Poplar catkins fall
With her powerful mental strength and unparalleled face-changing skills, Chu Tang firmly holds the position of the leader among the eight Ghost Generals of the Ghost Gate, and is also the only female among the Ghost Generals.
She is ruthless and her actions are unpredictable.
Five years ago, when she was helping her adopted son complete a secret mission, she was so badly injured that she lost control of her superpowers and fell to the ground covered in blood at the entrance of Jiazhou Hospital.
Unable to contact her family and friends, the doctors had no choice but to take her in for treatment.
When Chu Tang woke up, the white ceiling and the pungent smell of disinfectant made her think she had returned to the underworld. But instead, she was greeted by a pair of gentle eyes.
The nurse, wearing a mask, asked, "Is there anything else that's bothering you?"
Chu Tang looked around warily, and when she realized the abnormality in her body, she frantically pulled the needle off the back of her hand, threw off the blanket, and tried to run away.
She was terrified.
For twenty years, she relied on her supernatural abilities to step over countless corpses and blood to achieve her current status.
If her superpowers disappear, what difference is there between her and an ordinary person? Not to mention her enemies, even the people from the Ghost Gate would easily take her life if they found out.
At this moment, Chu Tang, barefoot and disheveled, stumbled and staggered through the hospital.
She had to hide herself and not let anyone find out.
Outside the hospital, snowflakes fell in the sunlight. For the first time, Chu Tang felt that her life was about to end. Blood kept dripping from the veins on the back of her hand where the IV needle had been violently removed.
The nurse ran up behind him, saying, "You haven't recovered yet! Let's go back first!"
She slowly turned around, her vision went black, and she fainted, only to hear loud cries for help in her ear.
Chu Tang found it laughable.
When she awoke again, she was much calmer, like a rose about to wither, quietly awaiting her death.
In addition to checking her body every day, the nurse would also help her get meals from the cafeteria. Every day, she would have three dishes and a soup, and occasionally she would bring in a warm bowl of pork rib soup from home.
Aside from earning money for her and paying her medical bills, Chu Tang rarely said a word and would just gaze out the window.
A month later, her physical functions gradually recovered, but she still couldn't explore or control the energy of her supernatural ability.
The members of the Ghost Gate only contact two subordinates in private, and remain missing to everyone else.
One night, there was a knocking sound at the window, and Chu Tang saw Liang Hua flying in the air.
She opened the window. "Why are you here?"
Liang Hua said anxiously, "I'm worried about you. I'll stay by your side recently. In case the Ghost Gate, Twelfth Street, or your enemies from underground come looking for you, I'll protect you."
Chu Tang coldly smiled and said, "Liang Hua, think it through. Now is the best time for you to kill me and take my place."
Liang Hua looked at her in disbelief, "Boss! I'm someone you've mentored!"
"Sigh." She sighed and said disdainfully, "What kind of friendship does the Ghost Gate have? I killed so many superhumans when I took over, but I never expected to bring out such a piece of trash like you."
Liang Hua's eyes shone brightly as he said firmly, "If killing me can achieve your goal, I'm willing."
"Bang!" Chu Tang slammed the window shut. "Get out! Nobody wants to hear your pledge of loyalty."
She sat on the edge of the bed, reflecting on her past. At that moment, she felt a little tired.
She took the elevator to the top floor of the hospital late at night. As a child, she fell from the third floor, suffering a huge physical and mental shock that triggered her supernatural abilities.
Chu Tang stood on the edge of the rooftop, looking down at this remote little city. Just one more step forward and she could leave completely.
Chu Tang is not afraid of death.
She simply couldn't face her own mediocrity.
If we can't go back to the Gate of Hell, what can we do in the future?
"Chu Tang!" A familiar voice suddenly came from behind her. She turned around and found that it was the nurse again.
In the dead of winter, the wind was biting cold. The nurse took off her mask, revealing a red and swollen right side of her face, connecting to her eye. She looked even more frightened than when she was standing on the edge of the roof. Her voice trembled as she pleaded, "Let's talk this out. Please come down first."
Chu Tang remained silent, like an emotionless stone statue, motionless.
The nurse hugged herself tightly and said, "What's bothering you? Tell me! Please tell me! I'll help you!"
Chu Tang thought she was ridiculous. With such a serious injury on her face, what could she possibly do to help others?
The nurse was so frightened that tears streamed down her face, and she was on the verge of a breakdown. "What is it that you can't get over? Tell me! Okay!" She said uncontrollably, "I've stood on the rooftop too! Three times! The first time was when my own uncle assaulted me. You know, when his hand was on my genitals, I had just started school! My mother actually told me to bear it, saying that if word got out in the village, I would be finished. But I refused. I made a scene at the village committee and ran crying to the county town to tell the police. In the end, no one in my family wanted me anymore, and only my eighty-year-old grandmother collected scraps to support my schooling."
When Chu Tang saw her crying with snot and tears streaming down her face, a string in her heart suddenly tugged.
Snowflakes drifted down in layers, making the nurse's vision blur. Stubbornly wiping away her tears, she continued, "Later, I finally passed the exam and left the countryside. Do you know how difficult it was to get a job at a hospital in Haicheng with my qualifications? I only slept three hours a month for the exam, and then that Miao Cheng took advantage of my position as a mentor..." She hesitated for a few seconds, then said, "Do you know what it's like for a medical student to be stripped naked on a hospital bed while treating patients...?"
Chu Tang jumped down from the wall. In the biting cold wind, she walked up to the nurse wearing only a thin hospital gown.
For the first time in her life, she explained, "I didn't intend to jump off the building."
The nurse, her strength completely drained, grabbed her hands, crying, and said, "It's good that you're alive, it's good that you're alive..."
Later, Chu Tang learned her name was Chai Yan, and that she had two children who were a little over one year old.
One day, the attending physician arranged for Chu Tang to stay for another month because her injured right leg had not only failed to recover but had become more serious.
Chai Yan made bone broth for eight consecutive days, and Chu Tang was almost sick of it, but she didn't dare to complain.
On the 9th day, instead of receiving the bone broth, she saw the strangulation marks and bruises on Chai Yan's neck, a clear indication that she had been killed.
Chu Tang was furious, her eyes filled with undisguised rage, and she demanded, "He hit you again!?"
Chai Yan tried to cover herself with her turtleneck, saying, "It's nothing."
Chu Tang grabbed her arm with one hand and forcefully dragged her to the bedside. "What do you mean 'nothing's wrong'! Why is he hitting me harder and harder! Where's your backbone?" she shouted, almost in a commanding tone, "Divorce him!"
Chai Yan struggled to shake off his hand, saying, "I'm tired."
As soon as she finished speaking, Chu Tang, like a ferocious beast, gritted her teeth and said viciously, "Fine, then I'll kill them all."
She quickly got out of bed, but Chai Yan stopped her, saying, "What are you doing! Your leg hasn't healed yet! Go back to bed!"
Chu Tang restrained her hand, angrily repeating over and over, "Chai Yan! Get a divorce! I have money to raise the child! You must leave him today! Get a divorce right now! Leave him!"
Chai Yan suddenly nodded obediently, her eyes vacant, "Okay."
Chu Tang was relieved and limped to the bedside. She picked up her phone and said, "I have someone who can protect you."
No one answered from behind.
She turned around and found the ward empty.
"Chai Yan?" Chu Tang called her name, wondering where she had gone.
She ran to the nurses' station to ask, and heard the head nurse say, "She just muttered about divorce before she left."
Chu Tang touched her chest, a warm current rising within her. She was all too familiar with this feeling; every time her powers were restored, her body would feel the comforting warmth that comes after a long winter.
Oh no! Did I accidentally use my superpower on Chai Yan?
She asked the head nurse, Chai Yan, for her home address.
The head nurse, always gossiping, said, "It's obvious you two are getting along really well lately, but you should still stay away from their family. That husband is a scoundrel; be careful not to bring trouble upon yourself."
With the address in hand, Chu Tang called Liang Hua, but the call went unanswered.
She had no choice but to take a taxi to Chai Yan's house. It was freezing cold, and she was in a rush; her thin clothes made her shiver.
Chu Tang found the exact location and pounded on the door frantically, calling out, "Chai Yan! Chai Yan!"
There was no sound from inside the door, but the neighbor next door opened the door, and a kind old lady appeared.
The old woman asked, "Are you looking for Chai Yan?"
Chu Tang nodded.
The old woman said, "Chai Yan should be at work, and her husband is probably playing cards."
The sound of a child crying came from inside the house.
Chu Tang asked, "Has Chai Yan just returned?"
The old woman shook her head. "She usually comes back to hold the child."
"Children?" Chu Tang remembered that Chai Yan had two children, twins named Shunshun and Lili. She said, "Can I see them?"
The old woman looked her up and down, "It's not very convenient."
Chu Tang understood her concerns and sat in the stairwell, saying, "I'll sit here and wait for them to come back."
In the dark, narrow stairwell, filled with the smell of garbage and dampness, she leaned against the wall, repeatedly dialing Liang Hua and Chai Yan's cell phones.
As she waited, darkness fell, and Chu Tang grew increasingly panicked, her body growing colder and colder.
Suddenly, hurried, heavy footsteps echoed in the hallway.
She stood up and saw a tall, unfamiliar man, reeking of alcohol, his eyes darting around as if he were guiltily avoiding something, glancing around.
Chu Tang, hidden in the dark shadows, asked, "Have you seen Chai Yan?"
The man was in a daze and didn't speak.
Chu Tang looked at him with disgust, feeling uneasy, and asked sharply, "I'm asking you! Where is Chai Yan!"
"I don't know, I don't know!" The man took out his keys and opened the door.
Chai Yan kicked the door open with her left foot, shouting, "Where is Chai Yan?!"
The man, both frightened and defiant, said, "That bitch! She insists on a divorce! It's all her fault for keeping talking and talking, even though I was about to win! I'm so fucking annoyed!"
Her phone rang, and Chu Tang answered, "Looking for someone! Name: Chai Yan! Especially near the card room! Go check the security footage, I'm giving you five minutes, hurry up!"
She was panicking, her mind a jumble. She really didn't intend to use her powers on Chai Yan...
This was the first time Chu Tang truly understood the meaning of the word "helpless".
Finally, Liang Hua led Chu Tang to a dark, cramped alley behind several mahjong parlors. There were several large garbage bins at the entrance of the alley, and the stench was overwhelming. Even the pure white snowflakes could not hide the black, dirty water.
Chai Yan, dressed in a white nurse's uniform, lay there quietly, covered in mud and blood.
Chu Tang took a few steps back, and suddenly, she sensed a surge of supernatural energy within her body.
She never imagined that one day she would be nourished by such a sorrowful and withered soul. With a blank expression, she raised her hand, and the snowflakes slowly melted in her palm. Chu Tang turned and left.
Three days later, Chai Yan returned home, divorced Yang Wei, took the child with her, and lived alone.
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