Chapter 3: Trap

[The priest is getting more and more enthusiastic, and you feel very uncomfortable about it, especially when you realize that this place is not as beautiful as you see it, you have some bad thoughts]

　　[You hope that those are just your illusions. You try to comfort yourself that everything is normal. After all, the reasons given by the priest are very sufficient... But you still subconsciously start to act.]

　　[You tried to get together with other children, but they refused to have any contact with you, a "bad kid". You asked the nuns for help, but all you got was warnings and scolding. Sometimes they even called the priest to discuss how to punish you.]

　　[Although the punishment was all mentioned with a smile by the priest, under the scolding and constant rejection, you became more and more silent and uneasy, especially after the room where you rest was specially moved to a separate room.]

　　[This is not a special treatment, but rather a punishment, or a sign of being a "bad kid" - all "bad kids" live in single rooms, but the buildings are not located with other children, but closer to the backyard of the church. There are only houses for "bad kids" and a warehouse here.]

　　[It is very quiet here, so quiet that it is a little scary. When you know that there is a cemetery behind the warehouse, you feel an inexplicable fear. Coupled with the slightly crowded space and single small window in the single room, it makes this place seem like a small cage.]

[That night, the priest knocked on your door. Although you did not respond and locked the door, it was useless. The priest had the keys to all the rooms, and he still came in smoothly.]

　　[But seeing that you were not asleep, and even curled up in the corner watching him warily, the priest didn't care too much. He just smiled and gently asked you why you didn't go to bed after turning off the lights.]

　　[You didn't respond to him, but just stared at him warily. He seemed to just come in to take a look. He just said "go to bed early" and then closed the door and left.]

　　[Because of the priest's arrival, you didn't sleep well. Even though you locked the door again, you stared at the door nervously in the second half of the night and didn't dare to fall asleep. This made you look sleepy the whole next day. At this time, the "bad kids" seemed to have officially accepted you, maybe with ridicule, maybe with comfort. In short, you are the same as them - that's what they said]

　　[The teacher from the "school" came again. When he saw you hanging out with the "bad kids" again, he seemed a little dissatisfied. After negotiating with the priest for a while, he seemed to be convinced by the priest and just looked at you with pity.]

　　[That time, the "school" picked up a few more children than the last time, but the children didn't care too much about it. The children who were chosen cheered and were glad that they were chosen, while the children who were not chosen saw the children off and felt sorry that they were not chosen.]

[You and the "bad kids" watched all this silently, watching the "school bus" gradually moving away. You opened your mouth several times, wanting to say something, but then you looked around, at the cheering children, the indifferent nuns, and the priest who was smiling the whole time, and you closed your mouth again.]

　　[You vaguely guessed that the "school" was probably fake as well]

　　[The words "child trafficking" suddenly pop up in your mind, and you feel a deep chill and anger towards this word, but this emotion soon subsides, replaced by endless fear and anxiety]

　　[As the days passed, the priest seemed to have made an agreement and his behavior became more and more flamboyant. He came to see you almost every night, and his stay time also began to increase. Although he would choose to leave under your vigilant gaze every time, you felt more and more helpless.]

　　[One night, you faintly heard a child crying and a priest talking next door. It seemed that because the room was too soundproofed, the sound was very hazy.]

　　[You have a bad guess.]

　　[The next day, you noticed that the child next door almost dragged his tired body to walk over, his red and swollen eyes were still tinged with tears, the tear marks on his face were not washed away, and his walking pace seemed strange]

(TL:WTF??)

　　[The other children and nuns turned a blind eye to this. The children might not know anything, but the nuns did not even show any concern. They just maintained the most basic etiquette... and sometimes even scolded them directly.]

[The other "bad kids" seemed to be used to this, and just sighed to the child, "You must have had a hard time last night?" and after getting a nod from the child, they didn't care.]

　　[These things seem to have become so commonplace that the child has rejected your concern]

　　[You vaguely guess that this has happened many times. You didn't know it before because you didn't hear the sound. This may happen every day.]

　　[And, the next one may very well be you]

　　[No one will help you, and no one will care about this matter, because everyone here has long been "accustomed to" this matter, and it is "natural" for such a thing to happen. You don't even know who around you can ask for help]

　　[Fear and despair come rushing in]

　　[However, you did not give up hope. You thought you should ask the police for help. In your impression, the police would definitely be able to help you. At the same time, with your seemingly innate strong memory, you still remembered the route the priest took you to the police station. Therefore, you discussed with several other "bad kids" with whom you had a good relationship to see if you could find an opportunity to seek help from the police.]

　　[Some children are unwilling and even advise you not to have such an idea. If they can leave, it is better to run away directly, even if they don't know where to escape to.]

[However, some children are willing to help you. After a little hesitation, they choose to help you.]

　　[After several days of discussion and testing, you came up with a roughly feasible solution]

　　[You cannot leave during the day. Starting from the time you get up in the morning, all children will move together under the care of priests and nuns. Although they can move freely, they will be discovered immediately if there are not enough people. Therefore, the time to leave can only be set at night. And because of the priest, you must move late at night.]

[The wall behind the warehouse leading to the cemetery is relatively high. With the help of some debris around you, you can barely climb over the wall, and then you can pass through the gap in the iron bars of the cemetery gate to leave.]

　　[The priest will only go to the cemetery to clean on Wednesday afternoons, and only once every other week. He will usually only appear at the gate of the cemetery in the morning and evening. At other times, unless someone comes here to bury or sweep the graves, the priest will not enter the cemetery, so there is no need to worry about being seen.]

　　[In addition, you think it is necessary to take a child away to meet with the police officer, preferably with scars caused by the priest, so that at least the fact that the priest "abused the child" can be confirmed.]

　　[As for leaving the room, which should have been the most troublesome step, it turned out to be the easiest, because the priest was used to not locking the door every time he entered and left the room. It seemed that this habit was developed so that he could enter and leave the children's rooms more conveniently. On the contrary, these "bad children" locked their doors every night when they went to bed.]

[In other words, they could have left directly on the night of their "escape". Of course, in order to avoid suspicion, they had to lock the door before the priest came, and wait until he came and left before taking action, so as to avoid being discovered by the priest.]

　　["To be safe, it's better to wait until the priest starts before leaving" - a child suggested this. Although this suggestion is a bit hurtful and very bad, it does make sense.]

　　[When this proposal was first made, it was naturally opposed. Although I am used to "things like that", if I can avoid experiencing it, then it is naturally better not to do it. After all... it will hurt.]

　　[However, this suggestion was finally adopted because the child who proposed it voluntarily took on the responsibility, with the reason being "whoever proposed it should be responsible for it"]

　　[You are very touched. You can see from his expression how difficult and unwilling he was to make this decision, and of course his final determination. In the few days after the plan was decided, you almost compensated him in a rewarding way, as if this would make you feel better.]

　　[The next few days went smoothly. You lived your life as usual. The priest and the nun didn't notice anything. On the planned night, the action went smoothly. You still locked the door and huddled in the corner of the bed, staring vigilantly at the priest who seemed to open the door naturally in the middle of the night. After he left, you waited for a while before quietly opening the door and walking slowly in the corridor.]

[When you pass by a room, you hear a faint sound through the door. You can vaguely make out the voices of the child and the priest. You purse your lips and know that you should take action.]

　　[You knocked on the door of the child's room, who you agreed to leave with as "evidence", and whispered his name, using your voice to prove your identity, and then you left together quickly - relying on the sound insulation here, your actions can be bolder and faster]

　　[Everything went smoothly. You went around to the back of the warehouse, climbed over the fence with the help of the piled up debris, squeezed out from the iron bars of the cemetery gate, and then found a familiar road with the help of the good moonlight and the scattered lights on the street, and walked in the direction leading to the police station according to your memory.]

　　——————————

"Are you really sure it's here? Wang?"

　　The little boy wrapped himself in clothes; the night as winter approached seemed particularly cold.

　　"Of course I remember."

　　Xi Wang responded firmly, seeming to be particularly confident in his memory.

　　"But it seems like we have been gone for a long time..."

　　"It hasn't even been an hour yet."

　　"Why don't we just forget it? It's okay not to go... After all, the priest gave us a place to live, food to eat and clothes to wear. That kind of thing... can be tolerated... right?"

　　At the end of his speech, his own tone became unsteady.

　　"That's not a reason for him to do something like that."

　　Xi Wang spoke as he was looking for the road in his memory. At the same time, he tightened his clothes to keep himself warmer. After a pause, he spoke again.

　　"Besides, Light has helped us hold the priest back. We can't let his actions go to waste... If we hurry, we can go back and catch him ready-made."

　　"That's right…"

　　The boy seemed to realize what his words just meant. He glanced to the side unconsciously and his tone became more guilty.

"…very soon, we'll be there soon."

　　Xi Wang spoke softly, as if he was trying to calm him down, or as if he was talking to himself.

　　After walking along the road in his memory for a while, Xi Wang saw a few signs that looked familiar to him. He was delighted and hurriedly walked forward with the boy. In a short while, they arrived at the place that would definitely help him - the police station.

　　Even though it was late at night, the lights were still on and one could vaguely see the police officers still working diligently inside. They chatted and joked with each other to relieve their rising sleepiness.

　　"Very good!"

　　Xi Wang spoke excitedly, with a slightly relaxed expression, as if a huge stone had fallen from his heart. Then he hurriedly took the boy into the police station, ready to seek help from them.

　　"Hey, little guy, why are you here so late instead of sleeping at home?"

　　When Xi Wang pushed the door open, several police officers on duty noticed the two little guys and asked in a half-joking, half-inquiring tone.

"Uncle police, we need help."

　　Xi Wang said this very seriously, and then gently pulled over the boy with a somewhat stiff expression, pulled up his sleeves, revealing the scars that still remained on his arms.

　　Judging from the depth of the scars, this has already fallen into the category of abuse. Coupled with the boy's slightly reluctant expression, such scars must not only exist on his arms.

　　"oh?"

　　Several police officers looked at you, then at the scars on the boy's hands and frowned, as if they were displeased that such a young child was being abused.

　　Xiwang noticed this and took the opportunity to tell them everything the priest had done, and also told them that there was a child being abused by the priest at that moment.

　　"This is really... outrageous that such a thing could happen."

　　One of the police officers walked up, gently pulled down the boy's sleeves to cover his wounds, and then looked into the boy's eyes again.

　　"Tell me, child, can you guarantee that all these were done by that priest, right?"

　　"...Um."

　　The boy looked at the police officer in front of him a little timidly, then looked at Xi Wang who was standing beside him and encouraging him with his eyes. Then he lowered his head, nodded slightly, and responded in an almost weak voice.

　　"…It's unbelievable! That priest actually did this kind of thing in private!"

　　The police officer who got the answer was silent for a while, and then spoke in an almost indignant voice.

　　That priest seems to have a good reputation outside?

　　This thought flashed through Xiwang's mind subconsciously.

　　"Come on, kids! We'll take you back! People like this must be punished!"

　　But soon, the police officer took the boy's hand and walked out. At the same time, except for those who needed to stay in the police station to continue on duty, several police officers took Xi Wang out with indignant expressions, which made Xi Wang stop his thoughts.

'The police will help us' he thought.

　　Several police officers took the boy into the police car, while others took Xiwang into another police car.

　　"Don't be afraid, child, we will protect you."

　　In the back seat of the car, a police officer smiled, gently patted Xi Wang's back, who looked a little anxious and nervous, and spoke softly.

　　"...Um."

　　Xi Wang nodded and relaxed a little.

　　He didn't feel anything was wrong, nor did he think there was anything wrong with it. After all, it was natural to "go to the police when you have trouble."

　　However, when everyone returned to the church, what Xi Wang saw was a peaceful and tranquil courtyard, and the priest who seemed to have heard the alarm and came out to greet them, as well as the police officers who greeted the priest and seemed very familiar with him...

　　They talked to each other very familiarly, and seemed to have made a few jokes and chatted about family matters. Then the police officers gently pushed the boy who had been lowering his head and twirling the corner of his clothes with his fingers, gestured to the priest, and then pointed at you who was still in the car.

"..."

　　The priest looked over here in the direction they pointed, with a slight smile in his eyes as he looked at Xi Wang.

　　!!!!

　　Xi Wang's expression suddenly turned into fear. Realizing something was wrong, he immediately wanted to get out of the car and run away.

　　only...

　　Strong hands grabbed his arm that was reaching for the car door; his slender arm was like a fragile branch in their hands.

　　"Don't be afraid, child."

　　A gentle voice sounded beside me, and I shifted my gaze to meet those eyes with a slight smile.

　　"We will protect you."

　　It's like falling into an icy cave.