The Restless Spirit's Father

Bang!

Liu Xiaodan raised his right arm to bait the mouth to bite it instead of his face or his neck. Even if his blood splattered all over his gown and her face, she was still biting it hardly. Liu Xiaodan could even feel the woman's teeth grazing against his very bone.

She couldn't move aside from this. The miasma was keeping her legs and arms from moving. She could only bite down, and she was doing it in pure force.

"Xiaodan!" Tang Mingming called out and was frightened. He saw how Liu Xiaodan didn't even attempt to block and just straight-up fed her his arm. If it gets bitten off, what would he tell Guangru? Would he and Jun be consumed just for Liu Xiaodan to regenerate his arm?

"This aura… is familiar…" Liu Xiaodan was immune to pain when Guangru was around, and so he developed the habit of not even caring. Right now, he was regretting his recklessness; however, the aura underneath all the malice of the ghost was something he felt before. Juggling his memories around the time the girl juggled her mouth to rip off his arm, he remembered when he had felt this one.

"The woman in the disposal shoot!" He twitched. Looking at the girl and the woman, they both had dark hair and big mouths. Both seemed to die from the hands of malicious men, but the woman in the shoot seemed to be more passive than her.

Liu Xiaodan used his other hand to part the fringe curtain and saw that the other eye was intact and yet destroyed. It had deflated and had no more life in it. "Could it be… that they're the same person? A soul torn apart by violence?"

With a swift whiff of cold wind, Liu Xiaodan quickly grabbed the girl's head and pulled her down to his c.h.e.s.t. The fragrance of mums flooded the stagnant air, and Tang Mingming shuddered as he felt their existence behind him. The doors opened, and Yi Junhai walked in with Guangru in his arm.

The girl struggled violently as if breaking free from Liu Xiaodan's hold. However, she paused when she heard Lou Xiaodan whisper into her ear.

"Wait for my return. I will give it back to you. Just wait for me patiently."

Blink.

The miasma fell to the floor and seemed to bounce. The girl was gone and had escaped with minor injuries from Guangru's suffocation. Liu Xiaodan hissed as he pressed on his bleeding arm. It was good that he got shots, or else he would be having hives all over again. Then again, how long would it last?

He then turned to the three entities, especially the child he hadn't seen for a while. "Hi, Guangru. Did you have a good time outside the prison?"

"No. Baba is naughty." Guangru wanted to get off so Yi Junhai let him down, and he got carried by his father. "Why are you being bad, Baba? You make me worry."

"I do? I'm sorry." Liu Xiaodan placed a small kiss on Guangru's cheek, and the child seemed to be surprised. Did he ever do that before? However, the father only stared at Yi Junhai and frowned as he was wearing the librarian. "Junhai, are you… is he…?"

"He should be fine. Let's get out of here." He then glanced at Tang Mingming who was trying to shrink from their gazes. It was his idea to drag Liu Xiaodan up here, and Yi Junhai knew that. However, it had been a long time since Tang Mingming was interested in something else but plotting Cheng Hei's death. It wasn't surprising that he was being reckless again.

However, Guangru thought differently. At this moment, he really wanted to eat Tang Mingming, but his father would be sad if his friends were taken away.

…

When Liu Xiaodan got back to his floor on the sick hall, he noticed that wardens were inspecting all the rooms. Next to him, Huo Taiyang's body fell down, which he duly caught. He pulled the librarian to the side and waited for people to just notice him. He could have gone away, but the librarian would be left behind. He would feel bad if the old man got chills because of Yi Junhai.

"Liu Xiaodan?" a warden called out as he caught a glimpse of him by the elevator. The librarian was also with them. The warden grew mad, but he reined in his anger as he got three meters around him.

The gaze of a small child came from next to one of his legs, and the warden seemed to be a little familiar to that feeling.

"I'm sorry. I didn't mean to leave." Liu Xiaodan reached out his wrists and accepted the cuffs the warden was forced to put on him. "Would I be in disciplinary?"

"Maybe later. Someone's here to see you." The warden noticed a tear in his sleeve and inspected it. It seemed to be bitten off, but the arm underneath was okay. He then seized his arm. "Come with me first to change."

In a room where three male guards were watching him closely, Liu Xiaodan had to change into his prison clothes. He was a high-value inmate who disappeared from his room in the sick hall. He wasn't even caught by the cameras until he appeared in front of that elevator. He seemed to have taken a trip to the blocked floor through the elevator, but Control knew that the elevator shouldn't be able to get up there anymore.

Nonetheless, a 'boss' that could not be traced was something the prison couldn't tolerate. In the end, he was escorted by four wardens back to the cells and then to the conference rooms. Seeing this place, Liu Xiaodan figured that he was meeting Li Heilong again.

Yet, a girl was with him.

"You're causing trouble?" Li Heilong only snorted as he saw the guards standing around the table. The last time, they could talk freely; however, this time, he could even see fear and confusion in the eyes of the warden.

"Sorry, I ended up wandering too far and was accused of escaping." Liu Xiaodan only sighed before looking at him again. "How's Li Feng? Are his injuries healed?"

"There are no other injuries to speak of but his legs." Li Heilong kept his arms crossed on his c.h.e.s.t. He glanced at the guards again before somewhat shrugging. "This is Qiao Shan; she wants to talk to you about the child."

'Child?' The wardens all thought the same. Was she a girlfriend? Did they have a child? She didn't look pregnant.

Liu Xiaodan turned to the beautiful girl, and he saw something strange around her… and that paper she had been folding while waiting. It seemed that she was also a shaman, but something different was around her. Moreover, it seemed like she was a vat of water. Someone could simply dive inside without knowing the dangers of tapping into her spirit.

His eyes flickered slowly before he nodded at her. "Miss Qiao…"

"Liu Xiaodan, I don't have a lot of time. I must be direct." She then presented a paper flower to him. "If you agree to give us the child, your life would be less hard to bear."

"Less hard…" Liu Xiaodan frowned at her and her paper flower. He just shook his head. "I'm sorry. I'm not interested."

"Is it because of his power? You cannot handle him with your current constitution. If you pushed yourself to the limit, you might just die." Qiao Shan hummed as she looked down at the paper flower as well. "Please give us the child. You… you don't deserve him."

The wardens were unclear at some points, but they were talking about a child. Was the child taken by Liu Xiaodan's family? So she wasn't the mother… right?

Liu Xiaodan still shook his head. "Guangru is mine…" However, he then eyed at her with a very strange gaze. He wanted to say things, but he didn't say them in the end. That was very uncouth, and he couldn't bring himself to act like Ren Ditian and the others.

Besides, as he realized that he needed a mother for Guangru, Chuan Nayi's face kept on haunting him.

"But… you can't grant his wish alone. Give us the child." Qiao Shan insisted, but her hands were trembling. Touching a dybbuk's wish was something she didn't want to do. Besides, it had adverse effects to her body and to her already backward abilities.

"Sorry. I want to find a way myself. I'm not selling Guangru to you." Liu Xiaodan got to his feet all of a sudden. "I want to leave."

"How are you planning to find a way? Are you going to start your cult offering in Cherry Medical?" Li Heilong spoke after a while of silence. The negotiations were falling apart, and he wanted to know if Liu Xiaodan had already agreed to come with Qiao Yun.

Because if he was going to ruin his life some more, Li Heilong would rather have him dead.

Liu Xiaodan only stared at Li Heilong and thought deeply. He had no idea what would happen in the mental institution, but he knew that Cherry Medical was also a science center. Aside from holding the irrational and the insane, they were also looking for cures to the mental faculties. Whether they had results or not, Liu Xiaodan only knew they had carried out experiments.

Would Guangru continue killing in there? Liu Xiaodan doubted others would blatantly attack him in there after all.

"I don't know." Liu Xiaodan only turned away.

"Liu Xiaodan—"

"This conversation is over." Liu Xiaodan didn't even stop to look at her.

The wardens were about to move when they were pushed away by what seemed to be wind current. Li Heilong felt his chair move back, as well as Qiao Shan's chair. However, as Qiao Shan stood, she didn't notice her seat move. When she wanted to run after or insist for Liu Xiaodan to stay, the table in the conference room lifted and topple sideways.

Qiao Shan fell to the floor when she pulled her body back to evade. The loud bang resounded, but the door didn't even move. The wardens were all alarmed as Liu Xiaodan disappeared.

The woman bit into her lip. "Is this what Qixi meant by… it would be easy?"