Volume 5: Qingming Chapter 26 Coaxing the Child
Tang Butian took a few steps forward.
She looked up and saw a web under the night sky.
The moonlight was shrouded in the spider web, flowing on it, extending far into the sky.
The glowing spider silk swayed, swung back and forth, tightened and loosened, as if it was struggling with some prey. Suddenly, it changed direction in mid-air and flew straight towards Tang Butian. Tang Butian subconsciously raised the wooden sword and blocked it forward. She felt that she had cut into a soft mass and the wooden sword sank into it...
"pain……"
The soft object slipped out backwards, fell to the ground, rolled twice, and stopped.
Tang Butian retracted the wooden sword, and she saw a little girl in a light green skirt kneeling on the ground with her arms covered.
The little girl looked to be about eight or nine years old, with transparent spider silk wrapped around her wrists and ankles.
She looked up at Tang Butian with a dazed look in her eyes, but her gaze paused for a moment on the beads in Tang Butian's left hand, then turned away and looked at Jiang You...
She said: "It hurts..."
The sound is soft and sticky.
Tang Butian turned and looked at Jiang You.
"The person is here, go ahead and ask him." Jiang You said.
"You're good at coaxing kids."
"No way..." Jiang You was about to refute, but Tang Butian spoke again, "In the Science and Technology Museum, you said it."
"Okay, you're the leader, you have the final say," Jiang You put Jiang Mo on the ground and then he walked to the little girl and squatted down.
"My name is Jiang You, what's yours?"
"My name is Qiaoqiao."
"I'm a policeman. You know what a policeman is? He catches bad guys."
"Catch the bad guys?"
"Yeah, are you a bad guy?"
Qiaoqiao shook her head quickly.
"Then tell me, why are you here? Where are you from? Be an honest child."
"I, I..." Qiaoqiao glanced at the beads in Tang Butian's hand.
"Do you recognize this bead?" Jiang You asked.
"I feel a little familiar."
Jiang You stretched out his hand, and Tang Butian understood and put the bead in his hand.
Jiang Mo looked up at the moon, and his body slowly melted into the darkness.
"Where are you from?" Jiang You held the beads in front of Qiaoqiao, he looked into her eyes and asked again.
"I don't remember. I, I seem to have come here from far away."
"A place far away? What's it like there?"
"There are many trees, flowers, and..." Qiaoqiao lowered her eyes, she seemed to be reminiscing.
"what else ?"
"And..." Qiaoqiao's right hand, which had been covering her left arm, suddenly reached out to grab Jiang You's hand holding the beads.
Her fingers touched, she caught...
At this moment, the spider silk wrapped around her wrists and ankles tightened, and her whole body was hung up in mid-air.
Jiang You stood up.
He threw the bead upwards and caught it. Then he reached out and grabbed Qiaoqiao's left hand and looked at it. There was a deep crack on the arm near the shoulder. No blood flowed out and it seemed that it could not heal.
"The wound is a bit deep, does it hurt?" he asked.
The confusion in Qiaoqiao's eyes faded away and she became alert and cautious.
"Would you like some candy?"
Qiaoqiao stared at the beads in his hand.
"Have a candy," Jiang You reached into his bag and took out his candy box. He poured two candies into his palm, ate one, and when he was about to put the other one into the little girl's mouth, he seemed to have thought of something and put it into his own mouth and ate it. "You are not a human being. If you eat sweet things, your brain will not secrete dopamine. It's such a waste. I'll eat it for you. You're welcome."
The little girl's eyes widened.
"Hold it back, your eyeballs are about to fall out. You want this, right?" Jiang You put the candy box back into his bag and tossed the beads again. "If you answer the questions well, I'll give it to you. How about that?"
"Really?" Qiaoqiao asked.
“I’m really a policeman.”
Qiaoqiao was silent for a moment, then she asked, "What do you want to know?"
"Where are you from?"
"I, I escaped here." Qiaoqiao saw Tang Butian looking at her, she bit her lip and continued, "I am the mountain spirit of Jiujin Mountain."
"You escaped? Who was the one chasing you?"
"I don't know. It appeared suddenly. The rocks cracked, the trees fell, and many people died." Qiaoqiao showed a look of panic on her face. "I could only run away, and keep running away..."
"Finally escaped here?" Jiang You asked.
Qiaoqiao nodded.
"About when did it happen?"
"I don't know. It's been years."
"Ten years?"
“Some should.”
"You've suffered a lot." The spider silk loosened and fell to the ground.
She took a small step to the side and stopped. She asked, "Can I have the beads?"
"Do you know Jinghu Society?" Jiang You asked.
Qiaoqiao shook her head.
"Ten years ago, a sudden rainstorm triggered a mudslide in Jiujin Mountain. The entire tour group of 32 people were drowned by the mountain torrent. We originally thought it was a natural disaster," Jiang You noticed Qiaoqiao's expression, "but recently we found out that it was a man-made disaster. It was done by Jinghu Society."
"So is it the Jinghu Society that is chasing me?"
"Yes, do you want to go back to Jiujin Mountain?"
"I, I don't dare."
"Because Mirror Lake will?"
"Yes, it's too powerful , I..."
"The Jinghu Society has been wiped out, completely eradicated."
"Really?"
"You are safe now, shall we take you back?"
"I'm afraid..."
"But I think you are very brave." Jiang You said and took a step back. Where he was originally standing, black thorn branches emerged from the concrete ground.
A fierce look appeared on Qiaoqiao's face. She took a few steps back and waved her hand, and the branch wrapped around Jiang You's legs.
"Leader, help!" Jiang You shouted at Tang Butian.
The wooden sword flew over and cut off the thorn branch on Jiang You's leg.
The white skirt fluttered, and the wooden sword pierced through the layers of thorn branches and chopped straight down at Qiaoqiao. Qiaoqiao twisted her body and a branch rolled her up and threw her out. After several throws, she finally disappeared into the darkness.
Tang Butian landed on the ground. She looked in the direction where Qiaoqiao disappeared. "She's gone."
"Fight as much as you want, it won't affect the outside world." Jiang You said.
Tang Butian saw the spider web, which was originally dark, light up for a moment, and then a green light was bounced back. The wooden sword in her hand flew out, and the sword pierced into the green light accurately. She jumped up at the same time, caught the wooden sword, and spun half a circle in the air. She stretched her hand forward and chopped Qiaoqiao's left shoulder again.
Jiang Mo walked out of the darkness, holding a ball of condensed black energy in his hand. It was actually the two souls entangled together that he had let go before, so blurry that their appearance was indistinguishable.
"You are quite environmentally friendly now," Jiang You threw the beads upwards, and the black mist was sucked in again.
