The Restless Spirit's Father

No one that had studied in Ting since two years ago didn't know Xie Canrong.

He was notorious in the university as someone who didn't fear fighting as he could plaster his money to make things legal. He was also known to be a s.e.x offender, but the girls who reported his actions were the ones kicked out of the school instead.

If there was a person that shredded Ting's reputation in pieces way before the group suicide, it would be him—Xie Canrong.

What made it worse for them right now was that this Xie Canrong… was a friend of Ren Ditian. To be honest—among Li Feng's peers, Li Feng was the only one who had a bottom line.

The others had questionable heights of notoriety, but a few were proven through and through to be ruthless enough to have their humanity card revoked.

For him to think that Li Feng had colluded with Liu Xiaodan to kill his friends, it was something impossible for him to not accept.

The two were blindfolded and brought to some place they didn't know. The only relief Chuan Nayi had in her heart was that she wasn't alone. If Li Feng stood her up for real, how was she going to survive this? Wouldn't it be better if Guangru just killed her by then?

"Leave them here."

Bang! The two were thrown to the ground. Chuan Nayi bit her own lip as her tears came out. Her legs were broken and were still in casts. Right now, they threw her on the ground without regard to her injuries. If she broke her legs again, she would have them amputated.

Ruan Jin's first impulse was to protect Chuan Nayi. It was still his bro's girl so he couldn't just let these goons have their way with her if he could help it.

"Hahaha, bring me their phones."

Someone was going to search them, seemingly excited in searching the woman. However, Ruan Jin voluntarily threw his phone at Xie Canrong's feet and even reached inside the cardigan's pocket for Chuan Nayi's phone.

Xie Canrong laughed out as he saw how aggressive Ruan Jin was. He then bent down to pick up Chuan Nayi's phone and tried to open it on his own. He walked up to the two and reached down to the woman, the male glaring at the boss.

"Open this for me, sweetheart.

"Thank you." Xie Canrong laughed out as he fiddled with it as he walked back to his prior spot. He even stepped on Ruan Jin's phone as he went.

"You… what's your name?" Xie Canrong looked past his shoulder and eyed Ruan Jin. "You look so familiar. Do you have anything to do with Liu Xiaodan?"

"If he finds out what you're doing to us right now, you'll ask your mother to have never given birth to you." Ruan Jin hissed through gritted teeth.

Xie Canrong only laughed out as he dialed Li Feng's phone number.

…

Ring! Ring!

A hand flew out of the blanket and groped the table for the phone. It managed to feel the phone and brought the handset back to the owner. Li Feng, who had been sleeping already, rubbed his eyes just to have a clear view of the caller ID.

"Why is she calling me? Did you forget to send the text to that guy?"

"Nope. He probably won't bail out as well." Li Yunru yawned after and shifted around to get a more comfortable position.

Li Feng scratched his head and cleared his throat to make it look like he was still wide awake. He then answered, "Hello, Nayi?"

Silence came as an answer, but it was the kind that made Li Feng uncomfortable. He waited for a few seconds before asking again. "Nayi? Did she press on it by accident?"

"You really have no idea, do you?" Xie Canrong laughed out, the phone on loudspeaker.

Li Feng froze all of a sudden. He then barked, "Canrong! Why do you have Nayi's phone?" His hand clenched on the sheets as Li Yunru was awakened by his voice.

Laughter came from the other end, Xie Canrong ridiculing the man he was after. "I don't know. Why don't we ask her and her little protector, huh?"

"...this is just between you and this bearded pig. Guess who dragged us into this?" Ruan Jin's voice came through, and the cousins exchanged a gaze.

"What does he want, Ruan Jin?" Li Feng got off of the bed, walking to the closet to find clothes so he could go out immediately.

"You." Ruan Jin glared at the man itching to wrap his hand around Ruan Jin's neck. "I think you don't have long. Don't go if you're just going to die out here."

Li Feng frowned as he clipped the phone between his head and shoulder. He was already changing. 'Don't go if I'm just going to die? Then, what the hell do you want me to do? Not come and have everyone else label me names for not saving you two?'

He took the phone and used his other hand to hold it. "That won't do. I need an address, Canrong. Leave them out of this. If you want me dead, then let them go."

"Oh? Who said you get to give the demands here?" Xie Canrong nodded at his men, and the group grabbed Ruan Jin and took him away from Chuan Nayi.

At this point, Li Feng froze harder as soon as cries for help came from Chuan Nayi and the loud curses came from Ruan Jin hit his ears. He also heard Xie Canrong.

"If you hurry, maybe one of them would still be alive.'

Li Feng dropped his phone and held onto his mouth. He then stormed out of his room in a flurry. 'This is my fault! I shouldn't have tricked her! If I told her the truth, this would never happen!

'I f.u.c.k.e.d up! Shit, I f.u.c.k.e.d up!'

Mian Bingbing heard the running from Li Feng's room and the hallways upstairs and just saw him leaving the house in the middle of the night. "Feng'er! Feng'er! Where are you going?!"

Before she could walk closer to the door, Li Yunru flew by and ran past her as well. "Yunru? Yunru!"

Li Feng got into his car with Li Yunru and drove off. Mian Bingbing took out her phone and dialed a number, the owner answering rather quickly. "Your son just took off with Yunru. Did you ask him to do something for him?"

"No, but I'm also leaving. I need to get there as soon as possible, too." Li Heilong got into a van and sat with ten more people. The van drove away from the Li Residence. "Listen to me, Bingbing. Don't follow him."

"Did you bug your son's phone? Why would you do that?"

"Because the mastermind isn't done yet." Beep.

Mian Bingbing pulled the phone away from her face and stared at the screen, which was a photo of her, her son, and her husband—from years ago when Li Feng was just a baby. She then flicked her eyes into the distance and bit into her lip. "Why am I always left out when it's about this?"

A sudden pang then came to her navel, and she hissed. "Dammit. Heilong… don't let our baby die for real this time..."

…

A hitch in his breath woke up Liu Xiaodan.

He was in the infirmary, but his arms and legs were cuffed to the bed for the protection of the nurses. Bandages rolled around his arm and his foot, reminding him of the bite wounds he suffered from. However, he didn't care one bit about them.

Liu Xiaodan turned his head to the side and saw Guangru peeking from the railings of the rolling bed. He then stared at him before saying softly, "Guangru… Nayi is… she's in trouble, isn't she?"

Guangru only nodded. "Baba said Guangru shouldn't bother with her anymore. She hates Guangru, too."

"I know… but… I don't want her to..."

"Baba… if I go now… you will be in trouble."

"What?"

Guangru looked up as if sensing something in the dark ceiling of the ward. "The kings of the palace have been awakened. Things that are stronger than Old Xiong are beginning to cast their eyes on you. Someone had been feeding them with human souls, and now, they hunger.

"If I leave you now, they will compete for the right to eat you. I don't want to lose Baba to those creatures." He brought his gaze back to the broken look on his Baba's face. "I'm staying with you."

"...I can't send myself to her, right?"

"You can't."

Liu Xiaodan moved his head back to its original position and looked at the darkness which began to look like a huge maw of a deadly creature. He then closed his eyes, but his body was rather weak right now. Guangru refused to heal him again… now that he had to reserve his strength for something… for some things.

The father only sighed in despair as he could inherently hear the screams coming from Chuan Nayi's mouth.

"I'm sorry, I can't protect you. Guangru can't protect you..." He kept on murmuring, but Guangru only watched from the side of the bed. His big black eyes then hollowed as he was trying to communicate with something else from far away.

In a sea of darkness, a figure moved as if swimming in it. Patches of white would show up from time to time as if a face was being formed.

A ball of red was in the middle, and the ball was already as small as a marble. Soon, a huge wooden hand reached out, encompassing the swimming white figure and the marble. A low and slow voice then resounded in the void.

"Not enough? Is it not enough?"

"It's been years since I diluted something like this. Give me more time..."

"There's no more time..."

"I know..."

Guangru's eyes then returned to normal after a few minutes, and he saw his father was sleeping soundly again, his eyes riddled with tears. The child climbed the bed and reached out to dry Liu Xiaodan's eyes with a thumb.

The demon then smiled like an innocent child, his eyes turning pure black. "Don't worry, Baba. Guangru has always been looking out for everyone. There's no way I will let you be sad. Guangru only had one rule for his fathers...

"Everyone that you love… could only be swallowed by me..."