hinted that she needed to stay away from our son.
My marriage to her was arranged by our elders, and there was no love between us. In fact, we didn't know each other very well. Even if I told her the truth, she would probably just think I was talking nonsense and making it up to scare her in order to get the child back.
I kept trying to make amends, but she kept avoiding me until half a month later..."
He sighed deeply. "In fact, if I had discovered the problem earlier, I might have been able to prevent this tragedy from happening. But I am also somewhat relieved that her death has nothing to do with the child. Neither of them has to bear this..."
Having said that, he picked up the water cup next to him, tilted his head back and drank the water in it in one gulp, then put it heavily on the table beside him.
He looked up at Chen Chuan and said, "You know, in order to successfully perform this ritual, my child must be alive, so they should still be holding my child somewhere."
Chen Chuanshuo said, "Director Lei, do you need any help?"
Director Lei said, "Thank you. This ritual... I almost know where they'll hide the child. I've already arranged for someone to go there. Just wait here." After a moment, he spoke again, "But..." He took a breath, "We must break this ritual first."
Chen Chuan looked at his expression and asked, "Is it difficult?"
Director Lei's lips trembled slightly, and he slowly closed his fingers. After trying several times, he finally clenched them into a fist. "I just need to kill what I see with my own hands, and then I can break this ritual."
Chen Chuan's eyes fixed on Director Lei who was sitting there, and he understood the pain he was suffering at the moment.
No wonder the director of the Esoteric Review Bureau never thought about it in this direction, because as a father, he would do everything possible to avoid the idea of hurting his children, and this ritual is really too destructive to people's hearts.
He said, “Can’t we do it another way?”
Director Lei shook his head. "The original intention of this ritual was to destroy the love between family members in the most cruel way possible. Without this method, even if it is broken, it will recur in the future." He took a deep breath. "As a father, I failed to fulfill my responsibilities and brought him misfortune, so the consequences should be borne by me."
He stood up and said to Chen Chuan: "Mr. Chen, please help me one more time. I need you to watch from behind so that you can remind me that it is indeed a puppet. Otherwise, I am afraid I won't be able to do it."
Chen Chuan also stood up and said solemnly, "Director Lei, I'm willing to help you, but..." He said, "Director Lei, aren't you afraid that I might make a mistake?"
Director Lei looked him in the eye and said, "You are Director Cheng's student, yes. But as far as I know, you have personally handled many strange stories. It was you who eradicated the flying head monster in Manshan. I also noticed that the intervals between your clearing of strange stories were not long, but you were not affected at all.
You may not know it yourself, but you have a very special talent that allows you to resist the invasion of certain strange substances. What you say is more credible than what others say."
Chen Chuan understood that Director Lei should not only arrange to rescue the child, but also check his background at the same time. He understood this. After all, it involved his son's life, so it was right to be cautious.
He also roughly understood that it might not just be Director Lei who felt his son was alive when he saw him; perhaps others felt the same way. His second self had withstood all the attacks of the ghost stories, so he remained unaffected. This was what Director Lei meant by talent.
"Give me a moment."
Director Lei said goodbye and left. After a while, he came back with a hammer in his hand.
"Let's go."
Chen Chuan followed him upstairs and returned to the third floor.
After pushing the door open, Director Lei looked over with a questioning look in his eyes. Chen Chuan glanced inside and saw that the puppet was still huddled quietly in the corner, so he nodded at him.
Director Lei clenched the hammer in his hand and walked in. In his eyes, the person sitting there was still his well-behaved son. However, he should have known something was wrong, because his son was still the same as he was two years ago.
It hasn't changed at all.
He instinctively wanted to close his eyes, but the ritual of breaking wouldn't allow it. He stepped forward with feet that felt like they were filled with lead. He tried to raise the hammer. From his perspective, the child suddenly raised his head and looked at him with innocent eyes. "Dad, why are you hitting me?"
Director Lei said with tears in his eyes, "Xiao Ying, I'm sorry." He picked up the hammer and hit her hard again and again.
In Chen Chuan's eyes, the puppet gradually cracked and damaged under the hammer. At this moment, the signs of the second self's emptiness suddenly became more severe.
As Director Lei struck the hammer for the last time, there was a cracking sound, and as the wooden object cracked, a glass bead that served as an eyeball fell to the ground.
Director Lei was gasping for breath there. All he saw was a broken puppet. With a clang, the hammer in his hand fell to the ground.
He took two steps back and held onto the wall.
Chen Chuan looked at the second self, and the signs of emptiness on it were gradually disappearing.
Director Lei took a long time to calm down, regaining some of his spirit. His eyes lit up again, and he said to Chen Chuan: "Thank you, let's go down."
Chen Chuan nodded, took another look at the puppet, and followed him down.
Downstairs, Director Lei waited silently, awaiting a result he could accept. Chen Chuan remained silent. For a moment, the only sound in the living room was the ticking of the clock.
After waiting for about ten minutes.
"Ding-ling-ling..."
The phone in the living room suddenly rang.
Director Lei quickly reached out and grabbed it, but after placing his hand on it, he paused for a moment before slowly picking it up and putting it to his ear, trying to keep his voice steady, "Hello, I'm Lei Guangcheng."
In the empty living room, a clear and excited voice came from the phone. Even Chen Chuan could hear it. "Director Lei, we found him. We found the child. We found your son!"
Director Lei's eyes suddenly became moist.
"He's just a little weak now. Those guys only gave him simple water and food every day, but he's not seriously injured. We'll send him to you now."
Director Lei suppressed his fluctuating emotions and said, "Thank you, Lao Gao! Thank you for your hard work."
…
…
(End of this chapter)
Continue read on readnovelmtl.com
