studiobondurri Chapter 702: Cut Ties
Chapter 702: Cut Ties
Chapter 702: Cut Ties
Through the gaps in the shelf, Gao Yang could see a young woman. She had blond curls that looked to be from a past period, and she wore a small black dress hat, a face veil, and an extravagant long black dress with a complicated design. She looked like a young lady attending a funeral in a movie set in medieval times. In the present day, one would assume she was cosplaying an anime character.
It was White Dew, in disguise.
“I was going to visit you,” Gao Yang said quietly.
“Visit my sister, you mean,” White Dew pointed out icily.
Gao Yang admitted, “Yeah, last night...”
“Whatever you did last night had nothing to do with us. I’m here to give you a message.”
After a pause, Gao Yang took a step forward to approach the shelf.
White Dew did the same. They talked through the only gap in the shelves like they were in a church’s confessional.
“From now on, the Spectres have nothing to do with you or any awakeners. We each walk our own path. You get it?”
Gao Yang understood the words, but not the message.
“Why?”
“There’s no why.”
After a silent moment, Gao Yang nodded. “Okay. But before that, I’d like to meet Fresh Snow and let her feed on me.”
Gao Yang could die at any moment, and if that happened, he would like Fresh Snow to live a little longer.
“No need,” White Dew said. “She’s not hungry yet.”
There was another silence.
Gao Yang opened his mouth but then swallowed the words. He instead said, “I understand. I won’t bother you again. If there’s anything you need, though, you may seek me out at any time. Keep the number that can reach me.”
White Dew didn’t say anything to that. She continued to flip the novel in her hand and pretended to be reading.
After about ten seconds, she said in a cool voice, “Leave the bag and go.”
Gao Yang lowered the black backpack. Inside was a cluster of gray gas—Waking Insects.
He took two steps back to the shadowed corner, and two seconds later, he disappeared without a sound.
White Dew could no longer sense Gao Yang’s presence. He had left with Teleportation.
Surnamed Li was still worried. “And the clues left by Green Tea?”
Chen Ying nodded. “I fabricated them.”
Surnamed Li nodded slightly, bemused.
“Then we just have to find Dust and avenge Ba Qiuchi, Green Tea, and Goldthread,” Chen Ynig said with determination.
“Yes.” Surnamed Li nodded, waving Chen Ying over. “Come here.”
Chen Ying went up to her and knelt.
“Give me your hand.”
Chen Ying did as she said. Surnamed Li took her hand and put a Cleansing Bracelet on her.
Chen Ying felt a soft, sacred energy spreading to the rest of her body from her skin before melting into her blood and flesh, disappearing into her.
Surnamed Li covered her hand with both hands, patting her like an elderly would a family member. “You’ve grown up, Ying Ying.”
Chen Ying felt warm and fuzzy. When was the last time she heard the nickname? It had been so long ago, like a distant dream.
Chen Ying was an orphan. She grew up in an orphanage.
For some reason, her brain developed slowly in her youth, and she reacted to things with a delay, always clumsy. As a result, she was often the target of bullying from the other children.
When Surnamed Li and her husband returned to Li City, they decided to adopt a child for better cover. Surnamed Li set her eyes on Chen Ying at first glance.
It was winter. The girl, no older than four, was dressed in a dirty blue cotton shirt and cotton pants, her hair messy and uneven like someone had taken a scissor to it with bad intentions. Her cheeks, ears, and hands were all covered in red blisters.
Clutching at the hem of her shirt, she cowered behind a wall in the backyard, head lowered and eyes blank and terrified. She didn’t dare to move.
“Haha, stupid!”
“Hahaha...big stupid!”
A few children threw snowballs at her without pulling back.
Thud.
A tightly-pressed snowball hit her on her blister-covered face, leaving a trail of ice.
Chen Ying pressed her lips together and clenched her teeth to endure it. Tears brimmed in her eyes for being unfairly treated, but she didn’t dare to let them fall.