Insanity

Wants to be born?

Wasn't that what Liu Xiaodan keep on saying about this child? However, it wasn't called a dybbuk. It was an ancient demon… was it not?

The girl saw the confused look on Li Feng's face, but she couldn't stay for long. She then looked at Mian Tianyu. "Master Mian, it seemed that the dybbuk escaped the seal after all these years. The Qiao family is still tracking it, but I am scared. Nothing in the city could be strong enough to break the flower protection this easily.

"I'm leaving the hospital today, and my father is expecting me home. In the coming days, could help me speak with him?

"Liu Xiaodan?"

"Speaking with Liu Xiaodan is easy. Whether he'd open up with you or not is the problem." Li Feng reached out and was going to hold the girl, but Mian Bingbing grabbed his wrist and pulled it back. He only glanced at her before continuing to talk. "Let me go with you instead. I doubt he'd speak with Grandpa."

The girl eyed at him before seeking Mian Tianyu's approval. However, he shook his head. "Feng'er, if you continue to come into contact with Liu Xiaodan, you will be more tainted."

"But…"

"I will go." Li Heilong hummed. "I need to talk to him today after all, but he's in the sick hall. Might as well take her with me when I see him again."

"Sick hall?" Li Feng was shocked. He then turned his gaze away and rethought about the whole ordeal that night. Was there a reason why Liu Xiaodan would be hospitalized? Did something happen to him that night after he manifested in the miasma?

"Thank you, mister." The girl bowed at Li Heilong, but she turned to Li Feng again. She then squatted down and used both pointers to poke on Li Feng's cheeks, pulling his lips up in a curl. When he darted his gaze at her face, she smiled sweetly. "I hope you'll be smiling the next time we meet."

She didn't spend another second to hear Li Feng's reaction. She bowed at the adults and walked out of the room. In the end, she didn't leave the whole flower with Li Feng… just half of it.

Li Feng was uncontrollably blushing. It was his first time to see her smiling. They were both terrified that night, and it was quite fantastical that she was already healed pretty much after just one night. Then again, the view she gave him just now…

His heart raced a lot, and his cheeks flared so much that he could feel the heat not cooling down even after she left. She was a lot cuter than Chuan Nayi, and he seemed to imagine vying for her. Then again, she seemed to have a position even higher than Mian Tianyu. In the world of shamanism, the Mian family was number-one, right?

"Grandpa, who is she?" Li Yunru pouted and huffed. Just earlier, it was Ren Shanyue; now, it's a Miss Qiao.

"That's… Qiao Shan, the princess of the Qiao family." Mian Tianyu looked at Li Feng in a strange way. "The Qiao family is also a shaman family, but they do more than exorcism. Back in the days, the Qiao family is notorious for enslaving non-human spirits and forcing them to have contracts. Their family is dangerous and is secretly shunned by most shaman families… our Mian family included.

"However, the current Qiao household has high-leveled shamans that were even more powerful than Big Sister. Rumors had it that their prodigies consumed entities to gain power. All shamans were called to be cordial to them lest they could handle a Black March." Mian Tianyu sighed. "It seemed that the Qiao family is after the dybbuk…"

Li Feng broke from his reverie. "If they get their hands on the dybbuk, then… would that mean we could separate Liu Xiaodan and Guangru?"

The mother sighed and petted her son's head. "Feng'er, getting involved with the Qiao family is serious business. Leave her alone."

While the shamans discussed about the Qiao family, Li Heilong only hummed. Enslaving entities? Hmm, that man was named Qiao Yun or used the name Qiao Yun for a reason. Was he part of this notorious Qiao family? Would it be wise for him to lead Guangru to that woman?

"Nonetheless, let us see what happens next. I doubt the child would be reckless enough to get caught and enslaved by humans. I'm still letting her see Liu Xiaodan. It should be up to him whether he receives help from the Qiao family or not." Li Heilong took everyone else's attention. "Mian Tianni had already gave up in fixing Liu Xiaodan. If this Qiao family managed to do so, then they are free to have the child.

"Either way, Liu Xiaodan's insanity should end."

"Insanity…" Mian Bingbing murmured as the face of Wu Qianqian appeared in her mind. Right, she should help her cousin sister even if it would implicate their Mian family. Her husband was right after all… the matriarch of the Mian family had already said so.

If they wanted to deal with Guangru, they should find someone else.

…

The top floor of the sick hall smelled like decay and decomposition. It was as if the bodies that had graced this place had been left here to rot. However, there was nothing up there… not even unused stuff. The floors were all vacant, and the lights barely functioned.

Liu Xiaodan walked in with Tang Mingming in tow. They took to the immediate right and saw an office with a viewing window. It looked like a clerk station, but it could only fit like three-five people inside. The father peered inside the glass and saw nothing of interest. It only had floor after all.

"Are you sure someone should be here?" Liu Xiaodan turned to Tang Mingming, but the other was eyeing in another direction. He followed his line of sight… and saw a silhouette of a girl standing at a distance. She was wearing a patient gown like Liu Xiaodan, but her long hair was covering her face and most of her torso.

"A girl? I thought this prison was exclusively for males…" Liu Xiaodan whispered before he tried to approach the girl. "Hello—"

Her head jerked like she was actually bowing down earlier. From the fringe curtain, he saw her eye… or the lack of her eye. Hollow black stared back at Liu Xiaodan as it created an intense contrast against her white face.

Soon enough, blood flowed down the inner sides of her legs. It also blotted just below the navel and dripped from the center. Then, it was followed by a colorless liquid. The girl then started jerking wildly, but it was just her apparition doubling and overlaying on her standing image.

In the wind, there was a soft scream echoing… howling all across the floor.

"The kind of aura she had is very scary. I want to hide…" Tang Mingming regretted coming. It was all fun and games until he felt the despair and resentment overflowing from the ghost. Even if he didn't say it, both of them knew that it was her… the ghost that killed multiple people in that sick hall.

"Stay behind me." Liu Xiaodan took another step forward while the girl was displaying her haunting. If Tang Mingming could feel her despair, Liu Xiaodan had been long drowned by it. However, he was doing his best in keeping himself calm. He felt his entire body jolt in so much movement, but it wasn't from being shaken for real.

The pain was radiating from underneath the navel, like a tide blasting upward repeatedly. Just from her haunting, Liu Xiaodan knew what happened to her. However, he couldn't see what made her this resentful. Who was responsible in turning her soul into a very malevolent spirit?

After taking ten steps, the girl realized that Liu Xiaodan wasn't afraid. She stopped her display and remained unmoving. Seeing her silhouette in a pitch-black hallway was enough to make humans run away in fright, but this single man was taking steps towards her.

"Hi, my name is Xiaodan. My friend said you came to see me." He stopped walking. "Do you need something from me?"

"Meat…" her voice slithered out of her mouth, but it sounded so horrible. It was coarse beyond recognition, and it took Liu Xiaodan and his ears expert in hearing ghost mumbles to make it out.

"You want me? My meat?"

"Meat…" The girl smiled.

At this, Liu Xiaodan knew that the girl had lost her consciousness. She was only a smudge in the past that was terrorizing the living people in the sick hall. Before he could decide what to do, the girl screamed and lunged at him like a wild animal. However, he only stood there and summoned forth a miasma to wrap around the woman.

Blood-curdling screams came from different places and different voices, but it was this girl that was reacting to the miasma. The overlaying images kept on twitching and flailing while a still image stood in front of them. Noticing the sources of the sound, Liu Xiaodan slowly closed his eyes.

In the darkness, he could hear all sounds of pleasure and pain. A girl was crying and begging for mercy as three different chuckling echoed. Not only was his navel burning in pain, but his face was also being torn apart. The sensation of having a blade digging down the sides of his eyes was so prominent that he could conclude that the eyes were being taken out.

"Help me… I can't find it…" another voice whispered into his ears, from the left to the right as if the speaker was circling him. "Can't find it… can't find it…"

Liu Xiaodan opened his eyes and found the girl standing right in front of him. Her hollowed eyes were staring straight at his face while her mouth was grinning all the way to her ears. However, the miasma was still holding back her body.

She then opened her mouth… and what a very big mouth it was to come down for a bite!