37 Chapter 37 (Two in One)
◎When a child makes a mistake, it is only natural that the parents should be held responsible◎
Tap, tap.
The hunchbacked old lady walked into the hotel, her cane tapping on the tiled floor.
She was so skinny that you could see the bones on her face. She was very old, with wrinkles piled up on top of each other, crowding her eyes so hard that you couldn't see clearly.
The old lady's voice was hoarse, old and humble. "Please be kind, ahem... I'm lost, could you please show me the way..."
She had a strange smell on her, like burnt garbage smeared with oil. Amidst the nauseating stench, there was a faint fragrance, strangely drawing attention.
Is he a scavenger? Or a cleaner?
The aroma of the hotel lobby was instantly drowned out. The receptionist resisted the urge to pinch her nose and hurried over to stop the man. "Old man, do you still remember where your home is?"
The moment the question was asked, the lights in the hotel lobby flickered.
It was as if wisps of dark mist were rising from all around. The lobby still looked the same, but it was covered with a shadow.
"It's raining so hard. Why don't you go to our lounge and rest for a while until the rain stops?" the receptionist asked, and suddenly paused.
The old lady clearly didn't have an umbrella, but there wasn't a drop of water under her gray-black clothes and cloth shoes.
It was as if it had passed through the rain curtain and it didn't exist at all.
Looking closely, there is no muscle or fat under the gray-black pants, only two white bones like firewood supporting the old lady's body.
As she limped over, the skeleton under her clothes rubbed against each other, but when she was far away, the faint sound was completely drowned out by the sound of rain!
A chill ran up from the soles of his feet. The person at the reception desk who was extending his hand to help the old man withdrew and instinctively stepped back.
"Please show me the way..." The old lady grinned stiffly, her eyes squeezed between wrinkles cloudy and vicious, repeating the words of the receptionist, "Where is your home?"
It was as if moisture had invaded the lobby, and the dark mist was growing thicker and thicker in the lobby.
I couldn't tell east from west, north from south. The further I walked, the further I seemed to get from the door.
The receptionist gasped in horror, covered her mouth tightly and dared not speak again. She ran in panic like a headless fly, trying to get away from the slow-moving old lady behind her.
The bright lights illuminated the shadows in the lobby. The only figure was clearly just running in place, but she was completely unaware.
It was pitch black as night as a van slowly pulled into the parking lot. Ye Pingan turned into the intersection, following the hotel lights ahead in the heavy rain.
"The old saying is true. Thunderstorm days are good for sleeping. It's a pity I still have to work and can't just go to sleep."
After going to the cafeteria to direct breakfast and lunch in the morning, Ye Ping'an would go to which store and local seasoning factory in Huaxi City was the most famous.
I was disturbed by a thief last night and slept late. On the way back, the thunder and rain sounded like white noise, knocking on the car window and making me drowsy.
"Put the local specialties you bought at the front desk, go to the cafeteria, arrange dinner and snacks, and then you can go back to sleep."
Ye Pingan had received his pay, so he had to do what he was supposed to do. Yawning and thinking about his afternoon plans, he parked his car steadily in front of the hotel.
Didi——
Amid the blaring of the loudspeaker, the hotel lobby remained silent. Ye Ping'an glanced at his phone. The conversation with the front desk was still stuck on the reply, "I'll push your belongings in when you arrive."
The front desk clerk made a mistake last night and was very attentive all day. Before leaving this morning, she specifically said that her shift wasn't until noon and that she had to come help.
How come you didn’t come after you promised to?
The rain running down the hotel sign was like a thick, translucent curtain, separating the van from the lobby.
Ye Ping'an vaguely saw a lame and hunched figure walking towards the front desk. His voice was not clear in the thunderstorm, and he could only barely make out that it was an old lady.
I guess they are busy because of the new customers.
Ye Pingan didn't take it seriously. It was only a few steps away, just a little rain, and it would be the same if he moved it himself.
Ye Ping'an supported himself by the driver's seat and jumped into the car. He picked up a pack of dried bamboo shoots he had just bought and just opened the car door. Before he got out, stuffy and cold moisture rushed in and splashed all over his face, soaking his eyelashes.
The strong wind brought rain, and raindrops as big as beans fell, making small holes in the puddles and banging on the car doors.
“It’s raining heavily.”
Ye Ping'an wiped his face, closed the door, took out the prepared plastic bag from the corner of the car, and wrapped the dried bamboo shoots in three layers inside and three layers outside.
When I came out of the dry goods store after shopping, the rain wasn't this heavy yet.
It was just a few steps to the hotel lobby, so it was okay for her to get a little wet. The dried bamboo shoots were packed in a paper bag, so if they got damp and changed their taste, they would be inedible.
The parking lot had become a shallow puddle, reflecting the dark clouds in the sky. As the van came to a stop, a small child suddenly appeared in the shadow of the puddle not far away, covering his face and sobbing.
"Woo woo... Dad, Mom..."
The crying of a young child penetrated the crack of the car door. His dark eyes stared at the van through the gaps between his fingers covering his face, and then fixed on the blurry figure behind the window.
The van's wheels turned slightly, heading towards the child.
"Where did this little brat come from? Don't his parents care about him?" Ye Ping'an was busy packing dried bamboo shoots. When he heard the crying, he was filled with disgust.
The car calmed down again before it started automatically and crashed into the car.
The van didn't move, and the crying child crawled closer and closer, appearing in front of the door in the blink of an eye.
Having learned its lesson last night, it didn't touch the van, but its crying was extremely miserable. Even the most heartless person would look back after hearing it.
The receptionist, who was running around in a panic in the hotel lobby, was in a daze for a moment and subconsciously muttered, "Baby, don't cry."
"What do you want to do by crying while blocking my car?" Ye Ping'an couldn't stand it anymore and opened the car door to take a look.
The one-year-old child had most of his body soaked in rainwater and was missing a leg. He looked like a homeless child who had no parents and was deliberately disabled to beg.
Ye Pingan frowned. He looked quite pitiful.
but……
There was no trace of pity in Ye Ping'an's tone. He immediately drove the man away impatiently, "If you don't have money, go beg from someone else!"
After yelling, she lowered her voice and said, "Or I can call the police for you. The police station is just one street away."
What a joke! She doesn't even make enough money, so there's no way she could give away a penny.
If it's really a heartless criminal gang that's engaged in sexually assaulting and mutilating people, paying them would be a nightmare for even more poor children. If you encounter a problem, of course, contact the police.
“…” The child’s crying stopped for a moment. He had never encountered such a reaction before, as if he was stunned by being yelled at.
"Woo woo... Mom..."
The child then began to cry again, and a trembling little hand reached out towards the car door, towards the woman inside, begging pitifully for a hug.
Crunching——
As if teeth were gnawing at glass, the short nails of the little hand were extremely sharp, scratching the edge of the car door and drilling through the door straight in.
"Don't scratch my car! Can you afford to pay for the paint that's been scratched?!"
Ye Ping'an's face was unfriendly. He pulled the child's hand away and said, "Why are you yelling? Who is your mother? Whose child are you? Why are you so naughty?"
“Woo woo—”
The child stared at her, his crying suddenly getting louder, and he used his hands and feet to climb up along the outstretched arms.
"Are you getting ahead of me?" Ye Pingan changed his pulling to lifting, grabbing the collar and slinging it up like a chicken. "Boss Ye's class at Xile Hotel has started. Is your child disobedient? Most likely you've spoiled him! Just give him a beating and he'll be fine!"
Snap! Snap! Snap!
Three solid slaps landed hard on the crying child's buttocks.
The child's body was cold and stiff, like a piece of frozen meat.
The corpse should have had no reaction to the beating, but when the slap came down, it twitched as if it had been electrocuted, as if it were a naughty child who was really being beaten and screaming.
The snickering and fake crying came to an abrupt end. Without his hands covering his face, [Night Cryer] stared at Ye Ping'an with his dark eyes, his pale and twisted face full of resentment.
"What are you glaring at? You're so naughty at such a young age! Scratching cars! Blocking the road! And even acting pitiful!"
Ye Pingan rolled his eyes and swung the child in the air, "Tell me, where are your parents? What's their phone number? Where do you live? Make them pay for the car wash and the emotional damage!"
"Woo woo—Dad, Mom…"
The child cried shrilly, waving its arms wildly, twisting and struggling in Ye Ping'an's grasp. It no longer tried to attack forward, but instead kicked its only remaining leg, moving away from her.
But struggling was futile.
It's like a real child caught by an adult. There is nothing he can do except cry. He can't even escape.
The person running in the foreground paused for a moment amid the crying, as if attracted by the crying, and remembered the love of his "mother", and took a few steps towards it.
The old lady in the lobby turned her head stiffly, from staring at the front desk to staring at the farce in the van outside the door.
Buzz——
Ye Ping'an's cell phone vibrated. He took it out and saw that it was a message from Yan Mingyue.
"Huh? Captain Yan wants me to go on a field mission with them again? You've fallen, Captain Yan. You're not going on a spring outing or a picnic. Just prepare something to eat along the way."
While Ye Ping'an was distracted, the child burst out with unprecedented strength and wailed crazily, "Woo-woo-woo!"
Shadows from the rain rolled and surged, and a series of tiny bloody handprints appeared. Dark shadows of children, almost identical to the children, crawled out of the shadows, though their number was far fewer than last night.
The shadows of young children climbed up the long rope one by one, grabbing at the imprisoned [Night Cryer] just like last night.
Before the shadows reached Ye Ping'an, the sticky black liquid spreading silently under the wheels had already paved a narrow path. As the shadows of the children crawled in front of the car, countless small hands suddenly grew out of the ground and grabbed them.
The hood of the car opened a small gap, like a gaping mouth, grabbing them and dragging them into the shadows inside the car.
The lines under the driver's seat of the van grinned, and in the shadows deep inside the car, he burped.
“Wu…?!”
The child's screams and wails changed in tone, and his limbs shrank a circle. He hung blankly in Ye Ping'an's hand like a dehydrated doll.
Ye Pingan glared at it with disdain, "You're just crying! You've cried away all your blessings. Did you remember your parents' phone number?"
Knock knock.
The sound of crutches rang out, and a hunched figure walked out of the hotel. The skinny old lady raised her head tremblingly, "Please be kind, ahem... I'm lost--"
"I'm busy." Ye Ping'an interrupted impatiently.
The compensation for the naughty kid hasn't arrived yet, and there are a lot of people waiting for her in the cafeteria, so she doesn't have time to meddle in other people's business.
As the sound came, the dark mist that filled the hotel lobby overflowed, appearing and disappearing in the rain, and wrapped around the van.
The old woman smiled stiffly, waiting for her prey to respond.
One second, two seconds.
The old lady's smile froze.
It was clearly answered, but not a single wisp of the mist that emerged successfully entangled the lured target.
The mist dissipated as soon as it touched Ye Ping'an. The fog surrounding the car was clearly pouring out, but it was becoming thinner and thinner.
Under the cover of rain, the hands that had just reached out to drag away the black shadow accepted everything that came, and the black slime covering the ground sucked away the mist in big gulps like a vacuum cleaner.
The parking lot road is still clearly visible.
The smile on the driver's seat grew wider.
The old lady asking for directions walked to the car door with a cane, her mouth open in a daze, like a stuck machine, repeating, "Please, please, please..."
"Why haven't you left yet?"
Ye Ping'an was speechless. "You can check the navigation at the front desk. The police station is just one street away. Go find a police officer to help you! Can't you see I'm busy educating the naughty kid?"
The old lady was interrupted again and again, and the fog dissipated until it was almost invisible.
It was shaking all over and its joints were crackling, but it could do nothing to Ye Ping'an.
Ye Ping'an felt something was wrong with the sound and turned to look at it suspiciously, but it seemed that he didn't see the bones exposed under the clothes.
"What's going on? Are you here to scam me again?"
Knock knock.
The old woman walked forward in silence, seemingly limping, but she was closing the gap quickly. She raised her cane and was about to squeeze onto the car.
“Woo—”
[Night Crying Man] The broken body jumped up and suddenly grabbed the old lady who was approaching, trying to hold the old lady's neck or crutches to get rid of Ye Ping'an who was holding it.
"Um?!"
Ye Pingan grabbed the child who was swinging out like a monkey, slapped the crutch he was leaning on, and was furious. "So you are the parent? Why didn't you intervene when your child was making a fuss just now? Now you come asking for directions and tricking me into taking the child away... I almost got fooled by you."
Ye Pingan wiped the extra crutch marks on the car door with a distressed look, glaring at the two of them. "As expected, if the top beam is crooked, the bottom beam will be crooked. If there is a bad child, there will be a bad parent!"
【Night Crying Man】:?
【Old lady asking for directions】：???
Ye Pingan grabbed the old lady's shoulders and pulled her into the car. "Now that you're here, don't stand outside. Come in and sit down and talk."
"Wuwu——cough cough——"
The crying and the hoarse old voice sounded at the same time, as sharp as screams.
A bone-chilling coldness erupted in the parking lot, and the receptionist in the hotel lobby instantly fainted. Her face was pale and her teeth were chattering in her coma.
Yan Mingyue had just left the Investigation Bureau in the rain when the marks on his neck suddenly deepened. A hemp rope dangled from the void, swinging impatiently in one direction.
"Cough... cough cough..." Yan Mingyue grabbed his neck, barely catching his breath, and stuffed the hemp rope back into his collar.
She looked in the direction the hemp rope had just pointed with uncertainty. "Given the current recovery progress of the [Hanging Rope], it won't actively try to devour the weirdness. Unless there's a weirdness erupting nearby!"
Ye Ping'an's ability to create strange things seems to be just control, and he cannot deal with the damage caused by strange explosions.
"Send a message to Boss Ye and ask him not to come back for the time being!" Yan Mingyue said, stepped on the accelerator and rushed out with the team.
There are no Baixian stationed in Huaxi City, so the monster detection used by the deputy team leader is not as effective as Baixian, but it is still usable.
The pain from the [Hanging Rope] just made up for the deficiency. Yan Mingyue headed towards the direction where the [Hanging Rope] would react the most with a clear goal.
In the parking lot, the old lady and the young child used their hands and feet, waving and struggling to get away from the car and Ye Ping'an.
Apart from the constant crackling of her joints, the old lady was so flexible that she didn't look old at all.
A huge force forced them to fall into the carriage without any resistance.
He easily dragged the two, one big and one small, into the car and slammed the door shut.
Ye Pingan stuffed the child into the old lady's arms and said straight to the point, "Alright, I won't waste my time talking to you. I've returned the child to you. When a child makes a mistake, it's only natural for the parents to be responsible, right?"
The old lady tilted her head to avoid the child's arms, her eyes sunken in wrinkles tilted towards the car door, as if she was ready to struggle out at any time.
The car door blocked the thunderstorm, and the dark sky was reflected in its dull eyes, as if it was crying.
The carriage floor squirmed silently, but the dark swamp didn't rise up before Ye Ping'an's eyes. Only the area where the old woman was thrown to the ground had turned into a quagmire, sucking it tightly.
The old lady was completely unable to move.
As soon as the car door was closed, the black slime that was originally only wriggling near the tires suddenly spread out.
Small hands reached out from the shadows, like a meticulous scrap truck, following the bloody handprints and faint mist left in the parking lot. Not even the smallest trace was spared, greedily pulled into the shadows and swallowed.
Yan Mingyue was driving recklessly on the road when the hemp rope around his neck suddenly dropped down and he lost his direction.
"The strange burst of aura... is gone?" Yan Mingyue was stunned.
She drove the car in a circle and the twine stopped responding.
Yan Mingyue had to give up relying on its reaction to track, "Let's ask the deputy captain to come back for the investigation. I'll take her shift and continue searching for strange activities."
"Alas, I don't know where the weird ones have gone. We need to quickly apply for a White Immortal station. The number of White Immortals we cultivate is still too small, far from enough to cover all the cities."
Yan Mingyue looked at the rain curtain with worry, and warned everyone through the intercom headset, "The strange things are becoming more active, and the [Coal Butcher] may be about to appear. If you are involved in the incident, be cautious when exploring."
The black slime flowing out of the wheels swept around, swallowed up the last wisp of mist at the hotel entrance, and reluctantly sank back into the van.
The crutch marks on the car door that could not be wiped clean seemed to have been washed away by the rain, leaving only the shiny new car door.
In the carriage, a large and a small person were huddled together tightly together. A slight burnt smell emanated from the missing limbs and scars of flesh and blood, making the stench of decay on their bodies less obvious.
The young child stared at the old lady and cried non-stop, grabbing her neck with his arms as if asking for a hug, digging deep into her neck, almost pinching her flesh.
The old lady was forced to hold the young child, as if there was a bomb stuffed in her arms. Her stiff body was desperately leaning back on the spot, and her wrinkled, skinny neck was squeezed into a double chin.
It turns out that there is harmony between grandparents and grandchildren.
Look how close they are.
Ye Ping'an nodded with satisfaction, and extended his hand to the old lady and the child, smiling kindly and sincerely, "Come on, pay. Car wash fee, car scratch compensation, mental damage, lost wages... I'm a serious businessman and never charge random fees. I won't charge more from you, just one thousand yuan for each item."
Two pairs of eyes stared at Ye Ping'an, full of dead silence, which made people feel cold.
A cold aura rose up around them, but as soon as it appeared, it disappeared in an instant as if it had entered a black hole.
Ye Ping'an was completely unaware of the ferocious expressions on the "grandfather and grandson" faces.
She raised her hand and urged, "Don't just look at it, give me money."
"Not a thousand?" Ye Ping'an looked at them and reluctantly changed his words, "A hundred will do."
The old lady trembled all over, raised her hand uncontrollably, loosened her crutches, and dropped them to the ground with a thud.
The young child was curled up and hanging on the old lady's neck, with his clothes pocket open and a wet test paper fell into the carriage.
The paper was soaked and the writing was blurred.
"Yucai Education?" Ye Pingan glanced at the printed papers and shook his head. "He's already going to school to write papers at such a young age? They only teach knowledge and not teach people how to behave, and they've raised such a naughty child."
He stared at them for two seconds, but when they didn't continue to take out money, Ye Ping'an finally came to his senses.
"?"
Ye Pingan was in disbelief and pointed at the papers and crutches on the ground. "Is this all you're trying to get me?"
Buzz——
The phone vibrated and a new message popped up.
Ye Ping'an just realized that when he was beating up the naughty kid, he hadn't even read the message from Xiao Zhang when the second one came.
Seeing the first message, Ye Pingan was immediately happy. "Oh, Captain Yan said that I don't need to come back because of the heavy rain? That's great."
It’s so nice to get paid for free without working.
The second message was also sent by Xiao Zhang, reminding her that there had been recent incidents of mentally ill people injuring people in Huaxi City, and that she should ignore the old lady who was asking for directions and the disabled child who was mumbling.
etc.
An old lady? A child?
Ye Ping'an's eyes moved from his phone to the faces of the grandparents and grandchildren across from him, then looked at the rubbish on the ground and sneered, "Stop trying to be pitiful with me. I won't fall for it!"
The "grandparents and grandchildren" hugging each other trembled at the same time.
They sat there obediently, like poor oppressed creatures.
"Tsk, now you've behaved yourself. You're pretending to be crazy, but you don't have any money, right?"
Ye Ping'an threw them in the car, sat in the driver's seat and started the van.
She ordered without question, "Where is your home? Show me the way! Take me there now! I'll find the person who's in charge of your family and have a good discussion about the car wash fee, the car scratching compensation, the mental damage, the lost wages... Oh, and now there's also the issue of your two education fees!"
Anyway, Captain Yan said that we don’t have to go to the cafeteria today, so there’s no need to rush to put away the dried bamboo shoots we brought back.
Ye Ping'an has plenty of time to go and collect debts.
The "grandparents and grandchildren" did not move.
Ye Pingan watched them from the rearview mirror, seething with rage. "You can't even give directions? If I don't pay you back today, this matter won't end!"
The old lady looked back blankly.
Its rule has always been to ask for directions. Who has ever met someone who would ask it for directions right away?
Before the fog could escape, shadows gathered around it in knots, as if it had fallen into confusion.
Under the unfriendly gaze, the old lady raised her hand little by little and turned in one direction with her cane.
The movement was extremely difficult, almost twisting its body into a knot.
"Wouldn't it be better if you showed me the way earlier?"
Ye Ping'an curled his lips and stepped on the accelerator to drive away.
After the old lady in the carriage pointed the way, her cloudy and vicious eyes closed again, the hideousness on her face faded, and the lingering coldness dissipated from her body, turning her back into a motionless corpse.
Only the crutch remained stiffly suspended in mid-air, a hint of coldness still lingering on it.
The young child huddled around the corpse's neck, looking at the stiff crutch that was still pointing the way. He didn't dare to move, and he held back his tears, looking very well-behaved.
The vision was blurred in the heavy rain. A black shadow rose silently on the van window, and the rain curtain and buildings were receding rapidly.
Ye Ping'an drove past two intersections according to the direction of his crutch. A burnt smell wafted from the front and went straight into his nose.
Like... barbecue.
【Author’s words】
Thanks for everyone's responses! I'll keep my current name. It's great to be liked by everyone, and I hope it brings happiness to my children. I'll do my best to finish it [Keep it up]
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Small Theater:
[Old Lady Asking for Directions]: You're asking me for directions? You're the opposite of Tian Gang!
[The old lady asking for directions] Show me the way, [The old lady asking for directions] GG.
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